Improv class

Last night I taught an improv class at The Corn Wagon. This is a fun class to teach because there's not a lot of guidelines. I go through my scrap bin and pull lots of pieces of fabric. I give each of the students a little baggy with pieces and tell them to play around with them- like putting together a puzzle.

 

We had so much fun just sewing and talking.

 

Here is Leslie with her block. I love the strip of purple she added through the middle.

 

Marina had a hard time "letting go" but her block turned out fabulous!

 

The pop of red in Wendy's block is perfect! I came home and gathered more scraps in this colorway so Wendy can make more blocks.

 

Alice did a great job with her block, too. But for some reason I didn't get a picture of her. :o(

 

These ladies were fabulous and it was such a pleasure to meet them. We're already planning our next class!

 

 

While at the shop I spyed this AMAZING quilt by MaryAnn. This was a class she taught up at Winterfest last weekend and now it's in the shop. She still has kits available too. The pattern is from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

 

If you go to the shop and can't find the quilt- DO NOT come looking at my house!!! ;o)

 

 

A week in pictures

 Last week was a busy week.

 

(Bad photos from my phone. Bah!)

 

 

I got to hang out with these awesome ladies from Michael Miller Fabrics. We set up a fun photo booth using the new NEON fabrics from Michael Miller Fabrics. Here Christine and Kathy are dancing in the rain. :o)

 

I listened to and briefly met Stefan Sagmeister. His lecture on Happiness was amazing. There's a film (The Happy Film) in the works and I am anxiously awaiting it's release.

 

 

I participated in an impromptu balloon party with Katie from Color Me Katie.

 

There was a few moments in between to 'Relax & Unwind'

 

 

I stood only feet away from Jessica Alba. (My husband was jealous) She was at ALT representing

 The Honest Co. (her company). I'm now in love with their lip balm. :o)

 

I had a chance to see the first strike offs from my next fabric collection. Sorry I can't show you anything yet. But it's NOT black and white... or blurry.  :o)

 

 

By far the highlight of my week was because of this guy! Through faith and prayers and an amazing learning/teaching experience, my family was able to receive a miracle in the form of employment for my husband. It is a huge blessing and we are so grateful.

 

JOY!!!

SHOP LOCAL

Are you shopping at your local quilt shop today? YOU SHOULD!!

I'll be stopping by the Corn Wagon Quilt Shop on my way to Alt Summit this morning.

Get out there and support your local quilt store and SHOP!!!

See you soon. :o)

Shop Local

Did you know that Thursday is Visit Your Local Quilt Shop Day!? That's right, January 24th : ALL. DAY. LONG!  (click on the link and read all about it)

At quilt market last November I was asked by the friendly folks at FabShopNetwork to pose for a pic to promote shopping at local quilt shops. I gladly accepted! 

I really do love my local quilt shop. The Corn Wagon Quilt shop gave me my first real start in the quilting industry. I had the opportunity to work there for a short time when my kids were just tiny. There I learned about quilt quality fabrics and developed a love for all things quilty. Since then my passion has continued to developed but Corn Wagon is still at the top of my list. I frequent thet shop at least once a week (usually more) and look forward to my visits.

With the advent of the internet quilt shopping has taken a turn. And while the convenience of shopping in your PJ's from your couch has it's advantages, pulling out dozens of bolts and feeling that fabric as you decide on your next project is second to none.

My support for local quilt shops isn't new. It's for this reason that I have held back from making my quilt patterns widely available in PDF form on the internet. I have teamed with Patterns Gone Digital as a way to provide quilt shops with my digital patterns.

Several years ago a quilt shop near my home closed it's doors. It was sad to see a part of that quilting community go. While I realize that the internet and advances in technology (that I am very thankful for) will continue to grow, my hope is that it doesn't come at the expense of our local quilt shops.

Please join with me on Thursday by visiting your Local Quilt Shop and show them your support.

Here is a list of quilt shops in Utah that I love to visit:
My Girlfriend's Quilt Shop
Material Girls
The Quilting Cottage
Quilt Etc.
Thimbles and Threads
American Quilting
Pine Needles
Broadbent's
Village Dry Goods

And the quilt shall be named:

I took the map quilt to the SLMQG last night. Everyone was so kind with their compliments and admiration. A couple pics were taken and put on IG (you can follow on the web here) where I was given even more love. Thank you all so much for all of your kind words about this little quilt. It is so much fun to take an idea and make it into something that others can look at and enjoy and/or be inspired. That's why I do what I do. :o)

I have loved reading all of your comments and suggestions for names and I've narrowed it down to 3:

I love the idea of America the Beautiful.

ROYGBIV USA is a fun name, too!

American Patchwork is PERFECT!  This is the name I have chosen to call my quilt. 

