Gudrun´s World

CCC Blog Hop: Day 4

I know I told you yesterday that I would be drawing for a winner of the Quiltmaker's 100 magazines next week, but Quiltmaker contacted me and wanted a name now because they are sending out the prizes!! So I think we just have to have a winner now and another one next week! How about that? I have some extra issues that I don't need so I will send one winner next week, my copy. So you can keep commenting on the CCC Blog Hop: Day 2 post.

So today's winner of the Quiltmaker 100 blocks issue is Joy P. and her blog is http://joyfulquilter2.blogspot.com/ Congratulations Joy, please e-mail me your shipping adress so I can get your prize sent your way.

The designer of the day is Pat Sloan in our blog hop. She is sharing a free project today and I just know it's gonna be fabulous. Make sure you pay her a visit and tell her how much you love her project. I have been a fan of Pat's for a long time and have several of her books. She has so much going on all the time that she is a hard one to keep up with, but she is that much more fun to hang out with.

Christmas Trees is the theme for our story today and when I saw that, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. There is a known Icelandic tradition, that I haven't experienced here in the US, regarding the Christmas tree, and that is dancing around it!

Whenever there is a gathering of people over Christmas, when kids are involved at least, this is a big part of the celebration. Everyone joins hands in a big circle around the Christmas tree and then we sing Christmas carols and walk around the tree. Some of the songs require you to do a little bit of dancing or movements (kind of like Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes) which is very fun. Now, the main goal of this is to get the Santas to hear the singing so that they stop by for a visit. Yes, I did say Santas, plural! We have 13 Santas in Iceland. I will explain that better tomorrow when we have a Santa story. But the Santas live in the mountains and if the singing was good, 2 or 3 of them would stop by the party and give everyone a treat. Then they would sing some more songs with us before they left to go to the next party. This was a big tradition at my grandma's house on Christmas day and it actually still is. We don't get together at her house anymore because of the number of people in the family. Now all the kids have had kids and we need to rent a facility to host the party. I think the number of Grandma's kids, grandkids and greatgrandkids plus spouses is close to being a 3 digit number. But we dance and have the Santas come visit every time.

Now you should know that my dad's family is kind of known in my hometown as being the Santa family, because so many of the guys in the family have donated their services of putting on the costume...if you know what I mean. There are 13 santas and we had that easily in our family!! This is me, probably 9 or 10 years old, so I think I knew then that this was not "Santa". I was just trying to figure out which one of my uncle's it was.

On December 26th, we would always go to my other grandparent's house, on my mom's side. Mom only has a brother and a sister so that was always very small and quiet compared to the day before. I had to step it up and take charge to organize the activities for the day. We were only 6 grandkids at the time so we barely could reach around the tree, but we still did it! And guess what, Santa heard us and came for a visit. Don't you love the matching outfits that me and my cousin have on. I think my grandma bought them for us on one of her trips overseas.....must have been Turkey or something!!

Now you have to come back tomorrow to find out about this weird Santa thing right? Have you ever danced around the Christmas tree?
 

CCC Blog Hop Day 3

Now it´s time for you to cruise back across the state border, from Iowa back to Minnesota. Today´s  designer in the hop is Terry Atkinson from Atkinson Designs. She is sharing a pattern for a fun gift idea. It is so cute and creative, you have to check it out. I have known Terry for quite some time since we are both in Minnesota and have gotten so lucky to be her booth neighbor at quilt market a couple of times. She is the best booth neighbor, she is up for anything. When the show is slow (usually the last 3 hours on the last day), booth pranks are my favorite thing. Last spring we did some pole dancing (as you can see in the photo)....we shot rubber bands over the wall into each other's booth....but probably the best prank was when I got her at the end of the show because of her family's love for our Icelandic chocolate he he! Click here and scroll down to see what our bad birdie did to Terry's table!!! Make sure you go visit Terry and comment on her project.

