Wednesday, November 27, 2013

We Are OPEN

It's Here!  The Online Fabric Shop is OPEN!!!!

Now Thru Monday, take advantage of FREE shipping and 20% off all fabrics 
(prices marked already reflect the discount)

There are over 100 different individual fat quarters available from Moda Fabrics (Zen Chic, Deb Strain, Fig Tree and more)
Also available are 5-inch Charms and Jelly Rolls.

Ready!  Set!  GO...enter store

From our Gotcha Covered Quilting family to yours, have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

Until next time...

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PS.  Shannon Fabrics bolts have not arrive yet.  I'll keep you all posted when they arrive.


Monday, November 25, 2013

Who Loves Moda and Shannon Fabrics?

BIG NEWS!!!!

Ok all, I've been sitting on this for a little while and I can't sit any longer.

Along with making custom quilts and doing machine quilting, I am opening an online fabric store!!!!!!  Yes, that requires six exclamations marks!  I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  And it's opening before Thanksgiving...that's only a few days away!

To start I will be carrying Moda fabrics...precuts, yardage, as well as Solids.  So much wonderfulness!!


  And you know that really incredibly soft Minky fabric by Shannon Fabrics?  Yah, I'm selling that as well.  The fabric is so snuggly, I challenge you to keep your hands away.  This fabric comes on bolts 60 inches wide...perfect for baby quilt backings!  Absolutely perfect!









HERE'S THE DEAL...
If you only want one single fat quarter, you can purchase it here.
No need to commit to an entire Fat Quarter Bundle.
Need a small 1/4-yard cut of fabric?  No problem!  


I'm hoping to make online fabric shopping a little more flexible  There is no need to buy more fabric than you desire simply to meet minimum yardage requirements.  Ok, "desire" might not be the right word choice because I know we all want everything, and a lot of it.  I think you get my point though.  Quarter-yard minimum requirements and single fat quarters will allow for much more purchasing flexibility.


My official store should be live in January.  In the meantime, I have inventory in stock so I will be opening an online Market in the next day or two...Just in time for Thanksgiving weekend shopping and sales.  Stay tuned for my next blog which will include the web address of my temporary Online Fabric Store and the Holiday Special I'll be offering.  


Do you receive my blogs automatically?  If not, please make sure you sign up for my blog (on the right column of my site).  Additionally, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the details and goings on.

I'm heading back behind the scenes again so I can get everything ready for your online shopping.

Until next time...

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A Bit of This and That

With the creation of Gotcha Covered Quilting my intension was to blog at least once a week.  I figured I'd have something to show off, some tutorial to share or just general blabbing about life.  I mean, in real life I talk plenty, so it stands to reason I'd never be short on words for my blog.  Some how though, I've been feeling like I need to have a completed project or have a full story to tell for my blog and that's not how the past 2 weeks have been.

However, I have been able to create this...

I swear this area creates its own mess.

…mess!  How does this happen so easily and quickly?

I've been trying my hand at Dear Jane…ahem, block 1A.   Uh, sweet Dear Jane is kicking my butt.  It seriously took me all night to figure out how to manage just this much.



A stack of beautiful Tula Pink fabric has been set aside because this Dear Jane is going to be entirely Tula. Oh my gosh, just thinking about it makes me a bit nutty.  I really love her gorgeous and whimsical fabrics.
5-inch Tula Pink charms and the Dear Jane book to  guide me through this very lengthy process.
I have been commissioned to create a memory quilt (more on that in a future post), so I've been spending a great deal of time and energy creating something that I hope they will love and will match the vision they had when they originally hired me to make this quilt.  I'm using fabrics that I would ordinarily not choose, but I've really fallen in love with them.  That's the great thing about making commissions…it's pushes you outside your comfort zone or beyond your usual style.

Fabrics for commission quilt

And have you all been over to And Sew We Craft?




They are a wonderful group of women who cover just about everything on their website from cooking, to scrapbooking, to knitting, crocheting, quilting, and more.  There is a wealth of info, projects, encouragements, tutorials.  There's a true modern day artsy craftsy collaboration going on over there.
Just love this Kate Spain fabric
As a celebration of reaching 2000 likes on their Facebook page, they are having a giveaway with a chance to win multiple prizes, including a 5-inch Kate Spain Sunnyside Charm pack.  Bet you can't guess who has donated that prize.  Please stop by their website and their Facebook page, have a look around, and enter your chance to win one of many great prizes.

