What I'm working on this week...

 

So, this week has been an adventure to say the least. Between cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, laundry, dinner - I am making time for a little fun sewing. Multitasking is always fun, isn't it? I think us moms/quilters are pretty good at it. This current project is a design in the works, after the pattern is finished and the quilt is done, the quilt will go to a friend having a baby. It's a surprise though, so I cannot wait to give this to her.  I imagine this quilt will be in the works for the next few months because I am sneaking little bits of time for it in between all the other tasks.  Quilting is always one of those tasks.....

 

This filler is fun and random and I can not wait to share the finished quilt! I hope to finish this week, fingers crossed!

The past week

With all the positive comments that keep me going and the encouragement I get from you readers, I am always thankful to the people who make it interesting and keep it real.  You never know what you are going to get when you do a blog post and my last post was no different.  First off -  Wow!!  THANK YOU to all of the sweet comments you left me.  This blog started out as my business blog and in the beginning, it was boring to say the least.  As I have learned how to blog I have put more of myself into each post, turning this blog into more of a personal blog for me and not just a place to share sales on our pre-cuts or patterns.  I also share my quilting through my blog with a ton of pictures because I want to encourage new and seasoned quilters to improve their talents.

If you read up at the top header of my blog it says: "Green Fairy Quilts - Show and Tell, where it's okay to show off."  I don't want you to think that I am showing off or "patting myself on the back."  The reason I share so many pictures of my quilting is because I would have loved to have that inspiration available to me when I first started quilting.  It really is so hard to just get started quilting and I hope that through my blog I can help you new quilters get started along your own quilting journey.

This blog is my happy place, so party poopers stay away!  Life can be so hard sometimes and yes, I admit - I love it when you comment and tell me that you love my quilting - it makes it all worth it! The truth is I love quilting too, I love to share what I know - not because I think I am better at quilting than anyone else but because I believe that God gives us talents that should be shared.  So, when I say that I love how some of my quilting turned out - just know that I love what I do.  What would be the point of me quilting if I didn't love it, right?

I don't know why I feel like I have to explain myself, but if one person comments on how I am doing something wrong, then I start to think other people may think that too.  But, please don't worry - I am not wasting time worrying about it.  I have had a fabulous week with my family by celebrating my husbands birthday, going to Zion's National Park, and Trick or Treating with the kids.  Quilting is a huge part of my life, but it isn't my life - that being said, I will continue to share what I know with you and that includes lots of pictures of my quilting telling you how I love how something turned out.  No apologies ;-) So, I leave this post with a few pictures from the past week via Instagram - @judiakagreenfairy

 He's 32 and still the love of my life!

 Hiking in Zion's National Park with me is all Clint wanted for his birthday.

 It was the perfect day!

 The red against the cliff walls is just too amazing!

 Magnificent trees!

 Santa Clause and Halloween?  Add in ice cream cones and you have the perfect Trick or Treating night with the kids.

  The still mute, but growing kid.  This baby is almost 2!  I can hardly believe it!

Have a fabulous week!  Life is too short to be so concerned about what you think other people are doing wrong, just worry about yourself and learn to be happy for others and their successes!

Bonnie's Quilt all finished!!

First off, quilt stats. I took 29.5 hours to quilt this, I used 2 layers of Hobbs 80/20 batting (for detail to pop) and I used a gold Magnifico thread and a cream Glide thread. I have to say that I love both of the threads I used, this was the first time I tried out Magnifico and I was thoroughly happy with this thread.

Bonnie pieced this special quilt and she did a beautiful job, I love how straight the quilt was.  It is so much easier to work with a straight quilt.  The colors are perfect for this beautiful fall season.  Here is what the pattern is called and a little more info on the quilt in Bonnie's own words:

 

"The quilt is from the book Log Cabin Quartet, by Trudie Hughes. The pattern is called Shadow of the Bear. This quilt was challenging because of the small triangles. The pieced border re-uses the smaller paw that is in the bear paw blocks. The half-square triangles finishes at 1 inch. The log cabin blocks are off center and they create curves and movement in the quilt."

