Monday & my ambitious plans

Good Morning!

I’ve decided to make some ambitious plans/goals for today. My mom has told me in the recent past that “Vicky your ambition out weighs your reality”. That kinda cracked me up because I had never looked at my plans/goals as too much. If you don’t set the bar high you’ll never know how high you can jump. So in saying that here’s my goals for today:

I need to make as many of my current quilt in progress’ blocks as I can. My ambition had me cut 100 block kits & I’ve finished 51of them. I’m working on a new presentation centered around my pattern “Prairie Stones”. It focuses on how changing the pieces of the block can change the look of the block. I’m on block 11 out of 12 & this one is taking forever. I like to make all of the pieces of each step as I go. It’s a lot of chain piecing & pressing but it’s usually a good system for me. This particular block I have to make each block individually because of how it all goes together & I feel that it is dragging on. I’ve been toying around with the idea of making it smaller than a Queen size,(GASP!) because I’m under the gun to finish this Quilt & make 1 more before the first of April. I really need both of these quilts done before the 19 of March because thats the day that I’m going on a dream trip!!!

I’m making a second version of my Embroidery Sampler Quilt #3. This variation I’m using cotton as the appliqué instead of wool. I finished up my sixth block last night. I’d really like to finish up this Quilt & get it to my quilter so that I can start on Embroidery Sampler Quilt #4. My crazy wonderful students are game to continue learning so I need to get started on that project so that it can be ready by September when quilt #4 will start. It’s going to be reversed red work!

I also need to keep up with the paperwork side of my husbands business. There’s always plenty to do, I should never be bored for sure! I hope that y’all have a great day & get done all that you desire to do! More later on,

Vicky

My Presentations & workshops

I wanted to share about my presentations & workshops. 

Presentations & Trunk shows: $200

The Beauty of Scrap Quilting: I share my passion for all things scrappy! In the presentation I share how I organize, cut & use my scraps. I bring 50+ scrappy quilts with me to share the versatility that you have scraps. 

Idle Hands, Not Here: I love to keep my hands busy all the time with all types of hand work. In this presentation I share all of the different types o f hand work quilts that I work on: embroidery, English paper piecing, big stitch hand quilting & wool Appliqué.

Prairie Stones, not just one pattern but endless options: I share how versatile the options are with just one pattern.

Workshops:

Embroidery: I offer 36 different embroidery stitch workshops. Each work shop is 2 hours long. In the workshop you will transfer the pattern on to the fabric & learn the stitch. Cost is $20 per student per class + supplies. I offer full kits for each stitch.

Embroidery Sampler Quilt #1 (offered in white or black background fabric)

Stem

Blanket

French Knots

Chain

Hungarian Braided Chain

Braid

Mountmellick,

Wheatear

Palestrina (Twilling)

Knotted Perle

Backstitch

Raised Chain Stitch Band

Embroidery Sampler Quilt #2:

Heaven Chain

Magic Chain

Twisted Chain

Portuguese Knotted Stem

Feather

Granitos

Coral

Overstitch

Linked Chain

Crested Chain

Padded Fishbone

Colonial Knot

Raised Buttonhole Band

Embroidery Sampler Quilt #3:

Kits are offered in wool or cotton appliqué 

Closed Blanket 

X Blanket

Mirror Image Blanket

Antwerp Edging 

Knotted Blanket 

The Chained Blanket 

Double Blanket

Box Blanket

Basque

German Knotted

Lace

Traditional Buttonhole

My patterns: 6 hour workshops $300, 3 hour workshops 150

6 hour workshops: Prairie Stones, My Kansas Quilt, Nostalgia, Independence 

3 hour workshops: Mod squad, Chocolate Covered Candies, Sprinkles, Christmas Stars, Scrappy Diamonds, The Cross, 

(Backup) My Aunt Ruby

I will miss you Aunt Ruby.

Aunt Ruby & my mom have been the 2 biggest influencers of stitching, sewing, creating in my life.  It was Mom & Aunt Ruby who taught me how to cross stitch. I was underfoot, getting into trouble & I’m sure driving everyone crazy. They sat me down, drafted some cross stitch patterns & taught me how to cross stitch. My love of hand work began. 

Aunt Ruby didn’t buy fabric by the yard she bought it buy the bolt. (I come by it honestly. I think its in the DNA).This is favorite Aunt Ruby pic of mine. This is just one wall of her sewing room. Her sewing table has piles of fabric or projects on it, she’s in her comfy robe & ready to sew!

