No New Shoes

You know what they say about the cobbler's children who need new shoes? Well, I can relate. I have been promising my husband a quilt for quite awhile now. Something always gets in the way. I started this quilt over 3 years ago and I just finished putting on the binding 2 days ago. Many, many quilts have been started and finished in that time. THEY all had a deadline. Bill's quilt did not and it always was shifted to the bottom on the pile. It was worked on in fits and starts and believe me, I was starting to get a little tired of looking at it half finished. Well, no longer. It is done and yes, it is huge. Oh, it's approximately 98" square and it is hand quilted. I don't expect any congratulations on that.... it's just what I do. I hand quilt. But.... the next quilt might be a bit smaller.

Laurie

Drumroll Please.......

And the Winner is....."The Winn Family" post that is signed by Katie!!
Congratulations Katie. We hope your family has a sparktacular Fourth of July. The bunting will be on it's way to you immediately to help with the patriotic decorating. Thanks for playing. Katie - go to www.minickandsimpson.com and click on "contact us" to send us your snail mail address.

Polly

Just in time for July 4th - Another Freebie!

Hi

Well Laurie had so much fun with her game and prize - I decided to offer something for you to win, just in time for July 4th. I came across some of our "famous" Eagle bunting, that everyone in the world was looking for a bit back, I found a piece here that is a bit under 3 yards! So you can decorate your home to celebrate the 4th! Have fun, just write in a comment by 6PM tomorrow evening. My granddaughter is coming to town to help me pack and ship all of our Semper Fi kits, and she can do the drawing tomorrow evening. So write in - have some fun.

Winner

And We Have a Winner!!

The winner of the Winter fabric bundle (it's almost as hard to type as it is to say) is Pamkittymorning!! Thanks everyone for posting. We can send all our "ideas" of what Pam can do with the fabric to her! Hopefully she will send lots of photos with the finished product. Ok, everyone back to sleep.

Laurie

Win our First Blog Contest!

Welcome to our blog and enter our contest to win a roll of our new fabric line with Moda - Winter. All you have to do to be eligible is to make a comment to this post before midnight Saturday June 21st. Winter has just been shipped to quilt shops this week and already we hear, it is getting a little scarce. Just think of all the lovely things waiting to be made - tree skirts, kids quilts, holiday aprons, and wonderful what-nots. This tidy little roll is made up of all the prints (30) in Winter in a usable 9" x 11" patch. What a great way to beat the heat. Oh, and by the way, we are happy to be here and look forward to meeting you all.

Laurie

Studios!

Hi
Thanks for writing and saying you enjoy our blog - it amazes us as we are total rookies in anything tech, but it is fun learning. I wanted to share with you my latest purchase! I found the perfect blue storage cupboard at a friends antique shop in Maryland. This is going to be the answer to my prayers - not only beautiful, but large and will be so functional in my "pretend" studio. When I get the interior organized, I will share photos. At the present time it is just standing tall in my work space and looking good to me, soon I will put it to work. I love living in Naples, Florida but there is not an antique shop in the state that I know of that sells the painted Americana that I love. So, now I shop thru friends shops - mostly I shop at Woodard & Greenstein in NYC and also at My Country Treasures in Preston, Maryland. Country Treasures has a fabulous website, so you also can go shopping for wonderful treasures. I try to get to each shop once a year in person - the problem with that is - "I WANT IT ALL!!!!" Of course that is not possible for a couple of reasons - first of all space now that we have downsized and secondly and most importantly - financial reasons.
I will attach the photos so you can see my great find - and I know the white chimney cupboard is not really in the correct spot as it is crowding my beautiful blue find! The white chimney cupboard was my Mothers, so it has to stay, but where???
Now to speak of studios. Most of my life of hooking was in Ann Arbor, Michigan where I never had a studio, but I managed to hook lots of rugs! I hooked in a spare bedroom or family room and kept all my beautiful wool on shelves in the basement - so not a great arrangement, but I did hook rugs there. We moved to St. Simons Island where I had a large and beautiful studio, great views, tons of storage - it was perfect! Not to last too long as Tom's job brought us to Naples, Florida where once again - I have no studio, but a "pretend" studio. My "pretend" studio is using an extra bedroom and pretending it is my studio, lighting is OK, the wool is stored in a walk in closet - and I am hooking away. So the bottom line is -- a studio is perfect and a wonderful luxury that I wish I had at this time. If I had to pick my poisons though, I prefer to be here in beautiful Naples without a studio then back on the island. I may never have a studio again, but it will not stop me from creating and hooking rugs! Hook on!

Polly

Cover Girl

The June Cover battle is won by my sister Polly! Her beautiful home is featured on the current issue of Country Home. She gets extra ink inside as a new Semper Fi kit designed and put together by Polly is shown. You can order one of these kits by going to www.minickandsimpson.com and clicking on "Semper Fi Kit". Quantities are limited folks, so don't delay. ALL proceeds of this kit go to help wounded soldiers and their families. Her place looks great, doesn't it! I would like to say it only looks that good when photographers show up, but it's just not the case. It always looks that nice. Polly got the neat gene and I got the cooking gene. That's all I'll say about that subject. Thanks to Judy from Lake Street Mercantile for making the little quilt on the chair that's made with our Prairie Paisley fabric. And.... thanks to quilt designer extraordinaire "Miss Rosie" for designing that gem. Oh, and I won the May Cover battle with this one, but who's counting.

Laurie

Test Run

Just getting started!
Please come back soon to read all about the latest happenings with Minick and Simpson.