Meet Natalia!

Hello everyone! I'm Natalia

from Piece N Quilt.

I am so honored that Amy asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog today.

How did I get into quilting? I was born on my great grandmas birthday. Even though she died when I was very young I have always claimed that she is my sewing inspiration. She was a very avid hand quilter and won many awards for her work. Growing up my mom owned a custom curtain and drapery business. I loved watching the ladies sew and would take their scraps and make my own quilts, which were pretty scary.

This is my very first quilt, I used all sorts of different scraps and I think now it's scary but it actually went to the state fair and won a blue ribbon there.

Throughout the years I continued to sew and did a lot of applique by hand.

This is one of quilts that I did all of the applique and embroidery by hand.

Two and a half years ago while I was pregant with my daughter Chesney I decided that I wanted to make her crib betting. I went to my LQS and purchased all of the materials to make the bedding. On my drive home, (about 45 minutes) I had a lot of time to think. Somehow I came up with the idea to purchase a long arm machine. I had never even seen a long arm machine before but I decided I should buy one and then maybe I could earn a little bit of money while staying at home with my daugther. A few weeks later we had a new Gammill Long Arm Machine in our spare bedroom.

Right after purchasing my machine my sister introduced me to jelly rolls. I was in LOVE, I loved the variety of the fabric and I love the precision cutting. Things just went precut crazy from there. I taught a few classes and was a guest speaker at a few retreats around Utah about what pre-cut fabrics are. In January of 2009 I launched my business online and even after many sleepless nights I would not change that for the world. I enjoy meeting other quilters and sharing my love of fabric with them.

Last May Kathleen and I decided to create our first quilt to be entered in HMQS. This was the first time that I really pushed myself to think outside the box with my quilting.

We designed this Dasies & Lattice quilt, although it didn't win anything at that show we did learn a great ammount from the judges comments. I entered this quilt into the local fair and won Best of Division.

This spring Kathleen and I wanted to make a quilt from precut fabric to be our show quilt for the year. We ended up with this "Strut Your Stuff" quilt.The top (besides the borders) is all made from jelly rolls. I love how it turned out. This quilt did win a few contests as well.

Just a few weeks ago I shared my first quilt on Moda Bake Shop. This is one of my many dreams come true and I feel so honored to be able to share some of my ideas on there.

Quilting hasn't always been glorious, there have been many, many back aches, many bottles of Ibuprophen, quite a few tears shed, way too many unpicked stitches than I want to think about, many nights up until 3 am working on last minute projects and more quilts quilted than I can count. I still have never actually bound a quilt by myself. Kathleen has a industrial machine and she actually enjoys binding so I have yet to learn that skill.

Some of my favorites:

*I prefer to use Moda fabrics. I love the quality and most of all I love the fabric choices.

* I sew on a Bernina machine.

*My long arm is a Gammill Premer with a stitich regulator.

*I sew and quilt with So Fine! By Superior Threads.

*My favorite batting is Quilters Dream Blend.

*I really enjoy creating tutorials and sharing them.

You can read more abuot me and my business here.

Don't forget to check out my blog, I'm always adding new tutorials and fun ideas!

~Thanks again Amy, I have really enjoyed reading your blog and getting to know you.

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Thank you Natalia!  I'm always excited to see what you've been working on, and who's quilt is being quilted - your work is always beautiful! 

Natalia didn't mention it, but she has a coupon for 40% off your entire order through today (12/31/09) - she's got what you need to start a new project or get the wip finished up :)

Happy New Year!
Amy

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Fun New Music

I've been listening to this, and a few others, so much my Sophia (4) is singing along with her too!  I hope you enjoy :)  I'm still working out what day it is and who is buying the milk - funny how a week off can mix up my schedule so much!

Amy
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Hairy Moments

Just in case Owen isn't the only one with the desire to put a train in his sisters' hair!  This is what happens - and it hurts!  

The back story --  I was vacuuming up after the Christmas tree removal and had shooed Sophia and Owen into the kitchen while I did so.  Owen loves his new "choo-choo" and was protecting it from the big, noisy vacuum!  They each had one running against their cheek, both curious about the rub they were getting - when Owen had a great idea!  Put it in her hair!!  She must not have been paying enough attention, and as he is refusing to talk much more than "choo-choo" opted to whack her in the back of the noggin.  Thankfully, I heard Sophia's screams over the noisy vacuum, and came to her rescue! 

