Bulletin Board Quilt

 This fun quilt was made by a client of mine for her mother, who taught school. Her mother sent her all of the fabrics she had ever used on bulletin boards. She then put the fabrics together into four patches, sashed them, and fussy cut one of the school's t-shirts for the quilt center. She wanted something geometric and school-ish quilted on it.

 I quilted an all-over geometric meander. I used So Fine! Yellowstone (a darker yellow color) to quilt this.

Hunter Star

 A new client brought this to me earlier this year to quilt and let me basically have free reign to do whatever I thought would look good. This is what I came up with.

 In the blocks (the set of 4 triangles) I quilted a feather wreath. I did a back and forth design in each of the small trapezoid pieces between the stars.

Because the stars had some bulky center seams, I chose to avoid quilting in the stars and just outline quilted them by stitching in the ditch.

 In the inner border I quilted loops. I then combined the two outer borders into one and quilted a large feather across them.

And I couldn't resist taking a photo of the back. I just love how all of the quilting came together on it. You might have to click on the photo to make it a little bigger so you can see all the detail. (I'm still learning how to use my camera, and my husband has changed some settings for the better on it since these pictures were taken!)

As far as thread goes, I believe that I used So Fine! Ginger, a goldish-brown colored thread.

New Year's Goals

You know how we set goals every year? And then you know how we swear that this year is the year we'll actually stick to those goals? And then inevitably something comes up and we don't end up sticking to those goals?

Well, I'm going to pretty much guarantee it's another one of those years for me.

However, I have a new partner to help me out. I've been using Stickk.com for help for a few weeks now, and it's been great. It actually motivates me. The basic idea is that you set a goal for yourself (my current one is weight loss), put some money on the line, set a deadline, and go. You report weekly (or at the end of the time period - it depends on what your goal is) and if you meet your goal, you don't lose anything. If you don't meet your goal, you lose the money you put on the line. So, my goal has a $5/week gamble. If I don't lose 1 lb/week, I lose that $5. And to motivate myself even more, the money is donated to an anti-charity: a group that I have chosen from a list that I don't really want to give my money to, but they get it if I fail.  Trust me, it's quite the motivating factor.

So what are my goals for this year? Well, some of them I'm not quite ready to share, but here are a few.

1) Finish and publish my new patterns.
2) Keep up to date on my bookkeeping.
3) Actually quilt some of my own quilts. 1 a month would be nice, but I'd be happy with even 6 the whole year.
4) Learn how to use the Silhouette Cameo I got for Christmas, and use it often.
5) Continue losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle.
6) Grow my Etsy store and my brand.
7) Keep up on blogging here.

There are a few more, but I'm not ready to divulge them to the world yet. If I tell people, then I really have to do it, and I'm not sure if I'm 100% ready to make the leap of faith that is required to do a few of them.

What are some of your goals this year? I'd love to hear what you're working toward. Also, I'd love to see you on Facebook. Head on over to my page, click the LIKE button (if you haven't already) and stay up to date with everything I'm doing. Make sure that you have it set to "Show in news feed" (under the drop down menu of the Liked button, once you've clicked Like) to make sure you see the updates!

And, because I'm trying not to post without including at least one photo, here's a picture of Brookie, back in October, in her holiday outfit courtesy of her awesome Aunt Jana. (That's Jana's fabric, by the way. It's called Delicious Wishes, and is sold by Henry Glass. Check your local quilt shop to see if they have it! You can find the pattern for the holiday outfit here, and info about Jana's fabric here.)

Happy New Year! May this year bring all the joy and happiness you desire to you and yours!

Welcome!

I had so much fun quilting this fun little wall hanging.  I used multiple thread colors and a few modern designs to achieve the quilting look I was going for.

 I quilted a meander over the WELCOME panel to the side of the sunflowers. In the sunflowers themselves, I started in the center and spiraled my way out to the outer edge, stitching down the edges of the applique.

In the stems and the background of the sunflower portion I quilted wavy lines.

I believe I used 2 thread colors, but it's been so long (I quilted this earlier this summer), so I might be mistaken. I know for sure that I used So Fine! Daffodil (yellow) and So Fine! Out of the Blue (the blue in the background).

July Quilts

I feel bad that here it is the end of December and I'm just barely getting around to posting quilts from July. But, it will give you all some ideas for next year, right? Right. :)

So, first up we have this awesome wall hanging. A client of mine made like 5 or 6 of these for gifts. This is the one she kept for herself. Usually she likes just a big, loose, all-over quilting design, but I talked her into letting me do some more custom quilting on it. I still kept it looser than I normally would've quilted something like this, and she ended up loving it!

In the background of the applique I quilted a larger meander. I outlined all of the applique pieces, and did some fun details on the watermelon, the sunflower, and the cake. In the flag I did different designs in the stripes, and I outlined the star. I did a wavy line in the inner border and a large loop with stars design in the outer border. In the filler block (between the Sweet Land of Liberty and the apple pie) I quilted a wish bone design.

