International Quilt Festival - Done!!

International Quilt Festival

Long Beach, California

Convention Center

it's done....

hope you'll come see it....

because we have everything you need

and we're going to show you what to do with it

(so to speak)

(demos all day long)

Julie at Jaybird Quilts

Natalie at beyond the reef patterns

BeginAgain

natalie.

International Quilt Festival / Long Beach

International Quilt Festival/Long Beach
July 23-25, 2010
Long Beach, California
Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center

Thurs 5-9pm

Fri 10-7

Sat 10-7

Sun 10-3

We have been working long and hard to bring you great fabrics, kits, quilts, patterns, gifts

And now the day is here....setup day

I'm off go get the truck...


have you ever seen a before picture?
check back tomorrow for the after picture

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

Giveaway Winner for the International Quilt Festival

We have a winner!

(regardless of what the button below says, it was # 27)

While many of you were spot on about your veggies

Taro
was the last pic!

Congratulations

stitchsister

please email me - if you are local, I will send you a gift certificate for use at the Quilt Festival

if you are not local, I will send you your three yards of fabrics!!

congratulations

natalie.

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com

home baked, home made, home grown GIVEAWAY

home baked, home made, home grown

how does your garden grow?

guess all 12

of these things growing in my garden

and be entered to win

three yards of fat quarters

or a $25 shopping spree in the 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

booth 

at the Summer International Quilt Festival

Long Beach, California

July 23-25, 2010

okay, the first leaf is an easy one.

And the blossom gives it away.

no. 1

this one is a fruit also

even tho it's in the vegetable garden

no. 2

This one should have been thinned out

but here they are - we're on to vegetables

no. 3

okay, I'll give you a hint

it's an herb - think pesto

no. 4

by now you must think you're pretty smart

"knee high by the 4th of July" they say in Nebraska

no. 5

oooops

now here's a weird one

hint - it goes with salad....

no. 6

it's another one that goes with salad....

no. 7

(five more to go)

this has GOT to be an easy one

more salad - and veggies - it's even printed on fabric

no. 8

(have you ever seen so many colors of GREEN???)

here's a hard one

unless you are a health nut

no. 9

number 10 - the blossom is a dead giveaway

and it is the largest vine in the garden right now

cmmon....you know.....

"summer xxxxxxx"

this one is rather unusual because it is a purple variety

but

here's another hint

it's a vegetable from a fairy tale....

no. 11

and finally.....the most difficult one of all

it's Hawaiian and it grows

"dry and wet"

number 12

here are the rules - guess all 12 items growing in the garden

on the central coast of california

(or even try to guess)

and you will be entered in the giveaway

for three (3) 'colorblock bundles'

which are four (4) fat quarters of Hawaiian prints all in one color

4 black, 4 red, 4 yellow, 4 pink...you get the idea

drawing will occur by random number generator

on Tuesday of next week.

READY?

FarmChicks?

HobbyFarmHome girls?

Midwest Modern girls?

home baked, home made, home grown

BeginAgain

natalie

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

(looking for fabric??)

Life, at its best.

L

life.

and reflection.

that's my reflection

(literally)

BeginAgain

2010

natalie.

tomorrow's post:

correctly name each of the garden plants shown

(in tomorrow's blog)

and receive a $25 shopping spree

in the

beyond the reef

booth

International Quilt Festival

Long Beach

(cut yardage or colorblocks please)

if you can't attend the quilt show

and you're the winner,

we'll send you three colorblock bundles

by mail

(4 fatquarters=colorblock)

winner selected by random number generator

on July 20, 2010

...that's TWO giveaways in one month...

won't you become a follower?

look to the right of the post

scroll down

Making friends, keeping friends

The International Quilt Festival/Long Beach is an interesting place.

You will find your friends, your friends' quilts, your friends' designs, your friends' patterns...

You will see friends you may not see or speak to every day.

And if you're lucky, you will even make new friends.

This is why I love quilt shows.

Walk the aisle, bump in to a friend from your Guild.

Take a class, and sit next to someone new, not the person you came with.  Share fabric, thread...ideas...

Find a pattern in a booth that you have already made, and exclaim, "Hey, I made that pattern.  I wonder if the designer is here.  Let's go look inside the booth and see what else they're up to!!  Let's show them pictures of the quilt for the grandchild!"  Here's a pic of a quilt from the book 'moondoggie & gidget' by beyond the reef - this quilt lives in Guam!!

How about these quilters in the picture below?

"I want a bag, no, I want a bag, no wait, how many are there?  I want a bag, too..." By the time they all had matching bags to go with their matching outfits, and had their photo taken, a crowd had gathered.  Once the photos were taken, and before they left, the crowd applauded them.  Now THAT's making friends!!!

We visited daily with Pat Sloan.

I purchased patterns from Heart to Hand.  And A Quilters Dream.

And I can't WAIT to start sewing.  A Jaybird Quilts pincushion - how cute for girlfriend gifts - secret pal gifts, you name it.  And the mermaid - well, look for THAT pattern in our booth at PIQF in October.  How about Stephanie's new pattern Square Root of Nine?  I can't WAIT to get the fabrics out a

nd...well, you get the picture.  I'm just never too tired to be inspired.

