Thursday Dec 29, 2016

                    These are a few more of the client quilts I have finished over the past few months.

Shirl's quilts. She was very productive, getting quilts done for all her grand children her great grand children!

Bev's cute jean quilt!

Laura's quilts.... she was another very productive client! I love this pantograph, Brilliance.

Karen's quilt


As this year comes to a close, there are now things I need to get done for the business end of things.  That is not nearly as much fun as the actual quilting, but it has to be done. I have been so very blessed to have been able to spend time with family and friends over the Holiday Season.   It's time to think about dinner, I will close for now. Until next time ....
Happy Quilting

Season's Greetings

Though I would attach our Christmas card.  This watercolor is done of what I remember my Grandma Funk's home to look like. Both she and the farm house are no longer with us.  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that we all have a better 2017 than 2016 has been. In light of the current election I am afraid that might not be the case. I hope I am wrong, but..... it really isn't looking good. This posting is not going to be political though.

2016 has held a lot of things for me, both good and bad. I am going to try to stay focused on the good. I have had a couple of exhibits this past year.  The last is currently at the St. George Art Museum, here in St. George, Utah. It will be there only until the 31 of December.   Candice is doing well in school and about ready to graduate. She will be applying to graduate schools. We have been lucky to have Megan and Patrick here twice this year. They are both doing good, both working hard and enjoying life in New York.  Meg is working hard and going to school.  Dave is doing pretty good as well.  One of the negative things we are going through is the possibility of Dave loosing his job.  We are hoping and praying that this does not happen. If we have to relocate.... well..... we relocate. Hopefully we will not have to cross this bridge, again.

I have been very busy with client work this past few months. I am enjoying that.  Right now I only have 3 quilts awaiting me. I will get at them as soon as the kids head back to New York. There are a couple of shows I might enter coming up. I have not decided about that yet.  Now that this blog seems to be easier to use. I will try to remember to post at least once a week.  I still don't have my website up and going. Patrick is waiting for me.

My goals this for 2017, besides getting more fit, is to focus on my painting more. I have done very little painting and really miss that. I am going to try to spend less time working on other's projects and focus on some of my own.  If Dave's job is solid and IHC signs a contract, I am going to cut down my client work. I still want to do some, but really need time to do my own art.  I have sold two pieces this past year, neither were high dollar, but I have hopes. My patterns are selling well, in the one store I have them in. I was going to have thing on a web site, so the patterns could be down loaded as PDF's but I really have not had time to even think about that.  Also...... I am thinking about a class, am working on a book and various other things.  We will see how much I accomplish this year.  I am going to become more computer savvy. I have to or I have to just quit.

Janice's

My quilt

Shauna's quilt

Darlene's

I am going to close for a while.  I have many other photos of quilts to post, but I need reduce their sizes, I guess.  My machine has hung on uploading, won't up load but won't let me disconnect either. Until later..... Charlotte

September 20, 2016

The summer is gone and I have really gotten a lot accomplished. It has been so nice here in St. George in the mornings that I have not been motivated to do anything but sit out and soak up the cooling weather and the sun. Today it feels like fall. I am not going to have any problem working.

I have not posted anything in a while. I post stuff on my Facebook page and kind of fill that it is where my time is best spent. I thought I would add a few photos of the things I have been working done since I last posted. For some reason the photos are not loading and will not let me cancel and start again. So.... if you are reading this and wish to see what I have done, go to my Facebook business account Charlotte Purcell Gary. I have a website being working on too.

Happy Quilting
Charlotte

August 22, 2016

  I have been busy trying to keep up. The Painted Hills Fiber Artists have a show at the St. George Art Museum, here in St. George, Utah August 27-December 31, 2016.  If you are in the area please check it out.
I have my Simple Cell Phone Case pattern in a couple of shops. One shop 'Scrap Apple Quilts'  located here in St. George, Utah and 'It's Sew Moab' located in my home town of Moab, Utah. I have a web site being built by Patrick Sayer's. So lots of positive things going on in my life.

