marie-madeline studio

Titanic 100

The Titanic 100 was a perfectly wonderful experience in every way!  We still haven't stopped talking about it yet.  We gathered with a little under 600 people in Branson, Missouri, to remember and honor the heroism displayed on Titanic's decks as she went down.

There were lots of wonderful events that we were so happy to be a part of including a special trip to the amazing Titanic Museum, visiting with many reenactors, wonderful lectures by some of our favorite speakers, a screening of A Night to Remember (which you really need to see!), a special children's play  commemorating 'women and children first', music by Charlie Zahm, the San Antonio Darlings, Paddy Walsh and the Boilermakers & the boys from Third Class, and many more!

The wonderful event culminated in a fabulous White Star dinner on the Branson Belle showboat as we cruised around Tablerock Lake, at the exact moment Titanic struck the iceberg that sent her down.  Most of us in early 1900s-inspired clothing, naturally.  We girls were so happy to have the opportunity to make our dresses for the occasion, and pull out some of our vintage rhinestone jewelry.  And, Mom got to wear her paternal grandmother's haircomb and maternal grandmother's rhinestone pin.  Dressing for the occasion was just icing on the cake!

As we said earlier, the whole experience was beyond wonderful, and we are so thankful for the opportunity to have joined in.  It was definitely a few days to remember always!

Hope you enjoyed a peek at it! Hugs-- xoUs

our spring break!

Our spring break a couple weeks ago can surely be labeled as "refreshing".  Although we absolutely LOVE what we do (and, naturally, there's always so much to do), it's always great to get to step away from everything and just laugh, chat, see family and friends, eat yummy food, stare at beautiful wildflowers (evidence: above), snap pictures, shop, play Mexican Train Dominos, watch a movie with friends, relax, stay up late, eat donuts and coke for "brunch", and swim in the hotel pool. (Which we did precisely twice, because once was just not enough.)

Oh, and we got to make pizza with this little sweetheart! A very happy break indeed.

hugs! xo US

P.S.~ Oh, oh, oh!  We almost forgot to mention here on the blog that you'll find all marie-madeline studio fabrics 20% off through April 6th.... happy sewing! xox

the Market post.

Downtown Houston.

Market is one of those great, inspiring, tiring, fun, full, long weekends!  There are so many things to see, people to chat with, fabric to touch, and aisles to walk.  Since all of us couldn't go (boo hoo), as Abs mentioned, Apphia & I struck out with Paps, Nanny, and our wonderful friend Robbi to Houston and International Quilt Market.

 

Rachel Ashwell's Schoolhouse, where she showed some lovely inspirational photos and her new linen fabric.  We already have some of her cotton fabrics, Shabby Chic Treasures, and enjoyed getting to meet her, and get signed copies of her new book!

The lovely Anna Maria Horner's Schoolhouse, where she showed all of her new goodies, including Loulouthi Velveteens!  We have 3 bolts of them expected at our studio in December and we are so excited!  The velveteen is such a fabulous substrate, and we're looking forward to talking more about it once it arrives (woo hoo!).

Lecien's Schoolhouse is always informative, where each designer discusses their new fabric lines.  Here's a quilt made up in some of the sugary-sweet Folk Heart fabrics, by Rosalie Quinlan, coming to marie-madeline! 

We adore Pillow & Maxfield, and were so happy to get our picture taken with Val!  We're standing in their booth, where they were highlighting their up-and-coming Ooh la la fabric collection, coming to marie-madeline in January 2012.

Amy Butler's newest line, Lark.  It has some really fabulous colors in it, and we're looking forward to stocking some in December! 

Anna Maria Horner's booth (my personal favorite!), featuring a velveteen couch!  How fabulous is that?? 

Michael Miller fabrics always does such a cute job with their booths, and this year was no exception.  What a great car!  Oh, and they had flavored water which was so yummy.  We sipped on it while we ordered fabric.

Dear Stella!  We are so excited about this new fabric company.  So many wonderful prints... we could hardly choose which ones we wanted. 

Calypso was probably one of our very favorite buys from this market.  Take a look at all of those bright, vibrant colors!  It's due here in January, and we can hardly wait!  We orginally just bought a bundle mid-morning, thinking we'd take it back to the hotel room that night, open it all out, and see if we wanted it.  What's the use.... we went back and bought it that afternoon.

Market wouldn't have been complete without supper with Jenny!  We laughed and talked over yummy Mexican food (and we sat in one of those wonderful round booths!).  A great time!

Oh, and we loved the food so much-- and it was conveniently only two blocks away from our hotel--- we ate it again the next night with Robbi.  And we can't forget getting to meet Melissa P in person!  We loved getting to chat with her... she's so sweet!

