A Perfect Pattern For Large Prints

I just got done quilting some pretty BQ Quilts. I wish I had known about this quilt pattern last year when I was working on Daughter #1's wedding quilt! Read about it way back here: The Beauty of the Earth and Sky. You see I was looking for a quilt pattern where I wouldn't have to cut up a large print.

Well, BQ Quilt patterns are the ticket! Take a look. Here's one for a local quilt shop (The Calico House) getting ready for the Southern California Quilt Run. (July 10-13 & July 17-20.) I love this fabric! Of course, anyone who knows me know why... I love California!

And check this out below. I was just there last week! My Los Angeles. I think I see Daughter #2 in that fabric. At least you recognize the U.S. Bank tower...the tallest building in the picture!
Here's what it looked like the other day. I took this picture as I left Daughter #2's building! How crazy is that? Next think I know I'm quilting it in a quilt!!!

Here are some more views of the BQ Quilt....Hooray for Hollywood!

Don't you see why it was the best quilt pattern for this print? Hardly any of the print was lost.

And check out the backing fabric. Love it!
And here's another one for your viewing enjoyment. It's made with the new Flower Power II fabric from Benartex. Aren't these large sunflowers lovely? It would have been a shame to cut them up.

I'll say it again! This is the perfect quilt pattern for large prints! (PS. All these fabrics and patterns are available at The Calico House--and they take phone orders, too!)

Check out the backing fabric here...from the same collection.

Ok, last one, I promise! This is one I did last year for The Calico House. They sold it in kits at the shop and at some local quilt shows. The kits went flying off the shelves! Check it out...

The BQ Quilt pattern...it's a good thing! (Sorry to steal from Martha again, but I couldn't help it.)

Have a good weekend! Stay cool...I'm trying to, here in sunny southern California.

As It Happens...A Heather Bailey Original: Part One

While finishing up one of my freemotion machine quilting classes recently at Cranberry Quiltworks in Yorba Linda, California, owner Gina Halladay got a call that someone was going to stop by to see the shop. Who was it? It was none other than fabric designer Heather Bailey! Gina asked if I would like to hang out for a while and meet her. I said, "Are you kidding? Heather Bailey!?? Of course I'll hang out to meet her!"

I first became familiar with Heather Bailey from reading Gina's online column, Quilters Buzz. I read about Heather as she launched her first line for FreeSpirit fabrics, "Freshcut." I love her fabrics! I have also been reading her blog for quite some time now. Hello My Name is Heather. There she has shared the life of a fabric designer and an amazingly talented lady. I was even inspired by her beautiful photography to get a better digital camera. (My photos don't even compare to her's or her talented husband's!...I'm such a rookie!)

Well, there she was, in person! She was in the Los Angeles area on business and traveling with her family as well. I met her husband and two kids. We had a nice visit. It was a great honor to meet her, but then...

as we talked about machine quilting, she said she had a quilt she'd like me to see. She brought it in from her car and as I oooh'd and awww'd over it she asked if I would quilt it for her. I was thrilled!

Over the next couple of days I will show you the progress of doing this quilt for Heather Bailey. It will be a step-by-step process. Now you'll see what I do a little more clearly.

This is how the quilt looked when I first saw it. Heather had basted some of it as she had originally planned on hand-quilting it. In order for me to do my magic on the longarm quilting machine, I needed to take out the stitches to have three separate components...the backing, batting, and top. As you can see below I left the pretty ruffled edge in tact. (oh and BTW, I did call Heather to make sure it was ok to take out her stitches before I started!)

The beautiful flower petals in the center had been tacked down and I needed to remove those stitches as well. Isn't it beautiful?

Now I had three separate components. First I racked up her backing fabric, and then her batting to canvases on my longarm table.

Next I placed the beautiful quilt top on the batting. Now all three components are in place and time to get to work.

Check my blog tomorrow and you'll see what I'm doing! I know this picture below shows a very serious Vivian working away. (my BabyBoy took the picture.) But I can assure you, working on this Heather Bailey quilt was an absolute thrill for me!

My Love Affair With Moda

I began my love affair with Moda fabrics about 8 years ago. Well, the love affair continues...

This past week I finished this quilt for Calico House in Yorba Linda, CA. I absolutely love this line of fabric. It's the Prairie Paisley Fabric from designers Minick and Simpson. You can read about these talented designers at Quilters Buzz here: Folk Artists.

Moda fabrics coordinate so well. Once a took a line of their fabrics, cut them up into 3 inch squares, put them all in a paper bag, shook the bag up, and randomly picked out square by square and sewed away! The quilt turned out lovely. You can't go wrong with these fabrics. They are soft and high quality.

