Kim Hanson

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A Lovely Experience

November 5, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Saturday night, October 3 – it was a little gloomy and a lot miserable outside. Just a hint of Fall in the air but an unmistakeable chill was settling in. All in all, a perfect evening for one of Debby Sereda’s heart chakra yin yoga workshops….also known as 2½ hours of bliss.

Arriving at the studio, the room is darkened with little green strands of lights strung around the perimeter. There is no conversation. Faint sounds of music are barely audible as I made my way to my place on the floor. Bolsters and blankets are set-up to mark the “spot” and it feels overwhelmingly welcoming – like being wrapped in comfort.

Once everyone is there, Debby begins by giving us all a custom mixture of essential oils in our own tiny bottle; a hypnotizing concoction of eucalyptus and lavender – oils that are compatible with opening the heart chakra. So wonderfully soothing. We are instructed to use the oil as we please throughout our practise.

Although the studio is full, there is no notion that anyone else is close by. Alone on our mat wrapped in a feeling of peace and tranquillity as we moved from yin pose to rebound to yin pose. Debby’s words are inspiring as we move slowly from pose to pose and her voice is hushed and respectful of the silence in the room. She is so knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter.

Meditation came at the end of the practise – a long and completely unrushed session of deeper understanding and intuition.

Sleep that night came very easily. The time flies by in the workshop but the feelings of peace and calm cling to you. So very lovely. I can hardly wait for the next one!

Till later…..Kim

Filed Under: Personal, Yoga |

Wednesday Whimsy – Erin’s Bag

May 20, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Beautiful blue sky morning all! The sun is shining brilliantly, the trees are looking like life has hit them and the birds are singing. It’s a lovely day.

My sweet friend, Valerie, recently asked me to make her daughter-in-law, Erin, a yoga mat bag for a birthday gift. Of course I was thrilled to do that and Val and I started discussing colours and style for Erin’s bag. Valerie stopped short…..thinking perhaps her favourite colours and Erin’s favourite colours were dissimilar. So we decided to make Erin a completely custom bag, suited entirely to her.

I must say my usual colour palette revolves around blue and green and purple. Something like this:

Photo13.jpg

Turns out, Erin enjoys a vastly different colour palette than what I am used to working with. She requested blacks, grays and white. What? Really? Wow!

Okay, so I checked into Fabric.com and began to gather together some black and gray batiks. Much to my surprise, there were some beautiful choices. Erin made the fabric selection, I ordered them and we were off.

Erin'sbag

I’m now thinking Erin may not be partial to my usual preference for embroidery designs. Such as:

lotus

sunshine

So, I direct her to my favourite yoga-inspired embroidery design site, Windstar.
Erin comes up with a design called Old Dead Tree.
Yes, interestingly, that is what she comes up with.

It looks like this:

Deadtree

Beautiful, right? Who would have thought?

Fabrics in hand, designs chosen, I’m ready to sew. I found I loved working with a different colour palette and new embroidery designs. It was such fun!

Erin’s completed bag:

Bag4

Erin with her completed bag:

Erinsbag

Erin is delightful – a talented and clever woman …. and her photo shows how creative and artistic she is.
She has opened my eyes to new possibilities.

Till later….

Kim

Filed Under: Quilt Photography, Quilted and Embroidered originalYoga mat bags, Quilts and Machine Embroidery, Yoga |

Wednesday’s Blog – Decorating with Quilts

April 29, 2015 | 1 Comment

I love making quilts that are not always bed-sized, but are more unusual sizes and shapes. Bed runners, smaller children’s quilts and wall hangings are quick and easy projects for all of us. But, how to best showcase those smaller quilts is always an issue; if they don’t fit on a bed per se, how best to surround yourself with them in everyday life?

I made this quilt a long time ago – it was featured in Quilter’s Connection magazine; I called it Savasana…after the final resting pose in yoga. Photo1

Savasana2

I particularly love the teals and purples of the batiks in this little quilt and thought, perhaps I could use this quilt in our family room. I think it works pretty well on top of our blanket box folded. The wooden crate on top holds magazines for easy reading.

Trunk1

Another way the quilt can work is unfolded.

Trunk2

Trunk5

The embroidered images are surrounded by Brother teal metallic embroidery thread; the perfect complement to the small area rug in our family room.

Photo3

How can you best utilize your quilts in your home decor?

Till later…..Kim

Filed Under: Decorating with Quilts, Quilt Photography, Quilts and Machine Embroidery, Quilts and Yoga, Yoga |

Passionate for Yoga!

April 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Like many of you, I have a few passions; one of them is my yoga practise. I have met so many great people in my yoga classes – some of them instructors some of them students. Yoga has become an almost daily occupation for me – I don’t practise every day, but several days per week for sure. Practising yoga has basically changed my life – for the better in every way. My anxiety level has dropped significantly, my body is in better shape than probably at any other time in my life and I now seek quiet where before it was chaos that I sought to find.

