Enchanting Quilts

Judy's Quilt

2010-04-11T19:00:00.003-06:00

I have finally finished quilting the quilt I have been working on for my friend Judy. We were both in a fabric swap some time ago where we traded bright log cabin blocks. My quilt was finished and is posted a couple of years ago on this blog. This one is Judy's and it is very pretty. I love her beautiful blue border with the stars she did in yet another block swap. This quilt will be heading to her this comming week and I sure hope she enjoys it.

I Am So Excited

2009-05-26T06:13:00.002-06:00

I went to the Fiber Arts Fiesta 2009 on Saturday to see all the wonderful stuff. I was also hopeing that the quilts I had in the show would do well. They did! I was just awed that I won not just one blue ribbon but two. My Ode to Spring was something I finished off the UFO pile that was just having fun playing with all the things I never to to try because I was too busy. Oregon Shores the group quilt I made with Jackie and Kathy also got blue. Needless to say I am just elated!

Landscape Round Robin

2009-04-11T17:18:00.002-06:00

This is my little landscape piece finally done! This is really the base only which will be my contribution to the piece. This is a round robin so there will be 4 of my friends who will each in turn add things to this to make a final piece which will come back home to me to finish up. I am very excited about this group as we are really going to uncharted waters of fiber arts in that we will enhance these pieces using any fiber technique we would like.

This is the base that my friend Dee has made. It is a desert landscape and I will be the first person to make additions to it. Since I live in New Mexico this is pretty much my back yard so I will have lots of nature to examine to come up with some things to add to the piece. I think the first addition will be more prickly pear cacti and maybe a few other native cacti. Then I need to add a creature of some sort.....................horned toad, rattlesnake, roadrunner or quail......................humm I am still thinking on that.

Another Custom Quilt Finished

2009-03-24T19:57:00.003-06:00

It has been some time since I have written here. I have been really busy and do miss writting in my blog. In any case I just finished this great sampler quilt and here is some eye candy!! I did notice that I missed one of the triangles in the top photo and went back and added the quilting to that! One reason why taking pictures is such a good thing.

I have been working on the crazy quilt round robin and am just putting the final touches on the last round and will have some photos of that pretty soon so come back and visit again.

I Am Still Here..............Really!

2009-03-06T19:46:00.003-07:00

Well life has been pretty busy with non quilting stuff and I have not had the oportunity to post. I do wish things were different but I am having to concentrate on other things that take me away from those things I love doing. I hope to be back soon with more stories and photos of needlework and fun things.

More Work On Lou's Block

2009-02-06T08:06:00.002-07:00

This bow was a total experiment, and I love how it came together. The ribbon was pretty stiff and hard to work with. Basically I began with tying a real bow with the amount of ribbon I wanted to use. I plopped it down and did the first french knot in the center of the bow to secure it. Then I worked my way around each of the bow parts turning and adding french knots to arrange them in a pleasing way. Then I did the same with the ties. Next I had to figure out flowers. Since I did not really have the right silk thread I thought out of the box and went to my DMC floss stash and found this wonderful color that went nicely with the ribbon and the background and made chain stitched roses. I made the stitches very loose so they would stand up nicely and love the effect. I also found a green that went with my other colors and just did some lazy daisy leaves. I really like this one.

This one is at the center of the block and the more I looked at it the less I wanted to plop down some design. I finally decided accentuate the rose so did a blanket stitch in two colors to define it. I also added french knots to the center.

There are some really long narrow patches and I decided to just add a feather stitch vine to this one. If I have time I will add something to the vine but this can also be added in the next round as well.

Work In Progress Wedensday

2009-02-04T09:49:00.002-07:00

This first photo is a little landscape I have been working on for a round robin I have begun. We are a group of five. Our goal is to embelish these 11x14 base pieces with elements to make a pleasing landscape. I am currently working on green hills. After these are in place a house will be added, the foreground, a red barn and a road. This base will then be sent along to the next person in our group who will begin the embelishment. You can find our group blog and read more about what we are doing here: http://landscapefriends.wordpress.com/

This is more progress on the Crazygoround round robin group. You can find the blog for this group here: http://crazygoround.blogspot.com/ I have added some ribbon roses and a bit of green with a stem stitch and lazy daisy for a stem and leaves and then made some french knots to add a bit of spark.

Here is another part of Lou's block. Here I did spider web roses and a feather stitch for background foilege. I might add some leaves or leave them for next round.

And....................more work on Lou's block. The blue block has more ribbon roses, stem stitch, lazy daisey, and french knots. These are the same combination of stitches as the photo above but there is a very different look. I have also done the outline of a heart in the red patch which I will be adding more things to.

Last I have begun quilting the commission quilt. The colors in the photo are not very good. In any case I have done stitch in the ditch around all the blocks and have done a stipple in all the light areas. In the bottom of the quilt is the border which will be getting flowing feather. Once the feathers in the border are done I will be going back to each of the 10 blocks and adding more quilting in the colored areas of the blocks. This will consist of some continous curves, some feathers, and a few other elements which I am still thinking about. Since this is a sampler quit each block is different.

Some More Crazy Quilting

2009-01-27T13:55:00.002-07:00

Well this is not quilting at all. Crazy quilts are really a anything goes embelishment and needle craft piece. This is a portion of round three of the round robin I am in. This is Lou's block and the needlework is actually really simple. There are only a few stitches involved, stem stitch, chain stitch, fly stitch and french knots and sewing on a few buttons. I just love the way this little spray of stems looks. I am going to add a few flowers and then leave the rest to do for the round four person to have some fun with. I will be showing more photos of this block as I work on it. Now I better get back to that quilt waiting on the frame............I am doing a Popcorn panto today on a lovely pieced tulip quilt.

Round Two Finished On Crazy Round Robin

2009-01-20T13:12:00.003-07:00

I have finally finished round two on the Crazy Go Round round robin. In this round we received a block that had all the seams embelished with a simple seam treatment and we were to add to the seams to make them more complex. I now have the round three block sitting here waiting for me to begin. I will post some photos of it later.

Oregon Shores At Road To California!

2009-01-15T09:09:00.003-07:00

Here is Oregon Shores at The Road To California Quilt Show 2009. We got an honorable mention as I was told by my friend Suze. She took the photo for me. Lucky lady she not only went to the show but also took some classes as well. I am pretty happy to have gotten another ribbon on this quilt. I wish I could have gone to the show to see all the great quilts but I guess I will have to go another year. They always have the most wonderful quilts entered in that show.

Traditional Sampler

2009-01-12T15:33:00.002-07:00

I am working on a commission quilt. The request was for a sampler and the use of traditional colors and fabrics. Getting the coordinating fabrics in the requested colors in the right fabric sure was a hunt but in the end I found 5 fabrics at about 3 different stores and had looked at about 7 stores total. Here are 6 of the 10 finished blocks. They were pretty complex but it is always fun to see how things look in different colorways. The photo is just a quick in progress shot that shows the blocks on the fabirc I will use for sashing, with the green cornerstones, the border and green binding.

My Scrap Quilt Is Pieced And That Fabric Is Not Right

2009-01-07T20:06:00.004-07:00

Have you ever pieced a scrappy block, or been in a block swap and found that the fabric used did not have the look you wanted? The two photos are the same, well almost the same. This is a log cabin quilt I am beginning to quilt and there are a few fabrics here and there that are a bit too light in the dark side of the log cabin block. Well no problem I have a new trick. If you look closely you will see that two of the fabrics on the dark side of the log cabin block are just a bit darker and look much better. There is a very dark piece to the right of the red square and the fabric next to it and the one below the red square are just too light. How did I do it? Simple I have an assortment of Sharpie Markers and Pigma pens in various colors and I simply lightly darkened those pieces. The difference is subtle but it does make a big difference. I have been busy stitching in the ditch around all the light areas so have pretty much been all over the quilt and found quite a few pieces here and there that were just way to light. Some even lighter than my example here and I simply played with the markers and changed them. In some fabrics I played with the print to only change say some really light leaves and make the darker green, or on a plaid I only darkened one color in the plaid. Wow what a difference this can make.

So the next time you find that the fabric in your scrap quilt simply is too light you can fix it without having to rip that piece out and replace it.

Looking Forward To 2009

2009-01-05T08:47:00.003-07:00

I am back form my holiday. We had a wonderful time in Southern California and even made it to the beach one day. This is where I was playing with trying to catch a good photo of a seagull in flight. I think the one above might even make a neat quilt. On the way home we stopped at the Grand Canyon which is one of my favorite places. We decided to stay the night and went out early the next morning to see the sunrise.................it was glorious.

With each new year I like to reflect o the past year and then look forward to the new year and set some goals. For 2009 I have some specific goals for my quilting and art. First of all I really want to offer my blog readers more and am going to try to add regular tutorials. I do love teaching and sharing and look forward to seeing some photos in the future of things made by others that were inspired by tutorials.

Another goal is organization. My sewing studio is worse than bad. It was dubbed by my family as the messiest room in the house (I is really a total disaster). Yesterday I finally go in there and spent a few hours beginning to clean and organize. I actually made a big dent in the mess but it is not a one day fix. I will be continuing to clean and then organize. The goal is to have my entire workspace both the upstairs studio and the longarm studio organized by March 1. There is allot of work to do be done to achieve this. I will share some after photos and maybe a few in progress ones.

This year I really need to get a handle on my UFOs (for you non crafters this is a term used to describe "unfinished objests"). I am going to cateloge all of them and try my best to finish as many as is possible. The good news is that I have alot of finished top only needing quilting and binding.

I also want to start a few show quilts for this year and play with some new techniques. This will be really fun and I am very excited about some things I have planned.

What are some of your goals?

Feathers Done!

2008-12-19T09:42:00.004-07:00

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Well the custom with the feathers is finally done and already delivered! This one was a real challenge. Well all the custom quilts are a real challenge. Kathi wanted feathers. The piecing really dictated the space those feathers had to fill and the entire space was to be filled. The biggest problem was figuring out how to make the feathers fill the space, look nice and not leave empty space and make it all flow effortlessly. After some drawing on paper I finally was able to figure out each of the spaces. Since I am a huge fan of feathers this challenge was fun and I am pretty thrilled with the final result. Since I was working on a deadline I was not able to get a full on photo of the entire quilt and hope that Kathi will send me one as it was pretty darned spectacular.

I delivered two quilts yesterday and sent off my entry to Road to California so now I am taking a vacation from all customer quilts till January..................that means I get to play with my own stuff. Oh my where do I even begin. I have a pile of UFOs that is pretty scary. Actually I do know what I am going to work on. Last year I posted some photos of my log cabin swap on About.com Quilting and I set the blocks into a big star. Then I added a border with a vine, flowers, some bunnies, a little log cabin and a bear. It took me a year to finish the needle turn applique by hand. That was competed this February and the top has been languishing since then. I pulled it out yesterday and have some backing fabric selected. My goal for today (believe me I have to clean the house as well and do other things) is to seam the backing and load the quilt on the longarm. I have not shown photos of much of this top but will give a few more teaser photos of some of the quilting in the coming weeks.

Feather Meander As Fill

2008-12-18T13:14:00.003-07:00

Click on the photo to enlarge.

I guess quilters have some unusual terms. The word fill is really a verb meaning: To make full; to supply with as much as can be held or contained; to put or pour into, till no more can be received; to occupy the whole capacity of. That is all fine and nice for the rest of the world but to a quilter the term fill is a noun.

Fill: the quilting stitches that are used to densely fill in area or space in a quilt to enhance other elements of that quilt.

In other words it is basically a term that describes a bunch of stitches. The photo above is a new to me kind of "fill". It has been appearing allot lately on webshots and blogs. Basically this is the "feather meander" by Suzanne Early. It seems quilters are using this as a way to fill up spaces in a quilt but making this design smaller. When I saw the above customer quilt I knew that background space was just screaming for the little feather meander and my customer agreed. I do know that I will be using it alto more in the future as it is just a beautiful delicate fill technique to add to the repertoire.

Tribute to Thomas, The Best Cat There Ever Was.

2008-12-17T08:31:00.002-07:00

The photo is Thomas and his best friend Sadie the hound dog. Thomas passed away last Friday and I am pretty torn up about it.

We got Thomas five years ago the day after Thanksgiving. We went down to Pet Smart to get a cat. There were lots of cats there that day as they were all brought in from their foster homes. My husband was looking at a really nice fluffy adult cat. May daughters were checking out the adorable kittens. Well I saw this half grown gangley grey tabby and we locked eyes. He and I just knew it was meant to be. I asked if I could hold him and he just nuzzled up. It was love for sure. Well I then told hubby to hold him and said this was the one. He said that he wanted the adult cat but took the gangley kitty I handed him. Ok he said we could have him. Then I walked over the kids and told them to hold this one. Well we took him home that day. One of the kids suggested Tom as a name. Nope I decided Tom did not fit..............he was defiantly a Thomas and so that is what we called him.

