An Old Challenge

I made this quilt sometime in 2001.  It is one of my challenge quilts from CO West Quilt Guild.  The challenge was to use the red fabric they gave us, and no other color other than black and white. We could not even use a different color thread, other than red, black and white.  The quilt now belongs to my oldest son, who is the drummer in our family.  To design the quilt I took a picture of his hands holding his drum sticks, then enlarged the picture on the copy machine to get the size I wanted, and traced them to create my pattern for appliqué.
Design-wise, there are probably some things I would do differently now, but I had only been quilting a very short time when I made it so completely designing it myself, without a pattern, was a huge accomplishment for me.  It did win a ribbon in the challenge competition too, which was very rewarding.
And yes, my son still plays the drums.  He will soon be the drumming dentist however, when he finishes dental school :)

Blast From the Past

 I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time for quilting, so I decided to post pictures of some favorite quilts that I made a few years ago.
I love to make miniature quilts.  I really like the challenge of reducing a pattern and making a small replica of a larger quilt.  The large quilt here belongs to my youngest son.  I made it for his high school graduation.  I liked it so much I decided to 1/4 size the pattern and make one for myself!
All of the fabrics are hand dyed and purchased from Liberty Homestead.  I found the pattern, Alberta Stars in a magazine.  Both are machine quilted.

 The quilts were completed in 2010 and they both hung in the Springville Quilt show (shown here) in Springville, Utah in the summer of 2010, where the large quilt won a blue ribbon.  The miniature version of the quilt was juried into the Houston Quilt Festival in the Fall of 2010, where of course I had to make a trip to go see it :)
Stay tuned for some more blasts from the past!  Maybe I will do a miniature quilt trunk show on my blog!
Happy Quilting :)

More Great Friends!

Still celebrating my birthday!  Today I had lunch with Marla, Eddy and Phyllis!  We go to lunch four times a year for each other's birthdays and always have a GREAT time.
Phyllis does a LOT of quilting on her long arm machine for many of the quilters in the valley.  Today she told us that one of the quilts she quilted for a gal won a blue ribbon at the Mesa County Fair!  You know what they say, "Quilting Makes the Quilt!" Way to go Phyllis!

They spoiled me with fun quilt-y gifts, including batik fabrics, fat quarters, buttons and a Quilt in a Cup!  The quilt in a cup will remain a mystery until I finish it - then I will post the final
 product :)


The best gifts of all and those I treasure most are my family and friends.  Thank you all for being a special part of my life!!

One of My Favorites

This quilt hangs in my sewing room because I like it so much!  It is a traditional wedding ring pattern made with 30's fabrics and hand quilted! It just has a nice old fashioned look about it.  I looked to see when I made it and it has no label!  Oops!  I know I made it several years ago.... I have been better about putting labels on since
It is only a wall hanging size - maybe someday I will make a bed sized one.
I'm still celebrating my birthday!  Dinner with friends tonight and lunch with friends tomorrow :)

The Rest of the Room

Here is the rest of my sewing room - just to show that I really do have storage space, a nice big window and a great workspace!
Now I just need to get upstairs and get busy working on something!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Here are some quilt-y gifts that I received for my birthday today.  Some gorgeous wools and awesome buttons from my friend Michelle.  A sketch pad (for quilting designs), some quilt magazines, a Hi Fashion gift certificate, a storage box AND some Jelly Beans for my sewing room Jelly Bean jar from Mike.  And, not pictured, a book from my Mom and Dad called "Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement".
I received other very lovely gifts too - I just posted the quilt-y ones for this blog :)
Thank you everyone!  Love you all!

The Murphy Bed

Sometimes my sewing room has to double as a guest room.  We used to have a daybed in there but no one ever wanted to sleep in there because it was only a twin sized bed.  (No one, meaning any of our kids :)
Mike started investigating Murphy Beds and alas - problem solved!  We now have a QUEEN sized bed in there and, when closed, it takes up LESS space than the daybed!  It looks like I have a ton of cupboard space, but the drawers on the right and the hanging closet above them are nice.  And the open shelves are great for my quilt books and other knick knacks.


Some friends stayed with us last night and their 12 year old daughter slept in there and said, "I LOVE this room!"  She's also a beginning quilter though, so I think she liked sleeping in the same room as all my fabric :)

Show and Tell

 Last night I went to Sew Savvy club at Hi Fashion.  It's always a fun time to see what is new and what all of these new sewing machines can do.  Jeff, Kari and Heather had just returned from Bernina University in San Francisco so they had plenty of stories to share, as well as plenty of new items and techniques to show.  The presented a couple of power point presentations, three demonstrations, and showed a lot of new product.  It's always a fun time with a great group of people.

