Point #3 and Point #4

This is a continuation of a post I started the other day ... here's a refresher of what I wrote:
This is a thimble-ful of information of all I have done in the last week or so ... quilt four customer quilts; teach a class; work at The Country Loft; help a sweet friend finish a quilt she started two years ago for her mom; dorm marathon shop with my daughter (twice!); bake my brains out in the high heat from the last few days; help son work out heavy life issues ... on top of my normal life!

I was explaining how I choose to see all this ...

Point #3.  Working sometimes is a bad word ... even working at a place you love ... but ... I love my job!  Thank goodness I have a job ... a place that I can go and be myself, that I can create and that I get to meet interesting people that share the same passion I do.  The people I work with are wonderful ... my buddy Mindy and I have the joy of working together again as we are creating a new block of the month for next year!!  Would you like to know what it is?  It's Jan Patek's new block of the month, Pine Tree Ridge ...

How cute is that?  The Country Loft is offering it as a block of the month starting in January ... never done a B.O.M with the store before?  It's so much fun ... the beginning of every month you get the pattern and a kit containing all the fabric you need; every month you make a block and then by the end of the year you have a quilt!  A lot of stores carry blocks of the month, but something that our store has always done is try to keep our BOMs as economical as possible and pass the savings onto the customer.  Often you can see like this year ... our Cotton Club BOM we offered for $19.95 a month.  I know there were several other stores in the San Diego area that carried that BOM and they charged much more for it. 

If you're in the area, come into the store on a Thursday and see Mindy and I creating the Country Loft version ... I know you'll love it! 

We did a lot more talking than sewing, but it got done!

Point #4.  My son's best friend is a wonderful young woman named Alex ... two years ago she wanted to make a memory quilt for her mom for Christmas.  She had never sewed ... she gave the quilt to her without the last border on it because we ran out of time ... Alex was making the quilt over her breaks from college; whenever she could get away for the weekend, she drove down from Sacramento where she was attending school and snuck in some sewing time!


Isn't she cute sewing that last border on?



I just love her as she has become a member of our family, and to see how excited she was to make something so special for her mom ... what fun to be able to help her do that!  Her mom LOVED it of course ... even unfinished!  Well now the top is done and just waiting for me to quilt it!

Lots of stuff

... hey, how is that for a great title of a post?  I am such a writer, aren't I ... ha ha!  Well here I am peeking my head in to say I have sure missed blogging!  Do you know I write to you all all the time in my head ... when I'm carrying on about my day I think "hey, this is how I would write this on my blog . . ." ... I guess that means I'm a frustrated writer!! 

This is a thimble-ful of information of all I have done in the last week or so ... quilt four customer quilts; teach a class; work at The Country Loft; help a sweet friend finish a quilt she started two years ago for her mom; dorm marathon shop with my daughter (twice!); bake my brains out in the high heat from the last few days; help son work out heavy life issues ... on top of my normal life!

Instead of looking at all of this like my life is a chore, I choose instead to see it this way ...
Point #1.  I have a longarm quilting machine that I absolutely love, love, love!  Every time I have the opportunity to quilt a quilt for a customer/friend I am thankful I made the decision to buy my Innova quilting machine!  I stand at that machine and work my magic and in the process, stitch by stitch, I pour my life and soul into every quilt I stitch.  Sound a little dramatic? ... well it is therapy for me ... and anyone that quilts in any form, knows what I'm talking about.

One of the quilts I had the privilege of quilting was this scrappy star quilt.  I had a vision of what I wanted the quilting to look like ... dark blue thread, a little custom quilting and a swirl ... I did the first row and hated the way the swirl looked.  I ripped out the quilting on one of the backgrounds ... it took about 3 hours ... the row took about 20 min. to quilt, and ripping out two backgrounds on the stars took about 5 hours ... I decided to try something different.

I alternated the loopy swirl with an outline ... I liked the way it looked so I continued ... I got halfway done with the quilt and decided for some reason I didn't like it at all!  Dilemma!  Do I rip it all out?  Do I give it to the customer and ask her to pay for something that I don't think is my best work???

I stared at it some more ... and finally decided that I was being picky and indecisive.  I have a lot of things going on at home at the moment ... maybe that was clouding my thinking (it was definitely clouding my thinking) and that my customer was going to love the different stitching ... I hoped!