 

Our story theme for the day in the blog hop is Christmas gifts. I had to think about that one for a bit to figure out what story I could tell you about gifts that I have gotten or given. (My husband thought that having to think about it too long was not a very good indication of him doing so well in the gift giving field! shhhh, let him think that!! He might want to make up for it this Christmas)

 

A few very special gifts from my childhood came to mind. When I was probably 5 or 6 years old, I got a barbie doll house, that my mom had built herself, complete with flooring (leftover carpet remnants), curtains, homemade furniture and everything. It was awesome. There must be a picture of this house somewhere at my parents house so I am going to have them dig it up for me, scan it and send it to me.

 

Another favorite is when I got my red bike. It was always very exciting when the gifts were put under the tree (which was not until christmas eve morning) to secretly check out what present was from mom and dad. I would scope out the size, shape and if no one was looking....the weight. But this year, I couldn't figure it out. It was this box that was very light, not too big and didn't fit any of the things on my wishlist so I was stumped. It didn't help that my mom gave me hints like "you are gonna be so surprised" "you are going to jump out of your seat when you open it". It made me kind of scared as I was opening the present....I think I thought that something was going to jump out of the box! As I open it very carefully, there is tissue in there.....rip it out and all there is in the box was a note that said: "Ha, ha, ha....go out to the garage to find your present!" And there it was, the red bike that was at the top of my wishlist. It wasn't quite this one in the picture, but very similar! There is also a picture of my-very happy-self with the bike, somewhere in my parent's photoalbums. Another one I need to have them dig up!

 

If you are one of those overachievers and have already made one of the free projects in the hop, we would love to see it. Pat (the group's computer guru) created a Flickr group, especially for the hop so that we can see and share photo's of your projects. She even has instructions and tutorials for you on how to upload to the group. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1256651@N20/

 

Thanks for all the comments on the block and the recipe. I really hope you try it. (What I meant with fine oats is just not very coarse. Oats seem larger here in the US than what we are used to in Iceland. I just pop then in my food processor for a few seconds) You can still comment on that post to try and get lucky and win the magazine, the winner will be drawn next week. Also make sure you are commenting on everybodies project posts for the grand prize.

CCC Blog Hop day 2

I want to start today off with a big thank you for all your wonderful comments on my project. I am so glad you like it so much and that so many of you are going to make it. Today's designer in the hop is the wonderful Sandy Gervais from Pieces From My Heart. She is sharing a free pattern for a table mat and knowing her, you are going to love it. She is probably one of the most creative people I know, creativity just "oooozes" out of her. I would love to hang out with her for a while and see if some of it would spill over into me!! Make sure you go visit and comment on her project. Some of you had questions about the commenting so I just want to clarify: To be eligible for the grand prize you need to comment on each designers project post. You don't have to do it on the exact day that it is posted, just make sure you comment on all the blogs before the hop ends. So if you missed commenting on my project yesterday, just scroll down and post your comment now.

I was very fortunate to be a part of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from Today's Top Designers, issue that will be on newsstands November 17. Quiltmaker is doing a Blog tour Nov. 9.-13. with all the designers that have a block in the issue and have tons of prizes and stuff going on. To follow the blog tour go to www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore! My block is called Northern Flair and I used the Glow fabric line to make it. I love how it turned out using the large scale print in the large triangles to tie all the other colors together. If you comment on this post, you have a chance to win a copy of the issue hot off the press, tell me what you think of the block and you can win!

Our theme of the day in the Cross Country Blog hop is special food or cookie made for the holiday and a recipe. Since I didn't get to tell you a holiday memory yesterday, I am combining the two!

In Iceland we start celebrating christmas on Christmas Eve. At 6pm on December 24th, we always eat a delicious meal and after all the cleanup was done, open presents. On Christmas Day we would always go to my Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch and spend most of the day there with our relatives. My dad has 7 brothers and sisters so there was always a packed house.

