International Quilt Festival and its Effects

The International Quilt Festival, held in Houston TX, has become an annual event for my two sisters and our Mom. Every year, we gather from where ever we live (TX and NY) and spend some wonderful 'girl-time' together. We giggle a lot, share family stories and revel in the joy of just being together in an incredibly creative environment.

Every year we come back inspired to achieve new heights with our business and crafts. And every year we usually fail to accomplish all that we were inspired to do.

This year my sister Mary Ellen, the one on the right, found this wonderful article that can be used by all of us when we return from a life-changing event. And make no mistake, this yearly quilt show is a Life-Changing Event for us all. I know this article helped me continue the joy and creativity of the Festival.

Read the following article, published by ©2009 Vicky White, The Feng Shui and Raw Food Coach. Get Vicky White’s FREE “5 Biggest Attraction Mistakes ” report and her FREE articles to boost your passion, purpose and creativity at: : www.LifeDesignStrategies.com

Article: Essential Feng Shui strategies to ensure you're not a three-day wonder!

When they take a drug addict into detox they know better than to put him back in the same environment - same colored walls, same friends, same room.

Have you ever been to a workshop or a personal growth event and felt your life had changed? You're away from home, away from distractions, surrounded by others who are going for it. As you drive down your street to go home everything looks different.

How do you ensure your changes are not just a two or three day wonder - you know what that's like: come home on a high with notes and information and all kinds of good intentions for BEING different and creating different results? If you live with others, more than likely you don't make a lot of sense when you try to explain what you got of out the event, or how you've evolved. They might even feel threatened by you sweeping in with all your enthusiasm for the changes you want to make NOW.

You look around your home and all kinds of things seem out of place or no longer a good fit. I feel compelled to declutter my books and rearrange them right now! The reason for this compulsion to declutter is that your environment represents who you are - or in this case, who you were. Before you left home your environment and your own energy were a pretty good match.

When you make shifts within, if the energy of your environment doesn't change, it will pull you back into your old patterns. It will be a challenge to really anchor your shifts and move forward as the new you.

8 Tips to Anchor your Shifts and Changes so they don't disappear.

1. Hear the urge to declutter, to clean out your closet, or repaint your office, on returning from a life changing experience? It's your spirit calling for the energy in your home to step up into a higher vibration. If you don't feel the urge, take a look around and feel the energy - what's not a good match for the new you? The sooner you can let go of what no longer fits (and there will be things!), the faster you can integrate your changes.

2. Move the furniture around - furniture that stays in the same place starts to create stagnant energy. Even moving it a few inches will shake up the energy in your environment and energize your space. And energized space supports an energized YOU!

3. Put your travel things away - you're staying, right? This new you is staying too. It used to be that I'd empty my suitcase onto the floor and from there start to put things away - who knows why? It would take me days to put everything away. Now I do the 'one touch' thing - I grab 'like' things from my case and take them directly to where they need to be. Unpacking is way faster. Feels great!

4. What's incomplete? This might well be a different list from one you would have made before you left - remember, you're seeing your environment through new eyes. On my latest trip, having made prosperity shifts, it didn't surprise me to come up with a list of about 10 money incompletions on returning home. Took me about 2 hours to address the lot.

5. What needs cleaning up? Autumn leaves, the last of your summer flowers, inside plants given some attention? It's good to put energy into your home - it's a sort of nesting, a transition between the old and new.

6. Take time to go through your notes, read any materials you were given at your event and create a one page list of actions you commit to implementing, based on specific strategies or awarenesses you gained. Find a home for materials you returned with.

7. Create an environment that inspires you, reminds you of the shifts you've made and anchors these changes in your body. This is the enhancement part of Feng Shui and needs to come after the clearing away of what is no longer a good fit. I've just returned from a retreat and a marketing event. I hung the vision board I made at the retreat in my bedroom. I hung the marketing strategies poster on my wall right in front of my computer so I see it all the time.