Thomas met our two dogs that decided to do what they had done to our last cat, bark and the kitty ran, it was their favorite game. Well so there they went and barked at Thomas. Well Thomas did not run. Not only did he not run but waked right over and looked the huge golden retriever right in the eye. The big dog did not know what to do about that! Thomas settled into the family really well. He would lie in wait for the retriever Casey and jump out at him, or pounce on him form the back of the sofa. They were soon best friends. The other dog Max just kept his distance and was afraid of Thomas.

Thomas would greet people at the door and loved to be picked up. If there was a lap he found it. we all loved him. At night he found a bed and frequently burrowed under the covers and curled up as a little bed warmer. He was my fabric inspector and would keep an eye on my sewing, quilting and other crafts. He loved knitting and wanted to help with the yarn. He also tried his hand at sewing and wanted to bat at the presser foot............that was the day I had to put him in the bathroom with the door closed.

Casey disappeared one day and never came back. Thomas was pretty sad to lose his dog friend. Last year my daughter got Sadie and she and Thomas bonded. You can see in the photo how they used to curl up together. When they weren't sleeping Thomas was attacking her.

Thomas got very sick a few days before he died. The vet said his red count went critical low. His last day I spent feeding him high nutrient cat food with a syringe and giving him water as well. He was so weak. Well the poor guy died at five that afternoon with all four of us there with him.

We will get another cat but it will never replace what Thomas was to us. I think he was a cat bigger than life. Always at the center of everything around here and not afraid of anything. He was the boss and ruled the house.

Today Is Feather Day

2008-12-04T10:03:00.002-07:00

Things are hopping in the studio the past couple of weeks. The holiday rush is in full swing here. Today I am quilting feathers on Kathi's beautiful quilt. This is the first motif and there are quite a few to go. What do you think?

Having Fun With Feathers

2008-11-25T08:13:00.002-07:00

I have been having fun with feathers lately. I got inspired with all the photos everyone has been showing on Machine Quilters Resource of their version of Feather Meander the brainchild of Suzanne Early. Here is my take on them. This is just the back of the quilt but the back really shows the feathers. Right now I am working on a custom quilt with the feather meander as the background fill...............boy is that a great fill. I think it is my new favorite. When I get that one done there will be photos to share.

On another note. Can you belive that it is almost Thanksgiving!!! I always try to figure out what I am most thankful for. I think for me it is my family and friends. I am also thankful for my health, my home and being able to do what I love which is being a fiber artist. Some days I really have to pinch myself that I am actually starting to live my dream which is quilting for a living.

What are you thankful for?

Round Robin Next Round

2008-11-21T11:09:00.003-07:00

I received the second round of the crazy quilt blocks and just love her colors. I have begun work and hope to work on this piece daily just a little at a time. In this round we were instructed to embelish the seam treatments further. We are to do flat work and not add beads, buttons or silk ribbon embroidery.............well we can do a little if we feel we really need to. I have so far added some flowers along one side of the purple block and a very simple treatment in green on the other side. These were done yesterday. Today I have already done a couple more things but have not taken photos of them.

Blog Giveaway On Caron's Site

2008-11-16T08:46:00.006-07:00

Visit Caron Mosey: Michigan Quilts to participate in a Thanksgiving drawing for a FREE copy of Contemporary Quilts From Traditional Designs.

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http://home.comcast.net/~cmosey/ CaronMoseyQuiltsm.jpg

The link to her blog is: http://blog.caronmosey.com/

Sari Quilt Done

2008-11-13T12:38:00.001-07:00

I finally finished the Sari quilt. Seems like this one took forever. India silk is very delicate which means it is slippery and does not like to play nice when you try to lay it out on the grain. Once cut it will fray if you even breath therefore each seam is a French seam...............in other words sewn twice on this double bed sized quilt.

Back From Houston

2008-11-12T08:19:00.002-07:00

Houston was amazing. Our group quilt won a third place ribbon. I was just excited to have it hung in the show much less a ribbon. Here is yours truely with the quilt. I did the two trees via freemotion embroidery and then did the quilting.

I'm Off To Houston!

2008-10-27T16:33:00.002-06:00

I am off to Houston in the morning. This will be my first time at the Houston Quilt Festival and I am pretty darned excited about it. I am on pins and needles to see what ribbon we won on "Oregon Shores". I am also excited to see all the other amazing quilts. The vendor mall is calling to me already like a siren with all the great wares waiting for me to check them out...................boy am I gonna try my best to stick to the list of things I am looking for. A few embellishemt items for crazy quilting, stencils and some threads I am in need of.

I have almost finished up Round 1 of the Crazy Quilt Round Robin I am in. This is the block I recieved and I have done all the seam treatments. When I get back from Houston I plan to do a few extra things.

You Are The Star

2008-10-25T16:17:00.000-06:00

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Crazy Quilt Round Robin

2008-10-12T19:55:00.002-06:00

I have been invited to participate in a round robin. The theme is crazy quilting which is something I did a few years ago and then put down. I have a ton of great supplies to use and am most excited to get those out and try some new things. The photo is the base I am going to send around. Kathi the leader of the round robin suggested we do small projects that could be framed. Well I was thinking what would I want to frame. A nice thing to frame is a landscape. After googling combinations of words including photo, crazy quilt, and landscape I found some awesome things. Then I found a gallery somewhere that had pictorial art quilts and looked at some of those. The next day I drew a little line drawing and pulled out an assortment of blues for the sky, purple and greens for the hills and mountains. A brilliant rust for the sun and a dark blue for the river. Hopefully the other participants in my round robin will have fun with my little landscape.

Oh My Gosh!!!

2008-10-03T10:48:00.002-06:00

Last night on the way home from town my hubby called on my cell phone. He asked if I wanted to hear the good news first or the bad news first. Well being a very practical person I wanted the bad new first because it would be followed by good news and thus end on a good note. Ok so the bad news was the my daughter was out of her lunch account at school. Well that was not so bad. Now I was ready for a little bit of good news. Since the bad news was a small thing the good news would likely also be some little thing.....................................wrong!!!!! Turns out the group quilt I quilted Oregon Shores is a finalist at the HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh.............................I sure hope I do not wake up and realize it is just a dream. I have never entered Houston before and was just happy that we got juried into the show much less are going to get a ribbon. Now to see what place we got........................can you see the huge smile on my face!!!!

Chris's Row Robin

2008-10-02T14:50:00.003-06:00

Being so far behind on the row robin is not a good thing for my mental health so I forged on and decided to do the next in line. This is my second one this week but now I only have two left to finish. This one belongs to Chris. Her theme is wonkey blocks. She said to think of the Flinstones when making these blocks. Guess that is kinda like Caveman quilting. She made the wonkey log cabins and sent around all of her own fabrics as well as a book for each of us to use. Pat made the square in a square on the top, then one of Ellen's two flying geese, next are Hilda's stars, then more of Ellen's geese, Chris's log cabins and finally my addition; the wonkey pinwheel blocks.

One would think pinwheel blocks are pretty straight forward to make. Not wonkey ones. These really took concentration to get them to have the wonkey look. I did have fun making them.

Another Sari Quilt

2008-10-02T14:44:00.003-06:00

That's right the traditional Indian ladies attire. These are beautiful silk saris from a customer who is Indian. She wants these made into to a quilt for her bed. I made one for her last year for her twin guest bed and she loves it so much she wants a bigger one for her own bed. The silks are just beautiful but are not the easiest to sew. I am making French seams which takes more time but also keeps the fabrics from fraying. The past few days I have been cutting these into strips and resewing the strips. Hopefully in a few more days those strips will evolve into blocks.
I think the best thing about making this quilt is that I am gifted with the leftover and the saris are each have about 6 yards of fabric. I am not sure what to do with them yet but the sure are pretty.

I Want To Win!

2008-10-02T08:21:00.003-06:00

Carla is having another Blog Giveaway. You can link to her site here:

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/

To win her awesome crochet scarf. She has also generously posted a tutorial on how she makes these scarfs so if you are not luck enough to win you can make your own. I am sure going to try to make one and see if what happens.

Pat's Row Robin

2008-09-29T16:12:00.003-06:00

This is the latest row for the row robin I am part of. There are seven of us and each of us made our own row of blocks 48 inches wide. Then we pass them to the next person in line who adds another block, and then pass it to the next person, this continues till everyone has done a row on every one's RowRobin. As you might guess this is Pat's Row Robin and I am the fourth one to work on it. After it leaves here there will be three more rows added by the last three members of the group. In order from the top are Pat's own row on her project, Ellen's addition, Hilda's addition and finally my addition on the bottom. Of course the rows are not attached so when Pat gets her rows back she can arrange them any way she chooses.

Pat asked for asymmetry so I made my blocks in three different sizes; nine inch, six inch and the tiny three inch ones. I tried to scatter them randomly and hope they look nice. Her background fabric has been traveling with the rows and we were each asked to use batiks from our stashes with her beautiful background fabric. I made my stars with my brand new Tri Rec rulers I picked up at JoAnn's on Saturday with my 40% off coupon. I was intrigued by the rules after reading about them on about.com quilting and decided to buy a set. They gave me the inspiration I needed to make the stars for Pat's row.

You can see Ellen's and Hilda's rows on my previous blog entries.

Ode To Spring!

2008-09-26T18:43:00.003-06:00

Yes I know it is now officially Fall but I have decided to name my quilt "Ode To Spring". This is the one I was working on a couple of weeks ago and it is now done. This quilt is really all about the quilting. The top, which is fairly small just 31x31 was a class sample I made for a class I taught about 9 years ago. It is a paper pieced pineapple block in a 12" size. I played with Electric Quilt and came up with the arrangement of colors so decided to piece the top with the fun arrangement. Well the top has just been languishing in my UFO pile until I recently decided it was small and might be something fast and fun to finish on my longarm. I tried some new things with this top. I used metallic thread on the longarm for the first time. It will defiantly not be the last time I use it either. I also tried a feather border technique I have admired on other quilts. I marked the spine of the feathers and did the rest freehand. The stencil in the middle was something that Sherry Rodgers Hammerstein on the APQS forum showed us a couple of years ago. I ordered one and it has been sitting unused since. Well there it is and I will defiantly use it again. Basically this was just for fun.

The only disappointment was that I entered it in our guild show at the State Fair. The awards are viewers choice. I was told by the people that went to the show that the lighting, well there was no lighting. I was also given an apology when the quilts were returned at the meeting on Monday for my quilt being hung with an incorrect category. Well it was really about the quilting and I guess if nobody could see the quilting and it being hung with the wrong group it did not win anything. I guess I will always wonder if it might have won something had it gotten better lighting and been hung with the rest of the category.

Strings In The Cabin Swap

2008-09-26T11:27:00.003-06:00

I am doing a lock swap on about.com.quilting called String In The Cabin. The inspiration quilt for the swap is king sized and I do not think my quilt will be that big. Here are the blocks that I have made for the swap. I figure if I can add one more row of string blocks inside the log cabin blocks my quilt will make a great lap or wall quilt. Now that these babies are done they are heading off to Lou's and I will get back blocks the other swappers made. Note to self "Another UFO created!" I am actually going to try to get these sewn together and quilted very soon after getting my squishie of new blocks in the mail................at least that is the plan.

We Will Never Forget!

2008-09-11T13:12:00.002-06:00

It was a different world on the morning of September 11, 2001. I woke up like any other day and took my kids to the school bus where I was informed by my neighbour that one of the twin towers in New York City had been bombed. I rushed home and turned on the TV and my mom (who was visiting) and I sat there and watched our world change. We saw the second plane crash into the second tower. We watched as the smoke billowed out of the two buildings. We watched as the towers crashed to the ground. We watched as the Pentagon in Washington D.C. was hit. We listened as we heard the news of a fourth plane crash and speculated that it was another plane destined for a target and much to our dismay we were later informed we were right. Later that day after the nightmare on TV had played out I went outside and saw a sky with no contrails from all the planes overhead. There was total silence in the sky above. Later the military helicopters came by breaking the silence.

Today it has been seven years and I am still saddened by the events that forever changed our world. Do not forget and let us all stand proud Americans, strong, brave and together as one, united!

A Good Day Quilting

2008-09-08T17:56:00.003-06:00

It is really nice to be quilting something of mine for a change. The only person I have to please is me! Today I tried out the metallic thread I got at the Longbeach Quiltfestival at the Superior Threads booth. The thread is specifically made for longarm machines so can take the high speed and the long thread path. I used Bottom Line in the bobbin and it worked just great. I decided to make freeform feathers that were not all alike on the top. These come from a center circle. I really like the look of the shiney thread with the feathers. I premarked the design for the center of the circle. After I took these photos I continued to work and have about half of the background around the feathers filled with pebbles in purple Bottom Line thread. The pebbles really mash down the quilt so the feathers really pop. So far I am pretty pleased with how this is coming out, not to mention I am having a good time working on it. I hope to work a bit more tonight and maybe even finish the pebbles.

Time To Quilt One For Me!

