January 23, 2016

I keep saying I can't believe how fast the time is going buy.... I really can't believe it. Christmas 2105 has come and gone. Candice, Season, Micah, Dave, me and all of our dogs had a great Christmas. We missed Megan and Patrick very much and hope to see them later in the year.  Dave and I went out and cut our Christmas tree and I do believe it was the best tree we have ever had. It was not dry when I finally. I love pinion pine! We made a very quick trip to Moab and went to visit my Aunt Vera who lives on the Funk farm in the Dove Creek, Colorado area.
I have been busy. I have finished 2 art quilts and am working on a 3rd. The quilting is almost done on it. I have the binding picked out and will hopefully have it sewn on tomorrow.

                                                                      Flat Pass #2

Behind the Rocks # 2

These pieces are both done from water color paintings I have done a long time ago.  My Aunt called and asked if I had an work that I though my cousin and his wife might like for Christmas. I had them look at some of my previous work and Dan chose 3 different scenes. One of which was Flat Pass.  One was a watercolor of the La Sal Mtns in more of a winter scene and the third was a view from inside of Wilson Arch, located south of Moab.  The Wilson Arch piece is the one I am working on now. I have not started one of the La Sal Mtns. yet, but I have an idea of what I am going to do. I plan on painting the basic fabric for that piece tomorrow.

I am keeping busy with client work too. I finished 2 quilts for Bev Nelson and one for Brenda Jones.

Brenda's Lone star

One of Bev's quilts

Megan and Patrick are engaged. Patrick purposed on New Year's Eve. We are happy about that, but don't know when they are planning on getting married. 

My goal for this next year is to get photos of my pieces on a web site. It is possible I will be a visiting artist for a month in the Moab Gallery! I am very excited about that. I would be so great to sell a piece of my art work, either a quilt or one of my paintings. I also am going to do more painting this year. I plan on joining the Watercolor society here in ST. George. I belonged in Salt Lake City when we lived there, but just haven't had time to add one more thing here.  So many things to do and so very little time!

That just about covers everything so until next posting..... Happy Quilting!

December 16....Marie's quilt

It has been a while since I have written on my blog. Christmas is just around the corner!

Dave and I went to Moab for a short visit the first part of December. I had a client's quilt to deliver and needed to get Christmas gifts taken to Moab. We stayed at our friend's home and had such a great time. It was so good to laugh and relax.

I finished Marie Wheeler's second quilt.  This one took me a while to decide how to quilt the larger blocks. Marie fussy cut the fabric to create the large blocks and I did not want to do anything that covered them up, so decided to stitch around the design. We used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Superior Threads Magnifico on the top and in the bobbin. 

Janice Howick's quilt.

It appears winter is truly here. I am not a fan of cold weather.  Me and my old bones much prefer  warmer weather.  I have actually spent a lot of time working on my own stuff lately. I usually have a bunch of client's work to do. I did not take quilts while I having issues with my Innova, but it seems to be resolved now. I have not been really, really excited about quilting. Working with the issues the machine had made quilting not fun at all. I was constantly picking our and re-sewing. 

I finished the quilt in the photos last week. It belongs to Janice H. last week.  She did a wonderful job piecing.  First I ditched around all the pieces. I had a hard time deciding just what design to put around the blocks.  I stitched 1/4 inch around each block and around the small blacks.  I connected the small blocks to the large blocks with a 1/4 in line. I also stitched a 1/4 in line in the background around the border. Once all this was done, I filled the background in with a swirly design. I had planned to do a scroll in the border, but it just didn't look right. I ended up doing even piano keys around the outside edge. That tied it all together. Janice picked it up and was very pleased with it. I still have one small wall table runner to complete for her. She plans on entering it into a show. I am still thinking about how to stitch it to add to her design. 

I worked on a quilt for my niece and her husband. I was intended to be her wedding quilt. It has taken me a long time to finish it. I will post photos of it in my next posting.

I have been trying to finish up some of my own projects. I don't have another other client pieces in hand right now.  I do have three that are coming, but nothing but the small table runner in hand right now. I will have to add material to the edges on her backing material to load it onto my long arm. 

I started another art quilt last night..... couldn't go to sleep so I worked on it. I plan on it being my entry for our Dixie Quilt Guild challenge. I ran out of glue. I am appliquéing onto a confetti background.  I have been using red felt as my foundation for building the pieces. I like the way it is working. I will need to add a layer of batting and a nice backing though. I hope to get it finished this afternoon.  I would like to get a few outside paintings done. But..... it has been to cold for me. It is amazing how acclimated I have become to the heat. Any temp lower than 70 feel down right cold to me! When we first moved here, eleven years ago, 70 was short weather. Now 70 is long pants and 65 is fleece and sweats! 

