Time To Pack My Bags...

After waiting for what seems like "forever and a day", it is finally time for my prize winning AccuQuilt trip! If you read my blog regularly, then you know I won the grand prize in AccuQuilt's 3rd Annual Barn Quilt Design Contest...in fact, I know many of you voted for my winning quilt block which helped put my entry in the Top 10 to be voted on by the celebrity judges (THANK YOU AGAIN!). Part of my winnings is a round trip for two to Omaha, NE for the quilt block unveiling ceremony, with two tickets to the 2nd Annual Let’s GO! Quilt Retreat (including transportation and hotel stay)...I am taking my dear friend Merry with me and we leave for Omaha in the morning for a week full of events. There is a welcome reception tomorrow night, followed by the two day quilt retreat...then on Friday, my quilt block will be unveiled (it will be displayed at a ginormous 17’ x 17’ size, hanging in all it's glory at the new AccuQuilt Headquarters). This is quite an honor for me and I am looking forward to taking this mini trip - no cooking, cleaning, yard work, or laundry for almost a week - sounds pretty heavenly to me! I am feeling guilty about taking the time away from my work...and I will be taking some cross stitching deadlines with me...but for the most part, I plan to take the time off and enjoy it...and hopefully get a good start on the retreat project quilt...

In a rush to get a million things done before my trip, I managed to get 55 newly finished items listed in my Etsy shop - including 39 more Stitch Starter Rulers Sets and 16 pincushions. This was quite time consuming and I was still up adding items at 4:00 AM. The Ruler Pocket Sleeves shown below are from two different Blackbird Designs fabric lines...the top photo shows ruler pocket sleeves made from Beach House by Blackbird Designs for Moda and the bottom photo shows ruler pocket sleeves made from Blueberry Crumb Cake by Blackbird Designs for Moda...these are already selling well (as did the first batch), so I don't expect them to last long. My shop is open now, but will be "on vacation" while I am out of the office...any orders placed before I leave will ship tomorrow morning. The shop should reopen again on Saturday evening...

Well, that is about all the time I have this evening - I still have work to do, orders to fill, and suitcases to pack...it will be another late night for me! I will take lots of photos and be sure to share my trip with you upon my return....have a wonderful week....