Happy New Year!

It's that time when we ring out the old and ring in the new year! It has been a whirlwind of a year for me and I sort of hate to see 2013 go, but I know exciting things are coming for 2014 so I will go with the flow!

As I think about my goals for next year, I have pondered on my goals for this past year and all that I got accomplished. The year was filled with teaching and vending...two things I have not done for quite a while, nor had I done in the quilting industry. I have learned that I do enjoy these activities very much as I get to share the fun things I love about quilting, stitching and punching! These activities have taken me to Arkansas, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and in between a few places. I plan on spreading my wings a bit more this year to build my little business. It is such fun to spread the Joy of Quilting to others! Once again, I thank all of you who inspire me to continue with this journey!

Winter 2013 brought a change in our lives as we moved our oldest DD and SIL far away from home to Augusta, GA. We had a great week together painting and decorating their new home so they would feel right at home quickly! It involved a modern touch, which was new for me to help with, but I really enjoyed making their new quilt in that style for them.

 

Winter also brought lots of work designing small sized projects for my pattern business. I tend to love working on large quilts and the plan to make small quilts was a nice challenge. They were made of Cottons and Wools, along with a few Punchneedle Mini Quilts! I made patterns for a total of 15 smaller projects in 2013! There are a few of them pictured below. You can see all of my patterns on my website at TraditionalPrimitives.com.

 

Spring 2013 brought work on Josie's Petals, a design for Blackberry Primitives Wool Company. Cindi and Tanja took her to Market in Portland to hang in their booth. It will be in a French Magazine this coming year!

Spring also brought work on the English Paper Piecing Workshops and Pincushions. It was exciting to get these ready so that I could begin teaching and sharing about English Paper Piecing in my unique method as well as the traditional method.

The weekend in Nebraska with The Quilted Crow Girls was in the Spring as well...Leonie, Deardre, Julie (Me and My Stitches), Lynn ( More Sew For You) and I shared many giggles and fun along with learning the Crow Girls way of doing wool appliqué.

Summer 2013 brought work on Pennies In My Garden wool appliqué quilt. It was so fun to find out how quickly this quilt goes when sewing it. Even though it is made by hand, the buttonhole stitching on the circles in 12" blocks went super fast!

 

Summer also brought the interview with Pat Sloan Radio! It was a great experience to be part of! You can listen to it if you wish...just find my name in June's listings on her radio website.

Much of my spare time was spent helping hand quilt the DMAQG Show Quilt!

Summer was the time that I decided to change my company name from Hallbrook Designs to Traditional Primitives and when I got the new website and blog switched over and running. (Take notice, my old email will be going away in a few days! Be sure to save my new contact info if you have not done so already! I look forward to making the new blog just as informative as the old blog. You can still access any old posts by the way...just click on the right sidebar for the link.)

Fall 2014 brought teaching and road trips for Vending and Trunk Shows in a few stores:

Eastern Iowa at Inspirations, a great little quilt store in Hills, IA; The Rabbit's Lair, a great store in Rogers, AR; Pierre, SD for teaching at a wonderful weekend retreat; Lees Summit, MO for a great quilt show and more. I hope to add more pinpoints to this map in 2014! It will begin in only a few days with my trip to Oklahoma City to vend in the Winter Quilt Show...let the adventure Begin!

Winter 2013 brought some catch up time and basic sewing I needed to complete. I have been working on my own Josie's Petals since Blackberry Primitives owns the original.

And I've also begun work on the next big quilt I plan on making! It has been a challenge so far...can't wait to show you more!

My sewing room is just about in order...the wall of little quilts is up, the new quilting machine is up and running well and my sewing space is slowly coming together. It sure has taken me a while to get things in order, but I am working on it when I can. Only a few more days and I can show you... I know it's taking forever! Perhaps the organization of my sewing room will be the last sewing related thing I complete in 2013!

It was a great year of blogging fun and pattern designing fun for me. I certainly hope your 2013 was as much fun as my year. Cheers to a wonderful 2014!!! Let's make it great!

Take Care,

Missie

 

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New Quilt Design!

My new quilt, Pennies In My Garden is posted on the new blog!

Traditional Primitives Blog

Traditional Primitives Store

Be sure to join the new blog site and add me to your blog roll!

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My Stash from the Quilt Show

Ahhh, it's always fun to rest up after a big show and go through your new stash!