I used a navy Permacore thread on top and Glide in the bobbin ... when I pulled the quilt off the frame and turned it over onto the back I decided I liked the quilting ... that was what cemented my decision.  I figured if my customer did not like it (and I know her well enough to be able to tell if she didn't), I would offer her a discount or offer to fix the quilting.  The conclusion of the story is funny ... she just picked up the quilt today and called me at home to tell me how much she LOVED the quilting ... loved the detail and how different it was.  Does it matter if I loved it?? Nope ... it is not my quilt ... I was so excited that she was happy!  It's a little scary sometimes to know that you are putting your name on work that will be seen by many ... I always want it to be a representation of my best ... but I'm my worst critic ... enough said there!

Point #2:  How many people get to do what they love in life and make money from it?  I often fret about teaching because it is a lot of work ... there is the prep beforehand ... making the quilt, figuring out the supply requirements, writing a pattern, printing the pattern, etc., etc.  There is definitely not the monetary reward equal to the time ... BUT and this is a huge but ... when I teach other people what I love to do and the hobby that has really fulfilled me as a person, wife, mother, friend ... the rewards I get from teaching are much greater than any $$$ I could make ... and that is okay by me!  I had the privilege of teaching three people last week how to quilt ... that's three more converts ... wahoo!

I'm going to continue this post into another day ... after not hearing from me in over a week, I don't want to wear you out in one sitting!  I do hope you're enjoying the rest of your summer ... the long, hot days of August always remind me of being a kid and squeezing all the fun out of those last weeks of summer ... sun, water, fresh air, family ... enjoy!!!

Jammin' and the races

Moving right along with my schedule ... yahoo ... here's a quilt I did last week.  It was so much fun as the colors really made the quilt shine.

This was a strip quilt and I thought a big pantograph pattern would really suit it. When the quilt has such definite lines, I usually try to soften those straight lines with something that has some curve in the pattern.  I just think it compliments the quilt.

I love when a customer says whatever color thread you want and whatever design you want.  I have a lot of the Glide thread in some very fun colors.

 I thought it would be pretty to pick up the green in this quilt so I used a new color that I recently ordered ... Prickly Pear (isn't that a great name?) ... in top and bobbin.

You can see the pattern on the back ...

Well you can kind of see the pattern ...

We went to the Del Mar horse races today and had a ball!  My hubby really likes to go once a year.  Our daughter didn't want to have family time today, so it was us, our son and a friend of his (she had never been to the races before).  We bet on six different races ...  I won $21 ... and our friend won $35!  It's always more fun when you win!!  It is funny how different people handle the betting strategy ... us women wanted to see the horses before each race, look at them, see how they walked, and see how their jockeys meshed with them when they got on.  Some of the more interesting comments ... "I don't like his head being so low, he doesn't look excited enough to win" ... "I don't like the way they tied his mane ... he looks too preppy" ... "I like that he's hyper because that means he's excited to win."  Then we would walk back inside where you could bet, always going to the same guy.  He was a little crazy (funny!), and we had a lot of fun betting with him and chatting him up.

The men did it totally different ... they only looked at the horses before the first race, then they preferred to look at the odds, and read a paper they had that gave insight into all the horses, how often they had run, jockey's history, etc., etc.  Very analytical!

Can I just point out that the girls were the ones with the wins today ... and not the men!  Ha, ha ... no matter, we all had a great time and are already planning next year's adventure where us girls have decided instead of placing $2 bets, we're going to bet larger, and win bigger ... $10 bets!!!  Wahoo!

Catching up ... yay!

It didn't take me very long to get behind ... something happened last week, and the two quilts I was supposed to do did not get done!  So this week I jammed and got four quilts done ... hurray!  Feels really good to get them all done and check them off my quilt calendar ... now I'm back on track ... yay!!

One of the quilts I did earlier in the week was a queen size churn dash quilt.  I've watched my friend work on this for a while, and when she gave it to me to quilt I was really excited.  She wanted a really tight stipple on the quilt, and I was a littile concerned about that since the quilt was so big.  Usually I would do a medium size stipple ... she was right on!  I love the tight stipple and it looks great (if I do say so myself!).

I used an Omni thread in the top and bobbin ... the color is Goose ... I love the name!