I finished another couple of client's quilt. One was another pineapple...same as the last so I won't post a photo of it. I did do a great pantograph for a client.

the panto is call mimosa. I really like the way it turned out. A friend and fellow quilt and I ordered a bunch on new pantographs.  I hope I have more clients that will want over all quilting done. A lot of times that is all a quilt requires.  Sometimes custom is called for, but more times than not, a over all design would work just fine and cost the client a lot less than custom with wonderful outcome. 

Until latter...... Happy Quilting to you all

August 6

August 6...... Today was my Mom's Birthday. I still think about calling her and telling her something that is going on in my life from time to time and then remember she is gone.

I finished this quilt for Darlene Gardner. It was a fun quilt. I did use a pantograph on this one. This pantograph was a bit time consuming. It requires 4 passes for each roll of the quilt. I borrowed the pantograph from my friend and fellow quilter, Cathie Purdy. Thanks Cathie!

Time to fix something for dinner..... don't know what. Would rather quilt!

Aug 3, 2016

Dave and I had a wonderful weekend with high school friends. I am so glad we went. I actually just sat and enjoyed the setting. I honestly can't remember when I just sat before. I always work on some kind of hand work or appliqué quilting. I did get a drawing and a watercolor sketch done one afternoon. Dave and I cooked breakfast for one of the days for the group too. There were 9 couples there. We stayed at place on the LaSal Mtns. called Whispering Oaks. It is a perfect spot for reunions. 

We had a flat on our c-max while coming down off the mountain from our weekend, in a tire were had just replaced the week before because of a nail! That was not so great. The little car does not have a spare. Thankfully Dave had a patch kit in the car. He did not have pliers in the car though and he had to pull a piece of metal out of the tire before he could patch it. Some of our friends stopped to help us. If they had not come down off the mountain the same direction as us, we would have had a major problem! We will not purchase another car that does not have a spare. I don't want one that does not have a full size spare. I drive from here to Moab often by myself. There are places across the swell where this is no cell phone reception at all. If I happened to get a flat and someone stopped to help me... it would not make any difference, since there is nothing but a kit to put the stuff in the tire that plugs the hole and inflates the tire.  Not only does it plug the hole, but it messes up the stem on the tire.   We did not ask about the spare and were not told by any sales person that there was no spare here at the Ford dealership in St. George.  Had we really thought about it, we would not have purchased the car. 

I got accomplished today. I finished this wonderful pineapple quilt... put 19+ hours into this. It turned out very good, I think. I hope the client likes it. I think she will.

 I finished this today also. It is a small baby quilt. I think it turned out very cute. I really like this pantograph.

 It has been a long day and I need to call it a day and get some sleep. I have another busy day tomorrow.  Good night!

I have been very busy over the last couple of weeks. Trying to get as much done as I can before we head out for a very short vacation. My husband and I go to Moab every year for a reunion with high school friends. This will be our 10th year. It is great to get together and catch up. It really is amazing how friends can pick up like we have really never been apart, even though it might be years since we have last seen each other.  I am looking forward to the weekend. Although............. this year Dave volunteered for us to do the breakfast.  So, that means.... I get to do the breakfast. I am going just make a couple of breakfast casseroles. I have made different kind of quick breads though....Banana nut; fig, raisin and nut; blueberry orange; cranberry orange, nut; and date and nut. They are all done and in the freezer. It was really to hot here to heat the kitchen up to bake, but I did it anyway.

I listen to audio books on my iPhone all the time. I have a new big one, 6 or something like that. Anyway, I have dropped it so many times. The thing is to big for my pockets. The last time I dropped it I cracked the glass case. I decided I needed to have something to put the cell phone in, that was light weight (some things I have tried make my neck hurt) and easy to get the phone out to swipe, put my password in it and answer calls.  I put it in a name tag case I had made for the quilt guild I belong to. It was so tall that I put a piece of elastic on it. It worked, but really was not very pretty. I decided to create my a case the worked and looked nice.  I had a few tries before I got one that I liked. I have had a lot of ladies stop me and ask me where I got my case, so I have created a pattern for it. It will be available at 'It's Sew Moab' with in the next couple of weeks.  I am not sure what the retail price for the pattern will be, but I imagine around $10. I have a web site coming and plan on selling this pattern as a digital down load as well as my wall hanging patterns.  The case is easy to make and you can make 3 for 3/4 of a yard of fabric.  I have made quite a few of the cases as well. I will sell them for $15.99 plus, sales tax and shipping. I haven't set up any thing with pay pal just yet or any other kind of credit card acceptance. That is something I must get done soon.