8. Enhance the Knowledge & Self-Cultivation area of the Bagua in your office, bedroom and home: this is the area specifically related to learning, personal growth and your inner self. The most powerful enhancements are always ones personal to you - a great place to put your vision board. That's where mine is: in the K&SC area of my bedroom. Other things you can use in this area: books/DVDs/CDs related to your inner growth or what you're learning, anything that reminds you of inner wisdom or contemplation, quotes and inspirational sayings, and pictures of mountains. You can also enhance other specific areas - for example my marketing strategies poster I returned with is now in the Wealth & Prosperity area of my office!

For more information on the Bagua and where the different Guas are, see: Bagua Map

If your physical environment doesn't change you'll be pulled back into who you used to be because that's the energy you're most familiar with. It's a big thing to have travelled to a workshop, spent a few days soaking up a new way of being, hanging out with others who are on a similar path. It's a huge commitment to yourself and who you're being in the world.

You may not have even travelled to a workshop - you have the potential to make shifts within yourself at any time and the same principles apply - you can raise the energy in your home to support a change you wish to make, or you can raise the energy in your home to be a closer match with the person you now are and where you're going!

What a waste for it to be but a three-day wonder as you slip back into the person you used to be - wonderful as that person was!

Clear out what is no longer a good fit for you, and surround yourself with items that reflect where you're going. That's how to have your environment support you rather than working against you - and all it takes is intention and consciousness.

Raffle Quilt for UT Chi Omega Sorority

Just a few weeks ago we were approached by a lovely young woman from the Chi Omega sorority at the University of Texas at Austin Texas. She wanted us to make a quilt from her organization's T-shirts to be used as a raffle quilt for their chosen charity, Make A Wish Foundation.

As a way of keeping costs low, we asked Sallie to prepare the shirts by cutting, stabilizing and sizing them which she skillfully did by spending a few Friday mornings working with us in our Studio. We then completed the piecing of it for her and of course, did the quilting of it on our APQS Millennium machine.

Sallie had the quilt in time for the raffle which brought in a decent amount of money that went directly to the support of their wonderful chosen charity.

Do any of your supported organizations have a raffle coming up? Consider this very creative, useful, warm and profitable idea - make a quilt from your old T-shirts!

Deeply Felt Memorial Quilts

The power of quilts can evoke the deepest and sweetest memories, especially those that come from clothing that has been incorporated into a Memorial Quilt.

Amber asked us to make these two very simply designed but heartfelt quilts for herself and one of her relatives. She so wanted to capture her Mom's spirit and courage as she battled a long and painful illness. Amber knew the power of fabric turned into a quilt. Amber spoke to us of her Mom's joy in sewing - many of the fabrics in this quilt had been destined for articles of clothing for Amber and she spent many minutes remembering the joy of the planning, the sadness of the unfulfilled promises and finally, the peace of seeing these pieces turned into something she can wrap around herself and remember the love of her Mom.

These quilts are made of just 25 simple squares created from her Mom's clothes and extra fabric. So simple, yet so deeply poignant and satisfying to Amber.

The VERY Messy Studio

As promised, here is a video of our studio at not quite the height of its disorder, but close! We have at least six projects spread across 2 rooms, all due in the near future. Its a challenge to keep order so although most of the time I work hard at picking up the mess, this time you caught me with a rare 'devil may care' attitude.

Well, I failed. I cannot seem to get the video to load onto the blog. So you will just have to look at some pictures although these were taken today after a bit of cleanup.

Check out this magazine so you can possibly avoid getting your work space into such a mess too.

Our Messy and Expanding Studio

Watch this space because on Friday, I will post a short video taken this morning of our studio at the height of it's messiness. We seem to have organically grown from one working surface to another, adding sewing machines as we've gone along, from one closet to three, from one very large room into two others, from boxes and boxes of projects to more! All this to handle our expanding longarm quilting business.

Maybe we need to read this magazine to get our studio lives back in order. http://www.interweavestore.com/Mixed-Media/Magazines/Studios-Fall-2009.html.?a=qa090928

The Excitement of a First Quilt

This vibrant quilt is the very first for a lovely young woman who has recently fallen in love with our passion for quilting.

