Quilts, Young Women, Quilting, Pinata, Skunks and more

What a crazy last few months I have had.  To stat with I will share the above quilt it was hanging on the wall a chapel in Tropic Utah.  Whenever I travel, when I see a quilt I always have to take a picture of it.  This quilt is just amazing its a little mini quilt with 6 blocks one from each ward in their stake.  We were visiting the small town of Tropic, while going to my wife's grandmothers funeral.  I think a sign that I am getting old is that I am running out of relatives.  Tanya and I no longer have living grandparents and with both our fathers gone we only have our mothers and siblings left in the family.

Today is just a catch all day for all the pictures that has been hanging out looking for a home.  Last month I got to go to Girls Camp as part of the bishopric and the girls had to pose for a picture.  They are kinda shy so it took 2 tries to see their faces.  Well maybe they were just trying to show off their jackets the topic this year was fairy tales and the one they chose was little red riding hood.

I did manage to get a quilt quilted this last month, but did not yet get it bound.  It is a helix quilt out of reunion fabric (one of my favorite lines) and I am sadly running out of it.  I hope to get it bound this weekend, if I can get around too it.

Tanya and I want to get back into the swing of things, sooner rather then later as we have some gift ideas for Christmas and we must get going on quilting if we are to get them done.  This next picture Julia made me add when I was going though my phone to find some pictures to post, I found one of her and she said I must add it so here it is.

Once we get on a Julia kick, we just can't stop there.  We had a ward party recently and they had a pinata and I had to snap a picture of her trying to crush it .  I just happened to get Jared in the shot too, so he gets some time on the blog too.

A couple days ago while walking in the morning, I came across a skunk. That made me slow my walk down while he slowly waddled down the path, needles to say I kept my distance from him.

My wife, a few weeks ago basted 6 quilts.  Just to make sure I realized I am getting behind on quilting she left me the pile of their bindings.  I guess I really need to get moving.

Can a random blog post be complete with out getting a little side tracked with Squirrel?  This little guy was running down a power line near the Jordan river where I walk.

Pioneer Quilting and our Trek

To start off, I want to say that yes I have again vanished for over a month.  There is a good reason and my life should get a little simpler in a couple weeks.  Our church from time to time sends our youth on Pioneer Treks.  This is to re-enact the hand cart journey to the Salt Lake Valley where we reside.  I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  My post will not be about the church. It it is relevant to what I have been preparing to do and what we just got back from.

For our trek, we went to Rocky Ridge which is at the sixth crossing of the Sweetwater and also to Martins Cove.  Both are in Wyoming, a 5+ hour drive from where we live in the Salt Lake Valley. There were around 200 youth and leaders. Tanya and I were one of the leaders helping on this Trek.  I will first talk about my quilting involved and then maybe a little about the Trek.  As this is a quilting blog that is mostly what I will talk about.

Above are three quilted seat covers that I made for us.  Tanya, Jared, our son, and I went.  When the Pioneer's came West they were only allowed 17 pounds of  personal gear (on the handcart groups) and for our re-enactment we had 5 gallon buckets to store our stuff in and they also doubled as our chairs and so these were to pad our bucket while we sat on them.

The second thing I made was cooling neck bands, these above are the 20 that I made.  They were for the youth and leaders that went from our ward.

Any way one of the hand carts 

Our son Jared with his family on trek, he is the one standing on top the hand cart (top of picture)

Last a picture of Tanya and I and below just one random handcart picture from our group

A visit to Historic Cove Fort and some Antique Quilts.

My family was able to stop and spend some time at Historic Cove Fort,  on the way back from vacation last week   This was a Pioneer way station and Stage Lay over as well as Telegraph relay station back when the first settlers were living in UTAH ,which is my home state.

They have an old wagon that the kids can get on and have pictures taken.  When I visit places like this, I look around for things to inspire my future quilting projects.

I am sure my wife laughs from time to time as she looks though my pictures, but this wooden floor just reminded me of a simple straight line quilting and how you can find beauty in simple things.

Cove Fork was originally a Church Mission Call for the family that supported it. Today it is ran by Senior Missionary Couples, so it seemed fitting that we  find the Scare Crows in traditional Missionary garb.  My son who recently turned 12, wanted to get his picture taken with Elder Crow.

They were kind enough to take our picture standing on top of the fort walls.  The fort doors were big enough to allow the stage to come in if needed into the center of this small fort.

One of my biggest delights in the tour is seeing the quilts.  Although not original to the fort,  they were made in the 1800's when the fort was occupied.  This simple Flying Geese quilt was one of the first I saw. The blue blocks are hard to tell what they are, but they are just half square triangles.

This second quilt was just a simple quilt made out of squares similar to my simple squares pattern.

This quilt here was one of the first that I saw that I really want to make.  It is a neat Half Square triangle blocks with larger in smaller blocks.  I will some time later make a pattern for this one.

This quilt above was the favorite of the missionary that gave us the tour.  She thought it was neat how even though the quilt started in red (chevron quilt), that after a few rows on the end ended up with a white on off white.

The above quilt is another I really liked.  I think it will be another that I try to make some day as it looks fun.

This last quilt with the sewing machine looking  and is my favorite it is a really neat block.  And I have already sketched it out in EQ7 below is what a quilt might look like with this block.

Bees

Happy Memorial Day.  I have a old completely non related post for today but have had these pictures for almost a year and wanted to share them.  Me and the family are out having a BBQ and taking the day off enjoy.

These are pictures we took of a bee swarm in our yard from May 2015.  We never got around to blogging about them.  My son when playing out in the yard told us there were a lot of bee's in the back yard.  Mom did not believe him.  When I got home from work I went to check it out and too my surprise there were thousands.  This is what happens when a hive splits and they swarm away.  Any way a friend of ours has bee's and was willing to help re-locate them for us.

