artistic quilting

Some recent customer quilts

2012-02-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Here's photos of a few customer quilts I have done recently. I was really pleased with how the one with the cube design turned out. The customer wanted a design that would bring out the 'box' look so I ended up outline stitching around each cube. It did make it look 3 dimensional.

3 Customer Quilts

2012-01-24T16:12:00.000-08:00

These quilts belong to 2 sisters. I do quite a bit of quilting for them and always love their work. I love the black house quilt. The quilting doesn't show up but I used a leaf vine around the houses. The pastel quilt with the little girls around the border turned out beautifully. I decided to do curved cross-hatching in the girl's dresses. It was a time consuming process but the finished look 'made' the quilt in my view.

Enjoy the pics.

Time to get back to quilting

2012-01-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

I have had almost a month off from quilting. In that month there has been more overnight guests, more events than I can ever remember. We had a lot of family here for the Thanksgiving holiday. And that was just the beginning. There were holiday parties, birthdays, a wedding and great family times. The last event happened today -- our 2nd grandson was born at 11:47 this morning. It was so exciting to finally meet him. I will post a picture soon. We still have one more grandson to come in March. Three grandsons in 3 months -- how amazing.
Tonight I feel worn out. Tomorrow I hope to be back in my studio quilting with lots of energy. Though it may take me a few days to get up to speed.
I have been thinking about setting one goal for my business for 2012. It's to get better organized in my studio especially with my own sewing projects. So to that end, I'm going to come up with a plan, steps to take and hopefully make some real progress in that area.
Happy New Year to all my followers and fellow quilters!

Christmas Open House

2011-11-30T06:53:00.000-08:00

It's time again for the annual open house here at my home. You're all invited to come. It's Thursday, December 15 from 10 - 2. My address is 20578 SW Colville Ct, Tualatin. My studio is open, lots of quilts are on display and lots of goodies to eat. Come for lunch or just drop in for a quick visit. Anyone bringing a quilt to the open house will receive a 20% discount off the quilting (but it won't be quilted until January or February). I'm looking forward to seeing many of you.

Been too busy to blog

2011-11-06T18:54:00.000-08:00

Life has been so busy lately. The best thing that has kept me busy is my new grandson, Shaphan. He is now almost 6 weeks old and absolutely adorable. Such a good baby. Because we live so close I've been around him a lot. This grandma stuff is just the best role -- I love it!
I have also been busy quilting. I'm in the thick of fall/Christmas quilting. I've expanded my quilting hours so now I'm in the studio about 20 - 30 hours a week. It's always busy in September, October and November. I try to finish up by the first week of December so I can take about a month break. It's good to have some time to work on my own stuff too during that break.

My other preoccupation is my winter garden. Rick, my wonderful husband, made me a raised bed and put it right in the center of the front yard. Then he built a plastic greenhouse cover on a hinge so I can access it easily. I have lettuce, spinach, chard, beets, radishes and carrots growing in it. It's fun and I hope it works all winter long. I'm posting a picture of it.

Wholecloth Quilting

2011-09-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

It's done -- the wholecloth quilt. It's a wedding gift for my daughter and her husband. I hope they like it. Here's my evaluation: I like the basics of the design a lot. The idea of random circles in the first border was fun and turned out well. The center circle is interesting with all the filler ideas in each circle around the leaf vine. It was hard to come up with 22 different ideas to fill those circles. I love the fabric color. It is a silver and has a shine to it that is really nice. What I would do differently: I think the quilt needed some other design introduced somewhere. My daughter didn't want a quilt that was heavily quilted for their bed so that really limited me on what I wanted to do as filler in many areas. I would have chosen to fill in the center circle around the vine and leaves with something very small. The area in the center square would have been nicer with a small design too (in my estimation). But all in all, I'm happy with the overall look. It has made me think of some ideas for another wholecloth that might be show worthy. I do love wholecloths even though they take a lot of time. One of the pictures show my kitties who were constant companions in the quilting. They chased every thread and binding piece; they continually walked on the quilt even while the machine was running, Tux took a liking to the pins on the magnetic pin cushion and Wolverine decided that he could carry my wrist pin cushion around the house (I found it under the dining room table one day). Normally I don't let the cats near customer quilts and keep the door to my studio closed but since I know how much my daughter likes cats I thought they should help with this quilt! :)

Wholecloth Quilting

2011-09-14T11:21:00.000-07:00

This quilt has been kind of in my head for about a year. I've had the grey sheets for many months. I decided last week that the theme of this quilt would be circles. It's for my daughter and her husband who were married last year (who says wedding gifts should be on time)!
Just like my last wholecloth quilt, I don't really know where this one is going. I know the theme is circles and I want it to look contemporary. There is an X made in the center of the fabric so I know where the center is (though they rarely are perfectly centered). You see, I'm just not the planning, tracing out kind of quilter. I would rather challenge myself to be creative as the quilt progresses. It is a huge challenge and it may be disappointing in the end but I also feel great excitement as I anticipate what might come next.
So stay tuned and I'll post pictures as it unfolds. I have two weeks to do this quilt before I must do the next customer quilt. I'm excited!

Productive Day of Quilting

2011-08-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

If I can get a lot of interrupted time (no phone calls, no kids to run here and there etc.) I can usually accomplish a lot of quilting. Today was one of those days. The phone didn't ring, my kids were all gone and I quilted from about 6 am until 3:00. I finished the quilt you see right below this morning then did two small quilts. These small ones are so cute. I especially like the embroidered cat one. It does reflect my life -- cook, shop, iron, quilt, sweep, etc. The only thing that wasn't on the quilt was computing:)

Finally back to quilting

2011-08-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

August is always one of the busiest months for me. Everything is coming ripe in my garden and needs tending. I work the Clackamas County Fair as a 4-H superintendent and that take about 10 days out of the month (many of them 12 hour days). Our family also went camping and I spent 2 days with my oldest daughter. So here it is the end of the month and I'm finally back to quilting. This quilt was started around the 1st of August. I love the final look -- though I must say I was very tired of it after hours and hours of quilting. One of the best parts of this quilt is the way the colors of each star block are placed in the quilt. The fabrics are all batiks. Beautiful!

Customer Quilt

2011-08-07T19:46:00.000-07:00

I have done a bunch of easy all-over patterns on quilts lately. They go fast. Now I'm working on a quilt that will probably take quite a few days to complete. Lots of quilting. It is coming along beautifully though. It was one of those quilts that I knew almost immediately what I was going to quilt on it. Sometimes that can be such a dilemna but not with this one. I'll post pictures when it's done.

Mistakes happen

2011-07-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

I have been longarm quilting for over 10 years now. I would say in those 10 years there have been only few customer quilts where something bad happened. A crease in the back, wrong color of thread in the bobbin (forgot to change it), thread that just wouldn't cooperate and left loops or just kept breaking, etc. But last week was the first time that this ever happened. I was moving the machine across the quilt when all of a sudden the needle went up/down. It did it with such force that not only did a rip a hole in the quilt, but the whole machine came off the track! I was shocked! This was such a large quilt that there wasn't much space on each side so getting the machine back on track was really difficult. Then I went to see what damage was caused in the quilt. There was about a 1/4" hole ripped in the sashing border. And of all places it was in the solid colored fabric. If it had been in the printed fabric, after a repair job you probably never could have found it. To repair it (while still on the machine), I fused some fusible interfacing to the back side of the tear. Then I used seam sealant on the raw edges. That should keep it from every fraying. When I came to that part in the quilting, I put a leaf design around the hole. It will have extra stability and hopefully never get any larger even when washed. Finally, the customer got a discount on the quilting. Here's a couple photos of the quilt and an upclose photo of the hole. Hopefully nothing like this will ever happen to any of you longarm quilters. It would be fun, though, to share horror stories -- let me know if you have one :)

Recent Customer Quilts

2011-07-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple recent customer quilts. Simple designs but really nice on these quilts. It's so wonderful to have a machine that is working top-notch again. It does makes quilting a lot more fun.

Vacation, Quilting, and other things that are occupying my time

2011-07-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

I finished my first quilt after a 3 week break. It's good to have extended breaks in life. I spent part of a week at my parent's home. It was a really great time. They are in their 80's and thinking of selling their home and moving to a senior living center. We visited the place -- really nice. They are excited about the prospect of living there.
I also spent part of a week with my sister visiting. We had so much fun. She is also a longarm quilter so there was lots of time discussing quilting, sewing together and visiting quilt shops. We watched BBC movies, visited some cute shops, ate out, saw a friends beautiful yard and garden, went to a farmer's market and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
The last week off was consumed with two new little family members. We got 2 new kittens. In the last two years we lost two cats and our dog so now our house is once again filled with 'pet activity'. Even as I type this, one is regularly stalking and pouncing on my keyboard (makes for lots of spelling errors). Here's a couple pictures of these cuties. We names the orange and white one Wolverine and the black and white one Tux.
By the way, my longarm is back in service. It runs beautifully. Feels like it's brand new. It has made quilting a joy again. I am booked into October and that means I only have 2 months of spots to fill before the Christmas season (I take December off). They usually go very quickly so if you want something quilted before Christmas you better let me know soon.

