First Finish for 2011, the Cascades Quilt

See???? I wasn't fibbing, I really do have quilty things to post this year! This is Cascades, a pattern by Black Cat designs and it is my first finish for 2011. This was a really easy pattern, though I would caution anyone who purchases it that there is a major error in the directions. The pattern says to cut 12 3/4 inch squares for the setting triangles when they actually should be 14" square. The details of the correction can be found here.

Despite the frustration of the pattern error, I have to say I enjoyed making this quilt, and it will now hang at the Quilting Connection in Ames, Iowa. I am hoping to teach a class if there is enough interest. I think I'd like to make this quilt again, though this time I would use two more closely related colors so one would blend into the next, use more fabrics, have a wider outter border and make it queen sized to fit my bed.

For now though, I am off to continue work on a baby quilt for my newest grandson, Tanner, pics to follow soon, of course.

Happy Quilting,
Lisa

Dusting off the ‘ole Blog

I’d be surprised if anyone stops by here anymore since it’s been almost a year since I wrote anything. 2010 was a long, and uhm…interesting year. I’ll always think of it as the year of learning.

First up, learning new jobs….

When I came back from Colorado last February I had a big surprise waiting for me at my job. That very day my supervisor took me aside and said I was now moved to a different department. This is the machine I ended up learning to run.


Never been a machine operator, never thought I’d BE a machine operator, and yes, it’s as complicated as it looks. Can anyone guess what it does? No? It’s called a Cheetah and it is used to put a latex closure on envelopes that banks give you at the drive up window when you ask for cash. Very proud and very happy to report that I was one of two people that never mangled a hand in that thing. It took several months but I became a competent operator until I decided to leave my job last November.

While I was learning to wrestle uhm…operate the Cheetah, I was also learning sewing machine service and repair on Huskvarna Viking sewing machines for the Quilting Connection .

My husband Steve had been working on machines there on a part time basis for several months when it became clear that he could not keep up with demand. We both attended training in Nashville, Tennessee in March, and hosted a serger class at the shop for the region in July. It was great getting to learn from the top two techs in the country.

I am happy to say that the part time service/repair job has led to a full time position at the quilt shop! I am very happy to have left the printing business behind, though I do miss the friends I made there. I wasn’t sure I would ever be interested in beading or quilting again, but the desire is back, and I will have lots of projects to share this year.

Test post

just testing….

Off to Colorado!

I am SO excited! I am off to Colorado tomorrow morning to see my eldest son Andy and his family. Andy has been serving in Afghanistan for the last year and his deployment is finally over! I had a message on my answering machine when I got home from work-he was in Maine. Very exciting news as there was a question as to whether he would be home this weekend or not.

My husband is changing jobs soon and this weekend is the ONLY one we can get away to go visit. We have an 11 to 12 hour drive ahead of us. Dread that, but can't WAIT to see my grandchildren. I miss them so much, and it will be great to see Andy all safe and sound. This was his 3rd overseas tour, I hope it's the last one.

Machine Needlefelting Class

Last week I held a machine needle felting class at the Quilting Connection in Ames, and I managed to take snap a few pictures of the class.

I chose postcards as the project for the night. Here a a couple that I used for samples for the class.


I kept mine simple, with no further embellishments. I didn't want people to feel intimidated by some of the unusual materials I like to use, or feel they had to bring a lot of extra supplies to class.


Here April, Chris, and Marlene are hard at work on their projects.

Marlene's postcard, almost finished. I failed to get a good picture of the finished postcard, but it reminded me of a Van Gogh painting. Simply beautiful.

And then, this week, I got the greatest surprise, I got this in the mail from April! It was the card she was working on in class.
Below is the postcard that I will be mailing off to April. Hope she likes it!