I have decided to try my hand at machine quilting as a business. I have been machine quilting my own quilts for years and really enjoy it. A few members of my quilting bee have asked me to provide this service. I am honored that they have confidence in me and trust me with their beautiful quilt tops.

I will be charging 1.5 cents per square inch, plus the cost of the thread. I prefer to work on quilts no larger than full size as I machine quilt on my domestic machine.
I will be posting a list of prices plus pictures of my work. Feel free to contact me or come over to see samples.

Here are a few examples of my work:

My daughter has been talking about all the cute aprons she is seeing in the stores. So I thought I would try making one. Finding great fabric was the easy part, making the apron was a bit of work (I am not used to making clothing). But the next one should be much easier.

Here is a picture of my Betty Crocker and Mr.Betty Crocker (I am planning on making him a tomato apron without the flounce.

It has taken a few days for all the information to sink in. But here are few tips that I took away from Sharon Schamber's class.

• sewing machine needles - Schmetz machine embroidery needles (they are heat tempered and less likely to bend)
• batting - Hobbs wool or Quilters Dream cotton
• thread basting instead of using safely pins
• using a lot of starch
• European thread sinks down into the quilt layers, American thread sits on top
• smaller stitch length for piecing
• soaking fabric in Retayne to set dye and then wash with Sythrapol to remove any excess dye
• soaking the whole spool of thread in mineral oil to strengthen the thread and oil your machine at the same time.

Here is a picture of the Sunflower that I made in class. So far it is just glued together. Her technique for curved piecing was time consuming but it does make for nice flower petals.

I spent the last two days in Sharon Schamber's quilt class. Friday was a piec-lique class where we made a pretty sunflower wallhanging. She has a fool-proof method for curved piecing. Saturday was machine quilting free motion feathers. She is a wealth of information and quite a character - she is the first instructor that I have had that can see colors and auras around people. She didn't tell me what colors she saw around me, but she did pick up that I love to read (maybe it is the circles around my eyes).
I will post some of her hints and recomendations in a later post.

Check out her website - Sharonschamber.com
She has some great quilting info and videos.

I have always wanted my own chickens, but I will settle for this cute rooster. It looks great in my kitchen and doesn't wake us up at the crack of dawn.
It is done in raw edge applique that I outlined, stitched, and stipple machine-quilted.

The past few weeks I have been finishing up some long overdue UfO's and using up some of my fabric stash.
This colorful kids quilt was an easy stack and wack pattern, it was a good way to use up fabric that I have had for years.
The blue lap quilt was done with a crazy eights pattern
The green and pink baby quilt is an easy four patch. I made it for my daughter's friend's new baby.

My husband Craig has been working hard on his garden blog.   He is also known as the "North Carolina Tomato (nut) Man".  He has been posting YouTube videos, and sharing his gardening expertise.  He always amazes me in that he is so willing to freely share his knowledge.  He has worked hard to preserve these old varieties of tomatoes. 
Craig specializes in heirloom tomatoes, and he has more than 1500 varities, he is managing a project to develop new varieties of dwarf or low growing tomatoes.  These tomatoes will be great for growing in pot on your deck. 
Craig was written up in Midtown and Cary Living Magazines, March/April issue. http://www.caryliving.com/articles.asp 

Here is the link to his website and videos.http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/nctomato-and-garden-blog.html   

 Just spent the past couple of days at the Mid-Atlantic quilt show in Hampton Virginia, with some of my quilt friends. We had a great time looking at quilts, browsing the vendors, and playing dominoes.
The quilts were very inspiring, here are some of my favorites.