Katie came to us to have the quilt completed but the visit turned into so much more than that. We tweaked her top just a little to get better proportions for the border. We chose a bright green thread to complement the vivid colors of her design - and we talked and talked and talked about her excitement as a new quilter! Her developing love of fabric, pattern and design are so fresh and new and exciting to someone like me who has been doing this for over 30 years.

To top it all off, Katie sent us a hand written thank you note! Her words bear repeating here.

Thank you so much for turning my first quilt into something beautiful. It's a great inspiration to begin a new quilt...I can't wait to being back another quilt.

It was a real pleasure, in so many dimensions, to work with Katie!

The 80th Birthday Quilt Journey

Look at that smile! This is what the receipt of a surprise birthday quilt made by everyone in your family does.

Laurel came to us in March asking advice on involving her family in the creation of personal blocks for an 80th birthday quilt for her Mom. We prepared blank muslin squares for her, gave instrucitons on how to get the family to use them (stay within the 1/4 inch margins; use Pigma Pens for ink permanency etc.), and waited. In July, when the blocks had all been collected, wow, were we surprised at the creativity, talent and love we saw within each of the blocks!

Working with Laurel, we chose complementary fabric which would please her Mom and designed an unusual setting for the block layout. Then we assembled and quilted it in time for the surprise party.

Here is what Laurel wrote to us after the party - She was thrilled and touched with the quilt and everyone was pleased with how it turned out. Mom felt the love that went into the project and I appreciate the care you took putting it all together into something beautiful and meaningful for us all. It was fun watching her fold over the first corner, then opening it up more as she realized what it was and what it meant to her. There were tears, all of them good, and lots of smiles and story-telling as she talked about each square with those who created them.

Thank you again for all your work, your ideas, and for putting our individual efforts together into a beautiful piece of living art that shows our love for Mom/Mimi. You do good work.

Smiles such as on the face of Laurel's Mom make this job one of the best in the world!

A happy baby quilt

Being in the longarm quilting business, we rarely have time to make quilts for our own use or to give to our friends and family as gifts. But when one of my longest and closest college friend announced a baby shower for her first grandbaby, I knew I had to find a way of getting a quilt made. Michael and Annie are expecting their first baby (a boy!) at the end of September. Michael's Mom, my dear friend Joanie, lives near sandy beaches on NY's Long Island. So I had to make a simple baby quilt in bright primary colors with a beach motif. I found fabric with lighthouses, beach pails and sail boats.

Hopefully, the new baby will have the opportunity to enjoy the beach as he grows up visiting his new Grandma.

Quilt Resurrection

We feel like miracle workers today! We were able to take the quilt on the left, all beaten up and chewed by a dog and re-make it into the one on the right, an updated, modern, usable new quilt while maintaining the essential elements of the old.

If you look closely at the 'after' shot, you can see that we maintained the full integrity of each of the embroidered blocks even to the point of capturing the original hand quilting. We tightly stippled around each of the newly set blocks with reproduction fabrics of the time, bringing out the beauty of the original work.

This was one of the most fun quilts to work on because we really got to work outside the box. Although it was scary to cut into the original quilt at first, it became a real technical and artisitic challenge to maintain the character and feeling of the old design.

I think we did a great job, if I do say so myself!

A Prolific New Grandma

This quilt is truly a work of love. Sandy started this 'block of the month' quilt when she learned of her daughter's pregnancy. She even went so far as to badger the block kit supplier to get her the full set earlier than planned so she could get this made as close to the birth of Jackson as possible.

Take a close look at the detail on the quilt - each piece is carefully appliqued and the execution is perfect. All we had to do was quilt it in a way which enhanced and brought out her piecing.

We had an extra treat when Sandy came to pick up the quilt. I got to meet Jackson and spend some reminiscing time with his Mom, Shelli, too. Jackson (who you've met in an earlier post) is now almost 3 months old with a vibrant smile, blue eyes and red hair. He is clearly the light of his Mom and Cha-Cha's life (what a great grandma name that is!!!). I wish I had taken a picture of him so you could see what I am talking about.

