Dancing with Francis

Who doesn't like black and white? It can be classic, it can be modern, it can be whatever you want it to be. Combining printed blacks with solid white to get this design was brilliant by creator Lynn who was following a Bonnie Hunter Quilt Along.  When Lynn first brought me this quilt, she wanted me to accentuate the white in the quilt. Makes sense given that this would be great negative space and where you would actually see the quilting. If this quilt were done in less busy colors, then you really could have two different designs to go for, that is quilt them so the eye is drawn to these specific areas. Because this particular quilt is so busy, as far as fabric choices go, the only quilting the eye would see is in the white and in the solid black border.   Accent Quilting #1 Accent Quilting #2 How did I come up with my quilting choice for the white? Well, by now you must know that I prefer to do straight line quilting

Here it is, December 1st and I am finally getting around to writing another post for all of you. It has been a crazy couple of months since the last post. Much has been happening. For starters, two quilt retreats, a new job, a new house to renovate, oh and a baby on the way (due in June)! Time sure has gone by and it doesn't feel like three months since we moved to Michigan. Winter is upon us and so is the quilting season here. As the snow flurries come down today and the warmth of the house envelopes me, I feel the creative vibe coming on and the many things I hope to accomplish this winter, besides getting the nursery ready! Here is a quilt that I cut out in Forks, WA when Mimi and I were at a show. I then pieced it in Sequim in July after I came home from my trip to Poland. Now, in Michigan I have finally quilted it! I wonder what state the binding will go on in? :) This is a Sew Kind of Wonderful Quick Curve Ruler pattern and it was a lot of fun to do! Those girls really kn

This morning I slept in until....8:45. This is rare. Normally I am up at 5:45 to pack my husbands lunch, make him coffee and see him out the door. Then it is a few hours of coffee drinking and quilting. However, this morning I needed sleep so I did just that. Sometimes I feel guilty sleeping in when my husband is at work. And then I start to think of all the things that I accomplish during the day and then it makes sense why I am so tired! I deserve the sleep! Yesterday I ripped out a portion of my new quilt (pattern to come soon) because I pieced the block incorrectly. So two hours later everything was back together and fantastic. Then I took the dogs for a walk and came back and did my own running. (We are currently staying with my aunt in her "love shack" which is a mother-in-law suite off the garage, and she has a treadmill inside her house so I really have no excuse not to exercise!) This was followed by paperwork and phone calls for our new house to close next week! I

Many of you know that my little family and I have relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan! The entire process has been a whirlwind of an adventure. In April, Tommy, my husband, applied for a Electricians Apprenticeship here in MI. Three months later he was leaving me and the girls behind in Washington to trek out east and begin a new career. This left me with a laundry list t hings to do! Downsizing almost 1000 square feet of studio space into a 7x14 trailer along with minimal household items was a chore! I had many friends who came to take fabric and goodies off my hands. Needless to say it was a very heavy trailer for our truck to pull... but everything made it safe and sound! It was extremely sad to leave Washington and my family, especially my Mimi. Building a life there for the past 9 years was hard to say goodbye to. Leaving a network of safety was painful. I was packing up a business that had grown and was successful to move to a place where I knew no one and start over. A busin

Last fall, our quilt club took a field trip to The Patchwork Place. On our excursion we were able to go into their "Book Room" and got some fabulous deals! My dear friend Loretta bought a book, no I can't remember the name of it now!, and made this quilt. She asked me to quilt it and I was so thrilled! I love to work on the more primitive, traditional quilts because it challenges me to do that kind of quilting. You can't put modern into this quilt! When I mounted this quilt onto my frame I had no idea what was going to happen in the borders. I knew that the hexies inside the quilt would be quilted simply and with monofilament thread. There were so many color changes, from light to dark, that I wasn't going to continue to change thread and stop and start each pass. So I used mono and it worked out just fine!     You have to keep it simple sometimes. Because I couldn't decide on border treatments I continued to quilt the inside of the quilt first. Now,

Hello Everyone! My what a busy time it has been since my last blog post in March! Forgive me! I don't know where the time went.... well yes I do! Francis and I have been crazy busy quilting. We had our Forks show in April and then our local Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt Club's Show is in July and my back log is becoming more full by the week! So blessed to be busy and enjoying every minute of it! And of course I'll take anyone's quilt that would like me to work on it, you may just get it in 2 months instead of 1! Thanks for being patient :) Here are a few projects that have taken place over the last 2 months... Custom Quilt #1 This lovely panel was made by Linda.  When I owned the shop downtown Alanna helped her pick out some of the fabric. It was fun to see how Linda had incorporated it into this wall hanging.     When Linda came to see me she had a game plan of what she wanted in the quilt. She knew she wanted the moon to stand out, the one loner block in the bot

 Goodmorning! I am training for a half marathon in June and yesterday I ran 4 miles with my beautiful doggies! That run was pretty easy, compared to beginning this quilt!  Now, what I mean by difficult was the creative juices to start this beauty. It took me two days to figure out a design for the border! I was on Pinterest looking up ideas and saving them to my "quilting" board. I finally came across one, and I have to admit I was a little nervous to do it! And then I sat down and analyzed it, and I realized that it was just straight lines and a few curves! All of which I have rulers for. :) I first found the center of the border. Then I divided the border into thirds and made a point at the 2/3 mark from the bottom. This 2/3 mark is where I made my first curve to. What I did, because we all like continuous lines, is start at the bottom left corner of the top border and made my way across the quilt, then when I finished at the bottom right of the