Saturday, December 31, 2011

Storewide Year End Clearance Sale!!!

It's time for our Year End Clearance Sale! This is the best time to take advantage of great savings -

All Jelly Rolls - 30% off
All Layer Cakes - 30% off
All Fat Quarter Bundles - 30% off
All Fat Eighth Bundles - 30% off
All Charm Packs - 30% off
All Honey Buns - 30% off
All Turnovers - 30% off
All Quilt Kits - 30% off

This includes all new releases too, so hurry before your favorites disappear!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Sharon's Quilt

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It's all in the family again! This time it is Sharon's (Em's sister) quilt. This is a cute quilt inspired by the quilt pattern "Everyday Best" by Piece O Cake. Sharon did a wonderful job piecing it and I was happy to quilt it. This was a simpler quilt job for me - I got it done in 5 hours.

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Her fabric choices are great - I had a lot of fun with them. I chose a yellow thread (#420 So Fine) to go on the whole quilt. I think it worked great with the fabrics.

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Criss-cross here - I love it!

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Connecting Curves here.

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The borders were really fun - I loved how they turned out. This quilt was another no mark quilt - I just free motion quilted everything and used my straight edge ruler for the straight lines and stitch in the ditch.

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I love the quilts where I can just have fun quilting what I want. I can do that more with quilts that have bolder fabric prints all together.

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I really love this picture. Texture goodness!

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On to the next quilt - I have some major quilting coming up - I hope I don't go crazy with the details, but I am really excited about the thought of it!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Embracing Quilting

How do I even start? Since the first time I put together a pattern I have wanted to be known as the quilt pattern designer - I have had the goal to design fabric (for Moda, who else?) and we started this business with that thought in mind. I talked about my frustration here and I had so many wonderful people comment back and give me great advice. It's been a long 9 months - all the while trying to weed out the customer quilting - I haven't been successful at doing that. So, the last few months have been eye opening to me - really eye opening, but I didn't see it at first. After I wrote my post talking about my frustrations, I got a book deal - not two days later. But, they wanted to focus more on my quilting, I didn't really think anything of it - I was just pumped that I was working on my first book.

So, months have passed, while my desire to design quilts hasn't decreased, my ability to long arm quilt has increased. I can see quilts in ways that I never thought I could and you know what? I love it - I absolutely love it. I am always cursing myself whenever I start my detail quilting, but through the whole process I wouldn't have it any other way. I feel truly blessed knowing how to quilt. I have always felt that I have been blessed with a talent that should be shared, that's why I show so many pictures of my quilting and do tutorials when I can. I believe God blesses us all with talents and the more we share our gifts, the more we are given.

I have realized that my life is where it should be, and I am going to embrace the talent that God has blessed me with. I say this in the most humble way - and I hope you can see that through my post because if you know me, then you know that I owe all I have to God.

I decided that I will continue to long arm quilt. I will however not let it rule my life. My God, husband and children will always be first. So, I will not allow myself to get stressed over quilting any more because at one point I was ready to pull my hair out. My customers know that I will get their quilt done, but I won't promise unrealistic finish dates. I am also seriously considering competition quilting, which will mean that I will be allowing myself time to quilt for myself. With all this said - I won't ever stop designing quilts and I will make them available when I can. I also won't say no to Moda if they want me to design one day - hehe! But for now, this works and I hope to share my quilting life with you.

Thank you to all you amazing followers and to all the people who have encouraged me throughout these last few years. I really appreciate all of you. I can finally say that I am okay with being known as a long arm quilter.

Have a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Take care.

PS - I will keep you up to date on the book - for now it is still in the works.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Productive week? I think so............

I can't believe I actually got another quilt done this week. Mind you, it's smaller - but still! Yay for a productive week!!

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So, quilt stats: This is Em's Mom's Quilt - she is an amazing needle turn applique lady! No joke - amazing! Can't even see the thread and circles? - circles!! Wow - I was so happy to work on this quilt. The pattern is from Pieceocake's "My Whimsical Quilt Garden" book. I used two layers of Hobbs 100% cotton and So Fine thread.

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The reason I thought using two layers of batting would be a great idea for this quilt is because I really wanted to make the applique "pop!" It did pop, that's for sure, but it was a lot harder to control my machine around the applique - I have to log that down for future reference.

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All the brown background fabrics were quilted in different styles. Circle loops here.

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Pebbles here.

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Shells.

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Echoing.

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This one was fun because of the background fabric. I'll talk more about that a few pictures down.

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Swirls - can I say again how amazing the applique is on this quilt? Amazing!


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I had fun with this quilt because it had so many different fabrics that I could just quilt whatever popped in my head. I didn't use any marking for this quilt - it's all free motion quilting. The borders around each block are stitched in the ditch. I had a hard time deciding if this was enough quilting for the borders in the blocks, but I am happy with the results.

