Quilting

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  Waterrose Handcrafted Obsessions

• Big Horn Sheep

  Waterrose

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:35 pm

  During our whirlwind trip we visited Zion National Park in SW Utah. It was absolutely incredible and pictures will never convey the beauty and awesomeness. Before I show you the park in an upcoming post....let me share with you what we came upon aswe rounded a bend!Since I couldn't get far enough away, the pictures are a bit deceptive on how steep and precarious the rocky slope they were walking

• Did YOU Vote Yet?

  Waterrose

  30 Oct 2009 | 8:57 am

  My Snow Candy cuff is in the current Etsy Voter.I would be ever so happy if you would stop by and vote for my cuff. I can't promise to lower taxes, raise wages, or fix the economy or health care, but I will be grateful! Don't let chocolate candies or skull cookies win! Thanks for your vote!

• It Doesn't End With October!

  Waterrose

  27 Oct 2009 | 1:42 pm

  While many of the advertising and awareness campaigns may slow down at the end of this month for Breast Cancer Awareness, the need doesn't end here. Hopefully one day fighting for this cause won't be necessary. But while it does, please help support us by visiting all of the other Etsy Project Embrace shop owners who are donating their creations to help support research. I've decided, since I

• Grand Canyon and Craziness

  Waterrose

  24 Oct 2009 | 7:54 pm

  For my birthday we took a trip to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and Las Vegas. We had only planned to see the Grand Canyon, but DH surprised me with a few more days of fun. (click on any picture for a larger view)The picture below --the crack in the center is the Colorado River.This is the second time I've been to the Grand Canyon and I will admit that prior to seeing it I just thought it

• Etsy Treasury Team Supports Breast Cancer Awareness Month

  Waterrose

  13 Oct 2009 | 6:58 pm

  Etsy Treasury Team is such a wonderful group to belong to. There are many laughs, lots of support, and occasionally the group gets together to work on a special project. This month, as most of you know is Breast Cancer Awareness month. It was proposed by a team member that whomever wanted to participate choose one of their creations and donate it towards this important cause. The following are

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  Cottons 'n Wool

• Tisket a Tasket – November block

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:01 am

  It’s hard to believe that Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is right around the corner, isn’t it?  Our night time temps sure feel like it though.  We’re having some below freezing nights so the electric blankets are now on the beds.  I love the colors at this time of year and the newest block from Anne really let me have fun pulling from my wool stash.  I love the way this block turned out.  While we were at quilt market, I bought a fat pack of the new Primitive Gatherings plaids called “Simple Gatherings”. Anne and I had fun picking out the sashing and…

• Sad News

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:02 pm

  Annie L Sherrard:  1920 – 2009 Hello all, This is Mr CnW.  Why you ask?  Well, I told Anne that she needed to let her blogging friends know what has been going on and she said she just couldn’t, so I volunteered.  Her Mom passed away last Friday (Oct 30th) after a relatively short illness.  She was truly a great little lady.  A wonderful Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother…and also, a heck of a golfer.   It’s hard for us all to believe that just 3 months ago, she was out at her favorite golf course showing it who was the boss.  She…

• Quilt Market - set up day

  8 Oct 2009 | 8:12 pm

  The first day of set up is, more or less, organized chaos! When you see the blank canvas that everyone starts with, it's hard to believe that all the booths can be transformed into beautiful works of art. Here are Sue and Nancy working hard. Where's Anne? Hmmm.Actually, we like her to stay away during set up. That way we can just do OUR jobs. Hers comes later when the shop owners all want to meet her. We then stay in the background and let her bask in her glory. But for now....SHE'S in the background. LOL I only took a few pictures because I was working so hard...hear that Anne? She took…