Aunt Ruby came out to visit in April of 2015. While she was here she came to one of my presentations. It was thrill for me to have her there. Afterwards we went to Culver’s for ice cream. 

Before we left mom was getting some ice cream to take home to dad & Aunt Ruby & I were chatting. I looked down & there was inspiration!!


My inspiration for my pattern “Prairie Stones”! This picture is at the back of everyone of my “Prairie Stones” patterns. Those are Aunt Rubys feet in top corner. 

Mom, Dad & I went to Washington to visit her in October of 2016. What a wonderful time making wonderful memories. We spent a few days sewing with Aunt Ruby in her “Sewing Sanctuary”.

Aunt Ruby went home to be with Jesus last night. My image of her entering heaven is she’s greeted by Jesus her mom & dad. Jesus taking her to her sewing sanctuary & she’s having a ball sewing. 

I will forever be great full for her presence in my life. 

More later on,

Vicky

My Dads moms

Grandma Martha (my dads birth mom) ,

Was an incredible seamstress. She could look at a dress & recreate it with out a pattern. There’s a letter that my Aunt Ruby has that Grandma Martha wrote to her mom saying “ there was a sale on fabric at the dry goods store so I brought some home with me”. That cracks me up. Now I now that my fabric addiction is hereditary. 😊 She passed away when my dad was 7.  

Grandpa married Grandma Margaret  a few years later& they were married for over 50 years.  This past February I was out in Idaho visiting family & Grandna Margaret asked me if I would like to have Grandma Martha’s sewing machine. I was gobsmacked. ABSOLUTELY I would want it!!! I was amazed, proud & thankful that she had kept it all of these years & that she gave it to me. Now how was I going to get it home?  Problem easily solved. My parents went out to Idaho for my nephews graduation & they brought it back for me. I took her to get a spa treatment & now she just purrs!

I just finished putting a piano key border on a quilt with this machine. Every time I use this sewing machine I will think of both of my Grandmas!

Me & Grandma Margaret. 

I hope y’all have a great day! More later on,

Vicky

Handwork, scraps & smokin some chicken

It has been busy around here & I’ve just not made the time to sit down & write. Well today I’m just going to put lunch on hold & type a few words. I’ve been busy working on my hand work projects for a new program that I’m putting together. It’s slow, ya know because its hand work. I’m trying not to get stressed over it &  I am trying to enjoy the process.  With my dear husband working from home now I have to be more intentional with how I can get my sewing time in. Yesterday my plan was to smoke some chickens for supper & hopefully have enough for supper & a few lunches. I got my fire & smoke going & all was well. The chickens were coming along pretty good but I realized that I had way to many coals after they were done. So at about 6pm last night I put more chicken in the smoker because I didn’t want to waste all of those good coals. 

So after we had supper & I had somewhat cleaned up the kitchen (why clean it up all the way when there’s more chicken that’s got to come in) I sat down with my latest big stitch hand quilting project & started in. I made pretty good head way last night because I was still stitching at midnight. I brought in the chicken at 9pm because the coals just weren’t puttin out the heat anymore, so I put the chicken in the oven to finish cooking (at a low temp). They finally reached temp at 11pm. Well you can’t take them straight from the oven & then into the fridge. So while they cooled I kept stitching.  I”m going to have to get a lot more thread. 2 rounds around the outside pink triangles & the echo work on the bottom has used up almost 1 spool of thread. 

I had a sew day with my good friend Kathy G last Thursday & was indecisive on what project I needed to work on. So I think I took 5. Oh mercy,

I pushed my 1,000 pyramids quilt that had been my Leader/Ender project (it seems like it’s been an L/E forever) to th of the first in line. Low & behold I got it done!!! Woo hoo! All of the triangles are scraps. The black & the the border fabric are purchased yardage. It is HUGE!!! 91”x110”  I know  I shouldn’t be surprised anymore but sometimes I still amazed at my predilection to anything big. 

I’ve also had a huge finish in the embroidery catergory. I finished all 8 panels of the purple poises & now I’m working on the piecing part of that project. 

The 8 panels are going where the 8 squares are in a broken star quilt pattern.  As I get more of the piecing done I will do my best to post progress pics. 

This past Sunday I finished the brown round on my eternal hexie project. Next up is a round of black! This project is definitely teaching me patience. Lord knows this isn’t moving all that fast. I started it last April in celebration of my 40th birthday. Well I’m going to be turning 41 here in a few months. Maybe it’ll be done in time for my 50th birthday celebration. LOL!

