2021 Goals – Checking in

A while back, I posted about my goals for this year. I figured I’d do a check in.

  1. I want to use some second-hand folding shelves I bought online to make a checkout booth. I was thinking about myself as a customer and realized that I really liked it more when the sales person was at a checkout stand. I felt freer to walk around and look. So I’m taking a cue from myself and working on making one of those. Haven’t started this yet, but I AM looking at more steel grids for the booth. I love the triangle stand and want to put them around the legs of the canopy to also hide the tent weights.

2. I’d also like to get some padded roof pads, so I can place my grid walls there instead of scraping up the inside of my husband’s Explorer again. It would be nice to drive to shows without having grid walls blocking one side of my car. Done! This has also allowed me to look in to getting more.

3. I also need to get a new phone – if I’m being completely honest with myself here. Mine is old, but I’m stubborn when it comes to replacements. Not yet – I’m almost ready to cave.

4. Participate in some new shows for the fall 2021. Working on this. I’ve applied to one new one and am already registered for another new one. Will be returning to a third where I always do well.

From an artist standpoint, I have a LOT of quilts I want to make and have on hand for shows. Here’s a short list of some of my more creative ambitions.

  1. Star Wars quilts – lightsaber duels, they just sell too well to not have one on hand. Not yet

2. Mandalorian wall quilt – I had the one I made get claimed before it was even finished! Not yet

3. Sloth quilt – that fabric is too cute to have gone this long without being made in to something. Yes! I’ve made 2 and a matching doll quilt.

4. Hocus Pocus quilt – the last one sold fairly quickly, and it was fun to make something in the “crazy quilt” style. I made 2 – one was claimed before they were finished. I’d like to have 2 on hand before hitting the Yellow Daisy Festival.

5. More doll quilts – they are really fun, and I like the satisfaction of experimenting within a smaller size. I’ve made some matching ones for bigger quilts, but I haven’t made any others besides those.

6. Christmas snow globe quilt – I saw some designs online and am wanting to try my own spin. Not yet

7. Potty Mouth Quilts – I wanted to make a small line of quilts with grown-up words on them. I like the contrast of a wholesome, traditional craft and a vulgar phrase. Maybe something is wrong with me here, but I won’t be happy until I’ve tried it at least once. Not yet

8. Bargello quilts – I made the rainbow and northern lights ones a while back, and I’m geared up to make more. Not yet

9. Mariner’s Compass – I just really like making these. They’re so satisfying. I have one on hand that I made at the beginning of quarantine.

10. I Spy quilt – I have been sorting little 2″ squares for a planned pattern for an I spy quilt with a geometric twist. It’s all bagged and sorted and ready to make.

11. Zombie girl Pin Up quilt – the first one I made was so much fun! I have the fabric, but that’s all.

12. Baseball girl Pin Up quilt – the other pin up girl quilt was so fun, I wanted to keep a good thing going. I have the fabric, but that’s it.

13. Crayon quilt – this was such a cute quilt, and I really want to make another one. They are also good scrap-busters. I have scraps pre-cut to the sizes I need, so it won’t take too long.

14. I’m also wanting to possibly make some adult bibs since there seems to be a need for them. I’d make some pretty, but I’d probably focus on making them silly. A little humor goes a long way. Can’t stop making quilts long enough to try, ha!

Other stuff I HAVE managed to do – Star Trek Quilt, I’m almost done with some Ruth Bader Ginsberg quilts, NASA quilts, mermaid quilt with matching doll quilt. I’ve also been focusing on several commissions.

Star Trek Quilt

I’ve been wanting to make a Star Trek quilt for a long time. I do have some actual licensed fabric, but I wanted to make something a little more organic for this first attempt. I knew I wanted the major players of the original crew going from Kirk on through Chekov. I made silhouettes for each of them. I ended up redoing Bones and Sulu because their silhouettes were missing their character.

Sulu really took some thinking. I’ll admit I was trying to keep them as a general figure and not specific to an episode, but I broke that rule for Sulu and gave him back his sword from the episode “The Naked Time.” I did opt to leave his shirt on, though!

Making sure I found a blue and yellow hue that matched the uniform was important, and I ended up being pretty happy with my selections even though they were a mottled pattern instead of a solid color.

To get all seven silhouettes in, I ended up having to make this a twin size. I’ll experiment with making a lap size one before too long.

This is the first quilt I’ve made to sell that I’ve considered keeping instead.

Also, hands down, Uhura rules!

Yoga Sloth Quilt

Here is the Etsy link to this quilt.

I found this fabric a good while back. If I had to guess, I’d say I got it at a black Friday sale a few years ago. I thought it was cute, and sloths are fun, especially when doing yoga. I’d gone through several ideas on which pattern to use, and I finally decided to go with a disappearing 9-patch. I’ve done a couple of others in this design and loved them.

