It's been busy

First thing...new baby pictures. Aren't they just too cute!

Then I finished the last 2 quilts that were done with pantos and loaded Mary's quilt. I'll save that photo for another day. I also worked on my MQR postcards...just a little beading to do on the last few.

And then there was the Venice area quilt show this weekend. I had quilted their raffle quilt, and several of their members quilts. The show was lovely...lots of beautiful quilts. My clients won several ribbons. Below are the 2 big winners. this purple and gold was pieced by Stacia and quilted by me. It won a first in it's category.

And then, the "white" quilt...pieced by Betty, and I quilted it. It won 2nd in it's category; Judges' choice; and Best Machine Quilting. I was very pleased, and Betty was thrilled. She says it's next stop is Vermont Quilt festival.

So a good week. Now back to work!

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New storage and a little work

OK, these are the drawers I told you about. nothing fancy about them. But they hold allot of stuff and are clear so I can see what's in there! It also keeps the dust and cat fur off, and just generally looks much neater than the shelves that were there previously with stuff overflowing and falling off all the time. All the green tags you see are attached to quilts in waiting. That stack has been whittled down considerably in the last couple weeks...yeah!!! And I'm not replacing them as fast now by choice. And that feels VERY GOOD!

These are the drawers I put under the back of the longarm table....the top makes a nice flat surface for my circle lord templates. Oh look...can you believe it 2 empty drawers!!! OMG...must go shopping for more stuff! Let's see, what don't I have that I need??? Or what do I need more of?? And I have room for 2 more drawer units under the back of the table( the store ran out, so I have to wait for the new shipment.)

And to the work.... I don't often do panto's.....but this week 3 came up in a row. Not that I have anything against panto's....just most of my clients want custom. It is nice to have on though now and then. They go really fast. And this one shows that they can be pretty too.

Just a log cabin, no special setting. Black and white. The back is red, soooo I thought it might be fun to quilt it in red thread ( a King Tut variegated). I like it!

My client picked it up this morning and she likes it too, and is going to bind it in red. Cool!

Simple, quick and looks great. Though red feathers would have looked good too......

Harry thanks all of you who sent him birthday wishes!

And you will notice the new button on the side MQResources. A great forum for all machine quilters. As soon as I figure out how, I'll make it clickable to take you to the home page so you can join too.

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A busy week

It has been a busy week for me. I taught a machine applique class at the LQS. Always fun, and productive. I even got a little work done on my "cut up " mariners compass. Still allot more to do on that one though.

I also bought new storage drawers for my fabrics and other assorted supplies. Mainly because I keep buying stuff! I had previously used shelves, but it just was not working well. These drawers are clear fronts so I can see what resides inside, and it keeps the dust off the stuff. So now it will only collect on top of the drawers...or not, as I have piled stuff on top too! LOL....the bane of working in a small space! How I long for my walk out basement in Virginia!!! Though, I should be very careful what I wish for....the weather everywhere in the country but here and California has been total crap this winter. So maybe I'll be thankful for what I've got! I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow before it's all a mess again...LOL.

The mail yesterday brought me a new postcard from Shirley! This is the first for our new MQR swap. The theme is birthstone. Hers, obviously is a ruby. I love it! Thanks Shirley!

I worked on mine this week too, and am nearly done. So I'll post 'em when I get finished. See Shirley's below.

And the photo above is of my little boy Harry. He is always with me, no matter what I'm doing. In this photo he is sunning himself. We joke that the cats are "solar powered" cause they'll always find a spot in the sun to nap in . Such a sweet little angel! Say Happy Birthday to him...he was 1 year old on Thursday.

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A quick one

I had a quilt from a very prolific client that has been waiting for a long time. She always does embroidered quilts and they are cute. And she is very patient!

I did Suzanne Earley's meandering magic ferns in the body of the quilt. And then did different fills in the embroidered blocks. Suzanne's inspiration has made my quilting work easy many times. Thanks, Suzanne.

She always says she likes my feathers, but her quilts really don't lend themselves to feathered treatments. But on this one, I used a stylized feather based on Nicole Webb's to do the sashing. Sort of looks like butterflies, don't you think?

Goes with the frog theme and gives her a taste of feathers. I hope she likes it.

Tomorrow all day I am teaching a machine applique class at the LQS. After that I'll work on my "birthstone" postcards for my next swap. By the weekend, I should be starting Mary's quilt that mother made.

Have a great night!

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Another train of thought

You may remember this diamond background I pieced some time ago. The original thought was to have a mariners compass among other things on this background.You might also remember these mariners compass blocks I pieced...4 of them. Well, I just don't like the way the background of the star looks on the diamond background. Soooo.....

I thought what would happen if I cut away the background from the star...hum... Now some of you will think I'm nuts, especially after all the public P&M I did about what a pain those blocks were. But look!

And on another background. I think I'm liking this!

So to get to the point of this whole exercise...how will it look on my diamond pieced background?

This is the original block laid on the background. It's OK, but just not what I'm looking for.

Now this is the same compass star with the background cut away. I love it! It almost seems to float... Maybe now I can finally get this top done!

And I just might have to cut away the background on the other 3 compasses!

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The white quilt...finished

OK, here is the finished white quilt. Betty picked it up this afternoon, and was pleased with the outcome. Always a good thing. It doesn't matter how many I do, I am always nervous when the owners come to pick them up. You just never know if your vision for the quilt matches theirs. Fortunately, she likes it.

It was a challenge to do this. It was almost like a whole cloth, but not quite. So the quilting design had to span both the pieced and the white space. Was it successful? Well Betty liked it. We'll see what the judge says.

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Progress

But first, a couple fur baby photos. I am working away in the studio and my helpers are lounging around in the guest room! Which you can see from the picture also serves as my overflow quilting room. Yes, that is a roll of batting on the bed (I only have room for 2 rolls under my longarm table) so the others are strategically placed around the house.
It was a little chilly today and VERY windy, so these 2 lazy lima beans spent the day napping. What a life!

I, however was working away! I'm in the home stretch now...finishing the background fill. This is the center.

And this is the outer border...it is 18" wide. 24" from the edge to the green block you see a piece of. Lots and lots of white space on this quilt.

With any luck I'll get it finished up by tomorrow afternoon so it's owner can have it back.

Enjoy your evening!

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