Custom Wedding Quilt & Update

I've been working on this custom quilt for the past couple days. My customer had the guests at her wedding write messages to her on fabric squares to later have made into a quilt. Isn't that a cool idea? There were a total of 143 five inch squares and it made a lap size quilt. What a treasured item this will be.

 

With the customers permission I may turn this into a custom item in my Etsy shop.

 

Now for an update... I know it's been a while since I've posted and it has been much longer since I've posted a painting. I planned on having some time to paint before starting on my master's, but it hasn't happened. I start graduate school on Monday and the only thing I've painted the past couple months were some abstract watercolor cards. I truly miss painting, but the line up of custom quilt orders has been almost never ending. Once I complete this custom quilt I will be caught up.

 

I can only imagine that I will be ridiculously busy with school once it starts again, and I have no idea how much time I'll have for either painting or quilting. I do intend to at least set aside as hour or two a day for painting/quilting but school has to be my priority. I'm not sure how frequently I will be blogging, but I hope you'll all stick around! I've appreciated all your support and kind comments over the past couple years. :)

 

God bless.

One Fund Boston

By now I'm sure just about everyone has heard about the bombings at the Boston marathon last week. I don't know about all of you but I have felt helpless and have wished that there was something I could do to help. I heard about the One Fund Boston charity that has been set up for the victims and it hit me - donate. Therefore, I am offering to donate 100% of all painting print sales from my Etsy shop for the next few weeks to One Fund Boston. Mother's Day is coming up so you can purchase a gift and know that the money is going to a great cause.

 

Please spread the word! :)

Sale Item of the Week

"Beautifully Imperfect" is an original watercolor, size 8 by 10. It was my sale item of the week last week on Etsy and I've extended it for another week. The sale price is $80 (reduced from $95) and free shipping (for the U.S. only).

 

I love this piece and hopefully one of my watercolor collectors or a new one will claim this painting. :)

Pastels for Sale



I've decided to sell half of my full set of Mount Vision pastels. When I purchased these pastels I broke the sticks in half and left one half in the original boxes and put the other half in my Dakota box. I very rarely use these pastel sticks, as I prefer pastel pencils so I think it's about time someone else got some use out of these.

 

I paid about $600 for the full set so I would like to get $225 for this set. This would include shipping (within the US).

"New" Original Paintings For Sale

"Sunset Beach" 11 by 14 Original Pastel

 

"Sunset Pier" 11 by 14 Original Pastel

 

I made the decision to put these two original pastel paintings up for sale. I painted them for myself a couple years ago and have had them in my private collection. I hope that someone will fall in love with them and hopefully purchase them as a set. They go quite nicely together.

 

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Price Changes

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I've made some price changes to a few items in my shop. Rice bags were $8.00 and are now $6.00, 5 by 7 painting prints were $15.00 and now they're $8.00, 8 by 10 painting prints were $20.00 and now they're $12.00. These prices are not sale prices and will stand until I feel a need to raise them again. I thought I would lower the cost of these items a bit simply to make them more affordable.

Art on Main Event

This weekend is the Art on Main event in downtown Stillwater Minnesota. All the galleries on Main Street will be participating. It's kicking off this evening with the Meet the Artist Reception at 5 (and goes until 9). Come on out for some wine, food and art talk! I'll be at the Art Guild Gallery so please come on out. :)

Photo Baby Quilt

 I've been working on this photo baby quilt for the past week. It's a gift for a young boy who recently lost his mother. The quilt has also been made with her clothing. I hope this is something that this boy will treasure for a very long time.

 

No matter how many of these photo quilts I do, I still think they're wonderful and unique. 

