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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Happy Holidays!

May your Chrismas be Merry and Bright!

 

These stockings will be hung by the chimney with care today. I made them for my DD and SIL for their home, but we'll hang them here today so that Santa can find them here! I see that I forgot to sew on the snowman's nose as I look at the picture, so I will get right on that this morning!

The temps are -12* this morning, making our wind chill -24* at this moment. Brrrrrr! I have been in colder temps for sure, but we will be running through the parking lot today to get out of the cold as we shop for the last minute items we need in the kitchen.

Ginger is ready for Santa to come visit her tonight! She wishes each of you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And so do I......I thank each of you for your words of encouragement and inspiration through the year. Thanks for keeping me inspired to keep plugging away at this little business of mine.

See you in 2014 here on this blog! I hope to keep you all a wee bit inspired as we quilt and stitch together, making beautiful fabric items together! I have some new Appliqué, English Paper Piecing, Wool Appliqué, and Punchneedle projects in the works for you! Let's get excited to work together once again!

Take Care,

Missie

 

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Wall Of Little Quilts!

Oh! What fun it was to put up these little quilts! It was not as hard as I thought it would be. They sat there waiting for me to hang them for weeks! I finally jumped in and started last night. It only took about 10 minutes! What was I scared of?!?

These quilts will be on the far end of my quilting/sewing room, which is half of the open basement! I am a lucky gal and am so thankful to be able to spread out for sewing. This wall is just past the quilting frame, which you can see just a bit at the bottom of the picture.

Since adding the quilt frame to my sewing room, it's a huge mess down there! The problem is that when I rearranged, things came out from under the tables that we re against the walls. I am still looking for storage solutions. Having these all hung up will help me to finish and get organized! Straight pins were used to barely tack them to the wall. I will be getting some Command Strips and use the hook tape and put that on the wall under each quilt. The hook tape will grab to the fabric fibers and hold them up! I know this works because The Rabbit's Lair used this hanging method when my quilts were there on display! It was amazing! Taking them up and down should be very easy when I vend and need to take some of these quilts along.

Some of these are from the late 80's, some are from the mid 90's, some from the early 2000’s ( Do we call that the turn of the century? The Millenium?) and some you will recognize from my past posts! I may switch them up a bit once I get the command strips on the wall. The bottom edge is a bit uneven and I need to decide if all edges should be uneven or if I leave it as is for the most part. We'll see what I end up with!

For now, they are out of the way and getting me a bit inspired to keep organizing! And, they are off of the frame so I can get my quilting machine set up this week! Yeah!

Take care and thanks once more to all of you who made a purchase during the Cyber Special!

Missie

 

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Last day for the Cyber Special!

Good Day!

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day for the Cyber Special. I won't bore you with the details again so just scroll down and see the past few posts about it! Thanks for your business! I appreciate each of you!

Today I plan on working on my DD and SIL's stockings for Christmas. I do hope they like them! I also hope to hang my wall of small and miniature quilts today. I am going to do this in my sewing room to make it a bit more attractive...I hope! Here they are waiting to be hung....

Wanna come help?!

Take care,

Missie

 

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The Trimmings Are Up! Cyber Special Still On!

Here's a reminder that the Cyber Special is still happening at TRADITIONALPRIMITIVES.COM until Saturday night! Go check it out! One FREE EPP pincushion pattern for each pattern you purchase, up to 7 free! Thanks so much to those of you who have made pattern purchases! Feel free to use the contact form and send me your wish list for Christmas. Then send your loved ones my way and I will pass along the list so they can surprise you with a gift...

 

We've found time to complete our Christmas decorating in this household. This year it's minimal decorations as we are lucky to have found a few minutes to get things pulled out and put up! It's always so wonderful to hang out in a room that is lit up for Christmas. I wish we could leave it all there till the Easter Bunny comes! Haha!

