5 Friends Quilt

I love this quilt and the idea to have 5 different people create 1/5 of a quilt! Just take a picture, divide it up and have your friends piece a portion of the quilt. It's fabulous!

View of Arles with Irises was made by The Fab 5: Carole Pirruccello, Cathy Brorby, Phyllis McCalla, Jan Bawart and Jan Soules. It was awarded first place in the Art Representation category at the 2016 Northwest Quilting Expo.

This was in my morning email. I just had to share it with you!

Stuck in a Rut?

(I saved this question because it is a question that I have asked myself many times. I have lots of unfinished projects, so this is a perfect email for me!)

A morning email from Pat Sloan, asked the question,

"What do you do if you get stuck in a rut about a project?"

This is Pat Sloan's answer.

"So many times people ask me what to do if they get in a rut about a project.

I've been mulling this over, I even got solutions from my Guest Emily Herrick on my talk show last week (Listen HERE)

Last month at Instagram one question was to share your 'oldest UFO' and then I wondered.... WHY is it the oldest?

Ask yourself "Why don't I work on a project?" There is a reason.

It might be
* You felt you didn't have the skills needed, so got stuck
* You only have a little bit to do and for some reason don't work on it, maybe it's bulky and your table needs cleared before you have room to work on it.
* You actually have fallen 'out of love' with this project.

Here is my (Pat's) solution. 
1. Pick ONE item to deal with. NOT all of them... Just ONE. 
2. Pick a project you know you CAN decide on easily 
3. Evaluate your skills, I'll bet you have them now! (or take a great class to learn!) 
4. Fix whatever is keeping you from getting to it. Clear the table, make the binding, find the floss, or give it to someone else to do."

I LOVE Pat's ideas! 

It's time to Pick One!

BYU Alumni Quilt Retreat

This past week I attended a quilt retreat in Galveston, the Houston Chapter of the BYU Alumni Association Quilt Retreat. It was our 3rd year and, I think, better than ever! We had such a fun, relaxing, sewing-til-we-dropped time! I loved it!

We had a demonstration to show how to make a Disappearing 4 Patch Block and I was very impressed with the beauty of the quilt and how easy it was to make. I have attached it (from the Missouri Star You Tube channel) at the top of the blog, so that you can view it easily. I loved it in the 5" (Charm Pack) blocks and in the 10" (Layer Cakes) blocks. Both blocks made the cutest quilts! Here are some pictures of Disappearing 4 Patch Quilts taken from Yahoo Images.

Karen T's Quilts

Karen's child had a friend who died 

and Karen is making quilts out of his shirts.

The blocks are a simple 9 Patch set on point. 

Simple but so beautiful.

I have quilted 2 of these quilts for her, so far.

The pantograph that Karen chose was Primrose Swirl.

I love the simple, graphic nature of the shirts and the blocks.

It is a wonderful quilt!

My trip to a Baltimore Museum

I went to a Baltimore, Maryland Museum recently... to see the quilts, of course!

Yep, that's me.

Boy, I really needed to fix my hair that day!

 I really liked this Lone Star quilt. 

I doubt that I will ever make one but it is really cool.

I want to make a red and white quilt. 

I really liked this one.

The Crazy Quilt was my granddaughter's favorite quilt.

She has such fun tastes!

The Baltimore Album Quilts were the ones that I actually went to the Museum to see.

This is a beautiful applique quilt, too

But, I especially liked the hand quilting on it.

I was intrigued with the design 

and wondered if I could attempt the same idea on my longarm.

Hmmm, maybe and maybe not!

African Quilt

This is Sheila's African Quilt, inspired by and made with some fabrics actually purchased in Africa, 

plus some purchased at Fabric Depot in Portland, OR. 

The pantograph used on the quilt is called, "Triangle Transit" by Marjorie Busby

This is one of the African fabrics. It was purchased in Cameroon.

It was the inspiration for the color and fabric choices for the quilt.

This is another of the African fabrics. And, this one was purchased in Ghana.

This fabric was purchased at a quilt show in Portland, OR 

from a booth that sold African fabrics. I don't know where it is from but I really like it.

The quilt pattern is "Hip to Be Square". One of my most favorite patterns!

It is so versatile. 

It is a simple quilt pattern and can be used with any fabric. 

These are a few of my favorite fabric combinations for the blocks.

It is a wonderful quilt! And so colorful and so happy!

Sheila Hearts Redwork

Don't you love Redwork quilts?

This one was made by Sheila B. It is a cute, sweet quilt! Perfect!

 Don't you love this Scalloped Heart block?

And, this Heart in Hand block is wonderful! 

Sheila has used this extra block as her Signature Block on the back of the quilt.

I custom quilted this quilt with meandering around each Redwork and in the white sections of the pieced blocks and then quilted Walking Feathers in the sashing. The Walking Feathers look like Hearts!

Lone Star Quilt

This is a Lone Star Quilt made by Karen T. from a class taught by Winnie Fleming at Quakertown Quilt Store. Karen chose to make hers in black, tan and muted reds. It is perfect! So, beautiful and elegant.

She had me quilt the tan fabric with swirls. I LOVE the look of the swirls!

Karen asked me to quilt feathers in the black fabric. You can't see it as well as I had hoped. Sorry. You can see it a bit better in the picture below.

The Lone Stars are made with strips of fabric and cut on the bias. Then the strips are flipped opposite ways to make two different stars with the same strip. I think that these two stars (the one above and the one closest below) are the same strip, just opposite. 

This is such a beautiful quilt!

Good work, Karen!

Quilt Poll

I am wanting to donate a quilt to the Lakeview Quilt Guild (my quilting guild) auction in August and I can't decide which of my quilts tops to use. I have 20 quilt tops in my closet just waiting to be quilted. Since I started my Longarm quilting business, I just don't have any time to quilt for myself. That is the saddest, hardest part of quilting for others. I have tried scheduling time for myself but I keep giving up my time when a customer is in desperate need and wants their quilt finished right away... like, yesterday!

These are the quilts...

Blue, Red, Green and Yellow Pinwheel with Tan Settings Quilt

Tan and Red Lumiere de Noel Quilt

(This is made from a French General jelly roll)

Black and Bright Churn Dash Quilt

Bright Hip to Be Square Quilt

So, will you help me chose by voting for which of my favorite four quilt tops that I should finish and donate to the auction? The poll is on the top right. Please, help me!

Asian French Braid Quilt

This is a beautiful Asian fabric French Braid quilt made by Kathy S., one of my most creative customers. She has such great tasting in fabrics and color combinations.

Don't you love the oranges, light to dark? She chose to have it quilted in an orangey-gold thread (Egypt Topaz) and in a floral design, called "Camellias". It is the perfect compliment to the quilt!

Tulip Quilt

This is a Tulip Applique quilt made by Nelma 

that I quilted for 9 hours!

Whew! That is a lot of quilting!

But, it is beautiful...

and worth all of the work. 

I custom quilted it with echoes around each tulip and leaf and stem 

It is so beautiful! Nelma is such a nice job appliqueing this quilt!

651 Red and White Quilts!

A women in New York has been accumulating red and white quilts since the 1950's. She has 651 quilts! 651! They are on display in an armory in New York for her 80th birthday present from her husband. Read the article about her. The quilts are amazing! 651!

I love this New York Beauty Quilt. I think that it is my favorite.

Her collection makes me want to make a red and white quilt... how about you?

Watch the youtube of the show.