2008-09-04T15:40:00.002-06:00

I really truly love being a longarm quilter for hire. It is just great fun to quilt all kinds of things that I would never piece myself. I also get to try tons of new things and get tons of practice, practice, practice. There is a downside to being a professional longarm quilter and that is that I hardly ever get to quilt my own stuff. Mostly because I set my own hours and as long as I have customer quilts I try to get them done and back to their owners. Well I have decided that since I just finished another customer custom quilt it is time to do one of mine.

I have resurrected this beauty from the UFO pile. There really was not much left to do to get it ready for the machine. I only had to miter the black part of the final border, which took way less time than it did thinking about it. With that done I cleaned the top of lint and threads and go it ready for the machine. I have decided to really experiment and have fun with this so the firs thing I have done out of the box is to load it with Hobbs 80/20 on the bottom next to the backing and then added a layer of a high loft poly trimmed off of another project. I simply cut the long strip of poly into two pieces and connected them by making a wavy line to nest them and then loosely basting with huge stitches. Well the top is loaded and ready for quilting. I have some ideas of what I am going to do but until I actually begin I am not sure exactly what will happen as I go. Basically I love to just begin and then allow the quilting to flow from there. I do know that I will not be following the piecing pattern too much for the quilting and I do see feathers. Stay tuned for what happens next!

More Information on Crochet Fabric

2008-08-26T13:35:00.002-06:00

Carla sent me the info for a direct link to her tutorial on the crochet bags in case you are interested: http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/fabric-crochet-purse-tutorial/

Treasure From Trash

2008-08-26T10:32:00.003-06:00

I hear over and over how quilters (and I guess other crafters as well) go thru their stash and purge stuff they do not like. To me this is a waste. When you consider the cost of the fabric (as my stash is made of fabric) and the replacement cost it is like tossing money out the window. Well call me frugal. I figure any fabric can be used if you just figure out the best way to showcase it. In this case the fabrics made to crochet my bag are showcased because they have different colors. These fabrics were from a box that I was gifted by another quilter that was doing the above mentioned purging. They are really old, dated, not to mention not good quality (you can hold some of them up and see right thru them, likely if you spit at them the spit would go right thru!), and above all they are pretty darned ugly. So being the frugal person I am I cut them into long strips across the width of the fabric 5/8" wide. Then I did a freeform bag...................by this I mean that I made up the pattern as I went along so there is no pattern for this beauty. I think with the next bag I will write down my series of steps, the number of stitches and such so that I will have a clear pattern. This bag was really just a trial. The bottom line was that it was fun to make, looks pretty darned good considering what the fabrics it was made from look like and it is is functional.

I really want to credit Carla with the inspiration to make this bag. Hers are made from handyed fabrics and are truely a work of art where mine is just a way to use up stuff and get it out of my stash. You can visit Carla's blog here: http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/

2008-08-13T06:50:00.007-06:00

I just signed up for Carla's contest. Mabye I will be lucky and win one of her amazing scarfs. You can go see them and sign up by clicking on the link below:

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com/

My Lastest Custom Quilting

2008-08-07T11:37:00.002-06:00

When I was asked to quilt this one I felt very honored. The blocks on this sampler were each made by different members of my guild for our president for 2007. I just fell in love with this top along the way, well the day I took it to my studio! Here are some of the blocks.

What to do with those Crown Royal Bags.

2008-08-07T11:33:00.003-06:00

So here is what you can do with a collection of Crown Royal bags. No this is not for me but rather was custom made for someone. It was a pretty daunting project and finally once I got going it was not so bad. One thing I really like is that the bags have a variation in color even though they are all new. All in all I really had fun making this.

Another Row

2008-07-11T09:25:00.004-06:00

This is my latest round in the Row Robin I am participating in. The way these row robins work is that in our group (we have seven people) each person makes a row of a specified length. Our group decided on a 48 inch width for each row. Then we pass the row to the next person and they add a new row. Then to the third person who adds a row and so forth. The rows then go back to the first person who arranges them in whatever order they like and finishes up their quilt. These are Ellen's rows. She is defiantly an overachiever. The three top feathered stars are her inspiration row.The next row was done by Hilda and added a wonderful compliment to Ellen's stars. Then the bottom row is the one I made. I love these stars and love to use them in lots of different quilts. Well I hope that Ellen likes them when this comes back home to her. Now I have to figure out what I am going to do for Pat's Row Robin which is already here waiting for my row.

The Sampler

2008-07-11T09:09:00.004-06:00

When my friend Ellen asked me to do this quilt I was really excited. To see a large picture simply click your mouse on the photo and you will get a larger view. Samplers are pretty fun to do as each block is different, which means that each block can be quilted differently. I really had fun with this one. This is also the first time that I tried to do echo quilting around applique and I just loved the way those applique blocks came out. The sashing was all done with feathers and the help of one of my wavey rulers to do the spines. Then the final border was a place to play with my new grid boards from Quilt EZ.

I Feel Like The Hare In Alice In Wonerland!

2008-06-30T08:07:00.002-06:00

Yep seems like since I have been back from my trip it is just go, go go! I have been trying desparatly to get it all done and feel like it is all a juggling act. I have indeed gotten caught up on my quilts for everyone else and have three more projects that need quick attention and then I think I am back to my schedule again.

The Oregon Coast quilt is back for a few more stitches here and there. Yesterday I was looking at it loaded and while stitching I decided to unstitch a couple of elements and do them again but a little better. This is the quilt destined for Houston if they accept it and the deadline for it is looming. Well last night I spent a good deal of time frogging one part and today I will unstitch another part and restitch those. I hope that I can get those done today so I can send this one off to the person in our group that will do the binding and hanging sleeve.

With all of this activity and trying to juggle family I am really wanting to pull out UFO's of my own and quilt them. I have decided to work on one I pieced years ago. It was some Kansas Troubles blocks that I was going to use for the class sample for a scrap quilt class. The class never happened. I pulled it out a couple of years ago and added another round of bone colored solid with a swatooth border. I have the center on point so there are some really large bone triangles and a nice wide bone border to do some spectacular quilting. I think I am finally ready to tackle that. I have been doodling feathers the last few days and jsut need to design that quilting space and get it marked on the quilt. I am planning machine trapunto!

Ok I Am Back!

2008-06-17T08:46:00.007-06:00

I cannot believe how long it has been since I made a blog entry! I guess first of all I was gone for a couple of weeks. In the photos above you can see my backyard. Well close enough in any case. Living in the Southwest all of those photos are within a days drive from where I live. I cannot see them from my house but I can get there easily when I want to see them. The photos are actually in reverse order of my trip. The first one is Hovenweep a small obscure National Monument a stones throw from Four Corners in Utah. It was an amazing site with five different sites of ruins. The only downside was the biting gnats.

The next photo is of Capital Reef. What an amazing place! The geology there is just spectacular. We spent one day hiking and saw some wonderful views from the high places down onto the giant uplift of the earths crust. The uplift goes for over a hundred miles.

Then of course there is Bryce Canyon (which we learned is not really a true canyon). I always love going there to see the unique hoodoos. Hiking into the canyon gives such a different perspective than from above. We spent a wonderful morning winding around the trails inside the canyon looking back up at the rim.

Zion is the next one. Now that place is one of a kind. Sheer rock walls and amazing views if you are up to hiking up the steep trails. We went out to Angel's Landing. Now that hike is not for anyone that has a fear of heights as you are actually climbing out on a large rock 1600 ft above the canyon floor and in many places there are chains to hold onto. One slip and you will plummet to your demise. The ranger said there are about two deaths a year. This is the third time I have gone out there. Yep I guess I have a few missing screws.

Then my favorite, the Grand Canyon. Nothing else like that anywhere. It always takes my breath away. I think that next summer I am going to try to get reservations to hike it. The girls are getting older and we do lots of hiking with them. You really do not get the grandeur of the Canyon until you hike into it. The photo was taken at sunset on the North Rim from the patio at the Lodge.

Now that I have been home I have been trying to get caught up on my quilting. Last week I quited 3 quilts. Now I am trying to finish piecing an Irish Chain that is a commission. I got the top finished yesterday and only need to add borders and it will be ready for the machine. I am currently working on a large quilt that is getting a sea turtle panto. Last night I changed the bobbin and it was late. I got the thread off the path and had to frog for about 45 min and went to bed.....................well I do hope to get that one done today!

Row Robin Round One

2008-05-05T17:40:00.003-06:00

I am doing a Row Robin with a group of friends that I met on a quilting form. We go to a quilters retreat every February and this year decided to begin a row robin. Each of us has a theme and as the projects go around rows are added by each member.

The above row With the rabbit,turtle, and lizard belongs to my friend Hilda. Her theme is Nimbres art meets Gees Bend. Well I could not figure out the Gees Bend part so finally opted for more Southwest Indian art. My addition is the bottom row that is a simple border. Well it only looks simple. As you can see from the closeup there are many tiny pieces to create that simple design. The secret to doing it was first to work from a grid drawing and begin with strips sewn together. The strips are then cut across and sewn together with new neighbors.

I already have round two here but that is gonna wait for inspiration and a slot of time to work on it. I still have plenty of time. Well I thought the same with row one but it is now quite late getting to the next person.

I Did The Balloon Raffle Quilt For 2008

2008-05-01T18:53:00.002-06:00

This is one that was hanging over my head for months. After several delays it finally arrived in my studio just as I was was off on vacation. Of course since it was already late getting done they wanted it yesterday. Well I got back from vacation and spent 4 days doning now much else but working on it. This is the final result. I actually finished it a few weeks ago but am just now shareing the photos of it. I hear that it is now finished, photographed by a professional photographer and post cards and pins have been ordered. My guild sells raffle tickets for a balloon quilt every year and it usually does really well. Hopefully this one will generate lots of ticket sales.

I have been quilting like a fiend since. Last week I quilted 4 quilts and delivered 3 of them. This week I picked up 4 more to do so I am status quo. I need to get on the ball this comming week and finish the landscape quilt and get that out the door so I can get back to the Business of quilting.

If there were only more hours in a day for me to get all the things done that need doing. I was really late in a Round Robin I am part of getting the first round out the door. I think it was two weeks late. Yesterday I spent a good part of the day working on that. We are doing rows for each other and the row that I needed to add has a Mimbres Indian theme. I finally figured out what I was doing and just did it. Since it was complicated I had been procrastinating which of course did not help in the least. It did require a fair amount of time but now it is done. I will photograph that tommorow and send it along to the next person. I already have the second round here and it is due in two week.................oh yes this seems like plenty of time, but I need to get that going very soon or I will be in the same boat again that I found myself in this round.

No Pressure On This One! Yeah Right!!!

2008-04-18T09:49:00.003-06:00

This is a landscape quilt that is a group effort. I was asked to be the quilter and also was asked to do some thread painting on it. The two trees were merely fabric trunks with no branches when I was given this project to work on. After a couple of trial pieces I finally figured out how to make the branches and leaves on the tree on the right. This was done on my Phaff with an embroider hoop free motion embroidery. I had to put stabilizer behind the applique as well which had to be trimmed after I was finished. I am pretty pleased with the way the trees came out and defiantly see more trees in my future.

So now onto the quilting! A sky can be a daunting thing to quilt as any of you that have ever attempted it well know. I wanted to create lines but also give the feeling of "sky". Before I even began I spent over an hour looking at photos of landscape quilts on the Internet to see how other people did skys. Well I never found one that really said sky to me so I finally just started drawing on paper and came up with this. Then I drew it with the machine in metallic thread. I was really worried I would not get the metallic thread to play nice but after calling my friend Judy and asking her how she did hers I got a few pointers. I also have a little section off to the side of every quilt where I can play with tension, so I did that first. This is with Sulky Metallic on the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin. I do have a photo of what I did later on the mountains but for that I just used Mettler Silk Finish and Bottom Line in the Bottom. Simple lines in the mountains in matching thread.

Today I am going to figure out the water! Now that is gonna be a trick but hopefully I will figure that out.

2008-04-08T08:12:00.002-06:00

What does one do on Spring Break to get out of the cold? Well mostly that means heading South to a warmer climate. For us this meant Texas right down to the Mexico border in Big Bend National Park. I had been there many years ago as a child so did not really remember much about it. The beauty of the desert is just awesome. There was so much to see and do. We spent 6 nights camping right there on the border. You could see Mexico right across the lazy Rio Grande slowly meandering its way towards the Gulf of Mexico.

One thing that amazed me was the history of the place. The park ranger described it as one of the most remote of places in the continental US. To me though it was full of people dating back to ancient times. There were many sites that held the ruins of old ranches and even a resort at a natural hotspring.

On the way home we stopped at the Salinas ruins where I took the photo of the pot. I just love the black on white pottery that is even still made today by the local Pueblo Indians.

The past week has been a very busy one trying to get caught up on quilting and projects that are waiting to be made. I did manage to cross four more things off my list of quilts to be finished.

Finally Some Eye Candy!

