Getting Things Done!

 I was so excited recently when Karen at Happy Apple Quilts asked me to teach freehand longarm classes for them! The shop had a special machine event, and the manufacturer was able to arrange for a few extra machines to stay behind for classes! We worked on an HQ18 Avante and a Juki midarm. They both stitched beautifully! We had a great time! 
Basic freehand quilting was yesterday, and feathers was today. I am bushed, but we still have custom quilting to go tomorrow~Lord willing!

Last week I completed several things! I finished this gorgeous quilt! This is one that could have shone with a custom job or with an edge to edge. The customer decided that an edge to edge was the ticket, so we completed with a teardrop/paisley pattern.

 

Then there was this little cutie! Quilted with a loopy design and a few butterflies to echo the border print.

Arting

I have really been battling some low grade depression lately, which manifests itself in not getting much done. I find myself overwhelmed with so much on the to do list, and I tank. I am working with my new Dr to get my thyroid treated, which I know is the source of the depression (but it is such a battle because the current medical establishment thinks that they know everything and the only people who are allowed to make any changes to care patterns are the pharma companies with new drugs-I will now step down off my soapbox).

I need to remember several things:

• How far He has brought me already and His amazing faithfulness.
•  Not to place my faith in medicine and the idea of finally being "fixed" but to look to the author and perfecter of my faith to sustain me daily. Or moment by moment, as the case may be. 
• Even if my days will be like this for the rest of this life, it is but a moment before an eternity with Him and the promise of no more sickness or tears. 

Psalm 59

¹⁶ But I will sing of your strength;
    I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me a fortress
    and a refuge in the day of my distress.
¹⁷ O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
    for you, O God, are my fortress,
    the God who shows me steadfast love.

The other day, I had a spark of creative energy so I got out several items and did a little 'arting.'

 I gesso-ed in one journal, painted a background in another, and tried an idea on fabric with some deColourant. The deColourant didn't work, so I think I let it sit around too long and it expired. Success and failure are both part of the creative process!

Tree Art Quilt

The theme for our art quilt group in May was Trees/Branches. I tried making a button tree! I  had seen a few on Pinterest, and wondered how it would look if I did one. It was fun, but probably not anything that I will ever do again.
This theme really sparked some imagination for me, so I actually have 2 other trees started! Hopefully I will have time to use them sometime in the future. 

Old Treasures

My grandma Diana died a year ago. She was from Mississippi (or Mi'ssippi, as the natives call it). She ended up in Texas with her family because she married a man going into the US Air Force. I grew up in Ft. Worth because that is where Carswell AFB was found at the time. 
Several years ago, there was a fire in the home that she shared with my grandfather. Most of the damage was smoke damage, so many items were kept. After she passed away last year, my mom was tasked with going through all of her things. Apparently, there were quite a few quilters in the family a few generations ago! I had no idea until my mother found an old, smoke damaged cedar chest full of textile treasures! Most of the items were quilt tops (Kay Bell calls them flimsies, which I love), yardage and pieced blocks. 

One set of paper pieced blocks has newspaper from 1939. There are many references to the war, to Hitler, and Poland. It is fascinating! If you are like me and want to see more of these pieces and read some of the text, you can follow the link at the bottom to a photo album I created for the images with newsprint.

 Link to newsprint photos: http://krissysquilting.smugmug.com/Public/Newspaper-1939/

One day soon, I will pull down the tops and take some photos to share!

 

Red, Red, Red

Red is my favorite color!
The quilt that I was working on today looked very cool on the back after it was done!

As I quilted this gorgeous quilt I kept lusting after fabrics in the quilt. It is difficult to find good, true red batiks, but this quiltmaker found a ton! I loved it! 

Please ignore the boxes in the corner. I have found my kryptonite and it is unpacking.

Getting Organized

I am again re-organizing the new studio.....I am sure this will happen a few more times before I find the most efficient and creative set-up. One of my steps this time was to get the fabric out of plastic tubs and onto the shelves. I enjoy seeing the textile color much more than boring book spines! Plus it was a little therapeutic to fondle all my fabrics!

 

Unfortunately, the rest of the space looks more like that messy area in the circle below. Don't you find that when cleaning, there is a point where it is 10x messier than when you started? You get everything out so you can find where it goes and put it there? That's where I am stuck.....

 

At this point in the organizing process I always crave a trip to the Container Store or Garden Ridge for some things to put my stuff into-baskets, jars, boxes. I don't need more containers, but I feel like I am making progress if I am still "actively" working on the task. By shopping. I know that I have a minor container collecting problem ... I can stop anytime I want.

Today I had the privilege of working on this cute quilt! The customer allowed me to do some modern quilting for this baby quilt in modern colors. I love how it turned out!

This beauty has a bittersweet story. My customer is completing it for a late friend. Her friend died of cancer before her grand-baby was born and was unable to complete the quilt for the baby. The mother and baby will have a sweet memory of "Gigi" because of the servant heart of another. 

Philippians 2:3-4 
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.