You will too after you experience the luscious blue-green quilts offered up this month by indie quilt designers from the Yahoo Quilt Designers Collective.  Get advice from and see the quilts of Pat Sloan, Barbara Campbell, Sarah Whitney, Helen Stubbings, Marilyn Foreman, and Marcy Horswill. To view the show in Full Screen mode or to embed this slideshow in your blog, just click the Menu link.

Ok, well maybe not everything.  After all, it’s only an hour.  But what an hour it will be.  I’ll be chatting with Morna McEver Golletz in the Professional Quilter Cafe, and of course the topic will be my favorite:  color in quilts.  What an artist date!

What I’m most excited about is having a one-on-one where we can really dig deep into the subject.  Color is so intimidating for most quilters that this is a jewel of an opportunity to really “get” color in a way they never have before.

And since this is a Professional Quilter teleclass, we’ll be talking about color not just for quilters, but also for instructors who teach color classes, pattern designers and how they can use color more effectively in their samples, and for shop owners and how they can really help their customers in choosing colors for their quilts.

Hope you can join us.  It’s only $9.95 and that’s for both the teleclass and downloadable MP3.  You can’t even buy a dinner out for that.  So stay home on Thursday, Jan. 15 and join us at 8p.m. Eastern.  Here’s the link.  See you there!

It’s been a whirlwind of activity here at the Willow Ridge Press family studios.  Thanksgiving was a gourmet feast, as my husband and I both love to cook.  He made Emeril Lagasse’s turkey recipe from his new show Emeril Green, and I made the traditional cornbread dressing, made with whole grain cornbread.

Then it snowed on Dec. 1st!  I’ve been Twittering almost daily, and I shared about our turkey sightings, snowball fights, and hot chocolate.  Now the news is there’s a mountain lion in our midst.  Yikes.  That’s almost like having a bear in our garage, which we really did about five years ago.

I was gone all day yesterday on a business trip.  I played with fabric all day long, looking through the best and most current fabric samples from major manufacturers, all headed your way in beautiful designs you’ll be seeing in the near future.  Had a great ladies lunch, drove three hours home to hugs and kisses.

My son asked me this week if I was excited about Christmas coming.  Wow, what a loaded question.  He anticipates all the magic and joy, and we moms/wives/sisters/daughters anticipate the work!  Well, I am excited, and I’ve been working hard with my friends and asking them for the most wonderful gifts for you.  Yes, you!

If you subscribe to my newsletter you’ve known about this for awhile, and the time is here!  It’s a Quilts & Creativity Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway!  Starting next week, Dec. 8, I’ll be giving away gifts for you, and all you have to do is comment on this blog.  I’ll randomly choose one comment each day as the lucky winner.  And the gifts?  Great stuff like fabric, books, notions, threads, and patterns.  So don’t miss a day.  Santa’s filling your stocking early this year!

I profiled Meg Cox, author of The Quilter’s Catalog: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, months ago here, and I attended her session at Fall Quilt Market.  Meg is the new evangelist for all things quilting, her goal being to create new quilters in the 85% of American households that don’t have one.  Can it really be that high?

Meg holds “Learn to Quilt” parties where she teaches women and girls how to quilt:  just the basics like how to pin, piece by hand, and tie a quilt. Oh, and they serve “Quiltinis” – a mock cocktail.   She approaches nontraditional venues such as bookstores, mother’s groups, and other social gathering locations where women hang out.

The interesting comment Meg made was this:  Quilters can be our own worst enemies when it comes to growing the quilting community, because we make things so complicated.

You know what?  I agree.  Go to any guild Show and Tell and the oohs and aahs go to the 3000-pieces Grandmother’s Flower Garden, the king-size Mariner’s Compass, or other such masterpiece quilts.  And we should be impressed.  But what happens when a quilter holds up a Turning Twenty or Yellow Brick Road?  Quiet smiles and nods.  Move on.  Seen it.

Let’s embrace all quilters:  new, expert, traditional, art.  We all love fabric, creating beauty, and the comraderie of other quilters.  Let’s spread the word!

• black & yellow color scheme (look for these in Vera Bradley handbags)
• grey
• orchid (a dull, medium, red-violet for all you Color Masters)
• jeweltones in red, blue, and green

Why these colors?  They trickle down from Paris runways, and seep into fashion, magazines, and the ultimate arbiter of all things designer:  Target.  Really.  When you see Rubbermaid, Daytimers, and hangers at Target in trendy colors, you know those are what’s hot.

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.

Multimedia message, originally uploaded by Colorful Quilter.

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