A Couple Customer Quilts

2011-06-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here's photos of the last two customer quilts I will do before my machine goes in for repair. Hopefully it will only be gone a week. I'm getting anxious to start on the wholecloth that has been taking shape only in my mind. The one quilt was made of beautiful flannel and what a cute design -- pigs. The other quilt was beautiful appliqued pineapples. I loved the batiks and the color placement on the border and the pineapples. Very talented quilters out there.

Patriotic Quilt

2011-06-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

I have had the fabric to do a patriotic quilt for literally years. I believe it is a flag quilt, but it's been so long since I've had the project out that I can't remember what the pattern looks like! Every year before the 4th of July I usually quilt a couple patriotic quilts and it always makes me think of the quilt I'm going to make ... someday! Maybe next year. But this customer quilt was fun to do and turned out really well. Happy Independence Day.

Machine Quilting with Minky Fabric Backs

2011-06-07T12:09:00.000-07:00

Another quilt with a minky back. They are a little more difficult to do. A couple years ago I posted a blog with information on quilting when there is minky fabric involved. I'll repost that info in this post. I know many machine quilters out there are nervous about doing it, but if you do a few basic things it shouldn't be too difficult. Probably the key thing is not to do too tightly of a spaced design. I'll post another photo of a minky quilt from the past so you can see what I mean by loosely spaced designs.

Past post: "Everybody loves Minky (also sometimes spelled Minkee) fabric. The feel is so soft and cuddly that you can't help but want to put it in a quilt. Most people I know who try to use Minky fabric do so for their quilt backing. It is luxiourous. Minky always seems perfect for the backing to a baby quilt. But what about quilting with it? It can be a nightmare for a machine quilter. Here's my experience with minky and some tips that hopefully will help you in using minky successfully.

I have treid to quilt a quilt with minky on the front (only in some areas) and also on the back of the quilt -- very difficult and I would not recommend using minky on the front. It shifts a lot and because it has quite a bit of stretch in one direction it's difficult to use in a quilt block. It's also very thick so any seams can get really bulky.
I have had customer quilts and a few of my own that have had minky for the backing. There's nothing quite like the feel of it, but it also can be a pain in the you know where to work with.
One time I put it on my longarm and had the stretch going horizontally (top to bottom). I pulled my tension tight and tighter and tighter. I used my clamps on the edges to pull it tight also. The result: when that quilt came off the machine it literally bounced back about 3 inches and the top became all puffy -- not a good result!
Another time I had minky on the back and was trying to do a more detailed pattern. It kept getting little tucks in the back.
I've tried using a basting spray -- that only messed with my tension and caused some skipped stitches.

I've found the most successful way to use minky on the back is to use a fairly loose pattern. You can cross over lines but if the quilting is spaced too tightly it will mess up the back. The clamps on the edges need to be putting just enough tension on the backing and batting to hold it in place but not to stretch it at all. Also, the stretch is best if it runs vertically not horizontally, this is because you can better control the stretch with the side clamps. If you are not working with more than 3 or 4" on the edges you will find that the minky wants to curl. So a wider backing is better and gives you more to clamp on to. The batting that works best is one that is fairly thin -- no fat batts.

Amazing Applique Quilt

2011-06-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is done. It is such an amazing quilt. It took many hours to quilt it but it was worth all the effort. One of the challenges was making the quilting behind the appliques look like the other blocks. That required lots of stops and starts. That wouldn't have been so bad, but my machine has a part going out on it making it not want to stop. I figured I've spent several hours these last few days trying to adjust the machine. Finally today I called the Gammill Dealer in the area to find out how much it would cost to replace some parts. It wasn't as bad as I thought it might be so the end of June my machine will go in for an overhaul. It's pretty amazing how well these machines run. My longarm is almost 12 years old and I've replaced a few parts, done my own maintenance and it still runs really well. So enjoy the views of this quilt -- it will rank up there as one of the most beautiful quilts I've done. (By the way, everyone of these little pieces was handsewn!!)

Bringing the garden into my studio

2011-06-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you who live in the northwest, you are well aware that this has been one of the gloomiest, rainy winters/springs ever! We occasionally get a peek at the sun, maybe a day, and then the rain is back. My garden is struggling with all this cool, cloudy weather. Today, though, the garden came inside. I'm working on a customer quilt pattern called 'Grandmother's Garden'. This is a beautiful quilt and I think one of the most difficult to make. All the pieces are sewn by hand. Then on top all the applique was added. Absolutely exquisite. This quilt requires lots of exquisite quilting so it may be several days before I complete it. I'll post pictures when it's done. By the way it's even more appropriate to work on a quilt with the word grandmother in it. We just found out on Sunday that we have another grandbaby on the way. Now besides my daughter having her first, my daughter-in-law is expecting their third. We are so excited for them. It's been almost 3 years since little Leah passed away (their 2nd child) and though no other baby can ever take her place, it will be wonderful to see another little one in their arms.

Recent Customer Quilt

2011-05-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have several customers who do amazing applique work. This quilt is from one of these customers. I have another one of hers currently on my machine and I will post pictures when that one is done. They are beautiful quilts and the applique work is done so well. Working on their quilts gives me something to aspire to. I don't know if I'll ever make quilts with this much applique on them -- but who knows -- maybe someday.

Two types of quilting

2011-05-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post two pictures of very similar quilts. The one is the raffle quilt for 4-H and the other is a customer quilt. They are both the same fabric line and very similar in design. The one with the small red sashing is the 4-H raffle quilt and took a lot of time to quilt. The other quilt doesn't have the same blank space and the customer didn't want to spend a fortune on the quilting so I did an all-over pattern in the center. Also on this quilt, instead of doing a double line half circle design in the plain border, I did a single line design. So the cost was lower on this second quilt, yet I think it is still beautifully quilted.

Three Tablerunners

2011-05-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

I did 3 table runners in the last two days. They are fun to do because they go so fast (no rolling the quilt) and it's a chance to do some fun things. These are my mom's table runners. The one photo is the back side which could be used since it looks so great.

Raffle Quilt

2011-05-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

It's done! Took over a week, but the raffle quilt is done. I'm so relieved -- I have other quilts to work on. It turned out beautiful. I hope it brings in a good amount of money for the 4-H program. It will be at the Clackamas County Fair in August in the 4-H building. I love the back of the quilt. It almost looks like a wholecloth quilt.

Recent Customer Quilts

2011-05-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple customer quilts just finished. I love the chicken quilt, but probably most of you know why -- I have chickens and enjoy them immensely! I have a couple chicken quilts already but I may have to make this one someday.

Raffle Quilt

2011-05-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Remember the 4-H raffle quilt I started several months ago? It's finally on the quilt machine. I probably shouldn't put so much effort into it, but sometimes it's hard to stop. There are so many design ideas in my head and when it's something like this, it just starts to flow. I'm even having a few acrylic templates cut to do some of these circle designs. I guess when it's done, I'll have to buy a few raffle tickets since this is one I would want to own. I'll post more pictures when it's complete.

Recent Customer Quilt

2011-05-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

This was such a cute quilt. I guess I like the black, white and then the small red sashing strips. It turned out nice.
On another note, I finally have a new laptop. It's a netbook. So far I'm very happy with it. It's nice to have something that doesn't take 5 minutes to bring up a page!

I just finished my 3rd quilt this week. The black and white one was my most difficult one this week. The other two were simple all-over patterns. It's been nice to take quilting at a slower pace. There's too much to do in life to just spend it quilting all the time -- especially when it's not even your own quilts.

Ripping out stitches

2011-04-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

I started a quilt a couple days ago that I knew would be a little more work. It was custom work and I decided to use 3 different colors of thread on the quilt. When I rolled up to the bottom of the lone star, I put in two feather wreaths in each corner. Then to my horror I realized I had forgotten to change threads. All the wreaths on the top and sides of the quilts were done in a light variegated purple/pink thread and the bottom two wreaths were in a dark variegated purple thread. I couldn't believe what a stupid mistake I had just made. I wanted to throw a fit, kick something, yell, etc. Not that it would do any good, there was nothing to do but to pick all those stitches out. It took 5 hours to get them out!!!! I was up at 5:00 a.m. the next day, cleaning up the area of any little thread bits and then restitching the design in the right color. It was a lesson to be learned -- you can still make stupid mistakes even after 11 years of the machine quilting business. And when you make those kind of mistakes, there's nothing to do but own up to it and spend the time (even if it takes 5 hours) fixing it. I'm just glad it could be fixed. I'm posting a picture of the ripping out of the stitches as well as the finished quilt. Thankfully the quilt turned out very nice.