I have lots of cousins and out of the grandkids I was the first girl born after 6 boys. (The cutie in the pink shirt is my dad's youngest brother, which is a few months younger than the oldest grandkid!) Yes, all the boys had long hair, don't you love all the matching outfits. I think it was easier to figure out whose kids they were;-) Afther this picture was taken, even 2 more boys were born before another girl came along. As you can see, the boys took real good care of me (I am in my purple dress).....most of the time. These family gatherings were so much fun. We were such a large group of people that we had to eat in rounds. 1s't round of people would fill the dining room and then when they were done, the next round was called.

After the big meal, we would all have sweets that my grandma had made and then my grandpa would give each of us our own bottle of soda.....Spur Cola to be exact. Now this was a big deal back then. We never got our own bottle of soda back then. Maybe a small cup at a birthday party. The Spur Cola was stored in the basement so it wasn't very cold, which made the soda fizz extra extreme. Now....what happens when you have 8 boys...and a girl, fizzing soda bottles, a very competitive bunch of kids and games to come up with? Burping contests!!! The funniest one was who could recite most of the alphabet while burping! Let's just say that we had a very talented group of kids and I totally held my own running with all the boys....and let's leave it at that:-) One of the kids in the picture above even made it to the Olympics a couple of times.....not for burping though!!

One of the sweets that my grandma made were these Coconut Balls "Kókoskúlur". They were these chocolaty, sweet things, covered in shredded coconut that you could just pop in your mouth. MMMMM delish!! (By the way, the cola went nuts in your mouth if you had one of those balls in your mouth and took a sip!! Volcano!!!) We still make these balls every christmas and I love them. So here is the recipe, I hope you enjoy:

Icelandic Coconut Balls

1 stick Butter, softened

1/2 cup Sugar

1-1/2 cup Fine Oats

2 tbsp Cocoa (Use good cocoa)

1/2 tsp Vanilla

2 tbsp Coffee, cold OR milk if you don't want the coffee flavor.

1 cup Coconut (finely shredded)

Mix everything except the coconut, together in a bowl. Mold into bitesize balls and roll in the coconut. (You will get messy) Chill for a couple of hours.....or as long as you can possibly hold out without popping one of these in your mouth!

Remember to comment here for a chance to win the 100 block magazine and then go visit Sandy!!

CCC Blog Hop: Day 1

Welcome to the Cross Country Christmas, Quilt Designer blog hop. For those of you that are new here, I should start by telling you a little bit about myself and what I have been up to lately as a designer. My name is Gudrun and I am born and raised in Iceland. The designers in the hop have come up with themes for every day of the hop so that we can tell you stories from the holidays, so you will be hearing a lot of stories from Iceland. Hey, not a bad way to learn a little about another country and it's traditions. I moved to Minnesota 6 years ago with my husband Torir and 3 kids; son Atli (now 16), son Gisli (9) and daughter Svana (8).

My pattern company GE Designs was started in Iceland with my pattern designs in Icelandic only and since being in the States I have written books and patterns in english. I also design fabrics for red rooster fabrics and we just introduced my line number 8, which is called Olivia. It won't be in stores until March 2010, but if you click on the photo, you can see a little preview of the line.  This is the first time that my fabric line includes a panel print so I published a pattern specifically to use panels to go with it called Quilts For Olivia. It has 4 projects, a bed quilt, lap quilt, wall quilt and a table runner.

I have been collecting strips for years (way before the "Jelly Roll" was born) and have an extensive line of strip patterns available. This fall I introduced a new book at quilt market, called Strip On. In the book are 10 quilts that are all made with 1-1/2" and 2-1/2" strips. This book was so much fun to work on because the quilts are all so different. It is one of my favorite challenges as a designer to figure out different ways of using strips, it's just so great to go straight to the sewing machine without having to do a lot of cutting first.

I am also known for my "Quilt As You Go" patterns. Since the free patterns in the blog hop should be projects that you could get done quickly in time for the holidays for gifts or yourself; I decided to give you a "Quilt As You Go" project. It can be done in an afternoon, easily....I promise!! If you have never tried one of my "Quilt As you go" patterns before, don't worry, you will be able to follow the tutorial easily with all the photos. If you get hooked on the method and need to make fast gifts for christmas, I recommend you check out my Fast & Furious book that came out earlier this year because it has 17 QAYG projects.  

