Gum Valley Patchwork

It's Gail Pan Day

It was a real thrill at Quilt Market to see Gail once again. Yes I know that she is an Aussie and is well known to us all. She was one of my tutors at my first 2 Stitch in Spring events (and returns this year), I travelled with her to Kansas City two years ago to attend Spring Quilt Market, and I have stocked many of her patterns and books over the 8 years we have known each other. But this year was different........Gail was releasing her very first book with Martingale, a big book publishing company in the US.

Patchwork loves Embroidery is full of gorgeous projects to make, and I was lucky enough to get my copy personally autographed!

It was lovely to be able to witness her success, and I'm sure that there will be more of the same in the near future.

I have placed a large order for Patchwork loves Embroidery, so if you are interested in placing an order please email me and I will pop your name down......you won't be disappointed!

So let's make this Gail Pan day.........and I will also tell you that I am expecting my delivery of her very first range of fabrics called 'Baskets and Blooms'. It is due to arrive next month.

We will actually get it in Australia well before the US stores!

I will have the full range in stock....

along with some of Gail's new patterns which use the fabrics. Keep an eye out on her blog for a quick free pattern that uses the larger basket print!

Linda    :)

'Jelly Bean' by Laundry Basket Quilts

Now that I have had time to get back into the swing of things at home, it is time to get back into blogging. While I was away the new range from Laundry Basket Quilts - 'Jelly Bean' - arrived in the shop.

Jodie had a fun time unpacking all of the bolts, and putting together a lovely display.

Mixed fat 1/4 bundles, and I still have a few Jelly Rolls too.

And of course the full range of fabrics on the bolt.

Although I was a bit puzzled when Russell told me that the fabric had arrived and that there were jelly bean lollies with it....Are you sure?.......Well there are jelly beans in a jar on the table with the fabric......Umm, that would have been Jodie.....lol!

Linda   :)

I'm back!

I touched down in Melbourne on Wednesday morning 10 minutes ahead of time....so instead of it being a 15 hour 50 minute flight it was 15 hours and 40 minutes.....woo hoo!!! I managed to get some sleep on the plane.....something that usually eludes me.....I think that I must be getting used to this flying gig. It was lovely to see Russell and Emma waiting for me as I made the grand exit through the sliding doors at Tullamarine, and after a drink and a chat, we started our 2.5 hour drive home. After cooking my first meal in 4 weeks, I stuck it out until about 8pm before I just had to go to bed. I am now back into it......jet lag free and ready for a very busy 4 months that lies ahead of me.

I cannot finish this welcome home post without thanking 2 people. Firstly ...... Russell. It has been the longest time we have been apart from one another since we were married 29 years ago, and I really did not know how I was going to cope with it. To make the process easier, Russell set up Skype for us to use. Although after the first practice run I didn't know that it was going to be too successful........all I saw was the ceiling of the dining area at home as Russell had his Ipad laying on the table! Russell processed all of the internet orders that came through, processed the credit cards, did the banking, paid my accounts and tried to answer everyones emails.....all this along with the farm work. He did a great job......hmmm I think I know what Russell will do if we ever sell our farm.....lol!

And of course there is Jodie...... Jodie took over the running of the shop for me for the 4 weeks. I am so fortunate to have Jodie that I can call on. She processed all of the BOM and Thread Club parcels for me.....which is a job just on it's own! I left a huge list of jobs for Jodie to do while I was away, and I have come back to the shop which is more organised (and cleaner!) than when I left! Thank you Jodie!

Linda from Cooriemungle!!

Not long now

As I sit here waiting for my 11.30pm flight to Melbourne, I can't believe how quickly this 4 week adventure has gone. It doesn't seem that long ago that Hannah and I touched down in LA and started our wonderful trip together. We have travelled to some wonderful places, met some lovely people, ate way too much food, and took so many selfies. I have farewelled Hannah as she starts another stage of her 9 week US adventure, and I start my long journey home....15 hours and 50 minutes.....sigh.... I will try to sleep so fingers crossed I will be successful. 

So I will sign off for the last time from the US and next time I blog I will just be plain old Linda from Cooriemungle.

Linda from LAX, USA

Last day of Quilt Market or........just one more sleep

Last night, after I did my blog post, Hannah and I decided to take the trolley car up the incline to the top of Mount Washington.

The view from the top showed us Pittsburgh from a whole different vantage point.

The river is quite dirty, but I am guessing it is because of the harsh winter they have just been through.

However we weren't too sure about the viewing platform....... 

This morning with my super organised P.A, we attended our last Take and Teach for this Quilt Market. I decided to join in Helen Stubbings' Fusible Applique Class. Yes I know I have made a whole quilt using Helen's fantastic applique paper, but sometimes it's nice to make sure that you are doing something the correct way.......which I am.....phew! Hannah did a great job with her first attempt at applique, but I think she still likes her hexagons better. She is stitching her 1 1/2" hexagons and I am stitching my 1/4" hexagons on this trip..... just a little size difference.....lol!