Another long standing passion I have is quilting. One day when I put the two of them together, I came up with, what I like to call – the Patchwork Yoga Mat Bag. Embroidered yoga symbols on the bag work to embellish it and make it special. I adore symbols that depict AUM – there are so many, but I have a special few that I really like to use. Also, the lotus can be digitized in spectacular fashion and embroidered in as many colors as you can imagine. Each bag that I make is different from the last. The Patchwork Yoga Mat Bag is indeed made in a patchwork style, holds your small or large yoga mat, your keys/water bottle and a towel or change of clothes.

This is my latest bag, sent to a sweet and lovely customer/friend in Vermont ….hope her daughter likes it!

Filed Under: Photography, Quilt Patterns, Quilt Photography, Quilted and Embroidered originalYoga mat bags, Quilts, Quilts and Machine Embroidery, Quilts and Yoga, Quilts, Yoga Mat Bags and Yoga for Kids, Writing, Yoga |

My Favorite Mash-Up

March 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Great day to you! I’m Kim Hanson and I love quilting. The endless possibilities that fabric art offers is both seductive and addictive to me. I am grateful to be able to work daily in my home studio and run a website – www.KimHansonQuilts.com. Mash-ups are what I love the most – what is your favorite mash-up? Here are a few of mine:
Quilting & Embroidery

Baby Boy Bliss

Life’s a Picnic - Featured in Quilting & Embroidery magazine Spring 2011 issue

Harlow's Quilt

My Flower Garden

Jacob's Crazy Pillow

Delicious colors combinations, charming and whimsical embroidery designs and such fun and easy, breezy patterns bring the Quilt Creator (You!) so much personal satisfaction and the Q.R. (quilt recipient) so much delight. Any of my patterns can be customized by the Q.C. for the Q.R. with ease and a little pre-planning. Take My Flower Garden for example. Crazy quilting with an embroidered twist! Step #1: Decide who the Q.R. will be and what theme your quilt will portray. Step #2: (Fun part……) Sit down with your fabric stash and choose fabric colors that will suit your theme and your Q.R. Better yet, jump online or head to your favorite quilt shop and purchase some brand new fabrics. Step #3: Head on over to a great embroidery website that features downloadable designs and shop to your generous heart’s delight. (I totally love www.embroidables.com and have used many of their designs in my work.) Step #4: Begin your creative process and love, love, love what you do! It will show in every stitch that you make. Your embroidered quilt will shine and your Q.R. will love your work and cherish the project. So much fun!

Quilting & Yoga:

Patchwork Yoga Mat Bag

Colorful Orange and Purple

Combining two things that you love can lead to unexpected outcomes. The joy of creation is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

*I purchase the majority of my embroidery designs from www.embroidables.com. Here is their link if you would like to have a look around: http://www.embroidables.com/store.php?page=affiliateprogram&cid23443

Comments;
23 Responses to “Quilt Mash-Up by Kim Hanson”

1.
Alice McFarlane says:

March 27, 2011 at 8:42 pm

Loved the pics of all your quilts, pillow and yoga mat. Guess my project was the quilt I made for my husband. Hand embroidered bass fish blocks set together with fishing stuff material, then I freestanding embroidered fishing lures to add to the fishes mouth to make it look like he had caught the fish. Plus doing quilts for my 4 grandchildren is a favorite pass time.

2.
Nancy Boone says:

March 27, 2011 at 11:29 pm

Love all the quilts. I enjoy using my embroidery unit to do the actual quilting designs on quilts. I also like to use machine embroideries to do crazy quilts.

3.
gini howard says:

March 28, 2011 at 12:26 am

your quilts are wonderful. i might have to try making a yoga mat.

4.
Granny M says:

March 28, 2011 at 6:31 am

Love the quilts Kim. I do a lot of quilts with embroidery

5.
Pat M. says:

March 28, 2011 at 8:57 am

Love your “4 Steps”–very inspiring.

6.
Marge Greenberg (aka Dimples) says:

March 28, 2011 at 11:25 am

Kim – love all of your quilts. You are inspiring me to learn how to use that embroidery machine that I bought last summer and have only used 4 times :o{

7.
Ann Wintrode says:

March 28, 2011 at 11:34 am

Kim, Love all your quilts. I’m just learning to do Machine Embroidery and you have definitely encouraged me. Being a quilter I want to be able to combine both the embroidery and the quilting. Wish me luck.Thanks a bunch.

8.
Marilyn B. says:

March 28, 2011 at 11:44 am

Love the 3D effects and the great embroideries, Kim.