2008-03-13T15:30:00.002-06:00

Whoooooo Hooooooo finally got some photos of this beauty! This is the latest custom quilt to come off my longarm machine. When I first saw the top I was just awed by the wonderful colors. Then I had to wait about 4 months before it arrived in my studio. It was a really fun custom to do. I actually had to design as I went as often do. The biggest decision was how to break down the space as there were lots of options there. I finally decided to put feathers coming around the wreaths of foliage, fruits, and other things. I then designed a feather shape which I built off of the spine. This meant that I only needed to mark the spine shape on the quilt and then the rest of the feather was done freehand so every feather motif is a little different. Once I had that quilted the rest just kind of fell in place. I was most pleased with the overall finished quilt.

I already have another custom quilt loaded on the machine and will be trying to get it quilted in the next few days. Things have gotten really busy here this last month as more tops are coming in than finished quilts going out. This means backlog which I am very happy about. I will have plenty of work to keep me out of trouble for some time.

It is actually beginning to start looking like Spring here. I noticed my iris leaves beginning to shoot up with the new green fronds peeking out around the old dead ones. I guess it is about time to work on that little garden plot. Since I live in an area that has little rain, high elevation, is teeming with deer and rabbits, and to top it off very poor alkali soil my gardening is very limited but at least it is just enough to be able to go dig in the dirt every once in awhile.

I do love Spring and am looking forward to warmer and longer days. I also miss the buzzing of insects and the singing birds. Even the snakes are kinda interesting to watch when one comes around. I also love the lizards basking up the sun on the rocks. There are also occasional horned toads which are most interesting creatures. They are actually lizards. One of these days I am going to make a quilt that features a horned toad!

Life is Busy!

2008-03-11T21:31:00.002-06:00

I guess for me the content of the blog is more about writing than about photos. I only wish I had the energy to post lots of great photos with each and every post but then if I did the posts would likely be few and far between.

I have been quilting like a fiend the past few days. I took a custom quilt off the frame and when I added up the hours I realized it was 31 hours of time. No wonder I thought it was taking forever. I will say though that I spent two half days and two really long days and then a few days with just a couple of hours. I had no idea I had spent that much time on it. I am quite pleased with how wonderful it looks though and will be taking (and yes actually posting some photos of it in the next couple of days). I also did a couple of pillow shams to match and then did another quilt that had an allover loose meander. No wonder I was too tired to actually quilt today. I did load another custom quilt on the frame and it is really cute and whimsical with Overall Sam or Bill not sure the exact name. It is for a young boy and is very cute. Just need to go out there tomorrow and have at it. Seems like my quilting business is beginning to really start being steady and finding the balance between a normal life and trying to get every ones quilt back when they want it is another thing. I just wish I could make a couple of clones of myself to do the quilting some days!!

How Does A Quilter Recharge Their Battery

2008-03-05T16:16:00.002-07:00

Good question you say! Well the way I recharge my battery is a good quilters retreat. I recently attended my favorite retreat over in Phoenix. I got out of the cold, boy was it good to thaw for a few days and bask in the warmth.

I have been at this yearly event six times now and each year it is so much fun to catch up with everyone in person. We have classes but the atendees give the classes and they are included in the retreat fee. This year I taught a class on feathers which was very well received. It will be fun to see what my friends do with the information I have given them on constructing a feather with thread and needle via machine be it domestic or longarm. I took a class on convergence quilts and it was very fun but my quilt did not come out with the look I had envisioned. When my friend Hilda admired it I decided it needed to go home with her.

I had gone a day early to give a friend a one on one session on her longarm. It is very sad when someone says they do not enjoy their machine and dread turning it on. Well that has now been fixed. She has told me she is now looking forward to using the machine and is playing with all sorts of new ideas. This was not a one way street either. I also learned from her as well. I too am pretty excited to get back to my longarm and play with some new and fresh ideas and techniques.

Hopefully in a few days I will finish my current custom quilt and will share some of the feathers I am quilting on it.

T-shirt Quilt Revealed!

2008-02-20T09:43:00.002-07:00

This story began with a pile of ordinary T-shirts. A very large pile! I was asked to put these together in just one quilt but for a king sized bed. Having never made a T-shirt quilt before I gladly took on the task and went home with 4 large boxes of shirts. I had been told there were about 70 shirts.

The number of shirts turned out to be 88 and of those I was to use the back and front of two of these. I had already done quite a bit of research on the making of a T-shirt quilt so I began with step one, which was to sort and measure each shirt to determine the finished size of each one. You can see the mountain of shirts in the first photo. Next I cut out the design with some extra all around on each shirt and labeled it with the finished size as you can see in the next photo. Now the easy part was done. The next step was to fuse a woven interfacing to the back of each shirt. This had to be done with a pressing cloth as a hot iron would melt the fusible as well as the design on the shirts. This process was long and slow but I pressed on...................literally and finally had that chore done.

So now the next step was to find a space to lay these all out. The best solution was the family room where everyone watches TV. I figured a couple of days and I would be done.................WRONG! This process took all of two weeks. First I had to figure out how to lay these all out so they would actally fit in the space that could be about 120x120 square inches...................and let me tell you that is 10 feet X 10 feet! After much arranging and rearranging, and rearranging I finally got them all laid out. Ok all I had to do was get them sewn together with sashing in between. This process took days. I could not really cut lots of sashing and sew. No I pretty much could cut a few planned pieces at a time. Since the setting was variable each piece of sashing had to fit in an exact space and that ment cutting and sewing pretty much one at a time. I sewed on, and on. I took blocks to the sewing studio and worked in sections. Most of the time things worked out but there were a few times that things went wrong and ths required taking apart and redoing. At last the shirts were all in one huge piece with a nice 3" border around the outside. Let me tell you that was one moment of joy.....................and then I went to bed. I had of course accomplished that on a day when I as determined I would finish so I worked pretty late to get it done.

The quilting actuall went without a hitch. The top took up most of the space on my 14 foot longarm frame but not all of the space. I had it easily off the machine the same day. Now the final step was that binding. I played with some instructions for a machine turned binding which did not look perfect so I resolved myeslf to the handturned binding around that fourhundred and ninety two circumfrence. One stitch at a time and two days later it was DONE!

Now that I have done my first T-shirt quilt I think it will be the hardest and biggest one I will ever do. I have learned alot and am ready to do more. Of course they are all going to be smaller and have fewer shirts. I do love the idea of putting those shirts into a quilt!

Guess I Have Been Busy!

2008-02-13T21:01:00.002-07:00

I have not been writting in my blog lately! I guess one reason is that I have been pretty busy. We are getting used to the water situation. At least we are living with it. The big thing is to just be careful to make sure the laundry is really a full load, dishes really need doing as they take quite alot of water so now they get stacked and done less often than I would like.

I have quilted my third large quilt this week! My goal at the beginning of the year was to do 100 quilts on the longarm in 2008. Well I have been working on the t-shirt quilt. That pretty much took up the last two weeks of my quilting time just getting it pieced. I was also pretty busy with the water problem, the kids and stuff around the house so did not have lots of time to devote to my quilting. Well this week I dove in. Monday was a large quilt that got a baptist fan ( I love that template). Tuesday was another large quilt that got an allover loose meander.................fast and easy! Then today I loaded the monster sized t-shirt quilt and did an allover loose meander. Now let me tell you I am feeling a huge sense of accomplishment getting that one quilted. I still need to the binding and that is gonna be alot of binding but the end is in sight at last. I will post a photo of part of the t-shirt quilt when the binding is on................there is really no way to take a full on photo as it is 127 x 116. Now that is a huge quilt................the largest quilt I have ever made. The scarey thing is I have had about 3 or 4 about that large on my quilt frame already. I am pretty happy that I opted for the 14' table.

Water - At Least More Water

2008-02-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is our new water tank. I am not too happy that it sits right in front of the house but it is water. This tank holds 1500 gallons of the precious stuff. We have to have someone deliver it to the house in a truck and it is not as cheap as the water that comes thru the pipes (which are still frozen), but it is water and I can take a shower and wash my dishes without having to worry about driving half a mile to the neighboors to fill up the assortment of 5 and 7 gallon water jugs any more.

I will have to say that I have enjoyed camping all my life and know how to use very little water but have never been without water in the house for more than two days. I had always taken for granted that I can turn on the faucet and have water come out until I turned it off when I am in my own home. I think this has been a good lesson for me how spoiled we all are.

Water is scarce in much of the world. With our growing population and population centers spreading out to places where there is little fresh water it is a problem for many of us. Yet we continue to use it freely without a thought. I am posting a challenge here for each of you who reads this to have a look at your last water bill and see how much you used. Then for the next month think about water each time you turn on the tap. See how many ways you can cut back on your usage and tell me about it.

Here are a few things I have done this past week:

Flushed the toilet with water from doing dishes instead of sending it down the drain (this is refered to as grey water...............you can also water plants with it if it is filtered). Many people find this a disgusting subject but another saying for flushing, "If its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown flush it down." At the least you do not have to flush every time.

In the shower turn off the water exept to get wet and to rinse off. Ditto for handwashing and brushing teeth.

Only wash dishes when there are enough................if you have a dishwasher never wash less than a full load...............ditto for doing laundry.

I know that I will be thinking about my water usage much more from now on. I got by with less than 200 gallons in a week and a half for a family of four so I am sure I can cut back on my water usage from now on. These will be small changes but I am sure they will add up.

Ok now that the water crisis is over I promise my next blog entry will be more quilt or art related. I am still putting together the t-shirt quilt and now have lots of large sections together and a few single blocks to join. Hopefully by Monday I will have one humongous top ready for quilting. I have ordered the backing fabric online as I could not find any localy and that will be here end of next week so I will have to wait till then to get this quilt quilted. This is my first t-shirt quilt and it is gonna be amazing when it is all together. The customers son has collected all these shirts for running, and triathalon events and there is some amazing history in the quilt. I have been enjoying making this memory quilt and now want to do more. What a great idea to take all those t-shirts and make them into a quilt!

Still No Water

2008-01-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Life without running water is now in its second week. Amazing about the stories I have heard from friends. Some are horrified and there are some that actually grew up with no indoor plumbing. Everyone has a water story though. I am so hoping that someday this will be my water story. I think the worst is not being able to clean things like I would like. Dishes is really the worst. I actually can not cook as I would like to because so many things require the use of water in the cooking and of course the clean up afterwards which sometimes requires a bit of water to clean the pots and pans. No I have to keep it all simple.

Bathing is actually not the worst. At its worst a sponge bath requires very little water and even a shower can be taken with between 2-3 gallons of water if you turn off the water after you get yourself wet, shampoo your hair. Then rinse and turn off to condition your hair and then one last rinse. In and out of that shower fast as you can. Humm I am one that loves to linger under the warm water so I am saving lots of time with the ultra short showers.

The rest of life is still pretty normal. I am darned busy trying to get the t-shirts tamed into the quilt I am making. I got them all laid out finally. Since the designs come in a huge variety of sizes they are kinda like a puzzle that needs to be set in a certain space. They are currently residing on the family room floor and yesterday I began the process of removing a few at a time to apply sashing. I now have the first group together and today will try to tackle as much as I can. My goal is to have the top completed in the next day or two. The quilting is gonna be a piece of cake as it is an allover loose meander. The biggest thing with that is the large surface that I need to fill.

No Water - Day Five

2008-01-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

It is getting frustrating to have to be thinking about water so much. I do not want to think about where I am going to get the water to wash the few pots and pans that are dirty to fix meals.

This morning I actually scolded my daughter for dumping the dogs water out of his bowl down the sink. She could not find another bowl for his food so dumped his water. Usually this would be just the normal routine.

I stayed up late last night and finished fusing all the interfacing to the rest of the t-shirts. I counted again and there are 87 t-shirts to cram into a quilt that has to be 120x115 or smaller. That is gonna take some good planning and that will be what I will try to figure out today.

No Water - Day Four

2008-01-24T18:28:00.000-07:00

Ok it is finally getting really old now can someone please turn the water back on? Nope I guess that is not gonna happen. We now have a 55 gallon water barrel in the garage with a pump to hook into the plumbing (not my idea). This morning with the barrel only about 1/3 full hubby and two kids got quick showers and that is the rest of the water!

Last night when I was trying to cancel my appearance at the group quilt project because I needed to figure out what to do my friend insisted I take a shower at her house. Today that is just what I did. Boy does a hot shower feel good when you cannot take one whenever you want. I also filled up two 7 gallon containers at her house while there and that is all the water we got today. I do have about 8 of the gallon drinking jugs left so we have plenty to drink but not much water for anything else.

On a lighter side I am making progress with the 80 something t-shirts and now have well over half pressed to interfacing. I am still trying to figure out how to even begin with the math to lay them all into a quilt........................no of course they are not all the same size, with over 80 the quilt would make a nice cover for a football field if they were all the same size.

I do hope to have the t-shirt quilt finished by the end of next week Then the next one will be another custom.

