A Quilt for Arizona

My customer, Paula, made this quilt at her son's request. As best I understand, his boss is moving to Arizona and he wanted his mom to make her a quilt. (Do you think he knows how warm it is in Arizona?)

Paula had this kit that she'd purchased at a Quincy Crazy Quilter's Retreat a few years back. She whipped it up and sent it up here to me for quilting. The colors of these batiks were so pretty that a simple all over pattern of hooky-swirly things seemed to be all it needed.

Have a look...

Of course,  I had to put a little flower in the small blocks!

Dory

Murder Mystery

The victim:

The suspect:

Irrefutable evidence:

You decide: Guilty or Innocent

I feel so privileged!

Remember I told you about Empty Spools and my class with Wendy Mathson in June? We made the Storm at Sea block using Wendy's Trimplates. Wendy had a couple of unquilted tops at the class that she'd brought along to show us what other things could be accomplished with her Trimplates.  She let me bring this one home to quilt; I was so honored!!

I wanted to keep the quilting simple, yet I had to do something fun in those big, open blue areas. So I played with the new flower I learned. This is what they looked like on the back.

To give the design some cohesiveness, I quilted a flower in the centers of the crossing blocks. 

I filled the border with a dense paisley-type pattern. My goal was to push it back so that the flowers and the orange are what caught your eye.

Wendy's class was so popular, she was asked back to teach next year. She'll be at Asilomar April 2-7th. If you've been waiting for the perfect class before going, this is it. Wendy is a great teacher and a really fun person. You won't be sorry!!

Dory

Quilting Negative Space

I had no idea what that even meant until I took an online class at Craftsy with Angela Walters.  Negative space equals space with nothing in it.  Makes sense now.  The class involved drawing and watching Angela quilt some awesome designs and share some really creative ideas.

As you've probably figured out by now, Marei tends to give me quilts that are a challenge. (I often think she lies in bed at night dreaming up patterns that push my quilting boundaries!) This one was no exception. She left some odd shaped "negative" space in the borders that she said was "just for me."

So...after Angela's class, I knew what to do. I "dwirled" the body. There was so much going on that all it needed was some texture. I have the most beautiful orange thread that worked great for this.

Then, ala Angela, I filled the negative spaces. I used her swirl fill and created a few blocks that imitated the blocks in the quilt. What do you think??

Without Angela's class, I never would have come up with this idea. Now I can't wait to try it even more!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dory

Yikes!!!

We have bees. This is right outside our bathroom window...

A shot for some perspective. Its a BIG nest...

 ...and its up really high.  YIKES!!!

Leafing it up!

Is "leafing" a word? Not sure, but it doesn't have those annoying little red dots underneath it!

These are two quilts from Sequim customers that have found their way to my studio and back home again. Both quilts are from first time quilters and both did really excellent jobs with their piecing and color choices.

First up is Debbie's.  I like how its sort of a rail fence log cabin.

Debbie wanted leaves on this one. She plans to give it to her mom so wanted to keep the quilting simple.

When I get tired of quilting the same designs, I try to shake them up a bit. It keeps me interested and challenged. I'd just re-watched the Pajama Quilter DVD and saw this flower. What better design to go with a few leaves? So...Debbie got flowers and leaves.

Carolyn brought me this beauty and after some discussion, opted for leaves as well.

This photo gives you an idea of how my leaves meander...

And this is my favorite to do...a cluster where it shows up nicely (if you click on it, it shows up even more).

Dory

57th Annual Tevis Cup

Today, at 5:15 a.m., over 200 riders left Robie Park (near Truckee, CA) on their journey to Auburn, CA for the 57th Annual Tevis Cup Endurance Ride. The trail is 100 miles long and successful riders will be in Auburn no later than 5:15 tomorrow morning. They have 24 hours to complete this arduous journey, with two hours of mandatory holds (time for the horses to rest) and 15 other places where the horses are evaluated along the way. Upon completion, you're awarded this buckle. It is a badge of honor, really, among endurance riders as Tevis is the most difficult endurance ride in the world.

In 2005 I completed this ride with my gorgeous mare, Elly. We finished at 4:30 Sunday morning after a very long and sometimes stressful journey. The start, however, was my favorite part. At that time, everyone started as one big group. You had to be in place on a long dirt road at least 45 minutes prior to the 5:15 start. Imagine the pitch black, a beautiful full moon and the soft nickering of the hundreds of ponies waiting for the ride to begin. Elly was perfect that morning, standing quietly and calmly. It was most excellent.

This picture was taken the day before the ride. Elly had been clipped to help with cooling and her best friend, Chloe, was keeping an eye on her. My heart still aches for both my girls.

I have several friends competing today. The only bad thing about Washington so far is that we can't be there to help out and cheer our friends on. So instead, I will be glued to my computer for updates and photos. Probably not a lot of quilting going on here today *grin*

Dory