Didn't she do a good job?  It's so striking in just the couple of colors.  It was really fun to quilt!

She's lucky because I almost kept it for my bed!  I liked it so much ... heh, heh. 

I wanted to show the back of the quilt so you can see how she pieced it ... she just used what she had.  A lot of people really want the back of their quilts to look nice, and to them that means a beautiful piece of fabric.  I happen to love the look of a pieced back ... the scrappier the better ... I've seen some backs that are geometrically beautiful, but I never can put that much planning into my backs.  I do prefer to use whatever I have and in addition to it looking really cool, I feel virtuous in using up all my leftovers!

I loved this center strip ... I'm not sure what it started out as, but I thought it looked really neat!

While I was out on the back patio this evening enjoying the end of the day and the quilt I just finished, I went inside to get something, and then when I came back outside, this hawk was sitting on the fence about 20 yards away from me ...

It's hard to see him as I didn't want to get any closer and scare him away.  He must have sat there looking around for about 15 minutes.

I was wondering if he was looking at Sophie and wondering if he had any chance of scooping her up!  See him way over there on the right?  I don't even think Sophie paid any attention to him or knew he was there.  More likely he was looking for the baby bunnies that have been out and about in the neighbor's yard the last week or so ... they are so cute!  I hope they watch out for the hawks!

Mystery Quilt

Last Friday night I taught a mystery quilt class.  This year the Country Loft did a Summer Nights class -- for the summer on most Friday nights, we had evening classes ... those Friday night classes are so fun because not only do you get to get together and sew, but dinner is provided ... yahoo!  I taught a Mystery Class last year and I taught someone else's pattern.  This year I wanted to do a mystery class, but teach my own pattern ... after a lot of hemming, hawing (procrastinating!!!!), and some help from a friend, I came up with this awesome quilt ...

Don't  you love it?!!  This is how it came to be ... months ago I was going to teach a beginning quilt class with the design of a sampler quilt.  I wanted a quilt with big blocks that would go together fairly quickly.  Large block quilts are great for beginners because the large pieces are more forgiving than smaller pieces.  I had a lot of the Hometown fabric that came out last year ... I started putting together blocks and had about three or four done.  I got stumped ... something wasn't right ... I loved the fabric, but it just wasn't meshing.  When I decided to do a mystery class I kicked a couple of ideas around and thought ... hey, I have these blocks that I haven't done anything with, how about these?  Well I needed some help ... so I took them to a good friend and she very quickly got me on the right track! 

The result I love ... it looks like there is a little frame around everything in the above picture because my son was holding the quilt and the sun is shining through the back of it.  What you see is just the seam allowances.  I barely got it finished just in time for the class (shh ... don't tell anyone!) ...what fun we had!  I think there were 7 ladies and they all made their quilts out of different fabrics.  It was so fun to see how different they all looked!  I was so busy sewing that I was struggling with what to make for dinner for everyone that night ... well one of my other good friends came through ...

What you can't see under all that aluminum foil is some of the best chicken enchiladas a white woman can make!  They were delicious and lucky for me, a whole large pan was left so I have been having leftovers all week ... yummy!  Her secret ingredient?????  Trader Joe's enchilada sauce ... it is seriously delicious!

Everyone was so excited when they left that evening to finish their quilt.  I was really excited for them ... one of the gals came into the Loft yesterday and had her top totally completed!

Look at Tamara's quilt!  I can't believe she got it done already ... she was so excited that she had most of it done when I saw her again on Saturday at the store.  She used some funky 50's type fabrics ... it's kind of hard to see it in the picture ... I love the contrast of some of her fabrics and she did a great job of putting several different styles of fabric together.  She is a pretty new quilter ... can you believe it?!  Now I have to get busy and plan the next Mystery Quilt class ... if I start on it now, I might have it done by next summer!!

A drawing

Hi again ... I know, two posts from me in one day ... don't fall over!  I wanted to send you over to the Country Loft's store blog ... it hasn't been very active lately, but we are getting our act in gear at the store, and have a new plan to update it a couple of times a week, so keep checking back.

