The Quilting Bee

I'm still here!

2010-02-28T17:50:00.002-07:00

If anyone out there is still checking this blog, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still here, and still quilting, but probably won't update very often since I'd rather spend my time quilting than on the computer!

I will be taking a break this summer as I have a baby due in August, but I can still squeeze in a few quilts before then.

Can you believe it's almost July?

2009-06-23T15:33:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone's having a good summer! We've taken our first vacation to the Grand Canyon, and are getting ready to go to Washington later this summer.

This is a quick little picnic quilt I made as a bridal shower gift for one of my husband's co-workers.

Since it was just meant to be a picnic quilt, I went "against the rules" and made it out of sheets. I washed the red ones beforehand in HOT water, hoping that the next time it's washed it won't bleed onto the white.

Some friends went in with me on the gift, and we also got a cooler, and some picnic supplies. The quilt looked so cute when it was wrapped up with a gingham ribbon and some fireworks!

Prairie Paisley Quilt

2009-05-28T20:28:00.003-06:00

I just finished quilting this fun Americana quilt that used a lot of Moda's Prairie Paisley line. It was pieced by one of my all-time favorite customers, Debbie L. She has sent me quilts for every season and holiday, and EVERY one of them is this wonderful. I just wish I had taken pictures of all the others! Her love of folk art is reflected in each quilt that she makes.

Doesn't it make you want to pull out all your red, white, and blue decor?

Erin's Quilt

2009-05-28T18:49:00.002-06:00

My cousin Erin's birthday is tomorrow (Happy Birthday Erin!), and since I'm thinking of her I thought I'd post a picture of the quilt "we" made for her wedding.

"We" includes a whole crew of aunts, cousins, sisters, friends, my dad, and Grandma. We all got together and pieced this quilt in a few hours, and we had a great time doing it. It was a surprise, so Erin didn't get to be there, and I feel bad that she missed out on all the fun.

The pattern was called Chocolate Covered Cherries,

so I added cherries in the quilting.

The tag was my favorite part.

(I've altered it to exclude last names).

Even Aunt Anita sewed on this project and

that means a lot because sewing is not her thing!

(we'll convert her... someday)

Giveaway

2009-05-20T16:52:00.003-06:00

My friend, Nicole, over at Our Cozy Nest is having a giveaway to celebrate her first post on Moda Bake Shop.

Leave her a comment and tell her a little about yourself to be entered into this FABULOUS giveaway.

Nicole used to be my neighbor when our husband's were both in grad school. We'd sit out on the lawn and chat while our little one's played in the grass. Ah, I miss those days. (Not the school part, though)

She is AMAZINGLY talented at sewing, decorating, cleaning, organizing, and is just an all around nice person, so go on over and meet her!

A bouquet of "flours"

2009-05-13T17:03:00.003-06:00

My dad, who inspired me to quilt, is a baker. His birthday is next week, so I made him this bouquet of "flours". There are 13 sacks of flour (a baker's dozen) and a wooden spoon, some spatulas, and a set of measuring spoons that say pinch, dash, and smidgen. The "vase" is a flour sifter.

It has nothing to do with quilting...but I thought you might enjoy it :o)

I made it to HMQS

2009-05-11T08:55:00.005-06:00

Somehow, between a sick child and my husband spraining his ankle, I managed to sneak up to Salt Lake for the annual Home Machine Quilting Show.

Here's a sample of some of the AMAZING quilting I saw:

I love wholecloth quilts.

This was just plain squares, and the flowers are from the quilting.
I love the variation in the quilting in this one

This is a small sampling of the overall winner.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the whole quilt...I'm always too busy

taking pictures of the quilting :o)

And this is my very favorite of the day, because it was quilted by Jennifer Pate, who got me started in longarm quilting. I truly learned from one of the very best!

Sick kid...

2009-05-05T08:02:00.003-06:00

You know what happens when you have a sick kid? Not much. But he's off to school now and I need to catch up on laundry and quilting. I'm supposed to be going to HMQS this weekend, as long as nobody else gets sick!

