I am featured on Guide to Art Schools 50 Best Sewing Blogs

Wow!  Really I could believe it when I opened up my email this morning.  I am featured on Guide to Art Schools 50 Best Sewing Blogs.  Just amazing and exciting, really its fabulous and made my day.  Thank you for sharing my blog in your 50 best sewing blogs.  It is wonderful to know that little ole me can make a difference and that I inspired other readers.  I know its been ages since I have posted, it has been totally crazy around here.  I keep thinking I will get set up for sewing again, but other things have taken priority.  Like unpacking boxes, hunting for meat so we have something to feed the family and dealing with all the paperwork and chaos that goes along with a medical retirement from the Air Force for my husband.  I have seen so many things recently that I am dying to make but am not sure when I will find the time.  My fabulous mom has let me set up a sewing room in her house since I don't have room, but alas its not "set up".  Its just boxes and fabric strewn about.  I even need to make curtains for the house but haven't found a moment for that either.  I just keep telling myself that it will get easier and less chaotic, but really life is chaos and I just need to get a better grip and hang on for the ride.  Maybe I need to take a lesson from a bull rider on getting a better "grip" lol.  I hope that I can still maintain some of my readers though this transitional time for me.  I promise I will be back up and running just as soon as I can.  Thanks again to Guide to Art Schools for choosing my blog and a big thanks to Sewing Mamas for the inspiration to become what I have today!

What do you do when you get bucked off a horse?

You get right back on. That is how I was brought up.  So after not being satisfied with my last quilt I had to give it a try again and I think that you will agree I succeeded. I am proud that I didn't give up!  My mom is my inspiration and is who shows me anything is possible. I am so proud of my mom. She recently finished her masters degree and graduated with distinction!  During her time at school she has had to live in AZ while my dad stays and takes care of the ranch in MT.  Quite the long distance relationship.  But she did it!  This quilt is a late mothersday/graduation gift for her.  She just got it today so I am finally able to post pics.  The main fabric is tonya whelan, handpicked by Ari at Buttercuppity Fabric for me. The backing fabric is one I have had in my stash curing for a while.  So bright and fun! I did free motion quilting with different designs throughout.  I made the binding as well, I really prefer to make my own I think.  She loves it!  She deserves it!  Love you mom!
Images are clickable.  Please excuse basement lighting, I was working hard to get this out to her and didn't have time to wait for sunshine.

Sis Boom Apron inspires Rocky and Bullwinkle Pie Baking

Some time back I won a giveaway that Nancy had on her blog http://darkhorsefarmdesigns.blogspot.com/. It is a wonderful Ms Willy with pink stripe Sis Boom apron and is absolutely beautiful.  Quite the sexy flare. Thank you so much Nancy for such a wonderful giveway, everyone needs one of these aprons!  So I took a break from packing and other craziness and was inspired to do some baking. I made some strawberry rhubarb pie filling a few days ago and needed to get the pies made.  Using our family recipe for crust I went to work.  They took on a Rocky and Bullwinkle theme thanks to cute Ikea cookie cutters.  Seriously cookie cutters are not just for cookies.  I do all my biscuits and baked goods with cookie cutters.  The kids love it and who says biscuits have to be round?  Anyhow back to the subject at hand, pies, I love em!  I made one pie with just strawberry rhubarb, one strawberry rhubarb cheesecake pie and one cherry cheesecake pie.  Yummy.  Fresh out of the oven I fixed up a slice for my hubby and I.  Who, I might add, I caught with my strawberry rhubarb pie!  Maybe he married me just for that, or because he likes me barefoot in the kitchen with my sexy apron;-)  I served the pie with homemade strawberry rhubarb cheesecake icecream, in case you are wondering we love strawberry rhubarb around here, I also love my KitchenAid icecream attachment.  I get the strawberries and rhubarb from our local Fifer Orchards.  Alright, now that you are drooling, here are some pics.  The self shots are just that, so you'll have to survive my poor self portraits. Click the photos to see a bigger image.

