Merry Christmas!

Hope your day was as wonderful as mine!

Bonnie

One big crazy creative family

Many of you may have read the blog I wrote a couple of months ago about my amazing Mother. She taught me everything I know. Many of you also know that I have a very creative daughter Camille. The quilting gene was definitely passed down. The picture above is me with my oldest daughter Tracy who just happens to be very talented as well. She just started her own company called The Paisley Polka Dot and now has an etsy shop with some very beatiful handmade quilts.

Tracy has been sewing for years, but has recently caught the entrepreneurial bug. She reminds me so much of myself laying awake nights thinking up ideas and fun things to create.

Make sure you hop on over to her etsy shop and take a look at some of her beautiful work. She is just getting started and will be adding more new things soon, so check back often.

I loved this quilt she made from the Simple Abundance fabric line, of course I may be a little bit biased when it comes to this fabric.

My girls grew up folding patterns and helping me in the family business, so it is almost second nature for them to develop their creative persuits and jump into the wonderful quilting world. I couldn't be prouder. Now if we can just convince my youngest daughter, Emily, to join us, that would be great. She has been sewing for several years and has been making all kinds of fun things lately, so it may be just a matter of time. I will keep you posted on that.

I feel so blessed to have that creative connection with my beautiful girls!

Oh, and now down to business, you are probably here to see the winner of the Fresh and Fancy Table Runner Club and January Fabric Kit, well the winner is....

Sherri from A Quilting Life! Congrats to Sherri!

And since it is the giving season, I have decided to give three more Fresh and Fancy Table Runner pattern memberships to ...

Kaye Prince

Slow Poke

Carolyn in Kentucky

Ladies please e-mail me your addresses and congratulations!

Thanks for all the sweet comments on my little grand daughter and for telling me about all the sewing projects you have planned for 2010. I am so excited to celebrate my 20th year with all of you!

Happy Stitching Ladies,

Bonnie

New Patterns, New Babies and a New Year!

First of all, I am a grandma again! My newest granddaughter came almost a month early and surprised us all. She was just over 5 pounds and so much fun to snuggle! I just had to share a picture along with my new patterns. (It's a grandmas prerogative to brag a little bit right?)

Second of all, We are so very excited to announce our new

Fresh and Fancy Table Runner Club for 2010!

A fresh and fancy table runner for each and every month of the year. It is our fourth series (and of course our favorite so far). Each pattern has a Fancy side with more piecing and/or applique, and a Fresh side, simple and fast using the left over fabric from the front. It's like two table toppers in one pattern. Each runner is approximately 21" x 42". The perfect size for almost any table.

I have used some of my very favorite Moda fabrics for each of the runners. (I may a little biased, but Moda is the best!) January - June are available now and July - December will be available in March.

January

February

March

April

May

June

You can join a Fresh and Fancy Club at your local quilt store, or if there is not one in your area and you want to join online, head on over to Fat Quarter Shop to sign up. Kimberly and the gals have all the fabric kits and patterns to get you started.

To celebrate our 20th Anniversary (yes 20 years!) we are giving away an exclusive Fresh and Fancy Club Membership to a blog reader. The winner will receive the entire years worth of Table Runner patterns as well as a bonus prize, a January fabric kit to get started. To enter, make a comment and tell me what project you are going to start the new year off with. The giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday Dec. 13th, so check back on Monday morning to see who the winner is.

Stop back by for more 20 year Anniversary Celebrations throughout the year. You won't want to miss out, it is going to be alot of fun!

Bonnie

Popping my head in

I had big plans for this week! However, things aren't going quite as smoothly as I hoped! I'm up to my neck in finishing up and shipping out the first half of my new Fresh and Fancy table runner patterns. Some of you may have seen them in the Fat Quarter Shop email today. (Thank you Kimberly!) But more about that next week, when my hands aren't quite as full. I've got patterns to ship, a turkey to cook, and family to see. Did I mention patterns to ship? Better get back to work.

See you soon!

Congratulations to the Winner!

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments and for entering our give away!

Congratulations to the winner!!! Nanabarb!

She said:
"I love the whimsical nature of your block using the aqua and red. I can just imagine the fun a quilt made of Bloom Around blocks with red sashing!"

What a great idea! Make sure you check our blog next week.
You won't want to miss what's coming next!

Bonnie

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Blog Tour and Giveaway

Welcome to the 100 Blocks Blog tour of the top 100 designers! I am so happy to be a part of it! To continue on with the tour (and win some fantastic prizes), make sure you visit the Quiltmaker blog, Quilty Pleasures every day from now until November 13th.

This is the block I designed called Bloom Around (page 26, in case you are looking for it). I used Simple Abundance and red ric rac, and plenty of easy applique. Perfect if you love quick and easy applique, or if you are just getting started. I was thinking it would be so fun with a red border on it, or with contrasting corners even. So many different things you could do with it.

Did I mention there were prizes? Well, the first prize up for grabs is a copy of the 100 Quilt Blocks issue. All you have to do is leave a comment to be entered to win. Stop back by tomorrow morning to see if you've won. Pretty easy!

Good luck, and thank you Quiltmaker!

Hope for Benson and Claire

Some of our long time friends, the Skinners, are going through a tough time and could use all the help we can give them! Since they explain it so much better than I can, visit the family blog here for more information about Benson and Claire.

