Fall Birthday Bash

KT Winner

Congratulations to Julie Scott. You're the winner of our new Sunflower Song charm pack. Please email your address to lynne@ktquilts.com. Jamie will send it out right away.

Pumpkins and Other Stuff...

We had our traditional OctoberBirthdayFest Saturday with all the kids & grankids. There are more than a dozen birthdays in our family from Oct. 12-Nov. 30, so we try to have a big celebration for everyone at the cabin while the weather is still nice and before the holidays take over our lives. Saturday night was perfect. Cool, crisp, no wind - just right for a blazing fire and roasting marshmellows for s'mores. Lots of sticky little hands, but so worth it.

Sooooo, that meant I spent much of my free time this past week decor-ing (Robert's term) the house and porch with fall stuff. The Mumpkin from last week's post turned mushy, unfortunately, so more mums, stacks of pumpkins and assorted fall items came out of storage to spruce up the house. It was time, after all, to put away the red/white/blue.  :)

Here's a look out my front door with a pumpkin wind chime that kept us up half the night until I remembered what could be making all that racket.

 

Below, the living room wall with pumpkins galore! I love the pumpkin wreath on the grate with boxes of gourds and things hanging close by. I have several wreaths to change out over the year and can make the boxes into little shelves with the addition of a book on top. Fill or stack with seasonal things and it's easy to decor for the seasons. Even with the best of intentions, though, I never quite finish up all my projects. The glass panel on the left side is an old wooden side light for a front door. It's been propped up there for a while. I don't want to hang it until I've scruffed up the finish a bit, maybe over-painted it and have the grankids pictures in it. Maybe by Christmas???

More clusters of pumpkins and acorn trees. Oh, I can't wait until next year's fall fabric line. It's very hush-hush now, but if you love acorns and leaves, stay tuned.

Right now with market just a week and a half away, I'm designing the last little project for Bees 'n Blooms, piecing just one more pillow and binding my fingers to the bone. Pictures are later this week, so there's no time to spare.

One of my favorite projects from the new collection for spring, Bees 'n Blooms? This long hex quilt based on a vintage find that was hand-pieced out of necessity (bottom of ladder). My version (on chair) features our Layered Patchwork method and uses only rectangles and triangles to create the look of vintage with fast & easy results. So fun! This lap size quilt utilizes a couple of Layer Cakes, but it's also available in pint size using a charm pack.

Watch for more Bees 'n Blooms projects in the next few weeks as we give you a sneak peek at all the new market offerings. Our giveaway this week is a pair of the so-new-it-doesn't-hit-quilt-shops-until-March-2016 Bees 'n Blooms mini charm packs. You'll be the first on your block to have one - and one to share. You won't want to miss the next few weeks!

Quilters Sharing

Thanks so much to Sharlene Jorgensen for sharing her quilt,  Cleopatra's Fan, featuring KTQ fabrics. It's gorgeous! The use of color and the border print to frame it are absolutely perfect.  

For more information on Shar's new book including this quilt, contact her at quiltwithshar@gmail.com. 

Sunflower Song in the House!

KT Winner

Congratulations to Janan Doster. You're the winner of the Sunflower Song fat eighth bundle. Precuts and yardage have been arriving all week (we LOVE our UPS guy!) Now to cut kits and post all these goodies to our webpages.

Fall is Here

I. Love. Fall. 

The weather is perfectly gorgeous here in Kansas - cool sunny days made for throwing open all the doors & windows, chilly nights just right for cuddly under my newest quilts. Time to decorate with pumpkins and mums - or mumpkins, if you please!

 I've wanted to plant a mum in a pumpkin for several years but never got around to doing it. After cleaning out the pumpkin, you need to spray it inside and out with a sealer so the gourd lasts more than a few days. So much easier to walk into the greenhouse and choose from half a dozen mumpkins already complete! Score!

It's always fun to search the piles of gourds and pumpkins for the just the right sizes and shapes to make a stack like this one. Now I want at least one more stack for the front porch at the cabin. I might be developing a pumpkin/mumpkin addiction!

Here's what it looks like all together in front of Kansas Troubles Quilt Shop. We have a group of retreat ladies coming in this weekend so we're sprucing up the place a bit. (At least I packed away all the red/white/blue and got out some leaves and fall stuff. :)

Notice the lap quilt in the chair?

 It's a new favorite I'll be teaching in a series of online tutorials for Quiltmaker next year called Mini Barn Raising. Learn my Layered Patchwork technique while making 3 projects. Watch here for more info.

The pillows are from our book, Crazy for Pillows with 6 different pillow sleeves that can be changed for the seasons. It's my new favorite way to decorate!

The sequel to in the "Crazy" series is coming soon. Watch for pictures in the next few weeks.

This week's KT blog giveaway is a Sunflower Song charm pack. Comment here on your fall decorating favorites for a chance to win.