• Leaving (oops, left) on a jet plane

  7 Oct 2009 | 9:22 am

  I got up at O Dark Thirty this morning to catch my 6am flight out of Bend. Am now sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for my connecting flight to Houston...in THREE hours! Just thought I'd chronicle my day for you. (since I have nothing else to do, LOL). Beautiful flying weather...that's a good thing. Do you see the temp for Houston? Now...tell me, how do you dress for 87 degrees when you've just left home with snow still on the ground. Layers, I guess. Well, I'll keep you posted on the goings on at Quilt Market, but I bet Anne has a race to beat me to it. I can just see us now…

• Tisket a Tasket - October

  5 Oct 2009 | 12:01 am

  Wow, I can’t believe it’s time for another block!  I don’t know where the time has gone.  Well…yes I do and I’ll tell you about it after I show you this darling block.   So fun to do in wool too.   By now, you know the drill about heading over to Anne’s blog to get the pattern.  Only 2 more blocks left to go!    I think we’re going to look for sashing fabric while we’re at Market, right Anne? So, on to the reason for my absence.   I won’t go into ALL the details but first want to thank you all who have emailed me to ask…

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  Simplify

• Silent Auction for Benson and Claire

  Camille Roskelley

  1 Nov 2009 | 9:11 pm

  You know, I love my kids. They drive me crazy, they make me smile, they tug on my arms constantly, and they give the best hugs. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for my kids. When I first heard about...

• Nothing better than...

  Camille Roskelley

  26 Oct 2009 | 10:49 pm

  ...hanging out on the couch (in polka dot pajamas, mind you), taking silly pictures with Photo Booth, and eating ice cream with this little stinker... ...while everybody else is in bed. Seriously, nothing.

• Genetics

  Camille Roskelley

  26 Oct 2009 | 3:38 pm

  No, I'm not talking about the sewing/fabric obsession-ish ones I inherited from this little lady: But rather, the tiny bike riding genes I apparently inherited from my father: Remember? Sweet. Cross your fingers that I didn't get the hair growing...

• Eye candy

  Camille Roskelley

  23 Oct 2009 | 9:48 pm

  Do you read House of Turquoise? I do. I'm not sure if it is a good idea or a bad idea though, because every time I read it, I want to change my entire house. Today's post, turquoise and red,...

• Could somebody please remind me...

  Camille Roskelley

  18 Oct 2009 | 12:49 pm

  ...why don't I live at the beach? Seriously! It is like heaven on earth. On a beach cruiser. (an aqua one :-) (Sorry about the lousy blogging lately, I was away again over the weekend. Jarom had a business trip...

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  Just Us Quilters

• Let's Try This

  12 Oct 2009 | 3:03 pm

  Add your quilt blog here:♥Make sure you grab the code to add the link to your sidebar!♥

• New quilter's Pillow!

  25 May 2009 | 2:44 pm

  I just finished up a lovely mod quilt pillow! A sweet Annie holding her own quilt. I know you're a quilter and you'll enjoy this! Head on over to my Niki's Sew Country site for purchase infohttp://www.nikissewcountry.com/I'm calling this one THE NIKI PILLOW! cute eh?

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  The Quilt Rambler

• Ode to the Unknown Piecer

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:19 pm

  By definition an ODE is "a lyric poem expressive of exalted or enthusiastic emotion"I'm not a poet, I'm a rambler...but this post does have what I hope to be enthusiastic emotion.As a longarm quilter for hire, it's my job (and my joy) to assist piecers (quilters) in the finishing of their masterpieces. Sometimes the owner of the quilt top isn't necessarily the one who pieced it, sometimes it's an inherited top, or even a special purchase from an estate sale or antique market. Sometimes I don't even know the story, as in the case of the quilt I'm working on this week.One of my faithful…

• Accessorizing At It's Best

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:12 pm

  Of course the photo of Pixxie on one of Ma-ma's quilts has nothing to do with the title - but as a certified rambler I'm allowed to jump around with my thoughts! The other day I was really missing my grandmother so decided to cuddle up in one of her quilts while I read my One Year Bible reading for the morning....later I saw that Pixxie was also enjoying good memories...Okay. On to the real story. Well, one of them at least.In last week's episode (sound like a bad TV announcer don't I?) if you remember (if not read the post below) I spent my "day off" quilting some yardage...a test of new…

• A Little This, A Little That - Time to Ramble Again!

