THE TOUR CONTINUES

We take a moment to interupt this tour to bring you a very important announcement.  MARCH 20 is NATIONAL QUILT DAY!  Woo Hoo.  In honor of this special occasion, we are cooking up a great give away.  Check Back.

Now, we continue with our MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.
Here it is.  My stack of blocks.

80 to be exact.  They are trimmed and pressed and ready to put together.

There are lots of choices with each block.  For the first quilt, I am putting four of the same block together.  That sounds easy, but there are still choices.

Which way to go, only the tour guide knows for sure.

Now, setting up the rows.  Making sure that everything works together.  This is one of my favorite and yet most frustrating parts of making a quilt.  I lay it all out, and then start changing, over and over until I get it just the way I like it.

That's the mystery part of this quilt, there are so many combinations, no two will look alike.
Now, for the magical.  Those little half inch spacers.

Just place them on the sides of the blocks and sew them together.  NO SEAM MATCHING, YEAH.

That's it, 4 big blocks down, 16 to go.  Check back next week to see the end of our tour.  Finished quilts.  Have a great week.

Janice and Marcea

IT'S A MAGICAL MYSTERY JOURNEY

We have had a very busy week and a half.  Four quilts, two magazines.  Unfortunately we can't show you the pictures, but summer will be popping with Abbey Lane Quilts. 

The good news, working with a great new fabric collection, HUNKY DORY, from Moda, of course.  The fabric will be in the stores in March.  We are really excited about the new pattern, it even has a name, MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR.  What is so cool about this pattern, is just by switching it up a little, you can make three totally different quilts from the same fabrics, and that is just exactly what we are going to do.  I thought it would be fun to show you the process that we go through to create a new project. 

First:  fell in love with the fabric at market last fall, so of course I got a fat quarter bundle.

Second:  had to wait all the way until February to have time to work with it.  I thought it would be really fun to do a sampler of some sort, these are the drawings I ended up with.  Ok, so it's not a sampler, but really cool.

Third: Start playing around with the original design, and this is where the magic part comes in.  One pattern, three totally different looks.  Two of them use just 20 fat quarters and some yardage.  Yeah!!!

Fourth:  This is the fun part, arranging all the pieces into color combinations we like.

For the first quilt, each block uses three fabrics.  Sometimes matching them up it not as easy as you would think but it is really fun playing around.  The second quilt really mixes things up.

Again, this is a magical journey.  Check it out when I use just greens.

That's as far as I have gotten today, but next week, I will finish have finished my MAGICAL MYSTERY JOURNEY.  I can't wait to show you the rest of the construction and two finished tops.  I already know it will be my new FAVORITE.
 

I have several other FAVORITE quilts.  Quilts that like these new ones, I absolutely LOVED the fabrics.  I call them oldies but goodies.   Each quilt was featured at a different quilt market.  They were great then, and are just as great today. 

A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

UNCLE ALBERT

OCTOPUS GARDEN

Check out these quilts on the website, http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/.

It is snowing outside, which makes it a perfect day to sit inside and sew.  Have a great week.

Janice and Marcea

PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

I don't normally write about things other than quilts, but this news was just way too important.  CHOCOLATE CHEERIOS!!!

Can't wait to get my hands on some. 

I spent the last week on a cross coutry road trip, Utah to Philadelphia in a truck pulling a u-haul trailer.  My son, his wife and ten month old baby girl were moving from Vegas to Philly.  I sat with the baby, eating a lot of cheerios.  Thus, the added excitement for CHOCOLATE CHEERIOS.

The trip was 2100 miles long.  And we were lucky enough to only be behind one of the worst blizzards in 20 years by 4 hours.  I learned from some cute little old men at McDonalds in Kearney, Nebraska, that the largest quilt museum in the country was in Nebraska.  I still can't figure out why little old men would know this.  I learned that Iowa does not salt or sand their roads, and the wind blows very hard.  In a ten mile stretch east of Des Moines, we saw 145 cars and 10 tractor trailers on the sides of the road, forwards, backwards, upside down.  They also have ice on the roads, 3 inches thick.  I discovered Pennsylvania, not on the turnpike which was closed, but on all the tiny two lane, snow packed back roads at 15 miles an hour.  We made it safely, though.  Philadelphia had 30 inches of snow on the ground, and very few snow plows.  But the fun didn't end there.  Took three extra days to get a flight, then spent 10 hours in the Philly airport and had an overnight stay in Phoenix.  I did have a great time with my granddaughter though.

We got a great email this week from BEV BROOKENS in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania.

Thought I would send you pictures of two finished quilts from your Baby It's For You pattern. Both quilts are awaiting baby girls due any time. I think the pattern is easy and fun to do, and will use it again often.
Bev Brookens

Here are the pics.

They are sooo cute.  Thanks for the pics Bev.

Here is our boy version.

If you are interested in the pattern, head on over to http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/ and you can get all the information. 

It was fun eating cheerios with Baby Genevieve, and seeing all the midwest states, but it is very nice to be back home.  Hope ya'll have a great week.

Janice and Marcea

ABBEY LANE IS IN QUILT MAGAZINE

We are in QUILT  magazine, the April/May issue which hit shelves this week

 We actually made the quilt the week after market last October.  The did the photo shoot the first week of November, and finally in February we get to see it.  We were approached at market by the magazine editors.  She wanted to use "FEELIN ALRIGHT"

We love this quilt and you can see the details on the website, http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/.  Ok, back to the story.  We told the editor we had already sold patterns, so we decided to do a new quilt for the magazine using the same fabric.  It is from Moda, by Sanae and the collection is called "OZ" and just came to the stores a couple of weeks ago.  That means it is sitting there waiting for you to get some.  It is beautiful fabric. 

 

When we told the editor we would do a new quilt, she asked us to make a bedspread size.  That is exactly what we did, the magazine quilt is different from the original and is a full/queen size.  We did bonus pillowcases which the website for QUILT Magazine is offereing a bonus pattern on line.  Here is the link for their website, http://www.quiltmag.com/sewing-projects/quilt110-retro-flower-power-pillowcase/ .  The magazine wrote instructions in a pdf downloadable, here is the link for that, http://www.quiltmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/finalretropillowcase2.pdf .

Ok, enough of the self-promotion, hee hee, let's go ahead and just show you the pages.

Make sure and run, not walk to your local grocery or quilt store and pick up your copy.  I bought 2.  Even better, make one of the two quilts.  You will love it.

I am heading out in the morning to help my son, his wife, and 10 month old baby drive from Utah to Philadelphia, PA.  He was transfered.  Three days in the car.  Wish us luck.  I am taking the camera along, can't wait to see what we see.

Have a great week.

Janice and Marcea

IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Don't let the flavor fool you. I was so excited to buy a new small lotion for my purse. As I am sure most of us do, I smelled all the flavors. I decided on buttercream cupcake. Does it get any better than that. Well, actually it does if the cupcake is chocolate with butterceam icing.

I put the lotion in my purse and then forgot about it.  Later that week, we went to the movies.  On the way I remebered my new lotion.  In the dark of the car, i squirted out some lotion.  It smelled unbelievable.  I rubbed it all over my hands.  It seemed a little thick and felt a little waxy on my hands.  I had never tried this brand before, but by the time the movie started, it had all soaked in and my hands seemed really soft.

Several days later, while at church, I decided that I needed some more lotion.  I pulled the bottle out of my purse, squirted some in my hand, and for the first time, had my glasses on and read the label on the bottle.  My lotion turned out to be shampoo, shower gel and let's not forget bubble bath.

I ventured out yesterday, braving the elements of course, 29 degrees and 2 1/2 feet of powdery snow to get the perfect lifestyle shot of one of our new quilts.  It is called WINTER WONDERLAND, hence the treck through the snow.   I drove up Ogden Canyon, a beatiful place on it's own.  Along the way, I had to stop and take a couple of pictures of the waterfall on the side of the mountain.

Pictures just don't do it justice.  The water falls nearly 200 feet and leaves the most beautiful ice patterns in its' wake.  It is breathtaking from the road which probably explains the wreck that happened about 100 feet after the waterfall.  I was parked on the side of the road at the time.

I did get the shot I was looking for for the pattern cover.  What do ya'll think.

We have more projects going on that even we can keep track of.  For those who have been asking, we should have patterns written and ready to sell for both WINTER WONDERLAND and SEPTEMBER MORN the first part of February.  We will keep you updated.

Have a great weekend and stay warm. 

Janice and Marcea 

p.s.  Marcea is the dingy one who softens her hands with shampoo.

THE WINTER BLUES AND FALL LEAVES ARE HERE!

All that cold weather in Florida kept Janice in the house last week.  It was a good thing too, because she had lots of sewing to do.  We designed and made two new quilts using Robert Kaufman fabrics.  They asked us to work with two lines of Batiks, not our usual, but we both love Batiks.

The patterns will be ready in about a month, but we wanted you to have a sneak peak.  The first one is with a line called Cornicopia.  We have named it SEPTEMBER MORN.  The colors are beatiful.  We updated a fall leave by using a pieced and raw-edged design. 

It just has FALL written all over it. 

The second one is just perfect for right now.  It is from a collection called Northwoods.  We named it WINTER WONDERLAND.

Don't you just want to cuddle up and stay warm with this icy tree and snowflake quilt.  I think it is the perfect "Winter Blues".

One last thing, check out our newest pattern that will be ready for sell on Monday.  It is called "HONEY PIE".

It was made using Lila Tueller's new collection, EDEN, from Moda.  The collection hits the stores this month.  The scalloped border and the three-dimensional, rag-edged flowers make it perfect for that little girl's room.

Check the website, http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/ next week for purchasing details.

Hope you have a great week and stay warm.  Janice and Marcea

BABY IT'S COLD OUT THERE!

Another Holiday season has come to an end.  I don't know about you, but January is a great month to work on all those projects, both new and old.  Just to fill you in, Janice and her family came to visit the day after Christmas.  Except for Janice's constant whining, (love teasing her) that it was cold and snowy, we had a great time.  We hit all the local quilt stores and stocked up on fabric.  She went home yesterday, and the first thing I heard when she got home was that Florida was colder than Utah.  At least you can ski in Utah.  While Janice was here, we worked on a bunch of new projects.  The first one is for her christmas present.  Janice got a KINDLE for Christmas.

No quilter with a KINDLE can go without a KINDLE COVER.  For those of you who don't know what a KINDLE is, I didn't, it is an electronic book, small, compact and very portable, but in desperate need of some cute protection.  We started combining different fabrics and different shapes.  This is what we came up with.

We decided to have three different designs for our KINDLE cover pattern.  This was the first.

This was the second.

This was the third one.  I started measuring, cutting and sewing today.

 Here is my progress so far.

 




















We hope to have them all done in a couple of weeks, so if you are a KINDLE owner, you have to have these great covers.

We also have a new pattern ready for sell on the website, http://www.abbeylanequilts.com/.
 WAITING FOR LOVE is just in time for Valentine's Day.

We designed it to be used as a table cloth or a wall hanging.  It uses a Layer Cake pack and some yardage, or grab out your stash and pick your favorites.  It is fast and easy and the giant Ric Rac adds a special touch.

 Our New Year's Resolution:  Sew, Sew,  Sew.  Have a great week.

Janice and Marcea