Changing Quilts Around

2011-04-15T06:42:00.000-07:00

Sometimes even a little change can brighten a day. We have had one of the coolest, rainiest, springs I can remember. I am itching to get out in my garden. But there's no working the soil when it's this wet. So today I decided maybe some inside work would cheer things up around here. The first thing was to change some quilts on the wall. That almost makes it feel like a new room. I hung the award winning wholecloth quilt in my studio. It's way too big for the quilt hanger. Then I changed the quilt behind the couch in the living room and lastly hung my appliqued basket quilt in the front hall. I never got any further then doing those three, but it still felt sunnier inside.

Hawaii

2011-04-14T10:10:00.000-07:00

We've been home from Hawaii for almost a week now. It takes about that long to readjust to life here :) We had a wonderful time. It was so restful and fun to be with friends, several of whom we had not seen in many years. One of the things I enjoyed most was the flowers and birds there. I've always been a bird watcher and seeing some that I had never seen before was special. We spent a couple days on Oahu at Waikiki and then 6 days in Kauai. I enjoyed Kauai more because of it being less crowded. We hiked, kayaked, walked the beaches, snorkeled, had some amazing food, etc. What a blessing to have a vacation like that. I hope someday we can return.

Hawaiin Bags

2011-03-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

I decided I needed a new beach type bag for Hawaii. Having very little time to make this I grabbed some fat quarters in blue and green. After sewing them together, I put the piece on the longarm and quilted it. Then it was cut out, a zippered pocket sewn on the front and a zipper pocket sewn in the lining (not shown). It took me about half a day to make this beach bag. Then I decided I needed a small bag just to carry a few essentials around. So I made another zippered bag with a long shoulder strap so I can put it over both shoulders and wear it more securely. Now I feel ready to go! We leave Wednesday morning -- I'm so excited!

Customer Quilt

2011-03-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a little table topper I did for a customer. I love doing these small projects. This one turned out so cute! Here's a front and back view.

Gardening Grow Light

2011-03-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

I love to garden. But I've never been very successful at starting seeds indoors. Living in the Pacific Northwest, we just don't get enough sunlight to keep seedlings on a window ledge. They end up being spindly. Anyway, that's been my experience. So this year I saw a plant light grow system made from PVC pipe, shop lights and chain in a gardening magazine. It looked simple enough. I asked my dear husband if he would make it. A few days later it was done. It cost about $40.00 to make the whole thing. We put it on a small folding table and so far it's amazing. The plants are growing great. I think the two keys are, keep the lights within 3 - 5 inches of the plants and keep the lights on a minimum of 12 hours. We used regular flourescent bulbs. Two are the blue lights (6500K) and two are the red lights (5500K). Another tip is water from the bottom. If you water on the top, you run the risk of a fungus growing on the soil and literally eating the plant at dirt level.
It's a big savings if you can start your garden plants from seeds. I'm hoping for my best garden year ever!

Customer Quilt

2011-03-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

This was a fun way to do leaves -- just double the lines. It made it 'pop' a lot more in this border. Another idea that is great for borders is a simple wavy line. It makes an outside border frame the quilt more nicely and best of all it's easy to do. I don't mark but just eyeball the spacing. Because it's wavy it doesn't need to be perfectly accurate. The center of this quilt was meandered -- something I almost detest doing :)

Customer Quilt

2011-03-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

I really like this quilt. Unfortunately because the photo was taken with no flash (to make the quilting stand out) it doesn't do justice to the colors. The quilt has beautiful fall colors. I think it's one I would like to make -- but then how many times do I say that? Way more often that I really have time for. I used a double leaf in the border and then a swirl/leaf pattern in the center doing some extra special designs in the appliques. Nice, very nice

Rainy Saturday

2011-03-12T11:02:00.000-08:00

There is almost nothing on the agenda today. It's rainy and pretty grey outside. I think it's a day to sew. I was out with a friend a couple days ago and bought fabric to make a raffle quilt for 4-H. It will be raffled off at the Clackamas County Fair in August. I'm making a quilt similar to the one I made for a wedding gift a couple months ago (the pictures and article about it should be further down this blog). Only this one will be queen bed size. I love the fabrics. When I was at the quilt shop, I asked someone who worked there what was the most popular line of fabric they sell and she took me to these fabrics. They are from moda called Mason De Garance part of the French General line. I love the colors and can't wait to see this come together. Of course I'll post when it's together.

A Few More Pictures

2011-03-09T10:35:00.001-08:00

Just a few more pictures of this reverse applique quilt. I've never seen better applique work. I think it might take me a life time to finish something like this!

Two Amazing Quilts

2011-03-09T10:19:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple weeks, I've been working on these quilts. They are gorgeous. I think the blue and white quilt has the most amazing applique I've ever seen (reverse applique). This quilt was brought to me already quilted. It was just outline quilted and the one sashing strip quilting was taken out and a small feather was put in there. Then all the background quilting was added to each block -- all 120 of them! I add some straight lines on one side of the appliques in the border and a feather on the outside. The bottom picture is what the quilt looked like when I received it and shows the sashing stitching I took out. I'm pleased with the final outcome. Even the back is beautiful. The brown quilt is a favorite because I love the color combination -- kind of reminds me to finish the brown quilt I have (only needs to be quilted). Enjoy the pictures. I'm glad I could work on something so beautiful while going through all this stress these last weeks.

Much to give thanks for

2011-03-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

I had my appointment with a neurologist yesterday afternoon. It went well. I do not have to have brain surgery. I do not have to have radiation (at least not now). The tumor is benign and located in my cavernous sinus. It is about the size of a large olive to a ping pong ball. It will not spread into brain tissue (that's probably my biggest relief). The only concern for the doctor is that is is constricting the flow of blood through one of the carotid arteries that runs through that sinus. That could be a serious/life-threatening issue. But these tumors grow very slowly and God made our bodies in amazing ways to adapt so it's possible that my body has compensated for the blood flow by the other carotid artery taking over. She is sending on my MRI scans to another doctor for evaluation of this and I may have to go in for another test on this. Right now, this doctor just wants to follow me and in 6 months do another MRI and see if anything has changed. She was able to tell me what to look for that would indicate more growth (worse vision, facial paralysis). The doctor also said that she has never seen a surgery to remove these tumors be completely successful and most often the patient is left with worse symptoms than before the surgery. So if something needs to be done to take care of the tumor, it would be radiation treatment. Of course there is risks in radiation (don't know what those are yet). But for now the news is really good -- just wait and watch. I'm still praying for healing. It would be awesome if they did another MRI and the tumor was gone!
What a week this has been. I have gone from a couple days of panic to a place of peace and trust in knowing God's hand is on my life and He will accomplish His will. I have come to the place where what I want most is that God would be glorified in this. Certain Scriptures have ministered to me like never before. God has not been silent and I am very changed from this experience. Even though this is a quilting blog, I want to be more open about my faith. It is what matters most, and this last week has made that conviction even stronger.
Thank you for your prayers, kind words and encouragement over this last week. It isn't over, but it is good news!

March 1 - The Day Life Changed

2011-03-04T08:44:00.000-08:00

I want to post what I have written in an email and posted to facebook about what is happening in my life right now. I know there are quite a few views on this blog and since I haven't posted much in the last month many are probably wondering what is going on. Well, a lot! I am still quilting. I have to keep occupied with other things so that I don't get overwhelmed with fear and anxiety. But I may not be quilting nearly as much. So if you are a customer, please still stay in contact, bring me a quilt when you need one done so that we stay connected. I may take longer to get a quilt back but I still want to stay in this business.
So here's what's going on with my health:
Thank you all very much for all your prayers -- they have been so
felt. I think this would rate as the scariest week of my life! And I
can truthfully say that on Tuesday, March 1, my life changed. It all
started with the MRI which in itself was pretty frightening. The test
was long and I could tell at the end that they had found something,
but of course they say your doctor should call you within 24 hours.
Well my doctor called within two hours and said they had found a
'large tumor'. His opinion was that it would need to be surgically
removed. He was sending the MRI and my other records on to a
neurologist and said he would call me later as soon as he talked to
the neurologist. When I hung up the phone I was literally in shock.
I felt cold, light headed and like throwing up. Rick thought I should
lie down and try to rest but that was impossible. It's funny the
thoughts that run through one's mind when one is faced with something
that looks very grave. I thought about not being here to see my kids
all grown up, not being able to see grandchildren, not growing old
with Rick, not getting to go to Hawaii :(, the quilts I never
finished, the seeds I've started that I might not see produce anything
and on and on it goes. From the serious to the ridiculous I had a
million thoughts, and most of them were pretty negative. My main
feeling was similar to my first experience with labor, "I really don't
want to go through this, but there's no way out of it". (Sorry you
guys can't relate to this). All that I know about God, His
omniscience, His power, His love for me, His total control over my
life were tested (and continue to be). It's easy to say you believe
all that, but when faced with what seemed to be ahead I struggled.
Needless to say, most of Tuesday night was sleepless (it probably was
that way for much of my family and friends too). Fears are always
worse at night and I learned years ago to battle fear with Scripture,
even speaking it out loud (though quietly enough to not wake Rick).