There were so many pictures that there was no way I could post them all.  SO!  Hopefully I'll put together a group of photos on our facebook page....

xxx Achaia -for all

PS... Did anyone else go to Market??

She sure is a honey.

Is this great or what??!  We hinted at our recent photo shoot a while ago, and now we're happy to share it with you all.  Meet this beautiful 1959 convertible!  When Paps told us that one of his (therefore, our) good friends owned this lovely, we KNEW a photo-taking-extravaganza was in order.  It was bought brand spankin' new in '59, and the color is original (it was called 'geranium').  Isn't it beautiful?  All of us are complete vintage-car nuts -- and convertibles make the problem even worse.  Are we the only ones?  We must come by it honestly... our Paps is a whiz at spotting and naming off any (and we mean ANY) car name, model, colors it came in, and the year it came out.  Reminds us of hearing about when Mom was a girl-- Paps would re-do cars and sometimes Nan would come over and do some neat-o pinstriping on the side.  Now that's talent!

Enjoy!  xx the Long ladies

 

The past two weeks....

We've eaten s'mores.  Twice.  Hot dog cook-outs always call for s'mores (or in some cases just black marshmallows, right, Nanny and Aunt Nancy??)

We went to The Secret Garden in Horton's store.  We just can't help ourselves.  They have way too much pretty stuff!

Lounged on Paps & Nan's bed while we cleaned Nanny's closet.  That was great!  Our closet cleaning adventures go way back.  Our Nan's never forgotten that way-too-small purple flowery knit outfit, have you, Nan? 

We are constantly amazed at all the beautiful goodies Nan has put up in their home.  Of course, it really just feels like our home too.  What a fantastic way to use your necklaces as part of your home decor!

Naturally, a trip wouldn't be complete without spending time shopping here and there, and setting aside one particular day for antique/flea market shopping.  Treasure Mart, is one whale of a place (three full stories high)!  And, after shopping we had to eat at our all-time favorite Louie's Coney Island.  If you're ever in Kokomo, IN you have to go there!  Order a coney all the way--including cheese-- with a marshmallow coke, and seasoned french fries.  It's bound to make your tummy happy! 

On our two week trip we also spent a morning have a great photo shoot.  More pictures coming soon, Lord willing!!  We can't wait to share them!

We spent one evening making hodge-podge necklaces.  We had to lay them all out in a row to see how each seperate necklace displayed the makers personality.  Call us silly, but we love doing that kind of thing!! 

 

We also had the greatest time spending a few hours with some sweet and great friends!  (You might recognize Ashley and Gabrielle.)  It was such a delight to realize they lived quite close to Paps & Nan.  They invited us over for a meal -- thanks, Gabrielle, for the delicious homemade pizza (Apphia had to get her recipe), and we had so much fun getting to know them better!  Ashley and I {Achaia} have so much in common.  Sometimes it's crazy how often we'd pick the exact same stuff!  A million thank yous for the lovely time, and we hope we can see y'all again soon!

To top all of this off we got to spend some great time with uncles, aunts, and cousins, go to the park, watch some old TV shows, add a new cheese enchilada to our crazy count, eat ice cream hot fudge sundaes, and just plain old be together.  Can't get better than that!

There you have it.  A quick overview of our past two weeks!  What did you do??  More marie-madeline developements coming soon so stay tuned!  Much love~ just us xxxx

HOME

 

{How we miss this sweet little face}

Here we are, home again!  And we must say, it was an altogether wonderful trip.  Our best-est friends are the most hospitable people we know, and we had the privilege of spending many nights in their home.  (Even if we did all miss out on a little unnecessary thing called sleep.)  The days were full of laughter and good times and lots of love and joy.  We even managed a fun photo shoot in Fredericksburg that we can't wait to share with you all!

{Sneak peak of our Fredericksburg photo shoot}

  

{There's no place like Texas}

 

{Horseback riding} 

 

{Getting and giving as many hugs as possible}

 

{The one-and-only Dooley's}

{Hat stacks on Main Street}

 

{Little leather flower-pouches in a hundred different colors}

 

{So pretty}

{Pretty shoes at one of our favorite shops on Main Street} 

 
{Of course we couldn't resist eating Mexican food almost every single day}

But, we missed you!  It's good to be back, and slip into our places again.  Spring is here to stay, we think.  The studio is sunny and our heads are full of fun projects for welcoming the warm weather.  New fabrics are coming in too, just in time.  What have you been up to?

love, the Long ladies

XO

Better late than never----

See!  We're finally getting around to posting about our Fall Quilt Market experience.  In this case our motto is better late than never.  Sadly not all of us Long ladies were able to make it, so Nanny got to come along with us (Apphia & Achaia)--- which was so much fun!  Even though we all missed our other half.  The above picture is us on the first day, planning out our Schoolhouse classes.  It was a full day!    