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This fabric is amazing! Seriously - talk about quilting texture goodness. I can't believe how fun this was to quilt. It seriously makes the quilt 3D - I love it!

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Last, but not least - my favorite part of the quilt. It's just a fun whimsical quilt design that I think just goes with the quilt. I hope she likes it!!!!


One more thing - we still have precuts available for our Sample Spree going on right now. Fabric lines that aren't even available yet!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

MODA SAMPLE SPREE

It's that time again when you can get your hands on future Moda Precuts during the Moda Sample Spree Sale. We have future precuts from February, March & April of next year available NOW in a very limited supply. Once they sell out, they will be available for pre-order on our Pre-Purchase page. The lines in stock include -

***These will go super fast, so get yours now or you'll have to wait like everyone else for the lines to release!


Thursday, December 15, 2011

I am working on a little surprise

lili's quilt

This is a quilt that I am making for my daughter - I was hoping to finish the top while at the cabin with my Mom, but I underestimated how long it would take. Man, that sounds like me. I pulled the project out again and got the sashing done last night. It was my date with Bliss and Ruby - have I told you that I love Camille's fabric? Well - I do and her new line is to die for! I can't wait for it to come out!

I have been wanting to make a quilt for my daughters bed for a long time, we recently got her her big girl bed - it's going to last until she's all grown up and moves out - I think I just might cry at that thought. Anyway - I asked her what her favorite colors are and she said "red, pink, and turquoise." That made it simple enough to chose the fabric. Also, I used a lot of white in this quilt - that's on purpose because I want to give this quilt some amazing quilting treatments.

Her room needs to be painted and I have pillow shams, decorative pillows, a valance and bed skirt to finish up. This is going to be one of those drawn out long projects because I have to put the quilt aside and wait until all the other projects are made. If I end up quilting the quilt first, I won't make everything else. I know that about myself - plus, I have a lot of quilting to do. So, I will keep you up to date on my progress of this fun project. My daughter saw it and said she loved it - she asked who it was for and I told her someone very special. I think she will be so happy!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Valerie's Quilt.....

This is Valerie's beautiful quilt - she contacted me after I had done one of her friends quilts. She waited patiently as I took what seemed like forever to get to her quilt. Thanks for being so patient Valerie! She belongs to a Quilt group called the QBees and you can follow their journey on Theresa's Blog.

Here is what Valerie said about her quilt and why she wanted to make it.

I was inspired by this quilt because it combines appliqué with pieced blocks
and I was excited about the large white center to show off quilting. For me
this was a somewhat different color way. As a matter of fact, my daughter
looked at it on your blog and said "That's your quilt, Mom? There is not
enough brown in it..."

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****Update****

Pattern is called:

"Home Sweet Home" designed for Patchwork Party Fall 2007 by Carolyn McCray with Cottage Quilts

The pattern was a Patchwork Party event in 2007 - I will get the details as soon as I can - if anyone out there knows the pattern, let me know and I can update my blog so I can give proper credit to the designer.

I used one layer of Hobbs 80/20 batting. I used Superior Threads Highlights #796 for the cream fabric and #703 for the prints.

Oh - and before I forget - I have an A-1 long arm - I love it, I would buy it again. I am not familiar with all the other machines out there because this is the one I have always used, but I think it is an amazing machine and I don't plan on switching to anything else. (That hopefully covers all the missed questions).

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Okay - this fun little design was perfect for the corners of the border. It gives it a nice little break from the diamond sash quilting. This is a toned down quilt job for me - I had to promise myself and Clint that I wouldn't do more detail than what I started with. I typically add more detail in because I am just a little crazy..........

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Since the center flower basket creates a center section of the quilt and it's own border, I thought it would be fun to mimic the corners, but at a smaller scale. I loved how it turned out!

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I wanted the center quilting to really compliment the design. There was enough empty space that I created a fun design to border it.

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Don't you love how it almost looks like a butterfly taking flight?

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I just love it! I have made a PDF template available for this design. I called it diamond swirl - real original, but it works! You can buy it here.

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I really had fun doing this quilt - it went faster than some of my other quilts, but there was still a lot of marking and ruler work. The quilt took me a little over 20 hours to quilt.

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One of my favorite blocks - I have done this up and down stitch before, but I haven't ever tried it around all the triangles before. I saw it done beautifully by Jenny - so thanks for the inspiration girl!

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How did I know where to put these little breaks? Just a little simple math - they came to the center of each block.

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I can't get enough of it!

