Three Hour Project

Sometimes it's just fun to do a quick project. So today I made a new purse. From start to finish it was 3 hours (and that was with a lunch and tea break). Yesterday I was at a fabric store and saw some remnants for half off. They had some cute ones so I bought a bunch. Most of them cost me between 65 cents and $4.00. What a bargain! I needed a gift for my sister's birthday so today I sewed her a new purse. I didn't have a pattern -- but who needs patterns. I looked at some bags in a quilt magazine and started cutting and sewing. It turned out wonderful. The fabric was decorator fabric so it was heavier than quilting cotton. I lined the whole bag, put an antique button on it, took some photos and now it's ready to be shipped off for her birthday. Happy Birthday, sister! (I hope you don't read this before Friday)

Quilt Backs Can Be Interesting

The beauty of a plain back is the whole cloth quilt look that can be seen on a beautifully quilted top. Sometimes, though, the back of a quilt can be made more creative than just a plain back. I've had customers who have added strips or squares from the top fabric. One customer put a large label across the back with the person's name and date embroidered through the center. Extra blocks can be added to the back for a more interesting look. Sometimes new blocks are even used which could make the quilt reversible. A centered square in the back can add interest but is also a bit of a challenge to get centered when the quilt is being quilted. My only caution is not to let your quilt get too thick with multiply layers on both top and back. It's a machine quilters nighmare to be quilting along (at a high speed) and hit a spot where many layers come together on both the top and the back. It's only happened to me once but the noise of the needle literally exploding when it hit this spot, caused a shriek from me that could probably be heard all through the house!

Valentine for my granddaughter

I'm not a scrapbooker or card maker. It's not that I don't think I can do it or even don't have the supplies, but it's all a matter of time. At this stage of my life I have to carefully choose where to spend my spare minutes (and believe me, many days it's just minutes). I hope that someday I'll have the time to make lots of scrapbooks and cards but that will have to be somewhere down the road.

Today I was going to stop at the store and buy a valentine for my granddaughter, Kyla. I know how much my kids liked to receive valentines in the mail or just anything addressed to them. Then I thought, "I should make one". As a child, I loved to make valentines and those were the days when it was a big thing at school. There was always a contest to see who had the best decorated valentine 'mailbox'. I don't think mine ever won but it was always something I looked forward to doing. Then there was making the valentines. We didn't usually buy them. Probably my mom couldn't afford to spend money for every child to buy valentines, or maybe store boughten valentines weren't really an option. Whatever the reason, we made ours and it was fun and I think better than store bought. So today I made Kyla a valentine. It was still fun and better than store bought. Now I'm off to get it in the mail.

Quilt Retreats

11 years of quilt retreats with my sister, and two wonderful friends. Lots of great memories, many projects completed, different locations, variety of quilt shops visited; this is what describes our retreats. They are highlights of each year. Some years we have worked on the same projects, some years we have exchanged blocks or made row quilts for each other and some years we have just tried to complete some of the projects on our 'to do' lists. I've posted a few pictures from some of our retreats. Thanks Jean, Becky and Susan for being great quilt retreat partners.

Learning to Knit

I'm learning something new -- I'm learning to knit! I love to learn new things. It adds fun and excitement to one's life to take on something new. So knitting is my latest challenge. I think I learned to knit as a very small child but have long ago forgotten. Now thanks to a young women, Andrea, (who I met through 4-H) I have learned to knit. So far it's just a couple squares that will be dishcloths. Hopefully someday I will go on to more difficult things. For now I am just enjoying the experience and my new creations.

Latest Project

My latest quilt is a pattern called Star Light Quilt. I received this pattern from a customer who had me quilt her Star Light Quilt top. I fell so in love with the design that she graciously sent me the pattern. Wanting a larger quilt than the pattern showed, I added more blocks and then finally some borders, so I'm ending up with a quilt that is considerably larger than what I usually make for our queen-sized bed. This should make my husband very happy since he ocassionally complains that the quilts need to be bigger. Now I began the long and tedious task of hand appliqueing all the vines, leaves, and flowers on the borders. This will probably take months of work (because I have so little spare time). But my goal is to finish the quilt sometime this summer and by fall have it on our bed. So stay tuned...

To make a list or not?

Frequently I'm faced with the decision about making lists. Do I make a list of my unfinished quilt projects was a recent dilemna? A list can be a good thing. It can reveal clearly the tasks ahead of me. I can see progress by having a list. The negatives though, at least for me, can be the discouragement that comes with feeling overwhelmed by the list. If I know that it may take years to complete what's on my list -- hmm, that may make me never want to even start. Well, I've always been a list maker so even though my list of unfinished sewing projects (mostly quilts) is really long and I didn't even include a few projects that I now have no desire to finish, I made a list. It contains 20 projects. Some might require only a day or two to complete, well others...it might be years before they are completed. The good news -- I already have 3 done on my list!

Cats and Quilting

Cats and quilting just seem to go together. We have two cats that live here permanently and one cat that is currently living here until we can find her a new home (she just wandered into our garage). It never fails though whenever I spread a quilt out on the floor, suddenly a cat appears and either must sit right in the middle of my work or attempt to crawl underneath it. I never object too much. I love my cats.

Managing a business and a household

Some may wonder how I manage everything. Having 6 children, 4 of which still live at home, takes a lot of efficient time management. There's lots of things to juggle: homework, meals, cleaning, church involvement, school involvement, spending time with husband and friends, etc. Then there's keeping up all the other things I care about: reading, gardening, sewing and quilting, caring for the pets (1 dog, 2 permanent cats and one cat that needs a home), daily or almost daily exercise. Not to mention keeping up with email, blogs, news online, my website, etc. Busy doesn't even come close to how some days feel.
So how do I manage? Well, sometimes not very well. Some things get put on the back burner for way too long. I have a list of unfinished quilt and sewing projects that were started years ago. My nightstand has a pile of books started but not finished. There's always something that needs to be cleaned, reorganized or filed away into some drawer or storage bin.
What has worked, though, for many years is scheduling as many things as possible. I have made a menu and the accompanying grocery list every other week for years. I try to designate certain days for different things. I quilt mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays trying not to leave the house and stay focused in my quilt studio. Wednesdays are Bible Study and after that it's either an errand or two and then house cleaning. It's also the day I try to write on either email or my blogs. Thursday is most often my day to shop and meet with friends for lunch. Fridays are my husband's day off so we often spend that day together. It's one of the days I look forward to most!
I try to be up very early every morning to read, study and get organized for the day ahead. The other thing that makes life much smoother is that my children do regular chores and have responsibilities for dinner clean up every evening. I also happen to have one of the greatest supportive husbands who tackles just about anything in the home as well as encouraging me in whatever my latest endeavor is. I have weeks where nothing seems manageable and other weeks where it all seems to run smoothly. I can honestly say most days, 'I love my life'!

Artistic Machine Quilting

A quilt is a work of art that the maker has put many hours into creating. Machine quilting not only holds the top, batting and backing together, but also adds beauty to the quilt.

I operate a Gammill Classic. This is a longarm machine that is hand-guided to place a design on your quilt. I have been quilting for 19 years and started my longarm business in 2001 to fulfill a dream to have my own machine quilting business. As of January 2009 I have quilted over 900 quilt tops for customers.

My website is www.artisticmachinequilting.com

I can be reached at 503-691-9409 or email at artisticmachinequilting@msn.com