On Wednesday I talked to the doctor again and he said after talking to
the neurologist that most likely the tumor was benign but in an area
that was inoperable. He said it possibly could be treated with
radiation to shrink the tumor. Benign is good, inoperable is bad (or
maybe good since brain surgery didn't sound like much fun), radiation
I wasn't sure about. It did help to relieve a lot of anxiety to get
that report.

So here's what we think we know. The kind of tumor is called a
meningiomas. It is a very, very slow growing tumor and almost always
benign. The larger it gets the more difficult it is to remove and
sometimes because of where it grows it is impossible to remove (such
may be the case for me). It can often be reduced by radiation
treatments. The tumor does not grow in brain tissue but between the
brain matter and the sac containing the brain. Problems can arise
when it gets to the size where it is putting pressure on some area of
the brain and can cause various symptoms. My main symptom has been
double vision. In the last two months I have had more pressure in my
ear, temple and eye. These tumors are many times found during an
autopsy and the person never knew they were even there. They occur
more often in women and most often between the ages of 40 - 60.

I have an appointment with the neurologist on Tuesday afternoon.
Hopefully that will answer a lot of questions. I still don't know how
big this 'large' tumor is. Is it the size of a marble or the size of
a golf ball? I don't know exactly where it is other than it is on my
left side.

My continued prayer request is for peace of mind and trust in our
great and awesome God. Pray that God would simply remove the tumor
(wouldn't that be a powerful witness of God's power), that it would
shrink, or that it will be treated correctly.

God knew from the very beginning of time that this was in His plan for
my life. It was a surprise to me -- but not to God. I don't know
where this road goes or how it will end but I know whose hands it's
all in. The support from family, friends and especially Rick has been
overwhelming. Thanks for your love.
Laurie

Recent Customer Quilts

2011-02-23T17:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a couple customer quilts that I really liked. The one with the handkerchief in the center, was, I thought a really unique way to use a handkerchief. I might have to run with that idea myself.

Aprons

2011-02-01T11:40:00.000-08:00

I finished two aprons today. They are both birthday gifts. It was a fun project and they turned out well. I have a stash of old buttons so I picked out two for each apron. This pattern was a Vanilla House design called Sunday Dinner. They have a whole line of cute apron patterns. I might have to make myself another apron too.

Unexpected Surprise

2011-01-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

Today I was looking over a credit card statement for my business. I saw in the fine print -- which I had not noticed before that this card has reward points. I've had the card for quite a few years and when I went online I discovered that I could purchase quilting books, magazine subscriptions, fabric or other tools using the reward points. I had a lot of points so I now have coming a magazine subscription, a couple books and I joined a quilt club. What a fun surprise!

From scraps to a really cute quilt

2011-01-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what one can find in their stash of quilting fabric. I was looking last week for some scraps that I could use for a lap sized quilt to give as a wedding gift. I found part of jelly roll. It was a Moda Christmas pattern from several years ago. I made several table runners with the fabric but didn't use the designs that weren't very christmassy. Using this leftover fabric, I cut it into 6 inch strips and started to sew them together. I only had enough for 4 rows. Not enough to make a quilt top, but I had about 1 1/2 yards of this black polka dot fabric that looked really good with the rows. So using 1 1/2 inch strips, I sewed those around the 6" jelly row strips. Still not big enough. Then I added the long white strips, another white border around the whole thing and finished it off with a 4" black polka dot border. It was cute before it got quilted but extra cute after the quilting was finished.

Day Off

2011-01-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

One of my goals for the new year is to take more time off. Having a home business can be hard in that the work always seems to be calling to you. There's advantages; you can work any hours you want, you can combine work and other things at home and best of all -- there's no commute! But I also get stuck in the routine of thinking I should work most days. I've never wanted this business to become full-time. It's purpose was to help out the family financially and to do something I love -- quilt. It's been over 10 years since I started. A lot has changed. There are so many machine quilters in the area now. My studio space has more than doubled with a few of my children moving out and moving into their space. I feel much more comfortable in what I do and I think I'm pretty good at it. So life is good. But today was a day off. And a very enjoyable one. I visited with several friends, went to lunch with my husband, spent a couple hours in a quilt shop and best of all -- it was sunny outside. I purchased fabric at the quilt shop to go with some fabric I currently have that needed some companion prints to make an apron out of. The photo shows the fabrics I bought. The plaid fabric on the left is the one that I have a whole bolt of. And I mean a lot of fabric -- it started out with 40 yards of fabric on that bolt. I may never use it up. I think it will make a cute apron though. I'll post pictures when it's done. Now off to sewing and enjoying the rest of my day off!

Recent Customer Quilts

2011-01-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

I have always loved house quilts, though I have never made one. I really liked this customer's scrappy looking house quilt. It almost inspires me to make one -- notice I said almost. My determination and discipline is to not start any new quilts until my list of quilts to finish is down to about 5. I have worked at whittling that list down for about two years now and I am seeing progress. Anyway, this was a lovely quilt.

Recent Customer Quilts

2011-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'm enjoying a slower pace of life and a slower pace of quilting. That's probably one of the best things about January -- everything slows way down. I don't feel under the before Christmas pressure with quilting. I'm also taking a little time to work on a few of my own projects. Hopefully I can chip away at a few more quilts on my 'projects list'. But more on that later. Here's a couple pictures of two recent customer quilts. The red, white and blue quilt just has an all-over pattern and the little work trucks quilt is more custom. Notice the cones I quilted down the one border.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

I had to go check the calendar yesterday to remember the year. I am serious. I couldn't remember what year was ending and what the next year would be. Maybe it was my foggy head from having a cold. It does seem almost impossible to be in 2011. Time definitely accelerates.
Here's wishing all of you a happy new year. What will 2011 hold? A few plans are in the works, but only God knows the future for sure. So I will trust Him as I watch 2011 unfold.

Here's my favorite view out my studio windows -- my garden and the chicken coop!

My Quilt Studio Reorganization is Done

2011-01-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

My quilt studio is done -- well, mostly done. There are still some project bins to go through. It's basically cleaned up, fabric sorted through and a new arrangement. I love the way it looks. Having a storage closet is a great help. Even after getting rid of so much stuff, I still feel like I have too much.
It's been almost a month since I quilted anything on the longarm. So Monday I get back to work. It will be inspiring to be in a clean, organized studio. I'm ready for 2011.

Still Re-organizing

2010-12-29T16:03:00.001-08:00

Have you ever noticed when you start reorganizing any area, the project just grows and grows. First I started with my fabric -- 5 very large bins of sizeable pieces (1 yard or more). That lead to going through my small bins of scraps -- 26 bins and I condensed them down to 16. Next it was the miscellaneous craft supplies -- too many bins and containers to count. Then there was the scaling down the sewing machines and sergers I own. That was an especially tough task, and so far only one is slated for the garage sale pile. In the process of checking the back recesses of the garage I discovered two more bins of fabric, a bin of purse making supplies and two more bins of scrapbooking/card making supplies. Does it ever end? I'm determined to get rid of much. But the mess just keeps growing! In the last hour I pulled down all my decoration bins from shelves in the garage. This isn't Christmas decorations, but spring, fall, winter, valentine, Easter, etc. That's another 6 large bins! Yikes -- this may take more than a week to finish. (This picture is the shelves in my studio before emptying them and deciding what stays and what goes). When it's all complete I'll post pictures of my brand new, less cluttered studio (I hope).

Reorganizing

2010-12-27T18:45:00.000-08:00

I've spent most of the day reorganizing my studio. I'm moving things around, eliminating a lot and donating a lot. Hopefully I can downsize. That's a hard task when you are a collector of fabric, quilt patterns, sewing machines, magazines, etc. There's more here than I could ever accomplish in my lifetime, so it's time to eliminate much of this clutter. Now that I have use of the walk-in closet in my studio, most of my sewing/quilting supplies will go in there. My goal is not to have more than I can store in the closet. I would like my studio free of all clutter. That's a lofty goal -- especially for me. Here's a couple pictures of the closet.