To try to help out, I donated this quilt to be auctioned off on the Benson and Claire auction site. (Click here to see the auction for the quilt) You can see this and many wonderful items that have been donated by visiting this link.

Please take the time to visit the auction site and to help in any way you can. Thank you!

A weekend away

Just spent the weekend in Las Vegas with my daughter Camille and her family. It was so much fun! We ate waaay to much...

We laughed and played to much...Went to Donny and Marie, yes I am a Donny fan from way back...

(Eat your heart out Nadine...)

Had way to many projects planned for one weekend... and stayed up way too late...

took lots and lots of pictures (some for a new pattern series of mine that is coming out soon...)

and didn't get to spend near enough time with my sweet little grandsons. Aiden and Canon sang a duet of Families Can Be Together Forever in church on Sunday, and it was amazing. They made Grandma and Grandpa O. very proud.

So to sum up? A pretty great weekend.

Grateful

Last week my mom turned 83. It got me thinking about all that she has accomplished in her life so far. Just one example of her many accomplishments is shown in this picture of her two years ago at Christmas. She pieced and hand quilted, yes hand quilted, 10 quilts all in one year for her ten children. Amazing, simply amazing.

I'm so thankful that she shared her love of quilting with me, and taught me everything I know,

so I could, in turn, pass it on to my 3 wonderful daughters. And hopefully they will pass it on to theirs...

I am so grateful for her,

and so proud of all that these hands have accomplished in just 83 years.

I love you mom!

Now that's something to blog about!

This came in the mail yesterday, on the back of the envelope it said I Love You.
If you are a grandma, no explanation is needed.
Thanks Aiden, you made my day!

And the winner is...

Thanks everyone for so many sweet comments and so much encouragement!!! Doing a giveaway is really quite fun. We will have to do this again soon.

Congratulations to ....

Nicolestern - "I love the slice of charm....so very cute. as for the "old" pattern that's my favorite, it's not an old pattern at all. i haven't even made it yet since my quilt store hasn't got in the simple abundance line yet...but next week i'll be starting on abundantly blessed. "

E-mail me at bonnie@cottonwaycom so I can send your very own "Lots of Dots" book and Polka-dot pin cushion.

I really wish I could send all of you something, I really do, but since that isn't possible I decided to do a limited time special Buy 2 get 1 pattern for free on my website for those of you who had your eye on something. Let me know which one you want for free in the comments section.

Thanks everyone!

Let's Celebrate with a Giveaway!

New patterns are here!

Slice of Charm is first up, a quick and fun charm pack pattern made from Simple Abundance charm squares. It uses soft edge applique, and is the perfect size for a table topper or baby quilt. Can you imaging this out of soft pinks and greens wrapped around a baby? Yum.

Piecing pillowcases is so much fun, especially when you are redecorating a bedroom or making a gift for a friend. The pattern includes all 4 designs. Choose your favoite fabric and start stitching away!

If you are looking for an easy quilt, this one is perfect for you. It measures 66" x 79" and uses the new Authentic line by Sweetwater.

And what better way to celebrate the new patterns ......than with my first giveaway! What exactly am I giving away? A copy of my new "Lots of Dots" book and a Polka Dot Pin cushion.

It works like this: Enter by leaving a comment telling me which one of the three new patterns (above) is your favorite. You get an extra entry by telling me which one of my old patterns is your favorite, you can find them here at my website at http://www.cottonway.com/. The winner will be announced on Monday, September 21st.

Good luck ladies!

Bonnie

New patterns soon...

I started with this...

Stitched and stitched...

Added these...

Ate lots and lots of these...

What did I make?

Check back later to see!

New patterns coming soon!

What's better than a bowl of berries?

What's better than a yummy fresh bowl of raspberries?

Raspberries on a cake with cream cheese frosting!

My son Dallin turned 24 on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Dallin!

love,

MOM

My favorite time of year...

I love summer and all the great things that go with it. Our raspberries are just starting to ripen, they are so sweet and delicious. I just can't resist popping them into my mouth while we are picking. My husband has alot more restraint and waits until they are all washed.

mmm... I wish I could share with all of you!

I love being a Grandma!

Our little Anni is here, she weighed 8.2 and has lots of dark hair. She is absolutely adorable! Mom and baby are both doing great and I am grateful to be a Grandma again!

Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

Thank you so much for the warm welcome to blogging! And thank you for all of your nice comments. I'm still trying to figure all of this out, but so far, it's been a lot of fun.


My sewing studio is a busy place! I just finished up these baby quilts, one for my neices baby boy (oh, he is so adorable!) and one for my new baby granddaughter that we will welcome tomorrow. Can't wait to see and snuggle her! I'll keep you posted.


Also, I am just about finished with a secret project for Camille out of Simple Abundance... better hurry...



It's a busy day!

Lots of Dots

I found an exciting package on my doorstep yesterday. It was from Leisure Arts and had my new book Lots of Dots inside! They did a wonderful job. It's a collaboration of some of my favorite patterns up to about a year ago. It has 12 projects inside with 12,456 dots.

(ok, maybe not that many dots, I really didn't count them)

Look for it at your local quilt store, but if you can't wait, you can preorder it at here on Amazon. It should be in stock soon!