Koala-T Longarm Quilting

Walt Disney World and 1st Haircut

2012-02-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

During our trip to Walt Disney World in December with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson, our grandson had his first haircut. He received ears and a certificate. Penny was a great barber! She stuck Mickey stickers all over Liam and they kept him occupied during the haircut. :-)

During Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party we got our pics taken with Cinderella and Prince Charming as well as her sisters. :-) We had a wonderful vacation and loved being there for Liam's first visit!!

Me and my quilting peeps

2010-12-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Me and Ronda Beyer in Portland at the Northwest Quilt Expo - Sept 2010 - She's one of my longarm heroes!

The photos below were all taken at The International Quilt Festival in Houston - 2010

Me and Mary Kay Runyan - we met via The Quilt Show.

Me and Karen McTavish. One of my longarm heroes!!

Me and Sherry Rodgers Harrison. Another of my longarm heroes!!

Me and Dusty Ferrell. Yup, another longarm hero.

Me and Dan Novak, owner of Nolting. I bought my longarm from him.

Me and Dana Lynch. We met through The Quilt Show and have met in real life twice.

Me and Maggie Szafranski - another Quilt Show friend.

Me and Margo - another Quilt Show friend.

Me and Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero - creator of Kaleidoscope Kreator 3 - a friend and fellow Coloradoan.

Me and Hanne-Grete Brink. We met via The Quilt Show. She is from Norway and gives the best hugs!!

Time to catch up

2010-12-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

Brandon and Amber came down for Labor Day weekend. They got to meet Liam then and we had family photos taken on Saturday. I am truly blessed with a wonderful family!!

The end of September we went to Oregon for 8 days. Spent the first day at the Northwest Quilt Expo and then spent 4 wonderful, glorious days at a rented beach house, with great friends, in Lincoln City, OR. The mornings were fogged in most of the visit, but the afternoons and evenings were beautiful! Saw a couple amazing sunsets. It was nice to have a day to visit with my brother and his wife while we were at the beach. It had been 5 years since we had seen each other. There is something about the sound and motion of the waves to calms the soul.

I was busy getting customer quilts done before we went to Oregon and also when we returned. In early November I went to Houston, TX for the International Quilt Festival. I had attended the Spring Festival in Chicago 7 years ago, their inaugural year. So, I was prepared for the vastness of the size of the one in Houston. I stayed with my girlfriend, Pete, and we had a wonderful time!! I met ladies in real life that I knew from The Quilt Show and Facebook. That was the highlight of the trip!! As much as I enjoyed Houston, I realized that my passion is in longarm quilting and I enjoyed MQS last May more.

Brandon and Amber were able to make it down for Christmas. (I didn't get a family photo, darn) It was such a special Christmas, having my children and their spouses here, and, of course, little Liam. Yeah, we're not proud grandparents at all. LOL

This is a condensed update on what our lives have been like the past few months. I will work harder on keeping this updated and will be posting more quilts. After all, that is what I want a lot of my blog to be about. But, being a mom and wife, my family will be popping in here from time to time.

Till next time,
Happy Quilting

Angel Wings Quilt

2010-09-04T18:04:00.000-06:00

Our grandson, Liam, was born August 18, 2010. When he was 11 days old a friend came down from Broomfield, CO to take newborn photos. I can't take credit for the idea of this quilt, but I did make it and after the photo session I gave the quilt to Vicki to use in her photography business. He's our piece of Heaven on Earth!!

Time for Farm Market Stands and the County Fair

2010-08-05T15:51:00.000-06:00

A local farm market is owned by a woman that Glen graduated high school with. I stopped by today and brought home a dozen ears of Sugar and Cream corn and 2 cantaloupe. Rocky Ford is known as the melon capital for a reason. Ü Looking forward to cutting into them this evening! For dinner? I'll be wrapping the ears of corn in foil and popping those puppies on the bbq. Oh YUM!! If I can get motivated, I need to get corn frozen next week before they get too dry. Around here, the corn and melons are picked daily. Again, YUM!!

The ArkValley Fair is less then a week away. Rachel has been very busy crocheting for baby Liam (due Aug 14) so she will have things to enter in the fair. I have a quilt for Liam to enter and a crocheted afghan. I've actually stopped crocheting for him since Rach is having so much fun doing it. LOL Since I quilt as a business, I have to enter as a professional, so less things can go in. Or maybe I could enter more, but I have little time to quilt for me these days.

Summer zaps all energy out of me. I am so ready for Sept to get here. We still have warm days in Sept, but we get more breaks from the heat. The older I get, the harder it is to get through the summers. Now, if I could spend all day quilting, that would be ok with me. Ok, so the sewing room and quilt studio are both downstairs, the coolest rooms in the house. LOL In the winter, they are also the warmest rooms in the house, so I dress iin layers in the house and undo layers when I'm down there.

I will update with photos next week. Hopefully there will be lots of fair ribbons to share.

Happy Quilting!!!!!

May 13, 2010 - Karen McTavish and Sue Patton

2010-05-27T22:24:00.000-06:00

Me and Karen McTavish

8:30 am - 10:30 am - Thursday started with another class with Karen McTavish. Victorian Feathers!! She worked with a white board and a longarm. She had a camerman there so what she drew or quilted was shown on a screen. I like to think I'm proficient in quilting feathers and it was fun to see another way to make them unique. It was a packed 2 hours with quilting and drawing! As Karen would draw, so would we, and then she would quilt the feathers out. I have pages of drawings to continue practicing on. Soon I will be making time on the longarm to play with these fun feathers!

11-12:30 - Luncheon and fashion show. The theme for MQS this year was South Of The Border. So lunch was taco salads. Dawn Cavanaugh was the MC for the fashion show and it was a fun event. Kim, Betty and I met up for the luncheon. Then it was off to the next class...

Me and Sue Patton

1 pm - 3 pm - Sue Patton http://www.canadianquilterschoice.com/ Edge to Edge quilting designs. Again it was a fast paced 2 hours. Two women left after 40 minutes and that is a shame. Granted, not everything Sue does is for everyone, but the second hour she also discussed how to keep quilts square on the frame. For a longarmer, that is very important!! Sue's free motion technique is one I will have to practice more on fabric than paper to get then swing of it. She was also a fun teacher! A voice that carries throughout the room without the need of a microphone. She says she is banned from using them. LOL She also demonstrate on a white board as we followed along with our handouts and drew along with her.

Since we had a little time, we went in search of the mall we didn't find on Tuesday. We managed to go to Penney's and that was all. LOL But, Kim, Betty and I managed to find a few things there we couldn't live without. Then we saw a Burger King and stopped for burgers. Nothing fancy but it worked for us. :-)

Now it was time for the evenings event, the Audacious Quilt Auction. The money from this auction is where the grant money comes from. IMQA offers grants to those that apply and are awarded one. When one applies for a grant, they agree to make a quilt for this auction, either the year they receive it or the following year. I am a lucky recipient of a grant this year and I wanted to make something that would hopefully garnish a fair amount of money to help this very worthwhile program.

Kool Kaleidoscope front

I designed this Kool Kaleidoscope from the directions from Ricky Tims Kool Kaleidoscope DVD. http://www.rickytims.com/shop/product/kool-kaleidoscope-dvd/ It is all made in batiks except for the blue background. I hadn't planned on doing much for custom quilting on it but when I got started on it, I knew it needed to have special quilting done to it.

Kool Kaleidoscope back

The back turned out just about as pretty as the front did! It was very difficult for me to give this away, but I made it for the auction and that is where it went. I sat with Karen McTavish during the auction, but she has to leave mid way through. I asked if she would mind looking at my quilt and give me her opinion on it sometime. She left and then came right back. She had taken photos of the quilt and had a couple questions for me. One was, why didn't I stitch in the ditch on one section. I told her I didn't now I was supposed to. Then she asked me why I was giving it away. I told her about the grant I received. She told me this was a show piece and couldn't understand why I was giving it away. Ok, so these few minutes with Karen validate (to me) that my quilting is good! I am good at what I do! She could not have been more gracious to me then she was at that moment. I mean, honestly, Karen critiqued my quilt!! At that moment, I was so pleased to have made this quilt for the auction. After she left, a young lady I had met wanted to see the quilt, so we went over to see it. I bought my Nolting http://www.nolting.com/ from the company and had been to their factory 6 years ago and met the owner, Dan, at that time. The men of MQS (the vendors) were all involved in the auction in one way or another, mostly holding a quilt as it was being auctioned. I saw that Dan had mine and when I told him it was mine, he told me he knew that when he saw the label and that is why he was going to carry mine. I was so pleased with that! The quilt sold for $400 and I was brought to tears with it. I don't know who bought the quilt. I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

The end of the 3rd day was amazing!! I was on a high that I can't put into words. And there was one more day to go!! Until tomorrow, Happy Quilting.