Christmas Greetings

2010-12-25T20:22:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone who reads this blog. My stat counter statistics show that there are somewhere between 700 and 1,000 views each month. I know many of you are fellow quilters. It's a joy to share my life in my quilts but also personally.
This Christmas day has been very quiet. Only some of my family is here today. We have snacked, played games, worked on a puzzle, played with our Christmas presents and enjoyed each others company. It's been a great day.
I will not start quilting again until after the first of the new year. It's nice to have a good long break. Next week I will hopefully reorganize much of my quilt studio. With my daughter getting married, the walk-in closet that was hers (in my studio) is now ready to house my things. I would like to do some major sorting of quilt paraphernalia and have a whole lot less of everything. We'll see how that goes :)

Wedding is Over

2010-12-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

I can't believe the wedding is over. So much effort is poured into one day that when it's done there's not only this huge sigh of relief but also a let-down feeling that seems to come -- "so now what do I do"! I feel like Christmas is somewhat anti-climatic after the wedding. But there's still much to do to get ready for Christmas. I haven't quite finished shopping and there's some baking still to do. Anthony and Charissa will be here on Christmas eve day and then head to his parents home for Christmas day. Then they are off to California to live. It will be hard to have them that far away. It probably is only for 6 months so that helps.
The wedding was beautiful. Because it was a small chapel and dark, all the lights and candles made it one of the prettiest weddings ever. Both my sisters were here and were so much help. I had 4 nieces and nephews that also helped so much. This wedding could not have been done without them. We had about 4 hours to decorate and have a rehearsal. Everything went very smoothly. Her dress was beautiful too. I'm glad I made it. Not sure I would do another but it was a very special labor of love and she looked radiant in it.

The Wedding Dress

2010-12-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished the rest of the detail work on the wedding dress. The flowers were all attached to the organza layer. I made a loop and sewed on a button so that her train can be bustled for the reception and a little black jacket that she used at her high school prom was altered to wear at the reception and when she leaves. We have one more 'try on' to make sure everything is right and then the dress will get carefully put in a dress bag for the wedding day. I'm so glad to be to this point. This dress was a lot of work, but I am pleased with the final result.

Re-Upholstery

2010-12-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

I've always been pretty bold about tackling some home project -- even if I don't necessarily have the skill or know how! I'm a firm believer that you can teach yourself just about anything. There's always ways to learn how to do things; from others who have the skill, from books, and now from the internet. There's a U-Tube video on just about anything you want to know about.
I have re-upholstered several chairs in the past. It's not that easy to do and I'm certainly no expert. But when I found these chairs and footstool on Craig's List for $100.00, that was my first thought -- I could re-upholster them. I bought them, got them home and then started to think about how difficult it might be and the cost of upholstery fabric (it's not cheap). My search for fabric finally yielded the result of a purchase with coupons for about $10.00 per yard. I needed almost 14 yards to do the chairs and stool and I bought everything the store had of the fabric and it was only 12 yards. That was risky but I thought the stool could be done in a different fabric and color. It ended up that I didn't need that much so with the chairs done, there is still enough fabric left for the stool. Because of other changes in our living room, dining room and kitchen I'm decorating with black as an accent color. So the fabric had to have black in it. It also needed to be a sturdy enough fabric to withstand a lot of use. I really like what I found. It took me about 3 days to recover the chairs. The longest most tedious task was pulling all the staples out. It's hard to believe how many were in the chairs -- it had to be over a 1,000. My hands ached after a whole day of tearing the chairs apart. The original fabric was used to make a pattern for the new fabric. Putting it back together was fairly simple. I purchased an electric staple gun but after a day of use took it back. It was a 'piece of junk'. My husband went and bought a pneumatic staple gun for me to use. That was a dream and other than my being startled every time the air compressor ran, it worked so well. The work is not perfect and I learned much through the process. I reused the metal tack strips and would not do that again. I should have purchased new strips. These chairs go in one end of my dining room. I'll post pictures of the whole room with the Christmas decorations soon.

A Few More Customer Quilt Photos

2010-12-03T06:46:00.001-08:00

Here's some more pictures of several customer quilts that were done in November.

Marathon Quilting

2010-11-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

I am done with customer quilts until January. I did 11 quilts in a little over 2 weeks by working many days 8 - 10 hours. It was intense (so that's why there's been no recent posts). But with the wedding now just a little over 4 weeks away, I needed to finish up customer quilts and get on to wedding related things. My list is long. There is still a few details to finish on the wedding dress and the flower girl's dress. I still have to figure out my own outfit for the wedding and then all the other details such as reception table decorations etc. But all fun stuff and what a beautiful time of year to get married. It will feel good to have a break from customer quilts, especially after this marathon I just completed! :) I'll post pictures of many of the quilts soon.

Recent Customer Quilts

2010-11-09T09:09:00.001-08:00

Here's a few photos of some recent customer quilts.

Dress Almost Done!

2010-11-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

The wedding dress is almost done! What a relief to finally have it put together. The only thing left for me is the zipper (which will be quite difficult). My daughters are going to make the flowers that go on the dress. We made a sample yesterday and it turned out wonderfully. This morning when I started working on the dress (at about 6 am). I realized that the lace layer was too full. So I took it all apart, remade the lace layer by taking about 6 inches out of it and then resewed it back together. It was frustrating to do, but now I'm glad I did. We didn't want that full of a look around the waist. The organza layer had to be hemmed by hand. The edge was rolled narrowly and then small stitches held it in place. I'm so glad to get to this point.

Wedding Dress

2010-10-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

I spent several hours frustrated with the wedding dress yesterday and today. The lace edged fabric was not wide enough to go from the waistline seam to the edge of the train. I thought and thought about it and finally figured out that the only thing to do was to piece it. So I put a seam across the train right about at floor level. It seemed like the best place where it would be the least noticeable. Then sewing on the lace was such a hassle. It puckered all up and down the seam. I ended up serging the seams and that totally straightened them out. We bought a beaded trim yesterday to go along the top edge. I'm done for today.

A Couple Customer Quilts

2010-10-27T15:26:00.001-07:00

Here's photos of a couple October customer quilts. They were both pretty large so required quite a few hours to do. Both have lots of feathers.

Wedding Dress

2010-10-26T13:12:00.000-07:00

The beading is getting done on the wedding dress. Very slow process. I am not knotting each bead in the back but each cluster of beads. First we started with just the center beads which are a small diamond shaped plastic bead. After doing a couple of these, it was easy to see that there was not enough sparkle in just these kinds of beads alone. So I bought some glass seed beads. They have a silver metal look on the inside of each bead. It's just the right touch. It looks like a snowflake -- just what Charissa wanted. I'm just adding until it seems like enough. My goal is to finish the beading this week and the rest of the dress next week!

Father-in-law

2010-10-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Today is the service for my father-in-law, Louis Glen Jarmer. He passed away on October 12 after two long weeks of struggle and pain resulting from a difficult surgery. He was a good man, a faithful husband and caring father. Probably one of my fondest memories is when we arrived home from Russia with our two Russian children, exhausted and so thankful to be back on U.S. soil, there he was at the gate (and Rick's mom too) to greet his two new grandchildren. That spoke a lot to me about his character. The other great memory is how he was always interested in what I was cooking, canning or really anything going on in the kitchen. I liked that about him. He will be missed in our family's lives.

Back From Quilt Retreat

2010-10-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

I'm back from quilt retreat. It was a very good time. We enjoyed the Spokane area quilt show, shopped for some fun new home decorative items, sewed, watched girlie movies and talked a lot. It's always such a good break from everything else that is routine. This year I sewed a lap quilt for my daughter and her soon to be husband. They both love movies and this fabric was given to me about a year ago by a quilt customer. It was very simple to put together except for that diagonal seam that runs through the center square. But after some work and using tape to get the two pieces lined up and then stuck together the picture in the center came out nearly perfect. I hope to quilt it soon and give it to them at one of their showers. I also made an apron, worked on my dresden plate quilt, and a small fall wall hanging. It was good to get some of my own work done!

Off to Quilt Retreat

2010-10-13T05:28:00.000-07:00

I am off to quilt retreat today. It almost got canceled for me. Yesterday my father-in-law passed away, so leaving on a quilt retreat didn't seem like the best idea. But my mother-in-law and husband both thought I should still go. His service won't be for a week and a half probably. In the last year and a half, there has been so much death in my life. The most difficult for me was my granddaughter last summer, but there's also been two cats, our dog and now my father-in-law. Death brings about a sobering look at life and eternity. I believe there is more than this life. I believe what the Bible teaches about a heaven or a hell that await all mankind beyond this life. Most importantly I believe that the hope of eternity lies in having a faith-based belief in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation, the only way to heaven. So for me, even though death is difficult and sad, there is always this hope -- this certainty that this life is not all there is. That is my greatest comfort. I look forward with great anticipation to a great reunion in heaven. That will be better than a quilt retreat! (But I am looking forward to a fun retreat)
This photo is from our 2003 quilt retreat. It will be the same 3 friends on this retreat (one is my sister).