But because I liked all 3 names I'm going to send all 3 of these followers a Crazy Old Ladies pattern of their choice. :o)

Thank you again for all of your suggestions!!!

I've been working on an actual quilt-pattern tutorial for the blog. I hope to have it up next month. I want my quilt completely finished before I post. Here's a sneeky peek- 

It's called Hexes and X's.  ;o)

Project --- ???

I have wanted to show you this for a couple of weeks now. I have a local quilt group (QBX) that meets once a month and I wanted to show it there first. We met Weds. night so now I can show you!

Each month we rotate who's blocks we do. Rachel had November (we didn't meet in Dec.) She had traced around each state on a map and had us choose different states to make the fusible pieces. I immediately imagined making this rainbow quilt.



I borrowed her map and started tracing the next day. All of the fabrics came from my stash. I'm on a total rainbow kick lately. Throwback to my '80s childhood.  :o)

Cutting the smaller stated was tricky. You need to have VERY sharp scissors.

You might be wondering why I left out Utah. This was a happy accident. I had cut out all of my states and had them all laid out. I was pressing them briefly to set them in place. I pressed with an up and down motion of my iron moving from California westward. I passed over Utah and realized it wasn't there? "What happened to Utah!?"

It had somehow managed to flip over and get stuck to the bottom of my iron. Yuck! Well I managed to clean it off and luckily no yucky burned fusible goop got on the quilt. I debated on whether or not to cut out another Utah. In the end I decided to leave it off. It adds a cool look, it's where I live, and there was lots of reds and oranges in the quilt. This balances out the colors with the smaller eastern seaboard of blues and purples.

Its difficult to get the stated to line up perfectly. I chose to quilt a straight stitch around each state a few times allowing for an organic feel. This also helped to cover and gaps between fabrics. I used a different color thread for each state. Ok, there were a couple colors I used more than once. But I'm pretty sure I used close to 45 different colors!

The background quilting was done to mimic the lines of latitude. I originally planned on adding longitude lines too but decided they might be too much. Who knows, I still might add them. 

All I have left to do it bind it!

I haven't been able to think of a good name for this quilt. Do you have any ideas? I'd like to open it up for suggestions. If I choose your name I'll send you a Crazy Old Ladies pattern or your choice!

Blogging

I have a fabulous post for you. All about some of the projects I've been working on. But for some reason Blogger won't let me upload any pictures. Grrr!  So I guess it will have to wait for another day.

HAPPY SEWING!

My word of the year

JOY

still my favorite picture of myself  :o)

I like this new trend to pick a word of the year. Resolutions always seem to be forgotten by February. Especially if you have more than one. Listing your goals can become overwhelming and disparaging. The idea of choosing one word is much easier and in a way, more profound. It sits like an umbrella over everything you do and can make all the difference.

I'm choosing JOY this year. I'm writing about it here so that I can remember and hold myself accountable.

A few years ago I realized I had issues with anxiety. I had always been a "worry wart" but was able to manage. At this point it was becoming harder to deal with it myself so I decided to take the route of medication. This was a huge step for me as I've always had a hard time with taking any sort of pharmaceuticals. Even Tylenol for a headache. I would wait it out and deal with it rather than put some chemicals into my body. But at this point in my life I realized that it was necessary. My children and husband were suffering because of my anxiety. The meds worked and I revelled in my new outlook on life. It was like waking up. My family survived my anxiety.

Only a few short months later I was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. 2010 was full of surgeries, treatments and Dr's appointments but I was in good spirits. I was blessed with an overwhelming sense that I would get through it all okay. I mean, I knew it wasn't life threatening but it still turned my world upside down. Again, we all survived.

2011 was a different story. Regulation synthetic thyroid meds is not an easy feat. 2011 was supposed to be the year where I was "better". No more thyroid cancer = back to normal. That sense of well being was gone and I struggled to find a new normal. Paired with my anxiety there were lots of ups and downs. By the end of the year I was starting to feel better physically and emotionally but life had caught up with us.

Between hospital bills and a failing economy my husband and I faced some hard decisions. We lost our home and struggled to pay the bill. 2012 opened with a feeling of hope. That was until Feb when my husband lost his job. Seriously!? One thing after another and we stumbled our way through the year.

Don't get me wrong. We had lots, LOTS of miracles and blessings along the way. So many things to be thankful for. Life is like that. Full of ups and downs. That's why I picked this word for 2013.

My children are growing up so fast. My marriage is still in the younger years (13!). I'm not quite middle-aged. I have some amazing things in the works with my little business. I have a life to live that should be filled with positivity and not gloom and doom. There can be JOY in everything- you just have to find it. Sometimes it shows up on your doorstep without you even expecting it. Other times you have to dig in the cracks for a tiny glimmer. This year, in spite of what life may throw my direction, I'm finding JOY.