Client Quilt

Several weeks ago, I received a call from a lovely woman looking for some quilting to be done on a quilt she had made for her daughter's birthday. She had used a longarm quilter in the past, who also owns a local fabric shop, and she was given my number off a business card, because the owner was too backlogged to take on her project.

Now, keep in mind I haven't done much for client quilting, and I don't have a long arm. I told her this over the phone but was more than willing to take on the project. Boy am I glad I did! Not only did I make some money (yay!), but I met an amazing woman, and discovered a new idea for a quilting project.

Forgive me for the elusive write-up but I must remain somewhat vague as this is a gift that has not yet been given, and I will NOT be the one to let the cat out of the bag.  I have a few pictures I can share of the back of the quilt just to show my work. Because I am proud of it. I did all the Free Motion Quilting on my home machine (my beloved Janome MC6600) and while I had a stencil, I did most of the work by eye. And the thread I found by chance~ Variegated in all the colors of the backing fabric! What a find!!!!

Once the quilt is gifted, I will post again to this and show the front side, because let me tell you, it is a gorgeous quilt, with an incredible story. But for now, you just get a peek....


I also have a new quilt ready to go under the needle. It will be called Star Cabin, and it's done in Blue and Orange Batiks. It will finish out as a throw at 55"sq. More to come for pictures on that later.....

Lastly, todays funny.....what to do when it's hot out? Stay cool like a cat! Way to go Lilly!

Newest quilt top

I decided to try a new quilting technique. The Hunters Star. I used this amazing product called the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star by Deb Tucker.  Pretty neat. It gave me the motivation to use some fabric I bought way back when. And then I decided it would be neat to add some embellishments and attempt some basic bias applique. Lots of fun, very neat. I used a beautiful rayon Sulky thread and a double needle to secure it to the top, and when it's time to quilt it, I
think I will do some shadow quilting.



But let me tell you, those mini irons get hot!

I have to admit, sadly, I have managed to turn Quilting into some sort of contact sport. I have cut myself, sewn my fingers, glued stuff to me, and now, I can add branding.  Nothing like a day of quilting to add something to the conversation table. How many of you recognize this mark? Yup, that would be the Clover Mini Iron.

My son saw the burn the other day as it had a chance to dry out and darken down. He asked what it was and I told him it was a mark. "A mark?" he asked, and I answered, "Yup, to remind me which space ship I belong on!". They are so fun to mess with....

New Tops and more Puppy Quilts

Ok. It's April already? I can say for once I have neglected my blog because I have been busy with quilts. And checking out a new fabric store. Well, sort of new. "Stitched" is a cute store that carries a lot of bright and crazy lines, and they just moved from a small store front to their own building. So cute!

Anyway, the last two weeks have brought 3 more Puppy quilts, and 2 finished quilt tops. I think I found a very dangerous new past time. Making tops satisfies so many instant gratifications, but I know it will come back to bite me someday when I find myself suddenly faced with quilting and binding 20 some projects.....oh well.

So here is the latest puppy quilt....same front, different (ugly) back. Dogs are color blind, so it's all good.

Next is my McCalls Mystery Quilt. I have never done one before, but it got my attention. I have to admit I was not fond of the blocks and had no idea how it would come together, but hey, not bad. It was a nice way to bust some stash and try something different. It's a very generous throw size, and I think I will back it with flannel to promote the whole cuddly Sunday nap idea.

And then there is my pretty take on a classic Buckeye. I used the strip tube ruler method (thank you momma for the new ruler!!!) and used fat quarters and broadcloth unbleached muslin for the front to give it a slightly antique-ish look. Not sure how to quilt it....ditch stitch or a random stipple? I am most proud of my tweak to the border. I wanted to carry the design to the edge but also wanted a finished look, so I combined a few left over blocks and sashing, and whala!

Not much else to say. Two quilt tops and a 3 puppy quilts in a little under 2 weeks....not bad! And did I mention I am already cutting out the next project?????

Do you....?

or

How about paint, sew, quilt, take pictures? What about Facebook?

I had to take a minute and put my thoughts in a blog on the matter. In recent weeks, there has been an uproar on Copyright infringement, theft of ideas, and horrid Civil and other threats regarding Pinterest, Blogs, and Facebook.

I am a quilter. I sew with Fabrics that I myself do not design. I use blocks many of us know. I recreate quilts from patterns I have bought, magazines I subscribe to, patterns I download from others sites, etc. When I lable my quilt, I give credit if it is not my original creation. I do sell my quilts, I do donate my quilts, I do give my quilts as gifts. I own EQ7 with the intent of creating my own patterns to make and resell.

