I've finished embroidering several of the blocks for the Flight of Fancy quilt I'm working on. If you like redwork you'll love this one. We're using French General's Rouenneries line of fabric from Moda to make the kit. We probably won't be able to make too many kits so you might want to reserve one.

We had a good Julefest weekend with soome of the nicest weather I remember for the days following Thanksgiving.

Hushabye is a really nice Moda line - from the name, meant for babies, but I think it will have other uses as well.

I'm also showing a couple of baby quilt bboks from Leisure Arts. Both have several great ideas and like many Leisure Arts Books they are priced well - just $10.95 each.

We'll spend tomorrow on final preparations for Friday and Saturday. We'll open at 9 am each day - as far as I'm concerned, a very civilized hour. Plan to come to Elk Horn and Kimballton for a fun and calm after Thanksgiving experience. Here is a link to more information about about Julefest.

I made a couple of cosmetic bags from the laminated fabric. They were easily made in about 10 minutes each. I have always hated putting in zippers, but this method was so slick. Talking to a cutomer today (she said her daughter was a great Nebraska football fan) we decided some cool bags could be made from the sports based tablecloth fabric. Right now we have some for both Iowa and Nebraska. I guess I'll try that next. These will be my "go to" quick gifts project.

Put some finishing touches on Chritmas decorationg around the shop today. It's early, but we have to be ready for Julefest on Friday and Saturday. The staff gals have started hanging their sample quilts in the Retreat Center. They really have a lot of them this year.

I finished the first quilt in our 4th doll quilt series. I haven't named it yet I like the way the border fabric seems to glow. We're taking sign ups now for this 12 month program. Cost is $24.95 per month which includes pattern and all fabric for front and backing. Many people receive this by mail or you can pick them up at the shop.

We got to see more of the Dear Jane quilts from our Corning friends. The top one belongs to Mary and the red one is Carol's. It's been so much fun to see them especially in all the different versions.

Today the paper doll fabric from Windham arrived again. I know many of you have been waitng for it. If you ordered a kit, you should be receiving it soon. I think it will go fast again so call soon if you want some.

We have several new laminated fabrics that we chose at Quilt Market. The one's shown here are by Philip Jacob's for Westminister Fabrics. I think laminates will be a fun new category. In the current issue of Quilts and More there is a pattern for three sizes of makeup bags along with tips about sewing with laminate. There's still plenty of time to make some of these for gifts.

At Quilt Market we saw other bags, raincoats (for both adults and children) and aprons made from laminates. Karen took home a piece to make a coat.

I think we have about seven different laminates right now.

Carolyn and her granddaughter, Avery brought in this top yesterday to coose border fabrics. The work is beautiful. No, that's not yellow check fabric in the corners - it's pieced one inch squares.

Today I plan to work on the sample for the first doll quilt in our new series which starts in December.

We now have DVDs of programs one and two from our Quilting with Julie show available for sale at the shop.

This is the take and teach project we will do for this year's Christmas Open House on December 7. Every year we have a day to demonstrate easy Christmas projects and put Christmas fabrics on sale. We also do a little workshop. This year there will be two sessions - one at two p.m. and one at 6 p.m. There is a minimal charge for the workshop or you can bring some non-perishable food items for the needy. We need to have you pre register so we'll know how many kits to make.

Our peace pillow is wool felt on linen. You can't see the back, but it is red velvet.

Shar finished this sample in less than a day - the whole center is a cheater! She made this one queen sized, but imagine how quickly a throw could be made. Black and white quilts are really popular. It's also good to add a touch of red or lime green.

Nadine finished another new sample ofour popular Shiloh topper. Here's a really nice project that you can actually get done by Christmas. The piecing is easy and doable even by beginners. Because it is a table topper we back it like a pillow and turn it - no batting, no quilting and no binding. We'll help you choose other colors if you are not into blue.

When we were at Quilt Market I found these great Chevy fabrics. Charlie and I love old cars (even though we're more Ford people) so I couldn't resist. Bet you know someone who would like a quilt (or at least a pillowcase) from one of these.

Mary brought in another of her Four Stack Posies quilts. This time she used the Laurel Burch Secret Jungle panel. It made an unbelievable quilt. A four Stack Posy is made by stacking four repeats of a fabric (in this case four panels), cutting it into squares then picking up a stack of four squares that are identical ~ these four squares are then stitched into a block. Of course some fabrics worka lot better than others ~ this one was fantastic! All these different blocks came from the panel above.

This weekend we had a great bunch of gals from the York Nebraska area sewing in our Retreat Center. They comoe twice a year and we always enjoy their visit. Once again I was jealous of the time they had together and the amount of work they got done. Next week the quilters will be here from Grinnel. We've had groups of from four to 24 use our center. Just contact us if you'd like more information.

Tomorrow we film the third program in our TV series, Quilting with Julie. It is shown daily on METC's local access channel 99. Because they have had requests they will be selling DVD's of the programs. At this time, you need to contact them. Marne Elk Horn Telephone Company 712-764-6161.

It is definitely an interesting experience. I'm learning a lot.

Mardell just finished piecing this sample from Moda's Rouenneries. It's a kit that comes from Moda. The quilt will be 80"X80" and will sell for $99.95 which is really good for a Moda produced kit of this size. It even comes in this neat linen bag. We purchased a limited number of these kits and can not get any more so let us know if we should reserve one for you.

The bag must have been made from the toweling that Moda sells to go with this line. We have several different pieces of it in stock.

Shar has designed this quilt for our 2010 Runaway Quilter's Retreat to be held January 15 and 16 here in Elk Horn at our retreat center. I really enjoy how graphic it is and the fact that it looks like a feathered star without the difiiculty.

We first held this retreat back in 1992 in Atlantic. It was one of the first quilt retreats in Iowa. Shar, Pam and I had been attending a retreat in Minnesota led by Shar Jorgensen. We loved it and decided to try one of our own. We held it in Atlantic for a few years and then moved it to Springbrook State Park. Two years ago we brought it home to Elk Horn. I'll be posting more info about it soon.

Pam completed a new sample of Harper's Ferry which she and Karen designed. It's one of several kits we have for bed quilts right now.

We really enjoyed all the AQS show visitors. Many quilters stopped by the shop on the way to or from the show. Sounds like everyone had a great time.

It was a beautiful day here today - finally it seems like an Iowa Fall. We did a few things outside and just felt the sun.

This evening I started tracing the embroidery blocks for Crabapple Hill's new Fllight of Fancy quilt. There are twelve wonderful redwork bird blocks on Rouennerie's ticking. I don't have a lot of time for embroidery but my Mom has offered to help. Maybe we can each get six done.

Tomorrow I start consulting with a web designer for our new website. I don't know how long it will take to get it up and running, but I hope it is soon. Our greatest need is for an improved shopping cart so we can showcase more fabrics and kits. I'm excited to get it going.