Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Happy New Year 2010

What an interesting and fun year 2010 has been. We had lots of great family time, lots of hard work around the house and lots of creativity too. I'm ramping up for my next set of classes at the shop. Here is one of them that is finished. I have two in process and three more in my head. Will I finish everything in time??? Not sure so I'll have to play it by ear. This one is called April Showers and will be a beginning applique class.



Monday, November 29, 2010

Something bright and cheery

I really liked this sweet table runner and we have a great line of bright colored fabrics in the store. I put the two together and this is what I got! I even fought myself to do the scalloped borders. I don't like doing them even though I love the way they look. I'm just not that good with them. My corners are always too tight! Anyways, enjoy!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Peace man....

No I'm not high on anything, rather I just finished my cute Peace Holiday wallhanging. I used all batiks from my stash and it was a layer upon layer of animal parts. But I found it delightful and hope you will too.

Friday, October 29, 2010

I hang my head in shame again...

I realize I have wonderful family and friends who check my blog regularly and it must be a disappointment to see the same one over and over again, so I'm going to really, really try to update it more frequently. I've been soooo busy trying to get my latest two quilts done for my next two classes! I have succeeded and they are below. I'm taking a small break and then I'll be back at it. I have some scrapbooking that I want to get done too and I've also been working on the school yearbook for which I'm in charge. Enjoy the new quilts! These are for a beginning and intermediate/advanced applique class.



Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Morgan Hill Quilt Show - 2010

I know I've been neglecting my blog and it's not that I don't want to update it, it's just that I haven't had time!!!! We are in high gear at the quilt shop getting ready for PIQF in a couple of weeks and that means making lots of samples exclusively for the show. I've been working on an adorable wool table runner and I didn't realize how much time it takes. I've also been so busy with taking the kids here and there and everywhere! I know excuses, excuses....well I did take out some time this weekend to go to the Taste of Morgan Hill event where the Santa Clara Valley Quilt guild puts on a great quilt show in conjuction with the event. April and I entered 4 quilts each and we both got 2 ribbons each. April won a 2nd and 3rd place ribbon and I won a 3rd place and a "Favorite" from the Chamber of Commerce of Morgan Hill. Here are the pictures.



Monday, August 23, 2010

Paris in the Fall

That's where I'd like to travel to one day....in the meantime, I finally got around to using my original French General line of fabrics to make this sweet quilt with appliqued birds and fleur-de-leis.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Where Does the Time Go?

I can't believe that summer is almost over for us (meaning that the kids go back to school in one week). The summer has flown by and while we did some fun things, I had a list of other things that we didn't do. Well another time I guess. That being said, quilting and scrapbooking, also got put on hold while we did swim lessons and movies and birthday parties, etc. However, I did manage to finish a quilt this week called The Big EZ from a Moda line by Basic Gray called Blush. I LOVE this pattern. It takes more time to cut out the fabric then actually put it together. Hope you like it too.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Pockets to Go

I found this really cute pattern for making this fabric lined small totes. They are great for putting in notions and carrying small items. They are approximately 6" x 6".We even started carrying zippers at the store in a huge variety of colors to match whatever fabric you may have. Here is another prototype I made with two layers of Timtex inside instead of one and then I made one for April Mae!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Quick Vacation

We had so many great smallish vacations this year. We decided to break them up into a variety of different areas instead of one "large" vacation. So we did a snow trip and a Disneyland trip and just this past week went up to see my parents in Washington. 14 hour road trips can make for cranky passengers but it was worth it to see my folks. The weather was icky almost the entire time, but on the last evening the skies parted and the sun was out and we stopped at the Fox Island Bridge to take some great pictures after a family dinner at a restaurant in Gig Harbor. Here are some of those photos. And yes, I have been working on stuff, it's just been kinda slow.

Zeyda and the granddaughters.

Rachael and Zeyda

Mount Rainer looking over the water at sunset.