I saw Helen's new book - Simply Applique, along with the samples and they are beautiful. The books will be in the shop in a few weeks, once Helen returns from the US and her teaching commitments next week. I have also ordered more packs of the Fusible Applique Paper for those who have been waiting for more to arrive in the shop.

After Take & Teach, we decided to skip Market and head to the zoo for a little R&R. With a poor public transport system in the city, we opted to catch a cab to the zoo. It was a smallish zoo.....compared to Melbourne, but the entry fee of $15 (which included entry to the Aquarium) was great value.

Highlight was seeing the Polar Bears swimming around and being able to walk underneath them as they played in the water

We also timed it perfectly to watch the 10 minute Sea Lion display.....very smart animals indeed.

The flamingos were beautiful and bright in their orange feathers. 

Downside.....going on a Sunday = heaps of kids and buggys.....and waiting for 45 minutes for a cab back into the city. The answer from the cab company....."no one has picked up your call yet".....what the heck! We would probably still be there if a guy hadn't arrived in one! It was then back to the Convention Centre to pick up some last minute goodies, before leaving Quilt Market for the last time. I have got lots to share with you about the purchases I made and the new stock and new ideas for the shop......but I will wait until we get home before I do that.......be prepared there will be lots of blog posts heading your way!

As we spend our last night in Pittsburgh, I'm taking some advice from this Gibbon we saw at the zoo today.......I'm just going to lay back and chillax!

Linda from Pittsburgh (for the last night)

 

Spring Quilt Market - Day 3

After a rushed start to the day......I swear time speeds up when you are checking facebook!.....we made it to our morning Take & Teach Session just in time. Afterwards we headed back in to the main hall, with our map marked with all of the booths that we wanted to revisit for our purchases. 

 

Hannah had me super organised this year with no back tracking and a clear schedule.....even down to the time we would break for lunch. I love having my own P.A.!

I always like to be able to take my purchases with me, but this isn't always possible as a lot of booths just don't have the room to store everything. I did manage to buy all of this (so far) and it will be coming home with me......even if I have to leave my clothes behind!

 

I have to pack my bags tonight and see if I have any room left for some more purchases tomorrow.

I have placed several other orders for new stock, but that will all have to be shipped so I expect the delivery will be a few weeks away.

I have also ordered a couple of new fabric ranges......not with US reps as I like to deal with our Australia companys. I was under the pump to place my order for some Moda fabric before Monday's deadline but wanted to see the fabric in person. I bumped in to Laurie Simpson at her part of the Moda stand and loved their new range 'Lexington'........so that is what I ordered......beautiful blues, creams and tans. I have also ordered the precuts and I think the delivery date is August.

The other new range is Helen Stubbings basics called 'Basically Hugs'......beautiful small prints in cream, pink, red, light blue, dark blue and grey. These will slot in to the shop very well indeed and may even end up in a BOM......but stay tuned for that news.

I was one of the lucky 40 people today to get an autographed copy of Gail's new book 'Patchwork loves Embroidery'. It is just gorgeous.....gee I think I have been in the States too long! The projects are great....and I am not sure which one is my favourite, it's so hard to decide! I will try and bring a couple of copies home with me but as you can appreciate books are weighty. However, I will be placing a large order for them to be shipped to me, so if you would like to purchase one please let me know.

Well my P.A. has crashed and is having a hannah nap.......and I am off to stitch some hexagons.....because we all know......

Linda from Pittsburgh but only for 2 more nights!

Spring Quilt Market - Day 2

While sleeping beauty snoozed in the other bed, I got ready for day 2 of Market. I was attending my first Take and Teach session for this Market. This is when you learn a new skill that you can take back and teach in your shop. I selected Carefree Curves. Although I have stitched curves before I thought that it would be fun to learn a new technique......plus I got to use a sewing machine......something I have missed dreadfully for the past 3 and a half weeks!

It was a fun 1.5 hours and I will definitely be running a class using this technique with Nancy Zieman's Carefree Curves Templates.

Hannah was waiting for me and we finally enterred the massive hall of traders.

 I'm quite bad at this.....I never remember to take photos! I think I am too busy looking around at all of the lovely things on offer. We did a lot of catalogue collecting today and will go through them, make decisions and then head back to make our purchases over the weekend. I did buy a few things today and one of them was this cute new bag pattern from Anni Downs at Hatched and Patched.

Isn't it cute........not sure why it caught my eye.....lol! Anni will post the patterns to me when she gets back to Australia. (Sorry for the sideways photo....damn tablet!)

I always have to stop at the Art Gallery Fabrics booth. They do a wonderful display.......check out the yo-yos.....

Lunch time.........We decided on a Baked Potato.....but this is the first time I have ever had the option of broccoli on a spud......lol! Not keen on the orange cheese but you can't not have cheese (unless you are lactose intolerant....sorry Hannah)

We dropped by to say hi to our friend Gail. It's hard to believe that 2 years ago I was helping her at Market.....just seems like yesterday.