PRIZES!!

I decided to use my Glow fabric line for this little Christmas wallhanging because I love how my Holiday Charm quilt turned out in Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting (It made the cover!!). Now I have a wall quilt to match! Be sure to tell me what you think of Sweet Trimmings in the comments to be able to win a kit to make your own!!  And if you visit all the other designers in the hop and post your comment, you will be eligible for the grand prize drawing. You don't have to comment on the exact day that their project is posted, just make sure you comment at least once on every blog in the 12 days that the Blog hop runs.  We would really like to hear from you every day, and you should visit all blogs each day because we are all sharing some good stories and who knows what else. You don't want to miss out on any extra prizes do you?

Here is Sweet Trimmings, I hope you enjoy!!

Fabric Requirements

Background fabric: 1/3 yard

Green fabrics: 4 different Fat Eights

Tree Trunk & Narrow Border: Fat Quarter

Prairie Points: Fat Quarter

Wide Border & Binding: 1/2 yard

Backing: 2/3 yard

Batting: At least a 22" x 30" rectangle

Cutting:

Background: Cut One 5-1/2" strip and Two 1-1/2" strips. From the 5-1/2" strip cut Two 5-1/2" squares, Two 4-1/2 x 4" rectangles and Six 3-1/2" squares.

Green fabrics: Cut One 5-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle from one of the fabrics and One 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle from each of the 3 remaining fabrics.

Tree Trunk and Narrow Border: Cut Four 1-1/4" strips (from the longer side of the fat quarter) and One 3-1/2" x 4-1/2" rectangle.

Prairie Points: Cut Ten 4" squares. 

Wide Border and Binding: Cut Two 3" strips and Three 2-1/2" strips.

Baste your backing and batting together using fusible batting or with a basting spray.

 Draw a horizontal line parallel to the shorter side of the batting, 6" from the edge of the batting with a pencil or erasable pen. Then draw a vertical line from the first line, exactly in the center of the batting and two short lines 1-3/4" from the center line on each side as shown.

Place the tree trunk rectangle exactly between the short lines as shown and aligned with the horizontal line, right side up and pin down. Lay a 4-1/2" x 4" background rectangle on top of the trunk piece, right sides together aligning raw edges.

 
 
Using a walking foot on your machine and bobbin thread that matches your backing, stitch through all layers with a 1/4" seam. When starting and ending each seam, sew a few stitches in the same place to secure threads. Press out.

Repeat on the other side of the trunk piece with another 4-1/2" x 4" background rectangle and press.

Now layer a green 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" rectangle on top of the sewn unit with right sides together, aligning raw edges.

Stitch through all layers as before and press.

 
 
 Draw a diagonal line on the back of all the background squares and place two 3-1/2" squares on each corner of the green unit, exactly as shown, right sides together. Sew exactly on the line.

Trim the seam allowance to a 1/4" and press.

Repeat the process with the remaining 3-1/2" x 10-1/2" green pieces and 3-1/2" background squares. to create the 2nd and 3rd level of the tree.

Sew the green 5-1/2" x 10-1/2" piece to the top of the tree and press. Place a 5-1/2" background square on one corner as shown and sew on the line. Trim the seam allowance and press.

Repeat on the other side with the last background square, trim and press.

 

Layer a 1-1/2" background strip on each side of the tree unit, trim them to the right length and stitch down with a 1/4" seam allowance. Press out.

Repeat with the top and bottom. Add the narrow border in the same way by first sewing them to the sides and then the top and bottom, pressing in between.

Fold the Prairie point squares in half with wrong sides together and press. Then fold them again so that all the raw edges are on the same side and press.

Place 3 prairie points on each side of the unit as shown and pin down. Make sure that the tips are overlapped by a 1/4 inch or so. Now place a border strip on top of the prairie points, aligning all raw edges, pin down and trim the strips to length. Sew through all layers with a 1/4" seam, catching all the prairie points in the border seams. Press both the borders and the points out.

