December projects.

 

Hi there!!  Can you believe Christmas has come and gone?  It seems like time never stands still and these past few months have flown for me. I managed to accomplish a lot (as far as quilts) this past month.  So, I wanted to share them with you all in one post.  I hope you don't mind.

The quilt above is my friend Emily's.  I always have so much fun quilting for her.  Her quilts are fun, bright and wonderfully unique.  She has a beautiful style that is completely her and each quilt she makes is a thoughtful gift. I am so glad that we are friends. 

 

I played with the flowers in the border. Sometimes the fabric lends itself to the quilting and the free motion quilting is always so fun and relaxing. 

 

It's the perfect bright and cheery quilt for the cold weather we've been having. 

 

Next up, a total surprise for my sister Amy.  Her daughter, my niece Brooke is now working for us by shipping out orders for our website. She is an avid piecer, who loves fabric just as much as I do, so naturally she and I get along very well!  ;-)  Anyway, she wanted to give her mom a quilt for Christmas and I told her I would sneak in the quilting for this special quilt.  I chose a simple free motion swirl for the quilting, but I think it turned out fantastic.

 

 

I love the texture of a newly quilted quilt. So gorgeous! 

 

The pattern Brooke pieced is called "Norway" by Camille for Thimbleblossoms.  We have the pattern available in our shop here. I just love the design in red and green, perfect for a Christmas quilt.

By the way, Amy loved her quilt!  It was a wonderful surprise.

 

My own special quilt was in the works and has been for a couple months.  When I found out that Downton Abbey fabrics existed, I knew I needed to make a quilt for my husband.  We have date nights cuddling on the couch watching the Downton Abbey seasons together.  It has been one of our favorite things to do together as a couple after we put the kids to bed. I wanted Clint to have a quilt to remind him of the fun times we share together.  

 

I showed some sneak peeks of the quilting on Instagram, knowing Clint wouldn't see them. I chose to quilt an allover free motion feather swirl - tutorial here and I think it turned out fantastic.  It is amazing how finishing 3 quilting projects in 2 weeks can make me feel so refreshed.  I can get overwhelmed and burned out from custom quilting, so these quilts have been so therapeutic for me as a longarm quilter.

 

Clint proudly displaying his quilt yesterday.  I didn't have time to finish the binding before Christmas, but he was thrilled with the quilt.  He was so sweet and told me how much he loved it.  He reminded me that I haven't made him anything since before his lds mission 16 years ago, it was a fleece-flannel blanket that he toted around in Romania for 2 years. So, this quilt was a lot more work and had more sentiment attached to it. He loves it. 

 

 

I finished the binding today and here is a view of the whole quilt.  I think it turned out perfectly. It is my own design that I drew out specifically for Clint. Originally I wanted to have all the blocks be stars, but for the sake of time I had to adjust half of the blocks to be a little more simple without the star shape.  I am glad I simplified the pattern because I was able to finish in time for Christmas. 

 

I love it.  

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and were able to spend time with family and loved ones.  I am looking forward to a new year and all that it will bring.  Talk soon.

Magenta Magic by Janet Knapp finished.

Okay, for those of you following me on Instagram and Facebook, you have been waiting 10 weeks for this reveal.  No, it didn't take me ten weeks - I had trips in between and plenty of down time (meaning I am juggling a lot right now), but the quilt itself was on the frames for 10 weeks.  So, ya - I am glad to finally have this quilt finished.  Before you ask - I won't tell you how long this quilt took me.  Sorry.  That is between me and my client. ;-)

This quilt is called Magenta Magic by Janet Knapp.  This is an original design and is beautiful to say the least.  The pattern is not available, so please don't ask for it.  ;-)  You will be able to see the quilt in quilt shows starting next year.  Yay!

I asked Janet to write up a little something about her quilt for you, so here it is in her own words:

"Being encouraged for many years by my husband to design my very own quilt I finally began my process.
     Starting with a very large sheet of graph paper, a draftsman's ruler,  a #2 Futura drawing pencil and Pink Pearl eraser, I began my adventure.  I have always liked stars, lots of angles, drawing lines, fussy cutting, reading Jinny Beyer's books, the opportunity to take her class on color - I was truly motivated to design this quilt.
      As I designed the center block, I envisioned an entirely different quilt.   Possibly spikes  going out in all directions ...certainly not 1 block and 12 circles (each made up of 92 pieces of fabric),  foundation piecing the entire quilt and adding endless yards of piping.  Unfinished, I set my design aside and set out searching for fabrics.  Once I found Paula Nadelstern's great line of Luminosity fabric I purchased yardage of each color choice, after trial and error decided on the magenta/gold shades and then filled in with others.   The border design was great fun to do - however I had only intended to do a pieced border around the center block.   One rainy day at our cabin I found myself doing endless border pieces and thus...more borders.
    This has been a 10 year adventure.  However, throughout the 10 years I have completed several other large quilts and always going back to my designed quilt to finish yet another circle or another border piece.  This entire quilt has never been far away in my sewing room."

