It has been awhile since I did any kind of studio tour for blog readers, so I thought I would do that today.  These photos were taken last month.  Some are a little out of focus…. sorry bout that!

So come on in, see where we spend so much of our time.  And feel free to leave your quilt tops here for us to quilt.  (captions and descriptions will be below the photo.  click on any photo to enlarge)

Step right in….

my machine in foreground, Steve’s further to left.

My design wall is on the far wall.  I have been working on an art quilt.  Some other quilt blocks are behind the art quilt.  Multitasking is the name of my game.

Looking back towards my machine.  The small machines in foreground are where I embroider.

The view from where I do most of my piecing.

Steve’s machine.  This is his view of the world much of the time.  That door in the far corner is where we started the tour.. where you came in the door.

Part of my stash.  The cabinet on right has doors open for the photo.  My friends organized my stash by color for me.  The open shelving has just fat quarters organized by color on the top shelves.

Just part of our thread collection.  Actually, this is Steve’s thread collection.  And some of my templates.  Wall hanging on the wall is one of my most prized possessions.  An authentic Navajo woven rug… a gift from my sister.

This cabinet has a few of my own quilts that are waiting to be quilted.  And all the rest is UFO’s.  Oh shut up.  You know you have UFO’s.  Oh.  not this many?  Send me your address.  I will send you some.

This is one of 2 cabinets full of client quilts to quilt.  When you leave your quilt, it is hung on a hanger with the backing, and kept safely behind closed doors until we are ready to quilt it.  If you are a smoker and your quilt smells smoky, your quilt is put on a hanger, sealed in a plastic bag, then put in a separate cabinet.  That keeps the smoke off of someone else’s quilt.  We do that for cat and dog owner quilts too.

This is the area where we write up your receipt with all the pertinent quilting and pricing information.  The plastic bin holds bagged quilts ready for pick up.  We also ship nationwide… so we bag finished quilts in plastic bags, then box and take those to the post office ready to be mailed priority.

Somehow I missed taking a photo just to the right of this…. where we have a bookshelf full of quilting books for our clients to borrow.

And this is the door into the rest of the house.

Thanks for taking our virtual tour.  We would love to see your smiling faces at our door!

One of my favorite peeps is Kay.  Even though I have never met her in person,  I communicate with her fairly often.  She is hysterically funny, and yet, down to earth.  I love her sense of humor.  And I love that we can call each other up and laugh about ourselves and each other.  Oh yeah, we are both quilters too.

Kay loves pink.  And polka dots.  And especially pink polka dots.  And pink.  All things pink.

So not long ago (gosh has it been that long ago?) Kay was talking about getting her hair “tipped”.  Yeah.  go ahead and google that.  I had to.  Really.  I am so NOT a girly girl.  So of course she got it done in pink.  No shit.  She really did.  God I love her.  She is not just spunky and cute and fun, she is brave and gutsy.  She did it.  She posted photos of it.

Here is my favorite one I snagged.  (ok, so today I finally got around to asking her if I could use it.  She said sure, as long as….. well, I wont tell you what she said I could not do with it.  I promise Kay, I won’t do that.)

So, I love portrait quilts.  Always have.  When I saw this photo, I knew I wanted to do it in a quilt.  But my skills….. umm…… were kind of lacking.  I have done portraits my own way, with no instruction, no book to go by, no real knowledge.  Doing it my typical fly by the seat of my pants kind of way.  It sorta works, but I finally broke down and bought this DVD by Maria Elkins.  It was SO worth the money.  Extremely well done.

I watched the DVD once, last week.  I have been itching to do a portrait all week.

Yesterday, I sat down and went thru photos.  I made FIVE patterns for portrait quilts yesterday.  With 7 different people in them.  Wow, I impressed myself!

And today I got as far as getting the first one put together, and machine ready…. ready to quilt.  That has to wait for another day.

I can hardly wait to do another.

I won the apron from Lizzy Jo!  Wow, am I lucky.

It fits, it is comfy, and it is reversible.  Steve says I should wear one side for quilting, the other for cooking/eating.  Suppose I could, but I won’t.

Here it is:

If you look, you will see something turquoise hanging behind me.  That is my other apron that my friend Judy Whitehead made for me.  I wear it when quilting.  Now I will have a change of uniform with the apron from Lizzy Jo.

On another note, here is a cake recipe I made tonite.  We love it.  Peach pound cake.  Made with fresh peaches from my friend Phylis.

right out of the oven….

cooled, and on our plates.  We have plenty….. drop by for a piece of cake and cup of coffee.