After turning off the engine, I realized the best option was to cut it out, and get the pain over with!  It's in the back and haven't noticed the lack of hair yet - though a ponytail may be a challenge right now.

At the moment it was a little unnerving but now I'm laughing - what else are you going to do!?  What have you cut out of hair??

Amy

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Life is Full & I Am Blessed!

I ended up taking more of a break than I had planned!  I have been soaking up the memories with our kids, and loving every moment.  I will admit that bedtime is still my favorite time of day for the kids - I'm wiped by the time they snuggle into bed!

Christmas morning is a favorite time too!  Watching the wonder in their eyes as they open gifts, thoughtfully purchased (not made, this year) for them specifically.

Owen was immediately in love with this Spiral Speedway, he was happy to play with it while his sisters continued opening gifts!  Sadly, I didn't take many more pictures as each one needed help with this or that, and my hands (and Joe's) were busy.

We've been having fun playing Connect 4 and putting together puzzles (Fairy Tale Castle 48pc).  I've snuck in a little sewing while the girls have a tea party too, (Tea Set) they are so fun to listen to!  Milk and Egg Nog have been the teas of choice so far!

Saturday we went sledding!  There's a golf course in Park City, (Mountain Dell) which is closed for the season, but it's a popular sledding hill.  We went with the masses and had a blast,for about an hour, little people get cold fast!  Lots of fun with a sled!  Owen was sad as we pulled away from the hill, he wasn't at all ready to be done.  I was glad though, my lungs ache when I'm out in the cold too much.

This coming week we get to look forward to the new year, goals and dreams.  I've been thinking up a few things, that I really want to incorporate in the new year - I hope you will join me!

Amy

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Merry Christmas!

I pray that you are well and blessed today.  I am enjoying the day with my family and doing a little baking for our Christmas breakfast!  I'll be back in a few days to fill you in on our Christmas happenings.

Blessings ~
Amy

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Your 'blogger' Profile

So you have been leaving comments all over blogland, waiting to be in a conversation, waiting for new friends to be made - yet for some reason the email never comes. If you ask a question it is answered in the comment thread but not directly to you - why?

For blogger blogs and profiles it is how you set up your profile, that makes a big difference. Let me show you!

Go to your dashboard, click edit profile.  From here you may elect to 'show my email address' - if that box is not checked, there is no way to contact you.  Those are the comments that show up with 'noreply-comment' in my inbox :(  and no chance of conversation.  I must say it is equaling frustrating on this end to have no way to respond to your question, or get in touch with you, say if you win a giveaway!

On the same page there you can hide blogs from your profile, like if you've started 5 different blogs but really only use 1 it may be a good idea to hide them to drive traffic to your blog without confusing readers.

Go back to your dashboard and click settings.  A few must do's in my opinion--
Basic tab - there's a new post editor!  You have to tell blogger that you want to use it, I think you will want to - it feels more like a word doc, with more options.
Comments tab - scroll to the bottom to add your email address for comments to be sent to you as people leave comments on your blog.  Also here is where you turn on and off the word verification, I've had some spammers recently, so it's on for now.  I also added comment moderation to posts more than 2 weeks old - hopefully that will help!

I hope that this is good info for some of you, and that it's put to good use!  Consider it my blogger public service announcement!  :)
Amy

PS - if you are looking to update your 'look' I posted some tips here.  

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Fun Gift Idea for a Quilter!

Jenna sent me these fun socks!
Aren't they great!? I think these would be great for any quilter to wear proudly. They are so soft and comfortable too! If you need a last minute gift idea for your quilter - I hope you are in the San Francisco area! The Sock Market is at Pier 39.
I did find them a few places online too. Check here, here or here. I've never shopped at any of these places online, so I'm not certain of shipping and such.

Thank you Jenna!!
I hope all of you are well~
Amy

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Giveaway Winner & Baking Day

Thank you all for your kind, sweet comments of congratulations on my milestone! I wish I had more to give :) Your comments made me smile, laugh and a few brought tears to my eyes - thank you for sharing and making this community so beautiful to be a part of.

There were a total of 355 comments and 401 entries! RNG selected #57 which corresponds to Katie B who said --

I'm really loving her All Stars flannel bundle. Wouldn't that make a great quilt for a little boy!?

Thanks for the giveaway! I always look forward to reading your posts.

