What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I picture a cold, crisp day with snowflakes gently falling.  There are flames dancing in the fireplace with the crackles creating a calm quiet in the air.  The smell of fresh apple steaming up from my mug of spiced cider.  I'm curled up with a good book - the kind you don't want to put down until you are done.  You are all warm and toasty under a good old-fashioned quilt.  I'm not thinking it is a quilt that you should receive a 'lifetime achievement' award for making.  This quilt is just meant to be comfy and cozy ...

 I've seen some interesting things in my 14years of longarm quilting. 

But this may have been the most interesting.

I got a call from Helene.

 Helene has sheep and wanted to use their wool for her quilt. Would I do it?

Helene brought out the wool and I'll admit, I wouldn't have guessed it was 'homemade'. Well, not exactly homemade. The sheep get sheared and Helene washes the wool a minimum of 7 times; combing the wool each time to get all the bits and pieces out of it.

It then goes to a factory where they ...

 It has been way too long since I've shown some recent client quilts. And my clients have kept me busy. Last week, I matched my longarming total for 2019. Last week was still September and I have 11 weeks left in my year. 

If you are one of my clients reading this, I thank you!

Now onto some pretties.

Pieced by Melody

I didn't even plan on this post following my last post of how it all began, but it just worked out that way.  When we first opened our shop, it was in Caldwell, Ohio.  Prodigal Son went to Caldwell High School.  Army Son went to a different high school in the same county.  Both boys have kept in touch with a lot of their friends from school.  I think social media has helped this generation be better about it than our generation.  Prodigal Son really didn't hang out with his now wife, but they knew each other through ...

 I will warn you, I foresee this being a very long post.  But, there is a lot to opening a business.

The name "Appalachian"...my family is from West Virginia.  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember that my 'real' father committed suicide a month before I turned 3.  My brother was 6 months old.  When he died, Momma didn't have a driver's license nor did she even know what they had in their bank accounts.  It was a hard reality check for her.  As a way to pull some of the ...

 My longarm clients have kept me busy the past few months. This has been one of my busiest summers probably since I started quilting 14years ago. 

Here's a few finishes.

By Mary,

Back in the 90s, I was one of those Craft Mall Vendors.  I also did a lot of craft shows.  I made a lot of wreaths, fabric dolls, fabric bunnies, painted wood items, birdhouses, etc.  I guess I have always been a crafty one.  I remember Nurse Daughter coming home from school one day and finding a bag of my supplies on the kitchen table.  She was upset that I was using eucalyptus.  It would seem that my crafting career was starving the koalas in Australia to death.  Whenever I smell eucalyptus now, I remember her devotion to their habitat ...

I couldn't help myself.  I went through my old e-mails from fabric sales reps until I found the video on how batiks are made.  I'm literally on my 6th batik quilt in a row, so there must be some interest in them.  :)

I've been longarming a lot of batik quilts lately.  I love the variation in the colors and the whole process of making them.  One day I will find the link for you to watch them being made.  It is fascinating!

This quilt is called Arrows.  It looks to be a good way to use up a lot of leftover scraps and could be a real stashbuster.

I had to wait to post this one, as it was a gift for my Daughter In-Law "Auntie Mo Mo".

For her wedding Nurse Daughter bought her this banner (in the background):

We try not to do any 'work' around the farm on Sunday.  My grandparents never let us plant or work in the garden on Sunday.  There were other strange things we weren't allowed to do, and Hubs and I try to keep it as our day of rest.  We were getting ready to watch our online church service yesterday and we kept thinking and talking about all the things we needed to get done.  We are workaholics.  The best option was to get in the car and leave.  We decided we would take a drive.  We loaded up Princess ...

With the crazy weather patterns here in the Midwest, you have to find things to do to resist the temptation of planting too early.  For me, that is usually quilting, soapmaking or making candles.

I decided to finish up another UFO.  I was going to start a new project, but Hubs actually made a remark about me finishing up more.  He doesn't do that much, so we will just chalk it up to him being 'excited' about me knocking down another UFO.

This quilt is called Holiday Stars.  It is made of batiks.  I love how batiks "modern up ...

Remember this post ( What's Holding You Back ) where I challenged you to complete something you had started but hadn't had time to finish?  This was my UFO.

I made the little girl quilt....but what about a boy??  The most recent baby quilts I have sold have not at all been what I thought people would be shopping for in a baby quilt.  In listening to the shoppers, I took mental notes.  That's how I came up with Stellar.  Stellar is a commercial pattern that utilizes 12 fat quarters.

It occurred to me that I haven't shown you anything quilty in a while.  I've been trying to balance things out between the farm, the workshop, etc.

Today's quilts were two somewhat identical projects.  Both were quilted with the panto "Baby Bear".  Sorry about the lighting, to get the whole quilt in the shot we had to hold it up there pretty high.  :)

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