I’m really pleased with the way the Flying Flag Quilt turned out. I just finished it yesterday. It’s from Amy Smart’s Diary of a Quilter’s pattern. It’s so easy and super cute. While hers is a traditional quilt I made mine as a Quilt as You Go. This may have to be a class soon. It would be great for beginners. And it is perfect for upcoming Memorial Day, 4th of July and Veteran’s Day holiday display around your home. Or if you know a veteran you would like to honor, this would be a perfect gift. Watch for a class soon or contact Kelly if you want to order a quilt.
Didn’t Janet and Sherry do terrific work creating their snowlady banners? These are adorable! Nice work ladies. See, applique can be fun. If anyone is interested in join our banner classes we have an opening in the Saturday and the Sunday sessions. We meet the first weekend each month. Contact kwalker@kellywalkerstudios.com if you are interested in joining in the fun.
Take a look at these adorable Snowman Banners that the Saturday Banner class made yesterday. Not only did they make these cute quilted banners, they learned a new technique….Applique! Great job everyone. I love these happy little snowmen! Perfect for our weather.
Our Beginning Quilt Class is next weekend and it sold out FAST! It’s going to be a fun one to make. Since it was popular we have scheduled another for March 9th so if you are interested in learning to quilt (or sew) this is a great beginning class and project. Check our more information here and register early. We are limited to six for the class.
Yesterday I finally got to spend some time sewing. I have had a terrible cold since the first of the year and haven’t had energy to do anything. You know I am really sick if I haven’t been at my machine! But yesterday was the perfect sew day…snow on the ground, warm inside and Lincoln at my feet. So I got out my Temperature Quilt and finished up the December blocks and put it all together. When Allen stopped by I got him to hold it up for me to get a photo of it. It’s really large! Now it will go off to the long-arm quilter. I can’t wait to get it back. I love a scrappy quilt and while this one is planned with colors it still appears scrappy. It had a total of 795 patches…two for each day…representing the high and low temperature for the day and a block with 5 patches that divides the months. You can see the color chart on the right that I used. I use the National Weather Service website for data on the high and low temperatures for our town. You can find it here. This was an easy design to make for a temperature quilt. Maybe next year I’ll try a different one. When it comes back from the long-arm quilter I’ll share it with you all.
This year for Christmas instead of me making everyone a quilt that I thought they would like I decided to take a bunch of quilts over on Christmas Day and let everyone choose the one that they liked best. So that’s what we did. I took 14 quilts over and everyone picked. I love these photos…..Pictured above is Denise, Taylor, Morgan, Abby and Kip. Merry Christmas! (I missed getting a photo of Bonnie and Bill with theirs but hope to get one soon.)
Sometimes you have thouse students who really want to learn and things get in the way and slow them down. This happened a couple of times in the course of this past year as we made The Sampler Quilt as You Go project at The Studio in Sierra’s class. But we kept moving ahead and she got that beautiful quilt finished. We met the day after Christmas for a few hours to get it all together and she took it home to bind and now it’s done so she can send it to the lucky recipient. Great job Sierra. I love the colors and can’t wait to see what you do next.
This is a photo of the completed quilt with binding. The color looks so different but the border really is grey as in the photo of Sierra above holding the quilt but you can get a look at it here.
It ‘s Christmas time. The family is all gathered together. The gifts are beginning to be passed around. And you see it…there it is…. right there… all wrapped up…a gift from Grandma or Papa or Aunt Noreen or Cousin Virgil. You know exactly what it is before you open it. It’s a handmade something ________ (you insert the item here….a knitted hat, a crocheted scarf, a painting, a bowl cozy, a quilt, a vest, a pottery mug, etc.) They always “make” you something for Christmas. Well, this year when you open that handmade gift hope you will think of this.
You should consider yourself extremely special and loved….and here is why.
First, making the gift requires much consideration and thought to choose just the right project and design for you. The giver wants it to be something special that is specific just for you. Often this takes hours of research and thought to find the right design and colors. A handmade gift is NOT an afterthought.
Next, the materials must be assembled. Sometimes they are easily found but other projects like quilts require that the designs are drawn, yardage is figured and fabric is ordered and purchased. Again, this can take many hours and quite a bit of expense. Based on the size of the quilt a conservative estimate of the supplies alone is at least $125.
Then the actual project begins to be made. Depending on what the object is this could take a few hours to several weeks. What you need to know and remember is that the giver is willing to give up this much of their life for you….to make something special for you! And while they are making it they are often thinking of you and the fun times you have had together. Again, in the case of a quilt a conservative estimate for an small quilt is 25-30 hours.
So when you consider the time plus the cost of supplies that goes into a handmade gift you begin to see the real value. It would be so much easier for the giver to go online to Amazon or Walmart and order a cheaply made object that would cost less in money and time. But because they obviously love and care for you they gave you their time and made you something that is one of a kind…just like you!
So this holiday season when you receive a special handmade gift from your creative family and friends whether it’s a quilted banner, knitted mittens or crocheted sweater or scarf or a painting, a table runner, a wooden bowl, a pottery mug, etc. be grateful to the person who cares enough for you to give you hours of their time and thought to make something special just for you! Be grateful for something handmade!
Sometimes I think and think to come up with an idea for a class and sometimes my students ask me to teach them to make a particular design. This was a special request. I’ve been working to get the design done so that I can ge the class set up at the frist of the year. The class is already at least half filled but I have a feeling we will have plenty of folks who would like to make their own. Watch for dates to be listed soon.
Connie’s Sampler Quilt turned out GREAT! Nice job lady. It’s beautiful. Connie is in the 4th group of quilters who took our Sampler Quilt Block of the Month class. They met yesterday to work on their quilts. Scheduling conflicts threw off our schedule for a few months but everyone was able to come yesterday and almost everyone is finished. Connie was the first to get hers finished and we were all so proud of her work. Quilting is such fun. Watch for more classes coming up at the first of the year.
The Studio 