Saggy circles takes a ribbon!

Shocking I know!!!  I had to laugh at this picture my good friend AnnMarie sent me of "Broken", kinda stands out like a sore thumb side by side with all those gorgeous traditional quilts.  But I still love it =)

 Promise to myself "Wait for the right batting to arrive in the mail next time".   As I've said before I tend to do a sloppy rush job on my own quilts so I can get back to work. Really wish I had broken that rule on Broken.  A different batting would have made such a difference.  I never would have done this on a customer quilt.  Lesson learned.

Oh and then best part, the bee booth was right across from the quilts.   There was a loose bee flying around the quilts.  I hope it landed on mine for a spell!

 Proud hubby posed with it since I refused =) 

Well I'm off to finish cleaning out the chicken coop.  Wish me luck!!

Thread play

A little thread play
  The order form said "keep it bright, neon, busy".

I don't usually use such high contrasting thread, but I love it on this quilt.

I can't take the credit however, it was Megs request.  I think she nailed it!

 The strip pieced back is fabulous!

Here's the kicker, it's for a dog bed.  Lucky dog!!

Table Runner

The Christmas table runner is ready to go!

The quilting request was "keep it modern"

I think this fits the bill.

Hope Marion likes it =)

T Shirt quilt

A fun T shirt quilt!

I rarely get T shirt quilts in, but when I do I sure wish I had made them for my kids.

The T shirts tell such a story of the owners personality.  I'm thinking this is one fun girl!!

Notice something missing?  Me too!

Luckily I saw the missing quilting on the lower right red border before I called the owner to come get it.  Now I remember why I wound that red bobbin!  Finished for real now.

Honey update

A while back we noticed the honey missing from the hives.  The bees were living off their winter stores too early.  I did a little research and found that we are having a dearth summer (no nectar flow).  So we started feeding them 3 quarts of sugar water each day in exterior feeders.  (Warre hive openings are too small to insert them)

While inspecting one day I realized our bees weren't getting any of the syrup.  The feeders were full of black bees.  Very aggressive black bees who didn't like us, lol.  We switched to smaller front feeders, which we inserted into the hive each day.  Boy did the guard bees not like this set up!  They became very aggressive and started circling us as soon as we walked up.  Scary!  For the first time we started suiting up to feed the bees.

 Then the yellow jackets and wasps started trying to get into the hives to get the syrup.   We quickly added an empty box to the top of the hive and placed interior feeders in them

The view threw the window.

After 2 days the syrup still hadn't been touched.  So we took out the protective canvas and screening, letting the bees have full access to their new attic/feeding station.  Looks a mess but they are eating like mad and no robbers to compete with.

Happy bees making lots of honey = happy beekeepers =)

Of course this means I have to remove the top of the hive each day to feed them, letting thousands of bees out, but at least I wont have to deal with the guard bees.  Phew!

Geri's quilt is finished!

My grand kids will be sad to see this one go.    What a fun quilt!

Geri's piecing and applique skills are spot on perfection!!

 24 colors of thread!

 

Bye bye kitties!

One for Eddie!

This is a departure from Eddie's typical quilt.  But a fun departure.

 So far all of the quilts I have quilted for Eddie have been made from blue kimonos.
Such as this beauty =)

The style of quilting is similar however, keeping the quilting elements within the piecing.

I was tempted to do more of an all over design, but in the end stayed true to the piecing.

Next up for Eddie....A blue kimono quilt =)  Love it!

Sweet!!!

Not to be dramatic but my life has just changed, lol!!  I just read a post that has made me a very happy woman over at the fabulous blog Rainy Day threads !!  (is that a cool name or what)   She shared a link to Play Crafts Palette Builder!  Who knew such a cool thing could exist.  I have been in desperate need of such a tool and here it is!

By linking an image of my photo, I now have a color palette with a list of matching fabrics from Kona cottons!   Who knew, thank you Rainy Day Threads!! 
 
 And a big thank you to my sister Robin who pixelated the photo and changed it to gray scale for me.  As you can see I'm a little computer challenged and turn to Robin often for help =)

Betsy's quilt

Sometimes it's hard to send a quilt home

This was one of those quilts.

It's what I call a happy quilt.

Isn't it fun!

Betsy was testing a pattern for a friend.  I'd say it's a hit!

WIP

On the design wall this week....month =)

This quilt will be called Tick Tack Toe. (or is that Tic Tac Toe?)  I've been wanting to make a red wall hanging for my family room.  I like quilts with a story and knew I wanted this one to represent playing Tick Tack Tow with my kids to keep them quiet during church.  My kids are grown now and I've started playing with my grand kids.  Shhhh don't tell anyone, lol.

I fell in love with this "newsprint" fabric last month.  I only bought a 1/2yd and regretted it as soon as I drove off.  I had to drive back the next week and get a little more "yardage".  Not sure I'm going to end up using it on this project but I'm auditioning it.  (There's enough for the backing, but that would be a shame to never see it!)

Please excuse the lint....I'm so used to working in lint and thread clippings I forget to remove them for photo's.   Caught in my reality =)

A little fabric therapy!

I had a fabulous time at the Westside Modern group this week!  I always leave inspired by the creativity in the room.  What a fun group of ladies to spend an evening with.  And of course I always have to have a little fabric therapy while at The Pine Needle.

I was totally inspired by a circle Dresden plate quilt on Pinterest to buy this fabric!!  Now to find about 20 more circle prints, lol.   To be continued!

I've never been a yellow and gray person but lately they are really speaking to me.  Hmmm now what to do with these??

I finally (yes I am a procrastinator) selected my Violet Craft  Waterfront Park fabrics for the Portland's Bridge's- A Modern Interpretation challenge.  (The 2 gray prints) I absolutely love them!!  Now to figure out how to use them in my design.  The rule to use at least 1/2yd of Violet's fabric line was added after I designed my project.  I welcome the challenge!!!

And finally...while I try to always support local business, I couldn't pass up the online (Craftsy) deal on these mirror ball fabrics.   Now the question is....why would any sane longarm quilter purposely quilt threw this stuff????

 lol, Because it's so awesome!!!

Rylie's quilt

Edited to add:  I'm linking linking up to the PMQG linky party! 
It's a rare day that I work on one of my own projects.  And I've just finished two! 
Grand kids are great motivators.   


This is what happens when your 3 year old grand daughter takes over your project =)

I had plans to make a wonky log cabin out of grays and bright solids.  

With lots of straight line quilting.

Rylie was over for the day and asked it it could be her quilt. 

So of course I said yes, as all good grandma's do.

She then asked if she could pick out the fabrics.

And the Easter basket pallet was born.  Other than a few pinks I left out I think she did an amazing job!!!   

The best part is I actually finished it in time for her 4th birthday.  Well....the binding wasn't hand sewn yet....but close enough to finished to feel good about it.

Happy birthday Rylie!!!