Hello to all you quilters out there in the land of blog. I'm finally taking the techno plunge - with much help and prodding from my kids and grandkids - and starting my own blog page. It hasn't been easy. My daughter, Nicole, had to call to talk me thru my first text message a few months ago; my 8-year-old grandson, Cooper, showed me how to find cool wallpaper for my computer screen a few weeks ago (I still had the Windows logo that came with the computer) and my son/webguy, Brian, set up this blog for me so all I had to do was type. Now maybe I can shed the title of "Most Techno-phobic Gramma on the Planet". Join me here each week and we'll navigate the muddy waters of blogging together. Watch this space for a giveaway each month!

We're packing up the car and headed to Houston next week for International Quilt Market to peddle our new fabric line, Butterfly Garden, and the patterns we created to go with it. The collection is a pretty mix of florals and geometrics in my favorite KTQ colors - barn red, true navy, black, mossy green, eggplant and gold with a few tans for contrast. The featured quilt is called Butterfly Garden with Jelly RollTM piecing and raw edge applique.

For our family, Butterfly Garden has a several meanings. While I was working on the quilt and playing with the possibilites for appliqued flowers, my 3-year-old granddaughter, Delainey, came to visit. She was helping me in the garden when she inquired about a particular tall, purple, fuzzy bloom, "What's this one, Gramma?" I replied, "It's a butterfly plant - the butterflies love to come and smell them." (As a novice gardener, that's the extent of my knowledge.) About this time, her older (and much smarter) brother, Cooper, 8-years-old, piped up with, "Yeah, Lainey, that fuzzy purple stuff is actually a caterpillar and will turn into a butterfly if you sit and watch it long enough." Delainey pondered that bit of information, sat and watched the flowers for a while, then went on her way. Later that afternoon, she spotted a butterfly perched on the purple, fuzzy flowers and exclaimed, "Look, Gramma, we growed a butterfly!" Of course, she had to tell Grampa and her parents that she had helped make a butterfly out of a fuzzy purple flower despite her Daddy's attempts to set her straight. So, of course, purple fuzzy flowers are included in my Butterfly Garden quilt. I will smile and shake my head in wonder every time I look at this quilt and remember my delightful afternoon with the grandkids. Were my own kids ever this entertaining?