Rhapsody

Local quilters will recognize this quilt, it was made from blocks from the Beginner Quilt Class that was taught in town.   I have to say that if someone showed me this quilt and said it was someone's first quilt I would not have believed them.   So it was a real treat to quilt and my clients even picked a new pantograph that I had not tried yet called Rhapsody.  I used a sage green thread on top and white in the bobbin.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2010

This is my second time participating in Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival and this time I'm going to show my Batik Beach Quilt.  I pieced this quilt this summer with Island Batik fabrics and use acrylic templates by Elisa's Backporch for cutting out the curves (super easy...highly recommend them!).  Arranging the layout for this quilt was another matter as I wanted organized randomness for a design!  Fortunately I have quilting friends that were up to the challenge and helped with the layout at a guild retreat.

Now I call this my "Beach" quilt is because I made it to use at the beach or to lay on my dock in the summer time.  I am a firm believer in using your quilts not matter what the risks are...be it wet sandy footprints, popcicle drips or butter stains from your popcorn when your cuddled up under a quilt while watching a movie with family.  I believe quilts should be well loved or they have no value.   If they are folded up on a shelf and not touched do you think your children will want them when your gone?  The ones that are stained and washed a bizillion times are the ones they will cherish because they contain wonderful memories! That is were the value of a quilt is...in the memories they hold.

So I hope this quilt will not stay as beautiful as it does in these pictures but over time, as each of my family members plop their wet butts down and wipe their sandy feet on it, it becomes well loved!

I hand dyed the backing and if you want to learn what NOT to do when dyeing fabrics click here   (I don't need to repeat that story again!).  I quilted it using my longarm and chose a dragonfly themed pantograph to fit with the beach theme.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the festival!

Oh, I'm not one for painting my toes but this summer I felt this overwhelming urge to do so...wonder where I got the idea for this color?   ;)

Splash of Batik

Your not seeing double, my clients quilt is the same as the one on my wall.  I love this quilt!  I made two for myself ...one for my shack wall and the other I gave to my brother-in-law and his new wife for a wedding gift.   When I first started my longarm business and had an open house, I had three visitors ask about this quilt. I gave them the name of the shop I bought the kit at and they all got kits. This is the second one I have quilted and I hope to be lucky enough to quilt the third one too.

I used a new pantograph called Splash and it added a nice soft abstract design that this quilt just calls for.

Now you may have noticed I added a button to my sidebar for the next Bloggers Quilt Festival that is happening this Friday.  This will be my second time participating and is a great way to check out other blogs that you might not normally stumble across.  If you are not familiar with the Bloggers Quilt Festival it is a online quilt show were bloggers pick one quilt to showcase on their blog and then post a link at the Quilt Festival site.  On Friday bloggers will start adding there links to their post at the Festival site, you just click on the links and enjoy the quilt show.  They had 700 bloggers participate last time!   Since I haven't made a lot of my own quilts this year it was an easy decision for me which quilt to pick for the Festival.  You'll have to wait until Friday to see which one I picked but if you have followed my blog for awhile you should have a pretty good idea which one it will be.

Just a Little Mystery

This wall hanging was the guilds last Mystery Project and they could be given a seasonal theme. In June I quilted one for a client that had a summer theme and this month a client asked me to quilt hers which has a fall theme.  I tried for two days to take a decent picture of the quilting but with the lack of sunshine and all the snow/rain we have been getting here my favorite outdoor spots are just a big soggy mess right now.  I need to start thinking harder on a better set up for taking pictures on these dismal days. Having my hubby walk around the house holding up my clients quilts while I decide if the lighting is good in that spot will only work for so long!

Fresh from the Dryer!

This Scrappy Black and White quilt belongs to a client who thinks like me!  She made this quilt to use in her car...just like I made my bali quilt for the beach (and will end up in my car for winter trips).   I did not tell her she is crazy (like some told me) but thought that was a great idea.  We spend so much time making quilts for others we have to treat ourselves once in awhile.
This is also one of the best smelling quilts I have worked on. Really.  My client used 'used' dryer sheets as a foundation for the strip pieced blocks....very clever and it will always have that 'fresh from the dryer' smell.  The backing is her own hand dyed fabric and you can see the Whirlygig pattern I used on the back.

Railfence

As I was quilting my clients Railfence quilt I keep thinking I need to make one of these as they are one of my favorites along with the Irish Chain and Log Cabin.  I seem to be in the mood to get back to the traditional patterns and make them with favorite fabrics....batiks.
I used the Bushberry panto, a medium brown thread on top and medium grey on bottom.  The backing is flannel making for a very cozy quilt!

One Fish, Two Fish...

...Red Fish, Blue Fish.  :)

This is a cute quilt made by a client who is new to quilting.  She did a fantastic job and I just love this fish fabric.  She just wanted a simple meander and I think that was the best choice for this quilt as the fish fabric is the main focus.

Simplify

I love it when a clients says "I think this needs custom quilting".  Oh ya...time to play!  I dug out a few of my tiny stencils, my cross hatching rulers, practiced my echo quilting and added some of my favorite free motion border designs.  If you look carefully you will see why I titled this post Simplify.  Since the lettering is subtle I echoed around each letter to give it more focus.

Scrappy Nine Patch and a New Addition to the Shack!

My client made this beautiful Nine Patch quilt and it looks so nice with all the Fall colors in the yard.  She just wanted a simple pantograph design and picked 'Tickle'. She was very pleased when I took it to her today.

I also want to share a picture of the new addition my hubby built onto my Shack while I was away.  I have always wanted a screened in porch on the Shack so we could have a 'bug free' area to relax outside in the Summer and Fall.  Well Tim surprised me and built it while I was away and I was soooo excited when I saw it when I came home, I had no idea he was working on this project.  I am so lucky to have a loving handy hubby!! Now I have all Winter so decide on what color to stain it in the spring.  I see a nice wicker set with a quilt laying on it in there, don't you!

 

Palm Trees and Sunshine

Why is it when you come home from a vacation you feel so tired?  I think it is going to take me a few days to get back into the swing of things and with this being the Thanksgiving long weekend I probably won't be quilting until next week. But that's okay, I'm sure I'll catch up in no time.

The cruise was wonderful and would highly recommend if you have never gone on one... GO!  You get pampered and treated like royalty and wow.....the FOOD!!!  All four of us were in one small room with bunkbeds so it was just like we were at my parents cabin when were were teens. The seas were quite rough so you could really feel the boat rise and fall with the swells....I wore my Sea Bands the whole time and was not sick.  Many seasoned cruisers and staff got quite seasick.

So here we are at the Vancouver Port and the ship is behind us.

Enjoying the evening sunset before going to see a comedy show.

The ship took us to Long Beach California where we spent then next two days.

I am not a Disney person at all but the girls wanted to go to Disneyland so I was a good sport.  I have to admit I did have a lot of fun as it was fairly quiet there and no line ups for the rides.

Okay, I know what your thinking.....4 Moms without their kids at Disneyland... how evil!!! Actually it was pure genius and I would highly recommend it. *grin*

 Our kids did forgive us!

Then one day in Hollywood where we walked Hollywood Blvd and saw the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre and the Wax Museum ( that was fun).

Our hotel was on Sunset Blvd and it was beautiful.  No Super 8 Motels on this trip!!

We rented a car and off to Las Vegas!!

We stayed at the Monte Carlo Hotel.

We spent two days walking the strip and even found time for a bit of this. 

So it was a great vacation and if you are still friends with your high school buddies I would suggest you take the time to plan a trip with them and just have some fun.  Thanks girls, I had a great time!!