We truly love what we do - bringing quilts to life. And as an added extra benefit, we get to meet great people and hear such life-filling stories. To quote myself 'every quilt has a story'. We love to hear them all. Come tell us more.

Bringing peace and joy through a memory quilt

It started with a long ago and far away phone call from a lovely gentleman from Virginia. His wife had recently died and he was interested in finding a way to honor her through the use of her clothes to construct a Memory Quilt.

Once we processed this new-to-us idea and embraced it, he wrote us a long letter describing incidents in the life of his spouse that he wanted to find a way to reproduce in cloth. One major story concerned a hike he and Barbara had taken, where she found herself standing under a bower of fuschia surrounded by hummingbirds which apparantly mistook her for another larger fuschia plant since she was wearing a jacket of that brillant color. He also wanted a Tree of Life with wood ducks nesting in its branches to be depicted in the quilt.

What followed was months and months of intense work, where we used ever quilting skill we knew, some we had to learn, and some we “borrowed.” Since this was a 'stretch' project for us, we begged the use of the architectual design services of my brother, the specialized woodworking tools of our friend, the color-critical eyes of our spouses and especially the hard labor of our almost 90 year old Mom. We structured the quilt multiple times on paper. We appliquéd the scene, fusing each element and stitching the fusings. We embroidered parts of the ducks and even use fabric paint on thier feathers. We must’ve considered two dozen borders before making our choice. The top was completed and it was up to the artistry of Chris with the longarm machine to bring the center scene to life.

Finally, the day came and he flew across multiple states to come pick up his precious remembrance. We had the joy and trepidation of presenting the quilt to him on Thursday.

He was touched and pleased beyond our wildest dreams. Not only did the constructed scene delight him, he both cried and laughed as he discovered the unique sections of Barbara's clothing in the outer blocks of the quilt. We had the privilege of learning more and more about Barbara and his deep and abiding love for her through the stories he regaled us with as he saw yet another piece of her clothes. These fragments of fabrics came to life and made us all smile with the joy of a life well lived coupled with the sweet sadness of the loss we all grew to feel.

Memory quilts. They are surely more than just pieces of cloth.

Quilting and technology

Now, which do you think is cuter - this wonderful, whimsical baby quilt or Jackson himself??? I sure know which one Sandy, the new grandmother and Shelli the new mom would say!

Although we have not yet gotten to meet Jackson in person, we have been keeping up with his progress by watching what his Mom posts onto her Facebook page. (as an aside, do you know that Over The Top Quilting Studio has its own Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Over-The-Top-Quilting-Studio/72993575201?ref=share). We have, however, had the pleasure of working on this quilt for him, created by Sandy who is a very excited and proud new grandmother with the fantastic new name of Cha- Cha.

Take a closer look at the quilt. I particularly love the energy and frivolity of the sheep.

Notice the 3 poufy bags in the row right underneath the words Have You Any Wool. This wall hanging will be a wonderful place for Jackson to store his secret things as he grows older. Whenever we have the privilege of working on a quilt for a baby, we urge the quilter to encourage the recipient to USE the quilts, which we believe are made to be loved forever.

This truly was a fun quilt to work on. Through it, we have built a relationship with Cha-Cha (Sandy) and Shelli and indirectly, with Jackson. And through the magic of technology, we will be able to see Jackson's life progress. A wonderful merging of the ageless technology of putting pieces of fabric together into something to be loved and the new technology of Facebook to watch the goings on of a new life.

Love Passed On

We were recently honored with a commission for a small quilt. One of our clients who was about to be a grandmother for the first time asked us to create this wonderful wall hanging. Debbie wanted her new granddaughter to have a part of her life forever. She brought us her 30 year old wedding gown and asked us to cut it apart(!!) and use the bodice and lace on the sleeves to make this meaningful connection through the generations. We chose a design which would reflect the love and joy of a wedding day coupled with the love and joy of the birth of a child. Do you think we succeeded? Debbie seemed to think so since she gave us the greatest gift of all by shedding tears of joy and pleasure when she first saw the quilt.

