I'm on Pinterest and lovin it!

A scrappy antique snowball...I'll post these on Pinterest and the picture below is an antique cupboard made from old wooden boxes.

I have gotten hooked on Pinterest, how many of you are?  Anyway, before I return the computer to my daughter, here's the link to my boards:

http://pinterest.com/dafarmersdotter/  Please feel free to follow me and like or repin any of my pins....my 2 favorite boards are antique quilts and recycling.  If any of you out there in blogland have boards that I'd like, please leave me a comment here or on Pinterest!  Thanks for taking the time to look!

New computer

Here's  a couple more pictures from the Northland Needlers quilt show in KC. I met a lot of quilters and hope some of them will venture up my way sometime!

 Sorry I've been so slow in posting lately, we got a new computer and our daughter took our old computer...and that's where most of my pictures are!  So, if I'm missing in action, that's the reason!  We've got to get that problem resolved!  The only reason I'm writing now, is because she forgot and left it here last weekend.  Til next time!

Happy Fall!

 Love the orange and black for the fall and Halloween! 

This weekend I went to a quilt show as an exhibitor and here is my favorite quilt.

Northland Needlers quilt show

I'm going to have a booth at the Northland Needlers quilt show in KC this weekend, if anyone's interested...stop by and see me!

Here's another finished project that came from my grandma's old house.

One of my hair customers brought this neat old quilt in for me to see...I just loved the old fabrics!

 Love the dots!

More quilts from the Mt Ayr quilt show

More quilts from the Mt. Ayr quilt show.  I just love this baby quilt...the sashing and border were unusual and the embroidery was so cute with little bunnies!  I'd love to try and make one like this someday, but I'm not too good at embroidery any more.  I used to do it when I was a kid, but I can't seem to get the hang of it now.  I think I just need more practice, but I never seem to get to it!

 Another cute Sun Bonnet Sue! 

 These top 2 pictures are from Danny and Tonya Willson's collection of quilts they received from his mother, Van Dora.  She made many quilts in her day and quilted a couple quilts for me by hand.  She has since passed away and I have learned to quilt myself...it's kind of a dying art.

 The quilts below are from the quilt show in Mt. Ayr that was held in mid July.  I have a couple more pictures that I'll show later.  There were a lot of pretty quilts.

Pink feedsack quilt

 Here's another feedsack quilt that I made for baby girl, Charlie Kae Wilson.  I will have kits for these soon.
Below is a picture of a malt shop pie that I made for my last retreaters.  They were a return group from the Osceola area and we all had a great time!!!  Thanks ladies!

 The malt balls remind me of polka dots!

Above is a tomato dip that is loved by our family and great to make with all the tomatoes in the summer.  You just chop tomatoes and drain, add chopped green onions, shredded cheddar cheese and ranch dressing.  Serve it with Doritos or it's great just as a salad.  I'm lovin the yellow polka dot bowl...I always try to serve fun food in fun dishes!

Going to Kansas City!

Tuesday morning I'll be doing a trunk show at the Blue Valley quilt guild in Olathe, Kansas.  They chose to have the Feedsacks and Recycling program.  Here's  a sneak peak at some of the feedsacks I'll be showing.  It was really hard to cut into these sacks, but after I did, it wasn't so bad!

 I have kits cut for these in red white and blue and pastels for spring.

 I'm looking forward to meeting several fellow bloggers while I'm there.  Please leave me a comment if you're going to be there!

All Iowa Shop Hop

All Iowa Shop Hop.com/

Click on the link above to get to the website of the All Iowa Shop Hop.  I've had a few people stop by while they're out shop hopping and would love to have more!  I'm open 9 to 6 today and next week, Monday thru Thursday, and tomorrow 1 to 4 if you want to come take a look.  I've got my patterns and quilts displayed inside...just too hot and windy to have them outside most days. 

 The bouquet above is peonies I picked about 3 weeks ago and brought them out this last Tuesday for quilt club.  Also snapdragons and larkspur.

Above are some blocks that came out of the middle of a comforter that was in tatters, so I took it apart and in the middle was another tattered quilt!  I salvaged these blocks and I'm thinking of making them into wall hangings or pillows.  Any suggestions?  I think the fabrics are really old, I sent an email to a friend who knows a lot about civil war quilts and I'm hoping to learn more from her.

