Two Years Later

Can't believe it's been over 2 years since we moved south.  As I'm typing this I'm sitting in the dining room of my house in Walnut Creek.   Tenants have moved out and we're going to sell the house.  Had several clients tell me they loved my house and would buy it if it ever came on the market.  Of course, I can't remember who you are now.  At the time I never dreamed of leaving my beautiful home.

It's been such a joy watching our little granddaughter, Molly, grow up.  She'll be 3 in just a few weeks.  So bright, beautiful and tall.  Obviously she gets the height from her father, not us short little Baileys. :)

Since we've been south I've been working on a pattern line rather than doing longarm quilting. Though my daughter has kept me busy quilting her quilts.  I'm working on the 3rd pattern design and hope to have them all ready for publishing by spring.  We're hoping to self publish and distribute. 

At PIQF last month I fell in love with 3/8" hexies.  Have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make with them, but the are so darn cute I can't stop making them.

MOVING

We are moving to Ventura, CA.  This way we can be close to our daughter and her family.  Work at The Quilting Co. will temporarily come to a halt.  We have lots of renovating to do, so  we'll probably be traveling back and forth for several months.  I'll let you all know when I'm up and running again.

I want to thank all my valued clients over the past 10 years.  I'm looking forward to meeting a whole new group of quilters in southern California. 

Will miss all my wonderful friends at Diablo Valley Quilters and the Guild of Quilters of Contra Costa County.  It's been a joy to be so involved with DVQ.  I hope my small contributions over the years have made a difference.

3-D Flying Geese

At the Diablo Valley Quilter's Guild meeting last night, our speaker was Colleen Granger.  She showed us how to make a 3-D Flying Geese unit.  Of course she was on stage and you could only see so much.  But I did find this site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Mu0C_QL8Y on the Internet. (Don't know what we ever did without it!).  Very cool.  And the terrific thing is, you can chain piece these puppies!  Imagine making a flying geese border in a third of the time and NOT having to trim anything because they come out perfect each time!

Sewing Room Finised!

Room is finished.  New hardwood floors and paint.  Annebelle likes her new room.  And so do I!  Pictures don't show it but I even have cove molding around the ceiling.  Looking pretty good.  Now we'll work on the living and pool table room.  It's all coming together nicely.

Face Lift - not ME, my Studio!

The Quilting Co. is getting a face lift.   Have new paint and new flooring!  It's looking good.  Can't finish painting the molding and getting everything put back into the studio.  Sure miss quilting everyday!

Thanks everyone for being patient while we get the work done.  See you all soon!

Molly Kathleen

Finally finished the quilt.  Just in time for Miss Molly to give her approval.  I think her parents like it too.   I'm so pleased at how it turned out.

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.