A New Business

Along with everything else going on in our lives, I've decided to start a pattern business.  On the surface this doesn't sound all that complicated.  Having been a quilter for over 35 years and sewing my own clothes since I was 12, I know a thing or two about patterns.  Mostly, what I don't like.  Isn't it frustrating to get all the materials needed to find out you've either bought too little or to much?  Or that they have left out part of the direction.  Or worse yet, given you wrong measurements!  Take for example the cute little Teddy Bear shown on my October 17th post.  My daughter, Alissa, made that for me.  They had her put together the head and then the body.  The next direction was: "Join the head to the body".  That's all.  Not how to do it.  Not where to line it up.  Hand sew it, machine sew it??  Obviously, there's only one direction the head should be sewn on, but come on, a bit more instruction would have been nice.

Three dimensional projects are a little more complicated than a flat project.  But a good pattern, no matter what it is for needs to be complete.  It also must be tested.  When questioning other pattern makers, I found that they say it's really fast to make a quilt and then write out the directions.  Or they write them out but make the quilt without reading their own directions.  "I know how to make half square triangles".  So why bother reading what you have written for your pattern.  The the reason is, is that you may have mis-written it.  And you won't know that unless you follow what you've actually put in writing.

I've almost completed the first pattern.  Followed the directions I have written out.  So far, so good.  Just have the borders to complete. 

As I stated at the beginning, we have a lot going on in our lives right now.  There are client quilts to work on.  Deadlines to meet.  Work on the house.  Plus trips to see that precious new granddaughter of ours. 

I'll try to keep you posted as to how things are coming along.  Would like to have 3 or 4 patterns completed and tested before we put them out in the market place.

 Our first granddaughter arrived on Monday, December 5th.  We are so pleased to introduce Molly Kathleen to the world.  Mother and daughter are doing great.  Miss Molly already has 3 homemade quilts.  Her mother has made a beautiful star quilt with aqua minky on the back.  I have no doubt this little one will have lots of quilts made for her over the years.  Who knows we may have a 3rd generation quilter in our future.

Baby Girl Quilts

Now that I've given my daughter the quilts I made for her unborn daughter, I can share them with everyone else. 

This one is a disappearing Nine Patch that I did in Amish colors. I was running out of time before her No. CA shower and it came together very quickly.

This one was really fun to make. Worked on it at PIQF. It's the first time I've tried to do the jigsaw puzzle pattern on a quilt. I really like how it looks. I gave her this one at her So. CA baby shower. Also made her a sun dress for Baby Girl for late next summer.

Isn't this the cutest Teddy you ever saw?  My dear Alissa made this for me as part of a Grandmother's Basket.  She gave it to me at her  baby shower that was this past October 8th, the same day, only 34 years earlier, that would have been my baby shower for her.  I never got to go though because she was born early that morning.....7 weeks early!  So she put together a basket for me and gave it to me at her shower before she opened her presents.   Don't  I have the sweetest daughter in the world?

DVQ Quilt Show

Don't miss the  Diablo Valley Quilter's Quilt Show this weekend (September 24 & 26).  We have a new location this year: Tice Valley Community Gymnasium, 2055 Tice Valley Boulevard, Walnut Creek, California.  Visit their website at: http://www.diablovalleyquilters.com/

To the left is a picture of the Opportunity quilt for this year.  I was pleased that they asked me to quilt it for them.  

I finished the quilting of my daughter's double wedding ring quilt on the 13th.   Haven't had a chance to start the binding yet.  Was hoping to have it done for her birthday, but I don't think I'll make it.

Anxious now to start on baby quilts!

It's A Girl!

My daughter and son-in-law just found out they are having a little girl.  How exciting is that?  A new generation quilter!  Can't wait to start on that first baby quilt.  Oh, guess I need to get the wedding ring quilt finished too!

The Tops Done!!!!

Just finished Alissa & Nick's double wedding ring quilt top at the DVQ Retreat up at Sonoma State University.  Can't believe there's not more piecing to do.  Let's hope it doesn't take as long to quilt and bind.  Anyone have any suggestions for the quilting design?

Diablo Valley Quilters Retreat 2011

My friend Selma and I are hosting this years Retreat at Sonoma State University. The retreat begins a week from today and lasts for four days.

This year should be a lot of fun. We filled the retreat the first night we opened reservations and have not had a single cancellation. I think that's a record! Even when Selma and I started this continuous 14 years of retreats for the guild and we only had 22 people attend, we had cancellations.

I'm planning on finishing my daughter's double wedding ring quilt. And isn't it about time! I know quilting it will take several weeks. Not to mention the binding. I think of all those points! Yikes! But I'm on a mission! I want to start making baby quilts! And I need to get the wedding quilt done first! And if you missed that subtleties, I'm about to become a first time Gramma. We're just so excited. As are the parents of course.

This is our retreat block for 2011. Birds in the Air.

Double Wedding Ring Quilt, Row 2

Due to an increase in family responsibilities, I haven't had the time to work on the quilt as much as I'd like. Today, I managed to finish putting together two rows of the quilt. I have 7 more rows of 8 circles to put together. My goal is to complete making one circle a day for the next two months. Unfortunately, due to the increased size of her bed...they just purchased a Cal King, I need to make more melons in order to have enough circles.

Believe it or not, I'm thinking that piecing the circles together would be easier done by hand rather than on a sewing machine. Getting those four center pieces to match up to the adjacent arcs has proven to be a real challenge.