Retreat Preparations and Updates

 Hello Everyone,

In my last post I showed you my friend's Calico Cottages quilt she entered into the Independence Hall Quilt Show......Diane won a well-deserved Viewer's Choice ribbon!

We went out for lunch to celebrate after the guild meeting. Mr. Joe met up with us down at The Bistro and Diane took our picture to show off the fall colors in the area. 

Speaking of fall colors, our dogwood tree is spectacular this year.  The tree is located right outside the windows in our great room, and we get to enjoy it all day every day.

I’ve been busy prepping for my final retreat of the year, which kicks off this Sunday. Three quilters are arriving early—this Friday, just two days away… YIKES! On Saturday, a few of us are heading to Yosemite for a little adventure before the stitching, laughter, and creative magic officially begins.

As part of my retreat prep, I’ve done just a touch of autumn decorating with nothing too elaborate. These days, I find myself thinking, “Whatever goes up now has to come down soon… because Christmas is just around the corner!” Still, it’s nice to enjoy the cozy colors and little touches of fall, even if only for a few fleeting weeks 

I also cut six more kits for Country Charmer yesterday.  Whatever is left over after the retreat, will go into my Etsy shop after the retreat. 

Speaking of Etsy shop, I'm slowly adding new listings for DIGITAL DOWNLOAD in my shop.  As I track the orders, I'm noticing many sales outside of the United States to Australia, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.  I feel this has been a very positive decision and quilters seem to be happy to have easier access to my patterns without the huge shipping costs both inside and outside the US.

This week I've added digital downloads for Bridle Path and Heritage to my shop.

Digital download for Heritage is located HERE.

Bridle Path DIGITAL DOWNLOAD is located HERE.

Yesterday I tackled the cobwebs in the cabin. though honestly, they could’ve passed for Halloween decor! I also began swapping out quilts and gave the master bedroom a deep clean. One of my favorite things is creating cozy little areas to showcase different quilts, moving them around until each one finds its perfect spot.  I'm having a tour of the cabin during the retreat, so it has to be spotless.....tell that to Mazey so she won't leave trails of golden hair around the cabin. She sheds so much, I'm surprised she's not bald!

I'm off to begin my workday of making those pesky cobwebs disappear.

Soon,

Lynn

  

Quilts on Parade

 Hello Everyone,

My email inbox has been filled with beautiful pictures from quilters who've made my patterns.  Let me tell you I LOVE getting these pictures!  

First up is A Ribbon Runs Through It by Carol from the Chicago area.  She said she got carried away making pillow shams, throw pillows and a wool applique pillow.  I need to get this carried away and create a beautiful setting like this in one of my bedrooms!  I met Carol when I taught at the Pieceful Gathering Retreat a few years ago, and I hope to meet again.

Next up is a picture of Elena's quilt from Italy.  In her email, Elena said, "What you create makes us dream."  Elena's words were so touching, and I will always think about them while I'm designing patterns and fabric.  I virtually 'met' Elena through my Etsy shop in 2022 and she has been keeping me updated on her progress.  She is now working on my Laurel Ridge quilt through The Quilt Show.  Elena wants to come to the US so we can meet.  I need to learn Italian!

Next up is Teresa's Christmas Ribbons quilt.  Teresa was so kind to include a picture of her quilt in her review in my Etsy shop. This quilt is going to be a gift to a very special person. I look at the reviews and try to keep up responding to them.  I contacted Teresa and asked her if I could include the picture in my social media sites.  She graciously said yes.  I really appreciate her taking the time to make my design and post a review.  Positive reviews make a great deal of difference in Etsy's search algorithm. 

During the week I was contacted by Annette, who did a YouTube video HERE about her experience making her lovely Heritage.  The video is about 10 minutes long, and she even included a boo-boo.  Her boo-boo was one that I made too.  The video is so nicely done, and I really appreciate that she took the time to document her Heritage quilting journey which may help you on your journey.

Here is another gorgeous Heritage in an Autumn colorway, sent to me by Malgorzata from Poland.  We have been corresponding for the past 5 years.  Her words of inspiration inspired me and tugged at my heart. I complimented her on her work, and she said, "....your praise gives me wings and willingness to continue working on more quilts."  In addition to Italian, I need to learn the Polish language.  Thank goodness for Google Translator!

Here's a closeup of her precision.  So well done!

Whenever one of you send me pictures, I always show all of your images to Mr. Joe, and he is very complimentary.  He knows the level of effort that I put into my quilts, and he appreciates your hard work.

Your pictures and emails inspire me. I wish you could see my reaction when I open my email.  I'm gobsmasked! (I do love that word).  It's your kind words that keeps me doing what I do.  When I started designing in 2008, I never in my wildest dreams thought it would take me to this level of fond friendships around the world.  You, my dear quilters and blog readers are the BEST!