The first thing I bought was these two beautiful Broderi Perse fabrics...one has the BP, the other coordinates! It made me think of my Australian blogging friends... They do love the BP technique. I may have to make another as it' seen a while since I did this technique.

These are my new books! One has lovely ols quilts for inspiration. The next is an instructional book about rug hooking...which I WILL make time for one of these days! And the last is a new book from Paper Pieces. Those ladies sure know how to have a good time! They are so full of energy!

This is a few of the new fat quarters I found. Why is it I always feel the need to have MORE when what I have won't fit in my cabinet as it is!?! I will need to do some more rearranging soon!

This is from the shop that comes every year and brings the fabric samples. It is such fun to stand around the table every morning and root through the big pile! We are all smushed around the table digging like crazy ladies, passing across to someone who is looking for something we found! It's great fun!

This sample will be perfect for my middle daughter's first apartment! Her colors are taupe, black, eggplant and white. An eclectic mix is what she's going for and this will fit right in! There is enough for a wall hanging as well as several dresser toppers and small pieces for her bed side table.

And here's the loot from the last day...a book showing the wonderful miniature exhibit at the AQS show and a few new wire hangers, along with some beautiful yarn. Yarn?!? I a not a knitter, but we do have a loom, so I will get to making a new scarf this winter. Wish me luck! Oh, and there are some tiny buttons in that pile too!

My bags are packed again for a trip to SD this weekend! I'm so excited to have the honor to teach in my old stomping grounds at the Stately Stitchers Guild Weekend Retreat! I have learned so much from some of these ladies, back when I was a new quilter. I look forward to hugging some necks of good friends that I have not seen for many years! I also look forward to meeting some new friends as well...these folks from South Dakota are very special people. So generous and good! Below is a shot of some older quilts I'll be taking for the trunk show. I sure hope everything fits in the car!

Thanks so much for following the new blog. I appreciate each and every one of you! I'll be posting a few more posts to send people from the old blog to this one, so thanks for your patience with that! Have a great weekend and I'll post some pics of the big event in SD next week!

Take care,

Missie

 

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AQS Quilt Week Part 2...What A Great Time!

Here is the shot from the windows above...look at all that space for shopping and quilts!

 

 

The Special Exhibits were so wonderful.  Below is a picture of the modern quilt I liked the best. 



This exhibit was about The Caohagan Quilts.  These quilts are made by people who live on the Caohagan Island.  They sell these beautiful quilts and receive income from the revenues.  They are all so happy and cheerful!  As my friend Mary said, "They just make me smile"! 

 

And this is one of the quilts from the Masterpiece Exhibit, made by Velda Newman who came to speak and teach to our guild a few years back.  Isn't this an awesome quilt!

There was also a special exhibit of Pat Campbell's quilts.  She certainly was talented and our quilt world will really miss her.  Bless her soul.  

 

This one below was one of my favorites in the competition side of the show.  I'm sorry I didn't get a better picture or a picture of the label so I could give the maker credit.  It was stunning though!

 

 

 This one below, called Blue Denim, was made by Julee.  See that Honorable Mention Ribbon?!  She was so very excited!

 

 And this one below, made by Karen won Best Hand Workmanship!  Yowza!  These two ladies are in the same small group and stitch every week together.  How exciting for them to win ribbons in the same year!  And yep, I am very proud of them!

 

 

There was also a miniature exhibit that was outstanding.  We were not allowed to take pictures, but I did buy a book showing all of them.  I will love looking at it in the future!  Miniatures are so beautiful. 

 

 

Thanks for looking at all of these pictures!  Wish you could have come!!

Take care,

Missie

AQS Quilt Week...Part 1...The Des Moines Quilt Show...

Well, the week was a good one for me!  Lots of fun to be had at the quilt show this week!  Lots of beauties on the Des Moines side!  I am so proud to know many of the ribbon winners.  They are a talented bunch!  I'm also proud to know the non ribbon winners too!  We have a talented bunch in our guild.  I know the judge must have had a tough time choosing the top quilts.  Wish we could have given ribbons to all!

 

 

 Julie's and Mary's Blue Ribbons!

 



Sandy's...who says she is a new applique lover!  She did good getting second place!!

 



 

Vicki...wish I knew her...I love this flag quilt!

And Terry...love this modern look!

Many beautiful small quilts and minis!  (That's my English Paper Piecing Sampler in the top right corner!)  Look at that darling baby face...so cute!

