Crazy Quilt Christmas Tree at Crown Center

On the Friday after Thanksgiving they turn on all the lights at Crown Center in downtown Kansas City. We stumbled on this event several years ago and it has become a tradition in our family. I stock up on fabric for my business and we go to Crown Center and watch them turn the lights on. This year we went to the Hallmark Visitors center. We hadn't been there in several years and we look around at all the displays they have. They had a display with all of the beautiful Christmas trees that the employees had made for the original owner of Hallmark. I walked by them and continued on. My husband says to me (after I had left the room), did you see the CRAZY QUILT CHRISTMAS TREE? Of course, I stopped so fast that probably the child I was pushing in his stroller probably got whiplash! I could not believe I had missed it. I then began taking a multitude of pictures much to the annoyance of one lady standing there! Enjoy the pictures I took, it was a very awesome tree and I would love to make one of my own! What an idea!

Update On My Victorian Fancyworks Sampler

Here is an update on my Fancyworks Sampler. Boy, this sampler has alot of stitches on it! It will be worth it when it is done. I ran out of the right colored thread to finish my bullion roses...AHHH! And nobody I know has anymore of that color...I guess I'll try to order some more and hope they have it. I changed the shape of the monogram in the middle and I am happier with it. I'll try to keep updating you with my progress! See you later!

Merry Christmas to All!

I am determined this year to get all of my Christmas cards out early this year! Here is my Christmas card to all of you that read my blog. This is a picture that we had taken at my 3 year old's preschool. Now you can see why sometimes I don't always blog as much as I would like to! My husband's name is Craig and he works at Cessna designing interiors of airplanes. Thomas, my oldest is 19 and attends WSU. Jacob is 11 and extremely gifted with a beautiful singing voice. Eli is 3, soon to be 4 and well...he is Eli. Noah, is 2 and he is our redhead. Between my 4 boys, my crazy quilt website and teaching crazy quilting, I keep really busy! Again, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

Latest MCC Block

Here is the latest MCC Square that has been finished. I think this makes the 7th block that is complete. There are 5 more left to go and probably a couple more of them are done and I just haven't seen them yet! The quilt is due at the MCC office by early March so hopefully I will have all the squares soon. After they are sewn together, the quilting group at my church is going to help us inside tie it!

New Yuletide Color!

For the past year, I have been doing alot of research on dyeing silk ribbon and lace. I also have a friend that helps me with the color formulations(recipes). This is a new color that is varigated with reds and greens just in time for Christmas. It has been fondly named Yuletide. It can be purchased off of my website and is available in just about anything I can get my hands on to dye!

Victorian Fancyworks Sampler

Well, the weekend we had with Carole Samples was a complete success! We had 17 wonderful ladies come from Nebraska and all over Kansas to learn some new stitch combinations. The stitches were intermediate maybe even advanced and it certainly challenged us for 2 days. Carole came to visit my shop and she had a chance to see some of my crazy quilt block of the month classes I do. She also brought many of her wonderful things that she has done for show-n-share. The sampler will be beautiful when is it done. As you can see I only have a little bit done on mine but I will keep you posted on my progress. The pattern for this sampler as well as pre-pieced blocks that are made to fit the sampler she designed are available on my website, www.valeriebothell.com. The pattern features I think....7 new templates that she designed just for us. Thank you so much Carole for coming to visit us!

Carole Samples Victorian Fancyworks Weekend!

I cannot believe that it has been almost 2 months since I last posted! I am so sorry about that. I have been really busy getting ready for the Carole Samples workshop that I am hosting this weekend. I had to piece 21 difficult crazy quilt squares for the workshop (but who was counting) and I finished all of them today. The students had a choice of ivory, pastel, jewel tone or pink. Those squares were so difficult that I was soooo glad when they were done! What made them hard is you are trying to piece a traditional sane quilt square, which is fine when you are using cotton quilt fabrics. When you are using the fabrics we use for crazy quilting, they simply do not want to match up at the corners!!! Anyway, I thing I am done venting about that. The pictures I have posted show what the squares look like.

See you later,

Val

More Beautiful MCC Round Robin Blocks

My scanner has not been working so today I'll post all of the pictures I have of the newest MCC Round Robin blocks that are completed. I'll even show you some closeups of some the beautiful embroidery done by our round robin group. We are anxious to see what this quilt brings at the sale next spring.


See you later,

Val

My Funny Birthday Card!

Yesterday was my birthday and my friend gave me this card. It kind of sums up my life right now. I have 2 little ones at home and still manage to teach crazy quilting and design new projects. I thought the card was hilarious and maybe not far from the truth occasionally!

See you later!

Val

Another Project From the Omaha Crazy Quilt Convention

This is a Barbara Randall kit I bought while I was at the crazy quilt convention in Omaha. I didn't take her class but happened to be walking by her classroom while she was packing up her kits. I bought one quickly before she left! This project is not in my usual style. I generally don't pick these colors, piece my fabrics quite like this and I always embellish every seam! It was good for me to try something new and different and I enjoyed it. I made it in one day with a girlfriend of mine. She also made one and her colors were black and white with bits of pink embellishments.

Finished Block #3 for MCC

This is really getting exciting! Here is block #3 of 12 that we are doing. Enjoy!

Val

And Yet Another MCC Square Finished

Here is another finished square that I have recieved. Enjoy looking at it! All of these squares are 16 1/2 inches and I wish I could get all of the embroidery on the scanner. Sorry about that.
You can click on the picture and enlarge it to see the stitches more clearly.
See you later!

A Finished MCC Square!