 
 
 Place 2 prairie points on each short side as shown.

Make sure that the points are placed as shown, overlapping the edge of the narrow border a little bit. Then place the border strips on top and pin down. Sew through all layers and press.

Trim your backing and batting to the same size as the front of the quilt. Sew the 2-1/2" binding strips together into a long strip, press it in half lengthwise and finish the quilt with the binding.

I embellished my quilt with some buttons. That is of course optional but I put green buttons on the prairie points and then I put 24 red buttons on the tree. My idea is to hang little candies on the buttons and then use the quilt as an advent calendar. Each day of December I get to eat a piece of candy until Christmas!!

I hope you enjoyed the Sweet Trimmings wall quilt. Remember to comment to be able to win the prizes!! Also be sure to check in with the other designers and read their stories.

And the designer is.....

Thank you to all of you that participated in our Guess Who game. It was a tough job to figure out who those adorable little munchkins were, but I hope it was fun for you. It was really fun for us to see all the guesses unfold, some were easier then others...I have to admit.

Out of over 170 guesses on who the cutie in the black and red dress is, only 32 of you got it right!!! Can you believe it!!

All of our names were guessed, even though I told you that it wasn't me. Hey, even Anne Sutton got a vote....love it!! I bet she will get a kick out of that!! All in good fun:-)

So who is the designer?......

.....wait for it.....

...do you recognize her.....it's the same smile, but she is more seasoned in front of the camera now, she's actually looking at it!!

YES, you got it right......it's the fabulous Carrie Nelson.....trained caretaker of Miss Rosie.

Now, if you don't know Carrie, she is such a FAN-tastic gal, I admire her in so many ways. For example:

She gets the "Best airplane travel buddy ever" Award, for saving me a seat on a Southwest flight when it is not allowed (and you can get kicked off the plane for doing it)!!

She is fearless in quilting and will put 100.000 flying geese that measure 1" x 2" into one amazing quilt....and thinks it's fun!! (I am really just soooo jealous, cuz my hair would be all torn out by geese #50!!) 

She stays really organized when she is working on a quilt. She has all the pieces stacked in order and organized in a cute container (Really Carrie, I wish!!....remind me to never show you my "quilt in progress")

She ALWAYS makes me laugh, if we can just figure out how to bottle her up....we would make a fortune!!

So, the winner is......She's a Missisippi Girl in Florida...congratulations Rene with the adorable blog http://renecreates.blogspot.com/ Hey Rene, please e-mail me your shipping adress (gudrun@gequiltdesigns.com) and I will send you your prize.

You all had just as hard of a time figuring out who I was. If I had shown you a picture of my daughter from when she was 1 years old, or even my sister....you would have found me in a heartbeat!! I was the round faced, big ears, purple wearing rugrat on Pam's blog.

Yeps, this is a homemade, purple velvet dress and a cardigan knitted by my grandma. I really wish I still had it, those colors are in again!! 
 

Now.....this is just wrong.....I think I could still pull off purple though? What do you think?

Remember to stop by tomorrow, Monday Nov. 9th, for the launch of the Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop right here. I will start off the hop with a free "Quilt As You Go" pattern for you that is simple enough and quick to whip up before the Holidays. Be sure to tell all of your friends because they certainly don't want to miss this event. Not only are you getting 12 free patterns from some of the top designers today, but you can be eligible for a fantastic grand prize. If you comment on all 12 blogs, you will be entered in a drawing for the following gift bags, filled with fabulous quilting goodies from all of us:

GE Designs, Pieces of My Heart, Atkinson Designs, Pat Sloan, Anka's Treasures,  Pam Kitty Morning, New Leaf Stitches, Whimsicals, This 'N' That, Miss Rosie's Quilt Co., Rosebud's Cottage, Linda Lum DeBono.

1st Prize    A gift bag worth $250

2nd Prize    A gift bag worth $70

3rd Prize    A gift bag worth $40

Many  of us will also be having individual prize drawings so there are lots of chances to win. See you tomorrow!!
 

Guess Who?

