Pike's Quilt

This quilt belongs to a little guy named Pike. He and his grandma made it. He did not want her to cut the center panel, so she had to put the frame around it to make it fit with the patchwork. He also requested that she "send it out to the quilter". Gotta love this kid!!

June's Little Village

June is a wonderful quiltmaker. She is at home working on traditional quilts as well as art quilts. When she gave me this one to quilt I was a little apprehensive. I thought to myself, oh my! What am I going to do here? (Even though I've been quilting professionally for 12 years, I still get a little nervous sometimes ;)!) After getting over the intimidation of June's amazing work, I got to it, and didn't stop until it was finished. Actually, it was rather simple, just time consuming. I did a lot of SID, a little bit of background work, and just let the quilt tell me what I should do. I took it off the machine, and hung it up to take a picture. When I looked at it from across the room it was hard to tell it wasn't a photograph. On delivery day, she received a lot of ohh's and ahh's at the shop.

Good work June!!

Graduation Day

This was a good day!

Maria Elkins Workshop

Maria Elkins came to our guild this week and gave a great lecture on the quilts she has done. Check out her website, I think you'll be inspired. She gave a workshop today called "Making Faces" We sent her a photo and she manipulated it in Photoshop Elements and gave us three copies. It was done in a grayscale with four layers. We were to pick four monochromatic fabrics with a high contrast. At first I thought I'd like to do some grays to blacks. Solid fabrics, you know, safe picks. I did bring them just in case.

I ended up going with blue. When the workshop started I thought to myself, what did I get myself into. I thought we were going to have to cut out tons of little pieces. It wasn't that way at all. We worked in layers. It went well. It isn't as hard as it looks.


We were all amazed at how our photos turned out. If you'd like to try this, visit Maria's site, and check out her DVD. She has also been published in "Quilting Arts" magazine.

One kid down, and four to go. Juice says she wants purple for hers!

Old Man Winter

Winter is still officially a week away, but it has decided to visit us early. We were hit with a lake effect snow last week that left us 10" of snow, and yesterday it started up again. Rain, ice, and snow last night, and now the county has declared a level two snow emergency this morning. I'm so glad I don't have anywhere to go. The lake effect machine has started again, and we're supposed to get upwards of a foot. The snow belt will get double that! Gotta love Lake Erie!

If you need to find me, I'll be in the studio finishing up those Christmas quilts!!

He's at it again....

The big guy is at it again. It's a gift, so I really can't say much more. Tune in at a later date for the big finish! It's going to be beautiful!!

A New Baby on the Way!

My oldest niece Jessica is having a baby!! The little bundle of joy is expected to hit the shores of Lake Erie some time in February. We are all excited for her.

At last count, this will be my mom's 7th great grandchild! Hopefully, I didn't forget anyone!

Here is a picture of the quilt that I made for her. It was an American Jane Pattern, and the fabric line was called "Punctuation", by Moda.The quilting pattern is moon and stars, which I have nicknamed, "Sweet Dreams". I've always told my children that if mom isn't near when you need her, take your quilt, and wrap it tightly around you. You will then have a hug from the momma.

So, just to make sure this new precious one has enough hugs, I've also crocheted an afghan for him. (Yes, we know it's a him. I'm bummed about that. There are so few surprises in this world, I think that the gender of a new baby should be left to find out for the special day!)

May the Lord bless you and keep you Jess, may His face shine upon you, and bring you peace!
I know the joy is on it's way!