Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is the one big holiday that I get to cook and serve my family. I love to cook and I love to have all of my family in the house. With our kids being married and having kids of their own, that means we have 4 generations in the house at once! Usually we have a huge gathering, this year there was only 9 of us, there has been as many as 25 in past years, and I'm sure that number will increase in years to come. The turkey is the main item and I have been able to get it down to perfection. The secret you ask to keep it moist through the hours of cooking? Soak it in a brine overnight. I use the one the Wolfgang Puck has on Food Network. There are a lot of ingredients, but it is the best one that I have tried. Now, after the turkey soaks in the brine, we smoke it in an electric smoker that my dad bought back in the 70's, it's old, but it works like a dream.
After the Thanksgiving feast is done and we have had our fill of turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, dressing, gravy, homemade rolls and chocolate pie, it is time to bring out the Christmas decorations! After the family has gone home and I have rested a bit, the decorating starts and by Sunday we are done. This year the guys put the lights on the house, in the shrubs and even lit a tree in the backyard and lined the fence. As of this morning, the house is complete with the exception of the family treeskirt. Today I will embroider the names of our three grandchildren that were born this year and look forward to Christmas, because they will all be here!
Happy Holidays everyone and may your season be bright, heartfelt and full of joy. And through all the mayhem, remember the true reason for celebrating is the gift that was given to us in Jesus Christ and that we are to pass on a piece of ourselves to others.

Genesis 1 Quilt

I have started working on my Genesis 1 quilt again. After taking a class with Paint Sticks at the Houston Quilt Festival I have decided to use the paint sticks in the "space" part of the quilt. The last few days I have been testing out designs to see what I like and what I don't like for the quilt. I have also taken away some of the hand dyed silk pieces, because they just weren't working very well in the overall design, so here is what I have so far.You can see in the first picture that I have just lightly used gold and silver paint sticks to soften the black background. I want the "space" to keep it's infinite feel and not fight with the major color pieces of the quilt.
The second picture gives a little more detail of the background image. I used leftover floor tiles to give the textured background
The last picture shows some of the testing I have been doing with color images, stars and galaxies. I printed out several pictures from the Internet of actual galaxies and star formations to work on these. If I'm going to create my vision of how God created, then I should use pictures of the actual galaxies and stars that He did create, right?
Hope you enjoy my journey with this quilt!

The Fabric has been Flying!!!

Yesterday I finished posting my commercial stash of fabric into StudioJules on ArtFire. I've had several sales and at times I didn't think I could post fast enough because the fabric was selling as soon as I posted it! What fun!!! I have several yards of fabric from Moda, P&B Textiles, Northcott, and other high quality manufacturers. You may find the fabric you need just a little bit more of to complete a quilt or project. If you don't see it at StudioJules, drop me a line and I'll look through my stash to see if I have it in my "less than a yard" inventory. So, don't forget to shop StudioJules for fabric and supplies, and you can certainly purchase one of my handmade items too!
When you get to the check out cart and your shipping charges seem to be overstated, email me BEFORE you check out and I will issue you a coupon code so you pay the correct shipping charges.
Have a great week everyone!

Just Added New Fabrics!

Just added new fabrics to Studio Jules, and YES! they are only $2.50/yard! I still have more to add, but this was what I was able to get photographed and loaded yesterday and today. So take a peek and load up your shopping cart!
Studio Jules on ArtFire

Fall Markdowns at Studio Jules on ArtFire!

Yes, the trees have started turning into beautiful colors in our area, the Trick or Treat event has come and gone, and the turkey has been bought for Thanksgiving, so it must be time for Fall Markdowns at Studio Jules! Here’s the list of Fall Markdowns!

Fabric by the Yard: Now $2.50 a yard!
Fat Quarter Bundles: Now 50 cents a Fat Quarter!
Measuring Tapes, Appliqué Motifs, Binding Tape: Now $1each!

Great time to shop for your Christmas supplies!

The Quilts are hung....

The Quilts are all hung in the gallery with care, in hopes of more quilts and wall space to share. We shuffled and straightened with the most care and hoped that Jeff didn't fall of the ladder and into the air!
Our entry and stairwell are actually looking like an Art Quilt Gallery and showing my labor of love and my passion. It feels so good to have these quilts up! Today I have a few things to get done around the house and then I'm going to finish pinning the Batik Quilt and maybe get started on the quilting. I've picked out my threads and have my stitches planned out, now I just have to balance the time element. Oh, I even bought a new Foreigner CD so I have new music to listen to! Have to have the beat going to quilt, it's a must.
Wednesday my studio will turn into a guest room for my twin granddaughters, so I don't think there will be any quilting after tomorrow for the rest of the week.
So until next week, have a great week everyone!