9.
Joan Lawrence says:

March 28, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Kim, Congrats on being picked as a guest blogger. I used my embroidery machine daily when I first purchased it but seems lately the new has worn off. Thanks for new inspiration.

10.
Shellie says:

March 28, 2011 at 12:58 pm

Love what you do with embroidery in your quit making, truly inspirational!

11.
Dawn says:

March 28, 2011 at 1:50 pm

Hi Kim… Just love your quilts I work in a Fabric Shop and we have quilters classes on Weds… would love to introduce Embroidery designs on their quilts and these are perfect examples to show for great inspiration!
I also love the embroidery designs… Wink wink!
Redoing my sewing room to make room for more quilting stuff… love your projects!
fun2sew

12.
Kat says:

March 28, 2011 at 2:06 pm

Hi there Kim,
Love your quilts, great colors to brighten up any room! Just started in quilting and have enjoyed making the 4 I have made and am always looking for more ideas to add to my list of quilts I want to make.
I have made 2 kids quilts for “Quilts 4 Kids” and your “Baby Boy Bliss” would be a good one to do for that group. Colorful and not too complicated for a beginner like me.
Thanks for sharing!
Kat

13.
VickiT says:

March 28, 2011 at 4:32 pm

Your quilts are just awesome Kim. When I saw this earlier today it didn’t click in my head until I remembered where I’d seen that quilt before. You and I both know how great Jami’s embroidery designs are and how mixing the machine embroidery designs with quilting works so well. Getting quality designs is the secret to making it so professional as well and the Embroidables designs are always just perfect.

I’m glad that I got to see even more of your quilts here. I know that very top one is one of may favorites because of the colors you used.

14.
Stephanie says:

March 28, 2011 at 5:12 pm

Top quilt is my fav. Great inspiration Kim. Thanks for sharing.

15.
Elaine Phillips says:

March 28, 2011 at 10:02 pm

I love Jacob’s Crazy Pillow. Thanks for sharing.

16.
Sherry Book says:

March 29, 2011 at 9:50 am

Oh I love your pillow with the crazy quilting and embroidered words/trucks! And kids would love the texture of your Baby Boy Bliss quilt. I’m wanting to try putting chenille shapes on a baby quilt as alternate blocks to a 4 or 9-patch block; just haven’t gotten around to it yet! You’ve given me inspiration.

17.
Lin Taylor says:

March 29, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Nice quilts Kim. Nice website, too.

linny t

18.
Sue Stroud says:

March 29, 2011 at 7:52 pm

I love all the Eyer Candy but especially the Jacob’s Crazy Pillow

19.
Ruth McCormick says:

March 30, 2011 at 12:56 pm

Just love the top quilt, I am new to this, have made or helped make several (too many to remember) rag quilts and just finished my first pieced quilt. I machine stitch my blocks and a very very talented and dear friend has a long-arm quilt machine and she custom quilted it for me. Absolutely beautiful. I am so blessed to have Christian friends whom love to share the love of our Saviour and quilting knowledge. We have so much fun getting together.

20.
Kathy says:

March 30, 2011 at 12:59 pm

Kim,

Your quilts are amazing! The colors that you select blend so well together and the embroidables designs accent your quilts beautifully! I especially love the crazy pillow that you made for Jacob! That is one quilt size that I can probably complete! You inspire so many people with every quilt you create! Thanks for the inspiration!

21.
Brenda Green says:

March 30, 2011 at 8:20 pm

I love these quilts! I hope to quilt when I retire. These beautiful quilts make you want to start sewing.

22.
Kim Hanson says:

March 31, 2011 at 9:03 pm

Thank you all so very much for taking the time to comment on this blog. Your words are so kind and very inspirational to me. Thanks so very much.

The winner of the 160+ Rotary Block Cutter quilt gadget is fun2sew….

23.
RITA DECOOK says:

April 2, 2011 at 7:40 am

I love this. I’ve made several embroidered wall hangings, as opposed to quilts, using my embroidery machine. I’ve made 12 Days of Christmas, a traditional Christmas theme, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Baby themed, I made a wedding pillow for the son of a friend of mine. I wish I could post pictures. But if you go to my website, they may be up. (My son-in-law and daughter have been working to get them up).

I love your “twist” on some of the ones you’ve done, especially the one with the “raw edges” showing. Never thought of doing one that way.

I’m retired and have more time to devote to sewing and embroidering …. two of the things I love do to more than any other crafting venue I do (I’ve sewn since I was 5 years old … by hand … and I’m almost 64, I learned on a Singer treadle and my Mom’s White sewing machine, both of which are older than me).

Keep up the good work. I’ll be checking back often to see what’s happening.

Filed Under: Quilts, Quilts and Machine Embroidery, Quilts and Yoga, Quilts, Yoga Mat Bags and Yoga for Kids, Writing, Yoga |

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