My Favorite Vegetable Soup

I have been making this soup more often since I decided to transition to vegan. I was searching for vegetable soup recipes and couldn't find one that I thought I would like, so I just took some ingredients that I knew I liked and created my own. It's gluten free, vegan and so good for you! These are the ingredients:

 

4 medium organic celery sticks, chopped

1/2 medium head of organic cabbage, chopped

15-20 medium organic carrots, peeled and chopped

2  medium organic garlic cloves, minced

2 cans of organic cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

4 cups organic low sodium vegetable broth

4 cups filtered water (more or less depending on how much you need)

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Simply put all these ingredients into a pot (or slow cooker) over medium heat until it boils and then turn it down to low for a couple hours.

 

Of course you don't have to use organic ingredients but I prefer to whenever possible.

 

Just a little tip - I don't care for celery raw, so I'll purchase a package and instead of throwing out what I don't use, I'll chop up the remaining stalks and freeze them for the next time I make soup. :)

 

Definitely give this soup a try! 

Art Studio Turned Study

As many of you know, I'm about to start graduate school and since my studio hasn't been used much in the past 9 months I decided to turn it into a study.

 

 I bought this super comfy chaise as a graduation present for myself. :)

Can you tell I love books?

 

I was worried that I would regret the decision to turn my art studio into a study. My studio was by far my favorite room in the house and I wasn't sure if I would like how it turned out. However, I love it! (Good thing too because it was A LOT of work!) I love reading in my chair every morning and I know I'll be spending a lot of time at that desk once school starts again.

 

I hope you all have a great Easter!

Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie Recipe

I can't take credit for this super yummy recipe as I obtained it from Tara Stiles. I have tweaked it a bit though.

 

Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie:

 

2 cups of organic frozen strawberries (you can use fresh but then you need to include some ice cubes)

1 cup organic raw cashews

1/4 cup organic oats

2 cups of almond milk

1/4 teaspoon organic cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

2 tablespoons organic maple syrup

 

You can tweak these amounts to suit your taste. Put all these ingredients in a blender (I use and recommend a Vitamix) and blend away!

 

Keep in mind that this smoothie, although healthy, contains just over 1000 calories, so you might want to split it with someone.

 

You can also try it with raspberries or blueberries!

 

What I love about this smoothie is that it's gluten free (assuming you use gluten free oats) and vegan!

 

It's super delicious so give it a try!

 

 



Future Plans

I thought I would take this opportunity to share my plans for my art. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I haven’t painted in over 6 months (which resulted in my turning my studio into a study). I’m on a little break from school right now and have been trying to decide where I want to go with my painting and quilting. For the last 6 – 9 months I have been cranking out one custom rag quilt after another and I’ve finally reached the point of being completely burnt out. Because I haven’t painted in such a long time and have been spending all of my time making rag quilts I realized that I haven’t actually been expressing my creativity. I want my quilts to be more like works of art, and one-of-a-kind items. I still intend to do some rag quilts, but I want to make more time for creating unique items. Of course the same would be true for my paintings.

As some of you may know I’m starting my master’s program in a couple months and I can’t imagine I will have much time for painting or quilting once I begin. However, I am determined to make time for either, or both. After all, I am an artist and need a creative outlet. But school will be my main priority.

I had briefly thought that I wanted to be a full time artist and quilter and had dreams of opening up my own studio/shop but for some reason I didn’t feel content with that idea. I absolutely love spending my time painting and quilting but I believe I have more to offer. I not only dreamed of being an artist when I was young but also of becoming a therapist; however that seemed like an impossible dream. Now it’s a dream coming true and I couldn’t be happier.

I plan to continue blogging, so I hope you’ll stick around. :)

 

 



"Almost" New Blog

I recently created a new blog, Beauty in Life, where I planned to share scriptures, quotes, advice, healthy recipes, photography, a little art and anything else I found inspiring and fun. However, I  decided to just expand this blog to include those types of posts. Rather than try to manage two blogs, this will be easier. Look for my first post soon! I think it will be a super yummy smoothie recipe! :)

New Sewing Room/Studio

I've been very busy over the past week changing some rooms around. Considering that I haven't used my art studio in some time, I decided it would be best to turn it into my study. Therefore I had to move my painting stuff up to my sewing room.

