Up at the lake

So we are enjoying a couple of weeks up at the lake:

Catching a peek at some local wildlife living under our dock,

and on our deck, this is Colonel Cheeks the Chipmunk and Cheyenne has no less than 30 pictures of him and all his cuteness.

Visiting with friends we rarely get to see because we live on different coasts

Trying new adventurous modes of transportation.

and overall, enjoying a cooler version of summer in the Adirondacks

And always on the look out for,

 the Loch Ness Monster of Lake Champlain

or any other oddities....

A deep commitment

This is the before picture for a customers quilt made to celebrate her 50th Wedding Anniversary:

Its a Judy Niemeyer pattern with its expansion pack making it queen size or better. Lots of paper piecing and the customer did a great job- it layed flat and was very well constructed!

Here is the after quilting picture:

Here are some detail shots:

Shot of the back: 

 Center medallion:

So I called this post "deep commitment" because the maker of course was celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary which is a deep commitment and it took me nearly 4 months of work to finish this quilt- another deep commitment! Lots of details to bring out in a quilt this intricate.

So that was why there was such a blogging dryspell!

More to come- soon!

Judy's Row-a-Month Quilt

Judy gave this lovely quilt top to me to quilt many months ago and patiently (oh so patiently!) waited for me to get it done! Thank you Judy for your patience and the opportunity to quilt it in whatever way moved me. It was lots of fun!

Here are all the rows in overall:

Snowmen for January- these will get little black gems for eyes:

Hearts for February ( you can see a peek of the kites for March below- I quilted that row to look like wind):

 

Kites were March and April had Bunnies with dimensional ears!

May flowers:

June Sailboats ( for some reason this row was my favorite):

 Judy is very active in making quilts for soldiers and their families so I went all out for the July blocks and did faux trapunto-- you can see the USA written in the white parts:

 August Watermelons:

 September Apples:

 October-Pumpkins:

 Turkeys and corn for November:

 Santas for December- I am sure these guys will get some embellishment too!

Here is a shot of the borders: 

This one was fun- at least 10 colors of thread, wool batting and something different to do in every row- It will be hard to top in the fun department! Thanks Judy! I hope you and your family really enjoy it. 

Noteworthy Day

Today was "noteworthy" because I played with three mini-charm packs from Moda's Noteworthy line and made a Midi Bag.  

These bags really whip together quick and easy. 

This one will be an adorable Easter basket for *someone* in our house this Easter!

AND... when I got home from work I had a package full of fat quarters from an online swap I participated in called "TEXT ME". Participants had to put in fat quarters that had words on them- You got back as many as you put in.

I got back a great variety as you can see- many I hadn't even seen before-- which is saying something since I kinda scope out fabric lines regularly while planning what we'll want to carry at the shop!

Thank you to Jessica for organizing the swap.

Now back to quilting.... 

Chocolate, Celery & Cream

No I am not pregnant! Chocolate, Celery and Cream are the colors in this beautiful quilt I had the pleasure of quilting for Mike.

It is a simple "hatchet" block but her setting and color choices make it really fantastic looking!

 Mike wanted something custom in the green areas of the quilt. This is what I came up with. 

It is a large quilt and will be a lovely gift!

Sorry I haven't been posting pics lately- 2013 got off to a racing start and I can't believe it is already the second half of February!

Christmas Eve-Eve

So it is Christmas Eve- Eve as we say in our house-- anything to make it sound like Christmas is closer!  

Today I finally got to make some cookies.  The act of baking for Christmas is a key to holiday spirit for me.

These are Peanut Butter Blossoms:

We make them every year but, these below are thumbprint cookies filled with Coconut Curd and drizzled with Nutella. Recipe courtesy of my friend Mary. It was the first time I made them and while they were not as good as Mary's they were yummy.

Having tamed my kitchen goddess inclinations.... I turned back to the sewing room and made this:

 This is a Sweetwater pattern called "Mama's Spools".  I used 

V & Company's fabric line "Simply Color" put out by Moda to make it and I love it!  It is a small wallhanging- about 35" square made using fusible machine applique cut from charm squares.

 It was quick and fun.

 Last summer I made the above lap quilt from the free pattern on Moda's website using Bella Solids. Today I am flipping through the books below for quilting ideas.

I think I am going to do some freestyle doodle quilting on it based on a combination of ideas from these books. I can't wait to start it. I have wanted to play with some modern quilting ideas for a while.

What a weekend!

So I was in New Orleans all weekend with this child, participating in the Southern Regional Oireachtas of Irish Dance....

 Three out of four of her figure teams placed even earning a 1st place in a four hand and recalling in her solo competitions for the very first time, placing 40th out of over 100 of the best dancers in our region!

All the while wishing I could clone myself so I could be in two places at once because.....

THIS child was back in Texas,

 having the best swim meet he has ever had! 

Tommy earned three "A" times in one meet (raising him to "elite" level), dropped time in all his events and earned High Point for the team! Thankfully I have the best husband ever who videotaped nearly every race for me AND sent me hourly reports on how he was doing. 

My cup is overflowing, I just don't know what to say...

I was looking at the pictures that I  took over the weekend,

 and this one:

Felt like it covered my whole weekend. I took it on Decatur Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was on the sidewalk- marked "water" but there was green glitter all over it probably from a recent parade. 

Water for my swimmer and glitter for my Irish dancer.....