My Mom and Dad with Mt. Rainer in the background





Tuesday, June 15, 2010

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

What? It's not Christmas time yet. Oh yeah? Well tell that to the fabric manufacturers who always provide us with the holiday fabrics in June and July. So to get things going, this sample was made by Moda's 12 Days of Christmas line and the pattern is the Big EZ. It was really a simple quilt to make and quick too. Hope you enjoy it.

Friday, June 11, 2010

New Classes

Well everyone, it's time for our next round of classes at the store. I'm going to be teaching several things including these three projects. The first is an applique quilt called "Remember Whooo Loves You," and features a darling owl (made from wool - Thanks Beth!). The second is a beginning paper piecing class. I made up this quilt as a seasonal thing; and the third is a cute, quick fabric bowls. I did the basic one and then upgraded to the other one which turned out really nice.




Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Small creatures

I've been finishing up several projects and making room for some new ones including several new classes I'll be teaching this summer and fall, however, in the midst, Keiko brought me a pattern from Bunny Hill Studios featuring one of her newest bitty pincushions. I love the owls (which are very in vogue right now) so I immediately had to make him and then I thought I would work on the Effie Elephant pattern as well. So here are my two creations. I hope you enjoy them.



Monday, May 17, 2010

Baltimore Halloween

I realize that fall and Halloween are a few months off, but I wanted to get this done and submit to the Morgan Hill Quilt Show. I used mostly my stash of batiks for this quilt and purchased only the backgrounds, borders and black fabric. It needs to be quilted now and I'm procastinating because I don't know what to quilt onto it.


Sarah's Garden

I finished this quilt over the weekend. It was a lot of applique but worth it. The pattern is called Sarah's Garden and it is another sample for the store. The flower petals are felted wool and the fabrics are Lecein from Japan. April did a wonderful job with the colors and I hope you like it!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Ribbittt

Behind our house is a creek that catches rain runoff and runs quite a distance. During the spring and summer it dries up and various weeds and God knows what else grows in there. There is plenty of wildlife too including ducks, racoons and skunks and of course during the spring and summer we hear a symphony of frogs. So in honor of their music, I hung up one of my favorite quilts. This bullfrog has quite the personality and he makes me smile every time I look at him.

Friday, May 7, 2010

OOOOHHHHHMMMMM - Harmony is DOOONNNNEEE

After we got back from Disneyland, I spent some time recovering from a cold and working on this great pieced and applique quilt called Harmony. It is a sample for the store and it took awhile because I did the applique row by row. Anyways, I hope you like it.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Disneyland

Hi everyone: I've been gone all week to visit the Happiest Place on Earth. We left on Monday and spent three days at the park and then came home on Friday. The kids had a great time and we went on pretty much every ride, bought lots of goodies and have great memories. The kids had fun because they could ride everything and experience it as older children. The park was busy but we hardly had to wait for any of the rides. The longest we waited was for 25 minutes on a new ride at California Adventure but that was it! The weather was perfect as well! Here are some photos and I hope you enjoy them!



Friday, April 9, 2010

Cathedral Window Pillow

It's been a long couple of weeks with the car being sick, the girls being sick and then my father having a heart attack (he is better now) so naturally any quilting or creative juices that I have had flowing through my body seemed to have dried up. But with everyone on the mend, there is a trickle that started again and last night I finished my cathedral window pillow that I started in Keiko Clark's class. Actually the hardest part was fighting with ruffle. The original fabric I had was too soft so I put some light weight stabilizer in it, however, I think that made it too stiff. Nonetheless, I made it work and voila! it's done. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Rachael performing at Art from the Heart

Tuesday evening was the Art from the Heart show at school. All the children display two pieces of art in a variety of media including painting, drawing, clay, etc. There is also an opportunity for some of the children to play a musical selection. Rachael, of course, had to play her "Cruella da Ville" piece which she has practiced and practiced. This is also the piece she used to audition for middle school band and will already be in Advanced Band with the 7th and 8th graders. I'm very proud of her! I hope you enjoy it.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Spring Poppy BQ

