Friday, January 24, 2014

Barely Breathing.

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So, it is crazy around here - I am sure I say that too much.  I feel like I can barely breath and sometimes it is hard to get things done.  I was able to catch up on two class samples for my upcoming teaching debut in Phoenix.  I am nervous, and excited to say the least.
I am also excited about my view from my studio.  It makes me happy.  I can't share my full studio just yet because it is still a work in progress.  Anyone want to come and organize for me?  ;-)

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The lighting in my studio is perfect.  It really is.  I am using my dragonfly and butterfly templates from my In The Meadow quilt from my book. I will be teaching this filler and the templates in Phoenix, the class is called Quilting Templates Intensified - see you there!

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It is fun to be quilting.  I just love every part of it.  Moving into our home has been great, but the timing couldn't be more terrible as far as getting all things quilty done.  But, I will make it through, I am sure - I live and breath off of procrastination and I do get things done, I just end up being a little stressed during the duration of it.

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These moments keep me going. 

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And, I just had to share my little Jonah getting the car door for me.  Between my husband and my boys, I never open the car door.  Chivalry is still alive in our home and I am so grateful for it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 



Monday, January 20, 2014

All moved in...

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This last week has been a whirlwind kind of week.  We moved in a week ago this last Saturday.  The first night we just slept on mattresses, enjoyed the house on Sunday - then we went crazy on Monday and got the main floor to look like our home.  It has been hard going back and forth from our last house, not for Clint, but for me because I have been a little sentimental about it.  But, I am excited for our new home!  We plan on being here for the rest of our lives, so our kids will only remember this house I am sure.  
We survived the building process together and it wasn't that hard this time (we have built before) because Clint and I were really great at compromising.  I picked the colors of the inside of the house and Clint picked the outside.  I think both colors schemes worked out well.
 
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This is our entry and I just love it.  We already had all the pictures and the clock so it was nice to get those on the wall. One of my favorite things about our house is our railing. The builders did a beautiful job.

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Clint and I have been to Europe several times as you know and we wanted to give our home a little rustic feel to it.  The builders had this wall (as seen in rock) as only an indent and it just didn't look right to me at first.  Clint came up with the idea to have stone there and now I think it looks amazing.  The pictures on the wall are from Paris, Bucharest and Rome.  I already had the lamp but changed the shade to the fun teal design (target) and the lantern, plant and teal rug are from HomeGoods.

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We kept our sectionals, but with all the brown I needed to add some color.  So......
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I found this rug.  I love it.  It is bright and fun and fits perfectly in our family room.  I still need to find some hot pink pillows for the couch, but it is coming along.

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Our dining area is fun.  The watermelon picture was an impulse buy.  I loved it when I saw it and it is the perfect bright color for this area.

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The rug is from target and my curtains are from Lowe's.  I absolutely love each one of these, especially the curtains.  It is the perfect color and print.

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I wanted a light kitchen, but I wanted the island to be a darker wood stain - the kids would have marked up the white cabinets while sitting there for sure. This was the better option, I think.  We are waiting for our other bar stools to arrive, so now the kids just fight over who gets to sit at the island ;-)

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I found this fun little chair at HomeGoods.  It fits perfectly in our entry.

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This last Christmas Clint bought me this Christus Statue. He is very thoughtful because he knows how much I love Jesus.  It fits perfectly in our little notch that leads to our room.  The rock wall accent is just perfect for this area. 

I still have more to share, but we are still getting up curtains and pictures in our other rooms.  I just had my machine moved into my studio today, so I will share pictures of the finished product as soon as I can. 

In the meantime, I will be getting ready for Phoenix! See you in two weeks! 


Saturday, January 11, 2014

Rulers are back in stock!!

Hey everyone, many of you have been asking about the A1 Ruler 9" Longarm Staight Ruler that I use.  We sold out quickly last time, but they are back in stock.  You can buy them here


Friday, January 10, 2014

HMQS Registration is Open! Come to my classes!

I am literally running around like a chicken with it's head cut off in our incredibly messy house as we are moving.  Crazy times around here.  I am also preparing kits for my Phoenix classes, more info on that here.  So, not a lot of quilting going on right now and I tell you what - I miss it!  So, the picture above has nothing to do with this post other than to make me realize how much I want to be quilting! 

One more thing, if you plan on being at HMQS this year in May - I will be teaching there!  Class registration is open and you can find all that info here.  I hope to see you!

Have a great weekend everyone!   

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

A Visit Down Memory Lane

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Oh my goodness!!  I have been going through some of my pictures on my computer because I need to print some off and delete them so my computer won't be so slow.  I came upon this picture of my little guy - it has been almost 3 years since this picture was taken and I remember the day perfectly.  I walked into my room to find him rearranging my fabrics for my Spring Blossoms quilt I was working on at the time. He was so particular about it and wanted to make sure it was just right. I think the hardest part about leaving this house will be the memories we have had here.  Thankfully we have cameras that capture these moments. We can take our memories with us and create new ones.  
So, good news - we close on our house tomorrow we have a lot of new memories in store for us.  I just can not stand that our kids are growing up so fast. Sorry, I am a little sentimental today - they are little for such a short time.  But, I am determined to love every moment I am given with them.  Today I read a quote that I would love to share with you - I think I want it to be my motto for this year:

"God expects you not simply to face the future; He expects you to embrace and shape the future--to love it and rejoice in it and delight in your opportunities." -Jeffrey R. Holland

This rings so true to me and this is what I plan on doing this year - rejoice and delight in my opportunities and embrace my future! This also helps with knowing our kids are growing and that I just have to cherish each moment and look forward to everything ahead of us as a family.    