My Wholecloth

2010-05-27T09:48:00.000-06:00

It's hard to get a good picture, but this is the wholecloth I designed in Karen's class. I still have the crosshatching to do. I'm thinking between the rope and feather borders to give a break between all the curves.

This is the bottom center. Each side has a center and this is the part I didn't do right. You shouldn't have fathers "kissing" as these are. What I am thinking of doing is putting in a medallion in this section, maybe a small heart. It is marked and the marking can be removed, so I will be working on this to get it the way I want it.

More later this evening. Every day at MQS just got better and better!!

May 12, 2010 - Karen McTavish

2010-05-26T21:18:00.000-06:00

8 am - 3 pm - 7 hours with Karen McTavish marking a wholecloth quilt!! Who knew there was so much to learn about making a wholecloth quilt? Not me! I have her book, I have read through it (tho it has been a whlie ago) and now things make more sense. I'm a visual person. I can read an instruction book and sort of understand the how-to's, but when I am in a class and am being taught the how-to's, then they make more sense. :-) Karen explained the process of choosing your stencils, specifics on the borders, and we were on our way then to go through the stencils spread out on the floor. (and why didn't I take a picture of them?) Several of us took our fabrics out to the hallway (again no pics) to lay them out and start marking. Ok, so I didn't totally understand at the time what to do for the border, and of course, I picked a stencil that wasn't exactly "right". Karen came out and we talked about it, I realized what was wrong before she came out. I told her what I was going to do and she told me to keep marking. At the end I think it is going to work. I was able to get my outer border, center medallion and center border marked in before the end of class. We took breaks so Karen could show us different techniques. Some people took a lunch break but many of us stayed to keep marking our quilts. Even with a 7 hour class, there wasn't enough time to get it completely marked. And when you make a wholecloth, you have to have it completely marked, including the crosshatching. So, a crosshatching stencil is next on my shopping list. :-)

Karen's website - http://www.designerquilts.com/

Karen has authored 4 books (of which I own) including her Wholecloth quilt book which has been put back into publication due to popular demand. She is an award winning quilter and is the sweetest person. I have known about her for years (as anyone in the quilting/longarm business does) and I first "met" her on facebook a few months ago. It was so good to meet her in person and to chat with her.

My wholecloth is still folded up but I will put it up and get photos taken in the next day or two. I'll show you where I made my mistake with the outer border. When I get back to it, I won't think of it as a mistake, I will think of it as a design challenge. :-) Next will be to work in the time to start quilting on it.

From 3-7 it was Shopping Frenzy with the vendors. Oh my!! It was the first hours the vendors were open and it definitely was a wild frenzy! It was so much fun. LOL I bought a few things that afternoon and continued shopping on Friday. Between rulers and backing, that was where I spent most of my money. A big purchase was a Quiltazoid. Yes, you read that right. http://www.quiltazoid.com/ LOL They are made to order so mine should be here in about 2 weeks. I can hardly wait to get it and start playing with it! Imagine a large spirograph mechanism that can make 600+ designs. PLUS you can get other templates to use. The ideas are endless. It just dawned on me that I didn't even test drive it, just ordered it. LOL I knew I wanted one and just watched in awe as it was being demonstrated. Many say that the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Well, I think when it comes to quilters, the saying is the same. :-)

More tomorrow. Happy Quilting!!

May 11 2010 - classes with Judy Allen/Ronda Beyer and DeLoa Jones

2010-05-25T21:20:00.003-06:00

8 am - noon - My first class at MQS was with Judy Allen and Ronda Beyer http://rondabeyer.wordpress.com/. The first half of the class was with Judy, lecture style, the second half was with Ronda Beyer using the Judalator rules for curve cross hatching. We were using Gammill longarm machines. I don't for certain, but I have a feeling the one I was using was new because it was like driving a Mac truck, very hard to maneuver. Then again, I own a Nolting so it was a very different machine. But, I did learn a lot and had a blast!! Both ladies were great to take a class from. Now to finish my class sampler!!

