Deana: Around the World Blog Hop

Thanks Esther, at ipatchandquilt, for the invitation to join the fun!  If you haven’t seen Esther’s work, be ready to be amazed!  She is fabulous quilter.
Welcome! If this is your first visit, I hope you explore beyond this post. Visit the special pages section on the right.
1) What am I working on?
- See more at: http://livingwaterquilter.com/post/96355153632/around-the-world-blog-hop#sthash.NbFQN4q0.dpufThanks France, at francenadeau.com/blog, for the invitation to join the Around the World Blog Hop.  

Your stop today on the "Around the World Blog Hop" is Cleveland, Utah.  It is a tiny little town of 500 and most Utahns have not even heard of it. 

Thank you France, from francenadeau.com/blog, for the invitation to participate.  France is extremely talented with needle and thread or yarn in hand as she has mastered embroidery, applique', knit, crochet, hand quilting, and even hexies among other things.  What really caught my eye was her detailed workmanship on her house quilt blocks.  I have a soft spot for blocks with houses on them - they are my favorite!  She made hers really come alive with every embroidery stitch in the book.  Also, the banner across the top of her blog features a beautiful hand quilted quilt with piecing and embroidery.

Welcome! If this is your first visit, I hope you explore beyond this post. Visit the special pages section on the right.
1) What am I working on?
- See more at: http://livingwaterquilter.com/post/96355153632/around-the-world-blog-hop#sthash.NbFQN4q0.dpuf

Thanks Esther, at ipatchandquilt, for the invitation to join the fun!  If you haven’t seen Esther’s work, be ready to be amazed!  She is fabulous quilter.
Welcome! If this is your first visit, I hope you explore beyond this post. Visit the special pages section on the right.
1) What am I working on?
- See more at: http://livingwaterquilter.com/post/96355153632/around-the-world-blog-hop#sthash.NbFQN4q0.dpuf

 This blog hop has real purpose in introducing quilters to other quilt bloggers from around the world.  I recommend taking the time to browse back through the links to meet many inspiring and talented people.  We are asked to answer three questions and show some of our work.  We also tag other quilt bloggers so they can take a turn show casing their work.

•  Below is a link to a blog friend whom I tagged for you to visit next Monday, September 15th.  Her name is Valerie and she hosts my favorite linky party every Tuesday called Tuesday Archives.  She gives us a fun topic and we search through our quilting past to find projects that fit the topic and share them with each other.  Her projects are creative, fun, inspirational, and include a variety of techniques.
  http://myplvl.blogspot.com/2014/07/around-world-blog-hop.html
• I also tagged Esther Aliu who wanted to post on the 15th but had a major struggle finding someone to tag.  She has decided not to post, but I hope you will all visit her blog anyway because it is a stop you just cannot miss.  She can be found at Estheraliu.com and http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/.  I am pretty sure her work is professional; it is the most inspiring of its kind.  She designs the most intricate hand applique projects I have ever seen and hosts a BOM with each new project.  It must take her months and months to complete just one quilt.   
• I am also linking up today with Stitch by Stitch, "Anything Goes Monday".

First off I want to give a brief history about this blog which was established in 2008 in honor of my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandmother Dorinda Moody.  I discovered quilting years before I discovered her, but I gained a deep love and respect for Grandma as I found us to be kindred spirits.  She was an industrious woman who pioneered the West as she settled in Pine Valley, Utah with her family.  She grew her own cotton to make her own batting, hand dyed her fabrics from local plants, and made award winning quilts which nearly every family in her small community possessed.  She also won best of show at the world fair in Chicago on a quilt she designed and made.  In her memory, my mother Lyn, her two cousins, Marie and Ann, and myself remade Dorinda's masterpiece quilt at which time we started this blog.   Those quilts are featured in the banner at the top of this blog with the four of us.  Another cousin, Dorine, also remade a different quilt of Dorinda's featured here.  See all the posts about the entire project here.  We all visited Pine Valley together in 2010 to see the little church where she worshiped and served as the Relief Society President for her ward for about 30 years. She was and we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It was an emotional experience for us - see the post here.  Dorinda was also a very small woman, around 5 ft tall, and was able to get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time.  I too am about 5 ft tall and have her genetic gift of speed.

