Beth Ferrier’s Blog

It’s been a week since returning from Quilt Market, and I almost feel recovered. For folks in the quilting industry, these twice a year wholesale markets are like the senior prom and final exams all rolled into one.

In some ways it’s like a wonderful class reunion. You get a chance to catch up with old friends, the kind who know exactly what it’s like to run a quilt related business, and understand with a nod the trials of teaching on the road.

It’s always a joy to spend time with Susan Cleveland. She is simply the happiest person I know. It’s impossible to be with Susan for more than a few minutes without breaking into a smile. And her quilts and piping techniques are over the top cool.

While this market was Michele Crawford’s first time with a booth, she is not a newcomer to the industry by a long shot. Michele has been creating projects and patterns for magazines for at least a gazillion years. (She must have started when she was very, very young.) She did a bang-up job on her booth, with lots of fabulous details to promote her pattern company, Flower Box Quilts.

 This proud momma is pleased to say that both of these terrific ladies are graduates of my self-publishing classes. They both were already experienced in the industry before the classes,  it’s been an honor to have had the opportunity to help Susan and Michele take the next step. The best reward is seeing your students exceed your own accomplishments. Well done ladies!

Quilt Market is also a great place to meet on line friends. Helen Stubbings came all the way from Australia to share her delightful quilts and projects. To promote her technique Helen had a table set up so that we could color our own “Boobie Buttons”.  I have to admit, using colored pencils on fabric was quickly addictive. If it had been a retail show I would most definitely have bought the kit. Helen often  leaves lovely comments here on the blog. It’s so nice to know that somebody from so far away is reading!

 It was a pleasure to spend time with Becky Goldsmith of Piece o Cake Designs. I have loved their work for years. I cut my applique baby teeth on their “Through Grandmother’s Window” block of the month program, way back in 1996. Becky was in the P&B Textiles booth to help promote their new fabric line. It should be posted soon on the P&B website.

 Finally, it was just totally cool to be in the P&B booth to visit with shops as they order fabrics. Audrey’s Garden was on display with all of the other new spring lines. The fabric reps should be visiting your local shops this month, hopefully every one will order it!

 It’s been two years since I first showed my design proposal to the wonderful folks at P&B. It has been an interesting journey, learning the ins and outs of fabric design. I hope to have the chance to do it again. I am thrilled with how the fabrics turned out. They look so much like what I do and yet so much better!

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I too could have my designs on fabric and my name on the selvedge. What is your impossible dream?

My segment on the Quilt Show began airing yesterday. It will be available to watch for a year, and available on a dvd after that.

I’m thrilled with how the show came out. Ricky is such a kind soul. Like many quilters I am inspired by his talents, quilting and otherwise. I didn’t know him very well before the show. He’s a natural host, don’t you think? He was a great sport and played along with all my silly jokes.

It doesn’t matter how much I practice, I’m a nervous wreck before the filming begins. I detest having my picture taken. Let’s be honest, I have a great face for radio. But thankfully, as soon as I get started teaching I can forget the cameras and just tell my story.

It’s a challenge to decide what to squeeze into the few moments we get to explain a technique that normally takes a six hour workshop or a hundred page book. It takes hours of planning step outs, props and samples to explain the topic. And then pray that my hands don’t shake on the close ups. All in all, I think it’s a good show.

But what’s up with the hair? I know you’re wondering. At least it’s the first thing I saw. Oh, yeah, I was growing out my gray hair.

For just about a thousand years I’ve been coloring my hair, not to cover the gray (I love gray hair!), but to spiff up my mousey brown hair. I’m anything but mousey! In the last few years my hair has been growing out so quickly that the roots were showing again before I even made it out of the salon. That’s a lot of bother and money to look bad three quarters of the month!

About a year and a half ago I had spinal surgery that required three months off from teaching. That seemed like the perfect time to grow out my hair. I figured if I hated it I could always go back to the dye job.

