Welcome to my blog. I was inspired by the book, "Blogging for Bliss" by Tara Frey.

Welcome to my blog. I was inspired by the book, "Blogging for Bliss" by Tara Frey. My goal is to share a little about my life, and a lot about my longarm quilting business, Lone Tree Designs.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Focus on one Quilt? Why?

A baby quilt of my own design for a special couple.

Tula's Neighborhood from the Moda Be My Neighbor free download.
   In the past month, I have been a busy bee!  My baby quilts for this summer are all completed and given to their new owners.  My customer quilts with July 1 deadlines are all done, except for the one that is on the frame right now.  The retreat that I helped plan and organize over the past year has finally taken place and was a big hit!  We had so much fun, and I can't wait for the next retreat in Iowa in June of 2018!
  I thought I would share today some of the other projects and pics from things I have been working on that are either nearing completion or are complete, and why I am constantly working on new projects!
  My creative energy never wanes.  If I am not working on a project, I am thinking about what I would like to be working on!  Everywhere I go, I see colors that inspire me.  I find quilt patterns and samples in shops that make me want to get home and get busy!  I look around my sewing studio, and there are project half done all over!
Every day, I spend at least an hour on social media looking at Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and other quilter's blogs.  Consequently, I am never lacking for something to work on or an idea to begin a new project.  The idea of working on one thing until it is finished is totally laughable to me!  I do manage to finish quite a few things each year with my crazy methods, though!
  My Tula's Neighborhood quilt went together very quickly.  This pattern was a free download from Moda called "Be My Neighbor" that I saw on Pinterest.  The blocks are huge, and they go together very quickly.  I decided that this would be the perfect project to use up some of my massive Tula Pink stash!  The large pieces in the quilt afforded me the opportunity to fussy cut some of her fun motifs.
 
Felicity, my sewing studio mascot.
I can't wait to get started quilting my neighborhood and get it finished, but, for now, having completed the top after just starting it in January of this year is a big accomplishment for me:)
  Our quilt retreat theme this year was "Pink Ladies Quilt Camp."  We got the nickname "Pink Ladies" from Bonnie Hunter at a retreat we went to where she was teaching!  It was fun, and it stuck.  We started out with campers and that led to flamingos, which are often know as "Pink Ladies" and happen to be a big favorite of mine!  In my daughter's words this past weekend, "Mom, you are kind of obsessed with flamingos right now!"  LOL!  True!  So, I made a lot of flamingo stuff and purchased a lot of flamingo stuff in the past year or so, and have created a fun and colorful collection in my studio.  The flamingo wall quilt that I named Felicity hangs right in front of my longarm machine, and I look at her all day.  She is fun, colorful, and so pretty:)  As a person who loves pink, and is inspired by color, she is the perfect mascot for my room!
  At retreat, we presented our polka dot quilts made from the squares we exchanged last summer.  I designed my own pattern, and ended up loving the quilt, even though I was pretty skeptical when I heard "bright polka dots" and thought...this is going to be ugly!  All the quilts were beautiful!  Joke's on me, I guess!
  So, all these projects were going at the same time, along with countless others!  When a deadline, or a whim, or the light at the end of the tunnel strikes...I finish:)  It works for me:)  I would love to hear how you prefer to work!  Those of you that do one project at a time?  Convince me!



My design for 10" polka dot square exchange...