"Simple Cell Phone Case"

I finished a quilt for a client this last week.  Janice M has been putting blocks that her mother made. This was a lovely quilt. 

My daughter's faience, Patrick Sayers, is building me a web site. It will be up soon....www.charlottepurcellgary.com! I am very pleased with that.  Now...... it is late and I am tired. So....... Happy Quilting.
Charlotte

Sunday July 10th, 2016

I have been very busy since my last posting. My youngest daughter and her fiancee have been here visiting from Brooklyn, Ny. I sure wish they lived closer. We have had a great time and I hope another whole years goes by until I get to see them again. The kids and I drove to Moab a week ago Friday and just got back today. We stayed at my Dad's home. All of us had a good time. They have to head back to NY in a couple of days......drat!

The opening reception for my 'visiting artist' gig at Gallery Moab was Saturday night. I had a great time visiting with old friends, making new friends and explaining what my art is.  I was asked to do a workshop for the local Moab quilt guild. I must come up with a project to teach, that gives them a idea of how and why I create my work.  I sold one piece so far and one was donated to the gallery for an auction. It was purchased for the minimum bid.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that more sells, but am not spending in of the money before it is in my pocket. I have not quite made up the fee I had to pay the gallery. It is a co-op of sorts. I grew up in Moab. Both of my girls were born in Moab and I would still be there if my husband's job had not disappeared many years ago. He decided to re-train in pharmacy. When he lost his job and we had to sign our home back to the mortgage company,  I though my world was coming to an end.  My life did not end, in fact the hardships we endured only made me stronger and our lives richer. I have made so very many friends and my life in the fabric art world would not exist as it does right now had we not have moved from Moab all those years ago.

 I feel I am at a cross roads of sorts. Trying to sell through galleries is very discouraging. People do not realize the time that is put into one piece. When you see a piece in a gallery that artist must pay 40% (as a rule) to that gallery.  I will see how things play out over the next few months. My business, Glad Rag's Art, is doing ok.  I have clients that keep me busy quilting their quilt tops and I love having the chance to add my artistic touch to their already beautiful quilt tops, however I really want to do more of my own art quilts and am seriously thinking about teaching. I know if I decide to teach, I have to be ready to teach when I am asked.  I also feel that more  basic art principles need to be taught, but realize at lot of ladies just want to create by following a pattern to a finished product.  I will just see what develops over the next 6 months.

Patrick, my daughter Megan's fiancee, is helping me get a website going. I currently have pieces listed on the Painted Hills Fiber Artist's web site. www.paintedhillsfiberartists.com. I have been paying for a domain name 'Glad Rag's Art' on Omnis for a couple of years. I figure it is time for me to get on that going. I will list all my pieces on that site and also plan to sell the wall hanging patterns I currently have designed as a PDF file down load as well as hard copy. The patterns are can currently be purchased at 'It's Sew Moab' quilt shop located in Moab, Utah.  I have more patterns in my mind, but nothing currently on the design wall....but soon will. This pattern will be a landscape of 'Castle Rock', similar to one of my art pieces that is currently for sale through Gallery Moab.

It is bedtime and  it is time to stop writing and try to shut my mind off.   I am attaching a photo of the display of my art at Gallery Moab, Peggy did a wonderful job of hanging my pieces.

Until next time ........ good night, sweet dreams and happy quilting!

Friday June 24

Summer is here is St. George....... triple digit temperatures ..... wind and fires. I am sure I am not the only one that is busy and ready for a vacation! I am trying to get all my client work the needs to be done finished before my youngest daughter and her boy friend get here. I only have a few more days. I am so excited to see them! They will spend time with us and then go to Moab to visit family down there. They will have a couple of weeks with us. It is never enough time, but we will take what we can get!

 I finished this very large quilt a couple of weeks ago for Wilma

Yesterday finished this brightly colored quilt for Lorine.

Today I got the quilting done on this quilt that my Mom started years ago. She passed away last year and as we were cleaning out her fabric cabinet, we came across many projects she had started but had not finished. My daughter Megan loved this one and I finished putting the blocks together and quilted it today. I will get the binding on tomorrow. I want to have it ready for her when she gets here next week. 

I have so many things I want to get done and then there are things I need to get done for business. 

I spent a week in Moab. My oldest daughter had a birthday and she is in Moab for the summer staying at my dad's home. Dad and I went to church on Father's day. I enjoyed the pastor's sermon and the singing. I don't attend a church regularly and do miss the music. It was great to catch up with friends while I was in Moab also. My daughter, Candice, and a close friend, Darlene Nelson, went to lunch and then to view the quilt show at the Moab Museum. Their local quilt guild has a  show of there challenge quilts. They were to make a small quilt using colors from their initials. They were all lovely. A couple I like very much and had a hard time choosing my favorite to vote for!  I stopped into the local quilt store "It's Sew Moab" to deliver patterns and visit with the owner. I so enjoy that shop! The shop was featured on one of the on line quilt programs and my Red Cactus pattern was used as the cover page for the article.

 I have had the honor of being asked to be the visiting artist at Gallery Moab. It is a wonderful Gallery that features artists from the area. Although I no longer live in Moab, I still consider it home. While in Moab last week, I met with a friend at the Gallery, Page Holland to show her the pieces I plan on putting in the show. These pieces are for sale through Gallery Moab July 9-Aug 9. One piece on the top right hand side of grouping below has sold. If you are in Moab the artist reception Is July 9. Stop by and see my work along with lots of local artists wonderful work! Gallery Moab is located on the corner of 1st North and Main Street.

Castle Rock

Aspens 

It is late and I am going to get some sleep........  Keep creating and try to stay cool.

                                                                                             

May has been a very eventful month.... a lot of it was not that great. Dave and I had to come to the very hard decision of having one of our little wiener dogs put down. She was 12 years old and had many issues. She has not been able to stand and walk around for 3 years. We carried her every where she needed to go, but that last few months she was in a lot of pain. It was one of the hardest decisions we have had to make in a very long time.  A couple of weeks prior to our decision Candice (or oldest daughter) had to have the dog she has had for 15 1/2 years put down.  I have tried to keep busy and am doing a very good job of that. I finished this quilt last week for Laura W. I though it was so cute. I did not think it required this custom treatment, but her daughter wanted it quilted like this. I do think I made the quilt look great.

This quilt belongs to Patti V. I forgot how hard Judy Nehmier's quilts were to quilt.....  It turned out good and Patti was happy. This is one of my art quilts. It is thread painted, quilted and bound. I have had to block this one. After I finished with the quilting and thread painting, I decided that it needed to have a border. It just did not look finished. I don't usually ever add borders once I have quilted the pieces. The center is stiffer than the border. I think it will be fine after the blocking is finished. 

 I am calling this one 'Winter in the High Desert'. 

It measures 26"W x 19" H.

This along with some of my other fiber art pieces will be shown and sold at the 'Gallery Moab' in Moab, Utah in the month of July.  The 'meet the artist reception' is currently scheduled for the evening of July 9th at the Gallery located at 78 N. main in Moab, Utah. 

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

Happy Quilting!

Charlotte  

Thursday May 12

It seems like I have been working on this one for a long time..... I haven't, but it is slow going. All but the background fill was ruler work. I am still have issues with the bobbin thread. I almost always use 11 stitches to the inch setting on my machine. For this background fill I should have used much smaller stitch and thinner thread. It looks good, but I think it would have looked much better on the back than it does. I used Superior Threads Magnifico on the top and Sew Fine in the bobbin. We used 80/20 batting. 

