Thursday, August 23, 2012

Back at last

At long last, I am back. Been busy as a bee.

Big news is that I have signed on with ARBEE Designs as a designer and am in the process of writing my very first quilt pattern! Thanks so much to Ruth Blanchett for affording me this opportunity!

http://www.arbeedesigns.com/

Check out the site. Lots of neat stuff there and one of these days, my pattern will be there too!

Whew, there is a lot to know. I can design all day long but writing and illustrating those designs is another ball of wax and I'm scrambling up the learning curve.

Here's a picture of the quilt, I still have to make the sample.


In other news, we are empty nesters! I'm happy and sad all at the same time. But that extra room sure will come in handy for getting the longarm out of the dining room.

Better get back to sewing...

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Almost done...

Finally decided on the border for Star Struck Hearts.  I'm excited because I actually used up the goofed up blocks by cannibalizing them...

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I'm considering doing scalloped borders. Any opinions? I'm not sure the border will be wide enough though.

Friday, March 2, 2012

NEW Quilt Shop!

I love new quilt shops. They are so full of promise and potential! Lots of yummy stuff to look at and enjoy.

Ya know, until I had my own business, I really didn't give a lot of thought to how important it was to support my local quilt shops. I guess I thought "well, they'll always be there". Not true. In the last few years, no fewer than 5 quilt shops have closed their doors here in San Diego County and that is really sad. Quilters, lets make a point of getting out there and supporting them. I'd hate to think that we would get to a point where we didn't have a place to go meet, sew, take classes, fellowship and most of all see, feel, touch and BUY the latest fabrics. Check out these pictures from Grand Country Quilters in San Marcos. This cute little shop has only been around since October of 2011 and can't be in the Quilt Run that starts this weekend cuz they haven't been open long enough! While you're doing the Shop Hop, swing by there and say hi!

So many cute things.

The CUTEST little pin cushions you have ever seen.

I took Lois Ann's picture before she realized I was doing it!

More yummy stuff on top of the shelf. Hmmm, I'm a sucker for fabric stacks...

Don't you just want to snuggle up against this pillow and read for a while?

They have lots of opportunities for Sit & Sew's and some classes. If you're heading West on 78, get off at San Marcos Blvd, turn left, then turn right on Grand Avenue and it's just around the corner on the left, in the same strip center as Carmela's restaurant.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Let the fun begin!

Today I began the Applique Basics Series Class at Quilt in a Day. January was supposed to be the first one, but we got started a little late. No worries. We dove right in.

Now, how does this go again?
They cut, they glued.....
Do you see the little green blob in the middle of the table? Those are cupcakes and Girl Scout cookes. They were so focused
that nobody even touched them!

 THEY CONQUERED! All in only 3 hours. See, applique isn't so bad now, is it?

Our class over-achiever even got a flower done...yay Dawn!

Next class is March 21. I can't wait to see the progress!




Friday, February 24, 2012


It's coming together. I have given myself a deadline to finish this because I have already said I would hang it in the guild quilt show and it is still in a lot of pieces.

Oh yes, the rookie mistake. I'm not a rookie. Been quilting for a long time. So when I totally forgot that applique draws up the fabric and you have to cut the background block bigger, then trim it to size, it made for a terrible, horrible no-good very bad day. (A book my kid used to love).

Had to do the WHOLE quilt over. Cuz now not only did the blocks not fit together, I no longer liked the layout or the colors of the setting blocks.

Will post a pic very soon.


And here is my baby:

Star Struck Hearts. I feel as though I have given birth. Still have border to do and sew down the hearts, but here is a pic of the almost finished product.

Would love to know what you think.


Monday, February 13, 2012

A New Direction: Chapter 2

So I challenged myself to use all (or a portion at least) of those scraps.  The plan was to work in only one color.  I picked the color green because saw on a quilty show somewhere in the distant past that all greens go together. Well, sort of.  turned out I didn't have quite the zillion and a half different greens I needed to make it work. Had to add some background.

I fired up my trusty computer, went to EQ7 and started designing. I picked a shoo-fly in a square block. But I soon realized that I needed more color...

Here is the shoo-fly in a square:


I got really bored with just these and so I created an original applique block made up of a wreath of hearts on a snowball background.

Here is the heart wreath block: (By the way, I need a clever name for this block. Any ideas?)

So it turns out after sewing 13 shoo-flys, and 12 heart wreaths of all different colors.....I made a rookie mistake.

Stay tuned...

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A new direction

For a while now I have dreamed of designing quilt patterns.

While on retreat last year in Danville, CA with Verna Mosquera of The Vintage Spool, I confided this dream to her and she encouraged me to "just start". Well, I couldn't imagine how you "just started" but I took it in.

Finally, I thought the best way to "just start" was to "just make a quilt". Of course, one must have some inkling of an idea first, so it all began as the desire to tame the scraps. I have piles of scraps...















Bags of scraps...













Bins of scraps...




So I started.

Stay tuned.