In the meantime, hop on over and check it out ... there's a giveaway going on now ...

http://thecountryloft.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

Accomplishments

Today was a great day ... I don't know about you, but I have this really bad habit of rating my days by how much I got done on a particular day.  I guess this can be a good thing ... it's a motivator; but it can also be a bad thing ... if you just relax for a day, you feel like you're a slug!  Today I had a work meeting at 8 a.m., and I knew that if I didn't go to the gym before the meeting, I wouldn't get there.  So I made myself roll out of bed at 6:30, go to the gym, then to the meeting.  I didn't look the greatest, but my friends didn't care (I should mention that my workplace, the Country Loft, in La Mesa, California, has their work meetings at Panera ... not something I have to dress up for) ... then I ran a couple of errands, came home, finished quilting a huge quilt I had on my frame and helped my son fix dinner!  Now that's a great day ... a couple things I was reminded of today ... I work in a great place ... how many other people can say they love the work they do.  I have met so many people through our store ... and we all know that quilters are some of the nicest people in the world! 

Through our store, I gained the confidence to start teaching classes, and have made some of the nicest friends!  Then there is the whole longarm thing ... a business that I wouldn't be nearly as successful at except for the fact that when you work in an awesome quilt store, you have built in longarm customers!

Here's a quilt I did earlier in the week ... it's just a cute little table runner.  Very simple ...

I didn't want to do too tight of a design .. I thought with all the detail in the stars, it just needed a little something to compliment them.  One of the things I have discovered I don't like is when I have a small quilt like a table runner, if I do a small tight design, the table runner is stiff, and I don't like that look.

I used a cream Superior King Tut on top and Glide in the bobbin.

I haven't made a lot of time lately for my own quilt projects ... with all my graduations in the family and visiting and vacations, there just didn't seem to be a lot of time.  Well I've been working on a block of the month and I went to a friend's house on Monday to visit and sew and look what I got done ...

I'm working on my April block, and in that block you make one for April and one for June; the one on the right is the April block ... the limbs on the trees are supposed to reach over onto the May block.  I am so excited to actually have something accomplished that isn't longarm quilting!  If I hadn't gone to my friend's house to play, I never would have got these cut out and put together.  So, like I said earlier about measuring my day by what I accomplish ... sometimes when you think you haven't accomplished much (like my day on Monday when I played most of the day), it turns around into something good ... it's all perspective, right?!!

Summer quilting

I love summer ... I love the freedom from schedules, from school, from life.  I always think I am going to get so much done over the summer because we have no schedules to keep in my house.  What I forget is that all four people in my house are home over the summer ... my husband works for the school district and so he is out over summer.  What does this mean to me ... I have lots of people around wanting to do lots of things and that does not include listening to me say "I can't, I have to quilt!"  So please accept my apologies for being gone so long from posting.

I did a quilt last week for a lady ... it was an embroidered sampler quilt and I decided to resist the urge to do it simply, and challenge myself.

 The customer did not want quilting over the embroidery ... that is always a dilemma because any outlining you do around the block or the design is going to cause what is in the center to pop up.  So I just did a little squiggle around the outside of the embroidery block.

The small frame around the embroidered block got some horizontal squiggle lines, then the outside frame got some big loopy "l's".  The outside border just had a loopy swirl.

I think the quilting really made the blocks pop, and I hope my customer liked the effect.  Especially when I go outside of what I usually do, there is always the question of whether your customer will like what you did.  I've said this before ... when a customer says "whatever you want to do is fine," their idea of whatever and my idea of whatever could be two different things.  In the end I just remind myself that if they weren't confident in my abilities, they would never say whatever you want.  And if they're confident in my abilities, then I sure better be!  Ha, ha ....  Always reminding myself that I am doing this because I love it and it's enjoyable ... so lighten up woman!!!

Enjoy your lazy days of summer!!

What Do You Like to Read?

While I was gone on vacation I didn't do too much playing around on my computer.  I loved the freedom of not feeling connected ... just the forced taking a break from everything in life.  I am a lucky woman ... my husband loves to travel and it has always been a huge part of our lives.  I don't know how people decompress if you don't get away on vacation ... it is necessary to escape everything and recharge those batteries!