 

 My new painting space. It's not much compared to what it used to be, but considering how little I've been painting, it will do for now. Besides, it's very cozy upstairs this time of year.

 

If you remember what my sewing room looked like before, it hasn't changed all that much. Somehow it looks and feels more spacious.

 

I hope you've enjoyed this little look around my sewing room/studio! Have a great weekend!

Another Custom Project

 

Here's a look at another custom project I recently completed. A couple months ago a customer sent me a box of her late husbands ties (almost 50 of them) and wanted me to create a few mini memory quilts. I decide to make "crazy" style blocks in order to incorporate many of the ties in a fun way. All together I made 4 of these mini quilts. I made 3 like you see in the first photo and the quilt in the second photo was made using all Christmas themed ties and will be a holiday wall hanging. Two of these were a gift for her childen on Valentine's Day (her husband's birthday).

 

I had never worked with ties before so this was a new experience. I really enjoyed being able to create this lasting memory for her. I hope the quilts are something she and her children will treasure for a long time.

 

For the first time in over 6 months I'm all caught up on custom quilt orders! I feel quite free. So now I'm working on getting caught up on about 50 made-to-order baby quilt listings in my Etsy shop. Whew.. the work never ends! :) But I'm really enjoying having all this time to quilt (and hopefully paint soon) before school starts again in May!

Textile Show

 I was asked last minute to submit some quilted items to a textile show happening at the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery this month and next. Luckily I had just made 35 rice bags, and I took a few things off Etsy in order to have them in the show.

 

Here are some of the rice bags I made. I used a variety of different fabrics. When I was there setting up I couldn't believe how many people didn't know what a "rice bag" was! I've been using them ever since I was little. I love to use them if I have a headache, but mostly to toss in my bed at night.

 The photo quilt on the wall is the first photo quilt I ever made (using my own pictures). Obviously it's not for sale but I thought it would look nice there.

 

I definitely wanted to include some baby rag quilts. I only had a couple already made and I hated to take them off Etsy, but I didn't have enough time to make new ones.

 

If you live in the Stillwater area be sure to check out the show! There are all kinds of different items and it's really something to see! We're going to be having a reception but I'm not entirely sure on the date of that yet. I'll let you know when I know!

 

Hope you're having a great week!

Item of the Week

 

This fun little quilt is the new "item of the week" in my Etsy shop. I made this little quilt with fabric from the Dress Up Days line by Riley Blake. If you purchase this adorable quilt this week you'll save a total of $17.

 

I hope you have a great week!!

Item of the Week

 

This week's sale item on Etsy is a bright and fun baby quilt. This quilt is approximately crib size and is made with fabric from the Snippets line by Moda. Purchase this quilt this week and save $18. To see more details you can view the entire listing here.

 

Have a lovely week!

Rice Bags

 

I just added a bunch of adorable rice bags to my Etsy shop. I've been wanting to add some rice bags to my shop for a long time, but just finally got around to it. I love rice bags. I love to toss them in my bed on chilly nights, use them for headaches, backaches, and just to keep warm.

 

These bags can be used cold too. To use them as an ice pack you can place them in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer.

 

They contain rice only, and no oils or other scents. As nice as those can be at times, after so many uses, they will begin to smell and have to be thrown out.

 

These bags are only $9 each and would make a great gift for anyone for any occasion.

Memory Quilt Complete

 

This memory quilt is finally complete! It's twin size and made entirely of baby clothes, receiving blankets and just a couple scraps of other fabric sent by the customer. What a fantastic way to not only reuse baby clothes and blankets, but to turn it into a permanent memory. If my parents had something like this made for me I would surely treasure it.

 

I'm thinking about turning this into a custom listing in my shop but in the mean time, if you're interested in having a similar quilt made, just email me at - angela292@hotmail.com

 

I hope you're having a great week!