Sunday, August 7, 2011

PRODUCTIVE WEEK

Greetings.
Don't you just love it when you can look back on the week and feel like you have accomplished something worthwhile. I sure do. For starters, we got the quilt shop back in shape. We had quilts packed from our trip to Sister's and a quilt show last week. They are home now in their appropriate places for all to see. We did a lot of house cleaning and rearranged things. We do have a variety of styles and it's nice to have them displayed.

We moved our notions wall to the front of the store and it seems to be paying off. I've had a few customers tell me that they weren't aware that we had all those little treasures.


Friday was slow and we didn't have any scheduled classes so I took one of my projects in to sew the boarders on. This quilt is a gift and I need to get it quilted. I always hang my quilts up and take a picture of them. I study the picture to determine what kind of quilting I want to do on it. This quilt pictured below spent half the day on the design wall being admired by me and others and nobody noticed the mistake I made, not even me. When I was sewing my strips together I had the quilt on my design wall at home and I didn't see it. It wasn't until I downloaded the picture and looked at it on my monitor that I noticed. Do you see it?


If not, you might see it now. I hate it when I mess up like this. That's right, it's not the first time. I am thankful that I do catch it before the quilting is started. I must admit, if I had started quilting this quilt it would not be fixed.


This quilt was made from a Hoffman's Bali Pops. You need to add two other fabric's for the borders and that's it. It's for a young man and I thought this quilt looked masculine.


The week ended with a mini-retreat at church, which has turned into a new beginning for me. The focus was on restoring our souls with a day of rest. It was written by Zona Wilson. We learned that work and rest are both part of God's plan for us. We learned the importance of reflection and spending time meditating on His word. Relaxation is important and you can lay your head down and rest because you can trust the Lord.


This really hit home with me, Refreshment, the Beauty of God's creation refreshes our souls. I am in constant amazement of the beauty that I am surrounded by. The hill sides and flowers blooming everywhere. The rivers that flow all around us. The sky and beautiful birds flying overhead. It seems like every day is a little different. I am truly surrounded by his beauty.


We also talked about the importance of balance in our life and keeping focused on the Lord. To accomplish this we must look to God for the power. All of this was supported with scripture. We got a great workbook so we can go back and reflect on these lessons when needed or share them with others that might have a need. I was also blessed with two new friends.


I hope your week went as planned. It's our anniversary today and I'm getting ready to celebrate 35 years. I don't want to keep him waiting so I better close for now.


God's peace to you and yours.

Monday, August 1, 2011

HELLO AUGUST

Does time fly, or what. What happened to July? Looking back, we did have a very busy July and accomplished a lot.

Kids Kamp at the shop is behind us. I don't think that is my calling. I had to work all week and I got behind on so many things including laundry and house cleaning. The latter I could live with. My quilting projects are a different story. Below is a picture of three completed projects. The youngest here is seven and the oldest is 10. They picked out their fabric and learned things like the 1/4" seam, RST, and butting up edges, just to name a few. Now I'm on to a new project. This quilt pictured below is the Nursery Rhyme quilt. Four of the blocks are embroidered and five are smocked, embellished and sewen to the background fabric. The sashing strips and borders are also embroidered.

This is a close up picture of a completed block with a smocked and embroidered dress. I have another doll dress quilt hanging in the shop and our customers are so impressed. Our regular's have been looking for something new to do and this seems to be the ticket. Starting the end of September I will be teaching the smocking technique and we will do this project as a BOM.


This little dress is called Candy Cane. If you want more information on these beautiful little dresses go to www.kreationsbykaron.com and check out her entire line of patterns. They are wonderful.


This week I will be finishing my oldest grandson's quilt and starting on my daughter's wedding quilt. Yes, you heard it right, Tami is finally getting married to that awesome, one of a kind guy, Joe. We are so happy for the two of them. I really feel this is a match made in heaven. They set February 2012 for the month and haven't picked a date. I'm making the Bali Wedding Star quilt for them. A friend just made one for her daughter and she started it in January and finished in July. I think the pressure is on.


Speaking of pressure I better log off and get busy. So much to do and so little time. Have a blessed week.