Christmas Craft hangover

December was a BLUR of activity.  First of all, at a Christmas party, we decided to adopt this cute little Puppy.  We named him "Booker" and he is a smart mischievous little black lab / cocker spaniel mix (we think).  He is approximately 3 months old (we think).  

Booker has some strong opinions on my quilting and crafting.  Here, he is looking down at the quilt top I sorta almost finished for Jessica, and he is thinking that I really really should have finished this by Christmas like I said I would.  

But it's ok, I did finish a lot of stuff.  really. read on!

oh but first, 

We visited with Santa.  Kaitlynn worried that Santa might eat her because she looked like a candy cane.  She was wrong! 

These boots were a pre-Christmas purchase.  K said that she wanted a pair of boots "like Caroline's" at school.  Umm, that one stumped the salesman.  BUT we did find them!

So, naturally I made a pink paisley corduroy jumper to match:

Booker is slightly interested, and semi-approving of this sewing effort.

Here is a quilt that I finished for my Dad.  Been working on this for approximately ever.

Booker is amazed that I actually finished this one!  

*Good sarcasm, Booker.  Here is another example:  Why don't you finish wrapping those gifts? oh yeah,I forgot, you do not have opposable thumbs

Nice try, though

Back to quilts, here is a quilt I made for a customer, start to finish.  This is based on the tube quilting method found here at Missouri Quilt Co.  Instead of 2 strip sets of 3 fabric, I used a strip of 3 fabrics, and then a solid for the other half to give a half square triangle effect.

You may recognize this, kinda sorta. I made the pattern for another customer a slightly different way, using the fabrics she had selected:

On the Design Wall

On the Longarm

It must be December, because I am using the winter quilting accessories, camo gloves.

Here is a quilt that a customer made for her husband and I quilted.  Really cool memory quilt, t-shirts and denim:

I used gold thread on the binding, to emulate the jeans top stitching.

 

Booker is wondering if I am going to get back to  Christmas-ilicious projects.  Why, yes, Booker, thanks for asking!

Here are the family stockings I made for the mantel.  I decided to make them all the same grey felt, then added embellishments to each to match everyone's personality.  see, close ups:

Sometime while I was making them, some gnomes sneaked on to my dining table.  Hmmm

Here is Carol's beautiful batik quilt, KING size, to which I added some luscious fern quilting:

Look closer

Look closer stillExtremely close

As Christmas drew near, we got a sprinkling of snow.  SO, better put up our feet and enjoy the twinkling glow of the tree and of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" on the ol' flat screen

 Christmas Day, Merry and Bright, gnomes still on table, Honey Baked Ham on everyone's plate.

 And at the young folks' table:

Jammie time!

Onward to New Years.  I made this little dress for a very tiny sister to a big sister celebrating her Quinceanera.  This little one is just 3, but wanted to dress up too, so her Mom hired me to make a dress to match:

 Booker is exhausted just thinking about all the work we did in December!!!

Next post, January Retreat in Napa!!

Don't forget to check out the website:  www.sunshinequilting.com and the etsy shop, cherry lime quilts

We sell sewing machines, including Nolting Longarm Machines!!  email us with what you are looking for!!

From Iowa to Black Friday

Whew!  Life is good, even when it whirls around you. It was so windy today I had a hard time thinking!

Queso, what's new? I have been busy doing customer quilts, my own projects, and starting another aspect of our business - distributors and representatives of Nolting Longarm machines in AZ, NM, West Texas and Southern Colorado!

We traveled to Iowa to meet with the company president and all of the employees, and got to see how these amazing machines are manufactured - all right here in the USA, starting with a block of aluminum and ending with a precision longarm machine.  Iowa was beautiful, as was our trip from St. Louis and through Mark Twain land, Amish country and the Amana Colonies.

A barn in the quilts on barns project in Washington county, Iowa.  Below is a sidewalk quilt in Kalona, Iowa, an Amish community

 they also have a cheese factory that makes and sells cheese curds that squeak when you eat them.  Yum

This is the entrance to a store in the Amana colonies, a really neat town, or series of towns in Iowa, founded by German immigrants in the 1800's.

We are looking forward to an install in Colorado in the next week or so - should be an adventure traversing the mountain passes - yikes!


