Purple Basket Quilt

Here is some shots of a Basket-weave quilt that I quilted for a dear friend a while back. We thought it turned out great and I was so glad that her pattern did not deter her from finishing it when things became frustrating! With a little coaching, prayers and praises this little purple gem is going to be a wonderful gift for a special someone!

God Bless Our US Veterans

To ALL of Our Veterans,

On behalf of us who are forever grateful for your sacrifices and service to our country, our prayers will always include you!

Thank you!

Lots of Texture

This quilt came to me with a lot of blank areas to "play" with. I love it when my customers tell me to "Do whatever you want" and the ideas just start tormenting me!

The quilt top didn't lay exactly flat and so I wasn't real sure how all the textures would ultimately turn out. But, I think because of the heavy texture, it turned out wonderful.

MONSTERS!!!

What little boy or girl wouldn't LOVE this monster quilt!?! Just in time for Halloween!

Puff-Heart Quilt

This little gem was fun to work on. Storm at Sea variation with a feminine touch for a little girl. I added in the lofty batting behind the heart for an extra touch of love. The lady who pieced it always does wonderful work and I'm always glad to see her projects.

Hearts Etc.

I'll name this one for my late beloved sister who had a shop named Hearts Etc.
This is a customer quilt that was made with tiny squares and as usual I get excited to see what she brings next. I instantly decided that geo-meander squares would work and she loved how it turned out. It just worked and that makes us happy!

Dancing Swirls

This Quilt decided that it wanted dancing swirls and once I got it started, I was seeing flying bats and so thought of wind blowing around. So we shall say wind-blown swirls! It's funny how the quilts talk to us long-armers and although we don't always hear what they say, we learn something with each one!

Catching Up

The first photo is for example of what can be done for a customer's quilt that has seams that may not line up exact.

Easy edge to edge or all-over designs are often all that is needed!

Fell in Love with Colors

I would have this customer's quilt hanging over my banister just for displaying in my home! I absolutely love the colors. She made this quilt for her sister and I am so happy to have gotten to quilt it!

Love this Sampler

I've always had a fondness for Sampler Quilts. This customer handed me the reins on this and I love how it turned out.

Take me Out to the Ball Game

Customer made the back as pretty as the front!

T-Shirts worn by a Special Someone: the recipient of this Quilt

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Fun, fun, fun

This little quilt was a treat to long-arm! Quilting in the winter months is always a pleasure because those of us who work from home often have that "cooped-in" feeling. When a customer calls with a new quilt, it's like a breath of fresh air!

Irish Luck

Free Motion Shamrocks & Loopy Meandering. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day!

Great use of Stash

 This customer always knows how to make such good use of small pieces she saves in her stash!

My Version of Jinny Beyer's Da'Vinci

Ta Da... Here is my Da'Vinci quilt!! I just love how it almost looks like it's moving. I am including a link to Jinny Beyer Studio below the photo. She is great!

I have no idea how I want to quilt this yet, so it will drape over the banister in my studio where I can see it until I decide.

For some reason, I am drawn to 3-D type patterns so I am including THIS LINK to another beautiful quilt that I did called Labyrinth Walk designed by Christopher Florence.

Here is the LINK to Jinny Beyer Studio where she has tons of awesome information and eye candy and just wonderful everything!

Thanks for visiting!

I took on a challenge sort of spontaneously and am anxious for the project to be finished because I'm ready to move on to something a bit more simple. You know how it goes when you see a pattern that wows you in the picture and you're sure no one you know has seen it before so you just have to make one? Well that was me when I saw this Jinny Beyer quilt. It's called Da'Vinci and I just loved the way hers looked as though it was moving on my computer screen. The pattern was free so I down-loaded it, then with a list in hand I drove to my favorite quilt shop. I must have drove those girls nuts when I was deciding on the fabric choices. I had to have purples because they are favorites of a special someone who will be reaching an important milestone in May of this year. I had to have seven. Determination prevailed and these are the colors that I walked away with! I can't thank those girls enough for their patience.

Next came the measuring twice and cutting once part! A bit tedious, but hey, we LOVE Jinny Beyer quilts! This picture shows how I maintained some serious organization.

When the instructions mention being precise in both your cutting and your 1/4" seams; they mean "precise"! The pattern is well written and I didn't have any problems with the order or anything. For an awesome design, it really isn't too difficult and watching it all come together was a bit exciting. The smaller of the pieces and the rows were a tiny bit frustrating only because the are just tricky to handle and if I ever make this again, I will probably do a lot more back-stitching to hold those tiny parts together better when assembling in those tiny tricky areas.
This picture shows pinning together where the seams meet. I wish I had shown the smallest 3/4" pieces so you can see what I mean. You should get the idea anyway.

And ironing my seams all in one direction and then the opposite direction in the next row was very helpful. The instructions were very detailed in giving tips as well as showing diagrams and giving labeling tips.

It was already too dark to get a good photo of the complete top. I'm still contemplating adding on to make it larger, but will try to make time in tomorrow to include the photo.

Here's to a New Year!

Wow, how time flies when your... having fun?... Quilting?... Celebrating Holidays & Family?...

Whatever time of year it may be, I always find myself in awe of how much time passes between certain activities or projects that I may have put off for one reason or another. I could easily be diagnosed with ADD because it doesn't seem to matter how many projects or activities that I have in progress or dream of doing, I still am thinking about at least ten more as I am doing the other ten!!! Although I am a great multi-tasker, I tell my husband that if I could hire a number of people to do all the physical parts of all the creative projects I'd like to accomplish, I could probably become wealthy!

This year, I am going to TRY and stay on course with keeping with my creative tools and supplies organized. I am far more productive when I can find what I am looking for and when my work flow is arranged comfortably. I love when my studio is "clean"! Not that it ever stays that way, but I get a bit of refreshed outlook when I start my day's work with a neat and tidy atmosphere. Minimizing my variety of projects is also something that I feel I should work on. Instead of twenty different so-so items, stick with five really great ones and concentrate on perfecting those. I realize how personalizing products is huge with a lot of customers looking for that special gift item, so am hoping that I can stream-line a few ideas on ways to do that.

I am looking forward to what 2016 brings and have aspirations of utilizing my over-all talents more effectively. Looking for a market for various ideas that may help catapult Keepsake Designs into a more comfortable realm for success. I would like to network with like-minded individuals that are willing to inspire and share various aspects of being part of an elite work-from-home group.

I'm not the only artist out there that worries over finances. What I need to hear is that others like myself are doing very well financially by their creative talents. I want to know how, when and where they make it work. Do you raise your own produce? Do you clip coupons? How and where do you cut back in order for you to be able to work from home? And time management issues; another great topic of discussion!

No matter how quickly time does pass, I believe that if you are doing what you love, you're doing the right thing. Enjoy every moment and share what makes you happy!