Me and Ronda

1 pm - 5 pm - My second class was with DeLoa Jones. http://www.deloasquiltshop.com/ For my birthday Glen got me a set (6) of her longerm rulers. Three of them are made for curved crosshatching but I also found them VERY useful for quilting continuous curves!! What I like about them is that the curves are the same on either side of the rulers so they can be flipped. I emailed DeLoa in March and told her how much I loved these rulers and wished she would make them in smaller sizes. We emailed a couple of times, she telling me that she would see what she could do. Imagine my excitement when I walked into her classroom and on her merchandise table were 2 smaller rulers!! Of course I had to buy them immediately! In fact, she sold out the next afternoon when the opened up the vender mall, she had to have more shipped in for Friday. Now to find the time to work with them!! Her class was also hands on. This time we used an A-1 machine. It ran nice and smooth, I was having more fun with this machine. But, I didn't like that the rollers sat on top of the rails because I moved the machine once and it came off the track and sat sideways on the table. LOL DeLoa would draw out how to do a feather technique and then we would go to the machines and stitch them out. Then we would sit down and she would draw out another feather technique... It was great!! I love doing feathers and am always looking for new ways to use them.

Me and DeLoa

My days started at 5:45 am. (I'm not the best morning person normally) My first morning was getting my registration pack and then sitting and having a few small pastries and meeting a few ladies. With the hour lunch break, I met up with Kim and Betty and we had sandwiches at the convention center. They were ok, nothing to write home about. When I left DeLoa's class, I met Karen McTavish in the walkway between the convention center and the hotel. We had become facebook friends a couple of months earlier. She recognized me right away and gave me a big hug. She is so sweet!! She was setting up for classes so I told her I would see her the next morning. For dinner we found a Panera Bread close by, tried to find the mall but didn't (found out a few days later we were going the wrong direction) and then settled in for the night.

My first day at MQS was amazing!! My classes rocked!! Next up, 7 hours with Karen McTavish....

MQS 2010

2010-05-17T15:14:00.002-06:00

I spent 4 days last week taking classes from AWESOME longarm quilters!! Judy Allen, Ronda Beyer, DeLoa Jones, Karen McTavish, Sue Patton and Dawn Cavanaugh. These are ladies that are top in their field and I came out of each class with my head reeling and buzzing with all the different techniques I learned. I have a number of customer quilts to do so practicing what I learned will be on hold for a while. BUT, in the meantime I will practice on paper. In the quilting world there is the PPP factor, Practice, Practice, Practice. It's the way we work on the muscle memory. I didn't really understand muscle memory until one of the teachers said it's like our signature. Our signature is uniform because of muscle memory. We don't think about it when we sign our signature, it comes naturally. The same happens with anything you do with repetition. I never thought of why my quilted feathers were getting easier to make, now I understand it.

And, of course, I am sitting at the shop with no pictures here to upload. But, as I update this week, I will be adding some photos.

So, do you have a passion? Mine used to be crocheting. My great grandmother taught me to crochet when I was 14. She came over to the states from Germany when she was 16. She was a wonderful woman!! For everything I make, I send up a special thank you to her. I still enjoy crocheting, but quilting on the longarm is much easier on my wrist and arms. I also feel privileged to now be able to quilt for others and make an earning from it.

I feel as if I am still trying to catch up on rest from last week. It's probably good that I'm at the shop this afternoon or I would crawl into bed and take a nap. LOL Hopefully photos will follow in the next couple of days.

Happy Quilting!!

The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt

2010-03-31T12:38:00.012-06:00

When we went for our anniversary weekend, I knew I needed to find fabric for this quilt. There are 5 of us that are going to make this quilt. Each of us have a list of blocks we will be doing, and we will make 5 of each block. We keep one and everyone else gets one. This way we don't make each and every 111 blocks ourselves. Each person will make 1 block a month and it will take us almost 2 years to complete the swap. These are the ones I bought for this project. We went to Harriet's Treadle Arts in Wheat Ridge, CO where I got these civil war reproduction fat quarters and thread. I LOVE Presencia thread!!

Than there was a stop at High Country Quilts in Coloroado Sprgs where I got a yard of Jo Morton ladies head fabrics and a bundle of 15 Jo Morton fat quarters. Such yummy fabric!! I took a couple of classes with Jo 4 years ago. Her mom was with her and we had some time when we were able to sit and chat. What a sweet lady!! Her passion is for civil war era fabrics and quilts and she specialized in miniatures. What fun these are going to be to play with!!