And how about the first pic of the blog?  

That's our Julie, from Jaybird Quilts.

Did we plan on getting together with Julie in Long Beach during the show?  Nope.  Did we plan on having her stay at the house or dip her toes in the bay after dinner?  Nosiree.  Did hULa wait and wait and wait until after the long day of the show to greet her dear friend Julie?  Nuh-uh.  That's because we had just met Julie.

But some friends are instant friends, forever friends.  

Keepers.

And that's the way you'll feel when you go to the moda precut page and make one of her patterns.

Or follow her blog, or visit her website.

That she's a forever friend, a keeper, someone you've known for a very long time.

But for now, it's time to rest up.  Get on the dog's schedule.  Nap.  And get ready for the next quilt show.  So that you can make friends, and keep friends.  We have a saying around here, it's not a new one.  It takes being a friend to have a friend.  So get out to that next quilt show and go visit your friends.  Make friends.  Find that quilt pattern designer and introduce yourself - show her what you made out of her fabrics, her pattern, tell her how she inspired you and you might make a forever friend - one scrap at a time.  

sparkle + shine

2009

thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

The Manly Man and the Quilt Show

Being a Manly-Man takes work.

It means you have a code of ethics, you (almost) never get mad, you do what is right, respect your grandmother, take her to Costco for hot dogs even tho you don't like the place, 

and you know what weekend

the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach is in town.

No, really.

(I know, you've heard this saying before, if you have asked us to email you personally)

I have a friend who is this rare breed of a Manly-Man.

He definitely has a code of ethics.  He works his butt off all week long and just wants to sit quietly (for a while) on a still body of water and fish on a good weekend away.

Or surf.

Or raft down some river rapids somewhere.

Or travel - camp mostly.

He has his own tools.  Knows about tires and how to get them on a truck. 

Don't get me wrong.  He also loves a party, appreciates beautiful women, and knows how to drink a beer.

Okay, you get the picture.

but maybe not....

He was with his mom the other day, and his mom said, 

"This week is the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach".

"No, it's not," he said.

"Yes, it starts this week - isn't Natalie attending that show," she asks?

"Mom, it's not this week," he continues.

He gets out his cellphone and goes to the calendar.

"Mom, it's next week, really, I know when the Quilt Festival is..."

"Oh, you know what, you're right.  It's the quilt run this weekend,"

she finally realizes.

Really.  I couldn't make this stuff up.

But wait...(in memory of Billy M.)

You might have seen him and one or the other of his friends 

(who also wear baseball caps and drive trucks) 

at a show, in our booth.

Carefully folding words tees or arranging tote bags or stacking bundles.

"Is this a fat quarter bundle?  Oh, no wait, these are one yard cuts, aren't they."

So you know what comes next, right?

We go to the warehouse, and he walks in, looks around, and says,

"Wow.  We really have a lot of fabric right now."

So.

I hope you'll come see us at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach.

Because it takes "all kinds" to make this show a success.

It takes fork lift operators, promoters, teachers, quilters, designers, sample makers, electricians,

cousins that are printers, great girlfriends, and

manly-men

to make a great quilt show.

Hey, if it weren't for the truck driving, dog loving, beer drinking, get-it-done

manly-man friend of mine, 

his mother might have missed the show altogether!!!

I hope YOU won't miss the show.

Please come visit us Thursday 5-9pm, Fri/Sat 10-7 and Sun 10-3

at the Long Beach Convention Center

It only comes once a year...

sparkle+shine

2009

Thanks for thinking of

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

natalie.

Booth # 1227 between Aisles 1100 and 1200 

Deadlines and the Creative Process

There are days...

There are days when the creative process and the light and the timing all come together.

There are days when the bobbin stays full until you are done with a seam.

There are days when all the pieces are cut and trimmed the right dimension.

And on those days...

deadlines and the creative process come together.

It's tough, tho, isn't it, to work creatively towards a deadline.

Not a self imposed deadline.  Hey.  I've heard you have up to one year after a birth or marriage to present your gift, so let's not talk about those deadlines.  

But I mean the kind of deadline like

DO IT NOW

deadlines

I once heard a motivational speaker ask the question,

"what could you get done in a day if, at the end of the day, if you finished everything,

you could go on a one month vacation to (fill in your own best idea here)?"

Could you get it all done?

Could you work more efficiently?

I have a 7 month old Guide Dog Puppy coming tonite to stay for four days.

And I'm working feverishly trying to finish the samples and the patterns and the handouts and the buying

for the

International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA

My Creative Process is on high alert.

My deadline is now.

My time is now.

When is your time?

When will you get creative?

When will the light be just right, the bobbin full, the fabric selected, the time to do what you want available to you?

I gotta say - there is no time like now.

Because it's all we got.

As Rumi says,

"Don't be like the vessel full of water whose rim is dry"

Enjoy the day!

sparkle+shine

2009

Thanks for thinking of 

b e y o n d   t h e   r e e f

www.beyondthereefpatterns.com