Tuesday, December 29, 2015

September - Year of the Stash

Lots of things happened in September. One of my older quilts was purchased and headed to Brooklyn,  New York to be on the set of the Broadway play "Misery" starring Bruce Willis and Laurie Metcalf.
 Here is a screencap from the promo video for the play with my quilt on the headboard.

 September also brings the Oklahoma State Fair. I am happy to say that I won 2 more blue ribbons this year and am now considered a master quilter.

 This pink owl quilt was finished on September 14th. I purchased the owl and pink fabric at the Winter Quilt show and bought the turquoise fabric at Savage Quilter.

 I finished this Audubon style bird quilt on September 15th. I purchased the fabric at the Central Oklahoma Quilt Show in July.

This mermaid quilt was finished on September 16th. My daughter picked out the fabric at Sooner Quilts in Guthrie.

 This blue and yellow quilt was finished on September 17. I bought the fabric at the Central Oklahoma Quilt Show in July.

 Finished this snowman quilt on September 22nd. Fabric was purchased at the Central Oklahoma Quilt Show in July.

This quilt is a row sampler. The pattern was in one of my very first quilting books, I was just waiting for the right fabric to come along. I found a line of 1930's style fabrics in January and decided to use those. I worked on this quilt on and off from February until I finished it September 26th. It's an oversize twin. It's definitely the most "traditional" quilt that I've made.

Year of the Stash - Running Total - 52 quilts

Thursday, March 1, 2012

About Me

 Updated: December 5th, 2014

So I've had this blog for a while, time to introduce myself.

I'm a mom to two wonderful children. My daughter is autistic and my son has ADHD, Due to their special needs, I home-school both of them.

I have a somewhat quirky sense of humor and I love anything sci-fi. I also in my spare time enjoy playing World of Warcraft.

You could say that I grew up in retail, I started working in my mom's gift store at seven years old. Customer service is in my blood, I've worked retail for twenty-five years so far.

I am also addicted to fabric. Mainly all those beautiful cotton quilting fabrics. I easily have a year's worth of fabric in my stash. There's nothing I love better than combining different fabrics into a beautiful quilt. I also really love the natural world and bringing some of those images and motifs into quilts.

I have been quilting for twelve years and to date, have completed three hundred and thirty-seven quilts. I also have won twenty one awards so far from the Oklahoma State Fair. Because
I love sewing, I can spend anywhere from five to twelve hours a day in my sewing room.

And now the part of the blog post that you guys have been waiting for - what's up with the prices?

Making a quilt is a very labor intensive process. From picking out the fabrics; to washing, cutting and sewing the blocks together, then finally adding borders. After that comes selecting and sewing the backing, then basting the quilt together and finally quilting a binding. To make a "simple" baby quilt like this:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/70381634/classic-green-baby-quilt

takes a minimum of twenty hours of work. Larger quilts take even more time to finish. The last double wedding ring quilt I made took over a hundred and fifty hours from start to finish.

When I purchase fabric, I only shop at my local quilt stores - not big chains. I'm lucky in that I have a great group of stores to shop at in the OKC metropolitan area, and they are staffed by some truly awesome people.

The stores I shop at are:

http://okquiltworks.com/

http://www.savagequilter.com/home.aspx

http://extraspecialfabric.com/

http://www.soonerquilts.com/

So the prices of the quilts reflect both the cost of the materials I use and the time investment to make it. I don't make "wal-mart" quality quilts. I make award-winning quilts that can be washed in a machine and will last a lifetime. I take pride in my work and every quilt must meet my standards before I list it for sale.

Any other questions, just comment here or email me through my shop.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Tribute to Plaidman





I've completed the quilt that the good people of CS.com will be sending to the mother of Plaidman, who died in June of this year.
So from top left to bottom right, here's the guide to the patches.
"This meow is for you - Midnight12" "RIP Plaidman -Parking Witch" "Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder, but in the heart of the one observed. I love you - William" "Plaidman A little tribute, small and tender... Just to say we still remember - BDTD" "RIP Plaidman - Foodlady" "You will be missed - Dragon_wings" "Plaidman rest in peace. We all miss you on CS. - Xcashier" "Our lives have all been better because you have been there. So now we leave your memory, in God's all-loving care - Ree" "Plaid, may you have found your peace - Rummy" "Plaidman, you are missed - raw456" "Meow is like aloha, it can mean anything (Hank Ketchum) - mishi" "For Driver rest in peace - Irving patrick freleigh" "fuzzykitten99" "I will always love you sweetcheeks - kat_2031" "shpepper" "Your shining light will be missed - Elspeth" "Plaidman, RIP We will miss you on the boards. I hope you are out of pain now. - Tawnymyst" "In memory of Plaidman - Lilfilly" "Plaidman RIP I will miss you. You're a wonderful person - Kanalah" "Mikkel"
I also put patches on the back and those are: "Always remembering Plaidman. Still fighting for a cure and acceptance for every NF patient. - Formercallingcardrep" "I wish we had met face-to-face. You helped me through a very dark time, and I will always remember and be grateful to you - Eireann" "For Plaidman Life is eternal and love is immortal - Mooncat" "RIP Plaidman - Lupo_Pazzesco"
I'll be heading out to mail this tomorrow. I know his mom will love it.