Kim's Tisket-Tasket

 This wonderful whimsical quilt belongs to my friend Kim. I have admired the top for some time as she has been working on it for some time. She finally finished it up and gave it to me to take home and quilt from the retreat we attended in February. It just makes me smile every time I look at it. Each block represents a month of the year. To make the feather in the border I marked the spine all the way around so that it all came out just right in the end.

If you would like me to quilt for you please contact me thru my e-mail by clicking on my profile.

 I think it is safe to say that Spring has arrived! The temperatures are in the 60's and 70's during the day and it is not getting too cold at night any more. All the snow is completely gone. There are some clouds to the north but it was a beautiful last day of March here today.

Sandia Sunset

I began this quilt with just the click of a mouse! I was surfing quilting sites and likely followed a link on Pinterest that lead me to Bonnie Hunter's free instructions for her  Scrappy Mountain Majesties HERE I was thinking what a slick way to really sew up something with lots of impact easy and fast. I did not file that one in the back of my mind to come back to someday. I instead, forged ahead and started pulling orange and blue fabrics from the stash and scrap bin. I ended up making a huge mess and spent way more time putting all that fabric back after cutting the squares to make the design. I first made a test block and really liked how fast it came together and loved the orange and blue colorway so I was off and running with this. I managed to piece together the top fairly quickly. I found different ways to set the blocks and played with them till I finally came up with my final setting. This reminds me of looking out west of my house at Sandia Crest and the beautiful sunsets we see in the evenings.The photoshoot was done at the University of New Mexico.

 

 

The Back

The back

Misha's Celtic Solstice

I have been following my friend Misha's progress on her Bonnie Hunter Mystery Celtic Solstice. I was delighted when Misha asked me to quilt her Celtic Solstice top. She is going to use it as a lap quilt so did not want it quilted to death. I came up with a design to showcase the circular look of the piecing. I did a modified feather/leaf on one side and some swirls on the other side of an asymmetrical melon shape. I also took the Solstice theme and did a sun shape in the center of the circular sections. For the border I did a simple treatment that showcased her triangles. This was a very fun quilt to work on. Misha used a different color way than the mystery and I have to say that I really love her color choices and the fabric selection she used.

 

 

Thank you Misha for letting me quilt for you!

Nicole's Quilt Done!

I have been working on a comfort quilt for Nicole a jewelry artist in the Methow Valley up in Washington State. Her house, workshop and forest burned down last Summer. You can see her post on her blog about it HERE Also check out the rest of her blog, she makes beautiful one of a kind jewelry.

I



finally finished Nicole's quilt and it is ready to go to her new home. I want to thank: Brigette from Oklahoma, Hilda from New Mexico, Kim from Arizona, Marcia from Maryland, Mary Jane from Georgia, Misha from Washington, Pat from Iowa, Pat from New Mexico, Patty from Oklahoma, Sandy from Texas, and Suze from California. All of you sent beautiful blocks to make this quilt for Nicole and her family.

How To Recharge Your Batteries

Every year I go to a quilt retreat in Phoenix. My first retreat was over 10 years ago now and I really enjoy seeing my friends who also attend year after year. We laugh, cry, sew, eat, visit and laugh some more. It really is a wonderful time and we all come away with our batteries recharged. Over the years we have developed wonderful friendships that we continue online on about.com quilting forum. This year I wanted to do something special for each retreat attendee so I decided to make one of these little "thread catchers" for each and every one. I made a total of 36 so there were a few extra. They are all different so that everyone would have the fun of choosing which one they wanted out of the group. I hope that when my friends take these out and use them they will think of me and smile. 

I do think I have made enough little "thread catchers" for now. Since I have been home I have been washing my fabrics that I acquired in Phoenix and putting away my sewing supplies. What fun we had. I am already looking forward to next year. I will be posting some of my projects soon. I was able to begin my Scrappy Trips Around the World and have been working on that daily since I got home so it will be done by the time good camping weather comes around (it is for the bed in my trailer). I also almost finished the hanging sleeve for my mountain majesty and will be showing that in a separate post, likely with snow as a backdrop as we are expecting lots of snow the next few days.

