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.

July Finishes

Six quilts!  Yes....5 of them were pure commissions and the 6th was a bonus gift.

An offer to quilt something for the family of a deceased loved one, Jonna, taken too early by cancer, turned into a request to make four quilts from clothing of their beloved wife and mother of three girls.

A tree had symbolic meaning to the family and was a permament memory, so I took that as my inspiration and drafted this design concept. Originally desired at about 60" square, they ended up 54" square based on fabric limitations.

From that, and the two bins of clothing that they gave me, most which was knit fabric and heavy jeans, I chose items that might have special memories to them because they had unique qualities (vs. white t-shirts with no writing, etc.) i.e. unique textures --fleece, corderoy, etc; pajamas; logo'd items.

Since there were four to be made, spreading out the unique items across all four, and grouping for individuals also was taken into consideration. i.e. the college shirts were from the couple's graduate school days but the high school shirts were more about the girls recent varsity experiences.

Warm & Natural batting was used on all four. The border fabric on each quilt was also used for the binding and backing on each respective quilt.

Here are the results.

For Monty:

For each daughter:

 

With the quilting, I tried to emphasize the bark of a tree on the trunk, extending out into the 'sky'(blue) blocks, flowers in the pink/red/lavender/purple blocks, water behind the tree, grass or rocks to the sides of the tree trunk at the bottom.

Bits of fabric from each of their individual border/backs are incorporated into the center of each quilt.

In each border, on the left and right, is written her favorite scripture. "I will still be joyful and glad, because the Lord God is my Savior." Hab. 3:18

I was given permission by the husband to create something for his mother-in-law. Inspired by a design by Ann Kelly (a fellow trip-mate to Ireland last year), I created this baby size quilt to give to Jonna's mother. I love how it turned out. Thank you Ann for the inspiration! I pieced together a set of plaid knit pajama bottoms for the backing and added the sashing and binding fabrics from my own stash. Jonna's mother explained that she always felt Jonna wanted everything white, and the daughter's would say that Jonna's favorite color was red. So, incorporated those two colors predominently with the jeans and enjoyed setting them to look like light is hitting the wall with lighter jeans to the upper left shading to the darkest jeans in the lower right. I've named this "God's My Foundation". White & warm batting and the Popcorn pantograph was used for the quilting.

In the midst of this, I had a commission due by July 3, for a 19th wedding anniversary. Due to getting sick, I didn't quite make the early  pickup requested on June 28, but he was sick too, and it was still well received. Always a fun process to work with people who are not quilters or design artists, but they still want to convey a message of love to their loved one. After finding the right line of fabric, I adapted the design provided by the fabric company to work for the client's desired outcome. The center portions will sit on top of the bed and the borders hang around the visible sides of the bed. Although photos in the blocks were originally requested, the client ultimately liked the idea of a collage of photos incorporated into the label. This quilt is 96"x121". Wool batting was used and it is quilted using the 'Wild at Heart' pantograph. I don't have a computerized machine, so I follow the panto with a laserlight.

So...that makes 6 finishes in July (all started in June!), and 13 finishes so far in 2013!

Mid-Month WIP

Completed so far this year: 13 (the most recent 6 finishes, yes they are done, will be posted at the end of the month)

I can finally show you a full shot of my QR logo'd code (Finish #5). I incorporated my KISSed Quilts logo into the QR code (you have to look very closely). Keeping the value of the burgundy and black were important in order to maintain the integrity of the QR code. Try it! Your phone w/a QR app should be able to read it.

Client quilt tops are getting quilted!

Here is one I'm working on this week:

Another Glacier Star, this one has extended borders. I've done one (without the extended borders) that was destined for a wall hanging, but this one is destined to be used on a bed, so they don't want the quilting to be too dense and we're using warm & natural batting, so there won't be a lot of 'puff'. In the busy fabric areas, you can't see the quilting very well. Tomorrow I hope to finish up by quilting in the cream background areas--you'll see the quilting there for sure!


A couple of fun things involving this particular job.

Got to try Aurifl's new tri-poly. Love the collapsible bottom that holds the thread! Really cool.








Also discovered that a few of my rulers really helped in doing the ditch work in the curved sections.

Thes Linda Mae's Rays from Gadget Girls and a couple of curved cross-hatching rulers from Lakeside Quilt Company. www.lovetoquilt.com

No Progress:

• Christmas Friendship Star ...wanna at least get this top pieced
• Lonestar - Aug. target
• Storm at Sea - Aug. target
• Fall Wallhanging - Sept. target
• Alaska 2007 Shop Hop - Oct. target
• Pam Bono - making more blocks target in Nov.
• Oddie's Wild Nature - making more blocks target in Dec.