Humbly yours,

Lynn

Heritage in Hearthstone

 Hello Everyone,

I absolutely love to receive pictures from you, my cherished blog readers.  A few short months ago, Nadine asked me if I could send her the fabric requirements for my Heritage pattern using my Hearthstone fabric line.  Here is Nadine's beautiful and finished creation. Seeing her quilt is incredibly rewarding to me.

The quilt is also beautifully machine quilted.

I've always wanted to make a Heritage in Hearthstone, and I have added this to my list of quilts I want to make again.  Thank you so much Nadine for making my design come to life and sending me pictures.

Listed below, is the information I sent to Nadine, generated by EQ software. She took the ball and ran with it and scored a touchdown!

The majority of my patterns are in EQ software, and with time, I can recolor any of my designs.  There are also some of you who like to receive templates since you love to hand-piece your quilts.  I can also produce template.

On the home front, last night at 2:27am, we were rudely awakened by the vocalization of a mountain lion!  I shot straight up out of bed, Mazey went ballistic, and Mr. Joe rushed to close the sliding glass door, as there was just a screen between us and the mountain lion. We looked like the Keystone Cops! Thank goodness we never saw the lion, but the hair was standing at attention on the back of my neck.  Mountain lions can be very intimidating, especially since I read that in order to hear their vocalizations, they must be extremely close since they aren't very loud.  We've been sleeping with the slider open, so now we are going to reassess our vulnerability. This is one of those times that I feel like we are living in a zoo without cages.

Just yesterday at water aerobics, the girls were talking about the mountain lion sightings in our area of Blue Lake Springs.  I can now attest to this.

Just like most of the country, the heat wave just won't loosen its grip! We are now under a red flag warning for the next two days because of the prediction of dry lightning storms and wind which is NOT a good combination for our dreadful fire season.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if our power provider turned off our electricity.

I'll just hunker down and continue working on my special projects while praying for rain.

Soon,

Lynn

Some Show Stoppers

 Hello Everyone,

I feel that I hit the jackpot this week!  I received many pictures of quilts that you've made using my patterns.  First up is a picture of my Crossing the Pond pattern that was beautifully made by Jane.

This is what Jane said in her email.

Hello, You will find attached pictures of a quilt I made using Di Ford's Windermere fabrics. I found the perfect pattern in Quiltmania issue #143, "Crossing the Pond" by Lynn Wilder. I used Ms Wilder's alternating central blocks to showcase the colors in the Windermere floral panel. Since I was using Di Ford fabrics, I thought it would be nice to incorporate a broderie perse border along with the fabric border print. I am very pleased with the way that it turned out.  I hope you like it too.
Cheers, Jane Waye 
P.S. The long arm quilting was done by my talented friend Debbie at Wynnspired Custom Quilting.

I love that Jane added her own very special and outstanding 'touches' to this quilt and made it her own.  It is so gorgeous and so well done!

Next up I received pictures from Ollie in Canada.  Here is what she said about the group of beauties.

The first quilt is mine and I taught this pattern in my quilting class and here are mine and two others made with this pattern. The teal one is not quite finished as she had to order the red batik in order to make the first border. 

Then Ollie goes on to say:

This is one of my students Heritage Quilt made with civil war fabrics.

But wait, there are some more!  My friend Sylvia started her Heritage quilt at one of my retreats.  She just got it back from her machine quilter. She said she keeps going into her bedroom to look at it and she can't believe she made it.

Then yesterday afternoon I received a text from Gretchen.  She just finished A Ribbon Runs Through It.

Gretchen brought her finished blocks to one of my retreats last Fall.  I showed her how to 'block' each of the blocks to get them all to be the same size.....and voila, here they are.

This has definitely been a week of happy emails, and texts.  I LOVE to get your pictures.  Both Mr. Joe and I look at all of them and marvel at your creativity and precision. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to send me your pictures.  It puts a smile on my face from ear to ear.

Now news on the Mazey front.  Our little girl has had a very rough week.  She's been pumped full of fluids, had blood drawn, injections, and x-rays.  So far, all of the tests have been unremarkable. Yesterday afternoon she finally ate something for the first time in 7 days!  7 days of not eating or drinking.  All she did was hide away from us and stay curled up in her bed.  We wanted to caress her, but she wasn't having any of it. We were shocked yesterday when she came out of the bedroom and curled up by Mr. Joe's chair.  We introduced little bits of chicken with rice and chicken broth, and she ate it.  She isn't out of the woods yet, but she can see the sunlight through the trees.  We were so afraid that this was the end, and we were both having trouble dealing with the potential loss of our baby.  We will slowly introduce more food today to rebuild her strength. The most heartening thing we saw yesterday in addition to eating, was when she wagged her tail.