    Have a fabulous day everyone!

Monday, January 6, 2014

Crossroads - upclose and personal.

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As promised I am going to share with you projects from my book.  I do not have a set schedule as to when I will show each of my projects, but I will eventually show you all of my quilts.  The first one I have chosen to share is called "Crossroads" and you can find it on page 43 of my book, Quilting Wide Open Spaces.

I love this quilt, seriously.  I had fun playing with the fabrics.  I wanted the colors of the red fabric to give you a center focus, but also pull out to the edge of the quilt to give a streamlined look.  Color placement is huge for me, I have a really hard time with a quilt if the fabrics are not in the right place. There isn't a rule to fabric placement, I just have to have some kind of order with mine.  This is a really fun piecing project as well as a quilting project.  It will work up fairly quickly since it is a smaller quilt.
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The quilting is a fun mixture of straight lines and feather motifs.  The instructions and the templates for these designs are all in my book and cd that comes with my book.  I have had several people ask if my book is for domestic sewing machine quilters and the answer is yes!  I talk about my longarm in the beginning, but all of my designs can be printed off and traced onto your quilts, then free motion quilted.

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Isn't the texture just amazing?  I love it! The outside feather border is so fun to quilt up, the step by step instructions will be so helpful as you try out this fun feather design. 

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The feather motif and straight line quilting was continued into the snowball blocks of the quilt.  I love to have the quilting flow and make sense through the whole quilt.

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This fun corner motif is also included in my book.

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The back!

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I hope you like Crossroads, it is such a fun quilt and I am happy to finally share it with you.  I received my quilts back from AQS a few days before Christmas and it was the best Christmas present I could ask for.

For those of you who already have my book, thank you!  I hope you take a moment to share your projects on my "Quilting Wide Open Spaces" Flickr group. I can't wait to see all the projects popping up there.

For those of you who don't have my book yet, you can purchase a signed copy in my shop here.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Big things happening for 2014 (Teaching in Canada, Australia, Phoenix...)

2013 was a great year and one that will go down in my own record books.  It was busy and crazy, but it was a wonderful year.  Besides a few bad habits that I picked up last year - chocolate, ice cream and the lack of exercise - it was a perfect year.  I don't have specific goals for this year other than to get on an exercise routine and not eat ice cream every night and limit my chocolate intake.  It's going to be tough, but I have found that I am not completely happy with the way I feel about myself.  I know we women are hardly ever happy with ourselves, but I owe it to myself, my husband and my kids to be the best I can be.  

So, I have already started - 20 minutes of running a day, it's been a little brutal, but I am feeling better.   It has only been 3 days and my body feels like it has been hit by a truck, but since my last quilt I realized that I have to be physically fit to keep this up.  My back has been hurting for some time and I know it is because of being hunched over my machine for hours at a time.  I want to keep quilting (of course) - so I have to throw in exercise to make it easier on me. Along with running I will be adding push ups and squats to help with muscle tone and that should help my back. 

The picture above is my studio in the works.  Clint and I are planting permanent roots here in St. George and we are building our "forever" house right now.  It should be finished later this week, fingers crossed. It will be the house the kids will grow up in and will come back to visit us in when they are moved out and have families of their own - that thought just makes me all sentimental and teary eyed.  The best part of the house is the fact that I will have my own space, with space - if you know what I mean.  I will be able to lay out quilts on the floor easily and the cubby space will get me organized. I will have locking doors - miracle in itself and I will have enough room to have my sewing machine, cutting table and my computer desk too.   I will be sure to share pictures with you once I am all moved in. 

The year 2014 brings in a new adventure for me - teaching.  I admit I am scared out of my mind, but I am excited too.  Sometimes I wake up in cold sweats remembering that I am traveling to teach.  If you know me, I have always struggled with getting on a plane - it's just part of the anxiety that I have.  So, the fact that I am going to Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Canada and Australia (yep, that's an announcement) to teach and flying in an airplane to get there will either help me get used to it all or just make me break out with stress zits. 

In all reality, I am just so grateful for these opportunities.  Never in a thousand years would I have guessed that I would be asked to teach around the world.  It is truly humbling and mind boggling, but I am so happy to be able to do it.  So, this year as part of bettering myself, I am going to learn to be grateful for each moment and each opportunity I am given.  I am going to be the best wife I can be, the best mom I can be and the best teacher and longarm quilter I can be.  I do not want to have regrets so I will embrace each day I am blessed to be on this earth and thank God for each moment in my life, good and bad. 

Thank you to all of you who have been so supportive to me.  I am so grateful for all of you.  2014 will be one for the record books as well and I can not wait to share my adventures with you.  

Happy New Year!