I have my wedding dress of 35 years ago still hanging in my closet and I bet many of you too have the same situation. When my son gets married and has his first child, I just may take advantage of Debbie's wonderful idea and make some real generational use of the fabric in my dress. Think about for yourself too. Pass on the love.

A legacy of love

This cross stitched beauty was brought to us as just an unfinished top. We were asked to finish it in time for Mother's day - which we did.  As we always do, we asked about the story behind the quilt and was told that it had originally been made by our client's (Allison) grandmother for Allison's mother.    Unfortunately, the grandmother died while her daughter was quite young and the quilt top lay unfinished for many years,  until Allison decided to find a way of getting it completed and given to her Mom in time for Mother's Day 2009.

It is a beautifully executed cross stitched piece with all of the cotton thread sections complete.   However, each 'snowflake' was to be accented on each leaf with gold thread and then quilted as closely to the original design as possible.    As you can see, we did a great job on the quilting (if I do say so myself) but we are not cross stitchers!   We found a wonderfully talented seamstress to help us get that part done and we finished it off.

Allison came to pick it up last Saturday and immediately burst into tears when she saw it.   To her it was the completion of the circle and would be able to fill the empty spot in her mother's heart left by the early death of HER mother.    To me, it was the personification of the song 'May the Circle Be Unbroken'.

A late 'Happy Mother's day' to you all, especially our Mom, Thelma.

Dream Makers

Recently, we received one of the highest compliments an artist can get - Dream Makers!    Two of our wonderful clients picked up their quilts which we had quilted for them and when they first saw them, the joy in their faces was incomparable.     They told us that we were Dream Makers, that we had made their dreams for these quilts come true.

Maria, the maker of this richly colored quilt, used lots and lots of varied florals in her queen size quilt which she had originally made for a move to Pennsylvania.    It was her first quilt!   Didn't she do an incredible job?    And we got to share in her joy of accomplishment since we 'finished' it for her and made her dreams for it come to life!

Becky made this appliqued quilt with the great border for her co-worker who is about to have a baby.   This too is the quilter's first quilt.    Although she used solid colors for the majority of the quilt, she really enhanced the figures with the use of fun ginghams.     She teared up when she saw it completed and told us how happy we had made her and how we too had brought the dreams for her quilt to life.

One of the greatest joys of this longarm business is watching the faces of our friends as they see their finished quilts for the first time.    Note that I used the word 'friend' to describe those whose quilt we work on. After the hours we spend trying to bring their work to life, always keeping their face in front of us as we work on the top, they have morphed from client to friend.

Do you have that same experience?

Simple, yet complicated things in life

This lovely quilt is called 'Civil War' and is made from reproduction fabrics similar to the color and patterns of those produced during the mid-1800s.   It's maker is a sweet woman named Kay who has made it to grace her warm and welcoming quilt retreat.   Go to http://www.emiliesquilthaus.com  to see what a quilting get-away in the Texas Hill Country looks like.   It is located in Stonewall TX, near where President Lyndon Johnson was born.

Upon first glance, this quilt seems quite simple to make - it is just a series of straight blocks sewn one after the other with no curves, no points and no need to match seams.   However, Kay told me how difficult it was to keep 'straight line straight' throughout the process.   In fact, as the quilt grew, it seemed to get more and more out of shape.  And as we quilted it, with our APQS Longarm machine, we had to work hard to keep it all in line.   In the end, it came out quite well and will be well loved by the guests at Emilie's Haus.

I think this is metaphor of many of life's challenges.   We work hard to keep things simple and our actions on the 'straight and narrow'.  Yet, we stray;  our perfect children, as they develop into their own beings, change and stray in ways that may frustrate us.   However, in the end, like this quilt, we all turn out OK and we continue to be well-loved by those who care the most.