On our way down with our friends from Bittersweet (who were so kind to let us tag along...) we stopped at the Moda warehouse in Dallas.  It's absolutely amazing!  See those bolts of fabric??  There are rows upon rows of them!  It was also exciting to see our patterns happily sitting on some of the warehouse shelves.  Yay! 
 

Here is a new Japanese line we're so excited about--- Garden.  We were completely smitten with it, and it's now sitting on our shelves here in the studio!  It should be on the site within the week, so keep an eye out!  The handle on it is just lovely.  So smooth.  We're sewing up some fun stuff for ourselves out of it!

On the left is a happy portion of Pillow & Maxfield's booth, highlighting their Gypsy Bandana.  We love how bright and happy it is!  Speaking of Gypsy Bandana... we loved it so much (and you all seem to love it too) we went back and got a few more new bolts!  The new ones are primarily red and blue--- so pretty!  The picture on the right is Anna Griffin's collage of Carmen.  We loved the way it showcased all the prettiness of it! 

Rhapsody in Bloom.  Big red cabbage roses, dots, stripey florals.  This quilt sealed the fact that we needed to have this fabric line in our shop.  So!  It, too, should be on the site by the end of the week, so stay tuned! 

With Jenny!  We could hardly believe we were finally meeting her in person!  (Hello, Jenny!)  When we got home our other half (aka Mom, Abigail, and Abiah) had to hear about everything we talked about.  This picture was taken at about 11 o'clock at night in our hotel room, right after supper--- pizza & salad.  One of the funniest times of the trip was probably when Jenny had to drive all of us in her husband's adorable little red car!  There were 5 of us--- Apphia, Achaia, and Nanny + our two friends from Bittersweet.  It was quite a trip! (And it was a good thing we were only a few blocks away from the hotel...) 
 
 
AH!  A beautiful booth, belonging to one of the ladies that designs fabric for Lecien.  We practically had to drag Nanny away from this one.  We stopped there a few times over the course of the three days we were walking the floor (which none of us complained about).  Ahem.  We're all five just like our Nan. **happy sigh**

There!  A sneak peek at our little Houston trip.  We had dozens of pictures, and there were so many wonderful things to see!  xxx  us

good times.

 

We always have such a great time when we visit our grandparents in Indiana.  It's really like going to another home, away from home.  (Hi Nan & Paps!  We LOVE you!)  As promised, we wanted to share some fun pictures from our trip!  You wanted to see them, didn't you?

We ate some of these while we were away.  Well, quite a few of these actually.  Mmm...

And we visited one of our new favorite shops -- The Secret Garden.  So much inspiration there.  We were just sorry to have to miss out on their annual French Flea Market!

 
Of course we had to have pizza, too.  At one of our favorite places.  Big thanks to Aunt Amy and Uncle Greg for treating us all!

We spent some time at the park, but didn't teeter-totter as much as we used to.

     
We dripped our ice cream all over the place...

And stopped to smell the flowers.

How does Nan manage to keep her flowers alive, anyway?  We've always wondered about that.  Apparently, none of us inherited her green thumb!

Then we topped it all off with a family cookout, where we ate marshmallows complete with ash-coating.  Because that's the stuff memories are made of.
 
Yes, we had the best time ever!  What's your favorite kind of vacation?

XO the Long ladies  

This little business went to Market.

Minneapolis, Minnesota! 

Let's just say these small-town-country girls could've done without riding the city bus back and forth from the hotel to the (huge) convention center.  But it was well worth it!

 

Dream On by Urban Chicks for Moda... coming this fall to marie-madeline studio!  As soon as we spotted this quilt, we knew we just had to have it.  Wait till you see all of the pieces up close.  (All 40 of them!)

Part of the Moda spread...

And the new Anthology fabric company.  Talk about cute stuff.  We can't wait to show off their new Sweet Tooth fabrics.

 
With Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler!!

 
Our first-ever Market presence... the Pattern Peddlers booth display.

(We're sorry for the less-than-amazing pictures.  You know we went without our official photographer!)

Pillow & Maxfield's booth... we loved it!  So bright and cheery.  Of course we wanted some of their new line, Pretty Bird.  Valerie and Anne (the designers) are just as sweet and pretty as their fabric!

Val and Anne painted these birdhouses white, then decoupaged them in Pretty Bird.  How cute is that?

 
On the bus, heading back to the hotel for pizza...

 
Extra-special thanks to our dear friends at Bittersweet Quilts (hi Robbi, Donna, and Raymond!) for planning the whole trip, inviting us to tag along, and showing us the ropes!  We had a wonderful time -- and we're already looking forward to the next Quilt Market.

But we sure did miss the rest of us.  There really is no place like home!

love & hugs, the Long ladies