I had just enough of the sloth fabric to make two lap quilts and one matching doll quilt. As always, the name of the game is to use fabric I already have in my fabric stash. That being the case, each of the lap quilts has a different shade of aqua as a result. But I am happy I was able to manage to stick to my goal. The backing ended up being brown flannel-backed satin. I just LOVE the way it hangs and how it feels. I can easily see some toddler using this as a lovey.


The doll quilt is fun because I managed to duplicate the disappearing 9-patch pattern. For reference, the lap quilts were used with 6″ blocks, and the doll quilt was used with 2″ blocks. I’m rather enjoying these little mini-masterpieces!

I made these for the craft fair inventory, so they aren’t going up on Etsy. However, if you’re interested, please contact me.

When Calls the Heart Quilt

A while back my aunt commissioned a quilt, and I’ve been working on it in between t-shirt quilts. Funny enough, everyone staying home has led to a lot of people getting around to overdue projects – including getting their shirts made into t-shirt quilts. So for me, the pandemic led to a slight increase in commissions.

As of this morning, I was able to finish the top. I still need to buy the backing this afternoon. It’s mostly red and white fabric, so that rightfully terrifies me as red fabric is notorious for bleeding dye. All the fabrics have been pre-washed, but I’m still somewhat holding my breath. I’ll be using the some of the Retayne dye-set to help ensure no surprises from the red fabric.

The challenge with this quilt was translating the pattern from a single image from the show When Calls the Heart. It’s a Hallmark show, and the quilt comes up in season 5. I’m honestly really surprised the quilting community hasn’t already jumped on this. From what I can tell, it’s applique hearts, lap-sized, and a tie quilt. For longevity purposes, I’ll be quilting it closely instead of tying it. The original image shows 12 blocks that look to be about 15″x 15″ with a 2″ sashing around each. To make this quilt into a king size, I kept the original block size but made the sashing 3″. I increased the amount of blocks from 12 to 25.

So all that’s left now is to get the backing and quilt it. It looks like it has fold over binding which is great because that’s my normal binding style.

Goals for 2021

I started to write a reflection of this past year, but, honestly, I’m ready to just start looking ahead.

My hopes for this upcoming year have a couple of layers.

From a business standpoint, I have a couple of things left I want to get for my booth.

  1. I want to use some second-hand folding shelves I bought online to make a checkout booth. I was thinking about myself as a customer and realized that I really liked it more when the sales person was at a checkout stand. I felt freer to walk around and look. So I’m taking a cue from myself and working on making one of those.

2. I’d also like to get some padded roof pads, so I can place my grid walls there instead of scraping up the inside of my husband’s Explorer again. It would be nice to drive to shows without having grid walls blocking one side of my car.

3. I also need to get a new phone – if I’m being completely honest with myself here. Mine is old, but I’m stubborn when it comes to replacements.

4. Participate in some new shows for the fall 2021.

From an artist standpoint, I have a LOT of quilts I want to make and have on hand for shows. Here’s a short list of some of my more creative ambitions.

  1. Star Wars quilts – lightsaber duels, they just sell too well to not have one on hand.

2. Mandalorian wall quilt – I had the one I made get claimed before it was even finished!

3. Sloth quilt – that fabric is too cute to have gone this long without being made in to something.

4. Hocus Pocus quilt – the last one sold fairly quickly, and it was fun to make something in the “crazy quilt” style.

5. More doll quilts – they are really fun, and I like the satisfaction of experimenting within a smaller size.

6. Christmas snow globe quilt – I saw some designs online and am wanting to try my own spin.

7. Potty Mouth Quilts – I wanted to make a small line of quilts with grown-up words on them. I like the contrast of a wholesome, traditional craft and a vulgar phrase. Maybe something is wrong with me here, but I won’t be happy until I’ve tried it at least once.

8. Bargello quilts – I made the rainbow and northern lights ones a while back, and I’m geared up to make more.

9. Mariner’s Compass – I just really like making these. They’re so satisfying.

10. I Spy quilt – I have been sorting little 2″ squares for a planned pattern for an I spy quilt with a geometric twist.

11. Zombie girl Pin Up quilt – the first one I made was so much fun!

12. Baseball girl Pin Up quilt – the other pin up girl quilt was so fun, I wanted to keep a good thing going.

13. Crayon quilt – this was such a cute quilt, and I really want to make another one. They are also good scrap-busters.

14. I’m also wanting to possibly make some adult bibs since there seems to be a need for them. I’d make some pretty, but I’d probably focus on making them silly. A little humor goes a long way.

Small Business Saturday

Hey everyone, I’m still working on getting my Christmas commissions completed, but I took a break earlier to make some wall hangings. I made a Rey and BB8 silhouette wall hanging as well as two rainbow guitar wall hangings. The guitar quilts are very popular, so I think they’ll sell fairly quickly. I’ve made two Rey and BB8 wall hangings before, and they went fast as well, so I’m hoping little Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian haven’t outshined my girl Rey as far as searches and gifts go. I’ll add these to the store page in a bit.

