Crazy Quilt block all finished!

Here is my Crazy Quilt block all finished and ready to frame.  Kathy at Shawkl.com was so gracious to teach us how to create this art and I had a blast!
I love how the beads in the sequins showed up in color....The three different roses are my favorite....I'm sorry about the date stamp right in the middle of the butterfly, I really need to get rid of that.  I hope you love this eye candy and it sparks some kind of inspiration.  I'm ready for spring!

Falling Charms

So starts the quilting process!

As I was thinking about the name of the quilt, Falling Charms, I began to doodle and came up with this, what I thought looked like falling charms, 

Then the next thing I had to do is figure out the porportions as to how big I wanted the charms and how far apart.  SO I began mapping it out on graph paper in my Quilter's Journal.  Each square represents

1/2 in. which makes my grid 2 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches

So I drew the grid onto my quilt for me to follow

And here they are being quilted....They look totally Retro don't they?

Charity stitchery, Crazy Quilt class, and Mystery Quilt Along

Operation Sparrow is a really sweet charity and you can find all of the information about it here. I had alot of fun making this...I'm not too happy with how the stabalizer made this wrinkle, but they are going to stretch it onto a hoop so it will flatten out.

 I am also taking a crazy quilting class with an awesome lady Kathy Shaw at Shawkl.com.....You can't join the class now but this is my progress so far....It's really in depth and I really feel like I'm in a class. It has taught me sooo much and I can't wait to learn how to embroider ribbon. 

Another project that I'm working on is at The Inbox Jaunt with Lori Kennedy. It's a mystery quilt along, and it's a whole lot of fun. You join in with this one and catch up pretty easily. I'm a day behind but it won't take very long to do.  I loved working on learning how to fmq my name. It's in the lower right hand corner.

I've gotten to work on an all over feather quilting project which has been my dream to achieve ever since I bought my sewing machine with a 10 inch harp. I could use alot more practice but I'm happy with my first try so I thought I would share it with you. 

 It's called Forest Walk and it was a kit. This was a super fun quilt to do because the colors and fabrics were chosen for me. It came with a whole lot of extra fabric so that I can make pillow shams to go with it. The other thing I loved about it is their way of showing me how to miter the corners in their patter. It was so easy and they worked on all four corners.

These just make me smile

 This little doll is so dear to me as is the girl that made her. Her color picks are so adorable and her ideas are just fun!

 I enjoy having all of these girls in my home for these reasons.  

Don't they look like they're ready for a slumber party?  

 These little guys were a great idea to make too~We had so much fun watching them come to life......

                                     Hedgehogs and Walruses and Moose were promptly attached to her backpack the next morning to join her for her school lessons and a little show and tell I am sure.

 Now here is a recycled project that one of my girls 

is having fun with. She brought in some old wool 

sweaters and she's making little wallet/pockets

out of them and learning how to sew button holes.

Nice huh?

Three of the girls are making a rag quilt for one of their baby sister's to be.  I cut out the batting and backing squares to go with some flannel charm squares, stacked them up and gave them to the girls on 3 different sewing machines to quilt them up for me.....The soon-to-be big sister is in the process of sewing them together for us....We have alot of threads to clip and the seams to snip, but what fun we are having assembly line sewing for the wee one to be.

The Latest Quilt Retreat Inspiration

 

 Sometimes I just like looking at the pictures....Here is an array of beautiful quilts done by our local Quilt Guild members of whom I am so blessed to know for they are the sweetest sisters, with their nonjudgemental, encouraging, teaching, words and love! 

Above is the latest Grand Illusion Quilt Along made by my friend Sara, you can see her post and find out where to get the pattern on her Blog right Here

 This is a trip around the world done in all western fabric. It is fantastic.

 This is the falling charms pattern that I did and below is the backing fabric that I chose. The purple paisley was the perfect shade I thought.

 What a cute garden fabric this is. 

And these are adorable machine embroidered princesses and the perfect fabrics to go with them.

Grow Your Blog 2015

Today is the day for our Grow Your Blog 2015 Party!  This is a great opportunity for us to get together and share what makes us happy about who we are or want to be!!!!

So let me introduce myself.   I am Shelly Heronemus and live in the Montana mountains. My love of quilting has flourished over the last 26 years and I now share in that love teaching 8 town girls how to sew. We have alot of fun getting ready for Fair week and eating treats and talking about sewing!

These are made by my girls between the ages of 7 - 15.

I look forward to meeting everyone and I hope you enjoy my blog also.  Thanks for stopping by.

Embellishments and fun!

 This beautiful peacock was being embellished by one of my sewing girls for a Christmas present. She has sandwiched it and quilted it with gold thread....I was surprised at how well the thread behaved, but with a topstitch needle thread painting was no problem.

 These elf shoes were made with great enthusiasm due to the fact that the girls would be putting bells on the toes....One of my girls (9 years old) hosted a whole dinner party for her family, complete with an elf hat and apron to go with her elf shoes.  She made the menu, sent invitations and gave gifts to complete the whole elf theme. I would've loved to have been there.

Don't you wish you had a pair?  I was actually the winner of a book called Sew Fun: 20 projects for the whole family by Debora Fisher. Venessa Vargas at The Crafty Gemini hosted the giveaway.  We have  alot of fun making projects from this book.

Here I have just been playing around with some spirograph quilting with a ruler along side my presser foot. 

I marked it first and then just went from dot # 1 on one leg of the triangle to dot # 1 on the opposite leg, and just kept going around......The only reason I quit is because I ran out of bobbin thread. It would be pretty neat when finished, and/or in any other shape.

 Now the last thing I have to show you is

a panel that I have been embellishing 

with french knots and things to make the

flowers on the rocks come alive. Let me tell you 

now, I am not an artist but as I made these changes

I couldn't believe how life-like they became.

I have the rest of this panel of ships and seafoam fabrics to with the Lighthouse and I just can't wait to get this quilt or wall hanging, I haven't decided which, finished because I can add alot more 

with my quilting.