 This last one is for my daughter. She chose the fabrics she liked. She is going to use hers for a place to put her jewelry at the end of the day.

Sometimes It Is The Little Things

 

 

 Sometimes it is the little projects. I have not been able to get a chunk of time lately to work on any of my projects. I have been so busy with lots of little projects though. I am going to a quilt retreat in a couple of weeks and made the little robin mug rug for a game.........everyone will end up with someone else's mug rug. He is paper pieced from a pattern I drafted. I had found something similar on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I am not sure I would want to make a quilt with these as it was rather labor intensive. I do like the idea for just a single block........such as a 6" mug rug.

 I have been working on my crazy quilt class and added a few more seams. I am now ready to move on to the silk ribbon embroidery section of the class.

 I also made a couple of blocks for a comfort quilt for a friend whose husband just passed away. I really enjoyed making these blocks and think this would be a great stash buster project for sometime in the future.

Some inspiration

 I have been busy with things around the house and not had much time to devote to a dedicated quilting project of late. I am in the process of doing a bit of designing for a challenge so I am doing tons of research on the internet for photos for the parts of the composition. Of course being a challenge I cannot reveal what I am up to but I am having fun trying to put the composition together and make it work for a fiber art piece.

I have also been busy with an online free crazy quilt class.............yep crazy all right. Like I needed another project. Some of my friends had signed up and I checked it out and when I realized that I really had all the supplies already I figured why not, it is after all free and there is always something to learn. We post when we have completed small tasks and the instructor then e-mails the next step. This is Task #6 in progress which is embellishing most but not all of the seams. I especially love the row of hyacinths. I chose greens the base and then the embelishmets are in deeper colors of greens, blues, purples and pinks. I am having lots of fun with this little project and have learned quite a few new things.

Last Saturday I drove to Santa Fe for a meeting and on the way home went the back way thru Gallesteo, New Mexico. In the center of the village there is this bank of mail boxes. I have driven past these for years and since I had my camera I stopped to take some photos. I have always loved quilts that have long rows for mailboxes and I have always thought of that when I drive by these. It will be fun to play with these photos and come up with a pleasing composition using some of the boxes in the photos.

 

On A Dark And Dreary Day

 What to do on a dark and dreary day? The new year is already almost two weeks old and I have been busy. Wish I could say I have been having nothing but fun and working on my 2015 Bucket List. Yep this year I have ditched the resolutions as well as the goals. This year it is a bucket list. In any case whatever you call it, it is a list of things and events that I want to do or participate in.

For quilting and sewing the bucket list is pretty simple:
Work on UFOs
Reduce stash
Work on altered couture (old clothes to new items......this should be fun)

So far I am off to a good running start. Yesterday I decided to try this little "Thread Catcher". I guess you can put anything in there that suits your fancy. I put buttons in mine. I found it on Pintrest and there is a link with a tutorial to this blog: HERE These go together really fast and there are a million color combinations that you could make them out of. What a fun little project to sew up on a dreary day.

Another project that I am just starting this year is another Scrappy Trip Around The World. The instructions for this quilt are on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site: HERE I love Bonnie's site and this is the second Scrappy Trip I am making. This one is in my favorite color combination; purple and green. It will go on the bed in the RV we bought last November and will be queen sized. This project will use 384 strips that measure 2 1/2 by 16 inches. I calculated that this project used up around TEN yards of fabric. How is that for a good start on my quilters bucket list to use stash? I have been cutting these strips for over a week and am so happy to have them all cut so that now I can just sew them together without having to stop to cut more.

Today's view off the balcony. You cannot even see the mountain today, and there has been snow on and off since yesterday morning. Just enough snow to cover the ground. It is the desert so the moisture is much needed.