My boys with their I spy quilts.

My boys with their I spy quilts., originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

I Spy Quilts & the beginning of Summer Vacation. I love it. :)

For Jodee in Bee Vintage

For Jodee in Bee Vintage, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

Asian fans wip

Asian fans wip, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

Here's how it would look if I did the Asian fans in circles. It's stunning, but matching up all those points might prove to be tedious.

Asian fans wip

Asian fans wip, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

For future reference, I thought I'd post this picture. It's one way I could arrange the fans. Would make a great medallion quilt, I think. Maybe next time.

Asian Fans WIP

Asian Fans WIP, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

I've had this one going for a long while now. Mostly sitting on a shelf. All of the fabrics are Asian prints. I have the backing planned and purchased already. It is just as exquisite as the front. I've tried various arrangements, but I think I'm going to go with this one. All of the fan blocks will have gold backings like the one in the bottom right corner. This quilt will be for me to keep. :)

One of Two Twin Butterflies for Stephanie in Bee Vintage

One of Two Twin Butterflies for Stephanie in Bee Vintage, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

I made two of these precious blocks for Stephanie in Bee Vintage. She was petrified of butterflies when she was a child. This is going to make a fun quilt, though. The blocks are about 9 inches finished. I love butterfly blocks.

Winny

, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting.

So I finished binding my color wheel quilt but still need to add a few vintage buttons at the intersections of the blocks.

Winny thinks this is her quilt. She swats at the buttons & attacks it. Her favorite perch is near the windows so that she can spy on rabbits, squirrels and birds.

For Douglas in the KC Scrappy Bee

For Douglas in the KC Scrappy Bee, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting (formerly nkiblueeyes).

These improv blocks were great fun to make. I used a touch of vintage fabric and a couple other awesome fabrics. Enjoy, Douglas!

And Little Brother Wants One Too

, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting (formerly nkiblueeyes).

Since Wyatt's got a snaggle tooth, Owen thinks he has one, too. Truth be told, he does have a couple teeth that wiggle ever so slightly. He picked out fabric for me to make a tooth pocket pillow for him. Now we are prepared for the Tooth Fairy to visit him, too. :)

Tooth Pocket Pillow for Wyatt

, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting (formerly nkiblueeyes).

He's got a very wiggly tooth (a first for our family). He also has pink eye. Since we had some extra time at home today, we whipped up this pillow to put his tooth in when it falls out.

New Batik Project

New Batik Project, originally uploaded by bluevalleyquilting (formerly nkiblueeyes).

My sister-in-law bought me some batik charm squares & I'm playing around with color. Paired them up with a nice black Moda Bella Solid. Love the way it's looking. I got 3 1/2 rows together before calling it a night tonight. Wanting to add some fun borders & make it a little bigger. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it or sell it or give it away.

Developing a Plan

Back before I was a mom, I was a teacher.  The time I spent teaching prepared me to be a mom in so many ways & for that I am grateful.  I stopped teaching to start a family about 8 years ago.  Having kids took a little more effort than I'd planned, but 6 years ago, I had a beautiful baby boy named Wyatt.  13 short months later, we were pleased to welcome another blessing into our world, as well... My son, Owen.  I've been a stay at home mom the whole time and I love it.  Truly.

However, next year Wyatt will be in 1st grade and Owen will be in Kindergarten.  I will suddenly have more time alone at home.  I'm not sure yet if Owen will go all day or 1/2 day, but I'll know soon.

I toyed with the idea of going back to teaching, but it's not really what I want to do right now.  The politics of education (especially in Kansas) makes me really frustrated as a parent and I'm concerned that as an employee of a school district, I might become even more cynical.  Also, my husband travels a significant amount for work and I'm concerned that I'd be too unavailable for my kids if I worked full-time.  

So... I've been thinking about what I could do to bring in some money while still having the flexibility to go on field trips & volunteer at school.  I also want to do work that I enjoy.  Working for myself would be preferable...

