Before I get to the first closer look I want to remind everyone that we have a ‘Project QUILTING Critique’ group now too.  Since I don’t have judging and personal critiques this season you can add your piece to this group.  Here – people are encouraged to critique your piece – the good and the bad.  We want to know what you like about our quilt, what you don’t like, what you may have done differently or if you have a technique that would have worked better!  Here’s a quick mosaic of the quilts that want to be critiqued from the Making Music Challenge. 

1. Just Believe Mini art quilt, 2. Melody of Love detail, 3. Project Quilting- Week 2- Making Music-Detail, 4. A Hazy Shade of Winter, 5. Across the Stars, 6. Carolyn's Project Quilting (Making Music) - Caroline - Up Close, 7. Keep On Dreaming Quilt, 8. Project QUILTING - Making Music Challenge - Bicycle Race Created with fd's Flickr Toys

**Just click on the links below the pictures – they’ll take you right to the quilt’s flickr page for you to give your honest opinion!

 

I know in the past I’ve loved having my pieces critiqued.  It’s nice to hear what other’s think when they look at the piece, it gives you a sense of what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on.  So, I hope you take some time and help let these artists know what you love and of course, what they should think about working on.

Since there seems to be a lot going on in my world right now I thought it would be helpful for you (and me) to give you an idea of what’s coming up in the next week.

 

Tuesday – Block #5 from TerryAskeArtQuilts for the Home Sweet Home Quilt Along will be posted, Diane’s birthday (60!), Pip goes in for her 9 month check up

 

Thursday – Block #6 from Quilties for the Home Sweet Home Quilt Along will be posted

 

Friday – get my goodies organized and packed up for the 5th Annual Valentine’s Craftacular

 

Saturday – Sell at the 5th Annual Valentine’s Craftacular!

 

Sunday – 3rd Project QUILTING Challenge Posted at NOON!

Once again I was completely blown away by all the talent and creativity shown by this group!  We had 27 amazing quilts created in just one week that were inspired by the ‘Making Music’ Challenge! 

 

And for your hard work you all had your names entered into the hat for prizes as well as added to the bag for the end of the season grand prize drawing.  As always my two beauties, Capri and Cedi were the name drawers. 

  Cedi is sporting a dress made by Wise Sewcial Ties.  My girls both have quite a few of her dresses in their wardrobe and they are definitely in the ‘favorite’ list.  I love them too, not only because they’re cute but they will ‘grow’ with my girls as they do and they’ll be able to wear them for a long time!  And with any of their dresses…it’s nice to have three girls so they’ll keep getting passed on (of course, I’m sure Pip will refuse to wear dresses).  Pip did not participate in the drawing this week since she was taking a nap. 

Time to show off the prizes!

Lesleyworth will take home Prize 1 - The Fat Quarter Shop will be giving one lucky winner a layer cake of their choice!

Stephanie Stories will be getting Prize 2. 

LoveBugStudio (aka the Grand Prize Winner of Season 1) is giving one semi-annual subscription to Blocks to Die For magazine. The subscription can be gifted as well. The magazine is geared toward people with fabric die cutters.

I’m Feelin Crafty will be taking home prize 3. LoveBugStudios is giving a Quiltspirations! Mystery Card Pack from her latest venture, quiltspirations.com.

Prize 4 goes to JK Goldman!  Quiltology is giving a coupon for her longarm quilting services for 20% off with a minimum $40 purchase. All of her patterns are online.

All Things Belle will be getting one yard of stunning hand-dyed fabric from Dye Candy.

Prize 6 goes to Sharon H!  Marcia’s Crafty Sewing and Quilting is offering a Gift Certificate of $30.00 off Quilting on a Baby size or larger. The Gift Certificate will be good for 60 days from the date of issue. The gift certificate is transferable so you can share it with a friend if you’d like.

Sally Keller will be receiving an  adorable ‘I Love Quilting’ Keychain from Quilties.

Quilts by Lisa won Prize 8.   QuiltsbyBarb is giving a gift certificate for $20 off machine quilting. The coupon expires in 6 months from the date issued and is not transferable

PennyFabricArt is giving the book pretty little mini quilts to the prize winner tesuquewho!

Emma Jean’s Boutique will be sending Dashasel 2 packs of 25 squares of I-Spy fabric in cotton-quilting weight.OddStuffbyXanthe is giving SewLizz a greeting card, patch and button with prints of her amazing original artwork.

And for the final prize, Pat Denino will receive $10 from TheApple to be redeemed at her etsy store on her handmade jewelry.  (aka my other etsy shop)

 

I’ll be posting ‘Closer Looks’ just like the last challenge throughout the week so it’s easier for people to really get to see all the amazing pieces created. 

 

***PS.  I will be contacting everyone tonight via email or flickr to coordinate prize claiming.  If you haven't heard from me by morning (1/30) please email me: lapaceksorchard {at} gmail {dot} com

I realized today that I spend most of my blogging time talking about Project QUILTING or the Quilt Along that I’m doing.  Well – I think I’m going to change that…just a little.  On Saturday’s I’ll share with you a quick summary of my week – what creative goodness happened, how my beautiful girls are and if we did anything super spectacular.  I hope you enjoy hearing a bit more about my life!

