Life is Good...

Just a quick peek...

This is a pattern I call "Garden Bliss" the perfect spring quilt.  I almost have the pattern finished, it just needs a few  illustrations. This is a pattern I have taught at the LQS. I had a large class and the ladies were so nice. This is Marla's quilt from my class. I just love the colors that she used. I will show more of the quilt when I get the pattern printed.  The quilt is just beautiful.  I finished quilting it last month, but things have been unusually challenging...pattern to follow...

The latest on the T-Shirt quilt...

Just the finishing touches on the t-shirt quit. I am onto the binding now. I just quilted this with a quick swirl. The binding is all I have left! :) then I hand it off the happy owner. 

 

BOM time...

Here is my BOM that I am updating to use solids! I totally love it!

I also have a couple other quilts that I had finished last month. I am saving them, I may need them for a post or two next month depending on my recovery time.

so...where have I been hiding lately?

Learing to relax!

This was my 2013 Scion TC, I really liked that car! It was only 6 months old, it still had the new car smell!  I didn't eat in it, I babied the crap out of that car!  Wow... How quickly our life can change. One minute I am driving home from a day at the office job, and then.... I am rear ended on the freeway. She had to be going 60 MPH.  I am very grateful I had the car I did, it took the hit for me. I am much better than I would have been in many other cars. You should have seen their 2001 Passat, no question there, their car was totaled, they had to be extricated from their car.  I was blessed to have the Easter holiday with my family, the dogs and the weather. I found a new appreciation for life! definitely....

So...After 2 trips to the ER, and a week and a half later, I am just getting things back together in my head, the first week is a total blur. I had no business trying to do business as usual. 

I haven't been able to quilt since the accident?  Not sure how the healing will go. I just want to quilt, but I am not the young quilter I used to be. It is amazing how bad my body hurts. If I try quilting, I am in severe pain shortly after. I have tried taking it easy, and it doesn't really make a difference! I just hurt!!! So I just have to let it go for a few days?

If you think the car is bad, you should see what this has done to my waiting list. I don't even know where to start. I am guessing slowly is the best way for now. This is a new concept to me. I usually quilt to relax! so...I am going to have to learn how to actually relax? Is their a website I could read on that, one that will not inspire me to get up and go?

Taking it one day at a time.
star

Getting things done!

Seems like I have been trying to get this post up for weeks... 

Here is what’s on my sewing table…

This has been a fun quilt. I am loving it. I had bought a bolt of fabric I thought I wanted to use on this quilt, and then… I saw the pattern from Windham Fabrics for the Good Vibrations fabric line, and then it was all over. I am changing the plan and making the borders look like a piano keyboard.  The piano works great with the theme of this quilt. The recipient has been playing the piano for years, many years (and he is only 18), he is very accomplished and his mother is very proud of him. The piano border is perfect. This quick quilt just got a little less quick. But I love it.

And, Here is what is off the sewing table.

A year later the Redwork Revival BOM that Lisa and I designed and taught at the Parish Quilt shop is OVER. As soon as Glamping yardage is available, I will put the final borders on this, and then I need to make time for the quilting.

Now for the American Beauty photos I promised.

I ran into a problem with them. As you can see, many of them are blurry. Our weather is so dreary here in the Pacific North West, and we have a serious lack of sunshine. I kind of blew it, I didn’t look at the photos before I delivered the quilt. Now I have out of focus photos, but…just for the record, Julie loved her quilt. These are what I have for photos of this quilt.

Here are the finishes for the last couple weeks.

I have had a couple quilts that were quick and fun. I quilted a couple quilts with fabric from Afric. This is not the first time I have quilted fabric from Africa, I have a pretty hard time keeping things square. I finished them, but they were just quick quilts that I had to pin and pin to keep square. My customer loved them. The quilts were made from clothes her children had when they lived in Africa. She wanted to remember them and use them in a quilt. How great is that.

These photos are not a great quality, but you get the idea. 

