Quilt Stories are Priceless

Negativity of Quilters...

First off, "sitting around" in our "rockers" is so far from reality, that it 's not even a tiny bit humorous! We come from all walks of life, ages and genders. So terms like; "old", "rockers", "boring" etc., absolutely does not apply. However, there are many older ladies who have worked hard all of their many years doing for others and are so deserving to sit in her favorite comfortable chair to sit quietly doing what she loves. P.S. we get the last laugh... if you are so niave to actually believe that your "plastic" bodies and shallow mindset isn't going to eventually give you a shocking ice plunge of a wake-up call, it would likely be us feeling sorry for you!

Designing, color selection & process are just three of the wonderfully fulfilling decisions that we draw from within our creative souls. Not even to mention the HISTORY of quilting!

The whole history of quilt making derived first out of necessity for a family's warmth. For the kind of ability to first think of building a quilt for your loved ones and carry out the process in which it is; was indeed gifts with our fore-mothers generously giving to all of us with the same kind of passion.

We are also very compassionate and a large percentage of us are creating our works of art for particular loved ones.This gives us a lot of idea to choose from and often times this can take an immeasurable amount of time and effort to make it as perfect as we imagine. Then in other instances it can be so direct and obvious in our fore-thought that the process just falls easily into place and before we know it we have a finished personal keepsake to pleasantly hand to a very appreciative and deserving individual.

 
 Once our ideas come, we then begin to put our creations into action. Part of this "fun" is that we get to go to these extraordinary fabric shops where we find more eye candy then non-quilters could ever imagine. Often times, we get so enthralled with the beauty that we find within quilt shops that our designs take a turn in a whole new direction. Just because of the overwhelming textures and color choices we find ourselves facing. (This is okay, and is just one tiny off-sided factor inside a creative soul!) We still persevere! We face these challenges with enthusiasm and are strong willed to make every quilt special for whomever is its recipient.

Those fortunate enough to receive any handmade quilt is just as special as those of us who are passionate about what it is we are creating.

In my long-arm quilting business, I get to listen to the personal stories of those making the quilt tops. Each quilt has a story and those stories are priceless!

Recently, I had the honor of quilting a beautiful t-shirt quilt that a very dear lady (and now a very good friend), made for a special loved one. This quilt was for a very extraordinary young man who would be moving away to attend a distant college. The t-shirts were his, from another school where he attended. This was her first quilt!!! She did a wonderful job at putting the quilt all together and her love showed throughout! Her story was about the young man who was a neighbor boy and generously took very good and consistent care of her and her yard as he grew into this very unique young man. The quilt was a gift for him as he was moving away! It was so obvious to me that he had become like a son to her. For me, listening to her telling how remarkable this neighbor was and to know that there are still families out there who raise their kids to be generous individuals was just so moving! I was honored to be the quilter to help her complete this keepsake to give as such a love filled gift to this individual!

So the point of this writing, was in the attempt to articulate the energy, the passion, the love and yes, the excitement that goes into our "whole-lot-less-than-boring" colorful process of creating our beautiful quilts! The same quilts that have been keeping generations of every family's loved ones warm to the core, throughout the span of time.

We love what I do!

Circle Quilt

Today I will finish the binding, but here is the second of the two quilts using the "bright & cheery" fabric. A customer wanted circles and had given me photo examples of a few she liked so I modified those to make her's similar but a little different.Then I quilted each circle different to make some pop and others more recessive. She now has a one-of-a kind quilt for her very sweet little girl!

Always time for QOV!

With the warmer weather and Spring knocking at our doors, I often wonder how I will get everything that I really want to, finished. Then I realize that there are just as many things that I want to do that I haven't even started. Oh, but to be completely honest... there are just as many on the list of "in progress" projects as are on the other two lists!!

I can't imagine life without ideas and creativity!

There is always time to finish a Quilt of Valor for our very deserving service men and women and it is always pleasing to have them ready to be shipped back to my coordinator!

Bright & Cheery Finished

I finished up the binding on Bright & Cheery this morning and added a label to the back. I am looking forward to meeting with my customer soon for that initial reaction! Although I have been sending her pictures of the progression, it is always fun to see a client's face and watch them feel the texture of the quilting when we present it. Earlier posts HERE.

Courtship

This is one page from my Fabric Collage book that I had made in honor of my Mother a few years ago. I thought it appropriate to share, given Valentine's Day is soon. Funny thing; as Mom and I sifted through old photos and came across the tin type photo that you can see tucked inside the envelope, she couldn't recall who he was. Hmmm? So he became the 'suitor'' in the collage just for the fun of it! The fabric transfer of the young lady in the fore-round is my Mother around the age of sixteen.

Ready to be Quilted

Anxious to get this on the Long-arm for my customer. She loves it and that makes me super happy!

Bright & Cheery

These are the fabric color choices for two quilts that I am working on for a client. The weather has been dreary, cold and the forecast calls for two more inches of snow. Not a worry... I have bright and cheery spread out all over my design wall and in my studio! Oh, how this selection makes me love what I do even more!

It feels good to finally get back into the studio and just practice and work on some older projects. I could use a bit of organization in here as well as some new fabric to begin the many to choose from ideas swimming around in my head. It seems the weeks are already flying by and before long I will be wanting to be outside in the garden! Oh, the thought of warm sunshine on my face and the smell of well conditioned garden soil is a wonderful thought. Thankful to be a semi-patient person, but I get all dreamy-like when it comes to gardening.

Here is a small clip of some practicing of background fill that I wanted to play with on a table runner that I started last fall. This weeks plan was to make up a sample book of some fillers and design work, so now that I got that UFO finished, I can start on the samples.

Have a wonderful Wednesday

A Drawing of Caleb

This is a drawing of my youngest Grandson, Caleb. I wish I could have captured his true sweetness but I am also my own worst critic. All I can say is that I did my best before I finally settled and decided that it was finished.

I love this little guy!