After months of work our group finally has some finished squares for the MCC Quilt Sale. I will post pictures of the squares as I get them. Don't you love this square! I just love the old fashioned lace in the corner!

Where Has the Time Gone?

Where has the time gone since the last time I posted on here? Me and about 6 other people are still working on crazy quilt squares to make into a quilt for the MCC sale in Hutchinson. If you have been following my blog you may remember that a while back, one of the squares was kidnapped. Well, the kidnapping was worth it. Here is a picture of what the kidnapper did to the corner of this fan block. I don't know what the rest of you think but I think it is beautiful and I am glad that she kidnapped the square!

See you later!

Val

Back From Omaha(Crazy Quilt Convention)!

I am sorry I have not written for such a long time. I was really busy getting ready to go to Omaha and just didn't make the time. I took a class from Kelly Gallagher-Abbott and she showed us her method of making spider webs. Here is a picture of my spider web. Over the next few days, I will try to show you some other things I worked on and did at the convention!

See you later!

Val

Crazy Quilt Convention in Omaha!

In 12 days (but who is counting?) I will be going to the crazy quilt convention in Omaha. Last year I was truly fortunate and was asked to teach! I taught a crazy quilt 3-D pumpkin and it really was alot of fun! This year I get to go and just have fun taking classes. I will also be taking my crazy quilt shop on the road and be a vendor. Two of my friends are going with me and we are all eagerly awaiting the day. The picture I have here is the pumpkin that I taught last year.

Another MCC Round Robin Square

It's been awhile since I have posted anything. Sorry about that! The camera software is again not communicating with the computer so I'll will just show you pictures done on my scanner. Also the bottom right hand picture is not from an MCC Round Robin square but it is a seam treatment that I like really well on one of my pastel blocks so I thought I would share it with you.

See you later!

Val

My MCC Square

This is the latest MCC Round Robin square that I worked on. I passed it on over a week ago but I could not get my camera to communicate with my computer so I wasn't able to post it. They are communicating with each other so I thought I better hurry while it is working. My husband installed a wireless thingy on my computer so that he could use the internet with his new laptop. Things on my computer have not been the working the same ever since! I love to make silk ribbon bunnies so I'll show you a close up of one that I did.

My Velvet Rose

I have recently become very interested in dyeing lace and velvets. Here is a velvet rose made out of my own hand dyed velvet. I like the way it turned out, I hope you do too.

Bye for now!

My New Beaded Butterfly

I will be teaching this butterfly in one of my classes next month and I was pleased enough with it that I thought I would share it with everyone!

As one of my favorite bloggers says,

Gotta Sew! Bye!

Carole Samples Dream-A-Seam Templates

I have gotten such a large response to the templates that I have for sale on my website! I thought I would show you a picture of a block I did using the templates. Last summer Carole came to Wichita and showed us how to use them. This is the block that I did in the class. It was a fun class and I really loved the block when I got done with it.

Bye!

Pastel Block Seam Treatments

Today I had an open house so that my customers could view the new classes I will be teaching this summer and buy any new stuff to use to embellish their crazy quilt squares. It is always a fun day and I love to see everyone. Thank you to everyone who came today!

Here are are two seam treatments that I put on the pastel crazy quilt block that everyone will be doing on Thursday. I used Thread Gatherers thread and ribbon to make the irises. The color was guilded lavendar.

Bye for now!

MCC Sale Round Robin Update

Well, we have had our first mishap on our round robin. The fan square that I had pieced to work on this next month has been kidnapped! One of the other members of the round robin stopped by and saw my, I repeat my fan and she had that puppy dog look that every crazy quilter knows. I relented and gave her the fan block. Just so everyone is happy! She did at least let me get a picture of it before she went. The square that is already embellished in the next picture is the one that I will work on this month instead.

MCC Sale Round Robin

While I am on the subject of the MCC Sale, I thought I would tell you what is in the plans for next year's sale. Me and 6 other wonderful ladies are going to make a full size crazy quilt to put in the sale. There will be 12 blocks that are each 16 inches square. Every month, on the 1st of each month we are to mail our square to the next person on our list. In the course of the month, we are supposed to do 4 things to this square. It can be 4 seams, 4 empty spots or any combination. We started in March so we are almost at the end of our second month. The person I send to I will see at church tomorrow so I will give her a square tomorrow. Because there are only seven of us, some months we will recieve 2 squares. Tomorrow, I will give her a square with nothing on it and one that is started. The bottom picture is a close up of the bullion rose wreath I did.

Crazy Quilt Patriotic Star

As promised, here is a picture of the Crazy Quilt Patriotic Star that was sold at the MCC sale in Hutchinson. I did the piecing and a friend of mine did all the wonderful stitching. All of stitches are just wonderful on this piece. Carole Samples came to Wichita, KS last summer and taught a class on how to use her templates. Many of the stitches on this piece came as an inspiration from taking the class.

MCC Sale Crazy Quilt Cross

About 4 years ago, me and another friend of mine made a crazy quilt cross wallhanging and donated it to the MCC Relief Sale that occurrs yearly in Hutchinson, KS. That wallhanging went for $750.00 dollars and we were very pleased. This year we donated two wallhangings, the crazy quilt cross and a crazy quilt patriotic star. The weather was bad for the sale this year and things didn't sell as well but we were still pleased that the cross wallhanging went for $300.00 and the patriotic star went for $150.00. For those of you that don't know what MCC does, they are usually the first ones to respond and help when a natural disaster occurrs. You can google the MCC sale in Kansas to get more information. Maybe in the next few days I will try to post a picture of the crazy quilt patriotic star. Both of these patterns I designed myself and after making two of the cross wallhangings I still don't own one myself.