I then got busy on the Fabulous Felines Quilt.

It is so hard to see the detail of the quilting on this dark fabric, sorry these photos are the best I have. This was a fun quilt from one of my regular quilters. Marla seems to keep a quilt or two running through me. I appreciate your patients and thank you! Now I had better get back to quilting.

It has been a very busy couple weeks.

...sneak peak at the quilt that I am just finishing up.

Thanks for checking - Star

Finished a few "Big" Quilts

As for the quilting “thing”…

I know it is not the best photo.   This time of year I struggle with my photos.
I am sorry in advance for the poor quality.

I have been crazy busy. I had the wonderful opportunity to quilt a Tonga Rhapsody Quilt for Sheila. What a “huge” quilt that was. I quilted it with lots of detail, and it had a ton of 1 inch finished blocks. I couldn’t believe how long it was taking. But the end result is “Beautiful” (I hope you agree). And for the best part… Sheila was happy with it. I am never sure when I go off the reservation (and do my own thing), how people see the quilting. I usually try to do what the quilt looks like it needs, and tone it down. I try to leave the quilt with texture, and compliment the quilt with tone on tone thread. The Tonga Rhapsody quilt is such a colorful quilt and it is a different layout than most samplers, I found myself wondering how I could change it up without being CRAZY or too EXPENSIVE. I try to quilt so people can afford my service, and I can actually finish them in a reasonable amount of time. 

Here are some of the pictures… See what you think.

I am just going to post a bunch of the individual block for you to see.

The best part about that quilt, My customer loved it.

Finishing this little quilt was quick and easy. Thank you, Lisa…

She had no control over when the baby was actually born…but, it’s just nice to actually have the binding on the quilt by the time the baby is born. Lisa made my job super easy, she opted for a quick pantograph. It may have taken longer to pin it on, than to finish the panto. But the quilt is still very cute.

I know it is just a panto, but it is still really cute!

V and Co: how to: faux pleated pillow

My version, it looks so cute. :)

A great tutorial pillow tutorial.  I highly recommend this one.  I picked up the Sew Stitchy jelly roll by Aneela Hoey. It is the perfect use as far as I can see.

My selections in progress! I Love them! :)

I am looking for a little input…

I am looking to move my blog? I want to know if I should move my blog from the blogspot url to “StarlitQuilts.com”.  I do very little with my main page on starlitquilts.com, and people tend to link through it to get to my blog easily, so…. I was thinking that moving my blog would be the ideal solution? I don’t think it would be a big change, but it would like to hear what experiences and or opinions might be out in cyber land? I could use some input on this. I am not sure if I want to move my followers or if they will follow me there?  If you have any input that would be so helpful.

And then we have the Breezy update… 

She has had the mammary glad cyst removed from her abdominal area, and had the stitches removed a couple days ago. She continues to improve and we are now watching the areas, (like I know what I am looking for) to make sure everything stays normal and no new lumps appear. I must say, this is very difficult, because if any of you, have had surgery the scar tissue is pretty difficult to accurately detect much through. The lumps that are there are “normal” and we need to watch them. Like I have a clue or a degree for this stuff. I just keep praying that I do the right thing.

And then I had some fun with the American Beauty quilt.

American Beauty in progress

American Beauty is looking so good! I hope you like it.

I am so happy with this block. Love it!

Julie has been waiting for this for a while. So if feels good to get some of the big quilts done.

I always enjoy quilting the “American Beauty” quilt, it is such a pretty quilt finished.  Julie let me use my absolute favorite batting “Quilters Dream Wool” and… yes it is washable.  The borders are done with flowing feathers and I finished them off with some piano keys (my favorite…also). Every time I quilt one, I realize…I really need to finish mine. Finally… here are some of the photos…. Let me know what you think, I would love to hear from you. I will have to post images tomorrow or something. I am waiting for some sun. The photos will be better if we are lucky enough to have some sun.