I'm wagging my tail with joy today.

Soon,

Lynn

P.S.  All of the patterns are available in my Etsy shop HERE.  

Two Beauties

 Hello Everyone,

I received two more pictures from quilters who made my patterns that I'm sharing with you.  The first picture is Country Courthouse which came from Jan.  This quilt took First Place and Viewer's Choice at Happy Trails Quilt Show in Surprise, Arizona. 

Jan did a great job and is very deserving of her ribbons.

The next picture of Heritage is from Betty.  The quilt was made by her husband Bruce.  Here's what she said in the email.

     "Wanted you to see my husband’s completed quilt. He has been encouraged to enter it into the 2024 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Quilt Show.  He is a 72 year old male who began quilting a little over a year ago, with no prior sewing experience.  He plans to begin “A Ribbon Runs Through It” next.  He really appreciates your quilt plans and looks forward to creating more in the future.  He gave me this quilt to display in our guest quarters."

Wow, Bruce, you are amazing.  I really hope you do enter the quilt in the two shows.  I'll be you will be sending me pictures of your ribbons too!

California has been under another atmospheric river for days on end.  The rain was so torrential the other night that it kept waking us up.  I love to hear the pitter patter of rain on the roof unless it resembles elephants tromping across the roof for hours at a time.  The high country is receiving a great dumping of snow which is fantastic.  I'll put up with the rain instead of four feet of snow.  Last winter was brutal when it came to snow at my location.

All of the rain has kept me inside my sewing room.  I'm spending more time quilting and listening to books on Audible.  I just finished and highly recommend The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon and Code Name Helene by the same author.  Look these books up and see if they might appeal to you.  Both books kept me quilting for hours on end, and the reader drowned out the elephants tromping around on the roof.

Soon,

Lynn

P.S.  If you are interested in purchasing the patterns for Country Courthouse or Heritage, they are located HERE in my Etsy shop.

Heritage in Hearthstone

 Hello Everyone,

I, like you, have been busy getting ready for the holidays, so I haven't been posting very often. I did run across this file on my computer where I re-colored my Heritage pattern using my Hearthstone fabric line.  I love the introduction of a bit of the plaid.

I really like it in this colorway and now I just need the time to make it!  Let me know if you would like the fabric requirements.

The house is all decorated and the presents are wrapped except for a few stragglers.  We've been going to Christmas parties and now it's time for us to host one tonight for some friends and neighbors.  If I don't get too preoccupied, I will post pictures of our dinner menu. If the recipes turn out, I'll post them too. The dessert I'm making is a Frozen Baileys Mochaccino, Mr. Joe's favorite.   He will be in the kitchen slicing and dicing with me today and he will be making a loaf of his sourdough bread. He's perfected his sourdough baking after several attempts which resembled hockey pucks. Now his loaves are company worthy.

Mr. Joe had quite the surprise which elevated his heart rate to a dangerous level.  He walked out the sliding glass door and came face to face with a bear on our deck railing.  He immediately backed up into the house while the bear leisurely walked down the steps to the lower patio.  I grabbed my phone and took these pictures.  Mazey, our bear early warning system, totally spaced out on this encroachment into her territory.  She never uttered a peep.

It appears that the mama has left the cubs on their own.  How does she leave them without them following her?  The cubs have been spotted around the neighborhood on their own and they've been getting into cars.  We are guilty of leaving our car doors open while unloading groceries and hauling them into the cabin.  We are going to have to be much more careful.

There's a lot on my plate for the coming year.  It's all good, it's all exciting, it's all very intimidating.  2024 is going to kick off with a big bang!

Soon,

Lynn

 

Eye Candy Day

 Hello Everyone,

I love, love, LOVE to see variations of my quilt designs.  This is my Heritage pattern made by my friend Kate.  Her color combination of red, white and blue is spectacular.  The machine quilting just puts this one over the top on the gorgeous scale.

The quilt started like this at a class I taught at Friends Around the Block in Colusa, CA.  Every quilt has a beginning and a beautiful ending.  Kate created an heirloom to enjoy for years and years to come.  Well done YOU!

Then I received this image of my Country Charmer design made by Patricia.  This is a fabulous finish too!  This is what Patricia said about it.

I want to thank you for the Country Charmer pattern. I found a Christmas quilt made with this pattern on Pinterest and fell in love. The pattern was easy to follow, and I am thrilled with the results.

I am thrilled with your result too!  Please send me a picture after it's quilted so I can enjoy looking at it all over again.