I also post my work online, knowing when I put it out there, 99% of those that see it will re-pin it correctly, give me credit, praise my efforts. And I know there is that 1% that may "take" my idea and make it their own. That is the risk I take when I release my treasures to the World Wide Web. I take full advantage of the free advertising that Facebook, Blogger, and Pinterest have afforded me, and those like me that want to make a small living doing what they love, on a budget.

I don't label every quilt with the Manufacturer/Fabric Designer/Thread Color/Batting Lot Number. No one wants a quilt with the ENTIRE back written on. Crazy? Dramatic? Yes, absolutely. But so is our legal system. We live in a litigation addicted society where lawyers eat each other at the chance of a huge payout, often as a result of some poor soul being scared into a settlement because they lacked the funds or gumption to take it to court and win.

I am making a beautiful quilt right now. I am using scraps I cannot name. Many were fat quarters cut at the store so I have no selvages to verify that I cannot use it unless it's for personal use. The pattern idea came from Bonnie Hunter's amazing site, and it's called Pineapple Blossom.

To make it my own version, I am adding a sashing border with applique. Free handed, but it might look like something someone else has done. I'm sorry if I don't credit you, but great minds think alike. I might sell this quilt, I might keep it since it's my first one with applique on this level. If you copy me, I take it as flattery that you like it, and if you buy it, I will have money to make another one. (Just remember to credit Bonnie for the Pineapple Blossom blocks....)

Sorry for the tone of this blog, but as a fellow quilter, and a fabric obsessed crazy woman, I wanted to add my two tarnished pennies to this madness.

Puppy Blankets

Sometime back, I received a "free" pattern in the mail, included in a buy our magazine mailer. It looked neat, and I figured it would be a great way to get rid of some of my older fabrics, the "what was I thinking" fabrics, fabrics that didn't match ANYTHING. Yeah. No. Ugly is ugly no matter what you try and do with it. And the more I worked it, the more I hated it. So I boxed up the partial UFO and figured I would send it to my mom so she could make kitty quilts for her local shelter with it.

I also, in the spirit of Bonnie Hunter, keep every little drop of fabric. Until it's too small to hold, I figure there is some use for it. I had made a quilt some time back that used a ton of sawtooth stars, and I had all those paired half square triangles. I had sewn them together, pressed them, color sorted them, and saved them for that someday project.

Move to this past week when we discovered Blue, our new pup. After the whirlwind process of adding him to our family, I realized how much I had missed rescue work, and how closed minded I was being. Just because I don't run a rescue, or foster, or volunteer directly, doesn't mean I can't help.

Walah! Dogs are color blind for the most part. They don't have much opinion past it smelling good, tasting good, or feeling good. Here ugly fabric....poof! Doggie Blankets.

I have decided for the remainder of 2012, every quilt I make, the drops will go to a doggie blanket. And between human projects, I will whittle down my uglies, and convert them into blankies for the rescue pups of Clarion Pups, PA.

 If you want to help, but don't have the time, send me your scraps, your uglies. For the pups! I will be adding a note to my website and a link on my facebook page for the cause. People get 1 million pretty pillow cases, so why can't the puppies have blankies????

 Post a comment if you want to help and I will send you a mailing address! Postage is a small price for a HUGE help!

A non-quilt moment

Most of my close friends and family know I am a full blown animal lover. In fact, if I ever won the lottery, they also know the first thing I would do (after taking the kids to Disney) would be to buy a farm with as much land as possible and become my own animal sanctuary.

Since living in Vermont, happily married to a man that loves animals also, we have had our losses as well as our gains. And our newest gain is Blue, the beautiful Aussi mix from Clarion Pups, Pa.  I want to give a shout out to these human angels that take the time to help the 4 legged victims of human cruelty that there are good people to own and love.

If you have room in your home, please adopt. If you cannot, but want to help, please support your local shelter or animal rescue. I was a VP for one for 8 years, and I miss it. But now, I can experience the satisfaction (again) of knowing I am giving a home to an animal I hope I am worthy of.

If you want to know more about this rescue, please check them out at: https://www.facebook.com/ClarionPups

Trying something new

So I decided to try something new with my web business.

I am in the process of making several quilts (yes, I do multiple projects at once) and rather than finish them to my design, I am going to make just the quilt tops and then offer the ability for the customer to pick their preference for the backing. Either a solid color/muslin or a flannel. Mmmmm, who doesn't like cuddling up under flannel on a Sunday afternoon for a nap?