We have a really great mechanic who has gone above and beyond a few times. I've thought of making him a wallhanging for his office area and when I saw this fabric at HCQuilts, I thought it would be perfect. The quilt will be simple so that the focus fabric pops. The lady that was cutting my fabric said they just got this in last week and have sold quite a bit of it already. Hmmm, could that be because racing season has started? Ü

I also found this beautiful birdhouse fabric! So, I picked up 4 coordinating fabrics to go with it. The quilt will be simple as I will use the birdhouses as the focus and use the colors to add accent. I have an idea of what I want to do.

There is nothing more tranquil then to give a quilter new fabric!! I have no quilt shop here within an hours drive, so when I get to a quilt shop every 6 months or so, I'm like a kid in a candy shop. LOL

Happy Spring

2010-03-31T10:48:00.010-06:00

We just got back from a long weekend away for a little belated anniversary. Wow, 30 years!! It doesn't seem possible until I think of all that has transpired during this time span. We spent Friday evening and Saturday morning with Brandon and Amber up in Greeley. Ok, so why didn't I take any photos? No idea. Saturday we went down to Denver and did a little fabric shopping (Glen is such a dear!!!) and topped the evening off with having dinner with Joy and Jim, dear friends of mine in Arvada. Then we drove down to Colorado Springs for a few days. Sunday was Disney on Ice at the World Arena, then dinner across the road at Outback. The day was very relaxing!! Monday we spent the day with Glen's brother and wife, got back to the motel at 2:30 am! Ok, so are we thinking we are youngsters again!! Tuesday was another quilt shop, lunch at Red Top and then home. Rachel and Mike stayed at the house to take care of the animals for us. That really helped to make it possible for us to have the time away.

Now, as Easter will be here in a couple of days, I thought I would share a wallhanging I made a couple of years ago. It was a challenge piece for the Pueblo Quilt Expo. The them was "Memories", of which the word "memory" or "memories" had to be used. This is what I did with the fabric that was included. For me, my own families memories are holidays and birthdays. Since the Expo is always close to Easter, my thoughts went to Easter. This didn't win anything, but that didn't matter to me. I don't make things to win ribbons (tho they are always nice!! Ü). I make what I like, otherwise why bother. Ü

Now, will someone please tell me where the time goes? I have been very busy with quilting, so I'm certainly not going to complain!! I also hate the first of the year because it means it's time to get taxes done and I hate that. That is when having your own business bites. You would think after 27 years it wouldn't "hurt" so much. Oh well, taxes and death, you can't avoid them, and I'd rather pay the taxes than deal with death, so that is my positive thought for today! Ü

It's already the middle of January

2010-01-19T19:45:00.002-07:00

It seems I get more involved in more things and forget to keep up with some of them, my blog included. As I sit here in my recliner, typing on my netbook, Glen is sitting in his recliner playing on his laptop. Boy, aren't we a pair. LOL

It has been a couple of busy months, but that doesn't seem like any kind of new news around here anymore. We got a family picture at Thanksgiving, but that photo is on the desktop, so I will add another blog with photo later. :-)

For Christmas, it was great to have our kids all here. We did get a special, early Christmas present December 7th when Rachel and Mike told us they are expecting!! There is only one Dr in town that is taking new OB patients but Rach can't get in to see him until January 27th, so we are still waiting for a due date. I think we are all waiting for a due date!!!!

We have had some cold temps this winter, but very little moisture. We did have a sort of White Christmas, only because there was a little snow on the ground Christmas day. Not enough to cover the ground, so it wasn't a pretty White Christmas. Our snowiest months are March and April, and hopefully we will get some moisture to get us into spring. We aren't missing the mud that comes with the moisture tho. LOL

With a baby coming, Rachel and Mike will be postponing their move for a while. We aren't going to complain! It will be nice to have a grandbaby to spoil for a while!! :-)

I was quite busy with quilting until New Years. Then I had a little break to get back into the swing of things. I always seem to need a couple of weeks to come down from all the high of the holiday activites. I have done some quilting, but mostly for me on small things. I have a customers quilt I will put on the frame in 2 days and another new customer/friend is sending me 2 to quilts from Montana. I'm very excited to quilt these for her!!

My next blog will be made from the desktop, then I can add photos!!!! LOL
Until then, Happy Quilting!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T12:40:00.004-07:00

Where does the time go? It seems to slip past me these days. And with Christmas just 4 weeks away, I know my plate will be overflowing. But, that is a good thing. I have done some online shopping and maybe I am odd, but I find joy in searching for the best prices, putting them in my cart and then waiting to see if the prices drop. LOL Today, one of them I finally decided to go ahead and check-out as I think the prices were going to get as low as they were going to. And if not, that is ok, some shopping is done. Oh, and FedEx brought one present today, so time to start hiding. LOL

I'm so thankful for all of my family and friends. Everyone touches my life in a unique way and I'm so grateful for them.