  25 Oct 2009 | 4:55 pm

  But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. Psalm 94:22Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation, let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. Psalm 95:1-2Surly God has refreshed me during my time of "hibernation." I wish I could say that I just laid around the house watching old movies and eating chocolate ice cream, but I have been busy. Taking a little time away from my online chatter (in various forms) has freed me to complete much needed projects so I can again get "back to…

• Time to Hibernate

  20 Oct 2009 | 1:27 pm

  Be still and know that I am God....sorry this is so small, but I took it with my phone this morning and the transfer just came out little (sigh)Just wanted to hang up my sign that says "hibernation" for a little while - I've had lots of personal emails requesting tips, suggestions, information, etc and I just can't devote the time to answer properly right now...please forgive me...but with the weeks of work missed due to the death of my grandmother, the 10 days at market/festival, the two days I've spent digging out and the next couple of ones that I need to finish trying to find my machine…

• One Tired Puppy!

  19 Oct 2009 | 5:21 pm

  Me, not Pixxie (grin)Wow, 10 days of Houston Quilt Market and Quilt Festival are now history.Pixxie missed me. Can you find her among the quilts?Totally enjoyed myself. Wonderful co-workers in the A-1 Quilting Machine booth - new friends as well as deepening relationships with other friends. A-1 dealers are the best - most helpful to each other and they take good care of their customers. No matter where you live, if you are in a market for a longarm you owe it to yourself to contact the local dealer and take a test drive of our machine. You will love it.Pixxie and I are digging out. I got a…

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  All Things Quilty

• Greenway Walk...and Vicki's Prize Package

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:22 am

  Yesterday was another simply gorgeous day here in the North Carolina piedmont. I went for a two-hour walk, exploring more of the new roads in the Heritage neighborhood across Rogers Road. It was 42 degrees F when I left, and 72 when I got back! I was surprised to find that I could walk to a greenway system that begins in Wake Forest and ends in Rolesville. The Wake Forest section is all made from a ten-foot wide wooden walkway with rails. It curves and meanders through a wooded wetland. How wonderful that all this open space has been preserved! A short foot-trail off the boardwalk leads to…

• More "Flower Power"

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  After I quilted Susan's quilt with "Big Shot" die-cut flowers a couple weeks ago, she showed it to another Stampin'-Up demonstrator, Martha Armstrong of Zebulon, NC. Martha brought me her flower quilt on Tuesday afternoon, and I was able to finish it yesterday evening. And she was here bright and early this morning to pick it up, so she can show it in time for a craft fair on Saturday! Martha has a blog where she features many of her lovely cards and other projects.Martha also used a "layer cake" collection of 10-inch coordinated squares. I've got to say, I love these fabrics and the way they…

• Finished Projects

  4 Nov 2009 | 6:03 am

  After I finished my post yesterday, my friend Mary came over with some gifts for me. We had cut some branches from my magnolia tree to make wreaths for her craft fair last weekend, and look what she gave me!This wreath has a straw base. The leaves are sprayed with hair spray. I think it is beautiful! We cut some more branches so she can make more wreaths. She also brought my door prize from the craft fair- look at this lovely purse in fall colors! (The painted artificial gourds were purchased at the Cotton Company in Wake Forest last weekend- aren't they cute?) And it is on the table that…

• November Nature Walk

  3 Nov 2009 | 9:19 am

  All my good intentions for doing chores disappeared this morning, when I looked outside and saw sunshine for the first time in a long while. I had not walked through my neighborhood since I lost my little companion, Maggy. It did not seem right to be walking without my doggy, but the sunshine and beautiful autumn scenery put my mind at rest. My street looks very beautiful against the clear blue November skies.I have always liked this big tree that seems to lean across the street to lend its shade.Isn't this a great nature shot? The leaves are gone from this honey locust tree, leaving the long…

• Lucky Me!

