The Problem with Moving...

...is being in between two places at once! Most of our stuff is in Washington, except the business equipment. We came back to catch up on our projects prior to moving everything north and to attend our town's Christmas "Sparkle" parade. Its a really fun activity held on the first Friday of December. This year's Sparkle is made even more fun because Dennis' oldest daughter will be having an artists opening reception at our local Plumas Arts Gallery.

Back to the matter at hand: in Quincy is my camera that I use to take pictures of customer quilts for my posts; in Washington is the cord used for transferring said pictures to my computer.  Thank goodness for the iPhone. The photos may not be as sharp, but at least there are photos!!

These quilts were made by Diane using scraps given to her by another quilter that didn't like the colors any longer.  She put them to good use for her grandkids.  This one is for her granddaughter

And this one was for her grandson. Wondering where the pic is of the whole quilt? Me too!!! <snicker>

The design in the 9-patch and large blocks was a new one for me. It came from "Line Dancing" and was really fun to quilt.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Dory

Before & After

When I picked up Jennifer's quilt last month, she had this adorable quilt on her wall. I commented on how cute it was and she told me that her sister had made this shortly before she was taken ill. Jennifer finished it and had it quilted before she passed, so it has a special place in her heart and on her wall.

But then Jennifer posed the dreaded question. She told me she'd taken the quilt to a longarmer with a computer and she asked whether I felt that quilter had done enough quilting. In my opinion, she hadn't, but I wasn't willing to criticize another quilter who had obviously taken a lot of time on this quilt. As you can see, she quilted in the border and in the center sashing. She then went on to stitch in the ditch everywhere and around the birds as well.

My response to Jennifer was that had it been me, I would have done more quilting in the background around the birds and something in the red sashing as well as the pinwheel and 9-patch blocks; and I wouldn't have done any SID. Jennifer brought the quilt to me when she picked up her last one.

This is a close-up of how it originally looked (click on the pic for a true "close-up"):

And this is how it looked when it left my studio:

I really felt the quilt needed these whimsical touches. What do you think??

Dory

HEAL Africa

Several months ago, Barbara told me a story about a friend who had spent some time with her and was now in the Congo in Africa helping women. Lyn Lusi co-founded HEAL Africa, an organization that partners with communities to transform the status of women. Barbara was asked to make these two quilts to hang in the hospital there using the fabric that Lyn acquired for her in the Congo. I was very pleased that she trusted me to quilt them for her.

This is the first quilt Barbara finished for them. 

My goal was to keep the quilting subtle. I quilted circles in the outer border and also around the fussy-cut circle in the main "arrow" piece. The background and sashing are both done in a heatwave pattern, with continuous curve in the arrow, itself.

This shot of the back shows more of the quilting.

And this was the second quilt; I really had fun with this one. 

The outside border was quite busy so I just did a meander (no matter what I did, I couldn't get the lighting right...its a wonder I didn't go blind stitching this border!!) and carried the meander into the background of the blocks. Barbara wanted a simple continuous curve in the baskets and in the flowers with a "stem" connecting them. I also did a cc in the sashing.

A pic of the back to show the detail:

Another of the back showing the basket detail.












It was an honor to do these quilts for Barbara.

Dory

Change is Good, Right??

Things are changing and hopefully, they will be good changes.

Dennis and I have been coming to Sequim, Washington, for the last three years visiting friends and hanging out in the cabin on Sequim Bay. During our last trip, we decided to try something more permanent.

This will be the new home for Crazy Horse Quilting...what do you think???

It won't exactly be the new home. Initially, I'll be quilting in the garage; but then another yurt will be set up that will be all mine. Dennis will have the upstairs office and one of the guest rooms for his business...at least the bits that aren't messy. He will NOT be screen-printing in the house!

I will even be providing my customers with mailers that are both tear- and water-proof for sending their tops and backings to me. Return mail will be on me in an insured Priority box. Seems fair, yes??

We will be up here for the winter beginning in December and then head back to Q-town in late March. At some point, we will have to make a permanent decision about residence, but for now we're a two-home family.

Dory