I need to get busy, it is already after 9! Until next time.

Happy Quilting!

Sat Oct 24, 2015

 Another week has gone by. I was busy continually, but did not seem to accomplish all that much. I did a lot of cleaning and working in the yard. Doing stuff that really needs to be done.

I am currently working on a twin size quilt for a client and fellow quilt guild member. She provided her own batting. I think it is bamboo. I really don't like it. It is to sticky. I think it would be great if you were hand quilting. I have only used it twice and have not had that great of luck either time. It is expensive and touted as being a green product. Bamboo might be renewable and quickly renewable, but I don't think the process it takes to take the pieces of bamboo and make it into batting is that great. I have not only read a small bit about the process, have done no research on it myself. What I have heard might not be correct. If I choose to purchase that type of batting, I would do some research on how it is produced before the fibers get to the place that makes them into batting. Besides....it is expensive and I don't like the way the batting sticks to the fabric. It is to easy to get folds in the batting.

This past week I filled an order for "It's Sew Moab" quilt shop for 20 of my Red Cactus patterns. That was my first wall hanging pattern and has sold the best. Eye lash yarn is used to make the spines on the cactus. I include 8 yards of the yarn in each pattern. Debra sells a lot of my patterns. Currently I don't have them in any other stores and I haven't set up a on-line store either. If I do that I will need to have the patterns printed at a print shop. I guess I should expand. I just don't enjoy that part of the business. I like coming up with ideas and getting them market ready. After I get them that far, I am ready to move on to the next project. The older I get the less time I have to devote to anything else and I spend lots of time just thinking.

I need to get an art quilt finished, photo it and get it ready to enter into the SAQA contest for our region. The theme is "Above and Beyond".  I though and though about what to do and decided I would do a piece showing that talked about my friends. It is painted on white muslin. It depicts a Raven and some Bluebirds. The Raven is attaching one of the Bluebirds. The other six blue birds are coming to the one's rescue.  I though I  would title it "Friend's go Above and Beyond". I need to get it bound and get a photo taken of it. I am not a big contest enterer. But I  would really like to get my art work out in the world and sell some of it. I know If I want anyone to look at it, I have to show it.  I will post a photo of it next week. I though I had a photo of how it looked as I started it, but I can't find it on this computer.

It is close to 11 a.m. I guess I ought to get myself ready for my day. I am very slow starting today. I worked in the yard yesterday and am kind of sore.

Until next week I wish you Happy Quilting!

Jackie B's and Kaye R's quilts

Yesterday was a very busy day! I had a hard time shutting down when I finally stopped at a little after 12. I slept really well though and feel fine today. I haven't kept up on this blog very well. I had plans to make sure I posted something once a week.  I though I would bring it up to date. 

I received an order from Debra S., owner of "It's sew Moab" quilt shop for 20 of my Red Cactus Wall hanging pattern. I did not have any printed and had about 1/2 enough of the eyelash yarn I include in the pattern cut and carded. I got the patterns printed and folded, got the yarn cut and carded and got them packaged and ready to take to the post office. I got them shipped out in the afternoon. I decided to print more of this pattern. It was the very first pattern I made and it sells way better than all the others. It is not my favorite. But I think customers like the eyelash yarn I used to give the impressions of spines.  I know I could sell more in other stores, but I just haven't taken time to get them into shops. If I did I would have to have them printed at a printers.  I would still have to fold and stuff them, but printing takes a lot of time and ink. My Epson Artisan 837 does a wonderful job though. I have a couple packages of the heavy glossy paper I used for the pattern covers, so I will probably be printing them for a while myself.

I loved Kaye's choice of fabric.  She wanted this to be a Christmas quilt. I quilted poinsettias on it, making the centers start in the center of the spirals of the blocks. We were both very happy with the outcome. I did have issues with the metallic thread this time though. I was using Superior Thread's variegated silver. I purchased the huge cone a very long time ago. I used the metallic in the top and Superior's bottom line in the bobbin. I have used the thread off this cone many times with out any problem at all. The top thread kept catching and looping on the back every couple of inches. It took some doing and Dave actually loosened the belt that goes around the bobbin/hook assemble in my Innova. He replaced a broken, shredded belt in July for me. I ended up putting oil between the tension disks and that helped. It probably would have been a good idea to put thread treatment (silicone) on the cone. But I did not think of that until I was finished with the quilt.  This quilt should have taken me about 8 hours or less. I ended up spending 3 days on it. I hate when that happens!  We used Dream Quilter's wool and Hobbs 80/20. That combination did gave us just the right amount of loft.

