Day 18: 2018 Review J-F-M

Time to look back a bit to where my year went. Here is a pic review and then some other posts to look back on.

Top row represents January into February.
I did so much appraisal shadowing these 2 months that I was very thankful to have time to go to St. Louis for a quilting retreat with friends from when I lived there.
This Blog Post discusses the retreat from a few years back when we were younger:)
Pics on top row are 1. View on the way to the airport to fly to St. Louis, 2. an aerial view of STL, and 3. my St. Valentine's Day Décor at home.

Second row: 1. My very first appraisal booth all on my own. What a fantastic day!  
2. My baby girl finishing nursing clinicals!! I am a very proud mom and she shines at whatever she puts her mind to and she has worked so hard for this!
3. We had a bit of a warm up late in February and so my husband and I took a rare moment to go sit by the water and have a beer together:)

Bottom row: 1. I finally met Kay:)  You have heard me talk of her in my Heritage Architect stories and it was great to meet her and go see her ice dye exhibit.
2. We lost a dear friend to cancer this year.  When we lived in NC, Paula and Sharon lived down the island a bit from us.  I met them through a business meeting and they owned the Wood Gallery that I exhibited in for awhile.  We spent many weekends at their place for oyster roasts which I had never heard of before them:)
We  moved and they moved but we were able to visit them in New Hampshire-WOW!  Their new gallery was even more amazing!!
Being with them was a joy with lots of laughter and love.  Our hearts break for Paula and are thankful she has family near to help her.  We love and miss you Sharon!!
3. I finally got to take a Brazilian Embroidery class. That pic is the class sample and it is gorgeous!!  Good to keep learning even when you think there isn't anything else.

In March we also had the annual COC charity auction. Click on COC to read about my donations. 

I do keep very busy. I wonder what my bullet journal would have looked like that first quarter??  Maybe we will see this upcoming year:)

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

http://muppin.com/wordpress/index.php/the-2018-31-day-blog-writing-challenge/

Heritage Story: Green Strip Quilt

KAY'S GREEN STRIP QUILT

You have met Kay before here on my blog.  I adore working with her to finish these lovely works of art.

This quilt had rows of pieced swirl blocks and I wasn't sure at first how to best showcase them.  There is a suggested rule of thumb that using curved quilting on geometric and geometric on curves are good ways to accent a design so that was what I leaned on to quilt these blocks.  They are a variation of a Snail Trail so I decided on large concentric swirls coming from the centers and it worked. 

The alternate rows were a strip of preprinted Calla Lilies.  I have said this before, let the fabric tell you what to do.  Any other design may have distracted from the lovely florals so a gentle outline and some freehand swirls was all that was necessary to accent the great design already done for me by the fabric designer.

Kay sent me green thread to work with and although hesitant at first, I fell in love with how well everything shows!

Lastly, the borders....look at that print!  I didn't outline EVERY detail but there was enough here to outline key features and provide enough quilting to keep consistency across the quilt.

It is so exciting watching a top come alive into a finished quilt one stitch at a time!

There are more #heritagearchitect stories to come....
In the meantime, Kay wrote a couple of sweet posts that you can read below.  We were finally able to meet this past October when I went to her ice dye show in Ocala.  So much talent!!
There is also a post about the story of her quilt above.... I'll let her show you the full quilt:)
Enjoy!

Meeting:  https://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/03/my-hand-quilter-robin-koehler.html
Quilt Story: https://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-very-special-quilt.html

Heritage Stories: MY find:)

I found this Gorgeous embroidered pieced in an antique mall for maybe $6 or $8... 
It was just what I always wanted but didn't know it until that moment:)

 Look at these perfect satin stitches (that I loathe to do!!)

The fabric was much heavier than I like to

hand quilt through but I made do!

The edges were a bit wonky but once I put the binding on,

I was able to preserve most of her adorable edge

work that adds so much to the design.

It is almost time to change out my holiday décor and so here is another sweet rescue piece that lives in a cute little vignette:

A cross stitched Revolutionary Drummer boy doily.

The hunt is half the fun and I am always looking.

Heritage Stories: Kay's Applique

Today I FINALLY get to show you
what I worked on this summer:) 
Kay and I have been FB friends for years and
as I posted some of my commission work,
it must have peaked her interest. 

Kay's Country Applique

I am pretty sure that by now you all know my passion for applique. Imagine my excitement when I had the honor of quilting these lovelies designed by Marion Vernon and Carlene Buck!!

 

I am so glad that Kay recognizes what an amazing job she did stitching these!!  This is another fun part of Heritage Quilting for me...I get to wonder in awe at the work and time taken to add each little perfect stitch into a piece of art. 

BEAUTIFUL DETAILS!

 

 

Here is a back shot of the quilting because

sometimes it is lovely from the back too:)

 

 

You don't always need to mark out a design either. 