Remember this as you struggle - be it with a quilting project, your family or your work - be prepared for things to stray away from your perfect vision but also know that you will need to accommodate those changes and continue to love it in the end.

What should prevail - Design or Use?

I wanted to share this wonderfully intricate, eye catching and mind filling quilt with you.    It is quite large - 96" by 112" and was a real challenge to appropriately quilt.   We really wanted to enhance the design elements without taking anything away from the piecing.    The center element was trapunto'd since that was the most important part of the design.  

The challenge of the quilt came in many forms -artistic as well as business.   We pride ourselves in really listening to the desires of the client and understanding the person for whom the quilt is intended.    In this case, Susie was making it for her sailing husband, and she originally wanted us to quilt it with a sailing motif.

We struggled long and hard, trying to satisfy those needs without compromising the overall beauty of the top.  Finally, our artistic sense could not be denied and we met with Susie and her husband to discuss our thoughts.    They agreed with us and we delivered our combined vision of the finished quilt to them today.

I guess this conflict over wanting to meet the client's needs and the need for artistic purity has been around forever.   Think about Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel versus his patron, Pope Julius II.   They had major battles over the design and in the end, 'art' won out.    Now, I am in no way comparing our talents with that of the great Renaissance artist, but in some sense, we fought the same battle and won.

Do you think we did the right thing with this quilt? 

Deluge

What a day!    

Austin TX, after over a year of virtually no rain, finally received a veritable deluge of rain this morning.    We have been happily quilting, working on one very large client quilt in wonderful country colors, putting the binding on another special Lonestar patterned one and even building a T-shirt quilt for a very talented artist who designed his own shirts.

Keep watch here over the next few days as we post pictures of each of these beauties.

Let's hope that the rain will lead to brilliant flowers. 

What could be better?

We recently received a hand written thank you note from one of our clients who had us complete the quilt top she had lovingly put together for her grandson.     She also sent us pictures of the little boy holding his grandmother's visible manifestation of her love for him - he was just BEAMING!   Here are her words to us:

  "I can't thank you enough for your beautiful work!  Cameron's Tiger is truly outstanding.  You can tell by the smile on his face how thrilled he was with it....It was such a thrill to give this quilt to him and it was because of your talents."

The quilt was a very interesting tiger panel on the front and , at least to me, even more interesting assembled quilt blocks on the back.   Our challenge was to bring out the beauty of the tiger and other animals while articulating the rest of the quilt top.   We had a lot of fun with this one.

No matter how challenging the quilting is when we take in a quilt, we always get the fantastic experience of seeing the joy on our clients' faces when they see their work come to life.  And then to be rewarded once again with notes and pictures of the quilts in their final home,  we are truly blessed.

We sure do love this job!!

The Beginnings of Spring in NYC

    I spent last weekend in New York City, just as the spring rains came and allowed some die-hard yellow daffodils to burst forth, even against a fence.    These flowers remind me of my maternal grandmother who loved them since they always marked her early spring birthday.    Another favorite spring flower of mine is the yellow forsythia.   This one always adds wonderful rays of color near the highways of New York City and will forever signify the birthday of my far-away sister in New York. Last week, I wrote about the bluebonnets of Texas, and my hunt to find swathes of them outside Austin, TX.     

Thinking of the yellows of my home town and the blues of my current home, made me think of the traditional French Provincial colors.   Which made me recall with great joy the two most recent trips I took to Paris, with my close girlfriend from college and my husband and son, celebrating my spouses birthday. Its funny how the mind 'hyperlinks' from item, to memory, to new idea.     

What does all that have to do with quilting? Everything, since when we take in a new customer top to be quilted, we first look at the colors and patterns but we then immediately begin wanting to know who the quilt is for, what occasion it might be celebrating,  and how it should be best brought even further to life.     One thought or color will lead to another story or idea, resulting in a wonderful collaboration between the quilt maker and us, the quilters.

Do you have a favorite color or place that when seen or recalled, makes you think of story after story after another story?