Wedding Dress

2010-10-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't worked on the wedding dress as much as I wanted to last week. The day I hand basted the skirt pieces to the underlining, it took so long that I was burned out on sewing the dress and didn't sew at all for the next two days. Then I ran out of the one lace fabric that goes under the organza layer so I won't be able to put the whole skirt together and sew it to the bodice until I can purchase that fabric. It was very expensive fabric too, so we're waiting for a coupon to make that purchase. The good thing is that I feel now like I'm on home stretch. Everything is cut out, the bodice is sewn, and the base fabric of the skirt is together. Today or tomorrow the beads/sequence should arrive and then those will all have to be hand stitched on -- a job I'm delegating to the bride!
For this photo, I pinned the two layers on top of the base skirt fabric. The top organza layer will be brought up at different points around the skirt and feathered flowers will be in those spots. That will allow that beautiful lace around the bottom to show, and it will wrap around the edge of the train too.

Yesterday's Progress on the Wedding Dress

2010-10-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

So far so good. I'm pleased with how things are coming along. Yesterday I sewed the bodice pieces. This was (in reverse order from how you see the dress), the lining, the corset, then the top layer has the underlining, the base fabric (a polyester shantung), organza, and lace. After I sewed the bodice pieces together with the organza layer on top, my daughter came in to look at it and said, "I wanted the other lace on the top"! Fortunately it only meant taking out the side seams since the lace needed to cover the top with as little seams showing as possible. But that was a trick on the front, getting the lace to look right without the seams over the bust area. I ended up basting the lace down while the backing part was placed over a pressing ham to get the curves right. It worked. Then the lace edging was cut around the design and tacked on to the top of the bodice piece. You can see by the picture that the bottom part of the lace is not tacked down yet. It will be, but since there is a lot of beading to add, I didn't see any sense to do this now.
The waistband was tricky too. It consists of underlining and the base fabric with the organza fabric gathered on top. When I first gathered the organza and put it on top of the base I could see that it was going to be difficult to get the gathers to look nice all the way across. So I ran gathering stitches about every 6 inches all the way across the waistband. Then after gathering all those areas I had someone hold each end of the waistband while I ironed the gathering all the way down the length of the waistband. Then I took out the gathering basting. It made it look much better.
Today I will start on the skirt and train. This time I will ask my daughter what it's supposed to look like before I sew anything :)

Working on the wedding dress

2010-10-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

After one day I'm already behind! I had hoped to have the corset, lining and the rest of the bodice cut out yesterday. But alas, other things to do got in the way and I ended up only getting part of the corset done. The steps are: take apart the muslin. This will be used for a pattern and also will serve as the underlining unless it has too many marks on it. After taking apart the muslin I used it to make a paper pattern. This may not have been necessary but I wanted to be sure and get it right. I used the paper pattern to cut out the corset and then the lining. This part of the dress will not have the empire waist band but will go all the way down to the waist seam. After cutting out the corset, I sewed the 7 pieces together and then added boning. So far it just has 6 boning strips. That is the minimum for a strapless dress. It may have two more in the front -- not sure yet. The corset will also have a elastic strap like a bra strap at the bottom. So I added 1 1/2 inches to the corset pieces at the bottom and will turn this under to make a tube for the elastic to fit through. The elastic will have a hook and will fit quite snugly just above the waist. This will give a lot of extra support. We don't want that dress slipping off halfway through the ceremony! I'll continue to post pictures all through the construction -- who knows it may help someone else sew a wedding dress. I'm no expert, but I am enjoying the process.

End of September

2010-09-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe it's the last day of September. Does time accelerate? I think it probably does. Remember when you were a kid and time seemed to stand still. Christmas came so slowly, school lasted for an eternity. Not anymore. You blink, summer is gone and fall is here. I was actually surprised this morning to look at the calendar and realize it was the last day of September.
With time flying by I'm hurrying to finish a couple more customer quilts and then get into sewing my daughter's wedding dress. I hope to be working on it early next week. Plans are coming along wonderfully from my point of view. The invitations are almost done (my married daughter has made those), tomorrow we look at and order flowers, plans for the cake and/or desserts have been made with another friend, and a friend from the photography school that my daughter attended last year is flying in to do the pictures. So I better get busy. A wedding dress is a big project! I'll post pictures as it progresses but hopefully not give away the final look since I'm not sure who really reads this blog (and we don't want the groom taking a sneak peak)!

Customer Quilts

2010-09-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple customer quilts that were done recently. Both turned out very well. The one with the blue border is an older kit from the Pine Needle quilt store in Lake Oswego. I've done several like this one. I think I like this one best. (Once again I'm not sure why these photos turned sideways -- aargh computers)!

Expo Quilt Show

2010-09-23T17:06:00.001-07:00

I saw some stunning quilts today. Many art quilts at this show. It was fun to see what other quilters entered in the show. When I first came into the show I headed to the right to go down the first aisle of quilts and there around the first corner was my wholecloth quilt hanging. It was exciting to see it especially with the blue ribbon hanging next to it. There were a couple ladies standing by it insisting that it was all done on a computerized longarm. I didn't correct them -- if only they knew how much work that quilt really was! Here's a couple photos of me by the quilt and then after the award was given holding the certificate I received (along with the check for the award). A good day in the quilting world for me!

Happy Fall

2010-09-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the colors, the crispness of the air, and the decorating. I like the way my house looks in the fall. The quilts I hang up are my favorites. It's such a great time of year. Last night fall began at 8:09. So at 8:08, I turned on the lights in my decorations, lit a couple candles and wished everyone a happy fall!

First Place

2010-09-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

My whole cloth quilt won 1st place!!!! I am so excited. I screamed when I got off the phone with the quilt show coordinator. I've put quilts in that show for about 5 years now and never won anything. This was an amazing quilt and I'm so happy it won something. It makes me want to do another -- well maybe not until next year :) I don't think I have an extra 40 or so hours to devote to doing another right now. I guess it will be in the local newspaper tomorrow and the awards ceremony is next week -- on the day that my sister will be here. I'll post a picture of it at the show. For now I'm just so happy!
(the show is the NW Quilt Expo here in Portland Oregon)

Sewing a Wedding Dress

2010-09-15T08:22:00.000-07:00

I really love to sew. Whether it's sewing a quilt, pillows, purses, curtains, decorations, clothes, etc. I enjoy it. The challenge I started today is sewing my daughter's wedding dress. This will only be the third wedding dress I've made. Most people wouldn't tackle such a project or do it with fear of ruining one of the most important parts of the wedding -- 'the dress'! I think I felt somewhat that way when I sewed my younger daughter's wedding dress two years ago. But after finishing and seeing how beautiful it turned out I don't have that fear with this dress. In some ways this dress will be more difficult because of all the hand beading and lace on the dress. I have read books on couture sewing, watched some videos and basically I feel capable of doing this. So we start with the muslin. It's precisely that, the dress sewed out of cheap muslin. The seams are all at least 1" wide. There's writing on the fabric identifying each piece and making marks where changes need to be made. When a muslin is sewn the seams are put on the outside. That makes it easier to adjust. Yesterday, I made the muslin for my daughter's dress. She only got to try on the top before she had to leave for work but that fit almost perfectly. I'll have her try it all on today and then probably leave it on the dress form for a week or two before getting back to work on it. The wedding is December 19 -- plenty of time to get the dress sewn!

September Customer Quilts

2010-09-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

Just a couple photos of customer quilts recently done. Both were lovely quilts and fun to do. I have fallen in love with the Dresdan Plate pattern and am working on a miniature quilt of that design. When I have a few more blocks done I'll post a photo or two.

Whole Cloth Quilt Is Done!