 

We've put the tree in a new spot this year to make room for another chair in the family room. When the family is all here, we have too many sitting on the floor! Hopefully this will help the situation. I am standing near the dining table so it's nice we can see the tree from most parts of this main living area. ( along with the backs of our chairs! LOL

 

FINALLY! Pennies In My Garden is up on the wall. I'm so excited to have it there, even if it is only for a few weeks. I will be vending at the Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show January 9-11, so it will come down during that time. Please come see me if you live nearby! I think this may be my favorite quilt that I have designed. Perhaps it is the warm colors. It was exciting to see it on the wall after a long wait. This quilt has traveled quite a bit in it's young life, from being on display in a quilt show, to being on display in vending booths, to being on display in a store also. I'm happy it is home for a while! You can see that we also moved the quilt ladder to a new spot during the holidays. It looks crooked in this picture, but it is as straight as it can be! It's a mystery why it looks cockeyed in the picture! Haha!

 

And to the left of that blue chair above is the fireplace. We have the old fashioned felt and sequin stockings. One of my first stitching projects was my own stocking similar to these back when I was in Jr. High. When I saw these I knew they were going to be a family heirloom...even if they are full of plain old felt and sequins and beads. They sparkle wonderfully in the evening light! I have one more kit waiting to be made for the next son in law, when ever he arrives. I will need to find one more before they stop making these kits! And then, I wonder if they will still make them when the grandkids start to come...oh, the worries! Haha!

 

Here is the candle mat that I gave my secret pal Tuesday night! It was so fun to give it. The recipient was genuinely excited about it and it just made my week to see her smile. Such a sweetheart! I forgot to get a picture with the antique ball I made so she sent me a picture. It is below. These are made from the pattern, Josie's Petals that you can find on my website.

 

It was also a wonderful evening because we shared fabrics and gift cards with one of the small group members who had a house fire a few months ago. She is living in a spare room of her daughter's boyfriend's home and has lost most all of her belongings, including fabrics. She has one block she works on occasionally and the fabrics we gave will keep her going for a while and start up her stash again. We gave gift cards so she can replace household items once she gets back into her home again. Tis the season for giving and it was so wonderful to be touched by the joy of giving.

Merry Christmas to you all during this wonderful season!

Take care,

Missie

 

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Wow! You Want To Add This To Your Christmas List! And More Sale!

Do you have a light box? I had a little one from many years ago that I used for scrap booking. A few years ago, the light burnt out and I can't find a bulb that works in it! I have replaced it twice and the bulbs explode, so I have mostly used my front door window when it comes to tracing things. Sometimes I lay a light under my glass table for larger drawings and that works pretty well.

Have you seen the fancy light boxes for sale at the quilt shows? They are pretty nice, and they have a hefty price tag! But if you do lots of tracing, it might be just what you need.

While shopping for my niece and nephew in the big box toy department, I ran across this toy tracing light box! As you can hopefully see on the box, it is from Crayola and is called the Light Up Tracing Pad. It came in pink and blue...it was a tough decision which color I wanted because blue is one of my favorite colors, but I chose pink!

For $19.99 I thought I would give it a try! It has been waiting patiently in my basement for me to find some double AA batteries. I finally found them and gave it a try! I was very happily surprised that this light box will work great for my needs!

It is nice and flat and won't take up much room. I've left my hand in the picture so you can see the size...it's a nice size! A bit larger than a piece of paper...

You can see in this picture that it shows the drawing very nicely. Most of what you are seeing is the light surface and then I've shown you the picture, which has fine lines for Punchneedle, and then a bit of paper on top of a portion of the picture so you can see how strongly it works. I was pretty impressed for a toy!

If your family is asking you what you want for Christmas, this might be a fun thing to put on your list! It's been a long time since I've had a real toy! Let me know if Santa brings you one and if so, let me know how you like it!

Speaking of Christmas lists, feel free to send me your wish list of items on my website by email and I will keep it on hand for the special people in your life to refer to if you want them to choose something for you. Just make a wish list in the contact area of my website and be sure to give me your name. Send your shoppers my way by email and I will let them know what's on your wish list. If you'd like to give me their email address I would be happy to send a note and let them know you've made a wish list! Just be sure you let them know it's coming so they won't think it is spam from me! There is still plenty of time to order before Christmas arrives!

I've been working on a present for a quilter friend in my small group. Who we get the gift from is a secret for now, so I can give you a peak!

I hope she likes it! I'm doing a candle mat from my pattern called Josie's Petals that I designed this spring. I have yet to make one for myself, so this has gotten me in the mood! These black wool petals are sewn in brown wool thread to give an old feel to go along with the deep red and pink fabric colors. I will show the rest of the gift after the party! Are you making some handcrafted gifts this year? I'd love to hear about them! If so, enjoy the process of making them and putting a bit of love into each little goodie you make!