  2 Nov 2009 | 2:18 pm

  I had very good luck this weekend in two different drawings. First, I won the door prize at Mary Nennstiel's craft fair at her home near mine. The prize is a hand-made purse that I have not yet collected. I purchased quite a few items from her sale, and also provided the magnolia leaves for her gorgeous wreaths. I also got this great black-and-white print purse from Mary last Christmas at our bee's "gift grab." Then, on Sunday, I found out that I won the drawing in Vicki's Postcard Challenge for October. Look at all the lovely things she is sending me: A pine needle sunprint in the back, a…

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  Hanne's Quilt Corner

• Paying It Forward – sort of

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:55 am

  7 years ago my DD1 was hospitalized for months and our family was going through a very rough patch. One day heart blocks started to appear in my mail box, from near and far away. It was a very touching experience and I wiped my eyes frequently, feeling all the support from fellow quilters. I wrote the names of the makers on the seam allowance of each block, so it was a touching experience again when I spread all the blocks on my desk yesterday and saw that I am still in touch with most of them, one way or the other. 2 great quilters have also passed away since then, and 1 has lost her hand…

• More from Monday

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:16 am

  What I bought on Monday – almost all are Lynette’s designs, except for the fabrics :-) The snowman button is extra precious to me – a gift from Lynette. I will start the Christmas cushion soon! I also bought Lynette’s latest book, Gathering of Crows. Here are my collection of Lynette Anderson’s booklets and books. I think it is complete, but I don’t really know, so if you have knowledge about other books, please let me know. I know that several of these are out of print, so I am keeping them close to me. I have been collecting Lynette’s patterns for years. As you know, I love…

• The most wonderful day!

  2 Nov 2009 | 10:38 pm

    It is hard to know where to begin, but one thing has to be said loud and clear – Thank You Lynette! Thanks for being who you are, and for being such a generous and inspiring person! It was such an inspiration to meet you and see your quilts and things, so now I have to get up even earlier in the morning to get more time to stitch :-) Lynette’s design has been very high on my favourite lists for years :-) I have always been drawn to small stitches and accuracy, of which Lynette is a master. She also has her lovely furry friends in her work, and I love that. You can guess my softest…

• A lovely day :-)

  2 Nov 2009 | 1:47 am

  We are ready and eager for a day with Lynette

• Hand sewing and a long to do list

  29 Oct 2009 | 1:24 am

  Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending some time with Laila and her mother. This cute mug and the lovely embroidery floss I got as a gift from Laila. Kose is a Norwegian noun for having a nice, “cuddly”, enjoyable, relaxing time. Kopp = cup, mug. Laila and her mother came with me to my local guild meeting, where Kristin Eikli gave a very inspiring lecture on Crazy Quilts, with a lot of photos. I have tried Crazy quilting before and I did enjoy it, and after the lecture I think I will read up on the subject and maybe do some more :-) You know me – I am an info junkie when it comes to…

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  Little Quilts

• Applique with Amy Butler

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:59 pm

  Joey Helmke is one of our customers who is fairly new at quilting. She loves the Amy Butler fabrics. This is her first applique quilt called "Big Birdie Blocks". She came to pick out her backing and binding and to leave it here for our longarm quilter. Good job, Joey!

• Tanyard Creek Line in "Josephine's Sampler" Quilt

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:06 pm

  Little Quilts staff member, Linda Rice, has made Lori Smith's (From My Heart to Your Hands) "Josephine's Sampler" quilt using "Tanyard Creek" fabrics -- which is Little Quilts' newest fabric line.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Tanyard Creek is a wonderful reproduction line, with good saturated colors and shirtings; cheerful and versatile.The quilt is 59" x 74"; kits are available for $78.95:

