Oh the Sunsets!!

Living in the desert has it advantages. Sure, it's HOT this time of year, but oh those sunsets! Monsoon season is here, and last night we were out on the back patio watching the thunderstorms roll in, with lightning across the sky and the thunder rumbling. It rained for a good 20 minutes and it really smelled so good. We get so little rain here that I so enjoy the storms when we have them.
The last couple of weeks the sunsets have been so beautiful. Golds, pinks, crimson. I ought to make a quilt out of all these colors!!
You just had to watch as the sun went down because every few minutes the sky changed.

I took these pictures right out of my own backyard!
I wanted to thank all of you who wrote in about what you do with your quilts. It was fun to hear how you use them, and if you wash them. I started a batik quilt for a client, and I have to admit that I ALWAYS wash and rinse the batik fabrics because they never fail to run. But thanks again, it was fun to hear from you!!

So these last few days I've been a little busy with a bit of everything. I decided to go through my tons of old magazines to save the patterns I really want to keep, and have filled a binder or two. I've also been working on my applique blocks, and this one here still needs a 3 dimensional butterfly, but I'm not so sure I'm going to put him on! The background borders you see here are from the block underneath, and I still have to sew the borders on this one too. What else have I been up to? Well, I just couldn't resist another painting job. My husband learned a long time ago

to leave me the painting! I love to paint, but I must admit I was sore the next day! Just couldn't take those beige walls any longer. I tried, but I just didn't last. Had to have some color in the room to warm it up! This is a quilt I finished longarming recently.

I've been working also on last year's BOM that I love. Here they are on the design wall. Now mind you, I have absolutely no green in my house, but I love this quilt. It is a Marti Michelle template quilt called Hidden Stars, and I finally finished it!! I'm still in shock. A quilt done for me, imagine that! Now to get it in line for longarming sometime this year.

My sweet daughter knows me so well. Here is my birthday present, and who can resist a stack of layer cake and jelly rolls and charm packs by Moda? I started digging around my stash to find another set very similar that I'm going to combine with these fabrics and start my sampler quilt from the Elm Creek series. The blocks are 6 inches. I haven't decided which format to use yet, but I think these fabrics will be so perfect!! I'm a lucky Mom for sure. Tomorrow will be a busy day, longarming and cutting out another project. Houston Market will be in full swing before we know it, and the new

projects are already starting to roll in. In the meantime, I'm going to keep working on that UFO pile!!

Until next time, keep quilting.

What do you do with your quilts?

I was just browsing my favorite blogs when I came across "Sisters Choice Quilts" (you can find the link on the right) and she was talking about how to store and use quilts, how to wash them and whether or not to prewash your fabrics! Check out her site, she has some great information there. She lays her quilts on all the furniture and beds, (imagine that!) and I tend to hang my quilts all over the house!!! So I thought I would share with you how I use my quilts so that I can enjoy them as much as possible in our home. I have yet to finish a quilt big enough for my bed, but it is in the making. I, like her, have little dogs, and I always worry that they might tear one of my quilts! I guess that must mean I like my quilts better than my furniture! LOL!!! I have one exception, and that is these two older wedding ring quilts that are in pretty bad shape, and I let the dogs lay on these when I am sewing. I love this couch now in my sewing room. It is a cozy place to stop and relax, read a book, or just have a nap with Roxy and Peanut by my side. The design wall is above the couch, which isn't terribly easy to get to, but it's the only spot I have, and I can't get along without a design wall!

I try to make sure that my quilts don't hang in direct sunlight at any time, and I do move them around as the seasons change. In fact, I love quilts with a seasonal theme just for that reason!! Another wall in the sewing room. Here is a 4th of July wall hanging.

I just love color, and I'm a contemporary enthusiast as well as loving the traditional quilts. This one is so easy, and a free pattern for the Kona Cottons. If you look down the hall to the front door, you can barely see another quilt hanging from a rod, using two curtain tiebacks turned vertically so the rod can hang on the "hook". This makes it really easy to switch out the different quilts. Again, those Kona cottons. I did this a long time ago, making Amish blocks, and framing them to hang above my kitchen cupboards! I have 2 more to make, and finding a 12" square frame is not easy. I just cut the mats down on the inside to fit the 9" blocks.

There is a machine embroidered quilt in the bedroom. I'm now in the process of finding a quilt that better suits the space. Too much of it hangs behind the headboard.

In the longarm room, I love hanging quilts to inspire my quilting and I just love looking at them!

I painted two walls last week in this aqua/greyblue historic color and I really like the warmth it gave to the room. I might still attempt the other walls!

So the question is, what do you do with your quilts? Besides giving them as gifts, which I think every quilter does!! Do you prewash your fabrics? Do you throw your quilts in the washing machines? Do you really USE your quilts? Write and let me know! I love sharing information!

Until then, keep quilting!!