Let the fabric talk to you and tell you how to quilt it.

The plaid like print was perfect for double row cross-hatch

and added loads of texture to the final look.

 

 Hanging Diamonds were the perfect background fill

so that the applique was the star of the block and worked as a

different texture to the plaid print. 

Read all of Kay's story on the making of this delightful quilt HERE

When you are ready to start your own Heritage Journey, find me HERE

Until next time,
Keep Quilting

Heritage Stories: Susan's Find

You can look and look and rarely find such a lovely piece of embroidery needing its story finished.

 

Susan found this wonderful piece and thankfully someone suggested it be hand quilted and she knew just who to trust with it:)

 Neither of us know who started it but it is an honor

to be a part of completing her story!

Her stitches are perfect and lovely

and the design is so endearing!

 I know that Susan bragged on my quilting HERE

and so now it is my turn to brag:)

This final pic is where this adorable piece lives.  Susan's sense of design is awe inspiring!  I love being at her home where every little nook has fun antique items to drool over. 

 Home Sweet Home fits in perfectly in this vignette or the next one she dreams up after holiday change outs.

 

Make sure you check out her blog for lots of eye candy:

https://suznquilts.wordpress.com/

 

AND.....Susan has a new book that will be

out the end of this month! 

She has made Dresdens tiny and fun and adorable! 

Take a peek HERE.

PRE-Order it HERE.

Hurry Hurry:))

Heritage Stories: Bowties

I have written before about why I am a Heritage Architect

and here is another one of those stories.

 

This quilt came to me because the quilter had taken a class, made the top, and started hand quilting only to realize that it just wasn't her thing and so it sat in a closet for 20 years.  Instead of trashing it (after all that work!), she found me via a guild member from my guild at the fair- Thank you Karen!

Unfortunately she no longer had the template for the flower in the red blocks she told me.  NO Problem!  I can recreate that star-like flower out of freezer paper and away we go.

This simple and sweet Bowtie block really just needed some outline quilting with the flower to accent the red blocks and a lovely quilted throw was completed for her to give to her son!

What son wouldn't want a warm snuggly throw

made by mom on a chilly winter eve?!!

Heritage Stories: HEXAGONS

I am sure most of you have seen a Grandmother's Flower Garden full of hexagons from maybe the 1930s or 40s.

I had too in shops and online and they were never my favorite.

Then I was given a bag full (40+ flower heads) from

a new client that her mother had hand pieced while

working in a textile company.

 

This woman had been searching for almost 10 years to find someone to complete her mother's legacy with many twists and turns.  When she met with me (a total stranger), she handed me the bag and was ready to leave them with me.  I asked whether she might want to wait until I wrote up a quote, etc.  She replied no because I was her last hope and if I couldn't do it, they were just going into the trash.  I almost cried and I didn't even know the full story at that time.

We discussed ideas for her abundance of hexagons and she told me that she really wanted to share the wealth with family members.  A table runner and twin quilt for herself and stockings and mini pillows to share with others.

I set out figuring the best way to approach this project.  Many others had turned it down because the edges were too frayed to work in the traditional English Paper Piecing but I am an excellent appliquer (if I do say so myself:) and those edges could be tamed in that technique.
We agreed that hexagons would be appliqued to squares and set with sashing...Easy:)

Hand Quilting Detail

Finished Table Runner

As we go through the post, note all the fun colors of flower heads I was given to work with.

The stockings were a lot of fun to make once I drew out my template and decided how and where to utilize the hexagons for maximum design effect.

That red and black one to the right was hard to part with:)

Mini Pillows

Hand Quilting Details of borders

 Ta-Da!! Last but not least, the Twin Quilt just for her.

 

This story brings tears to my eyes and it is why I Love being a Heritage Architect!  Every stitch I put into this project brought me closer to the quilter and mother that made these

precious pieces and gifted them to her children. 

Now her children and grandchildren can enjoy these heirlooms for generations because they are being taught the importance of appreciating what has been made by hand.

Keep Quilting!

Heritage Stories: Helen's quilt!

Helen found me via 2 women in my guild: 1 an appraiser and 1 a long-arm quilter.  Neither of them found this something they would do but they knew someone who would:)  I had let it be known that I wanted to expand my commission clientele and so this delicate piece arrived on my doorstep!

The quilt was started and in 2 sections of 2 rows each.  The applique was complete and what was needed was the final assembly, the hand quilting, borders/quilting, and the binding.  What made it even better was that she knew exactly how she wanted it finished AND the hearts came with their own marking!

Here you can see the quilting in the hearts and the small hearts in the corners of each block.

This photo shows a heart design I drew out for the borders by combining a few other designs.

 A sweet label and finished!
This is a quilt that was started in the 90s and due to life and some health reasons she just wasn't able to finish it.
This is why I quilt.  It was fabulous to help another quilter fulfill this wish!