Here are the first offerings under my "new" system:

Grand Finale (I don't have a witty name for it). Made from the Fall 2011 Moda Grande Finale line. I will bind it with the Polka dot fabric. Not sure the final size yet, but it will be on the smaller side~ thinking I should probably figure that out, huh?

And then "Spider Webs"!  This is the first "string" quilt I have ever made, and boy has it been fun. Not having to worry about precise cutting. Well, ok, so the background is, but then the scraps just get sliced up and sewn on! This one is going to end up being about 60" sq.

Will post more pictures as I get the tops finished.

Please stop by www.myquiltcorner.com if you haven't already and let me know what you think!

"Garden Path"

Here it is!

Garden Path (named by a fellow blogger) is finished and ready to go to it's new home in Canada!

This quilt started out as a need to make a lime green/purple quilt on a black background after I saw an amazing quilt of that very color theme at last summers Quilt Expo. I couldn't get over how well the colors worked together. And as most of my readers know, I pick my fabrics first and then let them pick the pattern. So, true to form, after I had all these amazing cuts of fabrics, I saw this less than exciting pattern that was based on an antique civil war pattern, and poof! Garden Path was born.

I must admit as this went together, I lost my passion for it, and at times even wondered what I was thinking (and was I drinking at the time?) But once the top came together, I realized this was a keeper. And I posted it. And the cries to buy it were stunning. My Canadian pal Veronica had recently let go of a well loved beloved quilt, so she seemed the best recipient, and being a fellow Purple, it was a match well made.

So here it is, with my trademark stripe down the back of some left over front fabrics. The vibrant purple just balanced that loud front out so nicely. I used a rich black thread to do a mirror quilt pattern, following the dimensions of the 9 patch blocks over the entire quilt. And the effect on the back is almost magical. It makes it a nice reversible quilt, I think.

Bound in one last bright lime green, this is a huge quilt. A nice 86"x92", my machine and I were challenged to get all that quilting done. But well worth it.

Winter Flying Geese

"Winter Flying Geese" is officially done. 68"x68" makes it a PERFECT nap quilt.

I have done Flying Geese blocks before in a quilt, but never as the primary block. This was a fun adventure for many reasons. It was pattern-less, got rid of some of those "what was I thinking" fabrics, and had almost no waste because I used the drops to form the border.

Let me tell you, shoving 400 some pairs of those tiny little triangle drops can be both theraputic and mind numbing. I did an echo stitch in a lime-ish green thread and then did a pretty scrolling heart shaped leaf pattern on the borders. It has a super soft cuddly mint green flannel backing and I machine bound it with a little blue drop I had lying around. Not a bad way to make a dent in the stash. I am posting it for sale on my website if anyone is interested, and the full material contents are listed there as well.

 Feel free to come peek, and send your friends too! The more traffic I get, the more quilts I can make and sell! (sorry for the plug, but hey, I gotta get the word out!)
My Quilt Corner

Sharing a "Mom Antidote"- (Non-quilt post)

I am sick.

I have "little kid sick".  Meaning, I volunteer at my youngest school twice a week, and my immune system has freaked out over the exposure to the collective pool of little kid cooties. Any parent and or teacher knows this phenomenon as the "back to school sick" but since I started volunteering after Christmas break, it's just the "little kid sick". My head hurts, I'm sneezing, coughing, can't sleep at night, sleep all day. But, being mom, I can't stay in bed. Hell no! The house would burn down. My kids would go to school in their bathing suits, or at least dirty clothes, without lunch packed. And the teenager would over sleep and "miss the bus". So I get up, cranky, and send them to school. And since I'm up, I drink my coffee, get online, look at my to-do pile of quilts, play on the phone, and remember all the other things I needed to get done.

So, feeling enough human to meet my obligations, I go to my daughters school yesterday. My nose is red, I sound like I just had vocal cord surgery, but hey, I'm here! Walking into the classroom I am met with the precious sounds of "Mrs Booooster, you'er here....wow you look bad!". My daughters teacher smiles and thanks me for coming in. And then this little one comes over, and taps me on the hip. He's as cute as they come, with a little lisp and big eyes. In his hand he's holding two q-tips, and one of them is....well....shiny.  The class is making snow creatures with paper and buttons and stuff. He holds up his q-tips in my face and says to me,    

   "Msss Boooster, you know what? These sticks are good for all sorts of things...snowman whiskers, swords, and picking my nose!"