I'm in the middle of a really fun "Americana" quilt, and I'm getting excited to pull out my red, white, and blue decor. I like to keep it out from Memorial Day 'til September 11th.

I'd also love to see any homemade projects that anyone might have going on for Mother's Day...send me a link!

Here's the proof...

2009-04-29T21:32:00.005-06:00

I did it! I hemmed my jeans and it really wasn't so bad. Cami uses a method where you use the original hem. Very cool. She also taught me her own secret method for patching holes in my boys' jeans, and you have to be looking close to even tell they've been patched.

Thanks for your help, Cami!

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her quilts when they were finished. She used brown corduroy, and added green and teal circles with raw edges to the top. They were so simple, and so fun. She did a great job quilting them with different sizes of swirls.

Vanessa came over while we were working and we got a sneak peak at her latest project...it is darling.

I'm hoping to finish a few of my UFO's in the coming weeks. I think I can...I think I can...

Times have changed

2009-04-28T07:44:00.006-06:00

Cami is here, and quilting is in full swing, but I have yet to hem those jeans...

Here's something to enjoy in the meantime:

This is an excerpt from a Singer Sewing manual from 1949:

"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do...never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

...When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on...(If) you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should..."

Here's MY version of the sewing manual for 2009

(and yes...it's a true story)

"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Have your MP3 player ready with some good tunes. Clear a spot on your table, and then invite a friend over. Pick a couple of projects out of your UFO pile (un-finished objects). Make sure you have a Nintendo, a PSP, a computer with Internet access, a timer, and lots of snacks for the kids. Set the timer for 30 minute intervals so your kids can rotate from one video game to the next all day long. Keep the youngest one happy with bags of dry cereal.

When you sew, make yourself as comfortable as possible. Pajama pants or sweats are good. Keep a little bag of "CHALKOLATE" near you to satisfy your craving at intervals. Have your hair in a ponytail because it's faster. If a visitor drops in, invite them to stay and "play". If your husband comes home to make himself a chili/cheese quesadilla for lunch, order a couple more for you and your friend. If you're hungry, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should.

When it's time for dinner, order a pizza and feed the kids on paper plates .

(Thanks to my husband Todd, for the quesadilla's. Thanks to V for the bag of chocolate. And thank HEAVEN, for video games)

Confession

2009-04-27T08:07:00.004-06:00

I have a confession to make. I can piece a quilt, applique, quilt, crochet, and paint...but I am scared to death to hem a pair of pants.

The good news is that my friend Cami, who is the master of all things denim, is coming to visit for the next couple of days and by golly, I'm gonna hem those jeans I bought six months ago and haven't been able to wear because they're so long.

(I'm posting this so I have someone to answer to. Otherwise I might chicken out)

Cami took my place in the quilting shop after I bought my own machine, and she's coming down so we can quilt some bedspreads for her kids. I'll try to get some pictures between the cackling, junk food, and sewing.

Wish me luck on those jeans!

Quilted Bags

2009-04-24T10:54:00.007-06:00

This week my mom and sister came to visit, and I had this hair-brained idea that we should make these quilted bags. Before she came down, Mom ran into Hobby Lobby and bought some fabric, and I fired up the quilting machine.

We didn't have any kind of pattern, so we made it up as we went along. Mom was a trooper. When my sis and I got distracted with Photoshop, she kept truckin' along and finished them for all of us. Thanks Mom!

Now I need to make another one and take pictures so I can post a tutorial.

Can you see my little neice in the middle of this mess? Gotta start sewin' with the girls at a young age...

My #1 Quilting Memory

2009-04-23T21:53:00.000-06:00

And here is my #1 quilting memory, straight out of my journal.

Dec. 2006

"I was winding bobbins for my latest quilt, and when I leaned over to grab my scissors, my hair got caught in the bobbin! I screamed for help (because I was attached to my quilting machine--notice the grease spot on my forehead) and Todd came running down the stairs to see what was wrong. He saw me and started laughing hysterically, and then ran for the camera. Nice."

