Where did the last 3 years go?

Wow, I cannot believe it’s been 3 years since we moved and I last posted. It’s been a very busy 3 years,

To recap:

2022 I joined the Highland lakes quilt guild which meets in Marble Falls. They have a show every 2 years. At the show in February 2023 my quilt won first place viewers choice. What an incredible honor!

Then, because of this, I was asked to chair the committee to create the donation quilt for the 2025 show, which would raise money for the guild. What an amazing experience. I was blessed with 4 talented committee members who all worked incredibly hard. We made kits for the guild members to make the blocks and the appliqué borders. we completed it in December 2023. Different committee members pieced the center tree of life, coordinated and oversaw the appliqué, quilted and bound the quilt. I put it all together once the pieces were completed. Here’s a photo:

This quilt brought in over $4500 and was eventually won by a quilter from San Antonio.

During all this, I continued to quilt for others. The business was growing nicely and so much fun!

In October of 2023, I decided to purchase the computer quilting system for my APQS Millie. I installed it all myself. What a steep learning curve! Apparently most computers for long arms do not have a manual. That was a surprise and so I took an online class, which helped. I also hosted an awesome instructor and 10 quilters at my house for a weekend of instruction on using the computer. At this point, I’m still faster doing free motion. And often do a combination of free motion and computerized quilting. The computer has become much more of a friend over the last 1.5 years, but I continue to love free motion quilting with Millie.

In 2024 I quilted 90 customer quilts, and made several memory and tshirt quilts for customers. A very good year.

After completing the donation quilt, I volunteered to co chair the silent auction for the Highland Lakes Quilt Guild April 2025 show. We were blessed with incredible donations. Spent a huge number of hours during 2024/early 2025 sorting, folding and creating baskets, kits and bundles. And the silent auction brought in over $12,400 to the guild. So a big success.

But now I listen when my friend tells me to sit on my hands at the meetings.

It’s been a wild ride! This year multiple quilts I have quilted for others have won ribbons at various shows. Which is very rewarding. And I was blessed to quilt a quilt for a Judy Niemeyer instructor which is featured on the pattern, so my business is named on the pattern. I am excited about that… here’s a screenshot of the page from Judy Niemeyer’s website

And then….. to cap it off…. My quilt won best of show at the Burnet County Fair in June 2025! Very unexpected and so exciting! It’s just amazing to get honored for doing something that brings me such joy!

I am so blessed to be able to quilt for others, which has made me stretch and learn. And made me a better quilter.

Hopefully I will be posting more regularly now! Keep quilting and remember that life is short… find joy in it!