Hearthstone Fabric Collection

 Hello Everyone,

I was so excited when I discovered my fabric collection in the 'Coming Soon' section on the Fat Quarter Shop website. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see this collection coming to fruition.

I am the face to this fabric, but there are many other faces behind the scenes that made this happen.  Yes, I came up with the concept, the colors, and the inspiration, but the talented graphic artists at Marcus Fabrics brought it to life.  I couldn't have done this without their guidance and help.

There were many zoom calls, emails back and forth changing this and that.  It has been so educational for me to learn about the ins and outs of fabric design.  Now I can't wait to start on my next fabric collection!

I've been very quiet lately on my blog, but very busy behind the scenes.  I had a very long to-do list when I returned from the Pieceful Gathering retreat in Illinois. I've been filling Etsy orders, pattern writing for my block of the month program, working on taxes (insert weary face here), and shoveling snow (insert a wearier face here).

I'm well on my way writing the pattern for Bridle Path.  I'm also finishing up the quilt.  I'm still on the fence as to whether or not to machine quilt it myself.  I have to decide pretty soon because Fat Quarter Shop wants to photograph the quilt for their BOM program.  After that, the quilt will travel around the country to other quilt shops.  It will most likely be hanging at Hancock's of Paducah as they will be offering kits. Since the story behind the quilt originated in Kentucky, I'm very excited to have it on display in their shop.

On the home front, the torrential rains melted about 2 feet of snow away.  More rain is in the forecast for today and the snow begins again on Tuesday.  Is there no end?  

We contacted several people to clear a path to our propane tank to no avail. The company delivering propane wouldn't deliver if we didn't clear a path down from the road.  One gentleman, and I use that term loosely, very quickly told me he would never shovel.  Our propane tank is on a hill and is not easily accessible.  I took this picture of my propane tank and posted it in January of 2018.  I did a parody of Erma Bombeck and said, "Life is greener under the propane tank."  I said that because it is located outside my sewing room.

One young man said he was willing to snowshoe over to the tank to find out the percentage of propane left in the tank.  Just that trek cost us $100.00.  He was a nice 20-something kid, but really?  Anyway, we were down to 30% on a Thursday.  Even with conservation and freezing our tail feathers off, we were down to 20% the following week.  We kept the woodburning stove going 24/7 and we were still cold since we turned the heater off.  My sewing room resembled working in a meat locker since it is the farthest room from the fire.  We were showering every other day and never used hot water when washing clothes.

We had to bite the bullet and tackle the path-clearing job ourselves.  Our plan of attack was Mr. Joe would use the snowblower on the 6' berm at the road, while I started digging from the propane tank up the hill.  For starters I should have attached stilts on my snowshoes to get to the tank!  The snow was crotch-high, which is a scientific term we have used multiple times this Winter.  Do you know how hard it is to walk in snow that deep on a hill?  I would have made better time if I had just rolled my body over to the tank, or I could have ridden the sled down the 6' berm directly to the tank.

To make a long story short, we finished the job and felt very proud of ourselves. That afternoon required a long nap by the fire.  I called the propane company and told them we were down to 20%, and there was a clear path to the tank. I was told we needed to conserve since she had no way on knowing when they could get a driver out to our area.  There were cabins in our neighborhood completely out of propane and we just had to wait our turn.  It was then that I played the 'elder card' but to no avail.  About three days later, the propane truck came by our cabin, and I could have kissed his feet!  The driver scrambled down our nicely shoveled path like a mountain goat and we were in business.  Hot showers and heater here we come!  Our propane bill is one bill I will not complain about paying this month.  I will have to be sitting down when I open the envelope, because the bill could top out at $1,000.  The joys of living in the mountains are never-ending.

Soon,

Lynn