April?

So we all know I'm a horrible blogger, but it is high time to move from a January post to almost April. Morning Star Quilts AKA The Happy Place has been one busy spot so far in the year 2013. And I happily say "thank you Lord" for watching over us.

Mark and I were recently fortunate enough to take a quick trip to Tempe Arizona to visit our son and daughter-in-law (or daughter-in-love). We enjoyed a couple of spring training games (go GIANTS), had some great meals, saw some family, and most of all talked incessantly with our kiddos. So of course since we've been home I miss them horribly and so wish they lived back here in Paradise. They are so fun to be with and such kind people. Maybe the state will some day get back on the right road regarding education and they will be able to come home!

The reason I started rambling about our trip is, as we were traveling I was overwhelmed by the displays of color so I stared taking some pictures of these colorful displays. Textile artists are so fortunate to be surrounded by color but look at these retail pictures. Very inspiring for me.


























So you put all this color on a piece of fabric and you create. Have fun quilting on all the bright wonderful fabrics that are designed just for us!

Cheers!
Marsha

Onboard for 2013!

An update from Morning Star Quilts. I've noticed on a lot of other posts that New Years resolutions haven't been very abundant. I like the idea of picking a word and trying to strive to attain that quality in my life. So this year when I get low or discouraged I will meditate and concentrate on all the things in my life that I have to be thankful for. And trust me we all have so much to be thankful for. So my word for 2013 is "Thankful."

Every year at Christmas we give our employees a small gift and a weekend retreat. We close the store at 1pm on Friday and reopen Monday morning. My husband cooks all our meals and we sew for hours. So much fun and we get so much quilting done. And need I say we laugh a lot. Here's a few pictures of our weekend.











A fabulous breakfast made by Mark including a Swedish tea ring made from scratch. Yummy!

So a couple more items to show you. We will be starting another Block of the month in June. It is a 6 month program. I need an approximate number of people interested so I can order fabric. I saw the quilt and it is beautiful.
Here's a picture. Give us a call if your interested.


There is a small amount of applique and embroidery. The blocks aren't hard but fun to make. Size is 65 x 65.

Marsha

Location:Paradise, California

Deck the Halls!

Happy Holidays to you all,

I absolutely love Christmas decorations. I mean I love love love
Christmas time. Every year I tell Mark "don't let me buy anymore decorations!" So now I have enough to do the store and our home. Crazy, right?

I woke up Monday with a nasty cold, enough to put me in bed. Now I have to tell you I don't have time to be sick! Who does, it's the holiday season. I used this down time to get our home ready for Christmas, in between all my naps. I thought I would share some pictures of our decorations. But first I would like to invite you to an Open House at Morning Star quilts. On Tuesday December 11 from 4 - 7 pm we will be serving snacks, wine, nonalcoholic beverages, presents, surprises and more. We would love to see you all. The store will be closed on December 11 until 4 pm so we can prepare for you. So come on by for some holiday cheer and live music, just our way of saying Thank You to the best customers ever.
























Happy Holidays,
Marsha

Pioneer Quilt Guild

Mark and I are on the road again this weekend. We are at the Pioneer Quilt Guild quilt show, the quilts are beautiful! Good job ladies. If you ever have a chance to make this show you'll have a great time.

We've been on the road a lot since August, throw in two shop hops, a couple mysteries at the shop, educational quilting week in Portland, and 5 vendor gigs and now we are TIRED. No more shows till March.

Mark and Kelly (son and his wife) from Tempe are flying home for Thanksgiving. Of course we love having them, hello we sent the tickets. lol This was our year to go to Tempe but I can't leave my parents alone on a holiday, so bring the kids to us. It will be a real joy to have both kids, grand kids, Mom and Dad, and hopefully my brother and his family for a great feast of food and thankfulness.

Pictures of Pioneer Quilt Show















Quilts from the show














Our booth.

Hugs,
Marsha

We have a guest blogger today! My mom doesn't generally let me write our blogs, but I thought it would be fun to share with you what part of our staff did this weekend.

I heard about a 5k marathon in Chico and if you know me I am not one for exercise but I have been doing a lot of walking. So when I started reading about this 5k I knew we could do it. Ronda, Laurie, my dad, myself, and three of my closest friends all participated in the Gnarly Neon 5k, where it doesn't matter who crosses the finish line first. You can hop, skip, jump, run, or walk your way through Bidwell Park.

We started the race in our white clothes and began our walk. Well some of us are very competitive and some aren't! So my Dad, Laurie, Ronda, and Shyanne had a battle amongst themselves for who could get there the fastest, and the rest of us took our time and enjoyed the park. Just so the girls (Laurie and Ronda) know, my dad was the fastest. Our whole group actually crossed the finish line together. The fun part of the race was as we were walking we went through color stations where we were hit with neon colored chalk. We came out of the race as human Easter eggs!

The race was a lot of fun. We are already planning what we will do next year. The Gnarly Neon proceeds benefit The Little Red Hen in Chico. The Little Red Hen is a great charity for children and adults with developmental disabilities. It's a great charity and a great day! Can't wait till next year.

Here's some before and after pictures,










So long for now,
Jen

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Legacy of Linen

Cindy was featured during the quilt show. Her work is incredible. The quilting she does brings linens back to life and it enhances the beauty of the vintage cloth.
Cindy has really worked hard to bring old linens to life with her amazing quilting.
she would love to ensnare you into a quilting life of linens.

If you ever have a chance to take a class from Cindy you won't be sorry. She is an excellent teacher, patient and kind, and she will turn you into a phenomenal quilter.

Here's some more photos of other quilts.













Hope you enjoyed those. We have one more show to do before Thanksgiving and then I think life might settle down. Have a Great week,

Marsha

Location:Portland Oregon

MQX West

So here we are in Portland, Oregon. I have had a very educational week. Amazing! My goal was to at least learn one technique from each class. Well I must say the teachers were great and I learned a lot. By the way I should have explained Mark and I are at the West Coast Machine Quilters Expo. An added plus, we're staying with Mark's brother Kevin and his family. My sister-in-law is a long arm quilter so we took some classes together - such fun! Her knowledge of digitizing patterns on the computer is amazing. I wish we lived closer together so I could suck her brain dry. The whole computer thing is hard for me but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

I took classes from Jamie Wallen, Judy Woodworth, Angela Walters, Dawn Cavanaugh, and Linda Matteotti. Jamie Wallen is an amazing teacher, I can hardly wait to get home and try out some of his designs. Angela Walters taught designs for Modern Quilts - great ideas. If you ever have a chance to take a class from Angela do it. She's very talented, a great quilter, funny, charming and a cutie pie. Her new book will be released soon. Dawn Cavanaugh taught us a zillion different funky feathers. Who doesn't love feathers? Linda Matteotti is an educator for HandiQuilter. So as a proud owner of a Fusion HandiQuilter with a Prostitcher computer, I took 3 classes from her. I learned a lot but I was confused a lot, it's the whole computer thing. It takes a while for computer skills to sink into my head.

I know you want to see some pictures of gorgeous quilts , so here you go!







Best of Show
















Quilting close up of previous photo.






Amazing, right?

More later,
Marsha

Location:Portland, Oregon