Love all the bed runners Annis. And I have a squirrel just like that in my garden. We have the real thing too. We have hazel bushes and they love the nuts.

Terrie, you need to get off the computer and make a quilt! Is there an FA (Fabricaholics Anonymous) near you? My name is Terrie....

Terrie - DANGER, DANGER, Will Robinson - back away from the keyboard!

That is a slippery slope, go to your sewing machine and use up your stash. Better yet, do what I did - wash all the fabric in your stash (mine took over a week), fold and organize by color. It was a sobering experience. I've been much better at resisting since then.

Kathy

News Year's Resolution update: Feb 27, 2015. 2 months into the year 2015: So far, I have not bought any new fabric.

I have purchased thread, templates, buttons, Velcro, fusible interfacing, and plan to soon buy batting, but no fabric. I have to admit, though, that I have have been found to 'practice' shopping on line and filling my cart with various delicious fabric goodies, but never have clicked. 'purchase complete'. I just don't want to loose my touch, although I know it is playing with fire! .

My first 10 bed runners along with matching pillow tops are finished and I've almost finished a few more. No pictures yet of the first 10.

This one started out as a wall quilt in 2012. Since it was still waiting to be quilted I decided to unstitch it down the middle and turn it into a bed runner, easier said than done.



I did edge-to-edge quilting with a design that would fit in the separate blocks so I'm now calling that semi-custom edge-to-edge quilting. It wasn't easy telling the computer where I wanted the design to fit.



This one started as a workshop with Donna Lynn Thomas last March. I found an edge-to-edge quilting design that would fit across the quilt keeping the flower motif in the center of the blocks and cornerstones. Again a lot of work marking the squares with computer pushpins and lining up the design to fit. It still needs a little hand sewing on the binding.



I took advantage of a couple ice days earlier this week and made this log cabin top. The house block for the pillow was leftover from a quilt I made last month. The obvious choice was a log cabin top to match, but this wasn't my original setting placement. And the weather cleared too quickly so I didn't get the backing and binding prepared.



We're having a snow day today, but there are bookkeeping deadlines to take care of before Monday, so no quilting planned. I'm procrastinating right now, but not for long. That's not a real squirrel in the photo, but I did hear some commotion in the attic. I'm guessing they're trying to keep warm.

Thank you Rosemary for the recommendation
Pam

Geneva, the colors are wonderful. If I were you, I fear I would be wishing the client did not like the quilt so I could keep it myself. Be sure to show us pictures.

Geneva, your colors are gorgeous! They really do have a Latin American feel.

Good to hear that things are on the up for both Lorna & Annis.

Lois, (and every/anyone else interested in lots of reading) I came across a very interesting book last year 'Women's Work. The first 20,000 years. Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times' by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. It is fascinating reading, including the old saying
'Men may work from sun to sun,
But women's work is never done'

Lorna and Annis such good news about your family.
Geneva I love your fabric choices, they have lifted my spirit from this dreary winter weather and made me dream of summer.
I wonder where all our quilt ideas go Wendy, for me they seem to disappear if I leave them too long in my head before starting the project.
Pam

Lorna & Annis, good hearing positive news for your loved ones.

Geneva, really… " the hoarder fabric store". Sounds like an extremely dangerous place to go. Give me the directions. I think it's a good thing that it is thousands of miles away from me. I like the thought process you went through deciding on a price for your work. I don't know much about that but I do that from time memorable so called "women's work" has been priced way, way below it's value. Remember when you price your work you are also saying something about the value of the work of other women/artists.

Lorna and Geneva GOOD NEWS so glad for you both. Janet

I'm glad to hear the Lorna and Annis's family members are doing well. I hopr it continues!

Thank you all for your thoughts on the commission quilt. I'm with Annis, I prefer to give my quilts away! But my husband is the business man and he helped me to figure out a price, then I cut it down! I do have one rule when making a quilt for a client. I do not take any money up front. I learned this the hard way. I expect to make the majority of the design and color placement choices. Of course I take into consideration what the client wants, style, colors, pattern etc. I had a client many years ago that insisted I use a brown as a background for a quilt I designed for her. I tried to explain about light/dark placement and that this would not be the best. She insisted. So I made the quilt, I hated it and she did too! So, now I tell clients, I'll make the quilt and if you don't like it, it's mine. I've never had a problem since!

Yesterday I took my mom, who is not a sewist and will be 86 Sunday, to the hoarder fabric store in Prosser. This place is amazing! She has a wall-o-batiks that is 7 bolts high and about 40-50 feet long. You have to climb a ladder to get the top 3 rows of batiks. I filled some of the holes in the palette that I had pulled from my stash. The client wants the quilt to remind her of the sunsets at her place in Costa Rica. Here is a picture. The blue and green at the top are the borders.



So, today will be spent painting boards for the propane tank cover and sewing!!! Yay!

Take care,

Geneva

Good news Lorna, you won't concentrate worrying about your family. Have you over 10 to finish as well? I think we all have loads in our heads to start but I find when I get round to being ready to start one of those it feels like a chore and not as urgent. How do we empty our heads of old ideas?

Geneva how exciting to be commissioned. Ritzy's advice sounds good and much more sensible than just the time and supplies.

Great news, Geneva and Lorna. I have no idea how to price things. That's why I keep most of my quilts or give them away.

The first batch of chicken soup was a success and very much appreciated. It looks like she's going on the Paleo autoimmune diet for awhile so I need to find a few more good recipes.

Only 3 more bindings to sew to the back, then I get to add 10 more projects to my to do list. That will be easy as I have many more than that to do. Some of them close to finished and some not yet started.