Thanks Kimber!

Thanks to Kimber at Heirlooms by Ashton House for writing up such a nice review for me!
Click on this: heirloomsbyashtonhouse.blogspot. to see her write up on my retreat and the All Iowa Shop Hop.  She is so nice to me and always has a great story on her blog!  Please go check it out! 

Here are a few pictures of my set-up for the All Iowa Shop Hop. 

Clear Lake Trunk show and other half of my All Iowa Shop Hop

Here's the trunk show I  did in Clear Lake.  Decorating Seasonally with Quilts is what I call this presentation.  Thanks ladies for having me come speak!

On the way home we traveled a different route than we did on the way up so we could hit more quilt shops.  I used the All Iowa Shop Hop map to plan our route.  The picture below is at Country Threads just outside of Garner. 

 Next stop was Seams to Me, in Algona and then on to the Grotto below in West Bend.

 Below is a little peek at Quilting on Main at Pocohontas.

 Next stop, Towne Square Quilt Shoppe in Lake City.

 In between the quilt shops we stopped at this fun garden center in Sac county. 

 Below was our last stop of the day  at The Yarn Basket and Quilt Shop in Carroll. 

Check out all these shops and more at the All Iowa Shop Hop, June 1-14.  I hope lots of you can go on the shop hop, it should be lots of fun!  I will be having an outdoor and indoor quilt show...and garden show, depending on the weather!  I still have lots of spots left to stay the night while you're on the shop hop, for just $25 a night, so take my number with you and give me a call while you're on the road, if you need a place to stay while you're on the hop.  I am about half-way between the Creston and Clarinda shops.  Please take the time to come on down to Southwest Iowa... The Quilt Coop,  down in the country, south of Clarinda, is definitely worth the trip.  It has been nominated as one of the 10 best shops in the country, so if you haven't been there, make sure and check it out!

More All Iowa Shop Hop

 I'm sorry I'm so slow in posting...May is a busy month here at the Farmer's Dotter. I've been trying to get my yard and flowers to look presentable for the AllIowaShopHop.com/ , so I may not be posting a lot.

I'll try and put a few more pictures of our shop hop, but I forgot to take my camera into a few of the shops....SORRY! 

THE REST OF THE 1ST DAYS STORY!  After leaving Creston, we headed on up the road to Winterset to the Fons and Porter shop and to the Ben Franklin store, where we found a few more goodies, of course. 

 From there, we headed to Adel, where Jacque Johnson has a cute little shop called Adel Quilting and Dry Goods.  I found the cutest little scissors there that had polka dots on them, so I had to get a couple pair...like I need any more scissors or things with dots! That's Jacque above, with a

t-shirt quilt she was working on when she and a few of her friends came down and spent a couple nights with me almost a couple years ago.  They were a fun group, as usual! 

 Next we went on to Des Moines, where we stopped at Creekside Quilting in Clive.  I had never been in their shop before, it looked like they have a lot of interesting quilting goodies!  A few of the girls seemed interested in coming down for a retreat...I would love to have them!

Next we tried to find the Quilters Cupboard in Ankeny, but I'd loaned my GPS to the kids, so we didn't make it there, darn! 

Remember, all these shops AND MORE, will be on the shop hop, so make sure you have lots of time!  I was headed to do a trunk show in Clear Lake that evening, so we were kind of on a time schedule.

From Ankeny, we headed north, taking Highway 69, to Ames.  I love to travel the back roads, and spring its such a beautiful time to be out and about!   Below is a picture of  the Quilting Connection owner, holding the All Iowa Shop Hop paper.  I have those here at my house now, and the passports, if anyone wants to pick one up, so you can start planning your trip!  The Quilting Connection is like 2 shops..I think it was actually 2 stores to begin with, they have a lot to offer.

From Ames, we got on Interstate 35 and headed north to Clear Lake, just in time to check into our motel and meet up with a few of the guild ladies for supper before the trunk show.  More on that later...sorry I'm so long winded today!