Below is a photo of my Dorinda re-make which I started in 2008.  I have a goal to complete the hand quilting this year.  My mother and I chose to hand dye our fabrics in her memory using professional dyes from Dharma.  I did my best to recreate the pattern from photos of her quilt, the original of which I have never seen.  I love the look of scrappy (various) background fabrics.  It gives it an "old" look to me.  The applique' is all done by hand.
 

 Before quilting...

 Mostly quilted...

I had to take it off the frames to hand quilt a quilt for a lady and never got back to it.

1- What am I working on?

I get bored working on the same thing too long, so I have many projects going at once.  Currently I am heading a new project called "Quilter's Garden Mystery Row Swap.  It will feature things found in a quilter's sewing room and flowers.  It is open to anyone.  A new row pattern will be released the first of each month and we started in September.  Lake comers are welcome, and the rules can be found here.  For those who don't want to participate, the pattern for the sewing machines can be found here.  Here are my little sewing machines.

 I am also making a horse quilt for my cowboy son - age 17.  It will be a surprise for Christmas so I have to be pretty sneaky about working on it.  I just finished all of the applique, so far, which will need a little more when I add the next round to the circle.  This will be the center of a queen sized quilt and will feature silhouettes of horses and cowboys in the borders.  The applique is mostly hand done except where I have double fused (front and back) to create a 3-dimensional mane.

I also have a Dear Jane quilt in progress of which I hope to finish the center blocks by the end of the year.  I make two blocks a week.

I am also doing some machine quilting.  The windmill quilt is for my daughter (age 20) for Christmas and is basted and ready for quilting.  I have to finish it before November because she will return home from a church mission in Russia at that time and it will be impossible to hide it from her if I am working on it.

 

I made this nearly identical quilt for my other daughter (age 19) for Christmas.  The pattern for this quilt is almost ready.  You can find my other patterns here, and I anticipate this Windmill pattern will be ready tomorrow.  I have many patterns I am working to convert to PDF downloads, so check back regularly.

 Here are the two quilts side by side.

I am also quilting my mom's birthday fabric quilt.  All of us daughters and daughters-in-law pitched in to buy her birthday fabric and this quilt is what she made from it:

I am also trying to finish my Christmas Log Cabin quilt this year.

It is the same pattern as a quilt I finished for my daughter this year.

The various log cabin blocks inspired me to design and make this quilt for my daughter's future wedding.  I call it Jessi's Medallion and the pattern can be found here.  I plan to get it basted for quilting very soon.

2- How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Versatility is my thing.  Some quilters favor applique or foundation piecing or whatever, but I just do it all and mix it all together.  I think the variety really keeps me entertained.  I hand quilt; machine quilt; hand embroidery; do curved, foundation, folded insert, and strip piecing; applique using a variety of methods, and anything else I can get my needle into.  I have played with fabric dyeing and painting as well as thread work/thread painting.  I am a jack of all trades and master of none.

3- Why do I write/create what I do?

Pure pleasure!  It just makes me happy. 

4- How does my writing/creative process work?

When I feel a surge of ideas coming on is when I start designing.  Sometimes fabric inspires me, but mostly I obtain inspiration from trying a new technique.  I love to learn any and all techniques and have learned that just watching or reading about it is not enough.  I always "try" it before I decide it is not for me.  There is something about experiencing a new technique, hands on, that helps me to accept it.  Once I learn something new, ideas begin to flow with what I can do with it in my own designs.

I love to design with a theme in mind.  Years ago I designed several Row quilts as shown below; I am now working to get the patterns PDF converted and available at Etsy and Craftsy.

 I claim my Barn quilt as my master design and hope to get back to it soon.