 

This first thing that came to mind as I was deciding how to quilt this particular quilt was the straight lines in the cream fabrics.  I felt like these lines would help to focus the center of the quilt.  I love how they turned out.

   

 I couldn't decide which pictures to leave out, so I will just put them all in here.  I love, love how this came together.

  

 

I decided on fun oval shapes in the corners instead of the continuous lines I used for the rest of the quilt. I had a lot of fun quilting this "first time" stitch for me.

 

To soften the quilt I used my free motion swirl feathers in the darker log cabin fabric strips. I loved using the gold thread on these colors, I think gold is my favorite go to color for a lot of quilts.

 

For those of you that are new to my blog, I free motion quilt on my A-1 long arm quilting machine.

 

I love this picture! Half inch quilted sections always take a long time, but the finished result is always worth it!

 

 

These straight lines ended up being about 3/4 inch apart, it worked great using the seams in the blocks as guides for my lines. I marked the lines before I quilted and used my straight edge ruler to get the straight lines just right.

 

The free motion feather swirls were continued in the borders.

 

A super simple stitch for the inside of the bear paws.

 

The square effect with the straight lines, I love it!

 

The free motion feather motif in the triangles are so fun! The original plan was to continue the straight lines through these triangles, but I decided to go with the feather motif to balance the quilting designs.
  

 

I really hope this post isn't picture overload, but it has been while since I have shared a quilting project and I just cannot get enough of this quilt.

 

 

And the back...

 

Thank you Bonnie for using a plain and simple quilt backing, makes it so much more fun to see the quilting.

 

Love ;-)

 

Love the corners of the quilt more....

 

The goal has always been and will always be that the back of the quilt looks as good as the front. I sure hope I have accomplished that with this quilt.

 

Thanks for sticking it out through the end of these pictures. It feels so great to get this quilt finished! On to the next one!

Road Trip!

 

Me, my honey and my sparkly peach shirt took a road trip this week. We had a fabulous time!

 

First stop, Panguitch - a small Utah town about two hours northeast of here. I love that there is quilting inspiration everywhere I go.

 

This is a monument to the Pioneer Men who used their quilts to travel across snow to get food from a neighboring town.  It is a touching story and it always makes me cry to think about it.

 

 

Read all about it :-)

 

Close up of the detail of the quilt. I think sculpting a quilt would be way more difficult than piecing one!  :-)

 

And the infamous Butch Cassidy has made his appearance here too.

 

After a walk around the cute old town and a fantastic dinner, Clint and I drove to Bryce Canyon.  We have both lived in Utah our whole lives, but have never been to Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was so beautiful - and we didn't get the chance to see the whole thing. These shots were taken as we were driving and I wish we would have had time to stop.  It seriously was so beautiful.

  

 

So, naturally next year we plan on taking the kids to see this. We can not wait. Isn't the earth so beautiful? The diversity and scenery everywhere we go is just so amazing.

 

We arrived at the hotel for a quilt quild trunk show and my cute honey was so helpful bringing in all my quilts. It was kind of funny because the place was packed and we were walking in with a bunch of quilts and I don't know if Clint would admit it, but I think maybe that was a little embarrassing for him. He's a good sport.

 

Me and my sparkly shirt with my quilts. I can not believe I made all these and I don't even have half of the quilts I have made in this group. I wish I would have kept a list of all the quilts I have made.

 

And me talking about how I got started quilting..It was a great group of ladies, they treated me so well!

 

Talking about one of my first quilts, Checkered Flowers - still one of my favorites!

 
Flight of a Fairy
 

 

Me trying to figure out my quilting path, it's been a long time since I quilted this quilt, so it was a challenge remembering what I had done.

 

Garden Party 

I think the best part of what I do is being able to share it with quilters who appreciate the time and effort that quilts take.  I always get nervous to do presentations, but it is so much fun and the nerves usually leave when I get to meet other quilters.  I really had a fabulous time!  Thanks for letting me share.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone.