Ruth's Quilt

Time is marching on. The colors and temps here in St. George are truly wonderful! I have gotten out some and am going to take a walk in a few minutes. Then head back to my quilting machine. I have another small quilt to do for Ruth.  I delivered the her latest to her yesterday..... She loved it. I am always very happy when a client loves what I have done with her quilt.

The center of this quilt did not seem  to fit with the outside.  It needed something to bring the quilt together. This one took me a lot of time deciding what quilt design to do.  Piano keys were perfect for the border.... I did what I call bananas as a back fill and the drew iris in the center and stitched them out with a yellow thread the same color as the border. I first ditched everything with Superior Thread's clear Mono-poly. I added eco quilting around the iris, radiating out to fill in the space. I feel the design I came up with makes the whole quilt flow together.  I got suggestions from Cathie Purdy, a fellow long quilter and fiber artist. I bounced ideas off another wonderful fiber artist Carrol Lee Stoltz, who quilts her own small pieces on her domestic machine. I ended up using my own design, but there input helped me come up with the design. It is wonderful to have friends who will help us along our paths! I am very lucky to have landed here in St. George, Utah. I hope to stay here, this is home.

I need to get busy..... walk if I am going to walk. I have one more quilt to do for Ruth McIntire.  She told me this is her last quilt.  I am honored to be chosen to quilt it.  Her daughter's with a simple quilt design on it.  It is very modern and could quilted more modern that I am going to quilt it. Heavy modern quilting would make it a whole different quilt.

I had a quilt dropped off yesterday and have another coming next week. 

Happy Quilting

Oct 18

It has been a really long time since I wrote on this blog.  I have been so busy, trying to get things done.  My father passed away and I am currently trying to get his estate settled.   I spent most of September there with him at his home in Moab. He passed in his sleep, as peacefully as someone can when they are in as much pain as he was.  The medication the hospice nurses provided were a big help. We were close and I miss him so much. I was so blessed that my girls and my niece provided him with the best care he could have ever had. He told Candice how much he appreciated her many times before he died. Dad's funeral was very nice. I caught up with lots of relatives. It is so sad that we only seem to get together in case of death.  Some of them are getting up their themselves. But everyone works so hard. A lot of them are farmers.  I hope I am able to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Dove Creek, Colorado this year.  We will see. It depends on if Dave has a job by then and where we are!

I finished couple others but neglected to make photos of them.  Both of the above belong to Lael Lowell. I have another for her waiting for me to get back to the machine! Lael keeps me in business!

I was able to make it to our quilt guild meeting the month, but have missed all the friendship groups.  I totally forgot today was one of the groups. The quilt guild is getting so large that it is so hard to visit with people.

My husband still does not have a job. Man it sucks to be 60 and looking for work. It does not matter what your qualifications are either.  He is a nuclear pharmacist. His job was eliminated by the big foot print of Cardinal Health.  We are alive and have so much to be thankful for, so I will try to not complain to much !

Time to say good bye for now. Happy Quilting!

Sunday August 27, 20017

It has been a a very tiring month, lots to do and lots of stress.  Dave still does not have a job, but has a interview set up in Las Vegas on Sept 8.  The job is with Cardinal Health. There are two jobs, one in Las Vegas and one in Tempe, AZ.

We had a great time on our short vacation this past week. Dave and I went to Idaho, Falls and stayed with friends to watch the eclipse. Dave posted a link to his flicker account and he has some great photos posted on flicker. We went from Idaho to Moab to pick up the dog and to visit with family.

We are back in St. George. I finished my the client's quilt I had on the frame. This was a semi custom.

While in Moab I found a container of wax paper that is very old.  I love the colors on this old packaging.  

I have 4 quilts to get done this month, so I guess I should get busy. 

My father is not doing well. I might be heading to Moab sooner than I expected. I am so thankful that our oldest daughter, Candice, and Season, my niece, are his caregivers. Candice is there to tuck him in every night and he loves that.

Happy Quilting!

Charlotte

June 24th.... Saturday afternoon

Got these two quilts finished for a client. They are going to be used as bedspreads. I love this pantograph, it is called Brilliance. It is one I will do for  1 1/2 cents per square inch for the next few months.

I need to get the next client quilt loaded. It is a custom, that will be fun to do. The client is not in any hurry for it, but I like to keep my turn around as fast as I possibly can.

June 23, 2017

Lots had been happening with me. I haven't written on here in a while because I was out of town and part of the time did not have any access to internet when I had time.

Megan and Patrick came the end of May and stayed until the 9th of June. The kids borrowed one of the cars and went on to Moab for ahead of us.  Dave and I took the RV and went through Page to Bluff, Blanding and then on to Moab. We had a very good time. We went to Edge of the Cedars Museum in Blanding, Utah. If you are interested in seeing American Indian artifacts and haven't had a chance to see that museum, it is so worth making the time so see. It is the best museum I have been in in a very long time.  I was so pleased to see an exhibit of my high school art teacher's art work.

Our time in Moab was very short. We came back to St. George on the 7th and I left for LaVeta, Colorado on the 8th.  Rosemary, Cathie and I signed up for a class with Judith Baker Montano. I learned a lot and over all we had a great time. I decided that crazy quilting is not something that I love and probably will not ever do again. I do plan on finishing my project and will post a photo one of these days.  Judith's cottage and yard was wonderful!!!! Flowers every where you turned, plus 4 dogs and a few cats. LaVeta was a nice little town. A great place to visit. There were tons of deer in the town. The citizens of LaVeta are very protective of their deer.  We stayed at a lovely B &
B called Harding's Corner B & B.  I would recommend it to anyone. Sarah Harding, the owner and sole proprietor, was wonderful. Her breakfasts were great too, especially her stuffed french toast! Rosemary and I left a day earlier than Cathie and Jim. We spend the nights, both coming and going, at Rosemary's daughter's home in Durango. I had a great time, but was very ready to be home.






(inside of Judith's Studio). I took other photos of her cottage and the wonderful flowers in her yard, but did not get permission to post them, so I won't. Hopefully posting this photo of the group is Ok.

My father fell and broke his arm while in the shower a couple of nights ago. Dave and I will be going to Moab as soon as we can.  Dave will be working until the end of this month and so far has not landed another job. I am sure he will, but it is so hard to just not worry. Our house payment is very large.

I am going to keep quilting for other's. Hopefully I will pick up more edge to edge quilts. I currently only have one custom waiting to go on my frame. I am going to try to be as competitive price wise as I can. The local shops here charge 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cents a square inch. I have a few edge to edge designs that I can do for the 1 1/2 cent price.

I am also working on another pattern for the Moab quilt shop. Currently it is in my head. I have done a couple of quick sketches, but need to do some research into some pictographic images.  I want my pattern to be accurate to actual pictographs and not so stylized that it is not recognizable.

I have finished a couple of client quilts and one of my own. I will post photos of my own when I get the binding finished. There are photos on my face book page.  I still haven't updated my website or set up anything with pay pal. I did sell one of my pieces before I took off on my trip. I was very happy about that.

Now..... time to get back to work.
Happy Quilting,
Charlotte

May 7, 2017

A lot has happened to since my 61 birthday on April 25, 2017. My niece's little old puppy Teddy died. Dave found out his job will be ending June 25th.. He did not tell me until the 26 though.  So we are now looking for jobs.  Dave will be 60 on the 18th. We are lucky he is in the field he is in.  He is a broad certified nuclear pharmacist.  He had not worked retail in many years, so he is looking for a nuclear pharmacists position.  He might just work for Triad (if they choose to hire him) as a fill in pharm. He deals very well with people and learns very quickly.  Triad also has a job open in Mobile, Alabama. The positive things about Mobile, is homes are cheep compared to this area.  He had applied for a position in Albany, Ny. It is in a PET facility. He has never done that, but as I said he is a quick study.  He has applied for a couple of jobs here in St. George in retail, but has been told that the jobs has been removed and they are going over the numerous applications sent in. People love to live here.  So........ things are up in the air for us. Will we put the house on the market or will I stay here and Dave travel.  Who knows.  I only have two remaining client quilts to do. I am not taking anything that has to be done before the end of July.  That will give me time to think and not worry about finishing a job for a client. If we move, I will not want to have anyone's quilt on my hand. If Dave leaves me here to sell the house or he decided to be a fill in pharm. I will be here and have plenty of time on my hands.  Candice will be going to Moab on Wednesday. I haven't been alone in a very long time!

Candice graduated from DSU on Friday! We are so proud of her. I am going to miss having her here!

Candice and I got lunch after her graduation at the little restaurant in Kayenta. We got sangria and it was so good! I got my usually bacon blue burger and she got a salad with fish on it.  We had a nice time!

I have finished a quilt for Janet Moore. It is a custom lap size.  She will pick it up the end of this month. I am excited for her to see it.

 Nothing else has been going on here... just worrying about what the future holds for me and Dad and what this country. The USA seems to be heading down the wrong road.  I hope people wise up before there is no hope.  I have made my thoughts very clear on what I think of Trump and the republicans that are in line with him.  I will leave it at that. I need to get frosting made for a chocolate cake I have baked!  Happy  Quilting!