My sign in my path, and strength when I need it.......

About 2 years ago I attended an event with my best friend.  She is a local sales rep for Lia Sophia Jewelry and at the time I was sort of in a rut.  I needed more income, and wasn't sure where it was going to come from.  She asked me to attend a season unveiling for new products and enjoy an evening with her.  I knew she was secretly trying to get me to join her sales team but I agreed to go, after all I almost NEVER get to see her without all our kids and it was a night out.  At that time I didn't know I would become inspired in my Quilting career.

I went that night and enjoyed her company, the jewelry was beautiful of course and at the end of the night we recieved a little gift..... it was a simple little necklace, exclusive for this event, and it really is my inspiration.

This pretty little necklace gave me the confidence to believe that I really could LIVE MY DREAM.......I took a leap of faith that summer and have never looked back.  When I am struggling, or need a bit of inspiration/confidence in my quilty world I put that necklace on so I can remember that I truly am LIVING MY DREAM and I am SO very LUCKY and GRATEFUL for the opportunity!!

My advice to EVERYONE is LIVE YOUR DREAM!! 

My "other side"

Sometimes I think it is fun to show people the "other side" of me...... not the quilter side but the wild, a bit crazy side....  Many of you may know but I bet a few don't so let me tell you a secret.  In my "other life" I am an EMT (emergency medical technician), EMT instructor, and volunteer firefighter.  I don't get to train as often as I would like and I don't get to pack up and fight fires very often anymore since I am usually in charge of the kids but if the chance to train comes up I jump right in.....LITERALLY.

Monday night we had a training for what is known as safety and survival.  The techniques you hope you NEVER have to use in real life situations but like to practice for cause the practice is kinda fun....... These are room searches called vent, enter, search, wall breaches, and bailouts....... FUN to practice but all VERY dangerous in real life situations and used as last resorts.

Here I am on Monday doing the evolutions.......

Vent portion of vent enter search......

entering the "burning room"

2nd story room bailout..... I LOVE doing this!!

2nd story bailout decent

can someone PLEASE unhook me

my goofy face

diminished clearance in the confined space....

Hope you enjoyed a peak at my other side....... and remember to thank those who GIVE THEIR TIME to train so they are able to assist you when you have an emergency!!  Hug a VOLUNTEER today!

Blue in the face.....

Last fall when our Quilt Guild challenges for the year were revealed one of them was an IDIOM CHALLENGE..... we chose an idiom out of a hat and had to make a quilt which reflected that idiom .  I was intrigued and chose my idiom.  I got "BLUE IN THE FACE".  I INSTANTLY knew what I was going to do but wasn't sure how I was going to do it exactly.  Much time will pass before I think about this again, I have until July to complete it after all, is what is going thru my head.....

At Quilt Market I met a beautiful woman named Tammie Bowser who has created a technique and computer program called Quilted Photo xpress 5.0.  www.QuiltedPhoto.com My Idiom came to mind as soon as I walked into her booth.  I HAD to do this technique for my idiom.  I recieved her book and the CD on June 3rd..... I have a month no problem....then I got the email from my aunt....the idiom challenge is due at the JUNE 11th meeting, not in JULY.  Well, that sort of moves things right along doesnt it.

I read the book cover to cover, checked out the program, chose my photo and my fabrics and I was off and running...... the technique is not hard, or complicated, it is sort of like paint by number and you can change anything you wish in the program before making your pattern.  I chose this photo of my younger son Lukas from summertime last year.

The program mapped out my pattern and then I just had to choose my fabrics.  I had chosen to use 9 fabrics and used my camera and the black and white photo setting to be sure I had the right value gradation.......

my 9 fabrics all set out, as well as my pattern reference page

From there it is paint by number.......LOTS of little squares, LOTS of cutting and ironing.  It was tedious, and repetitive, and kind of hard to visualize but I kept going........

just over halfway done

At this point it was still hard to visualize what I was looking at...... especially when you are close to it.

By this point, when you stepped away to take a picture you could see his face emerging.....

And then it was done.... when you were close to it it was still VERY tough to figure out what you were looking at but when I stood on the rolling  chair and looked thru the camera lens it was like WHOA..... that is awesome!!