One of the most important things this week is that my youngest daughter, Persimoni (aka Pip) turned 9 months today!  I can’t believe how fast the time has gone!  She’s just getting so big, moving so fast and getting into EVERYTHING!  Did I mention that she’s just beyond adorable too!?

During the past few weeks I’ve started sort of new ‘job’.  That new ‘job’ is to get myself healthy again.  I have never really been a “skinny” girl but after I had Capri I managed to lose about 60 pounds.  After having Pip I need to do that again.  Key word – NEED.  So – 4 to 5 times a week I’ve been heading to the gym.  They have an amazing daycare program where they’ll keep my kiddo’s for up to two hours.  If I time it right I can take two classes during that time and if I don’t I can take one class and walk for the difference in time.  I’m on week three of my ‘work out’ plan and so far my favorite classes are Kick Boxing and Body Pump. 

Along with this ‘getting healthy’ goal my hubby and I have been planning our meals out.  We’ve managed to cook for our family for 6 out of 7 days a week for almost three weeks now – that’s huge!  Tonight, my husband’s cousin, Shaun, taught me to cook some delicious Asian cuisine – ground chicken and tofu wrapped in lettuce and tasty sesame beef stir fry.  It was beyond delicious and would have been super healthy if I could have stayed away from the champagne…but of course I didn’t ;)

Last night I got to play with my new long arm for the first time.  It seemed to be successful but I really need to take a closer look at the bottom stitches to make sure the tension is decent.  I did discover that I had the top bar on backwards and Jared and I had to flip it.  Easy fix though!

  Today, Cedi and headed to open skate at a local skate rink.  The place was sort of a dive but we had a lot of FUN!  Cedi even ended up taking second in LIMBO. (yup – that’s her in the pink tutu)  I was so proud of her!  She’s just five and only fell three times.  Each time she fell she immediately got back up and kept going – no tears or frustration!  It was so much fun and I even managed to work up a sweat skating with her for an hour! 

This morning, my family headed to ‘Kids in the Rotunda’ a free kids program at the Overture Center in Madison, WI .  The show was a guy that was good at juggling.  He had a good act –but is it just me, or do older guys that do that for a living sort of creepy?  I just couldn’t get past that feeling.  It could just be me – my husband didn’t agree and my kids really enjoyed it.  Since we run our business from home (orchard and my craftyness) it seems hard to find time to just be a family.  We’re always splitting up – you watch the kids while I do this or you watch this kid, I can still do this with these two.  We’re making a conscious effort to leave the farm and truly do some fun as a family.  We’ll see how that goes – it seems like a lot of whining is involved…

With all that fun, working out and cooking going on I did manage to finish some quilting projects.  My PQ Piece is already posted (24+ hours before the deadline) AND I started to work again on Fabrics N Quilts 1930 Repro Block of the Month project again as well as the  first BOM (Block of the Month) from FabricFascination.  I love BOM's.  It’s been a great way to learn about different blocks and techniques. 

I’ve also been working on getting a few new things ready for next Saturday’s Craftacular!  I don’t have any pictures of the new goodies yet but I promise a sneak peak before the show…don’t worry!

So, that pretty much sums up last week.  Oooh!  I almost forgot – I finally filed and paid my sales tax for both the orchard and my crafty business.  It’s not hard to do but it’s such a relief to actually have that crossed off.

Check back in next Saturday if you want to see how next week goes!

I couldn’t find a definition of Asian Style so I’m just going to find some examples of it on etsy to share with you all.

'What's Your Style: Asian' by TheApple

a study in all the different ' style' options when you list an item -

Fine Art Giclee - Asian Graf... artandwares $82.99	Asian Style Stacking Kitchen... VintageSoup $35.50
Blue Silk Dress, Hand Painte... BorneoBatikraf... $250.00	Bead Dangle Earrings Blue Wh... ForestDaydream $18.00
Cat Magic Asian-style cups (... DragonflyMagic $39.00	Coin Charms - I Ching Replic... TheBeadDreamer $2.00
Edition Collectible Mug ( a... javieravalos $27.00	Asian Oriental Styled Pedest... planeman $235.00
Confetti Punch Floral Cheong... SunshineintheC... $42.00	Vintage Green Glass Oriental... bythewayside $10.00
Asian Style Cutting Board - ... ShowOffDesigns $69.95	Tibetan Agate Earrings, Brow... CharleneSevier $24.00
Asian Art Geisha and Fox Lin... mamaslittlebab... $40.00	1970s Vintage Sewing Pattern... SelvedgeShop $9.00
Black patina earrings Asian ... theshagbag $9.95	Japanese Tree Painting Huge ... NathalieVan $285.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

  

Past Styles:

• Abstract
• African
• Art Deco
• Art Nouveau