Saturday, September 22, 2012

Pillows


 I wanted to add a little splash of red and turquoise to my living room, so I sewed up these two couch pillows.  For this rectangle pillow, I gathered some 1-1/2 inch strips of turquoise material and sewed them on the pillow front corner-to-corner.  For the flower, I twisted and coiled the fabric strips and hand-stitched them to the pillow front. I had a tendency to pull my hand stitches tight, and the fabric gathered, so I had to watch it and loosen the stitches a bit as I went.  After the front was finished, I sewed the back and front together, stuffed the pillow, and hand-stitched it closed. 

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Riley Blake Quilt Challenge for HMQS 2012

 I entered the HMQS Riley Blake challenge in 2011 and almost gave up quilt shows altogether.  For some reason, I missed the fact that it was a judged challenge.  I knew they were auctioning off the quilts for charity, so I figured I was being a good citizen by donating my time to make a quilt.  However, I about cried when I unexpectedly received my judges comments in the mail.  As positive as they tried to be, they were honest about the fact that my quilting, in their opinion, did not compliment the quilt.  Honestly, I loved the quilt and the quilting, so I was devastated by their remarks.  I remember saying to myself, "I can either give up quilting right now, or I can take their comments into consideration and let it make me a better quilter." I decided I didn't want to give up quilting.  So when I heard about the 2012 HMQS Riley Blake challenge, I was eager to redeem myself.  However, I didn't realize what I was getting myself into.

Beautiful Hand Applique

I was honored to quilt this beautiful quilt for my neighbor, Patsy Jeppsen.  Her mother (I'm guessing now in her 80s) did all the hand applique on this king-size quilt.  Simply amazing!  They even entered it in their local fair and won first place!

Monday, September 17, 2012

My Quilting Story

My mother was an experienced seamstress and taught me to sew as a child.  What I didn't learn from her I learned through church groups, a season of 4H, and trial and error.  I tied a few quilts as a teenager and pieced my first top at the age of 17.  While I loved sewing clothing, I didn't consider myself a quilter until 7 years ago.

In 2004, I moved to Bountiful, Utah and was invited to a neighborhood sewing group.  A year into being a part of that sewing group, I was encouraged to attend a block-of-the-month class at the local quilt shop.  I turned the offer down.  I couldn't understand why ladies would want to make so many blankets.  However, the next year, one of the ladies in my sewing group made the pattern for the block-of-the-month class and brought the finished quilt to show our group.  I loved the quilt and the price, as I found out it was only $10 total if you finished the block each month. If you didn't finish each monthly block, you would pay $5 to receive the next month's block fabric.  Always one for a deal, I joined the class and finished the block each month.  That was all it took to hook me.  I signed up for several other classes after that.  I finally understood why "ladies would want to make so many blankets." It is a creative outlet!

 
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