I've had my AFTER THE RUSH CYBER SPECIAL going on the last few days, as some of you may know. Thanks to those of you who have purchased! I think I will keep it going a few more days because I have been having trouble getting my newsletter to go out. I want to be sure all of my customers are offered the sale and so far, you bloggers are the only ones who have known about it! I will keep the sale going until Wednesday Night at Midnight. Surely by then the email problems will be solved! So as a recap, you will recieve a FREE English Paper Piecing Pincushion Pattern with the purchase of any pattern on my website. One freebie for each pattern purchased! (Up to 7 free)

 

I will add in the instructions for doing EPP by machine! Add this little freebie detail to your wish list as you tell your shoppers about it! They have till Wednesday this week at midnight to get you some extra goodies for Christmas at no extra cost! :-) www.traditionalprimitives.com

Aren't sales fun!?!

I better get back to my stitching...only a little bit left and I'll be done.

Take care!

Missie

 

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Cyber Special at Traditional Primitives!

Check out the new post on my new blog, TraditionalPrimitives.Blogspot.com! It's an AFTER THE RUSH CYBER SPECIAL!

Is everyone getting my posts now at the new blog? Just checking to see if I need to keep reminding you to go to the new blog and be a follower! Keep me posted!

See you at Traditional Primitives!...Missie

 

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An AFTER THE RUSH CYBER SPECIAL! And Where Has The Time Gone?

I can't believe so much time has passed since I gave you all the free Wooly Tree Pattern! I finally had a few minutes to start on mine...how about you? You can find it on my web store HERE. Take a look around while you are there! Now that you have most likely finished your cyber sale shopping for gift giving, why don't you give yourself a little gift of a pattern from my site!

*** For my After The Rush Cyber Special I will offer a free English Paper Piecing Pincushion Pattern if you purchase a pattern. ONE FREE pattern for EACH pattern purchased! (Up to 7 free since I have 7 different English Paper Piecing Pincushion Patterns). From now through Saturday night!

Everyone loves a FREEBIE! TraditionalPrimitives.com

Back to the Woolie Tree freebie! The pattern you printed was the size of the tree on the left. I blew mine up a bit larger...

I am using scraps all the way and found a 12.5" square of a fabric I have had for more than 14 years! It is sort of a light canvas with quilted lines that will show up when the fabric is washed or stained with Antique It. Once apron a time, I was going to make a vest from this fabric! Glad I didn't! Haha! I also found one piece of brown wool that was large enough for a one piece trunk and branches. You could easily trace the different parts of the tree onto several pieces of wool for a multi wool fabric trunk and branches. I decided to use Heat N Bond Light to trace and adhere the wool branches and trunk since the piece is so small.

Then I found some yellow plaid and repros for the Sunshine and the green wool strip for the grass. (Yikes! I see after looking at this post that my grass was cut on the fold but from the wrong side of the pattern. See how my tree is on a hill rather than in a valley as the pattern shows? Oh well...I am not going to waste the wool, so will keep it as is! OR, wool is so forgiving, I may cut the grass in the center and flip the sides and seam the middle so my tree is in the valley after all. We'll see when I get to sewing! )

You can see my plastic container in the picture above that holds my wool scraps. I will dig through and choose scraps for the leaves after the base pieces are sewn down.

Next, the plan is to use some wool threads and do a nice small running stitch to attach these pieces to the background. After that I will start to embellish with leaves and other goodies. Won't you join me? I would love to post some pictures as we work along together and see what we do for a finished project! We won't be in too much of a rush,as it is a busy time of year for all. A few minutes to prep it as I have and you will be ready to sew along a few minutes here and there. Send me an email or post if you want to join in and send me a few pics along the way! Won't it be fun to see how everyone chooses a different look...let's use our scraps and get stitching!

Don't forget to check out my patterns available on my web site and remember the special going on for my After The Rush Cyber Special...a free English Paper Piecing Pincushion Pattern (up to 7) for each pattern you buy!

I hope you are nice and warm where you are...we have frigid temps here in Iowa today! So much for getting my outside decs up before the cold settled in...

Take Care,

Missie

 

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