News - April 13th, 2016
Dear Friends -GOOD Friends,
It's a New Year and I am a healthy new person with lots of ideas and a little time to show some new things and ideas! Hooray.
I now have the cow pattern, the Moose pattern, the Chicken Soup Pattern and the Catastrphe pattern all ready. I am working on getting it on so you can order it.
I got a virus and I could not get into my orders to see who ordered and of the ones I could find, people did not comment and send me their 3 digit number. So I could not run the orders.
I am on the road alot too and I am a one man band some of the time and have to work in orders when I get home. I am not ignoring you or forgetting you. YOU are my mainstay and my friends who just wanna have Out of the Box fun!
As I can afford it, I am getting books printed off this year. I plan to do a CHRISTMAS BOOK I am self printing, COLOR BOOK, AND HOOCHY TWOTOO (easy piecing book) which will have lots of stuff in there done the easy piecing way and it makes all kinds of fun things!
A NEW Website is on its way with more colors and more ideas and more info. Down the line I will be adding fabrics and some of my quilts to sell. That will be after I get it live. I want students work and my work and things you have not see before and some lessons on what to choose for fabrics to get a better result with your quilts! This new site can show you and tell you more and I can get more eye candy on there.
MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE HERE- if you order from me I need the three digit number on the back of your credit card. Please add it in the customer notes ot I cannot process your order. I will have the new website correct this but in the meantime this is my best fix for the problem. Thank you for understanding.
Stay tuned for new patterns and alot of fun things offered there.
We are going to see Spring coming along soon so I am ready for warm weather and the beginning of my garden. Colors and designs continue to just grab hold of me and I am changing the way I do my story quilts somewhat.
I am finally getting my mojo back and wanting to create and have fun with other quilters! Quilters make the BEST friends for sure and I feel that way everytime I go off to teach. I am working on getting my Hoochy Mama TWO book together and it will have the same things the first one did with the additon of houses, hats, hearts, animals and other fun things to make using the foundation idea that I created 18 years ago. Seems like yesterday....really. Stay tuned. I am going to see what it will cost to have them printed and then hand in my photos and the pages. It will be just like my Flower Power book and the original Hoochy Mama Quilts book. Not alot of color but good graphics that will show you whether it is squares or rectangles and how and where to hoochy the corners. I never tire of making these fun blocks because until they are done, you never know how they will look. The mystery is what keeps my interest! Another new item is my MOOSE pattern that is like the cow pattern. It will be printed sometime next month and he is so cute. My friend Kathy Collins helped with the instructions and measurements. I am so thankful for her gift of knowing how to do this. It is very hard and some people have the knack-she does for sure.
I NO longer have any Out of the Box books to sell. They did not print more and I have sold literally thousands. I believe every single quilter should own my Out of the Box book to learn how to up their game and be more creative. Hopefully I can add some of those ideas. Some quilters have asked me to please put some noses and mouths and face things in the color book. I think its a good idea and personally I want to recommend my new self portrait class where I bring drawings of people and you can choose and copy them. Perhaps you want to do one and are worried it will look like you. I have done several and they look like what I can imagine myself aka long red curly hair, youth, fun, great colors and a chicken on my head or in a flower desert etc. I give you ideas and fun with this class.
From now on I will not do one day workshops. I am a process teacher and it takes me two days to get people thinking out of the box and their own ideas and "ah ha" moments. One day is over and everyone says "I need another day or two." It is frustrating. I would be willing to teach two one day classes that they could take as I can still get people seeing how to pull out new ideas! This is why I love to teach.
Thought I might share this so you can understand. And I am NOT high maintanance. My Mama taught me better than that. Hee some of you know what I mean,
I am cutting way back on my teaching and found that I need more time to create and long trips just wipe me out. Carrying heavy suitcases and running from place to place on planes and in cars is tiring. Though I do love being with quilters more than anything. I feel blessed and that my teaching is a true gift from God. I hope to keep doing it for a few more years but not at the rate I have been doing it.
My newest quilt class is aweome. You take a child's artwork and work with that to create a fantastic and original piece of art! If they wrote a story even better! I am teaching this in Texas close to where they have Quilting Adventures in the Blue Bonnet fields. :0) Hope I can finally see them in February.
Retreats- Tina who cooks for our retreats and I have great plans for two retreats in 2016. I am contacting a church that added a large addition with a kitchen and workroom. Our plan is to have a retreat for Farm Chicks the first Sunday or June and the retreat will be the next four days. I hope to announce this on my blog at Mary Lou and Whimsy Too and also here. I have new handouts and ideas for great color and fun and originality!
I am teaching a COW workshop with all kinds of ideas (given in handouts) and discussion of how to develop a fun theme and invent creative things to go on or with your cow. The cow pattern is pieced and easy pieced...no little fussy pieces. I will offer it in two sizes. This class is alot of fun. Make the MOOve to take the class and enjoy the process.If you want to make the cow with NO class you may purchase the pattern soon or email me at Lattegirl@aol.com. For guild challenges I give you a price break of minus $2. for orders of 10 or more. Simply write and ask. I will do this for each pattern I sell. Catastrophe and Chicken Soup were very expenisve to print so orders must be for 12 for me to do this.
Building Quilts with Easy Piecing- or NOT your Grandmothers Quilts. My second most popular This is using my"hoochy mama" method of easy piecing and building a great quilt with a theme. We will piece words, buildings and people or trees or flowers (Flower Power book) and make an original FUN and happy quilt that could easily win prizes. Whimsy, invention, process and passion all work towards beautiful quilts with these ideas. Two day.
Flower Power Workshop-My most popular .Easy piecing ideas for all kinds of great flowers, discussion of what's wrong with your stash and cool birds, bugs and other critters. A cotton garden with great color is a ton of fun and there are always students who come up with new ideas and share and we laugh and enjoy this workshop so much! Two day
Come On To MY House- Creative and fun pieced house blocks that make awesome quilts- I give ut an easy tree pattern and ideas for cutting and slashing and easy roof tops etc. LOVE this fun class- 2 day.
I hope you will join me for the fun and the wonderful outcomes as you grow in your design and composition. If you would like a workshop with me, two days or more please, ( I no longer teach one day workshops -contact me at Marylouquilts@aol.com
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I like to post fun things, recipes and photos of students projects and things that make you smile. Please check out my fun blog.
Check out my blog to see the photos. http://marylouweidman-marylou.blogspot.com/
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A SINCERE thank you for being there for me when I needed it so much. Quilters are the BEST friends in the entire world and I mean that. I wish more girls knew what it is like having quilters for friends and having a hobby that is so very fulfilling!
"If you always do what you have always done, you always get what you've always got."
Think about this if you are still doing the same old things over and over- this might be the year you change and expand and invent and challenge yourself!
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"A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains it's original dimensions. " Oliver Wendall Holmes
Thank you for coming here and for supporting me, I love my quilting friends.