After their presentations, they always leave time for show and tell from members of the group.  It's fun to see what everyone else is working on and last night was no exception.  A lot of creativity in this group!
I've been a member of the Wool Gatherer's group at Hi Fashion for the past six months, so I brought some of my wool banners (the projects we've been working on all year) to show.
Pictured here are months January through June!  They are a lot of fun to make, only about 8" x 10" and are displayed on a little stand on top of my piano.

Quilt Show at the Courthouse

 After we went to lunch on Tuesday, my friends and I went across the street to the courthouse where the Art Quilt Association (AQuA) has several art quilts on display interpreting Grand Junction's downtown area.  All of the quilts displayed are amazing!  I took pictures of a few.  I believe all are for sale as well, so head down to the courthouse on 5th and Rood and check them out!

I particularly loved this quilt made by Angela Kenley.

The Avalon - by Beth Bottorff

Just Another Day on Main Street
by Kathleen Malvern

Love Your Mother - by Marla Ferguson

Girl Friends - by Carol Wilson

(I took this picture for my friend Pam, who loves this shop!)

Great Quilting Friends

 Yesterday I was able to go to lunch with some of my dear quilting friends.  From left to right is Lori, Annie and Sherida.
Lori made these adorable cupcake potholders and gave us each one!  She is so talented - she can just look at something and then make one - just like my Mom always did!  She used fun fabrics and they all had "chocolate" frosting - almost good enough to eat!  Cupcakes are a real weakness of mine and we have a new cupcake shop in town.  I think Lori should make a few more potholders to sell in the cupcake shop :)

My cupcake is the one on the left!

Annie is the quilter friend who got me started making miniature quilts.  She is very talented at making miniatures and her home is filled with tiny masterpieces.  Awhile back I was able to teach her back-basting hand appliqué.  She made a gorgeous hand appliquéd quilt and her "Thursday Quilters" hand quilting group quilted it on her quilting frame.  She recently entered it in the Montrose, CO quilt show where it was admired by the crowds.
Sherida does a lot of art quilts and is truly a woman of many talents.  She also writes a quilting column each week for our local paper!  I read it every Sunday - my hubby makes sure to save it for me :)

The Quilt Studio at the Denver Art Museum

 On a recent trip to Denver with my family, we happened upon a Quilt Studio in the Denver Art Museum!  I had heard about it from Sherida Warner's article in the Daily Sentinel a while ago, but it was fun to actually see it in person.










You could try your hand at hand quilting. 

 Use glue and fabric and put together different quilt block options.









Many samples of quilts displayed.

Go crazy with crazy quilts!



And apparently up on the 6th floor, which I didn't have time to visit this trip, there is a permanent textile display.  I will have to check that out next time!

Fun Day Stitching

 I recently bought this little miniature quilt stand from a friend of mine - Betty B.  Her brother-in-law makes them and they're really cute!  I have two miniature quilts displayed on it right now, one is an apple core quilt which I English paper pieced and hand quilted, the other is a little red, white and blue quilt that I hand pieced and hand quilted.  I included the picture below so you can see just how small this quilt stand is!  It sits on the edge of my fireplace.

I had a really nice day today at Tuesday Afternoon Social at Laura Pedge's shop.  It's from 11-5 and lunch is included.  A great group of gals go and we stitch, eat lunch, and just enjoy one another's company.  It's always fun to see what everyone else is working on too and get some new ideas!
Today I worked on my Sheep of the Month blocks.  More on that to come!

Happy 4th of July!!

Even though today is the 8th!  I have been too busy to sew, let alone post anything.  I attended a rodeo with my daughter and friends, went and watched my 21 year old son and my 77 year old father sky dive, and enjoyed the 4th of July holiday with my hubby and some friends from church!  I have to admit, the sky diving was pretty crazy, but they had a good time!  I don't think I will be going myself any time soon :)
This is the quilt hanging in my entry way this month.  It is called "Long May She Wave" and was made from a kit purchased at Quilter's Corner, way back when they first opened, in their old location on Main Street!  I completed it in 2001 - one of the first quilts I made.
I am very grateful for our country, for our freedom, and for those who fought and gave their lives to protect our freedom.  God bless the U.S.A!!!!