No Water - Day Three

2008-01-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

In our modern world we all take so much for granted. Consider for instance water in your house. You get up in the morning and go to the bathroom. First you relieve yourself and flush the toilet. Next you take a warm, or hot shower, soap down in the wonderful water, wash your hair and maybe shave or whatever you do in that shower. Then you brush your teeth and likely rinse out the sink a bit. Now you head for the kitchen and make your morning beverage using water from the sink. When you are done you rinse things out or pop em in the dishwasher. During the day you use your water any time you want, wash your hands, get a drink, pop a load of clothes in the washer and so forth.

Well what if you woke up and there was no water. That is what happened to us on Sunday! First there was very low pressure coming from the pipes and Dear Husband took a shower, we did get water to make coffee but the trickle stopped coming entirely. Next we called the water company and they came out and checked their meter. Yep there is pressure there but none at our house which is up the side of a hill. We live at high elevation and it is very cold. The bottom line is that the pipes underground are frozen. We are not alone as there are others in our area in the same boat. Basically we were told until the ground thaws there will be no water coming thru those pipes.

Now instead of waking up and going thru the usual routine it is all about my water. I no longer flush the toilet every time I go. Nope the tissue goes in a plastic lined basket and I flush only if I have to with a bucket of water and then only as little as it takes. The toilet tank has about 3 gallons but with a bucket can I use less than one gallon. I only want to flush when absolutely necessary because the water has to be obtained from the neighbor half a mile away and I only have small containers (for now). To brush teeth I only wet the toothbrush and use bottled water to rinse my mouth and pour only enough on the toothbrush to get it clean. Coffee is made form bottled water from the store. I got 10 one gallon jugs of water on Sunday so that should tide us over for a bit. Well the dishwasher was not run on Saturday night so it is full of dirty dishes. Today I am gonna try to wash them by hand using as little water as necessary. For now we will be using paper plates as much as possible until we get a larger container filled. Hubby got a 55 gallon water drum yesterday but that needs to be filled and a pump attached so we can get the water out of it. Just taking that to be filled is gonna be fun as 55 gallons of water weighs well over 3oo pounds and that drum needs to be carried in the house one we get it filled at the neighbors.

Now as for laundry. It will be the Laundromat for now. Of course there were lots of dirty clothes when the water stopped and we are a family of four. I have instructed each family member to get together a weeks worth of clothes and a few extras and I will go wash them at the Laundromat. At least I can dry them at home in our dryer. I have always taken for granted just tossing my clothes in the washer when I wanted to. I just hate laundromats as I had to go to them as a child for years. They take up so much time and of course you always arrive just after someone that takes most of the washers and that means waiting. Well I will see how that goes. Guess I will be bringing my applique with me so work on while the clothes spin.

Well the bright side is that it is the water not the power. It is winter here and cold outside. We heat with a wood burning furnace that has an electric fan to blow hot air into the house. It looks like a fireplace. We cut the wood from our property and there is plenty of it. Pretty much that is all self contained so we have heat. We have lights and all the appliances work including my longarm machine..................than goodness.

Yep not having water is darn inconvenient and later I am gonna have to go get more water from the neighbor. I will heat some on the stove and take a sponge bath and wash my hair. I have not washed my hair since Saturday and it is getting pretty darn oily. At least I know how to take a sponge bath. I was hunting for our camping shower this morning with no luck. I need to find that valuable little item as it holds 2.5 gallons of water just enough to wash my hair and soap and rinse down. It sure beats a sponge bath.

Back To My Routine!

2008-01-09T14:03:00.001-07:00

The custom heirloom is finally finished, off the machine, photographed and back to its home. I still have not tallied up the hours I worked on this but it is for a good friend and I am glad I did it as I really got to try new things, stretched myself as far as I could and I am really happy with the final results. Now back to other things.................whew!

I have been busy the past week. I have a custom quilt on the frame now that will be my first finished quilt of the new year. The one in the photos was mostly done in 2007 so I am not counting it in this years tally. Guess that means I am now behind on the number of quilts I wanted to quilt but not so far that I can not catch up fairly easily. I am almost done and hopefully the next few will be quick ones as they are allover designs not custom...............see what I mean about catching up.

I spent the entire morning cutting up t-shirts for a customer quilt. I was given 83 of the t-shirts and now have a huge pile of t-shirts in pieces and parts and a nice neat stack of 83 cut pieces of neat designs to incorporate into the quilt. This one will be a real adventure for sure but I am up to the task. The next step in this process is to try to figure out the placement...............no they are not all the same size so this will be a real challenge but I know I can get it done. Then once that is done I am sure the rest will be a piece of cake................or so I hope.

With this new year and reflecting on what I really want to accomplish I am so hoping to be more creative and begin to get some of my stuff finished and into shows. I seem to have a problem with stalling on each project and have a million finished tops. Well not a million but in the near future (say a month is near enough) I want to get them photographed and chronicled so I can watch my progress. I think one finished every two months works for me. That is a doable goal.

I have been brainstorming on some new ideas and think where I need to begin is with a drawing journal of my ideas and then go from there. It seems like at this point in my quilting career what I need is a quilting journal that has all the drawings, colors, and fabric samples in one place so I can work on the ideas till they are just ripe for beginning my quilts. The biggest factor here is time and I might just have to schedule regular time for this series exclusive to other things.

2008!

2008-01-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

The new year is finally here and I am ready to go! I do have a list of goals for the comming year. I do not call them resolutions as those are too hard to stick to so I just call them goals.

Mostly my goals are centered around orginization. My personal sewing studio had gotten to be a huge mess. One of the biggest problems was lack of space. Over the holiday I took out a huge oak computer table that was hogging tons of space. It had no storage space either and my computer had broken over a year ago and I have been using my husbands computer so goodbye table. It has a new home in my daughers room and she is delighted. I put up some more wire shelves and am still in the process of cleaning.............just need to keep at that a little at a time and get that space back into shape.

Another goal is to work on UFOs. I am going to pull them all out, photograph them and try to get at least 6 of them finished this year. My first project to finish will be my current project of the log cabin quilt and I hope to have it finished by the end of feburary.

I want to try to do a greater number of customer quilts this year and am gonna up the hours I work on them as well. I am going to try to work from 20-30 hours on customer quilts each week.............mabye more if I get busier.

To start off the year I have been working on the forever custom heirloom quilt and finally got the borders finished today. Now I need to go back and do a little more detail in some of the blocks. I also need to remover some stitch in the ditch I had done as the first step in quilting this. I had some tension problems with the Bottom Line thread and just want to fix that. Once that is done I can call this one finished. I am going to try to get it done tomorrow if I can.................just one final push and it will be off my frame for the last time!

I have an idea for an art quilt that I NEED to start on. I think I am gowning to work in a series on this idea. I will likely begin this first quilt in the series soon.

My last goal is to begin painting again. I have some new paints, and easel and some canvas so I just need to find the right subject and time and get started. The thing about painting is it is so quick compared to quilting. I am hoping to be able to work out some landscape ideas in paint and maybe do some quilts on the same themes.

Are You Ready For Christmas

2007-12-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

Who would think this wreath was ugly! Well it was. My mom sent it to me a few years ago. she had just stuffed a bunch of hodgepodge things into the green wreath part including little sports balls of all kinds, plastic candy canes, cardboard ornaments, the red and silver berries and the bow. I actually hung it like that for a couple of years and since she did not actually attach anyting things began to slide out. Well this is a good thing. I had made the wreath in the previous post from scratch and was on a roll so I decided to redo this one. It sat on the table a few days with just the greenery and the pine cones (those were actually attached. I had some of the plastic red bulbs left over from the other wreath so I attached those. Then I used floral wire to attach the silver and red berries. I took the bow apart and retied it. Voila! I sure looks nice now hanging on the front door. I forgot how much I liked making wreaths and think I need to do one for spring. I think I actually have all the stuff I need with the exception of the frame. Guess it is time to go to Hobby Lobby and see what I can find there.

We got snow again yesterday and it looks like a winter wonderland again! It is a wet snow so the pines and juniper are pretty much covered with thick snow on their branches with the needles poking thru. This morning we took a walk around the yard and saw lots of deer tracks, coyote track, mouse tracks and rabbit tracks. It is amazing how may animals are out there and also fun to see their comings and goings.

Holiday Cheer

2007-12-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

The wreath in the photo is the one that I made to go on the gate. Well it hangs out in the living room now insead of outside. It just looks too nice not to have it somewhere where I can enjoy it all the time instead of just a welcome home. The wreat is made out of a wire frame for wreaths, floral wire to attach everything and keep things in place and secure, pinecones, fake red berries, cheap plastic Christmas ornaments, a premade bow, and one and a half of those garlands from Hobby Lobby. I think I spent about 2 hours putting it all togher. I think I need to hit the after Christmas sale and see what supplies I can find for 90% off and store away for next year.

I did not work on that pesky quilt yesterday. I did however get 3 more flowers appliqued to my log cabin quilt and have one more to do on the 3rd corner and then I get to put on the leaves. I love appliqueing on the leaves as they are just so simple and there are no inside points. Once those are on I can begin on the 4th border.

Now to get back to getting stuff ready for Christmas. I still have gifts to wrap, some cleaning to do and a few details I need to get done. Yep there are still a few cards to write.

This time of year it would be nice to just take a long soak in the tub with a brand new quilt book or magazine with tons of great photos.

Counting Down

2007-12-18T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well if I had a really cool blog I would have lots of cool photos of what I have been up to. Actually I just tried to photograph my wreath I made the other night but the light was so bad that the photo did not come out. Maybe I should try again when it is daylight.

The other day I decided that our gate needed a wreath this year so I went off to Hobby Lobby to find one. Well they did have some really nice premade ones all ready to go but even at 50% off I decided I was not gonna invest so much in a wreath that was gonna be outside in the snow, wind and maybe rain if the temp went up (you just never know). I finally decided to make one and found all the stuff to make one for less that the cost of the really nice ones. Well I made a really beautiful wreath with great plastic ornaments (which were really quite pretty and also on sale). I also put red berries on it not sure what those were made of but they were pretty cheap so I got em. I just used a garland that I went around the large frame twice with. Everything was attached with floral wire. There was the big red bow at the top and real pine cones that I had in a basket in the bathroom (figure I can always get more of those. Well I wanted to admire my work so I put my wreath where I usually hang the one I put up in the living room every year. Hummm this wreath looked better than the other one so guess what................it is still there. Guess I will have to make another wreath for the gate..................next year. I also took the time to redo the wreath I had and now with the makeover it looks wonderful. Garlands are hung over the balcony with ribbons made from the after Christmas sale from last year. The tree is cut from the yard and all decorated. I even got about half of my cards done today. Most of the gifts are purchased but I still need to wrap. I am starting to think I might just get thru Christmas this year without a huge last minute rush.

Today I even worked on a quilt I have been trying to finish like forever. Bad news is that it is still not finished but the good news is that I was working on the border which is mostly the last thing to be done. I do have to go back a do a tiny bit more detail in a few of the blocks but since I need to change thread color I went for the border first. Who knows I might actually get this quilt finished before New Year! Now that would be wonderful.

Seems nobody has been by my blog or at least nobody is making any comments. Wonder if everyone is just busy or if I need to get more glitzy photos going :)

Getting Close

2007-12-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a project, in this case a quilt, that seems to just never end. Yep we have likley all had those. Right now for me is is my friend's quilt. I have had the top forever now and finally began quilting it a few months ago. The top was so beautiful that I was scared to touch it at first. It is an awesome sampler. In any case I finally got it loaded on the machine only to have problems with the thread; bottom line. After struggling with that I called the company that makes that thread and they told me some changes to make on threading my machine and adjusting the tenision. Then the thread seemed to jsut disapear in the print of the fabric so I could not really see it when I was quilting. Yes this is indeed a problem as I cannot visualize where I am going. Again problem solved by useing my husbands shop light on a stand shinng from the side and the rest of the room is in darkness.

Mind you this quilt deserved something special so of course that means custom heirloom quilting. So I have been working away on this for a couple of months between other quilts. I try to work on it a few hours at a time when I can. Now is the time to just get it done and out of my studio. I have been making this my main focus this week and it is finally starting to get to the end stages. I have a few more things to quilt on just a few of the 13 blocks. The sashing needs a little thread ripped and requitled where I was having the initial thread problems and then the border needs to be quilted.

I wish I could wave the wand and have it done but figure if I really try it will get done in a couple more sessions on the machine. Now why do some things take forever like this one and others just get done in a snap?

I have decided to also work on my log cabin applique border again. It had been set down for a few weeks and the past three days I have picked it up again and have made some good progress. A little each day will get it done eventually!

Suzanne's Christmas Meme

2007-12-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Threadtails blog and thought I would do it as it looked like fun. Feel free to comment and then do your own on your blog. If you read this consider yourself tagged!

1 Apple cider, eggnog or hot chocolate? Are you kidding.................how about a latte with some Bailey's!

2 Turkey or Ham? Well it could be either depending on the year but this year I think I am gonna opt for a stuffed pork loin roast this year.

