Quilted Plum

Design wall monday 1/24/11

So I'm back to blogging, trying to make a regular appearance. One of the things I like to do is share my design wall and link it to Judy Laquidera's Blog-Patchwork Times. Unfortunately, I don't have any thing that I can show today. I have been working on a couple projects that I have to keep to myself for now. One is yet another t-shirt quilt that I don't have permission to show and the other is the blockswapppers quilt that I talked about in several posts this past week. As I shared before, we try to keep them under wraps until we show them in our annual exhibit in August.

I realized that I never shared the pictures of last year's blockswappers quilts at our annual Woodcarvers and Quilt Expo that is held every August in Blue Earth, Minnesota. As I shared with you here,  last year's swap was positive/negative civil war blocks. So here they are-enjoy the show! Click on the picture to enlarge.

Mine, Irene, Linda, Cindy, Julie, Jude, Celie, Dorothy, Jolyn, Monica, Mike, Jan

 

I have no idea why these pictures are all over the place but I tried to put the names in the order they show up!

Have a great week-Tracy

 

Yesterdays Goals

Just a quick note and a couple pictures to report that I accomplished my quilting goals yesterday. Plus I not only mounted the next quilt but went ahead and quilted it.

It was a pretty simple allover quilting job for a client on an old "found" quilt. Sometimes its nice to just get it done, especially if I'm in the mood!

I also got to work on my blockswappers project for awhile. Now I am to a place where I have decide what to do with it next. I think I want it to grow but not sure how. Sorry to be so mysterious about this project! I can't show it until August.

No quilting today, except for meeting with a client about a t-shirt quilt that I will probably start on this weekend. Otherwise, it has been a bookwork day, Ugh!

Have a great weekend!

Tracy

My word for 2011

I have seen many places about people choosing a word for the new year. A word to inspire them, a word to try to live by all year. We are already 3 weeks into this new year but I don't think it is too late to choose my word. I actually have had it chosen for awhile but I just haven't really shared it with anyone.

Trust

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

2010 was definitely a roller coaster of highs and lows for me. As I look back on it I feel rather ashamed to say that most of the time I think I was riding on the same roller coaster as God. He was always there with me and I knew He was always there. The problem was most the time I didn't have him riding in the same car with me. There I was riding in that front car with my arms up and part of the time I was screaming for joy because I was so excited for the the future. Part of the time I was screaming with sorrow and fear. Sometimes, I would turn back and wave to him. Other times I'd say a few words, likely more words when I was screaming with sorrow and fear, but also words when I was screaming for joy. Nothing too personal and little praise. I was more likely to take more time to talk to him when I wanted something.

My goal this year is take more time to TRUST and worship and praise and really get to know God- my Maker, my Saviour.

Amen

Tracy

 

Todays goals

Here is a quick pic of the quilt I'm working on today.

I hope to get this one finished this morning and then quilt a ribbon meander on a table runner. Both of them are Christmas/Winter projects for a client. With our frigid temperatures and wind chill advisories today, I guess they are fitting projects!

I have also been working on our current blockswappers project, mostly at home over the past weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, so it is requiring a bit of discipline not to work on it all the time! I have set a goal that I need to get these two client projects done and another quilt mounted on the machine before I can play. Sorry I can't share any pictures. We try to keep the blockswapper projects under wraps until we reveal them at the quilt expo in August. It really isn't like me to be working on a project that isn't due until August in January. Maybe it is because I have a hard time not sharing! I can tell you that the blocks we swapped this year are log cabins. We made a total of 48 log cabin blocks 7.5" in size. Each member got  4 of those blocks. This has always been one of my favorite quilt blocks because it is so versatile. It should make for a great exhibit at our annual Woodcarvers and Quilt Expo in Blue Earth, MN.

If I am going to get to play today, I need to go get my "work" done!

Tracy

Design Wall Monday 1-17-11

On my design wall are these wool appliques that I worked on over the weekend. I used a word program on my computer and just made the letters using different fonts. Before Christmas, I did dozens of Christmas related wool pictures (well mostly they are words in picture frames).

At first I was making them to be given just as gifts but ended up selling them to friends and making many more than planned(as in, I made around 40) They turned out to be very popular. I didn't mind because I really do enjoy making them.

I seem to be drawn to fabric related items when they are framed (or maybe I am just drawn to all fabric related items, ahem) As you can see by these, that I still have up on my mantel. They are still up for two reasons:

1. I haven't found a big enough plastic tote to store them in yet.

and

2. I really like them and wasn't quite ready to put them away for the year yet.

The two in the middle are the new ones.

 The "Believe" that Mr. Snowman is holding is another one that I did at Christmas time. It is the same size as the faith, hope, and love from above. One of the reasons that I got so to into making these is because I actually found frames that worked perfectly for this project. And they are cheap,like 3 bucks each! At first I was really hesitant to share where I had found them because I was afraid they were like so many things that you find at Walmart...here today, gone tomorrow. Okay, so I didn't want to mislead you or maybe I just wanted to save them all for me--selfish girl! I was just there last night and bought another dozen, so they keep replenishing their supply, so far.

Here a couple valentine pictures that I have also made lately. Just so you don't think I am totally obsessed with making these woolies.

For the final picture of

this rather picture heavy blog post will be of one of the quilts I have quilted for a client this year. I have longarm quilted 8 quilts for others so far this year.

Four of them

were queen size, the rest were throw size like this one. Just wanted you to know that even though I have been absent from the blogging world, I haven't been idle.

Thanks for the emails of concern about my absence from here. More on that another time.

Happy 2011!

Tracy