And we had to take a photo of her at her book signing......

This was at the Red Rooster Fabrics Booth.......I have been informed by the Australian Distributors that Gail's new fabric range should arrive in the shop next month......yay! I get to line up tomorrow for my copy of her book.........should I heckle her?

It has been a great day.......but for some it was all just a bit too much and a nap was required.....

Linda, (still in) Pittsburgh

PS. The ice-cream was delicious!

Spring Quilt Market - Day 1

Well I have arrived at the business end of our US trip and spent today attending lectures and seminars on everything quilty. There are so many sessions to pick from and they ran from 10am through to 8pm this evening. All up I sat in on ten of them..........the shortest being 15 minutes and the longest being 2 hours.  I only took a few photos....too busy trying to take in everything.

Here is Jo Morton showing off some of her quilts

and Sue Spargo with some of her beautiful textured works of art

I also enjoyed listening to John Q Adams aka Quilt Dad and admiring his beautiful quilts from his new book.

While the Schoolhouse sessions were on the exhibitors were busy down below getting their booths ready for the 10am opening tomorrow morning.

This is just a section of the booths at Market, and by the end of the day they were looking a lot more organised than in this photo.

Well I am pooped....so I am changing into my pj's and hopping in to bed and stitching some hexagons.....it's another big day tomorrow.

Linda from Spring Quilt Market, Pittsburgh

Lancaster County and beyond

As promised I am back with photos of our trip to Lancaster County and the home of many religious denominations. We were there to see the Amish way of life in Pennsylvania, but also learnt about the Mennonites. The countryside was beautiful and the Amish homes and farms were easily recognisable by their distinct lack of powerlines running to the properties. The people themselves dress plainly but are very neat in appearance, and are happy and friendly.

We saw lots of buggys

Our guide explained about all aspects of their lives but at times I felt uncomfortable as we slowed down to gawk at them as they undertook outside chores. We stopped at a couple of roadside businesses, but the one that I loved was a family who ran a small dairy farm and also ran a quilt shop.....hmmm sound familiar....lol! Here are some of the photos I took around the farm.

The John Deere round baler driven by a diesel engine, with a seat for the operator and harness for the mules to pull it along.

Don't think we will changing our harvesting operation! Some of the other machinery was also very interesting with no tractors to pull it along.

The mules were huge but were so placid.....I had more than one pat of these giants.

The dairy was quite different from our 21 aside swingover with cup removers etc etc.

This dairy had no permanent milking machines, but instead a portable unit that milked 4 cows at a time. With 35 cows in the herd this would still take some time getting the milking done, although I'm not sure if they milk just once a day.

Their clothes lines were fantastic too......a big long line operating on large pulleys. This was snapped from the bus but there were some a lot more impressive than this one!

Our day finished with a family feast at an Amish style restaurant......no-one left feeling hungery!

Our last day on the East Coast tour started with a visit to Hershey Chocolate World. Apologies to all of my US friends but I did not like the chocolate all......in fact I threw my little samples out!

We boarded our private plane for the last time for our trip back to New York.

It felt like we had only been away for a couple of days but after 6 days we had seen yet another part of the US. We said our goodbyes to our fellow travellers - Clive & Ennis from England; Geoff & Suanna from Australia; and Audrey our tour director, and then it was off to spend our last night in New York before..........Quilt Market!!!!

Linda from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Hope you aren't too bored yet....

I'm back on line again.....unfortunately the Hotel Wolcott doesn't offer free wifi so I have bought some so I can get this blog post done and check in on facebook....I'd hate to miss any of the gossip from home!

After Niagara Falls, we caught our flight to Washinton DC, the capital of the USA. It is an impressive city with so many old and beautiful buildings, rich in history. On our full day tour we visited the Capital Building

and had a tour inside. Unfortunately the magnificent dome was undergoing restoration work and we couldn't see it all. 

The Mural underneath the dome looked 3 dimensional but wasn't.

In between showers of rain....only the second time on the whole trip we have had rain so that's not too bad......we visited many places.....

Including the WWII memorial

 

The Lincoln Monument

with inspiring words of wisdom

The Korean War Memorial

powerful and very moving. This mural was etched in granite.

We dropped by to say hi to the Obamas, and although the lights were on, I don't think they were home.

 We visited many other places of interest throughout the afternoon.

Our last morning in Washington DC was one to remember with a visit to the Arlington Cemetery.

 Thankfully we arrived before the masses and were able to wander in relative solitude before the bus loads of people arrived.

The view from the Lee house on top of the hill was magnificent.

However the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier was something I will never forget.

After saying our farewells to the capital of the USA, we caught our next flight to the heart of Amish Country.....but I will leave that story for tomorrow.

Linda from New York (but waiting for our shuttle to the airport....Pittsburgh here we come!)