Sunday April 3, 2016

Bev's quilt

On this one we used 9 oz poly and Superior Thread's Monofilament.

Shirl Williams quilt was an edge to edge  design. I tried using one of Superior Thread's Rainbow threads and I could not get my long arm to sew with it at all. It broke the thread about every 12 inches.  I switched to Magnifico and still had issues but I could get half way across a run before it broke. I had a couple of runs with out any breaks. I was very frustrated. I have had tension issues, on my Innova,  off on and on for a couple of years. This causing me to take twice as long (or more) on each job than I should have to. I end up picking out and re-stitching. While Dave and I were up in SLC last month, we stopped by the Innova shop (Quilts on the Corner in Sandy). I picked up all new thread guides, needle plate (throat plate) and a new check spring. I called ABM to find out what size allen wrench it took loosen the tension assembly so it could be removed and we could get the old check spring out and the new check spring in. I had never changed my check spring and it defiantly needed to be replaced. I was told that as much as I use my machine I probably should change the check spring every six months and that you should normally change them once a year. I know the check spring is important, but did  not realize that they needed to be changed that often and I sold the machines when I worked for Let's Quilt here in St. George.  Anyway.... ABM has technicians that are available to answer questions and walk the customer through problems.  When I talked to Michael he told me to call him back before we did anything, after we had removed the old check spring. Well..... we did not call him back and managed to not get the check spring seated correctly. So when I started adjusting the spring it wound back on it's self.  I sprung the check spring. I was like a slinky that had been pulled and would not longer work. Michael suggested that I get a new tension assembly. I decided to do that. I called Quits on the Corner  and ordered a the new precision tension assembly, 5 of their special red bobbins and 3 extra check springs. We got the new assembly installed and did the adjustments as well as we could. I really have loved my Innova, but I sure wish we had a service person in St. George. I would like to have my machine tuned up, the table leveled and all those kind of things yearly, even if I have had no problems.  The machine is to heavy for me to lift and carry to my car to make the track to Sandy, Utah. I don't like doing the fixes myself and my husband really does not like to do it. 

 I have actually decided if I don't quit having tension issues, I will not be quilting for clients very often. It is just to stressful for the money I make. I am not going to invest in another long arm either (I am entering daily for the APQS long arm give away...... it would be wonderful to win it). 

After having the issues I did with Shirl's quilt, I loaded a baby quite of my own, used Permacore in the bobbin as well as the top and it quilted fine..... I quilted fast too.  The next client quilt is a Judy Nehmire quilt pattern pieced by Patti V.. It is a red and white quilt, wonderfully  constructed. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that I don't have any issues with the thread on this one.  

Now it is late, I need to go to the APQS website and make my daily entry into their contest and then hit the sack! This next week is a full week. We will be having two different groups of visitors. I am looking forward to that!

Happy Quilting to you all!

March 25, 2016

Another month is just about over. This month I have been having issues with my Innova long arm again. We have decided it probably is my check spring. I, being the mechanical genius I am, have not changed the check spring in all the years I have been using my long arm. I have quilted a lot of quilts. I have "checked" the check spring, but have never replaced it. I recently was given a Merit Award at the  Utah Women's Art Exhibition 2016 for my piece "Delicate Arch #1"  . While in SLC to receive the award and attended the opening Art show, went to our area Innova dealer. I purchased a check spring (should have picked up 3 or 4 since they were only$3 each), thread guides and a needle plate (throat plate).  My husband and I got the old check spring removed, but did not get the new one seated properly in the tension assembly. When I started to adjust the check spring, the spring wound back on itself and ruined that spring. After talking to ABM (who are always there to help if you call) decided I would order a there high performance tension assembly. It came yesterday and I am putting off putting it in. I am afraid I will mess it up. The older I get the less confident I feel about doing things like this. If I can't get my husband to do it for me in a bit, I will have to do it myself. I wish he liked doing stuff like that, but he doesn't. Right now I am putting it off. I guess I should go and get busy though....... I have client work that needs to be done and the days are go by so quickly it is scary. Wish me luck!
Here are the latest client quilts I have done.