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Well - there you go - on to the next quilt I guess - I will keep the pictures coming!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Temple Square - Salt Lake City



Clint and I wanted to bring the kids to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights and see the Christus at the visitor's center. We hope they can appreciate this Christmas season and realize that it isn't just about getting presents. It's crazy to think that Clint and I grew up in the Salt Lake Valley and got to see Temple Square all the time, but now we have to make a special trip to let our kids see it. It was also fun showing them the Temple where Clint and I were married.



It was absolutely freezing, but gorgeous. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted - my hands were so frozen - but if you ever get a chance to be in Salt Lake City in December you have to see the lights at Temple Square!



The Christus is amazing - the room is amazing. We weren't the only ones that had the idea to go - so it was a little crowded in the room. I am assuming weekday nights are better than weekend nights. I hope my kids realize how important Christ is - and that Christmas is about His birth. There are some amazing videos that our church has put together about the life of Christ - you can see them here.



We took a carriage ride around Temple Square - it was really fun. The kids were so excited to be pulled by a horse and we could see all the lights around the city. It was a beautifully cold winter night - nothing like bundling up and squishing into a sleigh together.



Note to self - bring gloves! I was so worried about the kids having everything they needed to be warm and I forgot to grab my gloves. Crazy! It was a wonderful trip though and I hope the kids remember the best parts!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

I think I am in love............

I think I am in love

I do have a ton of fabric in my house - let's just say my stash is huge, but then I would be lying because Clint likes to sell everything we have. Every now and again a line comes out that I have to have! So, a lot of begging, and later Clint finally agreed that this lovely bundle is all mine!

Reunion by Sweetwater

It's a must have in my book. I plan on making my boy's quilts out of this fabric line - wish me luck on getting that done at some point. Hehe!

Okay - here are some answers from my last post - I would like to write everyone back individually, but it will be best for me to just answer here.

Q: Where did you get your ruler?

I got it from my long arm dealer --A-1
I am going to look into getting some for our site - stay tuned!

Q: Do you stitch in the ditch before you quilt your sash?

I stitch in the ditch every seam- I believe quilts look better if you do. Also, stitching in the ditch allows me to do a lot of "traveling" with my thread. So the answer is yes, I do stitch in the ditch before I do the sash decorative quilting.

Q: Do you spritz or spray water to get your purple marker out?
Do you wait until the whole quilt is done?

I use the disappearing purple marker, but I am a little impatient and I want to see the results of the quilting right away. So, I spray water right after I am done working on a block and wipe the excess water with left over batting pieces.

Q: When do you mark your quilt?

I mark the quilt as I go - I don't mark anything before the quilt is on the racks and ready to go.


I hope that covers the questions asked that I didn't get a chance to answer. Oh, one more thing - I used 2 layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting on Thelma's Civil War quilt.

That should about cover it. Phew!

Okay - enough with the questions and answers - check out these three new lines in our shop!

Domestic Bliss by Liz Scott of Moda.

Felicity by Sentimental Studios for Moda.

Half Moon Modern by Moda.


Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Simple Diamond sash quilting tutorial...

diamond quilting tutorial

Okay - this may be something you all know how to do - but I figured I would share how I have been doing my diamond sash quilting. I want your feedback at the end of the post - are you okay with pictures, or would you rather have video? Was this something you wanted to know? Be honest - I hope I can handle it...............

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This sash is 2 x 13 inches. I want to get a diamond shape, so I draw a line at every 1 inch increment - these lines are just guidelines. I don't draw the diamond shape because it isn't necessary and that would be more work.

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Start quilting at the top left side, going down to the bottom right line of the first section. Continue quilting up and down the sections to create up and down V's. Notice my straight edge ruler is 1/4 inch away from the line at the top of the next point - this will ensure that my lines will be accurate. ***Whenever you are working with straight lines on your quilting machine you need your flat extended base attached so that you can get a good grip on the ruler and a flat edge to work with.

If you can see my thumb - it has a little white on the tip because I press pretty hard. I don't want the ruler to move at all.

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Again - notice the placement of the ruler - 1/4 inch away from the ending point.

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The first section is done - I quilted it left to right. The reason I don't go back right to left is because I am quilting straight lines and my machine doesn't like to go right to left for a long run - the thread shreds if I try. So, start back at the beginning and quilt the opposite sides of the lines to create and X in each section.

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Leave your needle down and stay put - you can quilt right to left for the fill in loops.
The reason your machine can do right to left at this point is because you will be moving the machine up, down and over. The bobbin can keep up with that!

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Fill in the triangles you made with loops - this will give dimension to your diamonds. So - three loops, small-big-small. Continue right to left, when you get to the end of the last triangle continue onto the other side. I travel along the straight edge of the sash to get to the other side.

So - there you have it - not too bad. What do you think - did you already know this and I just wasted a post - or was this helpful?