Wedding picture cd's are here. Just about done organizing and labeling them. Hopefully I will get them posted onto webshots in a day or two and then next week I will get pictures taken of how our Christmas comes along. This will be the last year we will have the kids all home for Christmas for some time, so I'm going to try to relax and enjoy this next month as much as I can. If they want something baked, I will bake it. If they want something decorated, I will decorate it. It is all about my family, and especially my kids this Christmas.

Glen, Rachel, Mike, Kelly and Brandon. Amber wasn't able to get off of work for the wedding. We are hoping to get a family photo on Thanksgiving.

Houston Quilt Festival

2009-10-13T10:04:00.004-06:00

Oh, I've been sitting, green with envy, this whole past week. All these wonderful quilters have been in Houston for Market, which ended yesterday. Tomorrow starts off the International Quilt Festival. Oh, how I wish I were there!! Imagine, all that fabric, the gadgets, the designers... all that eye candy!! I am going to Overland Park, KS in May for MQS, a longarm convention. So, I keep telling myself right now that that is what I'm saving my $$ for. Ü

I have gotten caught up on my customers quilts. Ü I have several to do for friends as customer quilts do come in. They aren't talking to me much (the quilts, not the friends) so I'm not sure how to quilt them. In the meantime, I need to get back to making a baby quilt as the shower is coming up the end of the month.

Fall has arrived!! I love this time of year!! We had a drizzling mist the other night, had a sheet of ice on the car Saturday. Today Ricky Tims posted on Facebook that his new Christmas CD will be available soon. If you want to hear samples of the songs, here is the link. http://www.christmasinasmalltown.com/ I'm anxiouly waiting to hear when it will be released. The samples are really nice!!

Today is a perfect day for stew, homemade rolls and apple pie. So, this is short and sweet as I need to get busy. My house is going to smell so good in a couple of hours!!!

Happy Fall!!

Kelly

Fall is in the air

2009-09-18T14:27:00.003-06:00

Those that know me, know I don't do well with the heat. I am so looking forward to Monday when the temps will be in the 60's! YAY!!

Last Friday, 3 of us drove up to Boulder, stopped at a couple quilt shops and stayed the night. On Saturday we attended 2 tapings for The Quilt Show. http://www.thequiltshow.com/ What a wonderful day that was! I wish I could post who the guests were, but until they are posted on their website, my lips must remain sealed. I always find inspiration when we go to a taping, even if the guests technique isn't something I personally would do.

Rachel left Monday morning for New York. She helped a friend drive there. Devin's husband is returning state side from Iraq soon and he will be stationed at Ft Drum. They got there in time to sign the lease Wednesday and had all yesterday to relax and enjoy one anothers company. She is now past security and will be bording here plane shortly. Glen and I will be going up to get her in Colorado Springs. On the way, must stop at Hobby Lobby in Pueblo and Joann's in Colorado Spgs. Ü

Our guilds quilt show is tomorrow. We had a really good write up on it in the paper Wednesday! There is also Airport Fun Days tomorrow with an old car show. I saw a few of the cars in the Holiday Inn parking lot a bit ago. I told Glen he HAS to go!! He has to take pics for me so I can "see" the cars too. Maybe I need to make him a drool bib? LOL

Rachel sent this picture to Glen this morning. Mostly for the Harley's, but isn't the scenery pretty too!? She said the leaves are changing and she took pics. I'm anxious to see them. Maybe there will be inspiration for a new quilt in them. Ü

Till next time, Happy Quilting!!

Kelly

Wedding quilt and Bridal Shower wallhanging

2009-09-10T17:49:00.006-06:00

In March I posted a picture of the fabric for Rachel and Mike's wedding quilt, the pattern is "Trip Around The World". I finished it a few days before the wedding. Our guild's quilt show is Sept 19th so she told me to hang onto it until then or I may not get it back. LOL I really wish I would have thought to have had it hanging for her wedding reception.

Rachel wanted hearts for the quilting, so this is what I did. She loves it! It's a California King, so quite large. It will definitely keep them warm, wherever they are.