 



Here's Chris' beauty in the center, and Patty's on the left!

 

 

And another modern one made by Brenda...yummy!

 

This is an art study quilt made by many talented quilters.  Each color is a small quilt, hung together to make a larger display.  Very nice!

 

Here's a few more beauties, also made by ladies I am proud to know!

 

 

Our raffle winner happened to stay around to see if her name was picked!  It was fun to see her so excited to win this quilt!  She was from a few hours away and decided to stay until the drawing...just in case!!  I know this quilt will be loved forever...

 

 

These are highlights from the Des Moines Area Quilter's Guild side of the show...next post...AQS highlights!

 

 

Take Care,

Missie

 

 

My bags Are Packed!!

The AQS/Des Moines Quilt Week starts today and my bags are packed!! One bag has my stitching in it so I have something to keep my hands busy while working the guild booth. The other is EMPTY so I can fill it up with goodies from the vendor marketplace! Fun fun fun!

Our Raffle Quilt is hung and we are ready to sell tickets!

If you want a chance, contact me before Saturday Morning and we can work out a way to get your name in the hat for the drawing! You can read more about this quilt HERE.

Look for picture some picture posts from the show starting tonight!

Take care,

Missie

CRAZY ABOUT WOOL Blog Hop !!

My Turn is today for the Crazy About Wool Blog Hop!  This hop has been lots of fun!  So many cute ideas and giveaways !!  I'm excited to share a bit about wool today because it is soooo easy to love working with wool!

How many of you have NOT done wool applique?  If not, you've just got to try it!  It is such a rewarding method of stitching.  You can do wool applique by hand using the blanket stitch or the whip stitch or even a simple running stitch.  You can do wool applique by machine also, using any decorative stitch you like, or as you see in the project I've designed for today, you can simply drop your feed dogs and use a freehand straight stitch to sew the applique on very easily. 

 

Working with wool is so relaxing...and quick...and it doesn't make me itch like wearing wool does...

It doesn't make my fingers dry like I thought it would...and it isn't difficult to work with. 

 

 

 

Working with wool is so fast because you don't have to turn under any raw edges.  There's no need to hide your stitches because usually we wool applique lovers like the stitches to show! 

 

It's also forgiving...you can stretch it just a bit here and there to make it fit just right.  Unless you use fusible webbing to attach the pieces in place...then it's not quite so forgiving.  I love to use glue sticks to hold my pieces in place and some ladies use pins or even more interesting things which I'll tell you about soon!

I love to use wools and cottons together as you've seen in past posts.  That makes me the happiest!

What about you?  All wool?  Or a mixture of wool and cotton?  I'd love to hear about what you like.

The best part about working with wool is that it is so very beautiful.  The colors are rich and deeply textured when you find some wonderfully hand dyed wools. 

For all of you blog hoppers, I've created a PDF pattern called Punkin Mug Rug that you can download free! 

Just click HERE to go to my website, Traditional Primitives (formerly Hallbrook Designs).  You will find the free file on my Blog Page of the site.  Just click on the file and print!  Please send me a picture of the Mug Rug you make.  I'd love to see how you put your touch on this easy little pattern.

 

For my regular followers, you did read my website name above correctly!  I am changing my little business name back to it's original name as of now.  A few years ago I had someone tell me they would never look at my patterns in a store based on the name of my company.  After a few years of repeating "Hallbrook" so folks can understand me, spelling it for people, and explaining where the name came from, I've decided it just isn't working and I'll go with what my "gut" originally told me to name my pattern design business.  Traditional Primitives from Missie Carpenter explains my style so well...Traditional with a touch of Primitive.  I hope you like it too!   From now on, I'll be posting from my NEW BLOG...TRADITIONAL PRIMITIVES.  Click on the name and you will be redirected.  Please take a moment to become a follower of the new site so you don't miss out on any new posts!  I'd love to keep in touch of course!!

 

I bid you farewell from Hallbrook Designs and welcome you to join me at

Traditional Primitives from Missie Carpenter, my new website.  For a little while longer you will be directed to the old website for shopping, but you'll see the transition complete in just a few weeks!  Please make changes if you've saved my website and update my email address as we correspond with each other by email.  

 

 

Take care,

Missie

PS!!  Don't forget to head on over to my new blog, Traditional Primitives and become a follower!  :-D