2010-09-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Wow -- it's done! It was much more work than I anticipated. I put this quilt on the first part of August and it took a month. Of course I didn't work on it constantly and during that time I was on a week's vacation as well as my week out at the fairgrounds helping with 4-H. I didn't keep track of the hours. Maybe I should have but I decided early on that I didn't want the clock to be this nagging pressure on me to get it done. I would guess that it was somewhere between 40 and 60 hours to complete. Some of my favorite parts are the paisley tear drop shapes in the wide border and then repeating them in a much smaller scale in the center and also I love the background around the center design. The most difficult part was the binding on the scallops. I wanted to have a double edged line around the scallops and found it very difficult to get even close to perfect in stitching it down. I ended up handstitching much of the binding around the scallops. In hind sight it would have been better for me to stitch this from the back side of the quilt using my sewing machine rather than trying to do it on the longarm. I'm also still wondering if I shouldn't have put the scallop on all four sides, but most of my family has thought that just three sides with the straight side being for pulling up under your chin on the bed a logical idea. Well, it goes in a quilt show at the end of this week. How it will do I have no idea -- when I know in a couple weeks I'll let you all know.

Two Borders Left to Quilt

2010-08-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

I finally got the quilt off my machine. Not that it's done. I still have two borders left, but I wanted to turn the quilt to do these so it had to come off. Which was a good thing, I need to do 3 customer quilts before I get back to this quilt. I'm happy with the way it looks. I see things that could be done better. And there still is a lot of work to be done. The scallops will have some tiny background quilting and then there's circles to put in between the parallel lines. I imagine there's still 4 - 5 hours left in the quilting. After that the quilt will be sprayed with water to remove any marks, squared up and then the binding. Did you notice that the scallops are only on three sides? I decided since this is a common thing for scalloped bed quilts and this will go on our bed eventually, to do it this way. So what do you all think so far? I probably won't post again until the quilt is completely finished.

Too Much Fun

2010-08-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

This quilt has become too much fun! I love working on it. Unfortunately I haven't had the time this last week like I thought I would. But every new design I add has been so much fun to stitch down. And so far I'm very pleased with the results. The center circle (not pictured) is a little disappointing so I may try to rework it or just add more quilting lines. I probably need about another week of work before this will be done. Hmm, customer quilts may have to wait! (I have no idea why these pictures turned sideways -- so tip your heads to view!:)

Progress being made

2010-08-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

Hopefully I will post some pictures of the whole cloth quilt tomorrow. Our neighbor is borrowing our camera. Besides that, I've really had very little time to work on the quilt. Last week was the Clackamas County Fair and that is a super busy week for me. My main goal this week for the quilt, is to get all the major designs down. Then the quilt will probably have to come off my machine since there are a few customer quilts that must be done soon. Hopefully it will be finished by Labor Day weekend. So far I'm very pleased with the results -- not perfect but a fun project.

Only a little progress

2010-08-17T16:30:00.001-07:00

Last week I was gone on vacation. Our family spent most of the week in Sunriver, Oregon. It was so great to all be there together. One morning I was coloring with my granddaughter and thought of some design ideas. I drew out 3 ideas and my granddaughter choose the one she liked (which was the one I liked best too). It was the ideas for the inside of the tear drop shape. I couldn't wait to get home and try it. I think it turned out better than my drawing, but that's usually the case (I'm not that good at drawing)! This week I have almost no time to work on it and it's driving me nuts. I now have the whole rest of the quilt designed in my head. I'm a working out at the local county fair this week in 4-H with the sewing projects that the kids do. It takes a lot of time and energy but it's something I've done for almost 15 years and I love it. I want to encourage young people to sew. Hopefully next week I will have plenty of time to get most of this quilt done. There's a few customer quilts waiting to be done before the end of August. Too many quilts -- not enough time!

Whole Cloth Quilt Progress

2010-08-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of the progress on the wholecloth quilt. This was not my earlier thought to put in the 12 inch wide space created by the double lines and circles but after trying a few things out, it seemed like an interesting shape. I have no idea yet what will fill in these tear drop shapes. I probably will draw some ideas on paper before I decide. So far it's been fun though at times a little tense trying to find that perfect idea for a new design. I really like this kind of challenge. My daughter who is getting married saw it and said she might like something like this for her wedding quilt -- hmm -- we'll see :)

Spontaneity

2010-08-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

I like to quilt outside the box. What I mean is, I don't like patterns, especially those that are just repetitious and you see them on so many quilts. Now that doesn't mean I don't do that kind of quilting. It's really the bread and butter of my quilting. But being creative, just going with the flow, not really sure what I'm going to do until it's actually done -- that's me. So as I have mentioned in this blog before, I want to do a whole cloth quilt. The books and other instructions I have read all say to draw out the designs on your fabric before beginning. For me, that's a mind block. It's tedious, and requires too much thinking and planning. So yesterday I ironed a solid piece of fabric that was purchased to someday make a whole cloth quilt. I drew a big X in the center and then another so that basically there are 8 lines coming out from the center of the quilt. Then I loaded the piece on the longarm. I have decided that other than these 8 lines, everything else just comes as I think of it. Not much planning and not a lot of thought. This quilt will probably be on my machine for several weeks (it's my break from customer work -- remember) and I'll just do a little whenever time permits and I have a new idea. I have no idea what the end result will be. I'll try to post pictures throughout the process. I may hate this quilt and say, "that didn't work" or it may end up in a quilt show! I've called this quilt 'Spontaneity'. Stay tuned!

Brown Quilt is Done

2010-08-03T09:42:00.001-07:00

I feel like I have worked on this quilt forever. This fall it will be two years since I started piecing the quilt. The applique work took such a long time to complete. Appliquing leaf after leaf got tedious and I found myself constantly putting the quilt away only to take it out a month or so later and challenge myself -- do two leaves a day and in a month it will be done! What finally motivated me was the desire to start a Dresden Plate quilt in miniature (mostly applique work) and my son-in-law saying, "you can't start something new until you finish that other quilt"! He was right of course, so now it's done. There still is the machine quilting to do on it. I want to have a good chunk of time to do that so I may not get to it for a few weeks. Ideas are brewing in my head as to how it should be quilted. I'll post when it's being worked on. Sorry for the poor photos. My husband has the camera and is in Peru, so I had to take pics with my cell phone.

Latest Customer Quilt

2010-08-03T09:38:00.000-07:00

This was a lovely quilt to do. To keep the cost down, I focused my work in the white border and did an all-over feather design in the center. I love the way it turned out. The quilt has prairie point edges -- a really nice touch. The photos aren't the best because they are taken with my cell phone. That's all I have right now since my husband is out of the country and has the digital camera with him.

Tired Sewing Machine

2010-07-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

My main sewing machine seems to be giving up the ghost. I'm not sure how long I've had it, but probably close to 15 years. And it has a lot of miles on it. I can't begin to count the number of quilts that have been sewn on it. There's also been many home decorating projects, a couple wedding dresses and many bridesmaid dresses. My daughters have all sewn on the machine. Over the last few months the machine has become very noisy, the tension not good and regular thread breakage. Yesterday it became so frustrating that I put the machine away and got out an old machine. I have 5 sewing machines but they are old and I'm spoiled by the computerized machine. I imagine it will be expensive to fix. I'm debating whether I get it fixed or purchase another computerized machine. I know I won't put the money into a machine like I did this last one. It had a lot of stitches, several alphabets and many options I just never used. There are some things I wouldn't do without, like a needle up down, the buttonhole stitch, a machine that makes good buttonholes and a few decorative stitches. But I don't need an alphabet. So now I have to contemplate my options and decide a course of action.

Summer

2010-07-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

It's getting to that time of summer when my garden is really starting to produce. So that means it's also canning time. I love to can. I started canning the first summer after I was married, over 30 years ago. Since then, I try more and more new things so that now canning requires a huge chunk of my time. I don't regret it or even feel like it's too much work. I love gardening and 'putting by' what comes out of the garden. The last two days I've canned raspberry jam and blueberries. Today I will finish the blueberries and then maybe get marionberries. After that it's pickles, beets, and then into tomato season. I can literally a ton of tomatoes. It's my favorite because there is so much you can do with tomatoes. I'll do plain sauce, pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, tomato soup, chili sauce, diced tomatoes, italian tomatoes and anything else that suits my fancy and have the tomatoes for. This year I also am growing tomatillos. I've found several recipes that look wonderful.
I love canning so much that last night I taught a home canning class in our community. 15 people came. Of those 15 only 3 had ever canned before. Most were young women who have a desire to be more in charge of what comes to their tables. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm. Hopefully most went home saying, "I can can"!

A Daughter Engaged!

2010-07-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter got engaged over the weekend. I'm so happy and excited for her. She is 26 and waited a long time to meet the man of her dreams! They just started dating 5 months ago but I guess when you're older and sure of your relationship there's no need to wait years. They are thinking of a December wedding. I've always hoped one of my daughters would get married in December. We have a lot of birthdays in December but a wedding would still be wonderful. I love everything about Christmas so it would be so fun to throw in a wedding. My daughter loves vintage. I'm wondering what she will choose as a wedding dress. Or will she want to sew her dress (which means a big commitment from me). My younger daughter who got married almost two years ago made her own wedding dress and it was absolutely beautiful. We actually had a great time sewing it. I learned a lot having it only my second wedding dress that I sewed. I would do it again (am I crazy)! Stay tuned as more will be posted soon. This is not the dress but a picture I found of a vintage wedding dress.