I have a friend who makes all her quilts exclusively with Moda fabrics. We call her "The Moda Lady." I guess I'm "The Moda Lover!" This was one of those quilts that I was sad to finish. I enjoyed working on it very much!
Have a great day!

Who Would Have Thought?

Sometimes life is full of interesting surprises.

Surprise #1:

The other night I rented a bunch of movies. (Doesn't it seem like I just quilt and watch movies?) I rented Nancy Drew, starring Emma Roberts. To be honest with you, I never really had any desire to see it. (although I was a big fan of the classic Nancy Drew books when I was young.) But since I earned a free DVD rental at my local Blockbuster, I picked up the movie and took it home. During one scene where these kids were dancing at an old mansion, I saw this darling girl in a pink fedora hat. Wow, that looked like Daughter #2. She looked so cute. And next there was a scene with a lamp falling onto the floor right next to someone's nice legs wearing leopard-skin high heels. I thought those legs looked familiar! I called Daughter #2 and asked if she had worked on Nancy Drew. Lo, and behold, the pink-fedora-hat girl was her. And the leopard-skin-high-heels girl was her too. Who would have thought?

(Oh, I miss the days of watching movies and TV and seeing Daughter #2 somewhere...I really miss the days I could go along with her and watch her work. I miss the excitement of being on a movie set...and most of time I sat with the crew. But there's really nothing like it. And the food is great too!)

Surprise #2:

You never know who you'll see in movies and TV. Once many years ago an actor friend of Daughter #2's recommended his friend for some acting lessons. I talked to the actor to get the name of his friend. He told me the name of the actor was Rainn Wilson and he gave me a phone number. I said "Who is she?" He said, "You mean, Who is he? It's a guy." I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought the name Rainn was a girl's name. I'll give him a call." Well, life got busy and I never did get around to calling Mr. Wilson. Daughter #2 ended up taking acting lessons from someone else.

Many years later I was watching the credits on the TV show, The Office and there was that name, Rainn Wilson! He is none other than the character "Dwight." Sorry, Mr. Wilson, that I thought you were a girl. And sorry I didn't call you! Who would have thought?

Surprise #3:

Years ago Daughter #2 worked on a Nickelodeon show called "Ned's Classified." On it she portrayed a cheerleader. There was another cheerleader named Shanica Knowles. (here they are together in 2004.)She was very young and just getting started in television. Backstage I had an interesting conversation with her mother. They had come from the midwest and packed everything up and moved to Hollywood. She told me her daughter was going to be star. She was also keeping track of all the money she had paid out because she said she was make her daughter pay her back every dime when she became famous. Well, her daughter is not what I would call "famous" but she does have an occasional role on Hannah Montana. I'm happy for her and I do wonder if her mom's been able to recoup all the money she felt was owed her. Who would have thought?

Surprise #4:

When my kids were little, we would carpool to school with our neighbors the Patridge family. They lived in a house on the next block that looked just like ours. There were 3 girls and 1 boy, and our kids all went to the same schools. The oldest daughter of the Patridge's was the shyest, sweetest girl named Audrina. She was so shy that you would have to describe her as "painfully shy." You know the type. The kind that can barely make eye contact with you. She was very pretty, I remember. She was very smart and polite, too. A few years later the Patridge family moved to another neighborhood a few blocks away. I kind of lost contact with them as the kids got older. The last time I saw Audrina she was a darling little freshmen with braces playing waterpolo with Daughter #1. She came up and spoke to me briefly at a game and I wished her luck in the upcoming waterpolo season.

Well, have you seen the recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine? It features the girls from the MTV series, "The Hills." Audrina is one of those girls! Her hair is dark now, her braces are gone. (side note: Have you noticed how white her teeth are? I have a friend who says she watches that show just to see how much whiter Audrina Patridge can get her teeth with each new episode!) I was surprised this was the same girl! One of their neighbors told my son how it is living with the paparazzi stalking her when she visits her family. Paparazzi in Yorba Linda? Who would have thought?

Yes, yes, I know none of these surprises have anything to do with quilting. But wait! Here's one for you..

Surprise #5:

I sorted through some quilt tops I will be doing next week and check out this lovely one I get to do! I can't wait. I love it. Really! Didn't you think I'd add a little quilt surprise too? I'll post pictures when it's done! I must go buy this fabric collection. Anyone know the name?

Have a great weekend!

Yummy Fabric, Yummy Bread

~Yummy Fabric~

The other day I got to work on a quilt with Miss Emma's Garden fabric line by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. Isn't it lovely. So 'Spring-y', I think!

An absolute pleasure to work on this quilt.

~Yummy Bread~

This was a favorite of my kids when they were little. I found it in a Woman's Day magazine in 1989...I know this for sure because I clipped out the recipe and have used it ever since.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread...yummy!

