Spring Water Designs: Quilts and Other Modern Day Heirlooms
This is a cute little Christmas angel that I made as a sample a few years back, and just now got around to quilting it. 
It is from a Nancy Halverson Art to Heart Book called Happy Holidays To You.
I machine pieced, appliqued and quilted it. Then it's embellished with hand stitched words and twigs, and buttons were added for the berries. I've looked at this one for quite a while, so I decided to put it in my Etsy store :)
...Move! This weekend was Heather's big move ~ her first real apartment (she doesn't count dorm rooms at college). Our day started early at Ikea. You know it's early when the parking lot at Ikea is empty. We grabbed some breakfast, ordered a bed frame to be delivered, and hit the road (well, after we meandered the show room and shopped a little).
Someone told Heather that rain on her moving day was good luck. Heather should go out quickly and buy some lottery tickets ~ we got rain, cold rain, the whole weekend.
But at least it wasn't hot. The apartment is on the top floor and we got well acquainted with these, but the cool day made it not so bad. (I remember a super hot 4th floor dorm move Heather and I did all by ourselves a few years back that just about did me in). 
Bobby was a willing truck driver, so after his classes ended He, Heather & I got most things moved in the first day. Then Bob got off work, I went to work, and he took over another truck load.
After doing this many times, Heather (and Maddie her cat) are all moved in. Now I'm sitting here (not as stiff as I thought I'd be by the way) getting used to being able to open the door without worrying about the cat running out, making my own tea, and wondering who I'll watch "The Big Bang Theory" and eat popcorn with tonight. I guess I'll have to adjust.
At the Jo Morton Club meeting we had a lot of show and tell. First Val, Peggy & Phyllis shared their Warm Wishes beginnings. These will really be coming together by next month!
Then Dawn Burchett came in with a package from the post office to open with us. She had participated in the Cake Stand block exchange with Jo Morton's Yahoo Group, and opened the package with us at the meeting. We all got to ooh and ahh over the blocks and see the different locations from where they all came. It was fun to do that together and so nice of Dawn to think to share the moment with us!
And of course we showed some of the other projects that have been keeping us busy. Phyllis Miller made this really cute Christmas quilt using charm packs for the center... 
This adorable soft baby quilt from Beatrix Potter fabric (put out I think by Quilting Treasures)...
And this Autumn themed wall hanging from Gobble Gobble by Sandy Gervais for Moda. She of course had them all finished, quilted and bound. (Phyllis is my hero)
Karen Gladfelter had this really cute tablerunner that she did. She quilted it with a decorative machine stitch which is a really nice touch on this project, and I liked the striped binding :)
Karen also had this huge quilt top that she's pieced from Jason Yenter's Floragraphix IV collection from In The Beginning Fabrics. It was stunning!
Finally, Dawn Burkett had another festive table runner done with this cute tree fabric that I've not seen before. Dawn has been experimenting with machine quilting, and getting a lot of projects finished. This one has some repeats of the swirly Christmas tree quilted in, which is a really nice touch!
Well the circles I made the other day got added to some leaves and a couple of stems and became this:
My center block of the Warm Wishes quilt in Jo Morton's Vintage Journey book. This is a fun little project. I'm working on piecing the other blocks, and will keep you posted as it starts to become a quilt.
I'm jumping in a little late, but here is my humble entry in the Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted by Park City Girl. 
I chose to show "My Heart's Content" (even though I've posted it before here on my blog) because it's one of my original designs, and the one that kind of really jump started Spring Water Designs...and it has Prairie Points :)
It started out as a quilt that I was making for Heather, and evolved into one that I could use for teaching, then became a pattern ~ Soon to be available at Quiltwoman.com!
I had designed this center applique section to use when I teach my beginning applique class because it covers many techniques using easy shapes to work with. From this one section I can teach inside and outside points and curves, freezer paper on top and behind, "perfect circles", reverse applique, and the back basting method with cut away applique.
Jean McDonald did the beautiful quilting on this quilt for me. It's just a happy quilt! If you want to enjoy a great online quilt show, click on the button at the top of this post to see everyone's entries ~ but one word of caution, be prepared to spend some time there, I think a cup of hot tea and a comfy chair are in order :)
I worked our shop's big Anniversary Sale today, and in between waiting on customers I got this done (kind of sad when all you get done all day long can fit in the bottom of a zip lock baggie, but at the time it seemed like a pretty big acomplishment). Here is what I did:
First I punched a bunch of 5/8" circles from a manila file folder.
Then I cut out some fabric circles roughly a 1/4" bigger than the card board circles, and did a little running stitch in the seam allowance close to the edge.
On a pressing surface, stab through the two circles with the needle (I got this tip from Mimi Dietrich in my Baltimore Applique Class)...
...and pull the thread to draw up the sides. I hit them with the steam iron and a little bit of starch. 
...And made berries! (I need to do a bunch of purple ones for grapes for a Baltimore Album block I want to do soon) I usually take the cardboard circles out when pressing but this time I'm going to leave them in and take them out either as I applique them down, or after by cutting the background fabric and removing through the back. 
I'm also piecing little blocks for this project (Jo Morton people might recognize this). I'll keep you posted on the progress.
My cute little finish from yesterday is this Presents Table Runner from Wooden Spool Designs (I just love their stuff). It is a cute little project that can be done up quickly if you do a machine blanket stitch, like I did. (But even by hand this wouldn't take too long). 
It only measures 7" x 32" so it makes a cute little accent on the table. I used a combination of wool and homespun fabrics, and we have a kit for it on our shop website.