#2 Quilting for Relay for Life

2009-04-23T21:44:00.004-06:00

I choose my charity quilts very carefully, and when this opportunity came along just after my father-in-law passed away from cancer, I couldn't pass it up.

The quilt was pieced from pink scraps that several quilters brought to a retreat and pieced together. It was donated to "Relay for Life" to be auctioned off for cancer research. Since it was pink, I decided to quilt it with pink ribbons in support of breast cancer research.

#3 Quilt for Alyssa

2009-04-23T21:33:00.008-06:00

What do you do when your friend's one year old daughter is diagnosed with cancer? You make a quilt.

I felt so incredibly helpless when our little friend, Alyssa, got sick. I didn't know what to say, and I didn't know what to do, so V and I got together and whipped up a quilt for her to snuggle in.

I've never been so glad to have a longarm quilting machine at my disposal. We pieced it in a few hours, and quilted and bound it the next day. Her parents were an amazing example through it all, and helped me to remember what's most important in life.

#4 My Quilting/Crafting/Decorating/Talkin' on the Phone friend Vanessa

2009-04-23T21:20:00.007-06:00

About a year after I moved to my tiny little town, Vanessa moved in. We hit it off right away and when her husband left to go overseas for a year, I think we either saw each other or talked on the phone nearly every day.

One of my favorite memories is Mother's Day weekend of 2008. My husband was on-call and had to work all weekend, and hers was away, so we got together and sewed, laughed, and talked for two days straight.

We each took our favorite Moda lines (well, our favorite for that day) and made pinwheel quilts. Hers is finished (and so stinkin' cute), and sadly, mine is still waiting at the end of the line to be quilted. I used the Prairie Paisley line. Watch for a future post when I actually get MINE quilted, and the first person to comment will win free machine quilting on a tablerunner.

V's quilt

#5 My Quilting friend Becky

2009-04-23T21:10:00.003-06:00

Soon after I met Marsha in this tiny little town, I met Becky. Becky was just beginning her own longarm quilting business when I moved here. I was worried about the two of us both trying to do business in a small town, but I called her and told her I believed there was enough business for both of us and wondered if we could help each other out by sharing thread, stencils, and idea's.

I am SO glad I did, because Becky is one of my best friends here. When I need a certain color of thread to match a quilt, I give her a call and she's always there for me...and I do the same for her. I truly believe that our businesses are both better off because of our friendship.

#6 Mountain Valley Quilt Retreat

2009-04-23T16:04:00.006-06:00

After my husband finished school, he got a job and moved our family to a tiny, remote little town in south central Utah. I was nervous at the idea of moving my business, and the fact that our new county only had about 2500 people didn't help any.

Within days, I met a wonderful friend named Marsha, who is the former owner of Pieceful Pleasures quilt shop in Las Vegas, Nevada. What a blessing she has been to me! Marsha is a wonderful quilting instructor, and I was thrilled to find out that she hosts a quilting retreat every year that takes place a few blocks from my home.

Who knew that quilting would be alive and kicking in such a tiny town? Though I still miss the quilt shops and guilds where I came from, I am grateful to have met some amazing quilters where I live now.

#7 Quilting for Julie Popa

2009-04-23T15:39:00.005-06:00

Soon after starting my business, I met Julie Popa, of Sunflower Hill Designs, at a local quilt group. What an amazingly talented woman! I was thrilled when she asked me to quilt a few of her beautiful quilts. We tossed around the idea of making patterns together, but I was so busy at the time that it just couldn't happen. We did come up with one design, and even though we never made a pattern, I eventually made a small version of it, just for myself.

#8 HMQS and Quilt Market

2009-04-23T15:23:00.004-06:00

Soon after I started quilting at the shop, I joined a little longarm quilting guild. We met monthly to discuss tips, techniques, problems, and show our latest quilts.

It was there that I met Ann Collet, who was in the process of organizing her first machine quilting show. When I first attended HMQS I was absolutely blown away...and it's only gotten better through the years. I had the opportunity to take classes from some of my "quilting heroes" Pam Clarke, and Linda Taylor. If you ever have the chance to attend HMQS, I would highly recommend it.