• Happy Birthday Little Quilts

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:13 pm

  Dear friends,We have made it another year! Thanks to all of you we have enjoyed celebrating our 11th anniversary of the store's opening. It has been fun seeing everyone - both old and new friends of Little Quilts this past weekend and Monday and Tuesday. A special thank you to Chris Ison one of our customers who remembers the anniversary each year with a special Fall arrangement. We appreciate your business and encouragement and plan to continue to offer the neatest fabrics for all interests, great classes and the best service in the years ahead.The Staff at Little Quilts

• Birthday Girls at Little Quilts

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:07 pm

  This group of ladies came in today to celebrate three birthdays. From left to right: Sarah Rhodes, Kathleen Hartz, Anne Kreamer,Lisa Spears,Diane Prible, and Marianne Ellis. Anne, Lisa and Diane were the ones with the birthdays. After visiting us they were off to have lunch.Come celebrate your birthday with us and receive a 25% discount off any one item. Could be loads of fun!!

• Christmas Tree Skirts

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:02 pm

  Mary Ann Eubanks did these tree skirts from a pattern by Silver Thimble, "Slice of Christmas". You have the option of two tree skirts when you use this method. Mary Ann donated one to The Trinity School in Cartersville and our longarm quilter donated her time for the quilting and the binding.

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  Common Threads

• blocks for rossie and amy (finally!)

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pm

  first, since she's been waiting longer, here are my squares for amy. i had lots of fun working with the fabrics she sent and adding in my own pieces as well. i especially love the center block featured above with the center of the flower. oh, and the tiny blocks were surprisingly challenging! who knew it would be so hard to sew a small block? fun, nevertheless! here's another shot where you can see all five blocks i made:tonight i finally finished rossie's blocks!my phrase is "be peace" which are the same words printed on my favorite necklace. they are also a shortened version of gandhi's…

• Rebekah's blocks for November

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:35 pm

  I mailed out the fabric for my month this evening, so here are the directions for the blocks.I'd like you to make a 15" block that features squares and rectangles, but is not made with nesting squares or log cabins. Here's a mosaic of quilt inspiration.I included 5 different prints and 2-3 solid fabrics in each package. One of the solids is a large piece, so if you could make the large piece that you receive the predominant color, that would be great. I'm going to be putting the blocks together with a grey solid once I receive them all.If you want to add some embroidery or machine stitching…

• Blocks for Amy and Rossie

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  I got down to business yesterday and made these blocks for Amy and Rossie.Three blocks for Amy (12.5, 6.5 and 3.5)And one long strip for Rossie. I was wracking my brain trying to come up with the perfect quote and I even browsed the Yale Book of Quotations, but I couldn't find any good short phrases. I think my cats were trying to give me some hints because they were climbing on my lap and sewing machine while I was trying to come up with a quote. So, the blocks say their names: "Shinji" and "NukuNuku." They are japanese names, so I thought they'd work with a quilt by a japanese designer. I…

• October for Rossie

  2 Nov 2009 | 11:20 am

  It was deciding on a phrase that stumped me on this one, but Halloween night as I was staring at the fabric it came to me. Common Threads. So here you go. I didn't put it together because it's longer than you requested. Actually, much longer. I thought maybe you could put them like this to make the phrase. My mistake...i thought...two word phrase...I can make the blocks 6 inches. I hope you can use them like they are.

• Pura Vida

  16 Oct 2009 | 11:02 pm

  I finished up Rossie's blocks today:Aloha...and Pura Vida....(I had to fold this phrase up to fit in the picture)I made 5" blocks for Aloha and 4" for Pura Vida - this was so fun Rossie!I can't wait to see your quilt!

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  Stitchin' Friends

• Trick or Treat!