And I wonder why I'm sick.

My First Client Ordered Quilt!

At the risk of ruining the surprise, I have held off posting this until today. But I just can't keep quiet any longer....

Back in December, I took the plunge, left my job (with my wonderful husband's encouragement), built a website (still building actually), printed off business cards, and mentioned I was going to start making custom quilts to order, and provide restoration services for well loved quilts.  Almost immediately, interest started coming in. One of the first was a woman I am friends with on Facebook, that I went to High School with. She has always wanted a hand made quilt, and thought to give me a chance. Not having any pattern in mind, or size needs, she gave me her colors and set me loose.

Well, that was SCARY. What if I picked the wrong colors, or made a pattern she hated. Would it be too small, was there something she wanted but just wasn't saying? Oh the decisions. So I did what I do best. I went shopping for fabric. Since one of her colors was Brown, and I am NOT a brown person, this was a new, outside the comfort zone shopping trip. But you wouldn't know it....oh the choices. Like a candy shopper, once I started, I couldn't decide. This one or that one, or both. And ooooh, look at that one.

So I dragged my kill choices home and let the fabrics tell me what pattern they wanted to be in. That is probably my one unique quirk. I find the fabric and THAN pick the pattern. Not the other way around.

After some scouring and pondering, I decided on a little lap quilt that I felt would show off the fabrics very well. While I had intended for the red to be just a complimentary color, it ended up taking more attention. So, I showcased just the greens and browns on the back with a little bonus strip between the two backing panels.

I quilted it in a dark thread in this beautiful continuous line flower/leaf pattern, and then bound it with the backing fabric turned over....who says it's the "wrong" side?

This quilt was in many ways challenging to me. The piecing was straightforward, but the color choices, the quilting in a dark thread, and machine binding (for added endurance) are all things that I would have avoided before.

 Overall, it it approx. 60" square. Not a bed quilt, but a nice lazy Sunday nap quilt. Or something to add a little color at the end of a bed or chair back???

So thank you Mrs. RGF for your confidence and willingness to be my first professional victim!

What to call it?

Well, I finished the quilt top. And it's so large I had to lay it out in my living room.






It's like the Hulk and the Purple Phantom got in a fight.....Grapes of Wrath.....Aurora Borealis on steroids.

But anyone who knows me knows this quilt is right up my ally. I love love love Purple, and something about purple and green together is magical. And man are some of these fabrics crazy.  I have a person in mind for this quilt, but it might be a little larger than she was thinking of. It's roughly 78"x90" or a generous full/comfy queen size.






Not sure what color to back it with, but powerful colors demand something a little less loud, but not your boring old beige either.
I plan to machine quilt this with a black thread, to highlight the secondary pattern in the quilt top. And make it washable, because this thing just screams weekend nap quilt!

Heave ho, here we go!

Quilting? At Christmas time.

Once again I have fallen behind on my goal to blog daily, or even weekly. But I have a GOOD reason right now. I don't have time! Whew....I said it. I mean really? Christmas time....the tree, the decorations, the (LATE)cards, the cookies, the shopping, the wrapping, and in my case, the SECRET keeping!!! No wonder I need naps.

If you know me, you know I can keep a life altering secret. I can keep those things told in confidence to myself. But presents? OMG.....I blab like a kid on santas lap. And not because I can't shut up. Just because I'm so excited to see how excited the recipient will be.

So I have this project I started. Another WIP that I couldn't tell you exactly when it began. I was inspired by a beautiful quilt at this summers big quilt fair. Purples and bright lime greens. And nestled in black trimming to bring it all together. Then I saw this pattern. Only problem was it was made with Civil War reproductions. Nice, but not my thing. So, one idea messed with another, and I came up with this:

It's going to be big. It's up on the design wall. 

So of the prints are a bit loud, but as it comes together, the quiet ones call down the hyper ones.

One thing I like about this quilt is that after an initial burst of crazy cut,sew,press,repeat it's now going together in rows. I lay out an entire row, sew, press, and attach.

oh, I almost forgot......My "new" year started a little earlier than expected this month when I left my job of 2 1/2 years to start focusing on what I really love....Quilting and Fabric. I am currently building my website, and hope to be ready to launch My Quilt Corner store in late January 2012.  I will keep my blog as a way to reach out to family,. friends, and new clients. So keep coming back for updates.

On that note, I wish everyone a happy Holiday Season. I hope that 2012 brings good health and many memorable moments.