Thanks for reading Katie! You should have an email from me - please get your address to me and the fq bundle will be on it's way to you!

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Yesterday we baked!

My girls love to help! I just have to give them the right tasks :) I told these two they could not eat the kisses, but if they fell on the floor they could eat them. Next thing I know there's 3 kisses on the floor! Little smarties :)

This is the production team - Chelsee is home from school and came to help out (thank goodness!) We baked 4 cookies and 2 candies - and we were done by 4:30 in the afternoon. I did my best not to over do it this year!

I have a list of a few of these recipes from last year here.

Emmalie wrapped herself up as a present after school today - such a cutie! She loves to dress in all the same color when she can, she switches outfits around until she has the colors all the same - it works for her!

I need a nap! Today is another busy Monday, no new snow yet, but I think it's on the way.

Blessings & hugs ~
Amy

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Home Spun Holiday

My friend Natalia is hosting this fun event, and I've been trying to sit long enough to enter all week!Part of my issue is the usual messiness of our four busy kids, and I've not taken any pictures of our tree - until tonight. Just for you! You can see our stockings and tree skirt that I've made peeking out from under.

We don't have a mantle to hang stockings on, and the 3M hooks we put up last year have all been broken by over use, so they are waiting patiently under the tree! I've only pulled them off of Owen's feet once - he learns pretty quick. But I've still been batting him away from the tree on a daily basis!
I made a tutorial for these last month too. Just in case you need one more thing to do this week :) Tomorrow we are baking and then I must wrap up some presents! I think a trip to wal-mart is in order for a few wrapping supplies. We have two more days of school this week before our vacation begins.
I hope you all are warm and blessed ~
Amy

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Meet Vicki!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my blogging milestone! I'm not going to be able to respond to you each individually - but know that your comments mean so much to me - Thanks!

Vicki is a blogger friend I met a while back, and I wanted you all to get to know her too! I love her attention to detail in her projects and her love for her family. Enjoy ~

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Hi! I'm Vicki and I blog at Sew Inspired. I grew up in Utah but in 2003 our family moved to the Kansas City suburbs. I have 3 kids ages 9, 5, and 1, and my husband and I have been married for 12 years.

I wanted to share a bit about my sewing history and show off one of my early quilts, too. My first sewing project was a little bear kit that my mom helped me make when I was 6. When I was 9 through 12 years old, I took 4-H sewing classes in the summers and made clothing for myself and my sisters, as well as lots of Barbie doll clothes (I got a Barbie clothes sewing pattern for Christmas when I was 10, I loved it!)

In high school I took two full years of sewing classes and really enjoyed it! I sewed some of my clothes and made things for others as well (one project that comes to mind is sewing bridesmaid dresses for my mom and my aunt for my uncle's wedding, when I was almost 17.) During my college years, sewing kind of took a back seat but I knew I would get back to it someday.

Soon after my husband and I were married in 1997, I went by myself to the quilt show at the Springville Museum of Art and I was just amazed, and in love, with quilting, and knew I needed to be a quilter. I had made a quilt with my grandma in 8th grade, and worked on a couple of other patchwork type projects as a teenager, but I hadn't ever finished a real quilt since junior high.

So I bought a rotary cutter and some purple and green fabric, and made my turtle quilt that I wrote about here. I also made a patchwork quilt with just simple squares for my oldest niece when she was born, and I think it's the only quilt of mine that I never took a picture of.

I made this log cabin quilt in 1999 and it was shown in the Springville Art Museum quilt show in 1999. I was quite ambitious and made the finished width of the strips 3/4". I remember choosing the fabric, planning out the quilting designs, and trying to figure out how to press the blocks and have them keep their square shape. I look at it now and it makes me realize I've learned a lot in the last 10 years--I wonder where my quilting will be in another 10 years?

I'd love it if you visit my blog to see some of my more recent work!


Amy again!

Vicki has been busy getting ready for Christmas with her family - she has some great gift and advent ideas. I hope you have a chance to poke around her spot today! I hope my quilting continues to progress over the next 10 years, where do you hope to be?

Blessings ~

Amy

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Four Hundred, Four Hundred!!

That's my post tally -- 400! They add up SO fast - let's celebrate with a giveaway! A set of 8 Meadowsweet Fat Quarters has been donated by Quilted Treasures! I love the colors and beautiful prints in this line! You may have the group shown or pick your favorites from what they have in stock. Many, many thanks to Kristina for making this happen!

