School is almost over!

A summer of quilting is coming!

Here's a view of a few quilts I finished last summer: http://picasaweb.google.com/Willowquilts/Summer2008##

Photo Albums

Sooooo....I can't remember how to add photos to my myeweb site. And the helpful folks in their help department haven't been all that helpful. So new albums at a new site. Mostly photos of quilting, arranged by season or date or something remotely chronological. And a few family things: http://picasaweb.google.com/Willowquilts I like this application, called Piscasa3 for managing photos.

Quilts of Valor

The BBQ City Quilters' Guild chose to become a sponsor of the Quilts of Valor program. First two quilts were completed and shared at the Guild meeting this week. Ann Whitaker made a lovely quilt of rail fence blocks and squares. Denise James made a lovely quilt of half square triangles. They are just beautiful. And both these talented ladies asked me to quilt them! And I did, and now they are on their way to Ft. Bragg for the "82 for the 82nd" Airborne quilt jump! It was an awesome responsibility to quilt these special quilts and I think they were pleased with the result.

Here's Ann telling the story of why she wanted to hurry and make a quilt especially for the 82nd Airborne soldiers. Her baby brother Pete, a career soldier, was a member of the 82nd during the Vietnam Conflict. He is her closest sibling and she wanted to honor his service by serving those who are now members. Well done, Ann!

Here's Denise when I delivered her quilt to her! She is a new and dynamic and bold quilter.

It was a priviledge to work on their quilts.

Time Flies
January 10, 2009
It's been a quilty season leading up to Christmas! I was able to attend a shop hop in the mountains of North Carolina to launch the season. In the evenings we sat at my friend Alice's cabin and sewed (more binding) as we chatted by the fire - what a lovely weekend.
Then the press to get quilts done - things I've been piecing all year finally went on the frame. Here's my list of Christmas presents finished:
1- Turtle wall hanging (a grad present for Mary's friend, Andrew)
2- Horses quilt for niece Ashley (twin size)
3- Picture frames quilt for niece Kayla (lap size)
4- John Deere friendship star quilt for nephew Wayne (long lap size - I pieced til I used up the fabric)
5- Courthouse steps and Houses quilt for brother Eric and sil Wendy (small queen)
6- Barns and Chickens quilt for brother Ron and sil Jill (small queen)
7- Flowers in a Row quilt for my mom and dad (lap size)
8- Granny Pie quilt for my Granny (full size)
9- Picnic Square quilt for my daughter (square table topper)
Photos are at this website: http://willow.myeweb.net/photoalbum.html
Now back to piecing! Willow

Graduation Project
November 1, 2008
A young friend, Ariel, asked me to mentor her Graduation Project. Of course, she was learning to make a quilt. What a fun experience it was for me. I hope it was for her too! She made a fairly complicated star pattern with about 50 stars and alternating blocks of pale plum fabric. The stars were a combination of batiks and true calico prints. It turned out very pretty and we quilted it on the machine frame very simply using the wineglass pattern.
I think she's proud of it, but even more glad to see it finished!
I love the quilting frame that holds my machine. It makes things go so fast. I hate the quilting frame that holds my machine. It makes things go so fast.
It seems the happiest moments for Ariel and myself were not at the frame, but when we finally had the binding on one side and were sitting across from one another with the quilt on our knees hand sewing that last side of the binding. It wasn't that we were almost finished, but because of the intimacy of this shared task that had to be slowly and carefully done.
I think I know now what quilting is about, at its heart.

Perfection is a goal, not a destination.
October 4, 2008
My friend Alice, and I, bought all the blocks for the summer patchwork party. We've cut them out and then put them away. Our intention was/is to sew them at about the same time and get them done together. Well, this weekend is it! Alice plans to sew all day today. And while I only have the morning; I'm not the perfectionist that she is, so I expect we'll have something to share with one another on Monday.
Perfection is a lovely goal, but I fall short of it in so much that I would go insane redoing to the point where things are perfect. I wish I could be perfect, but I've reached a point in my life where I like the philosophy "Finished is better than perfect." I said that the the art teacher at the high school the other day and she was shocked, she said, "Why can't you have both?" I had no answer then. Upon reflection, I think this is just her youth showing (she's 23 years old).
My husbnd loves to point out the imperfections in my quilitng, so I rarely make an effort to display my work for him. I made the mistake of giving him the first two quilts I ever made. Mistake in that, he thinks of them as just convenient blankets. I poured my heart in these quilts. I was just beginning to be a quilter so they were machine pieced and hand quilted. I was really proud of my work, and while I knew I'd be making more quilts, I wanted him to have the first ones! I went into his study one day to pick them up, thinking I would share them at the local guild's show-and-tell. One, a flannel, made with squares of plaids imported from Scotland, was covered in peanut shells, the other, a wool with some more imported plaids, was in the floor. When I picked it up it had dog puke on it! What a perfect mess.

Swap a Chicken!
September 16, 2008
I've joined an online guild back in the Winter when things were quiet. I've enjoyed chatting and sharing information with the members of the Bad Girls Guild of Quilting.
The latest project is to swap appliqued chickens! We each chose a chicken from a set of lovely applique designs by Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns. Our job is make 20 of our assigned design. I joined this project because my applique skills are terrible. So far I've made seven of my twenty. And my applique skills are still terrible! I sure hope the other swap members are tolerant. I think they will be, it is a lovely group of folks despite the name of our guild.
To see a photo of the first one done, navigate to my photo album "Autumn 2008 Projects" at this website: http://willow.myeweb.net/photoalbum.html

Willow Quilts
September 11, 2008
Finally I've found an activity that continues to inspire me! I've had a thousand hobbies over the course of my life, but none have been as satisfying as quilting. So this website and blog are the avenues to document my development as a quilter and for feedback from the quilting community.

Willow Quilts is an online journal of my development as a quilter. I started this journal on another blog site, but that's not working out well for publishing photos. I hope I can move that information here.
Willow