It's time for our Quilt Designer guessing game! To celebrate and kick off our Cross Country Christmas Blog hop, all of us that are participating have posted a picture of one of the designers. Now you have to try and figure out who this is!! Isn't she fabulously excited about those presents, putting on her best smile but not looking at the camera because she is really looking at those presents out of the corner of her eye! I just love it. So who do you think this is? Is it Terri, Pam, Roseann, Kari, Sherri, Carrie, Linda, Sandy, Heather, Terry or Pat? It's not me, so don't even try that.

Take your best guess and write it in the comments. On Saturday night, I will draw a name out of those who got it right and send you some hot, fresh, fat quarters from my new fabric line Olivia!! It won't even be in stores until March!! Don't miss out on a chance to get your hands on some before everyone else. Check back here on Sunday morning to see who the winner is.

I have some other exciting news to share with you. I am officially a "Cover Girl"!! Or at least as close as I am ever going to get! My quilt Holiday Charm made the cover of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, November/December issue. The quilt is made from my Glow fabric line, even though it is not a holiday fabric line. Actually, if you would spot this line in a store, I think Christmas is the last thing that pops in your head by looking at it. I used the greens, yellows and reds in the line with a touch of brown and there you have it.....a very "christmassy" looking quilt!! Big lesson learned...You don't always need holiday prints to create holiday quilts....just pull the right colors.

Remember to comment.....until nex time....

 

Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop

We are starting the countdown to our Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop. As I said in the last post, we have 12 designers lined up for you to visit each day and each of us has designed a special project to share with you. The projects are all themed around gift giving, quick and easy to get done before christmas. Along with all the projects, each of us will be sharing stories from our childhood and adulthood, recipes and traditions so this will be a great opportunity for you to learn more about us if you stop by every day.

 

To get everybody warmed up, we are starting a little game on Wednesday November 3rd. We are going to post a baby or a childhood picture of one designer (not ourselves!!) and we are going to get you to guess who it is!! This is going to be tricky, believe me. Make sure you stop by on Wednesday....there are prizes involved.

Here is the lineup of designers along with the date that they post their project, but make sure to check every designers blog each day to read their stories. Put these blogs in your favorites folder now so you will be ready on November 9th.

Nov 9 - Gudrun of GE Designs ....I will be starting us off, I am a MN transplant from Iceland

Nov 10 - Sandy from Pieces of My Heart is from Iowa (born and raised in MN though!!)

Nov 11 - Terry of Atkinson Designs is a Minnesota girl

Nov 12 - Pat Sloan is a Virginia native

Nov 13 - Heather of Anka's Treasures is another Minnesota chick

Nov 14 - Pam from Pam Kitty Morning is a California girl

Nov 15 - Kari of New Leaf Stitches is from Minnesota

Nov 16 - Terri from Whimsicals is well centered in Indiana

Nov 17 - Sherri of This and That is one of the first MN designer I got to know

Nov 18 - Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company is in Arizona

Nov 19 - Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage is from Minnesota

Nov 20 - Linda  is from New Jersey and she is our anchor

I am so excited about this blog hop and can't wait to get to know some more readers. To help us get the word out, please share this with your quilting group, guilds, on your blogs, in your groups on Facebook and Twitter and anywhere else. Feel free to use the logo, we would love to meet quilters from all over the world. Like our last blog hop, there will be some fabulous Grand Prizes!!

Check back in on Wednesday for the picture game....until then!!

Blog Hop Winners

We have our winners already pulled out of the hat....cross checked to make sure they commented on all 4 blogs and now it is time to announce the winners!!!

Before we do that though.....I want to thank each and every one of you for taking part in our Blog Hop. It has been truly remarkable to read all the comments and just to see how many stopped by without commenting. It just shows us that quilting is alive and well in the world right now and pay attention to what is happening out there in the quilting world.

First I would like to announce the winner of the Anytime Placemat kit (using my new Glow fabric line, by Red Rooster Fabrics) and my Fast & Furious book.