Here is a picture of a church on the island of Mykonos.  The colors of that city are pretty much white and blue.  It is stunning and fresh, and light ... and it made me want to lighten the look of my house.
This is the hotel that we stayed at in Mykonos.  It was run by a nice couple and they certainly made us feel extremely comfortable and welcome ... something I noticed about that island was how incredibly friendly everyone was.  So I read magazines, books and did a lot of crossword puzzles on my Nook while we were gone.  I didn't take any sewing (I usually do), but the crosswork puzzle thing was fun because I got the rest of my family involved in it ... my 22 year old son especially caught the bug and it was fun to pass time doing puzzles with him.


These are windmills on the beach in Mykonos.  Everyone gathers at sunset in front of the windmills to see the sun go down over the beautiful Meditteranean sea.  The sea is so salty ... when you jump in it is effortless to just bob in the water ... I didn't go in the sea (I'm not really a ocean person), but my family all did.  When we were having lunch after a dip in the sea, my daughter's eyebrows were full of salt ... I had to brush it out for her!  Amazing!




This is a part of Mykonos called Little Venice ... around the corner where you can't see is a very happening area that lines the water where there is bar and nightclub after nightclub.  There is no railing along the sea and when you're walking along and so close to the edge, it made me wonder how many people take a tumble into the water nightly after a night in the bars!

Just some beautiful pictures ... just seeing them makes me relax!  I hope this summer you take the time to find relaxation ... whether that's a vacation, reading a good book, or just escaping to a quiet spot somewhere in your mind.

Hello friends, I'm back!

Well finally home after an amazing trip ... that was probably one of the better ones we have taken.  I can tell you that if you ever get a chance you should definitely visit the Greek islands ... they are beautiful, the people are welcoming and lively, and you will most surely have a relaxing vacation.  We sure did.

I'll tell you about it as I go along over the next few weeks as things pop into my head ... I took about 40 pics or so ... my daughter took 500+!!  Ha, ha ... She has an awesome camera and loves to take pictures and that she did.  I just recently got an iPhone (I swore I never would!), so that was the only camera I used.  I have to say that I love that camera and I think it does at least as good a job as my Olympus.

My daughter's graduation was beautiful, exhausting and emotional!  My brother, sis in law and their two boys came from Chicago, and my dad and stepmother came from Florida.  I had set the week aside with nothing else to do except hang with the family, but the days went extremely fast and I was pooped!  A good kind of pooped though.  We did a lot of shopping with my dad and s-mom, and they spoiled us tremendously.  They haven't visited for a long time (we usually go visit them), so it was really exciting to have everyone here.  The only person that was missing from my family was my youngest brother and his family -- they live in Virginia, and I just haven't been able to get them out here ... at least not yet!

Here is my beautiful graduate ... my baby girl ... please allow me to brag a lot ... she graduated with honors

The boys brought her a lei for graduation and I thought that was really special because we had just been in Hawaii and everyone had leis for our son's grad.

The graduate with her oh so proud parents!

With Nana

With brother



me, stepmom, dad, son, hubby, grad, brother, mom; front row - twin nephews and sis in law

The graduate in her beautiful dress that was hiding under the gown!

Greetings

Just have a minute and thought I would check in and say "yassas" which in Greek means hello! We are on the island of Mykonos in the middle of our vacation. The scenery is spectacular, the people friendly and relaxed, and the food outstanding. I am thoroughly enjoying my family and not thinking of quilting or much else! Watching the Germany v. Italy semifinal in the Eurocup and rooting for Germany ... They're down 2 zip at the moment. Off to a different island tomorrow ... If you ever get the chance you should really see Greece!

Graduation

I now have a college graduate and a high school graduate ... wow!  My heart is just bursting with pride and I am trying to absorb this new spot in my life!  My family has been here for a week and I have had a great time visiting and running around like crazy.  We're off on a trip for two weeks, so I will not be posting.  I have quilt pictures to share of quilts I did in the last week before the grad, and of course more grad pictures!!!  Hope you all are enjoying your summer ... I'll be back soon, friends!

The Kings Won!

Huge hockey fans live in my house and they are so excited ... The LA Kings won the Stanley Cup last night ... First time ever! It is fun to see your husband, son and daughter so happy ... They're acting just like little kids! My husband has been a hockey fan for years and years ... odd to find in San Diego as most people don't follow hockey here, even though the Kings are so close to us ... LA is only about 2 1/2 hours north of SD.  He passed his love for hockey onto both our kids, and the three of them have been rooting for the Kings for years.  They've gone to see them at the Staple Center in Los Angeles many times, and even managed to drag me on oaccasion.  Here is my hubby and son celebrating the victory last night with their own makeshift "Stanley Cup."  Our daughter had gone to bed already, so she didn't get in on their celebration.