Some very exciting changes are going on behind the scenes over here with GCQ.  I'll give you a little hint and tell you that it has something to do with fabric…lots of Moda and snuggly, soft Shannon Fabrics.  More info to follow very soon, maybe even in time for some post-Thanksgiving shopping.  That's it, I'm not saying any more for now :).

Lastly, Instagram is my new addiction.  Actually, it's an addiction in the making.  So much fun to share and see what others are doing, making, creating.  You can follow me by clicking the link on the right side bar.  See you there...

So tell me, what have you been working on?

Until next time...

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Sunday, November 3, 2013

Dirt Trails


Today was a beautiful day, the perfect day to take Katelyn, my mini me, out for her first mountain bike ride.  She's been wanting to go, I've been wanting someone to ride with.  Perfect!

Katelyn (L), Me (R)
Me and Mini Me











I prepared my bike and pumped the tires, loaded all the gear in the car, and picked up a borrowed bike from my brother (thank goodness he never had that growth spurt mom promised him because his bike was perfect for Katelyn).

I gave her a few instructions, like "don't freak out and crank down that left brake (the front break) or you'll fly over your handle bars."  Little tid bits like that.  And we took off for our ride.  Truly it was a gorgeous day, a day to be outdoors, out in nature, out on a bike.

Lake Hodges

One of the things I love so much about Katelyn is her exuberance.  I wrote a whole blog post about her on my life coaching site if you want to get a feel about her personality.  But, she gets a kick out of life.  Little things excite her and it doesn't take much to make her scream (in fear or thrill).  There was a lot of that today.

For a bit of time we found ourselves in a fairly technical area.  I should mention that, although I've been road riding, I'm fairly new on the mountain bike and I'm inherently a huge chicken, so we spent an equal amount of time off the bike walking around the rocks and up and down scary hills as on the bike riding.  

At one point Katelyn decided to just go for it.  As she whizzed past, I yelled to her to put her body weight forward, gear down, and just pedal.  And she did it.  She made it up the hill, navigating around all the rocks.  I couldn't see her at the top, but I could hear her, "Wooohooo, I did it," laughing and so proud of herself.
Katelyn, always full of life

What does any of this have to do with quilting?  Oddly enough, there is a connection.

As I was riding up a hill gasping for air, yet making it to the top nonetheless, I was reflecting on how I've been feeling about quilting since returning to it after many years off.  It's a whole new ballgame out in quilt land now.  I'm in awe by what I see.  The talent is phenomenal.  I'm also intimidated by what I see.  I sometimes wonder if I'll ever measure up.  Will I ever be as good as….<fill in the blank>.  It's a weird mix with quilting just like on the bike today…my legs were burning, my heart was pounding, I was sweating, and yet the scenery was absolutely beautiful, I was feeling so blessed by the fact that my body works well enough to ride, I was in full appreciation of the moment.  None of this was about anyone else.  It was simply about what I was doing in that moment, what *I* was accomplishing.

Cruisin' and comtemplating

Isn't it the very same way with quilting?  It's about enjoying the process, doing things the way that work best for you, about creating, and pushing yourself to try new and different patterns and techniques and colors.

I know it's a weird analogy, but I think like this when I'm out riding.

Seam Ripper AND Magnifying glass
Whether on my bike or at my machine, it doesn't matter if I'm as good as, or as fast as, or as famous as.  It really doesn't.  What matters is that I'm plugging along at my own pace, pushing outside my comfort zone bits at a time, learning and teaching and creating a track that works the best for me.  I'll hit some rocky spots, but if I breath, relax, and don't over think things, I'll come through the other end exhilarated, proud, feeling successful.  If not, there's always a seam ripper.


Although I'm not new to quilting, I am new getting back into it and back into business.  I'm finding where I fit in, what my niche is, what direction I ultimately want to go in my business.  But here's something that has not changed…I'm still who I am.  I quilt because I care.  I quilt because I love.  I quilt because I want to make a difference.  I quilt because I'm passionate.  I quilt because I love where my mind goes when I'm creating.  I quilt because I am meant to.


Being out on the dirt paths today
reminded me, just like with machine quilting, I need to relax my hands and arms, I need to breath, and I need to trust the process.

Newest Large Lap Quilt for sale

When I complete a quilt, whether as a gift, as a commission, or up for sale on my Etsy site, I want to always remember to look back fondly at the process and give a big yelp, "Woohoo…I did it!"


Until next time...

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