My New Website!

I finally have a professional illustration web site up after 2-3 years of fits and explosions!

Wedding Quilt Update

Well, the top layer of the quilt for my brother and his wife is completed!  Actually, I might add one more solid stripe on the left side, so that it has a more even look, but other than that, it is done!  Not sure what fabric I'll use to bind it, but that can wait until it is quilted anyway.  I am going to attempt to machine quilt this one!

This design is from one of my favorite quilting magazines, Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts.  It was the Winter 2009 issue.

Blame Charlaine Harris

One of the reasons that I haven't had much to post lately is because I am completely addicted to the "Southern Vampire Series" written by Charlaine Harris. I can't put these books down and go through one every couple of weeks. What the heck! I'm getting close to the last book published and will have to wait another year to get the next installment.

Luckily, or maybe unluckily she has written about 3 other series that I'm sure will end up on my summer reading table. :-)

This Spring has brought a lot of mixed blessings to the Himsl Hunter household. We couldn't be happier with how beautiful the weather has been this year and being outside with Ronan is nothing short of inspiring. But the season started out sad for us with the unexpected and tragic death of my cousin, Jesse Himsl as well how difficult it has been for Blake to get a job in this economy. Winds of change are blowing here, and I'll be sure to update you all when I get it figured out myself. :-)

In the meantime, I am determined to find some balance and inspiration in the every day. I don't get in front of my sewing machine nearly as much as I would like and in fact spend most of my time daydreaming about doing so... I am still working on a wedding quilt (from last November, ahem) for my brother and his wife, and I'll highlight in photos later this week. I'm loving how it is turning out.

Inspiration for this week:

1) Amanda Soule - Whenever I am feeling creatively dry I look at Amanda's website and the raw desire to create like a kid hits me like a cartoon mallet.

2) Life Series on Discovery Channel - Nothing puts me in my place as a spec on this planet like the awesome documentary footage and storytelling of "Life". Blake and I have been watching this series with wide eyes and slacked jaws on our HDTV and I can't get enough of it. We even watch a couple of the episodes with Ronan and I love when he shouts at the screen to the animals.

How are you being inspired by every day life?

Review: M'Liss Rae Hawley's Scrappy Quilts

Book Review:
M'Liss Rae Hawley's Scrappy Quilts
C&T Publishing 2008

I'm new to quilting and new to a lot of the well known quilters out there.  I found out about M'Liss Rae Hawley when my mother bought a yard of her fabric at JoAnn's, it was a celtic knot fabric to go along with a nautical line that she designed.  Once I saw the fabric I noticed that she also has a number of quilting books.  I checked out "Scrappy Quilts" from the library and really loved it!  In the first chapter she talked about the basics of quilting and I was delightfully surprised to find two tips that would immediately change the way I put quilts together.  One about binding and one about sandwiching the quilt together & basting.  (that is still the hardest part for me!) 

The second thing that I liked about this book is that it featured fewer quilt patterns than the typical quilt book.  But the patterns that were featured are explained very well and then they show 3-4 other versions of the same quilt using different fabric styles and themes.  This is perfect for me.  When I see a pattern that I like it is so hard for me to picture it with different colors and especially hard to picture it with fabrics I already have in my stash. 

I recommend this book for beginners especially but I'm sure that even seasoned quilters would enjoy looking at the different varieties of quilts, and to find ways to reduce their scrap piles! 


A limited edition of this book is available on Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=W7OtgiJg5WcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=m%27liss+rae+hawley&cd=5#v=onepage&q=&f=false


P.S. She was super nice when giving me permission to use her photos for this post too!

St. Patrick's Day Banner Tutorial

Festive banners are all the rage on blogland lately, and I decided to make a quick and easy Irish themed banner for St. Patrick's day. This banner spells out "Sláinte" which is Irish for "Cheers". There are a lot of ways to make banners, and I liked this because it was so fast. The key is to use "Fray Check" on the fabrics to keep the edges from fraying instead of folding them over, or backing them. I don't ever intend to wash this, so I was happy with this solution.


You will need:
9 green or Irish themed fabrics (fat quarters will do)
1.5 yard ribbon
1 yard pom pom fringe
Black Felt
A computer and printer
Triangle Pattern (see below)
Fray Check

First, print out the triangle shape and cut it out. Use that to trace triangles on all of your fabrics. Cut them out. Use your bottle of Fray Check and put a small amount of the liquid on both of the long sides of the fabric (on the back side) Set aside to dry.

Choose a simple font that you like (I used Arial) and print out the letters S-L-A-I-N-T-E in a 200 point font. Print, trace, and cut the letters out of the black felt. Assemble in order to read "Sláinte" (note that there is an accent over the "a" and I just copied the dot from the letter "i" for that). Using black thread in your machine sew them onto each of the triangles. There should be one triangle at the beginning and end of the word that don't have letters on them.

Next, lay the poms along the top of all of the triangles. On top of that lay down the ribbon. Pin in place. Then you can zig zag or straight stitch along the length of the triangles and you are done!


If you click on this triangle pattern it will appear full size for you to print out:
Enjoy! Sláinte!

Looking for a Good Book to Read this St. Patrick's Day?

If so, check out "Bridget and the Magic Shoes", an adorable book that my sister Gretchen wrote and Blake illustrated. Only $8.50 at Lulu.com!! The official book summary is "Young Bridget helps a leprechaun out of a sticky spot and the leprechaun gives her a surprise in return!"

This book is based off of stories that my sister would tell her daughters of life in Ireland and using our Great-Grandmother Bridget McHugh (when she was a little girl) as the main character. It is so charming and I'm so proud of her for writing it!