OK, on with the quilt  photos - first is an adorable sunflower quilt made by Julie in sections on her embroidery machine.  SO COOL.  I did little "seeds" in the center, left the light petals unquilted and did a very light quilting in the darker yellow petals, the leaves, and then did  a radiating pattern outward in the "sky".  Awesome quilt.

 Next is a quilt made by Carol P and quilted by me with a sunburst type meander that I did in freehand over the quilt top - the sunlight photo shows off the quilting nicely.  I used a lovely shade of So Fine thread that virtually disappeared on the top.  The batting is Quilter's Dream 80/20 poly blend that I dearly love - just a wee bit of loft to show the quilting, but lays nice and flat.

Below is another customer quilt - a fairy godmother job - the customer gave me the fabrics and pattern that her daughter wanted her to make into a quilt.  She passed it on to me, and I pieced, quilted and bound the adorable 52x76 quilt.  The pattern is a "tube quilting" pattern that you can peep at Missouri Quilts. umm, and yes, I am wearing gloves while quilting this one.  It is COLD here in the studio in the mornings now!!

I took a workshop day at my local guild, the Valencia Valley Quilters, and learned how to make this cute block:  it is a combination of prairie point type folds and cathedral window style turns.  It's going to be a nice pillow.

We also have attended a couple of craft fairs, making pot holders and scarves and other small goodies.  I will have some of these listed on the etsy store by this weekend.

Queso, shopping anyone?  I did the VAST majority online and in my studio.. So glad that I stayed in and continued to digest my turkey dinner instead of battling over the latest electronic gadget.  I heard stories of hair pulling and pushing and shoving - nice, ladies, well done.

If any of you need any gifts check out etsy, the place to buy handmade goods.  My and Kim's store is: cherry lime quilts by sunshinecherrygirl.

Stay festive!

Breaking Bad, Bad Quilts

***we interrupt this blog for some important BREAKING NEWS!!  The website is up and running!!*** go check it out! www.sunshinequilting.com. I will wait here.

queso, welcome back.

So, we live in the land of "Breaking Bad" and we have become unofficial location scouts.  Every time we see a cool building or landscape, we think, "this would be a good scene for the t.v. show.  Case in point:We were out driving around and came upon this building.  I set the camera to "sepia" and took this picture.  Is this not the coolest abandoned bar?  I think Gus will be pulling up any minute.  Uh-oh, this isn't looking good.  Well, good-bye Bar.  (See! You totally believed that they blew up this bar!!  I told you i was perfect!)

Speaking of bad, I had to unsew a bad, misbehaving quilt this week.  No fun.  Seam ripper was smokin' hot.

Queso, I celebrated my birthday by enjoying some Irish food at a pub in Albuquerque.  Fish and chips and a black and tan.  Wrapped it up with a delicious coconut cake made by Jessica.  Delicious.  

I got a cute hello kitty snowglobe, an awesome Chargers shirt and the complete dino tot collection from Sonic.  For real!  I know, jealous, right?

The other great event in October is of course, Halloween! and yay, I found this wall hanging that Kim and I made in a class taught by Pati.   I had lost it for awhile, but found it hiding in the Halloween decorations.  Now I just need to add some binding and finish it off.

Last Sunday, we had a football watching and Halloween coloring party.  Here is my Hello Kitty contribution:

Krysta and Meghan made these spooky cupcakes:

and we set up the "Nightmare Before Christmas" scene for our Halloween Decorations.

On a Quilty note, here are the potholders I made for a swap with the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild.  My swap   buddy likes aqua (the color of the vintage mason jars) and white with splashes of red, so here is what I came up with.  I have been drawing a lot of birds lately  . . . weird.  I can't wait to receive my pot holders.

And, as for customer quilts, here is "Stacked Coins" for Gina.  I also did a few others this week, pictures to follow. Here are some feathers on a quilt for me:  I plan to add some micro stippling later.

I have a temporary lull in my quilting schedule coming up, so if you want to get your quilt tops intended for Christmas gifts to me, I have the first week of November WIDE OPEN for you . . . and lots more openings the rest of the month too.

Next week, Sweetie and I travel to Iowa to talk to Nolting about becoming the distributors for them in NM and AZ!!  Very excited about that!

All right, time to go cheer for the Eagles as my Chargers have a bye week.  Cheerio