Bloggers Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2010

Here is my entry for the Bloggers Quilt Festival ~ Spring 2010

The quilt has been more of an adventure and trauma than I ever imagined quilting would be.  I have only done 2 doll quilts prior to this and I know now I am very much a quilting newbie!  

I have wanted to do this quilt for quite some time. And although its not fancy or perfect every stitch is made with love. Here is the story of how it came to be.

When we first heard that Ethan had been diagnosed with Diffuse Pontine Glioma, a brain stem tumor, we were devastated for Ethan and his family.  Jon, his step dad, is a friend of ours through an archery forum and was our first friend when we moved to Delaware. Ethan was diagnosed in December of 2008 at only 8 years old.  After 14 months of bravely fighting this horrible tumor he became an Angel in January of 2010. You can click on his photo to read more about his brave battle.  I knew immediately that I wanted to do a photo memory quilt to give to his big brother Jacob.  I designed a photo collage on adobe illustrator cs4 and headed on over to www.spoonflower.com to have it printed out. I had it printed on the cotton sateen which turned out fabulous.  That was the easy part. I designed the pattern of the quilt myself as I am a rogue and don't like following patterns.  The top went together well, but I did run into a few snags.  I will never use tear a way quilt piecing or wash away stabilizer and I will always prewash everything. I could go into details but reliving it is harsh.  I did free motion quilting following a continuous line stencil for part of it and just free handing the rest.  I also added Jacob and Ethan's names in applique at the top.  It certainly isn't perfect but I hope that it will be well loved regardless.  I have to say it turned out well for my first full sized quilt and I know I will continue with quilting.  I will be presenting the quilt to Jacob later on this week. Smaller thumbnails are clickable.

Photo Memory Quilt for Jacob The Good, Bad and Ugly

This quilt has been in design for quite some time now. I wanted to make something for Jacob to remember his brother Ethan by. Ethan passed away in January after a 14 month battle with Diffuse Pontine Glioma a rare brainstem tumor.  I decided that I really wanted to get it done so I could start getting organized for the move.  I designed the photo panels through illustrator cs4 and had them printed on cotton sateen through www.spoonflower.com.  This is the most wonderful part of the whole quilt.  The fabric is gorgeous and turned out super. I had an idea of how I wanted it laid out and just sort of played it by ear, I am not one to follow a pattern.  The overall quilt turned out well.  I made my own binding following this tutorial by Priscilla Bianchi called My "All By Machine " Binding Method, click her name for the link.  The binding turned out fabulous. I ran into several problems with other areas though, keep in mind this is my first full size quilt.  First I used a tear away foundation to put my free motion designs on and sew over.  I made sure the stitches were close so it would tear away easily, or so I thought.  Yesterday I spent the entire day picking it out of between stitches, my hands do not love me today.  Then for several blocks I used wash away stabilizer, ummm yeah that didn't work so much either.  Even after several washing and scrubbing there is still little bits under the stitching.....  I will never use either product again.  Then on to the worse traumatizing event of it all. I put the quilt in to wash it, normal cycle cold water mild detergent.  The backing bled all over and now the baseballs are pink! This was with 4 color catcher sheets in the wash just in case. I can't tell you how much I cried and how devastated I was. I rinsed another 2 times and it lightened the pinkness. I did one more wash cycle and its as good as it gets. There are still some discolored areas but I think its ok.  I am not happy at all with it, but I am hoping they will still be able to appreciate it.  The good thing is that the cotton sateen didn't discolor at all!  Yay for spoonflower.  So the photographs are perfect. Now I know there are a lot of quilters who do not prewash anything but I will prewash everything from here on out. Lessons learned.  The finished size is 66x77 roughly. I also used the extra photo fabric and made 2 pillow covers with pillows to go with it.  I can't say I will be doing any full sized quilts any time soon but for my first I guess I can live with it.  Onto the mass amounts of pics. You can click on them to see a full sized image. And I love comments and suggestions but please be kind, I am a sensitive soul.