Welcome to Mountaintop Quilting Studio

This is where you find me exploring a variety of creative adventures mostly about but not limited to quilting. I'm a firm believer that one increases their creativity by being open to and playing with a variety of cretative endeavors ... at least that my excuse for today. Enjoy your sourjourn through my studio playroom. May you find encouragement and inspiration, and on occassion, a little pin-prick that may be thought-provoking or spark your imagination. Thank you for stopping by.

• The patterns and catalogs are printed
• The boxes are shipped
• The quilts are packed
• The laptop, snacks, and last minute are packed
• The airline boarding passes are printed
• Market documents are packed.

What have I forgotten? Today I take care of the personal stuff ... haircut, packing my clothes, etc. I think I'm almost ready to head to the airport early tomorrow morning. This is my first time doing Sample Spree and I'm excited. This is the only opportunity for shoppers to purchase single copies of my patterns. I've put together a great package deal for them with serious discounted prices on the patterns (ie: below wholesale) to help generate sales and to get my patterns into more shops.

I have two new patterns for release this fall and a remake of the very first pattern I published. 

 MQS 101 STARLIGHT STARBRIGHT: I'm excited about the new cover and remake of this old favorite. The pattern is updated with current techniques and up-to-date fabric selections. I made a new sample for the booth yesterday in one of the new sizes included in the pattern and used Halloween fabrics. Today, I make matching coasters to go with the 4 block table mat and it will be a fun addition to my holiday decorating.

• simplified fabric palette
• simplified cutting/piecing instructions & techniques
• additional sizes
• improved graphics & diagrams
• added features (suggested quilting designs, additional color pictures to guide fabric selection, more tips for pressing & piecing)  

 MQS 121 SHOOTING STARS came about as a result of our annual strip exchange the summer we traded strips cut at 2 1/2" and 4 1/2 " in country reds and blues. I wanted have a star block that was easy to piece, looked good, and didn't require a whole lot of precision piecing to keep the points. I like the way the stars appear to float and the secondary surprise block that is created when the blocks are sewn together.

Doesn't it look like a good pattern for a guy - especially when done in the black, gray, and red color combination?

 MQS 123 PUMPKIN SOUP & APPLE SPICE BREAD is the first release of one of my dinner quilt patterns. The name says it all ... YUM! The dinner quilt patterns came about from a series of classes I did at the local quilt shop.

The classes were held on a Friday night. The only criteria for the pattern was that it had to be simple to cut and piece and still look good. Friday night after working all week is a time for the gals to come together, have a good time socializing while creating a great looking quilt. You know how Friday nights are ... we're all brain dead after a hard week at work and we just want to relax. I fixed dinner for everyone and included the recipes in the class handouts. Dinner had to be tasty and easy to fix and something that was just a little bit out of the ordinary to make it special for everyone. Be sure to watch for more Dinner Quilt Paterns to released in the future.

This picture shows the actual quilt reflected in my grand pianot along with the sugar bowl from one of my favorite dish collections (which is another whole story for another day.)

And so, tomorrow morning brigh and early, I fly to Houston with my quilts and my patterns. Wish me luck for great sales and future orders. And, if you are there, come by booth 2217 and say, "Hi!"

Comments

• Kay - I hope Market was good for you! The new peicing patterns are awesome! I would like to put in my "begging" to you not to discountinue your Yahoo blog. You don't have to provide anything on it anymore but it's a really good place for a lot of us who use your designs to showcase and problem solve with each other without having to weed through all the hundreds of posts on the SS Yahoo Group site. Just a thought. Take Care Jennifer
  by Jennifer Reinhart on 12 November 2008 at 10:03 a.m.