This next quilt is one of those quilts where you sew the blocks together with a border, then using a template you chop it up, rotate it, and sew it back together. My client used red, white, and blue fabrics, so we decided a 4th of July themed design was what we needed to do.

 In each of the X's I quilted curvy lines, mimicking fireworks. In the blue background around the center of the quilt I quilted a meander. And in the outer border  I quilted a large star with loops in between them.

Here's a shot of the back. I love how the design shows up so nicely in the red thread (So Fine! Hot Chilies). It really makes it look like fireworks bursting all over the quilt!

I'm Back! Recap, News, & More.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's been almost 4 months since my last post! I seriously thought it had only been a few weeks. Of course, I've also thought that every day this week was Saturday, which definitely screwed my internal clock up.

The holidays are almost over. Mine have been almost perfect. I hope you all had a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Festivus/whatever you celebrate, and that you all have a fantastic New Year!

Just a quick catch up on things, and then I'll post some fun pictures of a quilt I did in the summer (Seriously! I still can't believe it's been that long! I'm totally dying of embarrassment as I write this!)

Life has been crazy hectic this fall. I stupidly  kindly volunteered to help out in my son's kindergarten class for an hour and a half every Thursday afternoon. I teach healthy lifestyles. This makes me laugh. Mostly because I do not have a healthy lifestyle. We eat fast food a lot, and if my kids have their seat belts on before I'm backing out of the driveway then our day is fantastic! Have a cold? Here's some Dimetapp! haha. But seriously, the kids are learning a lot - when they manage to pay attention - and I really am enjoying it....most days.

The baby turns 1 in about 8 days. Seriously, who's idea was it to have a baby this close to Christmas? Surely it couldn't have been mine? I didn't realize how stressful shopping for Christmas and her birthday would be. Luckily, we found some really great things for both, and hopefully she likes them all.

The boy turned 6 in September, and just lost his first tooth. He was so excited. And I am encouraging all tooth-related happiness, especially since we have been to the dentist 6 times in the last 2 months for that kid. Luckily he is getting over his completely rational fear of the dentist, and doesn't actually mind going...until they stick the anesthesia needle in.

As far as work goes, I have been getting busier with pre-books, which I am grateful for. I've developed a new system for the pre-books, too, and it seems to be working much better than "I'll write you down on the list and hope I don't lose the paper like I have in the past." I am so grateful for all of my clients. Without them, I wouldn't be able to continue to do this. And I really love it.

Now for some quick news, for all of you who have been patient enough to stick with me through the giant wall of text above. ;) I am working on some quilt patterns. I am so excited about these! I have several in the works, and I can't wait to release them! Two of them are so close to being ready to release, so hopefully I will have those done shortly after the new year starts. Keep checking back as I post updates and news regarding their releases! I'm also working on some baby items: gifts, baby quilts, etc. for my Etsy shop. I will post more about those when they are closer to being finished, as well.

So, lots of work to be done around here in the next few weeks. :)

And now, as promised, some pictures of an awesome Round Robin quilt I quilted for a client earlier this summer!

 This quilt was so fun, bright, and vibrant. I had a blast quilting it! In the center panel I outlined the tree and all the leaves, then did a small pebble design in the background to give the applique a little more POP. I quilted leaves in the inner blue border. In the triangle border I quilted curvy triangles in the white pieces, and flowers in the corners. The pink border is also a leaf design.

 In the pieced nine patch border I quilted swirly flowers. The smaller borders all have a small back-and-forth design in them. I meandered tightly around the appliqued hexagons. And in the border with the appliqued rectangles I quilted a fern-type vine.

 In the half-circles I quilted flowers. I then stitched around the half circles and echoed out 3 times into the background of the border. In the yellow solid border I quilted more leaves. Another fern-type vine fills the pieced border. And in the outermost border I quilted a back and forth design to mimic the grain of wood or tree bark, keeping with the tree theme from the center of the quilt.

 The back was so fun! I love when people do scrappy backs. In fact, most of my quilts have scrappy backs on them now. It's a great way to use up fabric you have from your stash, or leftovers from a single line.

 Another shot of the scrappy back.

 

And here is the whole quilt top. I absolutely loved quilting this quilt! It was so fun and different. As far as thread goes, I used Superior Thread So Fine! in Snow (white) and Gerbera (hot pink). 

Photo Shoot Bloopers

This is me. Those of you who know me personally know that I hate having my picture taken. When Angela Walters (follow her on twitter as @AngelaFMQ, or find her blog here) asked me to be a part of her Business of Quilting series, I was more than happy, until I read that she needed a picture of me, too. Oh joy! Fortunately, my husband is really smart when it comes to figuring out how to use my Nikon D60. He took a great shot of me for the blog series (see above) along with a few bloopers, which I thought I should share, just to keep it real! :)  Be sure to hop on over to Angela's blog and read her Business of Quilting series. It's pretty great, and I am honored to be a part of it.