The lucky girl is Marcia Rocheleau

She Said: "My daughter's wedding was just this Saturday so the timing of this is perfect. I am ready for good ideas to get me back to my quilting groove. =)"

Congratulations Marcia, please e-mail me your shipping adress so I can send you your goodies gudrun@gequiltdesigns.com

Now for the Grand Prizes!

If you commented on all 10 blogs, you were entered in a drawing for the following gift bags, filled with fabulous quilting goodies from all of us:

GE Designs, Anka's Treasures, Perkins Dry Goods, Rosebud's Cottage, This 'N' That, New Leaf Stitches, Atkinson Designs, Cedar Canyon Textiles, Scrap-Bags and Quilted Treasures.

 1st Prize    A gift bag worth $200 and the winner is:

Gwendie from www.gwendiesquilts.blogspot.com

She said: (on my blog) "

That's such a cute placemat and great directions. The designer hop is going to be so much fun!"

2nd Prize    A gift bag worth $60

Lynda Green 

She said: (on my blog) "New to blog lurking and love the idea of a hop around cyberspace. Off to try the placemat - fits well with my commitment to reduce my stash. Thanks."

3rd Prize    A gift bag worth $40

Sue Cahill

She said: (on my blog) "I think this hop is going to be great fun and I hope to learn a lot. Thanks for the wonderful tutorial."

Congratulations Gwendie, Lynda and Sue. Please send me your shipping adress in an e-mail gudrun@gequiltdesigns.com so I can get you your prizes!!

 

Many of you have asked us and encouraged me to organize another hop like this one and I am happy to announce that I am going to for sure. The next Blog Hop will be in November and you will be hearing more about that later. We will venture a little bit further than Minnesota that time around and introduce you to more great designers. Our hop is called Cross Country Christmas and we will give you great holiday ideas; projects, decorating, recipes and more......stay tuned.

Let me know what you think and tell me what other states you would like to visit on a blog hop?

 

Day 10 of the Blog Hop....the last blogger

We are at the end of our hop which is bittersweet for me. I have really enjoyed being in such close contact with all of you by blogging every day and reading all your great comments and feedback.

Our last blogger, but certainly not least, is Mary Wilberg. she owns a quilt shop called Quilted Treasures in Rogers, MN which is just northwest of the Minneapolis Metro. She does a great job featuring Minnesota designers in her shop so if you are ever visiting Minnesota physically....make sure you stop by. I met Mary soon after I moved to Minnesota and we became great friends. I have not made myself available to teach classes much, especially when the kids were younger, but Quilted Treasures has been an exception. I love teaching in her wonderful classroom so we usually try and schedule one class per session. The photo on the left is from the last class I taught there, Double Duty Runners and these ladies got theirs done in class. When you walk in the store, your head just fills with inspiration from the great models and displays, so it is a great excuse for me to get to come visit.

Mary also has a line of patterns herself that are sold exclusively at Quilted Treasures, but today she has a wonderful tutorial on her blog about how to use grommets with the cutest pillow I think I will just have to make. Make sure you comment on her blog if you have been following the blog hop to be eligible for the prizes.

The winners of the prizes will be announced on Monday. That will give you the weekend to make sure you commented on all 10 blogs and get your name in there. I will also announce the winner of the Placemat kit on Monday.

Have a great 4th of July weekend and I will see you back on Monday

Day 9 of the Blog Hop

Moving on from the "Paintstik" Lady to the "Bag" Lady.....today it is Jamie's turn to blog. Jamie Kalvestran's company name is Scrap-Bags and she has a wonderful blog called Ideas and Inspirations. She has a great selection of bag patterns that are very versatile and is going to share a very interesting technique with us today. Her background is very interesting so make sure you go visit her today and comment to be able to win the prize. If you are just starting to blog hop, make sure you visit everybody that has blogged already  since we only have one more blogger to go tomorrow.

In honor of our "Bag Lady" blogger today, I decided to put a picture of some of my bags to spice up the post. This is the Runaround Bag and the pattern for it is in the new Fast & Furious book.

See you tomorrow for the last blogger of the hop.