Booking Fall Quilts

2010-07-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

I have room on my schedule for a couple more quilts this summer and then I'm into fall quilting. September, October and November are my busiest months for quilting and they usually fill very quickly. So this is just a reminder to those of you who I regularly quilt for -- if you want something quilted this fall get your name on my schedule before fall is here. I won't be doing a lot of quilting in August and I usually take most of December off too. August this year will be busy with vacation, working at the Clackamas County Fair (with sewing and quilts), canning and teaching canning classes, and hopefully working on some of my own quilts. Sounds like a plan!

Basket Quilt is Quilted

2010-07-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

I finished the quilting on the basket quilt. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The quilting doesn't show up like it would on plainer fabric but I still put some time and effort into quilting it artisitcally and with designs that I thought would add to the beauty of the quilt. I'm not sure if this will hang in the front entry hallway or our bedroom. The quilt was so long in the process of getting to this point that it deserves some place of prominence! Now just to get the binding done.

Whole Cloth Quilt

2010-07-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

I have been toying with the idea for several years now of making a wholecloth quilt. Tonight I spent a bit of time looking at photos on the internet and in my own stash of books and pictures from quilt shows. I have two different wholecloth tops in my studio that are just begging to be done. One is a golden beige fabric and the other a plain off-white. I have thought about just loading one of them on my machine and simply designing as I go. It might be really interesting and definitely a challenge I would enjoy. But would it turn out? I wish I had several weeks to put all these design ideas I have in my head down on cloth. I'm still thinking -- just don't know where it will take me! (The photo is of some design play done while my sister was here last year)

Lazy Day

2010-06-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Some days are just meant for relaxing. Today is one of them. I got up early, walked, weeded some in the garden, then went a met friends for coffee. After that it was a little more garden work and finishing the most recent customer quilt. I also worked on the design for a memory garden I'm creating in the back corner of our yard. There was time to surf the web, catch up on a few blogs and just sit on the swing in the backyard. A lazy day; a relaxing day; pretty much a perfect day. Here's the view from our backyard swing. The kids are catching some sun and my daughters dog, Junebug, is seeing what kind of mischief she can find. It looks like summer is finally here!

Basket Quilt

2010-06-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

I finished this basket quilt last year. After looking at it for months I knew it had to be changed. It was the corner blocks in the border that were all wrong. They just did nothing for the quilt. I think having the borders without the blocks would have looked best but there wasn't enough fabric leftover for that so I played around with some ideas and fabrics and finally came up with new blocks. The small checker board of black and creams sets off those corners and I think the contrast is much better. Now I can get this quilted and actually be happy with it!

Leah's Spring is published

2010-06-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

The magazine finally arrived that has an article and photo on Leah's Spring quilt. It's exciting to see it published, but more than seeing the quilt in a magazine is knowing that it's another opportunity to tell a little of the story of her precious life.

Done at last

2010-06-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

I can take a big sigh of relief -- this quilt is finished. There was many hours that went into quilting this one, but it turned out beautifully. I'm happy with the designs that were quilted on it. I love the scalloped edge and the dresden plate in the center. This is a quilt I would like to make. Maybe someday. When a quilt is this heavily quilted and the back is a plain muslin, the back becomes a work of art too. I love it.

Loving This Quilt

2010-06-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get drawn into a quilt. I really liked this quilt before I started to work on it, but as I've been quilting it I find myself really, really liking it. I can tell; I didn't plan to spend much time quilting today but I kept finding myself at the machine thinking of one more design that would look nice in a particular area. There's already a lot of hours into this quilt but it's worth the extra effort. And by the way, I did figure out what to put in the T blocks. The area around the T blocks will still need more quilting but I'm satisfied with the design that went in the block.

Challenge of Design

2010-06-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

I put this quilt on this morning. It's very large, a lot of open spaces, an exquisitely done quilt. It will most likely be on my machine for about a week. Not only because of it size, but it will require a lot of design work and that takes time. Sometimes the time is just spent in thinking. I did the top scalloped border and then when I got to the T-blocks I just couldn't see anything to quilt on them. Finding a design for that block online, I printed out a bunch of the blocks in black and white and then drew design ideas. Still wasn't convinced that any of them were right. I don't want to spend too many hours trying to figure this out. Hopefully I can sleep on my ideas tonight and know in the morning what I want to do! I'll post more as this quilt progresses and then it's final pictures. It is really beautiful.

This Week's Work

2010-06-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

These two quilts were done this week. The blue and teal quilt had some rectangles that were made from silk. I have worked with silk before and it can be hard to piece and keep from fraying. This quilter put small strips of fusible interfacing in the seam allowance of each silk piece. A lot of work, but it should help. I quilted straight lines down the silk pieces and then put a fern design through the center. I think it turned out beautifully. The other quilt was large, but since it was mostly an overall design it was only a half day's work. I really like the design that went in the narrow borders.

What's In A Name?

2010-06-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

I was curious today what would come up if I typed in machine quilting Tualatin OR in a Google search. The first page had me listed on three different business directories as a machine shop! That explains why I sometimes get calls from engine supply places looking for new business. One guy recently started his sales pitch and then midway through a sentence there was this pause and then he said "I'm just looking at your name, and I take it you don't service cars or sell parts -- you have the word quilting in your name", he started to laugh and said his wife quilts and that he could understand completely if I didn't want to purchase any mechanic tools from him. I guess when you have the word machine in your business name it's going to mean a lot of other things besides quilting. Maybe I'll get out in my husband's shop and try out a few tools!

View from my studio windows

2010-06-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

I know I've mentioned several times how blessed I feel to be able to have such a beautiful studio to work in. Not only is it great in the actual studio, but I love the view from the windows. The back windows look out at the garden and the chicken coop. Two of my other loves in life -- gardening and chickens! The side windows look out at the patio and deck with the pots and hanging baskets of flowers. It's wonderful!

This Week's Work

2010-06-03T11:08:00.001-07:00

It's still Thursday morning and I'm done with this week's customer quilts. Yeah! It's always nice to get work behind me before Friday so that I can have a 3 day weekend! There's a million projects to work on around here (well, okay, maybe not a million, but sometimes it feels like it). Kate informed me before she left for school this morning that this weekend would be a good time to make lots of pillows to go on her bed on top of her new quilt. I told her -- maybe... Here's some photos from the week's work. I especially loved the background quilting that went around the dahlia quilt. The Dresden Plate quilt was small so also fun to do. I have 3 Dresden Plate quilts in my studio to do right now. That's unusual. Is there a trend going on? Or maybe just a class? Well, whatever, it's made me want to make a Dresden Plate quilt. Oh dear, I feel another project coming on!

Loss

2010-06-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

The last year has been one of loss. The biggest and most traumatic loss was that of my beautiful granddaughter passing away last June. Leah Grace's life was much too short -- only 99 days. I still find myself missing her soft skin and sweet smell. There's no comparison to the loss of life of a child.
In August my favorite cat disappeared. The neighbor said he had been in a bad cat fight. I didn't even realize he was hurt and one morning he just didn't show up. Then in February, on my birthday, our dog passed away. We had her for 14 years and she was a great dog.
Now today, 'new kitty' passed away. He had been sick for a couple weeks. He had taken the place of my favorite orange cat and was pretty much always close by. He often slept in my studio while I worked. If I was on the computer in the bedroom, next thing I'd know he'd be on the floor next to me. He wasn't much of an outdoor cat. We never knew where he came from or what his history was, he just showed up in the garage one day looking quite starved. For the longest time he was just 'new kitty'. I tried to name him Buster but the rest of the family preferred 'new kitty'. I will really miss him.
I like pets and we still have one cat left, but I'm not the kind of pet owner that puts the same value to an animal that a person has. That may sound strange, but I meet people who do. Maybe it's because they don't have children or grandchildren. Or maybe they are just really really pet lovers. Pets are great companions and the loss of one hurts, but it is not the same kind of grief (at least for me) that is experienced with the loss of a close friend or family member. Still for days to come I will look for 'new kitty' in his usual places and then remember that he is gone.
Here's a couple pictures of our 3 beloved pets.

Quilt is Done!

2010-06-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Kate's quilt is done. Finally! Actually the bind is on but not stitched over to the back. I think I'll let Kate do that part :) It looks wonderful in her room. I put it on her bed after she left for school. She will be surprised. Hopefully in the next few weeks, we'll make some throw pillows, maybe some pillow shams and a couple pillow cases. I really like this quilt.