Yes, they know they're cheesy, but they didn't care!

Amidst all this excitement around the hockey playoffs (which is what our family's life has been revolving around intensely the last two weeks), I have managed to get more quilting done.  I am finally feeling like I'm getting caught up with my work, and I feel so much better ... I don't feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world anymore!  I hate being behind ... I always pride myself on getting things done in a timely fashion and I considerable myself reliable ... it is one of my worst fears to NOT be considered that and to cross over to the other side!!!

This is a quilt I did last week for a friend ... it's a beautiful log cabin that she started years ago.  I love log cabin quilts ... I love their simplicity and the subtle or not-so-subtle designs they can make.

Look at all those fabrics ... some of them might be awful on their own or in larger pieces, but when you throw them together into a scrappy quilt ...

... you get perfection!  Look at that awesome design ... I've never made a log cabin quite this striking.  I just love it!  Karen likes a simple design, so I thought it best to just stipple the quilt.  I used a 30 wt. cotton on top (I'm not sure what brand it was ... maybe Permacore), and Glide in the bobbin.  All free motion!

And there it is in it's full glory ... I love it!  It makes me want to go grab all my scraps and sew up a log cabin .. I think I will!!!  Have a great day!

A new day (June 6)

Today is a very special day ... It is my son's 22nd birthday! The best part of my life has been our kids ... I never wanted kids when I was younger. When I grew up and decided to get married to my darling husband, I was anxious to start a family. It has been the most wonderful and fulfilling and frustrating experience ... The best time of my life!

Okay here's the latest quilt I've been working on ...

This quilt is such a fun representation of my client ... she likes a little bit of everything!

I did a big loopy swirl ... I just wanted the quilting to blend into the background and anchor the quilt. I think the quilting really makes th piecing stand out.

I used a gold Isacord thread in the top and the bobbin. This thread is probably my favorite thread of everything I have tried. It has a nice weight to it, and is a poly ... similar to Glide, but the thread looks suberb in every single stitch ... top and back. Try this thread ... you'll love the way it looks and runs in your machine ... I believe it was originally made for the purposes of embroidery ... but it's strong and performs really well in my Innova.

Life is a ball!

Oh my gosh .... I am still looking for that blasted cord to my camera ... can you believe it?  I don't know what little gremlins walked off with the cord, but I have looked under cushions, behind furniture, in drawers, in pockets ... no cord to be found ... our little furry friend, Sophie, could have taken it somewhere, but she is not talking!
So much is happened in the past few days ... we now have our son and his girlfriend here!  Girlfriend is staying on vacation for a couple of weeks, then going home and returning next month with all her things. She will be attending medical school, and we have offered her a room in our house so she can work and save her money before starting school in the spring.  Darling son has been having a great time at home enjoying his new freedom as a college graduate.  Has been lining up job options, and doing a little relaxing before the real life as a worker bee begins!  I have been a busy little quilter ... I did three or four quilts last week (of which I think 2 or 3 are on my camera!). Here's the last quilt I did ... yesterday ... it's a stunner and may look a little familiar.  This quilt is for my friend, and it's about the third one of her's like this that she's done ... you may recognize the quilt pattern and fabric!

I had another couple pictures but I am having troubles getting them to load here, so we'll just have to be happy with these couple!  I needed a new cell phone because my daughter took mine, and gave me her old one (don't ask, a moment of parental weakness!) ... so I took son and girlfriend to the AT&T store with me the other day to help ... I wound up with an iPhone.  I don't need an iPhone, I really can't justify having that much of a phone, nor the expense of a separate data plan, but ... well, it seemed like a good idea at the time!  I'm still trying to figure it out and getting my pictures over from the camera to my blog is proving challenging ... not for most people probably, but for me ... ugh!  Anyway, I am happy to be back here with you all ... I've missed my blog friends ... keep your fingers crossed that I get this phone thing figured out ... there must be a faster way to load the photos than what  I'm doing ... still working that out!