Fran, from Village Dry Goods in Brigham City, UT sent me a picture of my A Ribbon Runs Through It on display behind their counter in the shop.  This actually is the quilt I made, and I haven't seen it in months since it's been traveling the country to different shops.  To my understanding, the quilt is back in California and should now be at Cloth and Quilts in Hilmar, CA.  I should take the 2-hour drive down and visit her.

On a personal note, I have now completed my jury duty for the rest of my life!  I was officially excused yesterday from the pool of jurors as the final jury and alternates were selected.  I swear some of the jurors in the "pool" where swimming at the shallow end of the gene pool.  If I hadn't been on camera the entire time, I would have been banging my head on the nearest piece of wood.  I spent four days, 6 hours each day, wading through jury selection, and listened to every personal problem and issue known to man.  I'm done!  I'm so done DONE!  Can you feel my frustration?  

Today I get to return to my normal life and schedule.  Oh, it feels so good!  You have no idea how good it feels to tackle my to-do list that grew while I was doing my civic duty.  

Soon,

Lynn

A Gorgeous Heritage Quilt

 Hello Everyone,

I love to receive emails and pictures from quilters around the country who've made my patterns.  When I opened this email from Dena in Wisconsin, my jaw dropped, and I uttered an audible gasp.  This is her gorgeous creation of my Heritage pattern.  

Here's Dena's email:

I just wanted to say thank you for this beautiful quilt pattern!  It was very easy to follow.  It is the first quilt I have finished and kept for myself!  I tend to make quilts and give them as gifts.  Some I have gotten very attached to, but I would never have been able to give this one away!  The colors were picked by my husband and I together.  I made it approximately 100" x 100", and hand quilted the entire top in between other projects.  It was on my frame for nearly 3 years!  I have received so many compliments!

Well, I couldn't give this quilt away....ever.  Take a close look at her incredible hand quilting.  This level of detailed quilting would be hard to do on a long arm.

I'm not a bit surprised that she has received many compliments on this show stopping heirloom quilt.

I love to see my patterns made in different colors.  The selection of batiks is just perfect for this design.

Thank you so much Dena for sending me the pictures.

On another note, I've been receiving emails asking if everything is okay since I've been so quiet over the past few weeks. I do appreciate your concern.  I've been doing a lot of secret sewing, pattern writing, and shop guide writing for the block of the month for Marcus Fabrics.  Just as soon as I can show you what I'm working on, I will.

I'm also trying to establish some balance in my life, and spend more quality time with Mr. Joe and Mazey.  We still go on our daily walks and stay out a bit longer than usual.  Sometimes the walls of my sewing room start to close in on me, and I need to step away from the machine.

While I've been doing so much sewing, I've been listening to Podcasts.  My favorite podcasts are American History Tellers and History That Doesn't Suck. I was always a good student, but I'm surprised at how much information I didn't retain.  The two podcasts refresh my failing memory...I do have a lot of tree rings at this age! The narrators make history interesting through their storytelling format. 

So I'm off to my sewing room for the day after I fill my Etsy orders.  The orders have top priority every single morning. 

Soon,

Lynn

QuiltMania Issue 141

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday, I received an advance image of my Heritage quilt pattern which is going to be in the next edition of QuiltMania magazine, issue 141.  This quilt was made by the Independence Hall Quilt Guild in Arnold, CA.....my guild.

There will be more pictures of the quilt in the magazine, a story about the guild, and the directions for the pattern.  This will be coming to a newsstand within the next couple of weeks.

The quilt was made with scraps from my stash by this group of women in the classroom at Independence Hall.

A lot of hands, and sewing machines made quick work of this beauty.

We met twice to work on the quilt, and some of the girls took blocks, and worked on them at home.  At our second meeting, the blocks were squared, and then sewn together.

Mazey helped me put on the borders.....not!

The quilt was quilted by Debbie Coleman.

Raffle tickets were sold for the quilt, and all of the proceeds went to the scholarship fund to aid seniors at the local high school to advance their education.

Look for this cover at your local quilt shop or bookstore.

I've been at my computer for hours each day working on the block of the month for Marcus Fabrics.  No sewing for me.  I'm only working with images of the fabrics from a new line designed by Judie Rothermel.  I can't wait to get the fabric, and turn the blocks that I've created in the computer and on paper, into finished blocks. I'm creating detailed monthly cutting charts for quilt shop owners, and writing the pattern at the same time. 

Mr. Joe dragged me away from the computer yesterday when he saw that I was getting a bit frustrated, and needed to MOVE.  A brisk walk with Mazey was just what I needed to clear my brain, and focus my vision out into the forest.  Sometimes I can't see the forest for the trees. I guess I need to get out the chain saw.

Soon,

Lynn