All Iowa Shop Hop a month early

I feel like I've been around the world and back....not really, just around Iowa and back!  This was our 1st stop on our adventure. Above is Joyce Franklin, the owner of Quilts and Other Notions at Creston.  She has been a really busy lady getting the All Iowa Shop Hop organized.  She has a HUGE shop and inventory...so stop by there while you're out shop hopping!
 My good friend, Diane Ware went with me and this was our 1st stop on the shop hop (a month early).
Click here: All Iowa Shop Hop.com/for lots more info on the hop.
I still have beds at my retreat available for $25 a night, so give me a call to reserve  a twin sized bed with polka dot sheets!  I'll also be having an open house/garden/quilt show during the hop.  Should be fun!
More details on my trip later.

Decorating seasonally with Quilts

Tomorrow I'm heading out on a little adventure here in Iowa.  I'll be giving a trunk show presentation titled, Decorating Seasonally with Quilts, at Clear Lake, way up in northern Iowa.  The program is tomorrow evening at their city hall at 7:00, I'm sure they wouldn't mind if anyone wants to come visit.  The picture above is the next season I'll be decorating for; red, white and blue, whoo hoo!

On the way up and back to Clear Lake, I'm planning on going on my own little shop hop in Iowa.  I have scoped out the shops that are going to be on the All Iowa Shop Hop, June 1-14th and I'm planning on trying to go to 19 of them in 2 days.  I won't be able to go on the shop hop myself, since I'm one the 80 shops on the shop hop, so I thought I'd try to hit a few before and let people know about my $25 a night spring special AND my open house/quilt/garden show during the shop hop.  I still have beds available, so give me a call...712-523-3508. 

My gardens should be doing great by then, so stop by and take a look around at quilts inside and out and see my retreat.  Above is a picture from a couple years ago of my hosta garden, under my deck.  It is just outside the main sewing room and is beautiful to look out to on a hot summer day.

I'll try to take lots of pictures on my little trip and give an update when I get back home.

Linking to Rednesday

I was searching for something red to link to: http://suelovescherries.blogspot.com/2012/04/rednesday_17.html  She has such a cute blog with polka dots on the sides....gotta love those!

This quilt was in the window of an antique store in Leavenworth.  I'm always taking pictures of antique quilts, hoping to reproduce them someday.

Here's a picture of my quilts from last night at Corydon.  I got home in an hour and twenty minutes  and luckily didn't see too many deer!  Thanks ladies for having me come speak! 

I even picked a bouquet of lilacs and took along.

Trunk show tonight in Corydon!

This evening I'm giving  a trunk show in Corydon, Iowa, about decorating seasonally with quilts.. I just had a group of 7 ladies from the Corydon area here a couple weeks ago, so it will be great to see some of them again!  I'm sure their group wouldn't mind visitors, so stop by if you'd like to.

 This weekend, I'm planning on going to the Heartland Quilt Network meeting in KC if anyone's interested in going, let me know.

These are some of my different seasonal quilts that I decorate with in the 5 or 6 seasons...Snowmen/Valentine's, Spring, Patriotic, Fall and Christmas

 I have 3 different presentations that groups can choose from...if you want to see the other choices and cost, please go to my website or call me.

Find a Friend Friday

Click on this link: http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ to see lots of other fun blogs.  I'm looking forward to looking at them myself this weekend.  I made this Farmer's Dotter quilt from mostly vintage scraps about 3 years ago after choosing the name of my business.  If anyone would like a free pattern for it, I can email you one.  Contact me at farmersdotter@frontiernet.net.

Grandsons and lilacs!

Here's me and my 2 grandsons in front of my lilac bush that is blooming profusely about a month early this year.  Grandpa and Mommy Tara had us all laughing!

Spring cleaning the garage

I'm showing you my dirty garage, hoping it will look better soon! I'm planning on repainting and redecorating the garage this spring to be all ready for the All Iowa Shop Hop.  Click here: http://alliowashophop.com/ to see the list of over 80 businesses joining in and over $5000 in prizes!
  My hubby has given up on me keeping my things in HIS garage and has taken most of his things to our shed. He's also working on a man-cave out in the shed (for sleeping) so he doesn't have to interrupt the quilting retreats. I'll let you know later how all of this is going! He has been very patient about the retreats, because he knows anything quilting makes me happy...he's such a good man, most of the time!

I'm planning on hanging a few quilts in the garage for the shop hop. There will be an outdoor quilt show if the weather is decent, but if it's not, I'll display quilts in the garage and all around the house. Of course, there's already quilts in almost all the rooms of the house!!!