Next I quilted it, nothing complicated or crazy, just texture.  I had to use my phone to keep track of what part of the photo I was working on cause it really is hard to determine when you are right on top of the quilt.

when I took it off the frame, and hung it on my shabby fence I was stunned!!  The quilt is best viewed from atleast 10 feet away to see the details and figure out the photo but it is SO very VERY cool!!

here is the close-up view but the threads really don't show up much, just provide texture.  I am in awe of this technique and the effect it creates and cannot wait to try it again!!

The best news yet....... this summer I will become a certified teacher for this technique and will be teaching it exclusively at O'Sussannah's Quilts in Watkins Glen in the fall, so you can learn it as well!!

my fence is a mess, but this quilt is AWESOME!!

One last peak, I can't resist!!

Stamped embroidery

Dianne Price brought me a stamped embroidery quilt that she had finished.  It had been hanging around for quite some time and she was eager to get it finished.

These quilts are the type which have the little blue dots you follow to do the quilting.  No designing needed.  It was sort of a break for the brain to just follow the lines.  It came out pretty and she LOVED it when she picked it up yesterday.  Enjoy the photos!

on my frame and working along

all finished and trimmed....it measures 85x50

a good way to see the quilting

very closeup, she did all the embroidery by hand first

the back, it was flannel in a soft pink color

Cerulean Warbler Quilt

A few months ago my Mother in Law approached me about quilting a few quilts for her group which would eventually hang in the Montezuma Audibon Center in our area http://ny.audubon.org/montezuma .  These 3 quilts will hang in a large foyer area with VERY high ceilings to cover some access panels which aren't very pretty to look at......

This warbler quilt is the first of 3, the other 2 are a sandhill crane and a bald eagle.  The Cerulean Warbler is a very small bird, best viewed with binoculars or a spotting scope.  That was the inspiration for this quilt.  Created to be an interpretation of viewing the bird thru a spotting scope. 

 The outer tree areas are meant to look out of focus and the center is in sharp focus with the bird.  Those out of focus areas were a challenge, I needed to quilt them but didn't want them to be realistic bark or leaf type designs.....

the out of focus areas

the tree trunk and branch areas got a looping treatment, and the green areas got orange peals

In the center of the quilt I outlined the shapes of the leaves from the background fabric, it was tedious but looked really cool when it was done.

close-up on the leaves

The warbler got a bit of sparkle with the thread I used, I didnt want too much quilting on the bird, but it will be about 6 or 8 feet up when it hangs so it needed some detail.

up close

I LOVE how it came out!!  The entire group from the Fly-Way quilters hasn't gotten to see the quilt yet, however my Mother in Law did get to see it and she really loves it.

I used all polyester threads from Fil-Tec bobbin central http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting.html.  They are my GO TO place for threads!!  I love their American made threads and their customer service cannot be beat!!  This quilt had some glide thread http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/glide.html, three colors of their affinity. forest, satin and turf http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/affinity.html, and a  bit of their deep silver glisten http://www.bobbincentral.com/quilting/top-thread/glisten.html. 

looking from the side

this view shows the quilting pretty well....

the back.....

When i took that photo of the back I realized I missed a section of the background quilting in the leaves..... can you see where I missed??  I had to reload the quilt and fix that section of course...... I sure hope the ladies from the Fly-way Quilters like it!!

Next up for them is the sandhill crane but first I need to tackle a couple for some other clients.

Happy quilting!!

Holy busy!!

This month is just started and I feel like I am spinning around trying to keep all the things I need to do straight WOW!!! 

The end of school is drawing near and soon my house will be full of the wonderful noise of kids..... I trully do miss it when they are gone.  This of course means I will do less quilting and more playing outside ( hum, that somehow doesn't seem so awful either).

I finished a quilt on thursday last week and loaded a new one but first I really MUST try and finish a challenge quilt for our guild meeting which is wednesday night........

This is how I spent my Sunday afternoon....... my father and older son shaved their heads to raise money with St. Baldrick's to fight childhood cancer....... I love his bald little head and freckles!!

its not too late to donate if you want......https://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/mypage/729245/2014  he shaved his head in memory of a boy who's mother works with my dad, Michael was six (Trevor's current age) when he  lost his battle with cancer 3 years back......

I will be back soon with photos of the two quilts I completed last week.  Don't worry I am taking LOTS of photos of my guild challenge in process so you can see it after the reveal Wednesday, now lets hope i get it finished!!