Gudrun´s World

Quiltistry

I got to be a part of a very fun event this past June that took place in New Ulm, Minnesota. This was the first year of this Quiltistry event which hopefully will be held on a regular basis. It was put on by a group of women owned specialty shops and businesses in downtown New Ulm. 

The day started out with a morning tea session at the The Grand Kabaret, where I was the featured speaker. This is a very special place with a lot of history and I just loved the interior.

I only had my phone to take pictures and of course didn´t pull it out until after everyone had left.

The Grand Kabaret has live music and comedians on their stage on a regular basis. This morning.....a quilt designer from Iceland!! 

It was pretty cool! Thank you to all the ladies that came out early on a Saturday morning to listen to my gab!

They had a specific Quilt Trolley going around town that day to take quilters to the different events.

New Ulm has some wonderful buildings dating back to their German settlers and one of the highlights that day was the outdoor quilt show on German Street. I took the stroll on my lunch break and took some photos:

One of the quilts on display was made from my Destiny line of fabric from a few years ago.

Peeking through the window on that same house, I spotted another quilt in the porch from my Amma´s Garden fabric line, which matched the flowers in the window boxes. What a fun surprise.

Across the street there were quilts strung between the trees! Gorgeous!

In the afternoon there were workshops offered taught by me, Chris Hoover from Whirligig Designs and the local shops.

It was a very fun day in the cutest little town and I highly recommend checking it out next time if you are in the area.

 

Classes in Iceland

I just wanted to check in here quick to let you know that I am still breathing. I am actually breathing the best air in the world according to my husband because I am in northern Iceland, more specifically: Akureyri. I taught a class here last night and spent the evening with some wonderful quilters. I only have one more class to teach tonight out of the 6 classes we planned for this trip. I fly to the westfjords today and teach in Ísafjörður tonight.
I have been taking pictures to share with you later but I have also been snapping some with my phone.
On Monday I travelled to Egilsstadir in eastern Iceland, where my sister lives and got to hang out with my nephew for a couple of days before my class. After our big tasks of chasing down coyotes and wolves in his yard (invisible ones) we hit the ice cream shop!

Where is my saddle?

I feel like I have been on the road for so long now that it is hard to think that it is still February. So much has happened, I have slept more nights in a foreign bed this month than my own bed....ok I can see how that statement can be misunderstood! I just mean that I have been traveling so much! I am desperately trying to get back in the saddle again. I need some stability, routine....I need to get some stuff done!!

Don't get me wrong, you don't have to feel sorry for me, I have had a great time on the road, teaching and visiting. It's the coming back and figuring out the every day stuff that takes a while to get back into routine.

So here are some of the things I have been doing:

This week I taught and lectured in Iowa with the Eastern Polk County Quilters. I didn't have my camera but snapped just a few photo's with my phone (excuse the blurry pics).

Over 20 quilters worked on the Strips & Salsa pattern on Sunday

We had a great time and most of the quilters got very far with the blocks. During the lecture on Monday night, they asked them all to stand up and show their progress and amazingly, there were some quilt tops done and many rows assembled!

 

It was a great group of quilters and I had a blast hanging out with them.

Before the lecture on Monday night I went and visited Quilter's Cupboard in Ankeny, IA. It is a great little shop with a lot of variety. Great little rooms filled with cute displays and fabric.

They had some cute models made up from my Fast & Furious Holiday book, Roly Poly Tree skirt...

...and the stockings.

The day before I went to Iceland, I also taught and lectured in Fergus Falls, MN. We had a "Quilt As You Go" workshop where participants could choose between two projects to work on. They were both out of the first Fast & Furious book...

...Afternoon Snack table runner...

...and Tea Time Honey! What a wonderful group to spend the day with.

There were other things I hinted at in this blog post, before I left for Iceland. Atli had his signing ceremony at school on February 2nd.

He is going to the University of Wisconsin - Parkside, receiving a full scholarship to play soccer!

He is gonna be a Ranger!! The school colors are forest green, black with a little gold.....I think I have some of these colors in my stash. I gotta start planning a dorm room quilt, YIKES, time is flying by to fast!

We are super proud of him, and so is the school. They wrote about him on the school soccer website.

Here is the article: Minnesota Recruits

Next up....I am going to show you some pictures from Iceland....promise!!

Lecture in Perham

I had a great trip to Perham last weekend. I was teaching and speaking at a Schoolhouse event that Bay Window Quilt Shop puts on every year. I taught classes in the morning and then was the featured lecturer in the afternoon. The event was sold out, I think about 170 women participated which was phenomenal!

Sara and her staff put up a little shop in the cafeteria so that the ladies could shop during lunch.(check out the Braid Runner on the right)

  They had a bunch of kits cut up from the Olivia line.

Strip Off was also featured along with Olivia Fat Quarters and kits for the cover quilt.