For Rachel's Bridal shower I made her a wallhanging. I'm hoping she will let me borrow it for the quilt show. Ü These are a couple projects I worked on for the wedding, more blogs to follow with more that I did.

The red and pink fabric Rachel picked out when we had gone to Coloado Springs in April to pick up her wedding gown. We had no idea what we were going to use it for, but they were her colors and the rose print added to it.

2009-09-09T10:23:00.005-06:00

Where have the past few months gone? Ok, I'm not complaining because I don't like the summer heat and I'm really glad we are now in the second week of September. Our temps are still reaching the 90's, but I know these days will be fewer and fewer. It seems like just a few weeks ago it was still light out at 9 pm, and I noticed yesterday at 7:20 the sun was down. Fall is around the corner and I'm thrilled. Ü

We spent much of the summer preparing for Rachel's wedding. A friend came down from Denver to take photos for us and she brought another photography buddy with her. Vicki and Julie have the same model cameras and they took hundreds of pictures. Ü Vicki has sent us a teaser....

I am not working on customer quilts that had been put on the back burner starting a month before the wedding. I had a lot of quilting to do for the wedding and that kept me busy in itself. I did manage to get everything done that was planned, plus an extra one I threw in, and I was thrilled with that. But, the week after the wedding I had no motivation at all. I guess I used up all my energy up till the wedding. LOL I will try to update this often with photos of what I did for the weddding and what I have in the works the next few months.

I need to get down to work on a quilt now, so I will end this for today. Today is 09-09-09, I hope today brings you some kind of special memory. Remember today is a gift. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't here yet, today is a present.

A break in the heat

2009-05-21T14:42:00.005-06:00

The past 3 days have been unbearable with the temps in the mid 90's. But, today is a nice relief with the low 70's. I'm watching and big storm southwest of us, it's moving our direction. Hopefully it will disipate some before it gets to us as there are 1"-2" size hail stones right now.

It has taken me a couple of weeks to get back to quilting. I'm now working on things that have been in the works so I can get started on Rach's Trip Around the World. I think I will be able to start that next week. Hopefully between now and then I will be able to get some of the sewing room and quilt studio cleaned up a bit. It's so easy to get disorganized down there. For it, it's disorganized chaos, but it's getting to disorganized for me now.

Will post some pics in a few days of what I've been working on. I do need to make a new bag, I need something bright and cheery. Time to pull out the binder with those patterns and pick one. Might have to squeeze that in this weekend.

Happy Quilting,
Kelly

Sure am glad April is over

2009-05-11T15:18:00.002-06:00

For 22 months I have worked part-time at Curves, on an as need basis. So, there were times when I didn't work for a month. That was no problem. Until this past month. Twelve days at 3 hours a day doesn't sound like much, but as soon as I closed up Curves at 1, I came to the shop until 5. So, by the time I got home and did something for dinner, I didn't want to quilt or anything else. I did manage to do a little crocheting and knitting in the evenings. Anyway, as of May 4, I am no longer employed with Curves. I now can hopefully get back to the quilting part of my life. Ü

Maybe I need to start a "to do" list of things that really need to get done in the next few months. With our daughter's wedding coming up in August, there is a lot that needs to get done. I have the fabric for her quilt, and it's been washed, but nothing else has been done. And I'm just ITCHING to start on it!! I have 2 customer quilts to get done first, so those will go on the top of the list I guess. Must work before I can play, even tho quilting is playing. Ü

Until next time, Happy Quilting

National Quilt Day

2009-03-24T11:29:00.004-06:00

March 21 was National Quilt Day. With our local quilt guild, we meet on the second Saturday of the month and in March we designate that as our charity work day. Our wedding anniversay is March 22. This year Glen and I spent the weekend in Colorado Springs and I helped out a quilt shop there. I'd never been to Ruth's Stitchery before but had heard wonderful things about it. Well, I LOVED that shop! Not only was there a wide variety of fabrics, but also needlework patterns and supplies. And the ladies working there were so nice, so friendly, and very helpful.

Our daughter, Rachel, is getting married in August. Our guild is also having a challenge to make a Trip Around The World quilt for our local fairs and mainly for our fall quilt show. I thought we had Rach's quilt planned, but then I found a print at Ruth's that just screamed Rachel, so our plan has changed. Her quilt will be a Trip Around the World with the fabrics picked out last weekend. I told her if she didn't like it that was ok, I would keep it. Well, I've been told I won't get to keep this quilt. Ü In the next couple of days I will be washing these fabrics and will start cutting them. I'm anxious to see this quilt top done, to see how all the fabrics play together. The pattern book is Eleanor Burns Trip Around the World. She has another TATW book, but Rach wants it more a tradional pattern.