3 Does Santa wrap or just set them under the tree? Santa always wraps every gift here.

4 Colored or white lights on the tree? I love the white lights. I have a ton of them and this year I am gonna put them on the garlands that go on the balcony too.

5 Fake or real-cut-it-yourself-tree? We cut a tree out of our yard..........they are not always the most spectacular but we enjoy picking one out as much as anything.
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6 Favorite Christmas song? Whatever I can sing along to. I think I love them all!

7 How do you feel about Christmas movies? I love them. My very favorite is Its a Wonderful Life.............but then I am a huge Jimmy Stewart fan.

8 Favorite Holiday dish? I love the cookies especially the ones with ground nuts.

9 When is it too early to start the Christmas music? Figure any time after Thanksgiving. I usually enjoy putting it on when decorating as it is a good way to set the mood.

10 What is your favorite holiday smell? The smell of the fresh pine of the Christmas tree.

11 How did you learn the truth about Santa? What do you mean? He brings gifts here so I think that he must be real.

12 What kind of decorations are on your tree? The tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments. Some very nice and others homemade. It is a tree of memories.

13 Open presents Christmas Eve or Day? Both. We usually open on gift on Christmas Eve because nobody here can wait that long.

14 Go to someone else’s house or have them at yours? This year we are gonna stay here.

15 Giving or receiving? I Love giving gifts. The look on someones face when they open a gift that the love is better than anything else.

Time To Get Back To Work

2007-11-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Well the Thanksgiving holidays are over and it was great. I think I spent more time in the kitchen than anything else. Now mind you there was not just the "big" dinner but then there was all the cleanup afterwards. Leftovers to put away and then trying to come up with things to do with those leftovers. I spent half a day just making turkey soup. It sure was good though and there is still some in the freezer for lunches.

Kind of reminds me of quiltmaking. You make the quilt and then have to clean up afterwards. Then there are all the scraps to deal with. I don't know about you but I save anything big enough to make a triangle that will make a half square triangle that will be 1" finished size in a block................that is pretty small. Then you have to spend the time to use those scraps as well.

Now that all that feasting and cooking are over it is time to get back to quilting. I did a UFO yesterday. Yep I actually put one of my own tops on the longarm. It was a mystery quilt that I did a couple of years ago. I was not crazy about it so it has been languishing on my pile of tops. Well I just acquired the Koko panot by Jodi Bemish and decided to try it on this top and give it to my mom for Christmas. The quilt is much improved with the little Kokopelli's dancing all over the surface of it now.

While I am waiting for the next Christmas quilt to arrive I will be working on the binding of my mom's quilt. Hopefully that top will arrive in today's mail as I need to get to it ASAP
when it does so I dare not load anything else as all the quilts left here at this point are custom with no deadlines and they will each take some time to quilt. My extra leaders are already on a custom job which requires different thread than my usual so I have to play with tension..............ok so I am not gonna quilt today.

Last Weeks Work

2007-11-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

I know this is not the best photo but you can see the interlocking swirls of my new Quilt EZ spiral template. Now do not be fooled as it only looks quick. See that interlocking part........well there is a trick to that and it means stop and start, stop and start and then at the end there are thread tails to tie and bury. I calculated that there were over 1000 thread tails in the queen sized quilt! This design is well worth doing for the beauty but be prepared to spend the time to deal with the stops and starts. There are many other things that can be done with the template and hopefully I will get to play with it again soon. This quilt and the two others are now on their way back home to their owner in a pretty big box. Considering that I also did one other quilt last week that is not bad for getting alot accomplished!

This week it is back to that custom heirloom. I made some good progress on it again yesterday and hope someday soon it will come off the frame finished. It is satisfying to see the beautiful design from the quilting evolve and emerge. I am doing alot of small McTavish and some pebble fill as well in the 13 blocks. The setting triangles are all finished as well as the sashing. I have a couple more blocks for the fill and then I can go back and do larger details in the blocks like little feathers, straight lines and such. Then the border and it will be done.

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is almost here. This week I am making a menu of dishes and getting all the recipes lined up. Then to make a shopping list to ensure I have everything I need. Then I always make a schedule of what to do when so all the dishes are done at the same time with the exception of the pie which goes in the oven as the food goes on the table. Another thing I do the night before is lay out all the utensils, bowls etc each dish needs in its own counter space along with all the non perishable ingredients I will be needing. Then I have the perishable items all organized in the fridge so I know where each is. The worst part of the entire feast is the realization that I spend all day in the kitchen preparing and then it is all eaten in about an hour with about half and hour after for dessert.........................then there is the cleanup! This year my daughters will each be in charge of at least one dish so they will make a contribution and hopefully will have some fun as well.

My New Favorite Toy

2007-11-08T13:17:00.000-07:00

I like to do a variety of things on my longarm so when a customer has a request for something I need a new tool or panto for and I like that tool I will get it for their quilt. Ths is how I recentley aquired the Baptist fan templates from the Quilt EZ company. Kinda pricey but I wanted them and figured I would be able to pay for them with a few quilts. Yep they are now paid for as of this week.

Well someone had a beautiful batik quilt and wanted to know what I thought would be a good design so I did my usual research which consists of looking at photos of quilts on the web. I found a really cool swirl and the more I looked the more different things I saw that could be done with that swirl. Quilt EZ made a template for that so I got it. Well I am using it on that batik quilt today and it is my new favorite toy. Boy does this tool make an awesome design. Well the problem is now I will need to make quilt just so I can use this tool for myself. I will post some photos of this quilt and a few others when I get a chance. Likely next week or if I am lucky over the weekend.

Boy do I love my job. How many people can work at home in their jammies (well I am not wearing my jammies today but some days I do) doing something they love. For me quilting is what I love!

Dancing With My Longarm

2007-11-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am usually a partime Longarm quilter but this last couple of weeks I have gone fulltime! Whoo Hoo the holiday rush has finally arrived for me. I could not be happier at all the business this last couple of weeks! This week I am trying to get 3 large quitls finished and I have done 2 of them already and one charity quilt as well (had to practice that new panto before I tried it for the first time on a customer quilt). I have the 3rd quilt loaded and ready to go tommorow. It is a Quilt EZ swirl and it will be my first try at this pattern...............I jsut love the design and am excited to try this one.

Hopefully next week I will have some photos of the new quilts to share.

Too Much Information

2007-10-30T07:52:00.000-06:00

This is our cat Thomas. He is King Cat and resides over the house over all other living creatures that dwell therein. He rules over the dogs and keeps them in line not to mention the people. Mostly he sits up on his cat perch where he can keep an eye on the comings and goings thruout the day. At night he roams the house or curls up on a bed. On cold nights when the house cools off he will borrow under the blankets and curl up quite content with his life.

Wish I could be more like Thomas. Well actually I would likely get bored after the first few days of that. Nope my life if full of activity and things that are in need of being done. I am wife, mother, housekeeper, chauffeur, cook, laundry girl, secretary, counselor, tutor, personal assistant. Oh yes and did I forget to mention Professional Longarm Quilter. Well life is sure full and busy with two growing girls and a husband that is most used to referring to me as stay at home mom since the youngest was about one year old. After reading another blog this morning, well I have read quite a few other blogs this morning, not to mention a few quilting websites and I have not even visited all of them yet I came across some real wisdom.

We do live in an age of information. Just think here I sit in rural New Mexico and only wave at my neighbors but never actually speak to them but I converse daily with people from all over the globe without leaving the house. I can while away tons of time in front of (not the TV) but the computer. In fact I do not watch much TV. Nope I am a computer addict.....................ok see there I have said it! The fact is that I go to someones blog and they are describing something. New fabric, new supplies, or some gadget so off I go in search of that on the Internet. Then something else attracts my attention, and on and on. I can just waste away tons of time seeing all sorts of wonderful things on the Internet. I can sit here in my rural house, in my jammies, uncombed hair, and see the whole world. Amazing!

Now I vow to get off this computer and go work on that wonderful sampler on the frame. Yesterday I got the sashing done and had to order more thread. Today I am gonna quilt till I wilt.............................at least that is the plan!

I Changed The Colors of My Blog

2007-10-29T09:23:00.000-06:00

Being a person that is all about colors and seeing colors in different ways I was messing around (now I should actually be off quilting). I have been playing with color combinations and features of my blog and came up with this new combo. I would like to hear from you if you like it or hate it, or even if you just don't care either way. Likely I will get bored with these colors and change them again in the comming months. Maybe you remember I began with a black background but soon realized that was too hard on my eyes so went for a softer look. Ok tell me what you think!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2007-10-29T07:53:00.000-06:00

I have been hoping for more quilts and seems like everyone is coming out of the woodwork asking for quilting lately. I am so excited! I think I am gonna be pretty busy this month and likely next month as well. I am beginning to feel like people are finding me.

There are gonna be some decisions along the way as I have been getting requests for some (quilts from scratch) lately. One person only gave me colors and she wants something traditional.............nothing else. Now that is gonna be a challenge but then I love challenges. Figure I will get on my thinking cap and come up with a few options from simple to somewhat more complex in a variety of prices and see which one she likes.

My big challenge is going to be trying to get something ready for Machine Quilters Showcase. I downloaded the entry forms from the shows after seeing the links on Suzanne's site. Figure if I keep a schedule and get going now I will be ready. I do have a pile of my tops so just need to quilt something...................now that is easier said than done because my last quilt logged 40 hours of quilting time on the longarm. Thank goodness for zippered leaders so I was able to work between customer quilts. Now to decide on a top!

Meeting Myself Comming And Going!

2007-10-25T07:54:00.000-06:00

Have you ever felt frozen to even do anything because of the sheer volume of all the things you have to do. It seems like my life has become a juggling act in the last half year. I just have too many acts and hats to maintain and want it all simpler. Being wife, mother, soccor coach, Ways And Means Chair in my guild, taxi driver for the kids and Professional Longarm Quitler.

I have to put up quilts for a craft show as part of my guild duties tomorrow. Then Sat I have to coach soccor and go back to work at the show and take it all down. Come Sunday soccor will be over, the show will be over and maybe there is a chance that things will calm down a bit. I kinda feel like I just want to sit and work on my quilting and relax with nobody asking me for this and that.

Well already I feel the pull of having to get off the computer to go get things done around here, then there are all the helpers for the quilt show I need to call to remind them where and when to be, soccor certificates to make up for the end of the season party on Saturday, have to straighten up the house..............................looks like a hurricane has blown thru here and I do not have clean clothes to wear much less can find the floor of the closest.

Ok time for a list and a prayer that next week I will be able to recoup and just take a deep breath and begin a more relaxed daily routine!

Ok Fall Is Over, Now Its Winter

2007-10-21T17:27:00.000-06:00

Well at least it seem like winter. It is snowing outside. Well at least flakes are comming out of the sky even if they are not sticking they are here. Last night the wind was blowing so hard I thought the roof might blow off the house or I might wake up with the house next to the Yellow Brick Road. It has been blowing all day too and the temperature has been dropping. Dark clouds were brewing to the North and then finally we get flakes. Now we have a fire going. When you live at 7000 feet seems like Winter comes sudden and fast!

I got my leaves pinned to the 2nd quarter of the log cabin border today and now need to get them all appliqued on. I am so hopping to get them on this week so I can put the vines on the next section. The more I work on this top the better I am liking it.

I Hate To Clean House!

2007-10-19T19:37:00.000-06:00

I so hate to clean house but even worse I hate a messy house. I guess I have let things go and today was cleaning day at least downstairs. I only have the energy to clean one floor per day and the upstairs will have to wait till next Friday. The problem is yes I did have a housekeeper but got tired of paying her good money and then I would bust my buns to get ready for her and tidy up. Then after she left there were always those things not done. No spider webs cleaned off the walls or ceiling, no baseboards dusted and believe me living in the desert there is dust, no deep cleaning in the corners and crevices. I noticed the shower doors one day and they were looking like a microbiology experiment. Well it was time for her to go so I gave her the boot. Well now instead of helping every other Friday I get to clean one floor each Friday.

The worst thing about all the work is that is just does not stay clean. By the end of the week it is time to do it again. Yikes! I think of other things I could do instead of clean. I could quilt, sew, play on the computer, draw, go for a walk, play with the dog and a whole bunch of other things. Guess it is better to clean than the alternative of having to walk thru all the mess as that is just no plain fun either.

The good news is that I have been working on my applique border the past two days. I got all the flowers sewn on the second corner now and am starting to do the leaves. Once the leaves are done (and they go pretty fast and easy) it will be time to put vines on corner number three. It is finally beginning to look really nice when I lay it out.

Done

2007-10-17T19:26:00.000-06:00

I finally finished and delivered this quilt. It was on my frame for what I thought was forever but really only 10 days. I did not work on it each of those days but I did spend quite a large amount of time on it. The quilt is 100x100 and then there were two matching pillow shams (photo on the left). I did load all three items on the frame together. The shams on the left side one above the other and then the quilt to the left. This took up most of the space on my frame (14 foot frame). I did use my Reneas Amazing Arcs for the spines of the feathers that went diagonal across the entire quilt. They really were amazing as the 23 inch one was just perfect for the right curve. Then in the borders I used another curve tool that is made for feathers and this also made for really nice feathers. The customers husband was most excited when I delivered the quilt and loved it so much he went across the street to have the neighbor come over and see it.