Since my classes were on "Quilt As You Go" everybody wanted to buy the Fast & Furious book, they ripped them out of Sara's hands whenever she came back with more....literally!! 

The lecture was held in the wonderful auditorium followed by a book signing session.

  After the lecture we went to the store to do some shopping. It is truly a wonderful shop with lots of pretty displays, nooks and cranny's.

There is a separate Holiday room that stocks holiday fabrics year round.

The contemporary room or Katie's room stocks lots of trendy fabric and some children's stuff.  

 I loved all the old cupboards and cabinets filled with pretty fabrics & books.

Isn't that green vanity just to die for!!

They have lots of models in the store....something for everyone!

Olivia had her own premier location in the shop, actually displayed on a sewing table called Olivia!!

    It was no big surprise that I left the shop with a big bag full of goodies, everything was just so hard to resist!! Thank you so much Bay Window Quilt shop for having me and for such a fun day!

Check back here on Saturday.....I've got some news to share!!!

Spring is in the air

The temperatures are really starting to warm up and we haven´t had any snow here in Minnesota so far in March. That is pretty unusual but I like it!! I got my pots all emptied out with the winter arrangements and now they are ready for some pretty spring plants. I plan on taking them to the Nursery on Sunday, get some pretty plants and then let them take care of the pots until it is safe to be outside in this MN climate. I love this one in the picture, I might need to try and copy the concept but maybe with a little more color....what do you think?

 

Here is a little sneak peek for you. I just made a  quilt that will be a new strip pattern and this is what I am doing with the leftovers. The pattern will have this little bonus quilt included, but I can´t decide if I should have one border or maybe more. I am also thinking I might need some more color in the borders. What do you think? I would love some ideas.

I created a new file with the shops that are carrying Olivia, listed them by state and also listed their phone numbers. Click on the image to make it larger. I hope this helps answer all your questions I have been getting about where to get the line so that you can participate in the Olivia Challenge.

I am headed up to Perham, MN to teach for Bay Window Quilt Shop. They put on a Schoolhouse series every year and I am the featured speaker this year....very fun. I´m taking my camera and will get you the inside scoop next week.

Have a great weekend!!

South Dakota Trip

 

Our trip to South Dakota was great. Kim, the owner of Dakota Quilt Company in Spearfish hosted the retreat and she does a great job. She even gives up her home to host the designers so we had the fortune of being able to stay in her beautiful house.

The retreat kicked off on Friday morning. They had everything set up in a large room that was partially split in half and I taught on one side Friday and the other side Saturday so that the quilters didn't have to move. In between they set up a little store with all our fabrics and patterns.

On the other side of the room was my co-teacher, the fabulous Bonnie Sullivan, the mind behind All Through the Night pattern company and the wonderful Woolies flannels from Maywood.

I taught one of my strip patterns, Strip Twist (see picture), and many of the students were using the Glow fabric line from the precut strip packages from Red Rooster. It worked out great because they just opened up the package and started sewing, one packet makes a lap size quilt!! My daughter Svana and her American girl doll Mia were determined to stay with me and take the class but had to go with Dad to do some Cave exploring.

 

Friday night, me and Bonnie each shared a Trunk show with the group along with other quilters in the community. That was great fun; lots of great quilts. The retreat was over on Saturday evening and we ended the night with a great dinner out with Kim and her family and Bonnie.

 

Bonnie, me and Kim on Kim's front porch. Thanks Kim for a great weekend.

 

On Sunday we drove out to Devil's Tower in Wyoming and took the scenic route thanks to the ladies in my class that were there from the area. It was so worth it and we saw all kinds of fun things. The Antique store was closed....

 

Driving around the country side, all of a sudden it appears, sticking out of the landscape.....just phenomenal.

 

We hiked around the Tower which was very fun. We even saw lots of climbers trying to reach the top. Gisli said that he was definitely coming back when he turns 16 to be able to climb the Tower. We will see if that will come true. He is my little mountain goat though so I am sure he will do it!!

On our way back we had to check out the prairie dogs which are all over the place. They are so cute, you just want to take them home.....almost. These looked well fed though compared to others we had seen....food must be good around the Tower!!

Later that Sunday we started our journey back to Minnesota with a stop in Sioux Falls. Great trip, I got to hang out with really fun quilters for 2 days and everybody else got to explore all kinds of fun things. Perfect for everyone.

 

I am head over heels in fabric right now, both literally and in love, finishing all of the projects for quilt market. Here is a little sneak peek of one of the quilts that will be in the new book coming out. The quilt doesn't have a finalized name yet so I am open to suggestions....write your ideas in the comments and if I use your name, I will send you a book!!

