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).