Boulder Creek Designs

 

It will be three years since Cliff of Cliffsbear left and went to Heaven.  I have many mixed feelings about Boulder Creek Designs now that he is gone.  However, I have finally decided to close the business.  I have a few Templates that may be order before March first.  

Thank you all for the memories of Quilt Market, Festivals and Quilt Guild visits.  

May God Bless you!

Diane  

Feeling like Creating!

 

This past weekend I had a friend over to sew.  My friend and I watched several sewing videos on YouTube such as:  Kimberly Jolly of  Fat Quarter Shop, Lori Holt, Pat Sloan, A Quilting Life with Sherri McConnell and Erica Arndt. It was like a mini Quilt retreat without the red licorice.  

It felt good to create something just for me. I'm used to making Bear and Moose Quilts for Boulder Creek Designs.  My friend worked on a Mystery Block of the Month quilt from Fat Quarter Shop.  I worked on  Flea Market Flowers quilt by Lori Holt. I'm taking my time and enjoying the process. No hand applique for me though.  I'd like to finish it within my lifetime.    

I'm not sure what will become of BCD yet.  I'm still praying for direction from the Lord.  Honestly, He is the one who gave me the ideas for most of the quilts except Christmas in the Woods.  That pattern came from Cindee Ferris who now owns Between Stitches Quilt Shop in Temecula, CA.  Cindee once owned a pattern company called Quilted Treasures.  God gave her the idea for her Tree Skirt 'Positively Angelic' with Angels and Hearts.  She offered it to me one year when I didn't have anything new for Quilt Market.  "Make it yours with Bears and Moose," she said.  And I did! 

Have you noticed that special friends come into our lives just at the right time.  Cindee, I've know for over 20 years.  My other friend, ironically her name is Cindy also.  She works next door to the salon where she quilts, sews, and embroiders for people.  One day I heard an sewing or embroidery machine running.  I went next door to find it was her 10 needle embroidery machine.  I love Sewing Machines and I thought we might just have something to talk about.

  
Blessing!

2023

 Welcome 2023!  I'm sure all of you will agree it's been an interesting journey the past couple years.  Not that anything changed when I flipped the calendar page, but I felt a hope, excitement and expectancy in the air.  Two years down the road from the death of my husband and I'm feeling ready to move forward (some). 

Boulder Creek Designs (BCD) is in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment.  I don't have a creative direction as to where I will take her yet, but I don't think we are finished.  They say change is good.  If you're talking about changing the furniture around then I'm with you.  But with all the changes I've had in the last two years, I think BCD can wait a little bit longer.  

I realized I haven't made a quilt for fun in years.  So, under my needle is: Lori Holt's Flea Market Flowers and Chicken Salad.  I'm not in a race to finish these, it's just pure enjoyment.  I've been making some Bowl Cozys too. 

OH - by the way, there is a Memory Quilt for Cliff in progress.  I'm using some luscious plaid flannels.....I couldn't resist.

 

Blessings!    

 

September and Plaid!

Finally, September arrived!  I thought we would never get out of April with what seemed to have 45 days.  Even though we’ve all experienced the oddest things these past few months, there is always September!
I’m working on a new project with plaid flannel.  I purchased what I think is the most beautiful bundles of fat quarters of Mammoth Flannel by Studio RK.  Cliffsbear will look mighty dapper in this fabric. More about this later.  Here one of my favorite plaid.....

Fall Quilt Festival in Houston 2018

Finally, I went as a shopper to the Quilt Festival with my two friends Cindee and Cindy.  We had a wonderful day wandering and shuffling through the isles searching for just the right gadget to be added to our extensive collections of sewing notions.   Cindy is fairly new to Quilting.  This being her first Festival, it was a joy to watch as she slightly overwhelmed, discovered the treasures that make the Houston Fall Festival a legend to Houston.  Cindee, a seasoned long-arm quilter, headed to the APQS Booth to see the new items that will soon appear in her Long Arm Quilting Studio.  If you are looking for a Long Arm Quilter, I believe you will be quite happy with her quilting.  We have an 18 year friendship and I try to get Cindee to quilt my personal quilts and the ones for Boulder Creek Designs.  Her contact info: Cindee Ferris of The Artful Loft, cindeequilts2@gmail.com.

 

Finally Fall

My last post was in July.  How can one person actually be that busy.  No Excuses, Diane!  I want to post a photo of our new quilt, 'Cliffsbear Goes Mod'.  Cliffsbear wanted to star on a Quilt that was modern and bright.  He is a fun type of guy that always plays within the written rules he makes for himself.  So I was a bit surprise at how well he looks in his new suit of clothes on this quilt.

 
Yes, we were at Fall Quilt Market in Houston this year.  We took a break from markets and shows for a while, but we are back.  Fun time was had by all.  I especially like the people you meet at Market.  On one side of our booth was "Plum Easy Patterns" http://www.plumeasypatterns.com,  and on the other side was "Bouncing Bobbins" http://www.bouncingbobbins.com.  You may want to look at their products.

What you see is what you get!

So I realized it has been a very long time since I last posted and news about Bears and Moose.  The beginning of the year didn't go exactly how we had planned.  My husband, the namesake for the Bears, got very ill and had emergency surgery to correct a hyatel hernia.  He was in the hospital for 3 weeks and has recovered rather nicely since.

To all of our Template fans, I want to say THANK YOU for loving them as much as we do.  The whole reasoning behind creating the Templates was to help your quilting experience with our beloved Bears, Moose and Trees, a fun and pleasurable one.  As you know most all of our patterns have a story about Cliffsbear or Matty Moose in the forest with Trees.  I'm thankful for many who experienced the journey with me and my crazy imagination.  When Matty Moose got Married in 'Matty Takes a Wife', you could almost hear the forest animals singing to the newlyweds: By the Light of the Silvery Moose!

A few things have come to my attention and I want to take this time to respond openly to the issues.  I want to make it clear about our templates, that they were not designed as Long Arm quilting rulers. Although our acrylic is high quality, our thickness is not the thickness needed to be a Long Arm Quilting Rulers.  Many have asked.  To get the design on you quilt with a long arm, it is advised to trace the shape onto the Quilt top.

When you purchase one of our Templates, the header tells you what you are purchasing.  We include a 'Basic Template Instructions' with all our Templates.  Four of our templates are constructed in the same manner.  So you will find on the Large Matty Moose Template, the instruction says for the Regular and Large Matty Moose.  The same is true for our Big Bear and Medium Bear Templates.  Those 2 bears are the only ones that can be made with the paper pieced option.  So the Little Bear instruction sheet tell you haw to construct this bear without the paper pieced option.  The instruction sheet has nothing to do with the size of template you are purchasing.  If you purchase a Large Moose, he will be a Large Moose on you quilt.  For the Regular Moose size (as shown above) please purchase a Regular size Moose, etc.  A Regular sized Moose cannot be made from a Large Moose Template, also true for the Bears.  Remember, What you see is what you get!