I’m so excited! I’m going to Road to California this week, the quilt show and conference where I’ll get to hobnob with “quilting celebrities” and experience award winning masterpieces.
I’ve signed up for several classes and lectures and I’m attending with my friend Judy who just happens to live in California and just happens to have a spare room for me to stay! So stay tuned and I’ll post pictures of my quilting adventures.
Here’s a beautiful quilt made recently by another quilter friend of mine that moved away. Camey caught the quilting bug and had to move so that she could spread her quilting knowledge to others (or maybe it was because she got a great deal on a house on the other side of town??)
Camey used one fat quarter pack of Kyoto Gardens Asian prints from Hoffman for this gorgeous quilt. She cut out big chunks of fabric accented with black. Isn’t it stunning?
I love it when my “quilty” friends send me pictures of their projects. This one is from my friend and former neighbor Allison who recently moved Utah. Allison has always been very crafty – dabbling in sewing projects, needle arts, home decorating, cooking, other other wonderful creations. But of course it wasn’t until she moved away that her true quilting talent is beginning to shine! At least now we have something to email about!
Allison made this quilt from a mix of Heather Bailey prints and Sandi Henderson pieces that she got from me. Don’t they blend well together?
For the quilting, she made a template from one of the Heather Bailey fabric motifs. She used my favorite method of tracing the design onto the top of the quilt with water soluble ink. The quilting was done using her Bernina embroidery foot with the feed dogs off. Way to improvise, Allison!
And of course, she chose to showcase a little back art for the lining. I just love it when you can see all that gorgeous quilting on the back!
I love having crafty friends! My very dear friend Janice (the one whom I shared pastries with yesterday) made me this beautiful cross-stitched picture. It is perfect for my kids’ jungle themed bathroom. She painstakingly formed each stitch by hand with multiple thread variations and intricate shading. Her handy hubby made the decorative frame.
In exchange, I made her this intricately quilted and appliqued wall-hanging for her home. I machine blanket stitched around the edges of each applique piece with matching thread. Then I echo quilted the backgrounds with metallic thread and added a double cable quilting design to frame the border. Special friends deserve special quilts!
Today Jason and I met some friends in Paris. (The famous hotel in Las Vegas, not the city). They introduced us to this fantastic bakery serving authentic French pastries. We started off with crepes for brunch followed by an assortment of yummy fruit tarts and crispy croissant treats.
Imagine my surprise when I came across an assortment of aprons in the shop made from material I used to carry. My favorite was a Paris Cafe themed fabric produced by Michael Miller several years ago (that sold out quickly and is now out of print). There were also some aprons sewn from Anna Maria Horner prints, too. This just goes to show that fabrics are for more than just quilts!
Yesterday we had a snow day here in Las Vegas which was quite unusual for our desert climate. The kids had fun building snowmen and having snowball fights.
When I made my snowballs, I looked closely at the snow and was amazed at how much it resembled the consistency of quilt batting. No wonder crafters use batting in winter scenes to represent the snow! It looks just like fluff!
Before the snow melted we were able to make yummy snowcones gathered from the fresh clean snow. What a fun morning!
For 2011 I resolve NOT to make any new resolutions! I will however, try to sew more, hang with my kids more, and stress less.
Here are some pictures of a couple of quilts I finished recently using charm squares, embellished with some alphabet applique.
I made this quilt using very boyish plaids, tiny 1 inch setting squares and fusible applique for the letters. It’s about 36″ x 46″.
I just let the letters lie casually on each fabric square so I didn’t have to be too precise on placement.
I used my favorite moon stencil for the border – check out earlier posts for a closeup look using the same quilt design.
I used one Moda Charm Pack in girl colors for this cute quilt:
Just like the blue quilt above, I enlarged a computer font and made my own stencils for the lettering, placing them haphazardly on the background charms to give it a more whimsical look.
This quilt measures about 32″ x 36″ – perfect for a snuggly baby on the go!
My local quilting guild has encouraged its members to complete 12 projects this year – one for every month. These won’t count for 2011 but just looking at them is getting me excited to start my new projects. If I complete my goal, I’ll be rewarded with a gift certificate to a local quilt shop.
Hey – even though I run my own quilt store, it’s still fun to go shopping somewhere else!
We had such a fun Christmas that I wanted to write about it. For starters, it was a “Toy Story Christmas” at the in-laws this year. In order to find our gifts, we had to dress up as the Toy Story characters and go on a scavenger hunt with clues leading the way. My mother in law & sister in law sewed some simple cowboy themed costumes and gathered supplies that transformed our family into the Toy Story characters – Barbie, Mr. Potato Head, Woody, Jessie, Army Guys and of course, Buzz Lightyear!
Now we have costumes for next Halloween!
We had a fun time with my side of the family as well. As you can see from the mess it was quite a party!
For the younger kids and friends, it was a “DS Video Game Christmas”. And my oldest son looks like he could be doing a photo shoot marketing Apple products. What a fun Christmas!
With the release of Amy Butler’s newest line Soul Blossoms, I thought it would be fun to do a spotlight on this prolific designer. 
I first met her a few years ago at Quilt Market and was immediately impressed with her persona and her fabrics. (As well as the fact that she is a lot taller than me!!)
Here’s what Amy Butler has to say about Soul Blossoms, in her own words:
“I wanted to create a visual story to share my wonderful experiences while traveling to India. It’s impossible to spend time in such a soulful place and not be inspired by the culture, rich colors, amazing textiles, and ornate architecture.I was instantly consumed by the heartbeat of everyday life and smitten with the beautiful way people expressed themselves.”
Amy continues, “Soul Blossoms is my interpretation of an enchanted, modern passage through the floral delights of India. Dreamy jewel toned prints in multi-hued flowers and designs – uplifting and passionate – weave together my ethnic inspired story.”
“My three color collections; Passion, Joy and Bliss, work in a harmonious treasure box palette for endless exotic combinations. I hope you are as delighted as I am, and that you find your own inspirations to help your creative soul blossom!”
Thanks, Amy! My personal favorites from this line are the Cherry Laurel Dots and Bliss Peacock Feathers. I just have a thing for dots and brightly colored fabrics! The individual fabric pictures are courtesy of Westminster and I love how they display the closeup view in the corners.
Here are a few inspiration images of what you can do with this fabulous material, courtesy of Amy Butler.
Here are the cute Christmas stockings I made for my family. I used a simple stocking pattern and my mom embroidered the names for me.
I let everyone select their own fabric from my personal stash. My oldest son is more traditional while my younger son really loved the monster truck fabric. My daughter’s favorite color is pink so who says Christmas colors have to be limited to red and green?
Since we (sadly) don’t have a fireplace in our home, we hung them on a decorative shelf in our hall that has just the right number of hooks. And of course our little plush Christmas characters will protect them until it’s time for Santa to come fill them up!
