I snapped some pictures from yesterday’s Apple Blossom Days and wanted to share them with you. I also just checked out the weather for today and it’s going to be GORGEOUS (at least until the storms tonight). If you have time stop out and check out the blossoms – I can’t guarantee they’ll still be here next week but I can guarantee that they are beautiful today! Some of our neighbors stopped by and my girls had a great time showing Charlie and Gabby how to do the duck races… And how to feed the goats. And I’m pretty sure many other things. We have a decent selection of hanging plants and tomato plants for sale. If you remember from the old location – it pretty much holds true that if it’s not breathing – it’s for sale. The shop portion of the store is also set up. Come and check out all the newest quilts, my ‘To Go’ Quilts, and patchwork owls. I also have my jewelry all out – if you like what you see at theApple I can promise there’s much more than that at the orchard! A new thing we’ll be selling at the store this year is fabric! That’s right – we have a wide selection of commercial printed fat quarters and hand-dyed fabric (that Diane and I dye). A great way to stock up for your stash or to find that one piece you need to finish your latest project. The background of this quilt is made from hand-dyes. Many of our quilts are if you want to get some 'ideas'. I have a decent supply of 2010 Maple Syrup from Hedmark’s. Be sure to stock up some for your summer pancakes and waffles! I also have some new pottery from Blue Sky Pottery – including a few of her AMAZING berry bowls! New this year are some handmade pie birds from PieBirdsbySharon. Mary Lou Stronach has some of her beautiful spring toll painted items for sale for these few weekends, too.

You can also purchase some plant-able apple tags (with wildflower seeds) that were made by GreenPost. They are really neat and would be the perfect little addition to any mother’s day gift! Our handmade canned goods and honey are also for sale. One thing you haven’t seen before is Diane’s Seedless Raspberry Spread – it has HALF the sugar that a jam would have! AND! Mac N Tosh have been very prolific producing eggs this year. In fact – that’s why they’re not over at our place yet (no worries – they’ definitely be here by fall). Every time my in-laws think they’re done – they have another egg – we don’t want to disturb that. So we have a pile of blown out emu eggs for sale! If nothing else you definitely have to check out their stunning green color and amazing size!

I have also set up a ‘Photo Scavenger Hunt’ for whoever wants to try it out. A few groups did it yesterday and I think they had a fun time with it. If you get pictures of 10 of the 13 items I put on the hunt and post them to the Lapacek’s Orchard Flickr Group you will get a free 1/2 peck of apples (max value of $5). (more instructions on the sheet). It’s a good way for you to figure out our new layout and explore our orchard so be sure to stop in the store when you arrive to pick up your hunt sheet!

Can’t wait to see you at the new place!

I just got back from visiting my quilts at the Sun Prairie Heritage Quilters Quilt Show! It was really fun to see my work hanging for everyone to admire (or not...). Here are some pictures from the show...

Well, I just returned from my day spent at the quilt retreat in the Wisconsin Dells taught by my aunt-in-law, Barb, and of course, my mother-in-law, Diane. The project this year was a log cabin, but I just didn't have time to prepare for that so I just went up for the day to work on some things (I didn't want to leave my husband overnight with the girls just yet). I made lots of oragami bags and I did the mini-project and made an awesome appliqued wall hanging. I can't wait to quilt it!

Since, I just spent the day with Barb I decided to make her my featured artist for the craft sale! Barb has gorgeous hand-dyed linens, adorable purses, some hand-dyed clothing, and of course, quilts! Barb does an excellent job in all of her craft projects. She's not afraid to try something different and has a joy for teaching others her craft. All of the machine quilting on the quilts (Barb's, Diane's, Karma's and mine) was done by Barb. To find out more about Barb and about the quilting retreat for 2009 please check out her website: www.quiltsbybarb.com!

The girls went to a sitter today so we were able to accomplish quite a bit at the orchard. Diane got some things sorted out on the computer while I sorted for the DeForest Farmer's Market and helped customers. Then, before the sun got too strong, we took pictures of the quilts for our 'Quilt of the Week' special (which I will be posting...tomorrow sometime probably, or soon anyway) and hung the quilts in the store. The back room is starting to really come together now that the quilts are a part of it.

In the afternoon I finished sorting for my market and then I headed out. This is the first year for the market in DeForest and usually it takes awhile for them to get going. I have to say that it is already a WONDERFUL market. There were quite a few vendors and TONS of foot traffic. I really didn't even have time to walk around and check out other peoples booths...a good thing because I'm busy, a bad thing because I like to spend money. I brought some emu eggs because I didn't have a very large selection of apple varieties (only Paulared and Williams Pride) and I like to fill my table up and I wanted people to talk to me. The crowd definately found them facinating and I was able to chat with quite a few people. I didn't go through as many caramel apples as I thought I might, but now that some have tried them I'm sure they'll be back next week with there friends for more! If anyone is in the area or lives in DeForest I definately recommend checking the market out...it's from 4:30 until 7 on Tuesday nights!

Enjoy the rest of your night!

Hi again! I know, I know, this is my third posting for the day. But, the girls are asleep, I have the energy, and that may not be true tomorrow. So, we're going to try a new feature for apple season on this blog. Some of you may know, from visiting the store that my mother-in-law also make quilts. My mother-in-law typically makes the larger, extremely beautiful quilts and I typically make the smaller (baby size) brightly, colored funky quilts. We're going to write about a "Quilt of the Week" each week and feature one of the quilts we have created. Many of the quilts we will feature were machine quilted by Barb Raisbeck, Diane's sister. She has a huge long arm machine and does an amazing job quilting. To see more of her work visit her website at www.quiltsbybarb.com. The first quilt I chose to feature this week is the sunrise quilt. To learn more just continue to read!

The Story of the Sunrise Quilt

My husband and I recently built a house. My job was to pick out all the colors of the walls, which isn’t that easy to do when you have no flooring, no woodwork, and no furniture. Having none of these things does make the actual job of painting easier. When the painting was done, I realized I hadn’t painted anything orange, my husband’s favorite color. So, I decided that the master bathroom would be decorated with orange and pink. The bathroom has a bright orange shower curtain, orange towels, with accents of bright pink. It’s quite fun. Well, I needed a pink and orange curtain to match everything else and, as I’m sure you can imagine, it’s not that easy to buy a pink and orange curtain. My solution to the problem was that I would piece one together like a quilt. I found a piece of hand-dyed cotton fabric that my mother-in-law dyed that was perfect and mixed it with some of my commercial cotton fabrics. When I had the curtain to the size I wanted, I realized that it was way too beautiful to hang over a window that people would rarely see. And that’s when I decided I would have to think of a new solution for the bathroom curtain and the “Sunrise” Quilt was made.
Size: 47” x 35”

My aunt-in-law, Barb Raisbeck, did the machine quilting of a dragonfly pattern with her long-arm machine.

To see images of this beautiful quilt please click on the following link:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10566871


Machine Pieced by Kim Lapacek,
www.kimscraftyapple.etsy.com
Poynette, Wisconsin
Machine Quilted by Barb Raisbeck
www.quiltsbybarb.com
2006