One thing I love about BQ quilts (BQ being the name of the pattern) is that they go together very quickly and are a wonderful beginner quilter quilt. This one has a dynamic floral fabric with beautiful frames and a cute black and white polka-dot fabric that April picked out. This will be a kit available from Prairie Queens shortly.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Spring Pillow

In case you hadn't noticed.....It's Spring! I love to see our yard come to life with our dozens and dozens of roses, not to mention my spread of tulips in the front yard. Our lilac is blooming and our wisteria is about to explode as well. So...just in time for Spring, I finished this pillow which actually was bigger than I thought it would be. I have been working on for about 6 months and finally put the pedal to metal and got it done. I hope you enjoy it!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Rachael's Spring Concert

Well tonight was Rachael's final band performance at school. It was bitter sweet because this is the last time Rachael will perform at school, but we are looking to middle school and a whole set of new performances. Here is a great photo before the concert and then a short video of one of the songs...Mickey Mouse March.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I made this cute little box with my digital studio from Cricut (the file originally made by Denise Hill) and it has sweet shamrocks on top! I need to start using my Cricut more!

Soiree

My friend Michelle and I are making this quilt together. Unfortunately Michelle has been sick but I wanted to get this done so she could see what it will look like. The original pattern had a bunch of yucky 3-D stuff and then some ruffles along the middle and sides. I actually prefer it this way and I even scalloped the border which is something I don't like to do very often. Enjoy!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Birds and Bees

Here is my latest quilt which surprisingly went together very quickly. I did the piecing in one day and the applique in another. Then I spent a few hours today putting it together. It's an interesting line of fabric from Jason Yenter from In The Beginning fabrics. I like the overall look of it as well. It's very modern. I hope you like it too.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Aviary Strip Quilt

Hi everyone: Well I'm slowly getting back into my projects at home. Jethro and I are divorcing soon so I hope to be rid of him permantently (see previous blog). I have finished another quilt called Aviary Strip Quilt. This is from Moda's Three Sisters line called Aviary that I just LOVE. The quilt is big too (a full size) and I quilted it at the shop using a pattern that has birds and berries (but I won't ever use again on a large quilt). It took forever to finish, but it was worth it!

Monday, February 22, 2010

I'm a bad blogger

I know it has been some time since I blogged and I'm sorry. I've actually have not had anything finished in some time in terms of quilting and have recently injured my achilles tendon. It doesn't help to use the presser foot on my sewing machine either. So I have this huge boot which the girls at the shop have named "Jethro" and I clunk around with it in hopes to repair my tendonitis. In the meantime we went to Tahoe this week while the girls were off school and went tubing, played in the snow, took a sleigh ride, and had a great time. I also saw one of my "men" and had to take a photo.



Sunday, January 17, 2010

Garden Path

One of our favorite hobbies here at the Bailey house is gardening and while the sky is gloomy and we are anticipating a week-long rain event, we can't help to think ahead to spring. Mark and I have some yard planning in the works including a new arbor over in a corner where he has his hammock and which we can train our wisteria to grow upon. In the meantime, I finished a quilt for the store called Garden Path which features a panel and coordinating fabrics. I hope you like it. It will be a perfect addition to my ever changing quilt wall when spring arrives.

Bunny Hill BOM is done

Many of you quilters know that Anne Sutton of famed Bunny Hill Designs (one of our favorite local designers) had a free pattern for a Block of the Month last year. Well I diligently printed them out and kept up and now I have a finished quilt. I admit that I actually forgot about it in December until I saw Debbie printing out her copy and then I busily got to work finishing it. Well I have it now and I put all the embellishments on and voila! Enjoy.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Happy New Year!

I hope all my family and friends had a wonderful holiday and great new year. We got all our decorations put away and then I left for the weekend to spend time in Monterey on my annual quilting retreat. I had a great time. Laughed alot, didn't sleep much and quilted a ton! Here is a picture of my finished mystery quilt and some of the scenery from our hotel. I love the Beach Resort in Monterey. It is so quiet and right on the water. I definitely got my wave therapy.

Below is April and I out taking photos of the sunset.