Me again, isn't that amazing? 10 years in the making.  My 10 weeks doesn't sound so crazy now. 

This quilt top was one that I wasn't totally sure what design I was going to quilt before I put it on the frames. So, I just went for it.  I used 2 layers of batting for this quilt.  One layer was Hobbs cotton/wool blend and the other was 80/20 cotton/poly blend.  I love the combo of those two batts.  I used Kimono Silk thread, colors 365 and 304.  
 

You can see how the batting really makes the detail in the quilting pop.  I had a great time quilting these small piecing areas.  The goal was to enhance the piecing without taking away from it and I think I accomplished that. 

You can see the fullness in the batting in this picture.  The last row is the only row that I went ahead and saved the lighter thread for the end.  Throughout the top 3/4ths of the quilt I switch thread to finish the row before I advanced the quilt. 

The center of the quilt was very fun to quilt up.  The design came together so nicely.  I wanted the center star to be enhanced with more points.  The square border is mimicking the outside border squares.  I try to pull designs in from different parts of the quilt to make them all work together. 
The center cross-hatching is perfect with the half inch squares, which can also be seen in the star blocks as a border. 

Fabulous. I love how each of Janet's star blocks are different because of how she used the fabric.  Amazing talent and patience.

Isn't that texture just amazing?

I love being able to mix straight lines with traditional quilting designs like feathers.  It brings a softness to the quilt, but not too much.  Look at all that piecing - can you even imagine putting this quilt together?  Ah, not me - I will just quilt it. ;-)

I really enjoyed these borders.  I used my purple disappearing marker for the marking in this quilt. I did go through about 4 markers though because of the dark fabric - it works pretty well at the beginning of the makers life, but will get lighter as you use it.

Soft feathers with straight lines.  Love it.

Isn't this border fantastic? 

I look at this and just love it!  I also love that I am finished.  hehe!

I can't get enough of this texture.

The back is awesome enough for a whole cloth quilt.  It turned out fabulous.

Love.

Almost as good as the front.

One more showing the amazing texture on this quilt.  It is so beautiful.  I love it and can't thank Janet enough for letting me work my magic on her "Magenta Magic."  

I hope you enjoy this quilt as much as I do.  In the meantime, it's December!  What the?  Where did the time go?  Christmas is just around the corner - hopefully I will be back on this blog before then to wish you a Merry Christmas!  In the meantime, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook.

My Minnesota trip.

 

I am finally getting around to post about my trip to Minnesota.  I had a wonderful time there and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  My first stop was at Just Sew Studio in St. Louis park.  Two days of long arm classes and Jennifer was a great host. 

 

 

I mean really, the weather was so perfect. 

 

Next stop was the WOW guild and I was able to teach a piecing class for the first time.  I taught my Bohemian pattern and we had a wonderful time together.  Isn't it fun to see all the different block possibilities?  Just by changing the colors?  It was fabulous and the ladies were so sweet! 

 

Thankfully I was able to get out and appreciate the beauty of the fall colors in Minnesota.  I even got to see the Mississippi River as well, now that's a big body of water!  Our little Virgin River here in Saint George is barely a trickle of water - except for when it floods - at that point, run!  It was so amazing though, you can find beauty everywhere in the world.

 

Last stop was at O2BQuilting where I had a fabulous time with these ladies.  I am always so grateful for the kindness of quilters.  I feel so lucky to meet so many of you and can't thank you enough for coming out to my classes! 

 

Here's a little sample of the quilting I shared.  Thanks everyone for a fabulous time in Minnesota! 

 

I got home in time to enjoy Halloween with the kids.  They are growing up so fast, so I am soaking in every moment with them.  It was a wonderful holiday. 

 

And, here's a peak of Janet's quilt that I am working on.  I am excited that the quilting is going so well.  I will keep posting here on my blog, but for the day to day posts of all that is happening in my little world please follow me on Facebook, or Instagram.  

Take care until next time!  Oh, and thanks for the love on my iquilt class!  You are all the best!

iquilt.com has launched! My first online class is available now!

 It has been a year in the making and I can finally say that my first online class is now live.  For those of you who haven't been able to take a class with me at a quilting venue, here is your chance to take a class from me in your own home and on your on own time.  I really hope you enjoy the class, if you do, please leave a positive review! Thanks so much! You can get to my class by clicking here.

Happy Quilting!

 

MQX Registration 2016

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to let you know that registration for MQX 2016 in New Hampshire is going to be open October 27th at 12 noon eastern time, this next Tuesday!  Be sure to sign up quick so you can save your spot.  Looking forward to coming out for another fabulous year with some fun new classes! 

All in the Studio.