The bees have been relocated a few houses down.  There were enough to start a small bee hive.  

Squirrel!

One of the things that happen often in our house is that we get distracted and go from one project to another.  Today's post is a quote from the Movie Up ... Squirrel!

My pictures today is from 3 recent projects I have been working on.  none of which is done as of today's date though some are close.  The first 2 are from old projects that have been sat aside and just now dragging them back out.

Then what fun would it be to finish a quilt so here I am starting a diagonal quilt.  Yes just chasing Squirrels today.

Cut and Sew

Today's post is kind of lame.  I am cutting up my batik bundle and making 2 diagonal quilts.  I should have the top finished on one of them tonight.  Maybe both.

I enjoy making these quilts as its like a puzzle you cut things up and then piece them back together slowly tell you have a complete picture.

The batiks I have are fantastic for their rich color I cant wait to see what a completed top will turn out like.  

Help, I Need Some Answers to Questions

I am taking a business class through my church. I need help asking about customers needs and why people buy certain products. It is difficult to do since the majority of our business is online with an occasional craft fair setting. I also have a set of questions for other small business owners.  I could really use some help answering questions if you have time. Feel free to email me at thealey101 @gmail.com to answer questions, if you don't want to comment on blog.  Either would be really appreciated.  

Customer buying needs:
Why do you buy patterns or quilts from a certain business?
What would change about a product?
What would make you want to buy more?
Is a price right?  Would you buy more at a lower price?
Would you still buy more if they raised the price?


Business owner
What do your customers buy most?
Why do you think people buy what you sell?
Who are your competitors? What is unique about your business?
Where do you get your product?  Are there other suppliers?
Do you think you could get a lower cost if you buy more at a time?
How did you decide on a price?  Are you profitable?
How do you find new customers?
What have been some of your keys to success? Biggest headache?

Duck, Duck, Goose, and a Pillar of Nature completed.

I have been attempting to get more steps in walking and so today getting up early I started to walk from my house to the Jordan River Walkway and then down it to North Temple.

One of the things I see a lot of is ducks.  They are always on the north end of my walk and tons of them.  The few I got in the 2 pictures above is just a drop in the bucket compared to what there is along the trail.

What I do not see often is Goose (while I guess I dont know that is what they are but that is my guess and works well with the post title so I am going with that)  Just above North temple I found these 4 adult Gooses (hum Geese I think is the proper term)?  And a gaggle of baby Geese.  Any way once I saw the Geese I had to take their picture and share it with you.  And then of coarse tossed in a couple ducks for good measure.

Any way to some quilting news.  I finally got the Pillar of Nature (my sons name) completed quilting a couple days ago and its bound as of last night my wife should get it in the wash today.  This is from a pattern and a quilt I called Pillar of Fire as sold on Craftsy.  I also sell the pattern on Etsy here.

I started this quilt back in Jan of 2014 and posted about it here.  It took me clear tell Feb of 2015 to finish the top and posted about it here.   But better yet here is the finished Orange version of it and its blog post.  Oh and the Orange version of it is hanging on my office wall at work.

Any way my walk is over so more musing about quilting later.

Richard Healey

A Little of This and Some of That

I think all my recent quilting has inspired Tanya some.  Yesterday she commented that we needed to make a quilt for the daughter of a couple that liven a couple block away from us and I figured that was a hint that I needed to make another quilt.

When I next walked into the room my wife was cutting up and then started to sew together the quilt so I am guessing that she is now in the mood to do some piecing.  She let me know that I will quilt it, but she will make the top.

I have had this quilt above done for over a year in a box. Most of that time pinned together ready to quilt.  I finally got it quilted this last week and made my wife go shopping for binding as we had nothing that she said matched it.

So this morning, before work, I cut the bindings above for my purple quilt and green bindings for my sons quilt below.  So I guess I need to bind some quilts tonight I think I have 3 quilts quilted and just need bindings which were made this morning so yeah more quilts done.  I like being out of the non quilting rut that I was in.

Thanks for visiting Richard Healey

I think I got lost!

Long time no me.  I think I have been away too long and thought I would stop in and say hello.  I am still quilting in fact spent 30 min before work this morning doing FMQ on a quilt that will be going to a lady at church that is pregnant.  Sadly I dont have pictures too show but I guess I should take a picture and post it.  The above picture is a old one but could not have a post with out pictures.  Any way just checking in too see if any one misses me and thinks I should start posting again as I have been AFK for quite a while as I have been busy with church callings.

Richard Healey

Life

Life has been crazy at our household lately. We have been busy trying to get some yard work done. We started 3 raised garden beds, and tilled the rest of our garden spot for a traditional garden.

 The only quilting we have done lately is rag quilts, there are a lot to take pictures of, when we find time.

Rebecca turned 17 and has changed schools recently.  

Jared earned his Arrow of Light in  Cub Scouts.  

Most of this post was written by Tanya but I Richard went though and found some pictures for it.  I want to point out that not only did Jared earn his arrow of light but Tanya being the great webelos leader that she is has 5 boys this month earning their arrow of light she deserves a pat on the back.

Any way Jared Mom and I are proud of you.

There is slightly less than a month until I will be home full time.  I am looking forward to not working crazy night schedules and being able to do stuff with the family. It is really hard to try to cram everything with the family into the weekend, because I hardly see the older kids more than a hour or so on weekdays.  There are tons of home improvement projects and deep cleaning, and hopefully a little time to actually sew. I think I have used my new sewing machine on one quilt. Richard has used it tons, and really likes how fast it is.