Ready to Quilt:

• WWVQG 2006 Basket BOM (still considering quilting design ideas)
• Colorwash Heart (pulling out a very early piecing job made into a duvet that I now believe my skills can deliver the desired quilting result and would make a lovely piece for our new guest room.)

New in the works for this year:
Small whole-cloth for the INMQ challenge to be displayed in October at the WSQ show.
A couple of commissions and maybe something for our new to us home too.
Need to develop a teaching schedule for the fall.

Enjoy other WIPs! and mid-month progress reports (2013 Finishes). See buttons on the right to click through to them.

Design Wall Monday - July Goals

June was an exciting month with the grand opening et al, but I also had my birthday and got sick....so it has been a slow start to July, but am feeling so much better!

On my design wall....the blue jean brick quilt.

Just added the borders (after this picture was taken) of the same white material as the 'mortar'.

Now to quilt it. Ideas welcome! :-)

Got the other 4 'tree' quilts pieced and now need to quilt them as well.

Created an oversized queen as a surprise anniversary gift for a well loved wife...her husband is due to pick it up today. Hoping to post photos next week after the delivery ;-)

With the long over due commissions almost out of the way, I can get back to quilting for client's who have been patiently awaiting their quilt tops to be quilted.

It has been fun meeting new people in town, now that the studio is open. Tourists are stopping in too!

Mid-Month WIP

Had a fantastic Grand Opening last Friday, June 14. Here is the actual ribbon being cut. Yes, they put that ribbon all the way around the building!  A film crew was in town getting b-roll for future advertising purposes of the area, so they got in on the commerce activity too. There were probably about 30 people who attended. For a little town like ours, this seemed very good. I really didn't know what to expect, but locals said they were very pleased with the turnout. I even had two clients come from Walla Walla and another from as far north as Brewster. So blessed!

I've now settled back into a grove of getting some long-over due commissions completed.

Four memory quilts...and I just might do a 5th actually.

A special story of a wife and mother lost to cancer. I knew her parents well. I'm honored to create treasures for the family to help them remember her.

After offering to quilt something for them....I was asked to create four items from her clothing. I thought, let's at least have a backing that each individual would like, so we went to the local quilt shop and they each picked a fabric. During that selection process, I noticed a tatoo on one of the girls and its similarity to the tree in the Manzanita fabric. I then learned that the tatoo was similar to a sculpture that was given to the family and they had chosen to use it as a symbol to unite them. So, my inspiration had begun.

All clothing was not nice cotton quilting fabric, so some needed to be stabilized. I like to use So-Sheer. I created this design in EQ as a rough idea of a tree and sorted the clothing by colors to figure out if I could get the effect of the tree.

I chose to use a bit of fabric from what they had personally selected and clothes that I thought would have some special significance based on their style, purpose, texture, or imprint.

Each border will also be the backing fabric.

Here is the first (top only) for her husband.

Each of the three for the girls is similar, but different.

This one is not finished being stitched together. But you get the idea. I tried to shade the blues used in the background from dark at the top to lighter at the bottom. Each has a different border as well.

Once each of the Half Square Triangles (HSTs) were made, I then laid out the squares. Picking up the entire 1st  and 2nd column and taking it to the sewing machine, I then sew each of the top row squares together, then the next row squares, etc. always continuing the stitch so you're chain piecing. Then the next two columns. Cut your thread only between the last row of each column set and the first row of the next column set. Repeat for all 8 columns. Then sew 1-2 and 3-4 together. Then 5-6 and 7-8 together. Then 1-2-3-4 to 5-6-7-8.  At this point everything is connected still

Now go back and stitch row 1 to row 2. With typical cotton quilting fabric, I'd be sure the seams alternate between rows so that they go together nicely. With the randomness of the clothing in these projects, I just do the best I can.

Because of my tight studio logistics, I had the upper 4 rows laid out in a separate area than the lower 4 rows, so have put together the center in two large sections.

And here is a design concept of a small quilt, using jeans in the blue bricks, that I want to give to her mother, maybe use as a wall hanging for now ....that ultimately could be given to perhaps a first grandchild of the deceased. This design idea is from Ann Kelly, a participant on the same bus on the IQFOI tour last summer. Thanks Ann!

So, now for the quilting of those trees. Got Ideas?