Until next time, Happy Quilting!!

Crocs - are they a fashion statement?

2009-03-19T14:33:00.004-06:00

I guess this is the ponder for today. DD's workman's comp Dr told her this morning that he heard that Crocs is hurting financially and may not be around much longer. I have heard and read the same thing this afternoon online. On a yahoo group it has been a topic for conversation. So, my question is "are they a fashion statement"? I know in the past couple of years their styles have expanded from the clunky looking Beach crocs. Well, I for one am not worried about looking stylish. I'm 50 years old and am more intested in comfort than looking stylish. I own numerous Beach and Mary Jane crocs and seldom wear anything else. Even my mom has commented on how ugly they are. I appreciate her opinion, but I am more interested in my own comfort. It's like when someone comes to my home. I sure do hope they come to see me and not the disorganization I have right now. I would rather be quilting than cleaning and right now I'm making money with my quilting, so I see more advantage in quilting then cleaning. When I'm wearing my clogs, I hope others will see past my feet and what I have on them. So, there is my 2 cents worth of personal information for the day. Ü Kelly

Been a long non-winter

2009-03-17T12:41:00.004-06:00

Life does seem to get by me these days. It is mid March and we never did have a winter here this year. My quilting has picked up and I'm loving my Nolting. It's a great joy to take a quilt top and return a quilt to it's owner. I either need to find more hours in a day or manage my time more efficiently. Since we know the first isn't going to happen, I need to work on the second. LOL I've still not gotten into the blog thing, except to blog once in a while on the quilt show ( www.thequiltshow.com ) But, I'm hoping to get better at this. I know a few quilters that post twice a week, and I think I could do that. It's all a matter of time and how we use it, right? Well, for now it is about time to go to my other job and I also need to get my tax information finalized for my tax gal. I really do hate this time of year. Spring is coming, the birds are singing in the mornings and the trees are showing hints of green. I'm not looking forward to summer and the heat, but I sure am looking forward to the colors of spring. Till next time, Kelly

Lost but not forgotten, totally

2008-10-01T14:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I had started to blog and then completely forgot. Now, I need to learn how to do this and add photos and try to keep it updated weekly.

The big thing in our lives that has changed is the addition of a longarm quilting machine in January 2008. I have been busy quilting charity quilts, making wedding quilts and doing several customer quilts to date. I do find a HUGE passion in quilting! It is nothing for me to spend 3 hours before going to the shop in the afternoons and then another 3-4 hours in the evenings downstairs sewing and quilting.

Well, as soon as I learn how to edit this with photos and layouts, I will be back. Ü
Happy Quilting !! Kelly

Dug out, waiting for the next snow

2007-01-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

The week before Christmas we got a foot of snow and 9 days later we rec'd another 30" in a 2 day blizzard. Our little town, and the surrounding small communities and farms, are not equiped to handle this much snow. It's been 10 days since the snow stopped and there is just about as much snow on the ground now as there was then. To the west of us is Pueblo, 65 miles. There have been days when we have barely reached 32*, and that's if we've been lucky, and Pueblo has been in the 50's. Alas, today not only is the sun shining, but the temps are up. I'ts almost noon and the temp is 44*. I finally got my van dug out, so if I do need to venture anywhere, I can. I'm not too hip on going anywhere, as the road in front of our house is ice. Walking 70 feet to work is bad enough, I try to walk on the snow as much as possible. At 48 I don't bounce anymore, I just fall.

Last month Glen and I took a road trip to Florida. Rach is living down there now and we took her car to her. All the while I kept thinking how cool it would have been to have a place to write down notes on the trip. But, internet service wasn't available at a lot of our destinations so it wouldn't have done much good. I did take some notes on the laptop, and in the next few days I'll put them here. Doing this will also help me get my pictures onto my webshots page, as I have been lax in getting them organized and dated.

The next storm is expected to get to us Thursday night and last until Sunday. In Colorado, you just never know for sure the route a storm will take until it gets there. So, we are getting prepared, as we don't know what this one will bring. So far, we have had 3 good storms and a snow fall accumulation of about 56". And no, that is not normal for us, or what normal has become the past 15 years or so. We've been lucky to get a foot of snow all winter.