My solution?  It is a little crazy, but I'm considering buying a longarm quilting machine.  I'd have to do some rearranging, but I do have room for one.  Before I could profit much, I'd have to work pretty hard to pay off the machine, as I have zero dollars saved for this venture...  But I've put out some feelers & gotten some really encouraging feedback from friends and family.  

Those of you who know me in the real world know that I'm really passionate about Quilts of Valor.  We make quilts for wounded veterans and active duty service members.  Anyone who has been affected by war can have one.  I've worked with friends since 2006 and together we've made hundreds of heirloom quilts that were given freely to veterans, most of which were strangers.  The sense of accomplishment I feel is priceless.  The skills I've developed as a quilter are priceless.  The relationships this process has formed are priceless.  I will always make Quilts of Valor.

Our local quilt shop (Quilter's Haven) has let me quilt several Quilts of Valor in the past few months during some special events.  It's been SO fun!  I'm relatively untaught & just winging it, but am having some success doing free motion quilting.  I think that by taking a couple classes & picking the brains/watching some of my longarm friends, I can prepare to own my own longarm.  I don't think I'd have too much of a learning curve before I could quilt for hire. 

My plan is to do all over quilting, semi-custom and custom work.  I think we have a shortage of quilters who will do custom work here in KC.  The ones I know who I would recommend are pretty busy, some turning new customers away.  I have some friends who have similar plans, but I think there's room for us all.  The quilting community is alive and well here in KC.  I could also tap into my online presence & market myself to people who live elsewhere. 

Also, I could ramp up my Quilts of Valor efforts.  We have a shortage of longarmers.  Plenty of prolific quilt toppers, but we currently have Quilts of Valor piling up around us, ready to quilt.

My lofty goal is to have my business plan written in the next month or so, to take classes and learn over the summer & to buy my own longarm in time for school starting in the fall.  Let's say September.  I'll need to line up some customers between now and then, but I don't anticipate that being a huge issue.  I'm already a member in two guilds.  I would likely join 2 or 3 more between now and the fall.  Networking will be key, but luckily, networking is something I enjoy and am good at.

I'm opening my Etsy shop to make some money in the meanwhile.  Must save & find an investor or two...  Must also convince the hubs that this is a great idea, but I've been working on that.  ;)

Give me some feedback, friends!  Tell me what you think.  Am I a little nuts?  Nuts in a good way?  What am I not thinking about?  What should I focus more on???  Are you excited?  Talk to me, people.

Bee Vintage WIP

Bee Vintage WIP-, originally uploaded by nkiblueeyes.

My friends in Bee Vintage are making these blocks for me this month. Here's a link to the tutorial from Film in the Fridge:
http://filminthefridge.com/2011/10/12/scrappy-triangles-a-quilt-block-tutorial/

We're using vintage sheets for the prints and solids for the background fabrics. Love the way it's shaping up. I will be making 2 more rows and will likely sell this in my Etsy shop. :)

Spider web

2 years in the making... Almost finished...



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bee Vintage Round 3

I've requested this block from a tutorial on the film in the fridge blog for my month in Bee Vintage. Will use vintage sheet scraps and solid fabric. Probably will be a wall hanging. I love it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Quiltnon

For those of us who were unable to make it to Austin for quiltcon, we had a sewing event we called Quiltnon. Was a great time co made butterfly blocks for a new quilt for me. Here are pics from our day:





















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Spider web quilting

I'm enjoying this, but my machine is acting up still. Ugh.

Wonderscope

We went to our local children's museum last week. Here are a few pics:

Bee vintage locks for February

This is our 3rd round for bee vintage. This month Linda asked for lady of the lake blocks.




And Liz asked for granny squares.

Have I already blogged about this?

These card trick and cry of the loon blocks have been on a shelf for 8 years or so. Decided to use what I have in my stash to finish them up. I have one more row to add. Here's a picture before I started rearranging.