If you are in the Rogers, Minnesota area on Saturday, September 19th, I will be teaching a class on one of the quilt as you go projects in my new book, Fast & Furious at Quilted Treasures. It is the Afternoon Snack Runner that is featured on the cover of the book. If you are interested in the class, it goes from 12:30 - 3:30 I believe, call Quilted Treasures of Rogers 763-428-1952 and sign up.

Spearfish, South Dakota....here I come!!

Today I am on the road, headed to Spearfish, South Dakota. I've got my husband and 2 younger kids traveling with me, they are going to play while I work!! Don't feel so bad for me....I will be having a blast spending 2 days with quilters at a retreat that Kim at Dakota Quilt Company puts on every year. I am teaching one of my strip patterns there and lecturing on friday night.

 

I am trying to hold back on writing up an itinerary for Torir and the kids while I am teaching, I think I will let him figure it out himself. We have been to SD once before, 3 years ago, and the kids absolutely loved it. I am sure they just want to go and do the exact same things again!!

 

On Sunday, I get to play tourist for a day and my goal is for us to drive across the state line to visit Devil's Tower. I also want to go an a good hike with the family so maybe we can combine that.

I will take lots of pictures and blog next week about our trip.

Orange

It seems like this is the color of the month, it is popping up everywhere.

The ever so fabulous Pat Sloan is hosting a virtual retreat this weekend and she calls it the OP challenge. OP stands for Orange Pile!! Yes you are supposed to dig out your orange fabric, pile it up and wait for further instructions!! How fun is that. Check her blog to get more info.

Roseann of Rosebuds Cottage in St.Paul went on an Orange Scavenger Hunt and posted the most gorgeous pictures from her adventures..(ps. take me with you next time!!) Really fun stuff.

With all the orange in the air, I decided to make my own orange pile. I was actually really surprised when I started pulling things together about the fact that I have actually designed a lot of orange fabric myself!! And I have lots of gold too that didn´t make it into the photo, that could pass as orange....it would at least look good together in a quilt. I also just had to include the beige with the orange poppies...they were yelling at me to be included! So...I don´t know what I am gonna make with these, maybe I will just do Pat´s project this weekend or.....work on a new strip pattern!! I think these colors would be cool in that quilt with some browns and greens.

On a side note, I am going to Iceland next month to teach some classes and the signup is awesome! We had to get a bigger ballroom to fit the 70 ladies coming. I am very excited about it. Here is the ad, if you happen to know Icelandic!!

On the road

I am on the road today travelling to Alexandria, MN for a lecture and a trunk show tonight for the Lakes Area Quilters guild. I will be staying overnight and heading to Fergus Falls, MN for another lecture tomorrow morning with the Heart In The Country Quilters. I am looking forward to getting out and meeting quilters, since I have been buried in my studio for the past weeks getting ready for market. Things are really coming together though and so far I am loving it. I am working with a new fabric line that will debut in october and be in stores early next year. I will share some sneak peeks later in the week of my progress.

 

We finished going through all the Iowa Flood Relief boxes this weekend and now have the donations all organized into marked boxes, fabric, notions, books, patterns. It was so much fun to open the boxes, read your great cards and letters, not to mention get to look at and handle all that great fabric! The results from this drive is phenomenal, we are going to have to fill up two mini vans for the ride because there is no way it will fit into one vehicle!! We are planning on driving half way to Cedar Rapids, meeting two gals from the guild there and repack their vehicles to get it all the way. Hopefully they will be ready to receive our goodies in a couple of weeks. Many are rebuilding or fixing up previous homes, so they haven't been ready yet.

 

I want to thank all of you again for making this mission such a successful one, it truly means a lot for these wonderful ladies affected.

Incredible rollercoaster called LIFE!

Hello everyone, it has been a whirlwind of emotions running in my head lately. You never know what life will throw at you at any point. One of my dearest friends was just diagnosed with cancer in the prime of life and it has had a real effect on me. I am just determined to be there for her every step of the way, because a journey like she is facing is not fun to take alone. I know that for a fact because my husband was diagnosed with Brain Cancer 2 years ago, and we went through hell and back with him. He is doing very well right now after 2 surgeries and stable MRI's since then, so we are just blessed for all we have been given and try to live life to the fullest every day. So the news of my friend threw me right back into Cancer-Caregiver-Mode. It is like I was just put on autopilot, making phonecalls, doing research, keeping her spirits up and trying to share my experiences and give advice through our own journey. Everything else is put on hold....your priorities change drastically when something like this happens. So please say some extra prayers for my dearest Glo, we need all the help we can get.

So.....sorry for the "no posts" lately, here are the pictures from my Iowa workshop I had promised. We were working on a strip pattern called Strip Search, which is a very fast and easy quilt, so we had lots of fun in class. The best part about the pattern is that you only need 1 jelly roll for a lap size quilt, so they all showed up with the strips ready and could start right away. It was so much fun to see all the different colors and fabric choices, they all looked great.