Thanks to all of YOU - you make me want to blog and share my family and projects here with you! Thank you for spreading the word and making the Blogger's Quilt Festival such an amazing success, and for making this little space in blogland, a fun place to be! There's so much more to come, and I'm excited to see what is in store!

Enough mushy stuff, to win:
- leave me a comment! Something interesting - like your favorite fabric line in Quilted Treasures Shop, your lunch plans, how many more presents you have to wrap, or whatever you are working on, I won't tell your secrets.
- become a follower or reader subscriber, and leave a comment letting me know.
- tweet me about the giveaway, and leave a comment letting me know.
- and you can post on your blog, for an extra 3 chances - just leave me a comment to let me know :)

Do 1 or all 4! it's up to you, I will select a winner (via RNG) on Monday, December 21.

Many blessings to you~
Amy

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Dear Santa,

I've been a good girl this year! Your elves at FatQuarterShop are busy making wishes come true and I wanted to be sure to let you know a couple of things I really want, and kinda need!

I just love the colors and graceful prints in the Dolce collection - I put links in the pictures if you would like to have a look at all of them.

I keep finding myself using the kids' paper scissors to trim my threads - a pair of my very own scissors, just for fabric, would be so nice!

And in the coming weeks I have a pile of quilts to bind - a pack or two of these clips would save my hands. They get tired after a while of pulling everything into place!

Thanks Santa! I'm crossing my fingers and toes - hoping that you get this in time.
Amy

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If you, my blog reader friends would like to win, or just give a big hint to your significant other visit the Jolly Jabber to learn more. My next post is #400 - make sure to check back soon :)

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Monday's Highlights

Sophia, Owen, Emmalie, and Gabriella

Of course my snow bunnies are big part of my highlight! And of course the reason for my constant running to and fro. The day started with a student council meeting for Ella, a half-hour before school starts, then a coffee for me. We stayed in the car and dropped Emmalie off back at the school. Sophia, Owen and I stopped in at home, to check email and grab a snack - you know they are never full - then went back to school for Kindergarten centers. One hour well spent with attention loving Kindergartners :) My little ones play for an hour in the classroom, it works!

That's Sophia walking back to get another sled. Our street is piled high with snow!

Since we had just 40 minutes until Emmalie was done for the day, we went to the grocery store. I needed to restock the dairy department of my fridge! It was a little too early to wait for Em, so we ran home again, kids stayed in the car, while I put away groceries and shoveled the driveway real quick. It was just at freezing yesterday, and I managed to clear our north facing driveway! (Never again, north facing driveway!) Back to get Emmalie and home - I changed in to my sweats, made lunch, everyone ate and was happy, then Owen went down for a nap.

Ella was trying to help Owen go down on the sled with her - he went on his belly.

Em and Sophia played nice together while I cleaned the kitchen floor (our socks were getting dirty from it - eww!) Sadly playing nice together, wasn't quiet - Owen came down within an hour of going up for a nap, but it was almost time to get Ella so - Oh well for naptime :(

Again and again! The sled hill was made by the snowplows.

Off we went to get Ella, and stop at the post office - thankfully the line was not too long. I was in and out in 5 minutes! We got home, and everyone was excited to play outside. I recently outfitted Owen in some small boots for his sister and the purple snowsuit that she out grew too - he was so happy to play with his sisters!


So really the highlights are the pictures of my kids playing outside, the picture of me would have been - tired mama, with camera and tea in hand. But they are always a little more relaxed inside when they have a chance to run around outside!

Later Owen and Sophia were jumping on the bed (they know not too) and Owen got a big bloody nose - it all went downhill for him until he fell asleep on daddy while watching football.
Blessings ~
Amy

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A Notion or Two

I am officially done with my first quilting bee!

I made this block for Dana, you do know Dana right!? She sent lots of blue fabrics and ask that we make any block with a bit of each fabric in our block. Well, I got blue - she sent out the rainbow of colors.
I cut 1.5" 2.5" and 3.5" squares and played with them until I liked the layout. I assembled the block in columns to simplify it too. This even went in the mail today! One more block and my SewConnected bee will be finished up too - kinda sad but I'm happy too :)

I feel like I have so much more to tell you, but it's boring, super long Monday stuff - and I don't want to whine, so I won't! I hope you are having a good day or evening where ever you may be ~
Amy

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