Several years later, in 2007, my husband surprised me on my birthday by taking the day off. He asked what I wanted to do that day (poor sucker) and I knew EXACTLY what I wanted. Quilt Market was in Salt Lake City, so we packed up the kids and made the 3 hour trek north so I could attend. What better birthday present can you have than to get a sneak peak at all of Moda's newest fabric?

#9 Starting a business

2009-04-23T14:44:00.006-06:00

Okay, I know it's a dorky picture but it's all I've got...at least I was skinny then :o)

People always ask me how I got started with longarm quilting, so here it goes:

A few years back, I went to visit a neighbor who had just had a baby. I walked into her apartment and said, "What is that THING taking up your livingroom?"

She told me it was a longarm quilting machine, and I'd truly never heard of such a thing. I grew up watching my dad quilt by hand and it was all I knew.

A couple months later, she taught a quilting class, and gave a trunk show of all her quilts. I WAS IN LOVE. For weeks I could think of nothing else. My poor husband and my mother were so tired of it that they actually told me I couldn't use the word quilt anymore. But that didn't stop me. I just kept right on talking about "blanket sandwiches" until my friend offered to let me try her machine.

I won't lie. I was completely overwhelmed when I used that machine. At the time, I was working as an artist for Rebecca Wood Designs and so I had the artistic ability, but trying to "draw" with my hands 12" above my "canvas" was more difficult than I thought.

My friend told me that there was a new quilt shop in town, and they were looking for a quilter. I truly never thought I would have a chance, but I decided I had to try. I went to this darling quilt shop called Red Rooster Quilts and Treasures, and "tried out" and was hired that day.

I think that was one of the best times in my life, working at the quilt shop and soaking in all the quilting knowledge I could. I "found myself" again after struggling with post-partum depression, and loved every minute of it.

Even though I was having the time of my life, with my husband in grad school, and two little boys (ages 1 and 2 1/2) I really needed to be at home. Within six months, I took the biggest risk of my life and got a loan for my own Gammill longarm quilting machine.

Jumping into blogland

2009-04-23T13:36:00.007-06:00

After months of debating, I have finally decided to start a blog for my business. Since I live in such a remote little area, miles from any quilt shops, I'm hoping it will help me to find others who love what I love, and maybe bring in a quilt or two so I can pay off my 4 year old's latest encounter with the emergency room.

You wouldn't believe what it costs these days to put six stitches into one forehead. I think I chose the wrong career. For that kind of money I'll give you a few million stitches in a quilt.

In honor of my debut into the blogging world, I've decided to highlight my Top 10 quilting memories from my first six years of business.

#10
Let's start at the very beginning...my first quilt.

I grew up with very talented parents. My mom is an amazing drapery seamstress, and my Dad (among many other things) was a hand quilter. Yes, I said my DAD was a hand quilter. During the time that he was a bishop for our church, he would spend his Sunday nights quilting to help "unwind" from a long day.

For years Dad collected jeans, so that one day he could make "that denim quilt". By the time I was 12, he had a whole rubbermaid garbage can full of jeans, but hadn't gotten around to making it. At that time my parents decided to finish a room in our basement so I could have my own room, but they left the bathroom next to it unfinished. They had nowhere to put that garbage can full of jeans, so my Dad actually DRYWALLED it into the space where the shower would someday go in that bathroom. He said that if he ever got around to making that quilt, he'd knock down the wall to get the jeans, and put a shower in while he was at it.

So...when I got to be about 16, I got really sick and tired of sharing a bathroom with my brother, and devised a brilliant plan.

I told my dad that I really wanted to make a denim quilt.

Really I just wanted my own bathroom.

My plan worked! Dad knocked out the wall, put in a shower, and helped me cut up those jeans. I never dreamed that it would take 80 hours to piece the thing together, but by the time I was finished, I had my own bathroom and I was hooked on quilting.

Here "she" is in all her glory. I even put picots around the edge. It's supposed to be a picnic quilt, but the thing weighs so darn much, nobody ever wants to carry it. Oh well, I got a finished bathroom out of it.