Well now I have the sampler back on the frame and I am gonna work on it exclusively till it is finished. I am going to try some new things on this one and will post photos when it is done.

The weather here has gone from cool to cold! The trees are beginning to drop the gold leaves as well. Seems like Fall came and is almost gone. At least the colorful part of Fall. I bet it will not be long before we get our first snow of the season.

On The Home Stretch

2007-10-11T12:26:00.000-06:00

Anyone that uses a longarm knows that when you unpin your quilt and turn it for those borders along the side you are on the home stretch. Boy all I can say is that I way underestimated the time that this one would take. Now how hard can it be to do some feathers all across the quilt on the diagonal. Well when the King sized and there are two pillow shams with it. The quilt has been on the frame now since the beginning of the month. I am so hoping to finish today and get it off my frame. I will say that is is a very striking quilt and the feathers look really awesome. I will have to file this experience away in my memory that it takes time and effort. I will post some photos of this one when it is finished.

I wish I could say I had something quick and easy to do next........................nope! I have another high end custom job that is already partially done to finish up. I guess this means that I will be spending a lot of time with my machine trying to get that one out the door as well.

At least I am busy and for that I am grateful.

Balloons!

2007-10-09T08:15:00.000-06:00

It is Balloon Fiesta time in Albuquerque again! Just imagine 700 balloons being inflated and taking off. It is a sight that is beyond words. The array of colors and shapes is wonderful to see. This along with people who come from all over the USA and other contries as well. The festivites begin offically at 5:45 am each morning with the dawn patrol. This is a small group of balloons that go up just as there is faint light comming over Sandia Crest. Each time the pilot of the balloon uses the burner to refresh the hot air the balloon glows. Then around 7am before you can see the sun over the top of the mountains the balloons begin to inflate for the mass ascension. Hundreds of balloons are being inflated and as they take off the chase crews are trying to get off the balloon park to go after them. Then another crew comes in to park in that space and inflate so they too can take off. This goes on for over two hours. People are welcome to walk around on the field so you are in a forest of balloons all around.

I have not even had time to go thru my photos yet and hope to do so this week. I will likely go again next weekend as Sunday is the farewell Ascension where they will all go up again. This means even more photos. This is as long as the weather cooperates. In past years there have been times they do not go up due to high winds or rain.

I think this year I will endeavor to submit a design for our guilds Balloon quilt. I know I have enough photos that are mine to come up with a nice composition. There is a contest and one winner is selected and that quilt is created and raffle tickets are sold.

Why Does Life Always Get In The Way!

2007-10-05T12:07:00.000-06:00

I really want to be quilting today but there are too many other things to be done today. I have spent my entire morning preparing our travel trailer for taking it to park at the Balloon Fiesta Park. Now to just put things back in and make the beds, put towels in and other things like that. At least the end is in sight for that little project!

Can you say tornado! Looks like one has ripped thru my house. I have been busy the last week and the house blew up. I think it has something to do with my two girls who can't seem to find a place for everything and put everything its place. Well there is a a place for everything if the floor and tabletops count for a place.

I did work on the huge quilt on the frame yesterday. It is coming along really nicely. I am just starting to use guides for the spines of my feathers and what a HUGE difference that makes. I think this one is gonna be gorgeous whenever I get it done. I will post some photos when it is finished.

Now the upcoming Balloon Fiesta should be fun. This year I am going to focus on photography! Each year I wish I would take more and better photos. Good thing for digital cameras with large capacity memory chips. I think I can take about 200 photos so I will start with an empty disk so I will not have to worry about how many times I click that shutter. I am so hoping to get some awesome shots. Of course I will show a few of the best and also hopefully there will be some future quilt designs in there as well.

Feeling Productive Again

2007-10-03T08:43:00.000-06:00

I think I am finally out of the quilting funk! I have been in a rut. I had a large sampler on the machine and was just frozen. Well I finally took it off..................thank goodness for zippered leaders. I put on the vintage quilt that I had to do major repairs on. The borders were really wavy so I took them off and reattached them. There were some places where there was no seam..........................yep gaps, so I fixed those. I also had to remove the sashing from the center of the quilt and reattach that as it was puckered! Lots of work but it was done over several days over a week ago. I used my new Quilt EZ baptist fan and wow what a difference that made to the look of that top. I had to do some fussing as there were places the quilt just did not lie flat.................it does now!!!!!!!

The photo is the before it was quilted.................I have to take an after photo.

So now I have another quilt ready to go.......................with a 14 foot table I have the backing loaded and it is pretty close to the sides. I hope to get this one done over the next two or three days. The worst is that the sampler has to go back on too.

With all this I am trying to keep going with my applique border and did work on it a bit yesterday. No way I will do an entire corner like last week. I will try to keep at it though and make progress. My goal on this is to enter it somewhere so the sooner it is done the better.

And So Life Goes On

2007-09-30T08:08:00.000-06:00

Having attendended a funeral last Friday I have been reflecting a lot. Life is indeed short but also very precious. For each of us there are only so many days. We do not know how many we have when we begin. The short story is that we really need to use what time we do have for doing those things we love. The most precious of all are those people in our lives that are family and friends. They are what makes life good.

Things here are pretty busy and I can't get caught up on it all. I have been working each morning on my log cabin quilt though quite faithfully. I have one corner almost finished. All that is left is the bunny in the corner and it is done. This coming week I will try to continue on the next corner. I am not sure if I can complete the entire corner in one week but I know that I sure can in two. Right now I am making it a personal goal to have this top ready for quilting the end of October and the quilt entirely finished by the end of the year. I began the quilt in January so I figure as long as I can get it finished I will have at least done one quilt this year.

I think I am going to take a long and hard look at my UFOs and try to do a little catch up. First I am going to catalogue all of them and then try to get some of them finished. I have decided not to try too hard to join UFO groups as that will rush me and I am not the kind of person that wants to be rushed with my creativity. I find that when I am I do not produce my best work. Instead I will see if I can indeed finish something and then after the fact will enter it into the UFO drawing for that month in MQ Resource............................so I guess I am joining but not placing a deadline on myself. If I do not finish a UFO one month then there is always the next month.

Farewell Donna

2007-09-26T19:45:00.000-06:00

I received news that a wonderful member of my guild passed away last night. I can not really say we were good friends but we were well acquainted. I only got to know Donna a couple of years ago when I first got my longarm. She was the chairperson of the charity group in my guild and I had contacted her to get some quilts to practice on. She was such a wonderful person and we must have spent a couple of hours on that first phone call. Turns out she was a cancer survivor and had a longarm of her own. She wanted to do the charity quilts to give something back. After talking to Donna for so long and pouring our hearts out about this and that I looked forward to getting to know her better.

It was not but a few months later that she shared that terrible news that the cancer was back. Now having a medical background I well knew that this is pretty grim news and knew well the road that Donna was likely to have to travel down as I had lost two family members to cancer. The guild did a wonderful comfort quilt for Donna which I volunteered to quilt for her. I cried as I worked on it. There were tons of messages written on all the blocks. I also prayed as I worked on it. She cried when it was presented to her. Each time I saw Donna she was a little weaker and sicker. She never complained about her illness, but rather just received the love we all gave to her with grace and joy.

Some of Donna's friends went to her house one day and gathered up all her UFO's to finish for her. I was given on special project and asked to quilt it. I did some fancy McTavishing and some wonderful work in the blocks. I think she gave the quilt to her daughter..............I am hoping it becomes an heirloom or maybe a very special baby quilt.

The last time I saw Donna was at a quilt show last May. She was thin and pale. She was in a wheelchair and her had her oxygen tank attached to the back. She was so delighted to see me and she and her husband stopped to talk to me. We talked about all the beautiful fiber arts on display.

Last night she took her final breath and I am so sorry that I never got to know her better. I will miss her and think of her. I put a photo of the quilt I quilted for her on my professional website some months back. Now every time I open my website I will remember Donna. She gave me lots of quilts to practice on and helped me along my way. I know she did a lot for many but she also touched my life in a way she never knew.

Progress

2007-09-26T11:47:00.000-06:00

My log cabin quilt seems to be something I cannot put down. This morning I decided I just had to work on it and began appliqueing the flowers onto the vines. I got all 6 flowers done on one of the corners. There is one last flower to place in the corner of the border. Well those looked so wonderful I decided I would see how that vine and flowers would look with the leaves laid down. I pulled out the leaves, the last flower, a bunny and the house for the center top of the quilt and laid them out................................................what a joyful moment when I stood back to admire this quilt! I am quite excited about finishing this top. It is going to be just wonderful. No there are not gonna be any photos for awhile at the least as I have decided to keep this under wraps for now.

Now I cannot figure out where my day has half flown off to! I was going to work on the vintage customer quilt and get that border reattached and then quilt it. Well I know I can get that border on and likely load it on the machine but not sure how much I will get quilted today. That log cabin is singing its siren song right now!

I have just decided there are not near enough hours in the mornings!

Ribbons!

2007-09-25T09:38:00.000-06:00

I came home from my guild meeting yesterday with two new ribbons. My guild holds a quilt show at the New Mexico State Fair each year and the ribbons are viewers choice. No viewers choice is a tough one to compete in as each person selects only one quilt as their favorite in each category and there were tons of bed quilts. My Harmony above (and its proud owner next to the quilt) got a second place ribbon. I also got a first place ribbon in the contemporary category with Elyse's Garden:

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2740969690053837050lUktXm

I can't find a photo on my computer for that one so the link is to my webshots page.
The ribbons were a really nice surprise as there were some really pretty quilts in that show. I quilted a quilt for a guild member and her quilt got a third place ribbon in the wall hanging category. In the State Fair competition another person entered a quilt I quilted for her and it got a second place ribbon. All in all it was a good year for ribbons for me at the State Fair.

I have been working on my log cabin applique border. The vine in one corner is finished. Now I need to applique the flowers, buds, leaves and a rabbit. I really love the way this border is taking shape and I could just while away the whole day working on it but I can't. I have customer quilts piling up. Today I need to deal with the border I removed from a vintage quilt. I was going to do a Baptist Fan but the border was so wavy I had to remove it and now I need to reattach it and get the quilt finished. My goal is to have that one quilted tomorrow and off the machine.

This morning it was really cold here when I went out to walk the puppy. Even with a light jacket it was downright cold! I think that the Gammil Oaks will be turning here very soon. The Fall colors here are mostly from the wildflowers, grasses and the oaks which are sparse and really an underbrush here and there. I love the cold air.

Work in Progress

2007-09-21T12:36:00.000-06:00

Here is what my "Cabin In The Woods" quilt looks like now. The top is folded into 4s. Some time ago I posted an entry of the finihsed log cabin center with the star in the center................somehwere in the blog archives. I had added a green inner border and the rust outter border. Then I got busy with the 24 flowers, the 12 buds, 88 leaves, a little log cabin, bunnies and a bear. All of these parts (with the exception of the cabin...................sill need to sew the parts to the background and attach the roof) are now ready to be appliqued on the quilt. My next step will be to make the bias stems that will wind around the background for all the flowers and leaves to be attached to. The cabin will go center top, the bear center bottom, the bunnies will be in the 4 corners and something (not sure what will go on the center of the two sides. To get to this point has been quite alot of work and I am excited about beginning to actually put the pieces onto the border. My goal right now is to have this top finished by the end of this year................................but the way my WIPs go who knows how I will do in achieving that goal.

On another note we went to the New Mexico State Fair last night and the sky was kinda dark and drab at 4pm when we arrived. Well in the Southwest that could mean many things. We did enjoy a side show of jugglers, saw the quilts in the home arts building (my two quilts were hanging). Then we went to the Indian pavilion and got Navajo tacos for dinner and enjoyed watching some dancers doing the "Fancy Dance". They each had awesome costumes with brilliant colors. I had my camera but......................................I had forgotten to put the disk back in so I could not take any photos........................now that was a serious bummer. Well after looking around a bit more it began to rain so we went into one of the buildings where they sell stuff....................all kinds of stuff, you name it they sell it. The rain got harder, and harder. By the time it finally slowed down enough for us to leave the streets of the fair were flooded as was the underground walkway to get back to the parking lot. We had to take off our shoes and walk barefoot in about 8 inches of water to get to the parking lot as the walkway went under a racetrack. Then to get out of the parking lot we had to drive thru another tunnel.....................yep all the cars were backed up going thru really slow one at a time as that too was flooded. It was quite the adventure!

Tagged!

2007-09-18T21:03:00.000-06:00

Tagged!
I have been tagged by Carol " A Stitch in Time ". You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok my middle name is Charlotte.

Creative - I love to do things that are out of the box and try new things whenever I can.
Helpful - I truly love to help others to learn and grow.
Artistic - Art is really a lifelong pursuit for me. I began drawing as a small child and my first
major in college was art although I switched to Biology I have come back to art later
in life.
Loving - I have a lot of love in my life, my husband, two wonderful children, a cat, 2 dogs and lots
of family and friends.
Overachiever - Sometimes I try to much and balancing it all gets very precarious!
Teacher - What can I teach you today. I have taught quiting, sewing, tutored math to kids and
even been a substitute teacher for two years.
Truthful - If you do not want an honest opinion don't ask me!
Energetic - I am always moving and am happiest doing 5 things at once. I just cannot sit still.

Ok now to go tag some other bloggers!

Early Fall

2007-09-18T11:06:00.000-06:00

It is Fall again and the air is crisp. This morning I took a walk around my yard to take some photos of my surroundings. I do not have grass in my yard or much of anyting else that I have planted, but rather allow mother nature to design it for me. I live at 7000 feet elevation in a high desert environment where we have little rain. Each season here brings its own unique changes. In the fall the wildflowers begin to die and the birds come to eat the seeds. Hopefully in another few weeks I will be enjoying those birds.

I have been working on my log cabin quilt again. I had added a large rust colored tone on tone border and designed a vine with flowers, leaves and some critters. So far I have been assembling the part of the applique and sewing them into units which I will then sew to the border. I am hoping to finish cutting out those parts this week and have them all assembled.

Later today I will take my two entries to my guild show to the drop off site (the LQS). This year I am entering Harmony my brilliant large spiral log cabin in rainbow colors and Elyse's Flower Garden my challenge from the retreat last Feburary. Hopefully they will do well in the show. It is strictly viewers choice so no judges will be inspecting all the stitchs and picking them apart.

2007-09-17T09:10:00.000-06:00

I took this photo some time ago and just recently came across it. This was taken at Tent Rocks State Park here in New Mexico on a hike we did on Mother's Day a couple of years ago. The weather was turning stormy and the sky got really dark. I just love the pale rock formations against that dark sky. We did make it back to our car just as it started to pour. In New Mexico rain comes hard and fast and then is gone! This shot will likely become a starting point for a pictorial quilt but that will have to be for another day!

Today is cleaning day. I do have the fortune of having help today from my 9 and 12 year olds...............well I hope it will be help. Then we will be going to the State Fair later. I found out that a quilt I quilted for a customer was entered in a category " Pieced by an Amatur, Quilted by a Professional" won a second place ribbon. I definatly want to go see that.

2007-09-14T07:57:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I took a little workshop on an interesting technique and made a small piece as part of the workshop. This morning as I was musing my entries to my guild show I only had two new pieces to enter. Then it hit me! Maybe I should revisit this small piece and do some more embellishment and enter it. Now to see if I can locate it.

The past week has been one of inner reflection and I am ready to begin my art with a new focus. The ideas are beginning to come. I have a piece I want to start on and have decided to try something new which is working in a series. I will begin with a small piece and see what happens. Then I will continue with the design and see where it takes me.

I was going to go take some photos of my surroundings today to discover the camera battery was dead..........................well hopefully it will be charged in time for me to still do that today. The big picture around here is basically the same year round with a change in the winter to white. Living in a place were there are mostly pinion pine and juniper means the trees look the same year round....................until you look closer. What I have in mind is a series of photos of the way the yard and the view of the mountain change. I want to make a group of photos showing some close ups and some of the larger view. I saw this cruising on blogs today and had the aah-haa moment of trying that as a creative outlet for a future quilt or drawing.

Time to get organized AGAIN!

2007-09-09T19:11:00.000-06:00

Ok seems like I am in a rut here. My Gammill was down for six weeks and it is finally back and working just wonderful again. Now I have to get myself kickstarted. I have a wonderful sampler loaded and I just want it to be wonderful and am frozen as I cannot do that first stitch. Hopefully once I get going it will just flow and be done.

While my machine was down I did get some blocks sewn up from my scrap bin. They are bear paws and I just love this setting combined with log cabin blocks. This is not origional but the others I have seen were not scrappy. I might just have to do more rounds and make this one bigger. The blocks in the above photo are just laid out on the floor and not sewn together but I really like them and think I need to continue with this project.

Dance of the Sea Nettles Step 2

2007-05-29T16:09:00.000-06:00

I have finally finalized my first drawing of my composition. There will be three jellyfish in the composition. I am going for the maximum size allowed for the challenge which is no more than 25" on any side.

One of the tough decisions was to determine the color placement. Orange is dominant but the fabric will not allow the large jellyfish in the lower right so it has to the the one in the upper right. The green fabric is the best scale for the largest jellyfish in the lower right so that one needs to be green. Then the purple one will go on the left. The two orange fabrics and the lighter green are the challenge fabrics so I will really try to showcase them in the compostion. The purples are things I found at the quilt store and they work well with the challenge fabrics. I have quilte a few other fabrics that I will put together with them to complete the design. Each jellyfish will require quite a variety of different fabrics and those are best chosen as I work with the design.

With these important decisions it is time to make my freezer paper templates for the three jellyfish. I will use my high tech light box...............................my window and trace each of the three jellyfish separately. The freezer paper needs to be a mirror image of the final design as shiny side will be pressed to the wrong side of the fabrics. For those pieces that will need to be outlined on the right side of the fabric I will do that with my light box. The pieces that are to be pieced need to be marked on the wrong side and those that require applique will be marked on the right side. Sounds complicated and yes I guess it is. The freezer paper pieces will all have registration marks on them as well as numbers and letters that will correspond to the master designs. Each piece will need a unique designation so I will know where it is to go. This is a critical part of the making of these pictorial art pieces but it is worth the time to do these things because they ensure the accuracy of the design.

Dance of the Sea Nettles Step I

2007-05-15T10:53:00.000-06:00

If you were given this fabric for a challenge that needs to measure no more than 25" on any given side what would you do? Well this is what we got to work with this year for our guild challenge. Now I know there are going to be lots of flowers so I do not even want to go there. I came up many ideas but could only figure in two of the three fabrics....................until I remembered a card I had purchased years ago that had Sea Nettles on it. Then a search on the internet and I found some photos of them:

A bit of sketching and I had my own origional version of sea nettles. Not really like the phtos but also different from the card.

Then on a trip to Sedona I went into the LQS and found the dark orange fabric in a purple colorway. Yes green, orange and purple are a triad on the color wheel. I am going to do three sea nettles one in each of the colors. Between my stash and LQS I came up with some fabrics that will work. Before I am done I will likely toss some out and add in a few more but at least it is a start.

Since the Sea Nettle is a sea creature the background needs to be ocean. What better than a shiney fabric found in JoAnns in with the fancey fabrics. Even better is the fact that is has tiny sparkles.

This is the front and back of the shiney fabric...................I am going to use both sides to make a very simple background. Basicly I will use the back and aplique one or two pieces to the shiney side to look like a current of water...................not you cannot really see a current but the line will later be enhanced with quilting.

Now the next step in this process is to do a scale drawing of each of the three sea nettles and also of the lines in the water. I am off an running on this project now. My deadline is the 4th Monday of August and the clock it ticking.

Getting Sidetracked

2007-04-23T14:02:00.000-06:00

Spinning Star Handpieced Block

It is not like I do not have enough projects in the works. Someone posted one patch quilts on the about.com quilting forum and I just fell in love with this spinning star. In fact I was so enamoured by it that I spent a couple of hours today making a template and testing it out. It is a little 3 x 4 inch unit with nice gentle interlocking curves. Each piece just fits to the neighboor. The photo is just a simple unit. If I were to make a bunch of these they would all fit together into a wonderful quilt. I think this is going to me my new take along project when I jsut want something mindless and simple.

Nothing Like a Road Trip For Inspiration

2007-04-02T13:44:00.000-06:00

No this is not my house. I took this photo at Fort Verde State Park in Arizona a couple of days ago. I am not sure how old this quilt is as I took it thru the glass as you could only view the room not go inside. It does seem like an old pattern but when I zoomed in on the photo it looked like it was recently quilted..................it is hand quilted.

this is a close up shot of the same quilt.

Now here is some great inspiration. These were petroglyphs on the rock wall at El Morrow National Monument in New Mexcio. Yes that is some more writting on top of them, likely from Spaniards from the 1700's as there were many signatures form that era there too. In fact this rock has had many carvings over the past 100's of years. It is almost a whose who of the American West!

Don't Get Rid of That Horrible Fabric Just Yet

2007-03-28T08:07:00.000-06:00

If I told you that my little baskets were made from fabric that would send any quilter running from the room screaming would you belive me? Yep in fact they are. About a year ago a friend was cleaning out her stash and decided to get rid of fabric she did not want. It was a pretty big box too. Well since I am on a fabric diet and no longer buying much fabric I took it off her hands....................hey it was free. There was indeed some pretty nice stuff in there but................there was some fabirc in there that was not. Can you say circa 1980 and very stiff, or extremely gause thin. Well I was at the library and they had a book on the new book shelf that caught my eye "Its A Wrap" so I grabbed it and checked it out. Yes you can make a fabric basket by cutting the fabric in strips, wrapping around a cotton clothesline and sewing on your machine with a zigzag stitch. Boy are they fun to make as well. I think that the rest of her "ugly"fabric is going to end up being wrapped into more baskets! I already have plans for some fancier ones now that I have the idea!

Sweapped Logs

2007-02-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

If you refer back the last photo you will notice that there are really only 4 different kinds of blocks. Well now I have swapped all those blocks for all of these. The layout is exactly the same but this group sure has more punch becasuse of the great variety of fabrics used. I just started another round of swapping for another batch of these blocks which will make this quilt even bigger. I figure the finished quilt should be 4 times the size here. Each of these blocks is only 6".

The Scrap Bin

2007-02-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

35 Log Cabin Blocks

I find that every so often my scrap bin becomes so full it is time for some scrap control. I am doing a swap for 6" log cabin blocks and here are the 35 I have made. I am using the same swirl I did on the bright logs which are the very same block just a different colorway. This is a good start to my next log cabin quilt and the good news is that when I am done making blocks I will likely be able to close the lid on that scrap bin again!

My Work In Progress

2007-01-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

My brite logs quilt before I added the borders.

This is my current WIP and my goal is to have the quilting finished by the end of next week. Of course I have been quilting this one for about 3 months now off and on between customer quilts. It will be entered in the Fiber Arts Fiesta this year and the deadline is beginning to loom ahead. Right now seems like there are million things keeping me from working on this. I just need to schedule time on it to get it finished. I will post some in progress photos of it next week...............next time I put it back on the longarm. I am figuring about 3-6 hours of quiltng and it will be ready to trim and attach the binding, hanging sleeve and label.............oh the end is in sight!

You Can Indeed Make A Silk Purse Form A Sow's Ear!

2007-01-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

The first photo of the fabric with the boomerangs on it is the challenge fabric that was the reason for my quilt. The second photo is a close up of one of my shapes where you can see the background fabric as the predominant fabric. Each of the blocks "well if you can call them blocks" has a part of the fabric in it, with the exception of the largest block which is a semi circle. I figure if I cut that fabric apart into just the colors I would then be able to separate myself from those hideous boomerangs and just concentrate on color alone.

The finished quilt is off to Phoenix where it will hang for a couple of weeks to be judged by a viewers choice contest. I will see how it fared against the other creative entries the first week of February. There were 26 quilters that accepted this fabric but not all of them will complete an entry. I do know that there are some that have finished and others who gave up and admitted defeat.

Now that this one is out the door I can concentrate on my brite log cabin quilt. For me it is all about the process. Once a quilt is finished I am pretty much done with it with the exception of just admiring it as I would my children. This one will be hanging in my daughters room once it returns home. She has just fallen in love with the colors and design.................she did not care for the fabric that this began with.

My First Quilt For 2007 Finished!

2007-01-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

Well it is finished! This was a hard project. I had to begin with a fabric so ugly it sent me screaming from the room. In the end I finally rethought my first idea and decided I would try to do this challenge after all. This gave me less than a month to make this quilt.

The first step was the hardest and that was just deciding to actually do this challenge. I had decided on the round shapes I ended up manking. These are made in a rather spontaneous manner and I made them as I went. The was no preplanning. I first cut up the challenge fabric into its various colors leaveing me with piles of just color in the various little designs on the fabric. Then I concentrated on making the round shapes useing chalenge fabric in each of them with the exception of the very large shape that is a semi circle. This one was actually my trial and I liked it so kept it for the compostion. I kept working with parts until I felt there were enough. I then rethought my background color. The origional blue became the binding.

We needed to try a new techinque for this challenge and I did several. I made the round shapes which I had never tried. I also incoorporated non quitng cottons in many of the shapes. The shapes were also satin stitched to the background as they were raw edge.

In the end I was quite happy with the composition. I am most pleased with the allover quilting design I used for the background...............................it just sort of happended and I am calling it swirls and spikes!