Custom Name Wall Hangings

Recently I created a fun wall hanging for a customer’s three-year old granddaughter, Avery, who just became a big sister.  Baby brother, Ryder, was getting a new quilt for a present and grandma wanted to make sure Avery had a present, too! 

Big Sister Avery’s Wall Hanging

While I was at the Vermont Hand Crafters’ Craft Vermont Show two weeks ago, I hung Avery’s wall hanging up in my booth next to Ryder’s baby quilt.  Both the quilt and the wall hanging were a hit!  I received three special orders for the wall hangings.  The first wall hanging I was able to finish today for a little girl named Elsa: lime green and pink - very similar to the Avery’s wall hanging but with a little orange in it, too.

The Fabrics and Beginning the Assembly for Elsa’s Wall Hanging

Here Is the Top for Elsa’s Wall Hanging. See the Little Bits of Orange?

Here Is Elsa’s Completed Wall Hanging

The second wall hanging is for a little girl named Cailin.  Her’s is to be in shades of sage, pink, and brown. 

Here Are the Fabrics I Have So Far for Cailin’s Wall Hanging.

   

 

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2010 Central Vermont Quilt Show Raffle Quilt Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek at the 2010 Central Vermont Quilt Show’s raffle quilt.  I did all of the piecing for the quilt based on the pattern 40 Fabulous Quick-cut Quilts by Evelyn Sloppy.  It was a really great pattern.  I used more fabrics than the pattern called for so it would have a really scrappy look.  Believe it or not, the pattern called for only 2 different blocks – churn dash and a modified nine patch!   Each of the blocks is unique with no duplication in all of the fabrics and/or placement between them. 

The woman who quilted it paid me the most wonderful compliment – “(She) had never quilted a more perfectly pieced quilt.  All of the corners matched perfectly and it laid so nice and flat.”  WOW!

 

Pastel Pinwheels

I have recently been working on a douple pinwheel quilt for a customer who wanted it done in pastel stripes and polka dots.  Using Eleanor Burns’ Quilt in a day pattern, Double Pinwheel (you can also see instructions for the block here), I have just finished assembling the quilt top today.  Tonight I hope that my kids will allow me the chance to quilt it up and (maybe) get started on the binding.  With the way they have been acting lately, that might be too much to ask!

This first shot is my initial attempt at laying out the blocks.  You get two different “spins” to the pinwheels – the dark centered blocks spin opposite to the light centered blocks.  So you want to try and keep the like types together.  This first attempt was really pretty on the inside, but left the outer border too “wimpy”.  It really needed a stronger color scheme to make the quilt feel more balanced – too much of the focus to the quilt was on the center and not the overall design.

Here is a shot of the finished top.  I switched the wheels to the dark centered blocks on the inside and the light centered blocks on the border.  Originally, I was going to use a solid large dot fabric in place of a pinwheel in each of the four corners, but it felt wrong.  It didn’t fit with the rest of the quilt.  So this morning, I made 4 extra blocks for the corners – much better.   With the sashings, the quilt’s overall size is now 40″x50″.  This is my favorite quilt size to make – just right for floor play, snuggling, and fits a crib beautifully.

 

Visit My Booth at the Stowe Street Arts Festival!

Join me and over 50 other artists at the Stowe Street Arts Festival on July 18! It’s going to be a great day, with lots of art to see (and buy), delicious food, music, and artist demonstrations. Stowe Street and Bidwell Lane in Waterbury are closed for this event. You can get the whole schedule of events by clicking on the following link: http://www.revitalizingwaterbury.org/ssaf_event.php

I’ll be showing my handmade quilts and baby blankets and I will be available for questions and custom orders, too!

 Date: Saturday, July 18, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Location: Historic downtown Waterbury, Vermont

Directions: Click on the following link to access a Google Map of the show location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=waterbury+vermont&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.778911,93.076172&ie=UTF8&ll=44.339028,-72.749362&spn=0.008518,0.022724&z=16

Parking: Look for festival and municipal parking signs. There’s plenty of parking on Main Street and at Thatcher Brook Primary School on Stowe Street. There is a wide range of art for sale (not just mine!) and plenty of reasonably-priced food. And best of all, admission is free! Please tell your friends and let people know about this great annual arts festival, celebrating all the arts on July 18.

 

A Little Miscellany…

Last week I was given a really great opportunity – Chittenden Bank, at their headquarters in Downtown Burlington, VT, has a wall where they feature a VT artist every month.  And guess who is this month’s artist??  Me!!  I was so excited that eight of my quilts are now on display in this prominent business.  I am really excited to see how they do there and hope for new opportunities as a result of this exciting chance.

