Working

I have started working. Many reasons have gone into this decision, the result is that I am now working at Hobby Lobby. Having not been in the work world for over 20 years, I was a little nervous at this change in life. I have been fortunate to find a great group of people to work with and never have to worry about working on Sundays :)

This has brought many changes in our home, but everyone is adjusting well. I am still pursuing my quilting business. So any referrals there are always welcome.

The Quilting Group that has been meeting every Thursday is going to continue, Tori is taking charge of the group. I will attend as often as I possibly can. More details about the time and place will come soon.

Crazy Christmas Quilts

Crazy Quilts are a lot of fun because of the varity of fabrics you can use. This first one is a stack and wack. I was able to use a large stash of Christmas material I had collected over the years, there was enough to make 2 twin size quilts. The quilting is poinsetta's, it shows up really nicely on the back, but doesn't show too well in the pictures. Maybe you will want to come by and visit me and I will show you how prety the quilting really is :)
This one is from my collections of "Snowmen" fabric. I didn't use a pattern, I just started to sew whatever size scraps I had until they made a big enough square, then sewed all the big squares together. For the back, I used lage pieces of the snowman fabric, it gave it a nice look. You can't see it but the quilting is snowflakes.

Snowmen Quilt

This pattern is a 'Block by the Month' project. Tori and I found it over 15 years ago at the International Quilt Festival. We both began work on the hand applique blocks, taking a brake to make some into pillows as Christmas gifts one year. Then life took over and our blocks were set on the back burner for many years! During that time, my 2 sisters saw the pattern and wanted to make one as well. Both Paula and Merlene finished theirs before Tori and I, but we are back on schedule to have ours completed this year. :)

Remember, all 4 pictures are of the same pattern, everyone just chose their own colors - you can see what a difference the colors make, really shows personality.

The one is mine, I mainly used scraps I had from other projects. I just want to add one more boarder...

My oldest sister, Paula, did this one. I love the natural tones she chose! Merlene did this one, my mom is hand quilting it for her (as well as Paula's, she will do mine when it is completed). The natural tones with the red are very warm and inviting.

Tori still needs a boarder or two... I love the darker red boarders pulling this one together.
Now that the ladies in the quilting group have seen these quilts, there are a few who are wanting to do their own. It is a great pattern!

Dee's Sample Quilt Finished

Dee finished her 'sample quilt'. Started years ago, she finished it with us as we all worked on our sample quilt. Here is a link to her individual blocks as she was working on them.

Every Grand Child

My Mom has made one of these quilts for everyone of her Grand Children and Great-Grand Children. Every one of them has been loved and treasured! This shows some of the Great-Grand kids with their quilts.

Above, Cameron his showing his quilt. This is the best one that shows the whole quilt. Mom does a blind tie and then sometimes adds some hearts or bears, all hand quilted.

Below, Neal is wrapped in his quilt. It may not be the one Great Grandma made but he claims ALL the blankets (when he can get away with it)!

The next 2 blankets are for the newest grandsons (great grandsons). They were born 2 weeks apart. Wesley and Zander.

Keegan takes his blanket everywhere he goes! Here he is at his Dad's commission as an officer and still has his blanket along.
Dave, yes my husband, wanted a blanket like everyone else...so, Mom made him one too. Thing is, Amy kinda took it over and has claimed it as hers.

I Love Lucy

Susie is one of our "long distance" Quilt Group members. A few times a year, she makes her way over for some sewing time. This time she came over for the International Quilt Show. In between visits to the quilt show, we finished some projects. Here is one she put together with I Love Lucy prints. We even had time to get it quilted on Teri's new computer long arm.

At the bottome is a picture of the back to see the quilt stitches.

Teri's Show and Tell

Teri has been wanting to use up all her scrap material so she has been looking for patterns to do just that. This in one of the block we did in class for the sampler quilt. She bought some extra cream background fabric but other than that this was scraps she had laying around. There was enough to make 2 oversized throw quilts. The angle quilt below is one Teri chose to do to practic her hand applique on. The original pattern I think only had 6 angels on it but Teir didn't think that was big enough so she doubled the size.

