Hi Friends!

Hellooooo from Utah. It has been a long, long time since I posted on this blog. I am sorry for my absence. I DO actually have two quilts to share with you. The one above I made for my grand daughter Darby. It is twin size and I used a bunch of fat quarters I collected on a quilt shop hop up and down the state last year.

This is a sneak preview of the latest quilt I made. I think it's the cutest thing I've ever worked on. It was originally a round quilt pattern, but I wanted to make it rectangular for a twin bed so I added the pin wheels to the top and bottom in keeping with the theme. I will show this again when I get it back from the quilters in a month or so.

Gary and I are currently serving a full-time live-at-home mission for our church. We work within our stake and we are really enjoying it. Hi to all my friends. I miss you! Love, Derrith

Two New Finishes

Hellooooo. I know it's been a long time since I posted, but nevertheless, here I am to show you the two wall hangings I recently got back from the quilter.

I don't often do wall hanging size quilts but I wanted a couple quick projects that I could make  using fabric I had in my stash. I also wanted to try this cool looking border. OK...I cheated a little. I did buy the modern looking toile for the background. Since I have taupe walls now in my new home, I brought in some tan colors to co-ordinate.

I decided to use this wall hanging as a tablecloth. As my quilter pointed out  "Ummm, did you notice one of your blocks is facing a different direction?" Well, no, I hadn't noticed. :-}

I don't know if you can see in the picture, but my quilter did cross-hatching on the blocks. I really liked the effect. I am working on two more quilts that I hope to show soon. I know, I always say that and then it's months later when I finally do. I'll try to do better. Thank you for visiting.  Love, Derrith

Hex-y Apron

In my new quilt group here in Lehi, we had a class on hexagons. We each had a little kit to work with to make this flower.

I knew I wouldn't have the patience to make a whole quilt of them, so I make an apron instead.

I loved the cute vintage reproduction fabric. I've got two wall hanging size quilts at the quilter and hope to get them back in a week or so. Thank you for stopping by.  -Derrith

Floral Crown Queen

For the last ten months I have been assisting my talented daughter, Heidi in her wedding floral design business, Over The Top Floral. She creates amazing bouquets, arrangements and installations (arbors, mantels, etc.) and I have learned how to make "bouts", corsages, bridesmaids bouquets and floral crowns, which are my favorite. Heidi often has me do them because they are very time consuming. She has dubbed me the "Floral Crown Queen" and of course it's good to be the queen of something. Here are some photos of some crowns I have made. The photographer of the above picture is Alexis Foust Photography in SLC.

This crown was for a "styled shoot", where photographers, florists, and often, wedding cake bakers get together to stage a wedding photo session to post and advertise what they can do. Most brides wouldn't want a crown this large, but you can get more dramatic with a styled shoot. The photographer here is Trevor Butler.

This is another styled shoot. Beautiful people and beautiful flowers! The photographer was Ashley Dehart Photography.

My granddaughter Lexi is modeling the crown above.

A real bride and groom. It rained during the ceremony but the flowers didn't care. (The couple didn't either...too much in love) Stephanie Lorraine Photography.

This was a real winter bride...this was a fun crown to make! Kallie Cordon Photography

Don't you love snowy photos like this?

The original model for this shoot got sick so Lexi was able to step in and did a great job!  Awesome photo by Stepanie Lorraine photograhy.  I have enjoyed spending so much time with my daughter, but I want you to know, I am still quilting and will share more of that soon. Thank you so much for visiting! Love, Derrith

 

A Quilt For my Son

Well...I have been absent from my blog for too long and I have missed it and have missed interacting with my followers, friends and other bloggers. I have finally gotten back to quilting again on a regular basis and am really enjoying it. I completed this quilt for my son, Matt to give to him for Christmas. He loves Volvos.

I used elements from a quilt pattern I had used before, with the circles representing steering wheels and added the Volvo logo and the checkerboard flag border. I also used silhouettes of several Volvo models, old and new. The result was a very large, rather "busy" quilt but Matt loved it so all is well.

I did have the Volvo Logo embroidered to get a nicely finished look. I experimented with metallic  fabrics for the "grill" in the center of the quilt but they just didn't look right. 

  I have finished two other projects and am on to a third, which I will share with you very soon. Life has been good in Utah. We have lots of snow this winter and I really like it. It is so pretty. Now, you may ask me again in March and April if I still like the snow and the answer may be different.  I will see you again soon. Thank you SO much for stopping by! Love, Derrith

Cherry Overload

I've been having fun making these cherry themed dish towel to put in my Etsy shop.

I should have them in the shop by tomorrow.

I wanted to try out different trim ideas so...

I pulled out all my cherry fabric and started playing.

I liked how this Prairie Point one turned out.

My Etsy shop is called "Cheery Cherry Stitches" (shocker, huh).

Speaking of cherries, I'm also working on wall hanging that I think I will use as a table cloth. These a just a few of the blocks. Thank you for stopping by, friends. Have a wonderful, fun, safe 4th of July!  Love, Derrith

A Visit Back to Vancouver

Hi Friends: I was able to get my Rosy Red quilt back from the quilter and get the binding on before leaving for our little trip back to Vancouver. I believe I really do love this quilt. It definitely falls into the "Happy Quilt" category.

I timed my trip so that I could attend the monthly meeting of my "Sisters in Stitches" quilt group. It was so fun to see everyone again. Some were willing to share their projects for this post. I actually have fabric and quilt designers for "Connecting Threads" in my group so they couldn't share their "top secret" projects yet.  Pat was working on this stunning wool appliques panel.

Her work is perfection.

Darlene showed us her amazing Christmas quilt. What she can do with her embroidery machine is crazy beautiful!

Here is a close up.

Darlene also  machine embroidered these 3 dish towels (even all the writing). Click on the picture so you can see how she did a little different detail on the edges.

Don't you love these darling pin cushions?! These are also Darlene's work.

This is the project I am currently working on. I am excited to see how the lattice work border ends up. I will share the finished product as soon as possible. Thank you for stopping by today   Love, Derrith

Lovely Tulips

In the past, I have shown you my visits to the Tulip Festival in Woodland Washington and the amazing Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, but today I went to a new Tulip Festival just blocks from my new home at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah.

I don't know if you can see clearly, but this and the next picture shows how they planted ground hugging flowers in with the tulips in colors that complement the tulips.

I was really charmed by it.

Is this not enchanting?

The grounds were very large with winding paths, charming foot bridges and large expanses of lawns, trees and brightly colored tulips at every turn.

I don't know what the name of these cute as a button flowers are but I'm sure my friend Nicole at http://www.mygardendiaries.com/ will know!

I love the purple pansies with the orange tulips!

Since I went alone with just my camera as company, I had to ask a nice stranger to take my pic!

Standing as sentinel over this beautiful garden is "my" majestic Mt. Timpanogos. I consider it my mountain because it watched over me during my college years at BYU. After 50 years, I don't look much like I did in college but my mountain looks reassuringly the same. Thank you for joining me on this sunny day in the Rocky Mountains. I'm so glad you came! Love, Derrith