I do hope that y’all are having a great day. I’d better close this post, get some lunch & then I’m off on a parts run for DH. More later on,

Vicky

Busy & making new habits

Life is busy. I think that “busy” has different definitions for each person & for what stage that you are in life. For me “busy” means trying to figure out how many different things or engagements that I can have going at one time. About a year ago my husband started his own business from home. It has been a great thing but it has changed how life goes now. I’m now the secretary & parts runner for the business. He works on repair & maintenance of big trucks (dump trucks, semis etc,) tractors & any kind of welding. I go & get the parts so that he can stay busy working. The positive part ( I try to find the positive in things) is that I’m learning Kansas City a whole lot better than ever before. The down side is that most of the places that I need to go to are at least an hour away. I keep thinking that I need to have a car from the “Jettsons” cartoon that could drive itself, that way I could atlesast do some stitching. 

I have had a busy fall with going to many different quilt guilds & giving my presentation on “ The beauty of scrap quilting”. I have been very neglectful in telling them publicly thank you for having me & letting me share my passion with them. So I’d like to say “thank you” to the following guilds:

Muskogee Area Quilters Guild (Muskogee Oklahoma)

Pioneer Area Quilters Guils (Ponca City Oklahoma)

Quilt Guild of NW Arkansas ( Springdale Arkansas)

Nimble Thimbles (Lee’s Summit Missouri)

Smithville Town & Country Quilt Guils (Smithville Missouri)

Country Patchwork Quilters Guilds ( Marshall Missouri)

While doing parts runs for my husband & presentations for quilt guilds I finished a HUGE project. I’m working on creating a new program focused on hand work  & I finished my “Embroidery Sampler Quilt #2”. This quilt is a queen/king sized quilt (becuase it seems that I can’t go small). It has 24 embroidery blocks featuring 12 different embroidery stitches.

Sorry that you can’t see all of the blocks clearly. Its so large (about 100” square) that it didn’t all fit on my living room floor. It is currently at my LAQ. 

All of these blocks/stitches & the blocks /stitches from the first “Embroidery Sampler Quilt” will be available as workshops. My focus now is finishing the stitching on the black background version of  the first embroidery sampler quilt. Here’s one of the blocks from that quilt. (This is all hand stitched)

I’m about half way through block 10 & then I can start working on piecing everything together!

I think it was the trip to Springdale Arkansas that mom & I stopped at the store in Lamar Missouri. Mom wanted to pick up some more fabric for a project that she was wanting to finish & I found a particular piece of yardage that just sang to me. I saw it & nothing else immediately I knew how I could use it! I’ve been working on a “Thousand Pyramid quilt” & new that the yardage would make a fantastic border. Here’s the quilt,

Here’s the quilt with the yardage that I found for the border

There’s going to be a small black border between the body of the quilt & the border. I think that it’ll turn out great! 

I’d better close this. It’s getting pretty long with pictures & I’ve got to go & help husband load up a cow so that we can take her to the vet. I hope that ya’ll are doing well & that you can find time in your busy worlds for a bit of time for you. I’m going to stitch while on the drive because I don’t have to drive!!! More later on,

Vicky

It's amazing what you find when you put things away

A week or so ago I decided that I had to clean/pick up my sewing room. It had gone to complete shambles in the last few months. I had been focusing on presentations & stitching on my "Embroidery Quilt Sampler #2". If I went in there I'd just find a spot & lay whatever it was down. This is what I was looking at when I decided that I needed to do something about it. 

I started in, putting things away & then it happened I found , no I mean I remembered, this fabric & panel I had bought who knows how long ago. 

I'm a HUGE Paris fan & if I see yardage that had Paris or The Eiffel Tower on it then some of it will be coming home with me. I had put it away thinking I'd figure out what I was going to do with it later. Well a week or so ago I found it & decided that I was going to make something from it! There's no use in buying fabric if you're not going to use it. I bought some coordinating fabric from my LQ store, I needed some more fabric for the idea I had. 

I came home & made a much larger version of my block "Prairie Stones" 

& knew that that's what I wanted. (This is fabric I made my sample block from).

I finished putting on the borders this am & will be taking it to my LAQ!!!

This way I can show off the panel & the gorgeous fabrics😊. 

I'm running a bit behind this am so I'd better keep this short. Don't forget,make something with that beautiful fabric!!! More later on,

Vicky