Flannel Baby Blanket

While at a Family Camp, a few of us brought our sewing machines... :) While kids were having fun playing, we were able to get a few projects accomplished. Here Sandy is with her new project, a double sided flannel baby blanket. A little bigger than a receiving blanket which is nice.

My mom and I found this cool pattern while we were in Logan visiting. The front is a few inches smaller that the back so when it is sewed the back folds over to the front creating a mitered corner and boarder.

I make a lot of these for all the baby's in our Ward.

My First Rag Quilt

This is the quilt that in on my bed right now. It was one of the very first quilts I made and it is all from scraps I had. At the time I was making dressed from a great line of fabric from Mission Valley. I had lots of scraps (which I hate to throw away) and a whole lot of samples from the distributor...so I decided to make use of them and put them into a king size rag quilt.

Mary's Show and Tell

Mary brought a few project to share with us. The first is a table runner that both she and her husband put together. Aprons are SO 'IN' right now. Mary's son made this one for his dad.

This is a new apron Mary made, you can't see it here but it is reversible.

Lisa's finished Sample Quilt

Lisa has finished her Sample Block quilt!!!!

We have pictures of her starting earlier this year, not sure she could really do a project like this but REALLY wanting to. Each block she made increased her confidence and she steadily worked over the months and now look...she completed the top!!!!

Good Job Lisa!!!!

See posts of when she started and as she was working...

First block

Progress

Her write-up

Depression Paper Piecing

We have enjoyed learning several varying styles of Paper Piecing. Here is another one Mary showed us. Using 4 x 9 strips of newspaper and all your scraps (all sizes) of material, fill up several newspaper strip and then sew all the strips together. Use the finished piece for a quilt, hand bag, place mat or anything else you can think of. Mary shows how she used hers as a quilt and a project bag.

Tori's Quilts

Tori has been taking a class on hand applique. In class they work on a block each month. This is Tori's main project during the quilting group. I thought all would like to see what she is doing. It is fun to see the progression!

This is a quilt Tori's completed before we started our Quilting Group and brought to show us.

Maribella's Dress

Michael commissioned as an Officer in the Texas National Guard this summer. There was a formal ball held that we got to attend. I wanted to make Maribella a perfect dress for the occasion. I failed to get a picture of just her in the dress to really show it off, but here is the best I got of the dress. She was very stunning!!! Sarah did her hair.

Fence Rail Quilt

This is one of my early quilts. It is a 'strip quilt'. Very easy to construct. This one was done with scraps from material I used in making some vests for a music group.

This is the same quilt, the strips and blocks were just placed in a random order.

Teri's Show and Tell - leaves, stars

When Teri and I first got into quilting, we took a 'quilting vacation' to Branson, MO. We stayed for about a week and spent our time sewing, eating and going to the wonderful shows in Branson. Here are 2 of the quilts Teir sewed while we were there.

The first one is her first attempt at machine applique. The whole thing is done in just 2 fabrics. She drew the leaves and the boarder is in the same material as the leaves. Very simple but extreamly striking.
This one is a patter she found on the internet. She hadn't yet gotten comfortable with using bold colors, now days she said she would have use bold, bright colors. This has always been one of my favorites!

Hand Print Quilt

I have decided to try my hand at starting a quilting business. Combining a skill I enjoy with helping our family income. I will be doing "Memory Quilts" in the form of pictures, t-shirts and hand prints. Here is a pictures of the hand print quilt I designed. You can see more at http://www.jolenescreations.com/

Sheri's Quilt

Sheri is on her second quilt, starting a great tradition for her family. This one if for her son that just left for BYU this fall. My Mom made a quilt for me and each of my siblings as we graduated and headed away for college. It brought me more than physical warmth as I snuggled under it when I was away from home.

Following are some pictures as Sheri is working on her quilt...

Here is Sam with his finished quilt to take with him on his new adventure!