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. butter or margarine, at room temperature

1 c. granulated sugar

2. large eggs

1 1/4 c. mashed very ripe bananas, about 2 large

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz.)

1/2 c. chopped walnuts, optional

Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Heat oven to 350-degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Beat in bananas. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour into prepared pan and bake 60-65 minutes until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack 5 min. before removing from pan to cool completely. Makes 1 loaf. Tightly wrapped, this tea bread keeps well at room temparature for 3 days...

but it doesn't last that long at my house! Enjoy!

Fabric Designers Make My Job So Easy!

Here are some recent quilts I worked on. Really, all I did was follow the prints for inspiration. The artists who create fabrics are amazing. They make my job as a freemotion machine quilter so easy!

America's Next Top Model, Oooh La La!

America's Next Top Model, The Purse Dog is ready for Halloween!

And doesn't this fabric make you say "Oooh La La??? I love it!

Looking for Marie Osmond

I understand that Marie Osmond is now a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars"...another show I don't watch. Apparently 19.3 million viewers tuned into that show last week, but I don't have much time for TV...unless my daughter is on or it's Heroes. Anyway, throughout my life I have met Marie Osmond 4 times. Does that mean we are friends?

One time was in 2001 and I was passing through the BYU bookstore while I was attending a women's conference there at my old alma mater. (Go Cougars!) Marie was signing copies of her book about postpartum depression. My 3 babies were teenagers by then, so I was well past the postpartum years. She was sitting signing copies of a book I didn't think I needed and the line in the bookstore stretched on for what looked like miles.

So I told my friend to take my picture with Marie. I told her to look through the camera lens and make sure we were both in the frame. "Can you see us together now?", I kept asking my friend. It took her about 8 shots just to get this picture of the two of us together. The ladies who were waiting in line were laughing at me. What a silly fan!







Pretty soon Marie looked up to see what all the commotion was about. The next thing I knew she tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Would you like a picture with me, dear?" Oh my yes! Me and my friend Marie Osmond in a picture together! She was gracious and kind. And very patient with that silly fan!





Now according to Gina Halladay's column, Quilters Buzz, Marie is not only dancing, but also designing beautiful fabric. Check it out! So pretty. If you know Marie, tell her to give me a call if she needs a machine quilter. After all, she is my friend, right?

Audition the Actor or Audition the Fabric?

Audition the Actor or Audition the Fabric...

The other day while quilting with my friends, (I call them "The Master Quilters"--I am such a rookie around them!) one of them pulled out some fabric to check and see if it would look good as a border on the quilt they were currently working on. She said, "I'm just auditioning the fabric."

Auditioning? ...how that reminded me of Daughter #2, who is getting married in Dec. She is a super talented actor and screenwriter who has had her 'foot in the door' in Hollywood for quite a few years now. I used to drive her around to auditions and acting jobs before she was 18. Then they considered her and 'adult' and said mom couldn't hang out with her on the sets. I miss those days. Such adventures we had! Such great food on all the movie sets, too!

Here's a story about my daughter I thought you might enjoy:

A few years ago her agency called and told her she had been picked to work on "24" to portray a 'Dead CTU.' She answered "Yes, of course." But then she asks me "Mom, what's a Dead CTU?"

Yes, I will admit, we are one of the only families in America who never watches "24." I got on the Internet and had to do a GoogleSearch to figure out what a CTU was. I'm sure you all know it stands for Counter Terrorist Unit. Apparently the scene they were shooting would show these CTU's all gassed and laying dead on the floor. She looked like one of the actresses who's character was going to die. You see, a higher paid actress doesn't have to lay on the floor 'dead' all day as they film. Their doubles do it. And here's some Hollywood magic for you... to make them look like they've been gassed the actors have Alka-Seltzer with a little food coloring in the their mouths. Foams up quite well! Yuck!

So there was my daughter laying there all day with no clue about the show. But she did her job well and she did her best to look dead. If you blinked, you missed seeing her on that episode. She's on for just a split second but I thought she looked the most dead of all the Dead CTU's. Of course, I am her biggest fan!

Pictured right: Keifer Sutherland with a "Dead CTU"...sorry this was not my daughter, but it was the same scene. She was dead somewhere else in the room.

And I am sorry to report that we are still one of the only families in America who doesn't watch "24"...although we did watch the episode my daughter was in a few seasons or "Days" ago...isn't that what they call it on that show?

And by the way...

Here is a quilt I'm working on where I auditioned the fabric...

My latest project is a baby quilt for a young mom at my church. It's a random collection of some of Anna Maria Horner's Chocolate Lollipop fabrics. I was trying to decide which fabric to use for the border.

Fabric #1 was too bright.

Fabric #2 was too dull.

Fabric #3 got the part!