Jackie made this memory quilt for a friend who's husband has passed away. She wanted something done in the background that brought all the sashing together.  I did a heart background fill and I think it worked very well. She hasn't picked it up yet, but I know she will be very pleased with the outcome.
I did minimal quilting in the photos, only doing enough to hold the batting in place. We used Hobbs 80/20. The batting is very thin, but looks ok.  We used a  Super Thread's  Magnifico on the top and a
egg shell color Sew Fine.

 I next quilted a piece I am thinking about entering in SAQA's show for our area. I quilted heavily on it and had no problem at all what so ever. I won't post of photo of it until I enter it.

I am having computer issues this morning. More server issues than computer I guess. It took me forever to get onto Bountiful Basket's site to order our basket for Saturday. I finally got on though. I had hoped to be able get the Honey Crisp apples they were hoping to get. They were not listed as available when I finally got on. Maybe next week....... I can only hope.

We have had a lot of rain here over the past few days. We need the moisture, but I wish it would be a nice gentle rain, the kind of rain that soaks in. We have had major down pours. I have pumped out our rain barrels (50 gallon) and the pond twice. The last one washed dirt down from my planting area. It sure makes a mess. This house has way to much cement around it. The water puddles and takes a while to evaporate. There are a lot of little ponds in our water feature that I don't use. They are all full and will be yucky before to long, they will just have to be icky. I will not be cleaning them out any time soon.  I went to open the back gate (it is attached to the house with bolts) and  opened it. The gate fell off. Dave and I got it put back up. Hopefully our fix will work. If it does not we will have to have someone come and repair it. We need to get the deck repaired very badly too. Dave was going to do it a year ago last october. I have a feeling we are going to have to hire someone to repair it too. I just am not physically able to do that kind of work anymore. Dave really isn't either and he has never liked doing it even when he was in perfect health. Anyway......... life goes on.

Until next time I wish you Happy Quilting!

September 21, 2015

It had been a while since I have written on my blog.  I have been very busy and a lot of things have happened.  Today a very wonderful man was celebrated by a few of the friends he touched. I did not make it to the service. I was told how wonderful it was though. I did do a watercolor portrait of him. I  did not have very many photos of him. I picked one that was taken at the last quilt show we worked together at. I enlarged his head shot, drew a grid on the photo and then transferred that grid to the watercolor paper. 

This past month has been very busy.  The Painted Hills FiberArtists had our "Photo to Fiber" exhibit opened show on Sept 9th in Springville Museum of Art in Springville, Utah. The show will run from Sept 9-Nov 1. 

The Springville Museum of art is really a wonderful Museum.  If you have not been there it is really worth you time to go. We have had such a great experience with the people at the museum.  These are my three pieces that are in the show. Our opening was really nice. The museum did a wonderful job!

I finished a wedding quilt for a friend's youngest daughter. It turned out great and I know she will love it. 

I got a quilt that my mother had started hand quilting finished and still have one more of her's to do.

I finished two quilts for Robin W.

Three for Charm. I only photoed 2.

My husband and I have been in Moab for 4 days. It was his 40th high school reunion. We both graduated from Grand County Highs School in Moab, Utah. I in 74 and he in 75. We had a wonderful time. We went had fun at a tail gate party, then went to the homecoming game. The Red Devils won 62-0. I was not impressed with the coach. They scored 42 in the 1st. qtr and the coach only put the JVteam in for a couple of plays. He really should be ashamed of himself!  Saturday we went on a River Boat Jet boat. It is a perfect way to view the Moab area! We had a picnic that afternoon and a dinner that evening! Dave's reunion was so much fun. I haven't laughter that much in a very long time. I got to visit with old friends and get to know some of the class members I did not know that well.  We both really enjoyed ourselves.  Then last night Dave and I met our niece's father-in-law and his girlfriend. Se had a wonderful dinner at Red Cliffs on the colorado river. The restaurant and cabins are located on what was once White's ranch. It is a sight where a lot of the old John Wayne western movies were filmed.

It was a wonderful few days. I also took my quilt patterns to a wonderful quilt shop "It's Sew Moab" located in Moab, Utah. I am glad to be back in my own space though! Now it is time to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be another busy day. Dave goes back to work on Wednesday. 

That fills you in on all I have been doing since my last post. 

Happy Quilting  

Judy E's quilt.....

It has been a very busy day. I finished Judy's quilt. I had some tension issues and had to pick a few areas out and re-quilt. That sure is frustrating. But I am very happy with the final product and I think she will be very happy also.  I did not have Superior Thread the right color.  We wanted a flat thread and I had the perfect color in another brand. I had tension issues with one bobbin. I am guessing I did not get it wound perfectly. Anyway..... I had to do a little picking and re-quilting. I could had let it pass, but I just don't like to let things go out that are not as good as I can do them.