the other side of me

Some people know, some people don't.  Yes I have an etsy shop.  Yes I am an Australian living in Upstate New York.  And yes I have a Long Arm Quilting business too!!  It occurred to me recently that there are a lot out there who have no idea what my business is about.
And for those who aren't quilters I will explain what I do...

Lots of quilters sew their quilt tops together, be them elaborate works of art or functional utility pieces.  They are all made up of pieces of fabric sewn together to make a 'quilt top' or what some call a flimsy'.  Now some choose to sandwich this quilt top with batting and another piece of fabric as the backing piece and then hand or machine quilt it themselves or tie it to hold it altogether to form the finished quilt.  Other people choose to send their quilt top/flimsy to a professional long arm quilter to have it quilted for them.  And one of those LA quilters is who I am!  I have local customers and I have customers who mail their lovely quilt tops to me and I ship them back as a beautiful quilt.  I absolutely love my job and feel so blessed that I can work from home all year around and never have to worry about winter commuting.
Here are some photos to help explain the process.

a quilt top or flimsy on my frame and in the process of quilting

the finished quilt

a close up of the quilting stitches

my machine

the name of my business, Pieceful Hollow Designs

So there you have it.  The other side of me!

I have something else to share with you...
I am off to Australia in 32 days to see family and friends there!!  Do you think I am excited?  You betcha!

Ooroo for now!

Surprise!

Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise. I will start at the beginning... Yesterday I had to teach a short program at my quilt guild. A lovely lady who I met out here in blogville and had never met in person had told me last week that she might show up. She lives not too far away. With all that is going on in my world and preparing for the guild program I had totally forgotten about my little blogger friend. I arrived at guild and was busy catching up with everyone before the meeting started. Finally sat down and someone at the table behind me tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around to see this unfamiliar but kind of familiar face smurking at me! It was Sharon Vrooman! I was so surprised and excited to finally meet her. What a lovely lady she is and so knowledgable too! Most of my guild already knew her because her Mum and her are really quite legendary in my county. They even live in Quilt Lane! How about that? Sharon thanks so much for making the effort, Quilt Lane is definitely on my list of places to visit this Spring! Here is a photo that one of the guild ladies took of me and the class quilt yesterday. I am sharing it because all you can see is my head! haaa!! The quilt is now on sale in my etsy shop!

Needle Felting

One Friday evening of the month in winter a group of us calling ourselves the Mountain Girls Cabin Fever Club, get together at Ginny's house. We range in age from late teens to 80ish, around 10 of us. The idea is to work on our own projects and chat and share food and have a blast when usually it is too cold to get off this mountain. Ginny had 300 sheep until a few years ago and she is a spinner/weaver and makes gorgeous shawls etc. Anyway at our last meeting one of the ladies, Nina, who I think still has some sheep, taught us all how to needle felt. How fun that was, even though we all pricked our fingers several times! We made snowmen and I have to say they came out pretty great for our first attempts. We used wool roving from Ginny's and Nina's fleeces and a single felting needle and this is what I accomplished in a couple of hours. I added the buttons and the twigs at home. His hat is a beret so he is a French snowman! Meet Pierre!

I am counting down the weeks until I take off for a girls vacation in Australia for Easter with my daughter and sister. Yippee!