Erma Bombeck once said that there was a special place in heaven for any woman who could grow out her bangs. I think that applies to growing out color too. The taping for the Quilt Show came at the worst possible time. My adorable grandson had just arrived. My book wasn’t ready. (It still isn’t, but that’s a post for another day.) I hadn’t managed to lose fifty pounds yet and my hair was half grown out. YIKES!

The ends of the old color were finally trimmed off last November, about nine months after the last round of highlighting done to blur the line between before and after. You know, I like it. Does it make me look older? Who knows. It’s surely a lot less expensive to keep up.

It feels more authentic to me. This is the real me. I’ve earned every one of those gray hairs, and I’m looking forward to many more.

With just one week left before heading to Quilt Market I have plenty of work to do. I’m doing a Schoolhouse session, a 30 minute infomercial the day before the exhibits open to promote the fabric line. Oy! I have handouts to finish, patterns to finish, quilts to finish, projects to finish.

It’s really nice to be able to count on my family for help. Jack oversees the printing.

Lucy likes to check my work, especially when it involves chasing the cursor.

And it makes perfect sense that the new asphalt driveway needs to go in the week before market. That would be the same asphalt driveway that we’ve done just fine without for thirteen years.

But this girl is nothing if not stubborn. Here’s my Miranda Day Bag, out of my new fabric (gosh, that still makes me giggle!), just waiting for the handles and closure.

 This is the first time I’ve followed someone else’s pattern in at least a million years. Thank goodness that Joan Hawley,  supreme Lazy Girl, writes really excellent directions. Despite all the interuptions, and furry helpers, and a trip into town for stablizer, this only took me a few enjoyable hours to finish.

The pump has been running for a week, but for the most part the pond was just a pile of wet rocks in the middle of a mess. This weekend we got down to brass tacks and finished (well, almost) the landscaping around it.

Kent dug more big rocks out of the ground under the rose bush, and he says there’s still plenty more! These were used to terrace the mound of dirt supporting the waterfall. I still haven’t decided what I will plant here.

 This space to the side was originally planned for a bench. I’m thinking now that I will plant irises here. And something creepy to trail over the blocks.

 Caleb did a really terrific job with the waterfall. I sure won’t have to worry about the oxygen levels this summer. It makes a wonderful music.

This is the one remaining fish from the old pond. He’s in his favorite hiding space. Can you see the bite marks?

I have three white waterlily plants that have overwintered for the last three years. It’s always surprising to see how big they become from such humble beginnings. Can you see the three small butterfly koi that we added on Friday? Yeah, me either. So far they just hide, but I know they are still in there, under the lily.

Didn’t the guys do a terrific job? All that is left for me is to go shopping for perennials to fill the beds. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Playing in the dirt is just the tonic for the pre-Quilt Market frenzy of the coming two weeks.

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments on the loose sheets/booklet issue. Looks like the booklet wins hands down, so we’re going to give it a try. My goal has always been to write directions that are more than simple recipes. Being pathologically curious, I am always interested in the why and how of everything. It’s always a bit of a struggle for me to edit the pattern down to the right number of pages for the project. I just want to tell everything I know (and thankfully that’s more than what can be contained in one pattern).

Our winner is Elizabeth Sample! To determine the winner I decided to use my age. The fabric line is named for my mom and it was just about 51 years ago that she became my mom. It was obviously meant to be, my given name is Elizabeth. My mom thinks I should be using my grown-up name on my books. I only heard it when I was in trouble.

The La-ti-dah Do Re Mi pattern is ready to go. We’re even offering kits, using my fabric line. They can be ordered from my web page. Click here.

It promises to be a beautiful day. Just as soon as I finish this post I’m going to go play in the dirt. The landscaping around the pond is nearly done. I’ll post pictures this week.

Thanks again for all the comments on the pattern format. It’s nice to know that I’m not talking to myself. (I already know what I’m going to say.)