August Finishes

One real finish and another goal reached.

A lot of my August goals were steps in bigger projects. But this finish was a bonus!

I saw listed in the Ferry Co. Fair Premium Book that 'threadpainting' was one of the 'classes'....so, I thought hey..I should finish up my Barbara Shapel class piece from June. It is truly two sided...day and night. In this process, I am reminded that I'm not a domestic machine quilter....but fun to create this piece none the less. Barbara was a wealth of information about needles and blocking and dealing with issues related to all of this.

Finish #2013-14.










Grateful to the Walla Walla Valley Quilt Guild for sponsoring Barbara to come back to our valley (she was the Nationally Featured Quilter at the WW Quilt Festival in 2012) and teach a class to those interested in learning her beautiful techniques.

When at Tacoma last Sunday, I got to see the piece she was telling us about during the class. This wolf piece. Beautiful!

I did get my Christmas Friendship Star top completed.

The border was fussy cut to keep the poinsettias close to the center and the darker and only green/white bits to the outside of the quilt. When using a large motif in the border, I like to think of how it will look overall before cutting it. This one ends up almost looking scalloped on the left and right side as well. I used the same repeat on the sides and a different but 'same' repeat on the top/bottom. There is one double repeat left and I hope to use it for a One Block Wonder in an upcoming class. Stay tuned!

Other goals included my Storm at Sea - (Honeymoon in Hawaii designed center). I did get the remaining fabric organized and ready to piece the rectangles (the D/E pieces). I'll only then have to complete the assembly of the center. Still considering a pieced border set...we'll see.

Didn't even pull out the lonestar....another time. Just too busy having a lot of fun in the studio with client quilts and new quilters in town interested in various techniques and products.

I did quilt 15 client quilt tops and now have two new lines of fabric that feature fish! Also a few western themed batiks. With all the interest of locals to learn how to quilt, I've decided to offer my own Technique of the Month series (3 times a month) as well as a monthly class project. Signup for our newsletter to receive the calendar.

Had quilts in the Lincoln Co. Fair and received all blue ribbons but one (red). Also two other special ribbons...a "Special Award" for "KQ via QR" from the Lincoln Co. Fair -not sure what it is for, but have been told to wait until the paper issues information about the awards. I also got a 2nd Place for "Spinner" from the Washington State Quilters. Very nice!!

I've heard on good rumor that my quilts have faired well at the Ferry Co. fair this week too.

"Rosie" was at Pacific West Quilt Show and has now been mailed to AQS-Des Moines for the show in October. Just an honor to be juried into both of these shows. "America, Let It Shine" by Sherry Reynolds in the far left of the picture (the aisle behind mine), won Viewer's Choice and was First in its category.

Here was the best of show "SuperStar" by Marilyn Badger:

 

 

A pretty good month, eh? ....on to the next!

August Mid-Month WIP

Christmas top has the center put together. Now to add some borders. Thinking the far right 'wood' print with gold flecks, since some of the pine cone fabric has gold in it. Not sure about the 'bears' for an outer border.

















Today I intend to have completed 5 maybe 6 client quilts this month...on track to my goal! Better get back at it!!

Design Wall Monday - August Goals

Got incredible news this weekend in the mail! I was getting ready to pack up this quilt to send to the Pacific West Quilt Show where it was juried into and will be at the show Aug. 23-25, 2013, when I also got word that it was juried into AQS-Des Moines where it will be Oct. 2-5, 2013.



Rosie (aka Rosie's BOMb aka my version of Sewn by Leila's Skill Builder Sampler)
Photo Credit: Bruce Andre Photography

If any of you are in the areas of either show or plan to go to the show, I hope you'll be sure and check it out! As part of doing Sewn by Leila's Quilt-a-long last year, I decided to design the layout to incorporate the Rosie the Riveter poster from the WWII era and rivets in the sashing and borders. In quilting it, I wanted it to be a sampler too and provide many examples to my clients of the way different types of quilting can affect the end result. Enjoy!

On my design wall are some cornerstoned/sashed Christmas Friendship Star blocks.


Personal Goals for the month:
Complete Christmas Friendship Star top.
Complete at least the center portion of my Honeymoon - Storm at Sea / hearts & turtle quilt
Get out my small LoneStar version and make a finishing plan ...considering hand embroidery work for embellishments with Perl Cotton and bordering options--perhaps just on two sides.

Business Goals for the month:
As the business grows in its new location, it is exciting to look ahead and share what is on the horizon. As the summer harvest is collected and cooler tempatures begin, we start to think of coming indoors and quilting again. Many of my new friends would like to take classes, so a schedule for classes is developing. If you are not on our email list and would like to be, please be sure to signup here.

I routinely post photos of the quilting that I do on my client quilts at www.facebook.com/kissedquilts. I hope you're following along there since the posts are much more regular. :-)

Based on my current client queue, I am hoping to get 15-20 client quilt tops quilted this month. A couple have even asked me to also finish them by applying the binding completely by machine. I just don't think people could pay me enough to do them by hand (HA!) although I have been known to do them on great occassion for the appropriate personal projects.

Got to keep those goals so that I actually make progress. Just having so much fun in all my quilting endeavors I am easily distracted from project to project. Sometimes it is hard to FINISH one.