Posted in applique, Quilting, Sewing, tagged banners, january banner, snowman on January 21, 2024| 2 Comments »
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.
Posted in Animals, Quilting, Sewing, tagged beginning quilting, QAYG, Quilting, sewing on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
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.
Posted in daily painter, Quilting, Serendipity, Sewing, tagged quilt, Temperature Quilt, Weather on January 16, 2024| Leave a Comment »
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.
Posted in applique, Collage, Crochet, Drawing, Embroidery, Felting, Furniture, Holidays, Knitting, Paper Art, Pet Portaits, Portraits, Quilting, Recipes, Sculpture, Serendipity, Sewing, Small Town Life, Still Life, The Studio/Classes, Weaving, tagged gifts, handmade on December 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
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!
Merry “Handmade” Christmas!
Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged Christmas Tree banners, December theme, quilted banners on December 4, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Another group of enthusiastic quilters made the December Tree banner yesterday at The Studio. Aren’t they beautiful???!!!! We love them. It was a fun day of laughs and a few technical difficulties….and Janet even sewed so hard she blew up the machine pedal!!!! We are confident she have that new one in this week and get right back to quilting. Nice work ladies….and thanks for always making it fun. If you wouldl ike to learn to sew or quilt watch for upcoming classes in the new year.
Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged Christmas tree, quilted tree, tree banner on December 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »
You can tell by the smiles on these quilters faces how much they loved making these Christmas Tree banners. I think our December banner is their favorite so far! Nice work ladies.
Posted in applique, Quilting, Sewing, tagged applique, snowman, snowwoman on December 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Our Banner classes will meet this weekend to create the December banner that features a Christmas tree. And I will be teasing the next quarter’s classes with this cute little “Snowwoman” for our January classes that will feature applique. I love her!
Posted in Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Quilting, Rag Rug, Sewing, The Studio/Classes, Travel, Workshop/Retreat, tagged Crochet, embroidery, knit, Quilting, sewing, Stitch & Bitch on November 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »
To say we had a great time at Stitch & Bitch VII would be a huge understatement. This group of stitchers made beautiful projects while having fun playing games and winning prizes. It would be hard to describe all the things we did, all the delicious food we ate, and all the laughs we had. I can’t remember when I laughed so much. We are all looking forward to the next one in April.
Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged acorn on November 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Covid and family commitments kept several of our Sunday banner students from our class today but Nancy and Sherry came through with two gorgeous Acorn banners. Very nice work ladies. And what a fun time getting to have time with the two of you!
Posted in Quilting, Sewing, tagged acorn, new student, Quilting, sewing on November 5, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Our Saturday Banner class made these amazing Acorn Banners for November. They look awesome! And we have a new yound student….Korrine. She made her first quilted piece with us yesterday and is so excited about sewing. It’s fun to help young people develop this skill. Just look at this smiling face below.
The Studio 