I’m all up and ready as tomorrow is Small Business Saturday! Here’s hoping some of the smaller crafters are feeling the love tomorrow as the holiday season kicks in to full gear.

An update – and a new toy!

It’s been a bit since I posted. After the Yellow Daisy Festival bonanza, I have been concentrating on commissions. But even better than that – I upgraded my quilting frame! I’m so excited. I was able to pay for it up front with nothing but funds I’d earned through quilting. This weekend I’m going to finish my current commission top and give the new frame a go.

It’s a Handiquilter Studio2 Frame. My previous one was a Little Foot 5′ frame. This new one is 12′, so I will never have to juggle around a large quilt ever again. I spent most of my quilting time just rearranging those large quilts around on that tiny frame. I’m also proud that I built this all by myself. I just love working with my hands. Any women’s construction companies around Atlanta? I’m your girl!

By the way, the older frame, the 5′ Little Foot frame, is up for sale. Message me for more info if you’re interested. It’s great if you’re wanting to start out with a mid-arm machine. It fits a HQ Simply 16. Thankfully, my machine fits the new frame beautifully.

My Little Foot 5′ frame. It’s been partially disassembled in this picture.

Here are some progression pictures with the completed frame at the end.

Last Post! Online Market Quilt Showcase 12 – Doll Quilts

The Yellow Daisy Festival Online Market ends today, Sunday, Sept 13th at 9 pm. I’ve been making some posts about the quilts I have ready to go. Each day I’ve featured two or three quilts and tell about their process and what I like most about them. These and other quilts can be found in the Quest Quilts shop on this website or in my Etsy shop.

These are the newest quilts I’ve worked on. Making doll quilts wasn’t something I’d originally seen myself doing, but I bounced the idea off of some friends one afternoon. It was well received, and I had a secret commission immediately for a colonial-themed one.

A long time ago, I made a Jane Austen inspired quilt for a dear professor who was a huge part of the teacher I am today. I had a lot of leftover diamond cuts, and they were fairly period correct. And wouldn’t you know it, Austen was born in 1775! So I took my diamonds and built a small star design. I quickly fell in love and made several more. I’ve sold three total so far, and these three have been waiting around for a doll lover to purchase. They’re meant for 18″ dolls, but they’ll also work well for teddy bears and other such lovies.

Online Market Quilt Showcase 11 – Stadium/School Colors Quilts

Second to last post! The Yellow Daisy Festival Online Market ends tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 13th at 9 pm. I’ve been making some posts about the quilts I have ready to go. Each day I’ve featured two or three quilts and tell about their process and what I like most about them. These and other quilts can be found in the Quest Quilts shop on this website or in my Etsy shop.

  • Brookwood High Broncos

These little 4′ x 4′ quilts have been around for a while. When I first started making ready-made quilts, I made a bunch in the colors of the local schools, especially ones where I knew my shows would be close to. They’re also conveniently the colors of college and pro teams as well. I liked the idea of school colors but with a subtle nod. I’ve sold a good many, actually, but these last five have hung around. I actually have a bib for the orange and blue, so it would make a good baby gift.

When I made these, I was thinking about people using them on those cold bleachers in the stands while watching football games or band members cuddling up with them during that 3rd quarter break. I remember freezing at many a football game, clutching my mellpphone.

I made these a smaller 4′ x 4′ size so that they could go across a single lap without dragging the ground. I don’t know for sure, but there is a part of me that also thinks they would be a good size for someone who was wheelchair bound.

They are also, conveniently, the perfect size to layout for a baby while outside. The orange and blue quilt has a matching bib, but I would also gladly make a matching bib for any of the other stadium quilts as well if someone wanted it as a baby gift.

Online Market Quilt Showcase 10 – Bookshelf Wall Hangings

The Yellow Daisy Festival Online Market begins on Tuesday, Sept 8th. In celebration of this, I’m making some posts about the quilts I have ready to go. Each day I’ll feature two or three quilts and tell about their process and what I like most about them. These and other quilts can be found in the Quest Quilts shop on this website or in my Etsy shop.

These were some fun wall hangings I made to resemble a bookshelf. I made too many “books” for a bookshelf quilt a while back, and they’d been sitting around for a while. Originally I was going to make another larger quilt, but the idea of a smaller wall hanging was too tempting.

When I made these, I had in mind that someone could take them and get them personalized with their favorite book titles. I imagined them in a classroom or even in an office or library. I went ahead and put hanging loops at the top, so a cafe rod would be perfect.

I’ve sold a third one already, and the friend who bought it did end up getting titles embroidered. It looks gorgeous!

She took it to a local shop and got all her favorite titles embroidered. I love the final look!
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