Quick picture upload of our booth at the Las Colcheras show:

Quilt show season is upon us!

Always time for a little art on the patio.  Created by Daddy-O, Kaitlynn and me.  Acrylic paint on a piece of muslin.

girly raspberry beer on the left, manly porter on the right

We have been kinda busy here at Sunshine Quilting. Just returned from a great 2 day show in Pueblo, Colorado where we met some very nice people and ate some very delicious pizza and tasty beer.  We had such a great time demonstrating the fabulous Nolting longarm machines, and now I cannot wait to return to quilting some more customer quilts.




Speaking of customer quilts and deliciousness, here are some photos of a couple of quilts made by Lisa which I had the honor of quilting last week.  First up is this really unique mystery quilt.  The pattern is from the book by M'Liss Rae Hawley, Fat Quarter Quilts And the fabrics used by Lisa screamed for a metallic gold thread. Yes, screamed.  Loud.  I used a panto on this quilt called "Fantasia" which I just love.  It is a nice feathery design that contrasts with the sharp geometry of the piecing, yet has that sort of Asian peacock feather feel that I thought would complement the Asian theme fabrics of the quilt.

Butterfly detail in border, which was Sweetie's idea.  I love this metallic thread

Lisa's other quilt was a tasty modern quilt made with Cherrywood fabrics.  I did not think to get a snap of the overall quilt, but here is the detail.  Lisa and I chose a "watery meander" that I did freehand to enhance but not detract from the solid bars of color.  I used a mulberry colored thin 50 weight thread on this one.  Superior Threads, so fine #438.

We will be at the big show in Utah - HMQS so if you are in SLC May 10-12, please stop in and say hi and purchase your very own Nolting machine!

Road 2 California leads to Los Cruces!

First off, what was on the quilt frame this week?  Here is an adorable kids quilt, made by Kim!  I had a really good time putting some whimsical quilting on this one!

Went to Road 2 California quilt show last week as a helper-vendor for Nolting, and it was Crazee!  Bummer part of it was that John was sick, so I had to go it alone.  BUT I learned a lot of stuff from Julie, Tom, Lance and Dan, about how to present the product, set up and take down the booth, and all kinds of good quilty information.

I was humbled by the amazing talent, inspired by the colors, products and patterns, and awed by the number of people that went past our little corner.

Here are some of the quilts I loved:

Check out the trapunto butterflies.  Ah mazing.

Handpainted, stitched, the bio says it took the quiltmaker 3 years to complete

Best in Show.  Love the shading and the stained glass look.

Crystals were on most of the winning quilts.  It's all the rage.  This one was beautiful with, but would have been a stunner even without.  Below is the quilting visible from the backside, almost as pretty as the front.

Super fun Halloween quilt, with lots of 3D effects

Side view, trying to show the 3D embellishments and effects

This is one I would like to try to make - individual grapes

Part of the special exhibit called "Bridges"  featuring 2 bridges I used to know quite well.

Gotta love the name, and here is the quilt:

Mermaid Castle

Close up of a mermaid

This is a miniature, like 12 inches square!!

I adore the quilting on this! The feathers, the basket weave cross-hatching.  Ahhh sweet!

Beautiful Christmas quilt, with a heart wrenching story, below

Detail from quilt above

I really like the color scheme and fancifulness (yeah, it's probably not a word) of this quilt

So I believe that inspiration can come from any source, and I am trying to find daily bits n pieces.  Today I saw this color combo and graphic depiction of the cow at pasture and I thought it was quite charming:

weird, maybe.

Queso, next week, Feb 10-11, Sunshine Quilting will be a vendor at the Las Colcheras Quilt Guild Show, in Los Cruces, NM.  We are looking forward to seeing the wonderful quilts, meeting interesting people and hopefully selling a Nolting quilting system or 2. .. or 3 . . .

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!!