Steve’s Dad, Harold Mazon, passed away this morning.  He was in his 80’s and lived a long, full life.

He will be missed by his 10 children, and so many more…..

These photos were taken of Dad at the Mazon Family Reunion, July 12, 2009.  Steve is with him in the first photo.

His eyes were so blue, you felt like you could swim in them.  I will miss those big blues.

One of my quilting friends, Lizzy Jo, is having an apron giveaway over on her blog.  Wouldn’t want you to miss that opportunity.  More importantly, don’t want you to miss out on her talent!

2 weeks ago, the neighbor kids were banging on the door.

Katie (3 yrs old)  Uncle Seeve, there’s a baby in the fence!  A baby!  I saw it!

Kevin (9 yrs old) Yeah, and we know who it’s Mom is cuz it’s after-carriage is hangin’ out its butt!

Steve and I slid our shoes on and I grabbed the camera to go out to  see the new baby.  We did all we could not to laugh out loud at the way they put it, as they were SO excited.

Sure enough, the calf had been born within the previous hour.   None of us witnessed the event, but got to see the new baby getting it’s first bath.  And the after carriage!

If you are squeamish?  Don’t look!

And a few days later……

I bought some Texture Magic at MQX in April.  I finally got around to trying it a couple of weeks ago.

Texture Magic is a product sold by Superior Threads.  It looks and feels like lining fabrics.  After you quilt it, you steam it to make it shrink 30% in each direction.  The shrinkage creates more texture.

I used batting between the Texture Magic and cotton fabric, but the directions say you can do it with no batting.  I will  try that another time.  I  need to play and experiment more to figure out if I want the quilting lines to be closer or not.  I also want to try straight lines and a grid.   It will depend on the project as to what effect I am after.

So this is a little tutorial on what I did.

I basted it on the top of batting and backing on my longarm.  You can make a similar sandwich (with or without batting) and baste or pin together.

Then I quilted it on my longarm.  You can use a sewing machine, longarm or even by hand.  The key is to have fairly dense quilting to get more texture.

Here is the other side:

Then I steamed it.  You steam it on the Texture Magic side.  I used my 35 year old Steamstress that still works well.  I love that thing!  I doubt you are lucky enough to have an old Steamstress, so use a regular iron that steams well.

You can literally see it shrink before you eyes.  (hmm, maybe I should wrap my body in it and steam away the pounds)

Here it is all steamed and shrunk:

And the fabric side:

See the Magic???

I can see lots of possibilities for this product.  Purses, tote bags, or vests.  I dont ever make those kinds of things, so I will use some on a pillow for my first project.

Let me know what you use Texture Magic for.  And please share any tips along the way.

A couple of weeks ago I was quilting leaves in my sleep!  Here is the finished product.  No, it does not belong to me.

As I watch Michael Jackson’s memorial service, I can’t help but wonder why I am emotional about this service.  Why would I care?  Why did I care so much during Princess Diana’s funeral?  Or Ronald Reagan’s?  I never even met these people.

And it struck me:

we watch and think of those funerals we have been to before.  think of those we have loved and lost

see the symbols of life and death

feel what each symbol and song invokes in us

sing and dance to what moves us

mourn for what was ours and is no longer

or at least, is no longer ours in the same way

We think of our own mortality.

how long do I have left?  I have so much left to do….

who will mourn me?  will someone care?

will they know I loved them too?

Whether you loved his music or not, whether you enjoyed watching him or not, he changed our world as we know it.  He was an American icon…. a WORLD icon.  A part of our collective experience.

Perhaps what I loved most about MJ was his creativity.  His willingness to be himself, do things his way, forge his own path.

His death reminds me that I must use my own creative talents while I am able…continue to use what gifts God has given ME to impact my own little piece of this world.

And a little directive to my family and those that are involved in my life…. take the quilts and use them.  display them.  love them.  share them.  the rest the stuff?  it is just stuff.  the quilts were created with my heart and soul.

Now, I better get busy and create some more…..

PS to Neil and Steve:  gold coffin not necessary.  pine box just fine.  maple or oak would be extra nice.

Just a few shots of the kids when they were here last week.

Hey Elizabeth… look out the window!  There are cows out there.

Thanks for moving out of my way……

Because I LIKE to drive this dumptruck!

These are my grandkids, Elizabeth and William.  William broke his leg a week ago, while visiting a museum in Pittsburgh.   That put a few kinks in their overall vacation plans, but all survived.

While here, William had only had the cast a few days and was still figuring out how to maneuver.  He will be 2 at the end of August.  Elizabeth is 5.