Quilt Projects

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Sunday, August 9, 2009

Something New

Yup, that's what this is for me. I'm starting a new blog . . . a quilting blog. It's been a while in coming, but I can no longer drag my feed dogs. The time has come to throw caution to the wind and jump in.

For a couple of years I've wanted to create an online market for selling my one-of-a-kind, hand made baby quilts. Over the last several months it's become apparent that a good way of advertising would be to start a quilting blog.

I couldn't have gotten this far in this enterprise without the skill of my web designer/computer guru daughter. As we speak (well, practically) she's working on getting the website to showcase my baby quilts up and going. We're not quite there yet, but that, too, is coming soon. I'll let you know just as soon as it's viewable.

In the meantime, I'll start posting regularly to this blog hoping we all can get to know each other better. I'm planning on eventually having one day a week that will feature one of the baby quilts I have listed for sale. The other days I'll blog about what's currently being created in my quilt studio, and it won't always be a baby quilt.

Since you aren't familiar with my work, I'll probably post pictures of quilted pieces I've done in the past along with current projects. I really hope you like what you see (and read) and will come back frequently to check out what's going on.

Following are three of the quilted wall hangings I have up in my house right now that I've snatched off the walls to show you.


This is one of my favorite small wall hangings. The center is the old, traditional Churn Dash block. For the outside border I used a delightful fabric showing green leaves and an assortment of colorful garden bugs. It's 17 x 21", and I call it "Dashing Churns & Crawling Bugs." I love the colors, and it's part of my annual summer decorations.



Oh, how I agonized over the fabrics to use in this piece. And I'm still not happy with it. (See, I'll even show you my goofs and flub-a-dubs!) The center three by four rows are Goose Track blocks and the fabrics I used are summer fruits and vegetables. The border shows colorful seed packets. It's 28 x 35" and I labeled it "Goose Tracks in the Garden." Because I love the design of it, I keep thinking I'm going to do it over in fabrics I like better.



"The Color of Summer" is 15 x 17". When I started making the small album signature blocks (they're each 3 x 3") I was having so much fun I actually contemplated making a full-sized quilt out of them. Well, let me tell you, after about nine blocks (accck!), I seriously considered doing only twelve of them, instead of the required thirteen, and not putting them on point but rather in rows of three by four! But I persevered (I'm nothing if not stubborn), and I'm glad I did. I'm very happy with this little piece.

That's it for this first post. Next time, I'll tell you a bit about how I started quilting.

12 comments:

MaineCelt said...

I love the slide show-- already can see several things I'd love to get my (carefully pre-scrubbed) hands on!

Beautiful work, both from you and your daughter. I like the look of the site and am looking forward to more posts!

Mama Pea Quilts said...

MaineCelt - Bless your little complimentary heart and well-scrubbed hands! My daughter and I both appreciate your kind words.

You are the very first commenter (commentor? Is that even a word?) on my quilting blog and for that you win . . . ah, um, uh . . . my sincere thanks.

Chicken Mama said...

Yayyy, Mom! I know you've wanted to get this quilting blog going for a LONG time, and I'm GLAD you're (we're) FINALLY there. Now, just WATCH those for-sale quilts FLY out the window! I know they will!!! xox

Mama Pea Quilts said...

Chicken Mama - Almost can't believe my quilting blog is actually up and going. May your prophecy of the baby quilts being popular come to pass!

I may be a good quilter but you know so well I'm a dunderfutz when it comes to computer stuff . . . thanks for your patience in working with me!

XXX

Lorri said...

Personally I love the Goose Tracks in the Garden quilt. Love the edge fabric, and the ones you used for the tracks as well.

Glad to see you've got the blog up!

Mama Pea Quilts said...

Lorri - Thank you very much for your kind, kind words. I wonder if part of the reason I'm not crazy about "Goose Tracks in the Garden" is because I have it hung on a pale yellow wall and it kind of just blends in.

I appreciate you leaving a comment. I know I'll learn a lot from hearing from blog readers. I'll always be eager to hear what you have to say.

Claire said...

Great new blog! And, I think the colors in the template highlight your quilts well. I have to say, E loves his quilt you made him!

Mama Pea Quilts said...

Claire - Thank you so much for the compliments. Good to know E is using his quilt . . . that's what it's for!

thimblevee said...

Hi Mama Pea - you are doing two of my favorite things in the whole world - gardening and quilting! So glad you started this blog - I found it from your "Home Grown" blog which I have been following loosely for a little while. I'm very jealous of your awesome quilting studio and I guess the long winters in northeastern MN allow for lots of quilting time. Alas, I still have a full time job (and am VERY grateful for THAT) so gardening and quilting are limited to early morning and evenings. And living in northwest GA, we hardly have what you would call winter. Anyway, just wanted you to know I think you are living the dream - so far this summer I have preserved tomatoes & juice, baby lima beans, green beans, pickled banana peppers and okra (I know, it's a "southern thang"). Keep up the good work here and kudos to your daughter on the great job. Meanwhile I will just keep growing my stash so that it awaits me in retirement????

Chicken Mama said...

Vivian,

"Daughter" here (aka Chicken Mama). Thanks! Mom is a FANTASTIC quilter and UNBELIEVABLE gardener. I can only DREAM of gardening like she does. (Fortunately, on good production years, I can often reap some of the benefits!)

Since you live in NW GA, you might be interested in some of the pictures on the seasonal (changes) blog I keep - just to see what NE MN is like! It's at http://www.swampriverridgeseasons.blogspot.com.

Have a great day!

thimblevee said...

Will check that one out for sure - thanks Chicken Mama.

Mama Pea Quilts said...

Hi, Vivian! First off, thanks so much for stopping by and leaving a comment.

If you ask me, Minnesota winters are NEVER long enough for all the quilting I try to squeeze in. But I must admit, because of my quilting blog and soon-to-be-website, I'm very anxious to spend more time in my quilt studio this coming winter. (Wish me luck hiding in there!)

I so envy you being able to grow enough tomatoes to can and make juice and I LOVE lima beans but we sure can't grow them in MN. Okra? Now that's one veggie I haven't experienced.

Hope you find the time to keep reading this blog and try to squeeze in some quilting time when you can.