This past week-end I had three of my quilts in a local quilt show.  We had our very first quilt show here in Barre, VT and it went so well!  Over 300 people  showed up for it and my raffle quilt sold more than 200 tickets.  To see how I made the raffle quilt, check out my post Raffle Quilt for New Quilt Show.  It was such a nice show with a beautiful variety of quilts on display.  Christine Fries-Ureel was the guest artist (she’s from Barre) and had several of the most insanely gorgeous quilts I have ever seen on display.  Please take a moment to look at her site and see what I am talking about! 

Another person I had a chance to talk more with is Jenny Hermenze, a Vermont artist who specializes in Japanese stencil dyeing.  She had a beautiful booth full of yummy indigo fabrics cut in quilter friendly sizes.  It is my hope that she and I will be able to get together and work on some designs together.  She needs a few samples for her booth and maybe I could trade for some fabric – now wouldn’t that be fun!

 

 

Nice Quilting Blog to Check Out!

I was sent a very kind request for permission to post a link to the Tumbling Squares Quilt pattern from Scarlett at Craft Gossip Blog.  What a sweet lady!  I have been having a lot of fun looking at her blog and enjoying all of her posts for free patterns and tutorials.  A lot of creative ideas and tips.  Check it out!

Here is a link to her post about my pattern:  http://quilting.craftgossip.com/free-pattern-tumbling-blocks-baby-quilt/2009/04/30/

 

More Children’s Art Bags

My hairdresser is such an awesome lady and she has asked me on several occasions to make my crayon bags for her.  This Christmas I made two for her daughters and just a few weeks ago she asked me to put together two more for her friend’s little boys.  I am thrilled with how they came out!  Especially the accent fabrics I chose.    I also like my decision to make the pocket on it in both the print and the accent fabric.  It makes it more fun!

 

I’m Back!

Sometimes things happen that you don’t intend and time just slips away from you.  And this is all too easy when you don’t feel well and circumstances make it hard to pick up a needle and feel joy in what you do.  I have been struggling the last few months with this and hope that I have figured out what I need to do to get myself motivated again.  Sewing has always been a joy for me and I think that I have let the business part of it suffocate that joy.

I want that joy back! 

So my plan is to get back into the sewing room and focus on projects that I want to do.  Take a break from special orders which I have been doing straight since September.  Take a break from craft shows – Lord knows with this economy that is not a bad idea.  Take a break from projects I feel I have to do and do what I want to do.

I have had quilt designs rattling around in my head for over a year and I have the fabric for it, just never been able to get around to it.  Too many other things have gotten in the way – special orders, craft fairs, etc.  So I have decided to take a creative break – to CREATE! 

My hope is that I will be able to finally get back to doing what I love to do – making quilts that excite me and make me happy.  Wish me luck!

 

Vacation Report – Part 2

Yesterday we spent the morning playing miniature golf which was tons of fun!  My eldest wanted to immediately start playing another game and the youngest did not want to return his club.  I think we will be doing this again soon.  I just wish there were mini golf places in Vermont.

We then went over to the Disney Fort Wilderness Resort Lodge and ate at the Whispering Canyon Cafe for lunch.  The food was ok at best (my enchilada was slathered in BBQ sauce if you can believe it) but the lodge itself is stunning.  7 stories of rough cut timber frame construction with an open balconied lobby that goes up all the way to the top.  We walked in and the first words out of my mouth were “Holy cow, Batman!”    I hear that the rooms range from $250-1200/night so it had better be stunning for that price!

That afternoon we tried to get to Gatorland (I know – how touristy of us!) but the darn place has absolutely NO parking.  One tiny lot that was overfull so people were parking across the street.  Across the 6 lanes of busy traffic!!  Business owners had people kicking cars out of their lots for parking there and the street was jammed so full only one car could comfortably get through at a time for about 2 miles.  We gave up after that and went back to the house to play in the pool.  A much better choice if I do say so myself.

Today, my husband has now fallen victim to the dreaded stomach bug.  I hope he will feel better tomorrow ’cause we want to go to more of the parks.  The kids have been great though and very patient with all of this.

Grandma and grandpa took the kids and I out to Downtown Disney while DH stayed in bed.  We at at the Rainforest Cafe (much better than Whispering Canyon Cafe) but my youngest was a little scared when the thunder and lightning started.  Why they do something like that in a family restaurant, I will never know.  And, seriously, would it kill them to turn the volume down?  But the food was good and the gift shop was really neat.

Here is a shot of the sea serpent that is made out of Lego’s.  He was cool!

We also went out on a pontoon boat ride in the little lake and canals which was great.  The kids all took a turn driving the boat and turns out my youngest is a bit of a menace behind the wheel!  Should be fun in 11 years when he starts driving.  I think Daddy will handle that one!

We had a great afternoon exploring all the shops and marveling at the merchandising machine that is Disney.  All of the endless stuff you can think of!  I did succumb to a few t-shirts and a tie for DH.    The ice cream was great and I LOVE the gift shop at Cirque de Soleil.  I know that no matter how DH feels, tomorrow he will be going to La Nouba.  There is no way I could stop him!