I am at an almost unheard of lull between projects. Consequently I have been contemplating all that has been accomplished the first half of this year. Most recently, I met up with my daughter, Andria, in Long Beach to attend the Quilt Festival International Long Beach 2023. It was especially wonderful to see my quilt, Criss Cross Stars, hanging in the show. Better still, the quilt was selected to be the signature quilt of the show which means she graced the cover of the show’s program, The Quintessential Quilt. What an honor! Andria and I also took a class form Jane Haworth on fabric collage. I was really out of my element for that one, but I started to get the hand of it as the class went on. Jane is a very patient tutor!

Midway through my year as a Benartex Brand Ambassador, I am still loving every minute of it. The people at Benartex are fantastic to work with, and it has been fun to follow my fellow ambassadors and learn about their amazing work. To date I have designed and made two quilts: Vivace! and Peacock Garden using fabrics that were selected specially for me. Vivace! was made with two fabric lines by Paula Nadelstern, Marbella and Needle Stars, and it is a screaming riot of color. I had so much fun working on this quilt, playing with the bright colors that always elevate my mood and bring a smile to my face.

Peacock Garden was made with a fantastic fabric line by Kelly Rae Roberts, A Beautiful Life. The quilt is a whimsical design which shows peeks of Kelly’s fabric in a way which invokes the thought of peacock feathers, colorful gardens and happy times.

I also made two group projects devised by my friends at Benartex for all Ambassadors. One is a tote bag using the Benartex logo which I made with Paula Nadelstern’s Marbella fabric line. The second is a Christmas in July project for which I designed a table runner named Shimmering Holiday. I used Holiday Snow, a white on white by Kanvas Studio and Pearlized Marble, also by Kanvas Studio, and it literally shimmers! Put on your sunglasses! The marriage between these two lines is absolutely perfect.

Coming up soon is a design I made using two blocks that were featured in Benartex’s publication, The Fat Quarterly Summer 2023 issue, Snail Away Home and The Lingerer. Both blocks are a remix of the classic Snail’s Trail block. The quilt I designed with these blocks is a wall hanging also named Snail Away Home, using the Benartextures fabric line. The line is very earthy so I think it is perfect for a Snail’s Trail block remix.

You can find patterns for all of the quilts mentioned above on this website, as well as a newly released pattern for my quilt, Ripple Effect. She and Criss Cross Stars will be hanging at Quilt Festival International Houston, 2023 in November.

In the meantime, I have had two pumpkins quilts published. Pumpkin Patch is in the Autumn 2023 issue of Quilter’s World magazine, and Scrappy Happy Pumpkins is in the By Annie’s online publication.

So why the lull? My sewing machine, The Queen Bee, is in the shop for her annual tune-up which gives me this time for reflection. It’s amazing how much I miss her. She is the life blood in my sewing room. I expect to see her again in a day of two and then the fun will really begin! Stay tuned.