 

So, I haven't been able to share complete projects with you because I am working on my book, but I figured a couple of sneak peeks would be fun.  First things first though, I am completely distracted by beautiful fabric.  If you know me, it's been hard to keep bundles of fabric in my studio.  I end up giving them away because I can't get to the projects away. So, I have made myself a new goal!  The goal is to keep the fat quarter bundles that I can't live without. I do, after all - co-own a quilt shop. ;-) Good Karma is one of those bundles I can't live without, isn't the fabric just gorgeous?  It is sitting in my studio just looking pretty and waiting for the project to be made into.

 

So, this is my first sneak peek.  Gorgeous, eh? 

 

 

I finished last week and the quilt turned out fantastic, and huge!  I don't know why I made the quilt so big, but I am happy to be finished with it.  I can't wait to share the entire project with you, but you'll have to wait. It will be worth it, I promise. 

 

To keep my own sanity in the studio, I always try to have a "want to" project going.  This want to project is the Metro Medallion quilt by Sew Kind of Wonderful.  I am going to make a queen size quilt for my bed.  I am looking to update the colors in my room and I love the colors I have chosen for this project.

You can also see another peek of one of my other quilts for my book. 

 

Life is busy, but it sure is fun. This little boy is the light of my life - his father's too.  We are so happy to have another year with him home while his older siblings are in school.  This picture was taken last week when we went to Superior Threads to get thread for our customers.  He was so helpful.  He looked for the numbers on the So Fine thread, I told him how many to put in the basket and he pulled the whole order for me.  It took twice as long, but it was so worth it.  Love this boy.  

I hope you are enjoying October so far, I can't believe it is October already.  Time moves too quickly, but we are doing our best to enjoy the journey. 

Minnesota info.

Hi everyone!  Sorry this is so late, but here is the info on my Minnesota trip coming up very soon!  The details are available on the flyer above - just note that the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday dates are off.  It is the 26, 27th and 28th.

Well, hello there!

 

I don't even know where to start with this post.  It has been so long since I have even looked at my blog.  It seems that every time I thought to blog - I just didn't have anything to say. Weird, eh? 

I feel like most of my attention is on Facebook and Instagram.  I am sad that I haven't been on here for so long, but hopefully that will change. If not, follow me on Facebook and Instagram - I post there. ;-)

So, why has it taken me so long to post?  Well, truthfully - I haven't had a project I could share.  I have been working on quilts for my next book and I have had to keep the sneak peeks to a minimum.  The above picture is a reflection of how the book process is going.  Looks great, right?  Well, that's because you haven't seen the entire quilt.  It's probably not what people would consider a bad quilt, but for me - it wasn't good enough.  I just can't justify sharing a quilt in my book that isn't my version of perfect.  It's tough though, because it's a quilt that took over 40 hours of quilting.  So, committing to redo the quilt is going to be hard.  

On top of that, I have just been in a creative funk.  Seriously.  I spent the spring time traveling to teach and being gone, too much.  So, I have really, really enjoyed my time with my family this summer. 

No worries though, I am back in the studio - trying to get projects finished and I am fighting through the burnout I have felt this past 6 months. I have a teaching event coming up in October in Minnesota and that should be really fun. It just seems that time moves too quickly and trying to keep up with deadlines and schedules can be a little tricky, but I am doing the best I can.  

Thank you to all of you for your patience with me on this blog.  I look forward to sharing projects as I complete them, I have some customer quilts coming up so I will be able to share those as I finish. We'll talk soon.       

The Quilting Bee, Niagara Falls

 

Last month I had the best opportunity to go and teach at the Quilting Bee in Fonthill, Ontario Canada.  I was lucky enough to meet Kelly at Market a couple years ago and we have been planning this teaching trip for a while now. I think this is the cutest fabric store I have ever been to, seriously. They have a lot of amazing fabric, kits and fun gadgets - be sure to visit if you are in the area or check out their online store.

 

 

See, I told you it was the cutest store ever!  The ladies working there are super nice as well.  In the four days I was there I got to know Lisa and Nellie - they were so kind to me. Thanks ladies!

 

This is my first group of ladies and I had the best time with them.

 

 

Me and Kelly, love this lady.  She is so sweet, and made me feel right at home. I will cherish her friendship for a long time. 

 

This is an example of my Fantabulous Fillers class.  I made this especially for Kelly. She said she is going to frame it ;-)  Love it! 

 

It was an amazing 4 days of teaching and I was lucky enough to witness this fabulous sunset on one of the nights I was there.  There is beauty to be found everywhere.

 

The best part of my trip was having the family with me.  It was so wonderful being able to teach and come back to the hotel with my family waiting for me.  So much better than sitting in a lonely hotel room with my heart aching for them. Lucky for us, Fonthill is close to Niagara Falls.  It was absolutely gorgeous there, our first time visiting (the view from the Canadian side is amazing).  The weather was so nice as well. 

 

The view from our hotel.  Simply gorgeous! 

 

The clouds were a gift on Friday night as we took the kids on the Ferris Wheel.  I am so grateful that teaching has given me the opportunity to travel and see places that I have always wanted to see. Taking my family is an added bonus.

I hope you are having a great summer.  It is going too fast!