  1 Nov 2009 | 3:46 pm

  Meet my two grands - Tess and Timothy. They showed up with big smiles and big pumpkins - the only two trick-or-treaters I had come by the house last night, so they got extra helpings. Not to worry - Timothy did have shoes on - but he kicks them off as soon as he comes through the door and I had to get them to back up for the picture. Do you get the Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine? Its one of my favorites and the November/December 2009 has this great wall hanging on the cover. I just love the center block and the looks of the trees - but I really wanted a table runner. So I decided…

• Setting-on-Point

  25 Oct 2009 | 3:22 pm

  First I have to give those of you who have been praying for and asking about my mom an update. We admitted her to rehab on Monday night and she is doing pretty good now - ready to come home. She is walking and feeling better, although still not strong enough to be on her own. My mom is determined though and I so admire her for her strong will to get better. Thank you all for your prayers.I have done a little sewing this week, and completed a quilt top for my new granddaughter, due to arrive November 20. Her name is Taralyn, which I think is a sweet name, and of course she has to have sweet…

• Mom's Hollyhock Quilt

  18 Oct 2009 | 4:52 pm

  I have not had much time for sewing the last few weeks and thought I would share one of my mom's quilts with you tonight. Mom makes most of her quilts by hand, and this one is no exception. It is hand appliqued, each block hand quilted individually and then the sashing sewn on by machine on one side and hand sewn on the other side. Its a beautiful quilt and one that she gave me several years ago - I treasure it dearly.I have also included some pictures of a close up of one of the applique blocks, one of the quilted blocks and the quilt back. My photography skills are not that great, but I…

• A found treasure.

  11 Oct 2009 | 7:30 pm

  I was supposed to be at quilt retreat this weekend but was needed at home, as my mom is not doing well. I did get a little sewing in, and wanted to share with you a very wonderful project. I was helping my mom clean up her sewing room and came across this pretty Penny Rug she had made years ago, and which unfortunately a little mouse had discovered too. Momma said she could not bring herself to throw it away, and had been keeping it for years now wanting to mend it. I just fell in love with it and I believe its the only Penny Rug my mom had ever made. So I asked her if I could mend it for…

• Crazy......

  4 Oct 2009 | 4:29 pm

  ....quilt, that is. This is a quilt I started several years ago, teaching the crazy quilt blocks to my club. We had more fun, ordering a kit of "fancy type" fabrics and beads, buttons, etc from a site on-line and then adding to it. I purchased a pre-printed floral fabric for the center - assembled the top and then turned it over to my sister-in-law, Alpharine (no-blogger), a master at embroidery to do the stitching and embellishments. I have included a picture of the center block - notice how she embroidered over all the printed flowers - it is absolutely beautiful! I finished it up this…

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  Quiltville's Quips & Snips

• All Things Yummy!

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:11 pm

  I picked my desktop computer back up at Best Buy this week, and I've been reinstalling programs, including my photo editing stuff, so I had waited until it was back before importing the photos off my memory card....you know what a hassle that is? So here are a few photos to whet your appetite.A couple more from the Arc de Triomphe...my very first WOW moment! The bus stop where I got off the airport bus was right near here. And while I waited for Randy to come get me, all I could do is stare in wonder! It is one of my favorite Paris monuments.And then of course.....food....glorious food!!

• Starting Slow....

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:11 am

  There is SO much to post that it is almost intimidating to think of it! I took HUNDREDS of pictures..all of which have to be edited down from huge sizes to web compatible, easy loading...and it's daunting! So I'm just going to do a bit at a time!By far the best part of this trip was the people I spent it with! I spent wonderful time with my friend Randy and her hubby Mark. They were the perfect tour guides! I just was happy to follow them around like a lost puppy....my eyes taking in everything in wonder!Taking the bus from the airport was easy. Getting euros from a ATM was easy. Getting a…

• It's a Mystery!

  3 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pm

  Hi you guys!I'm back from Paris as of last night...had a great time! I know Iwill need a nap at some point today, I feel one coming on. I've got pics to upload..many many..and they all need editing down, etc. Give me a day or so to recuperate!I'm writing quick because I wanted to let you know that I've been hard at work designing our next mystery quilt!I'm in a bit of a conundrum, because the one I REALLY want todo.....is in recycled fabrics in Christmas colors! Is this going tobum you guys out if I drag Christmas out into the new year? If ithelps any....what if we move this mystery back a…

• Bon Voyage!

  22 Oct 2009 | 4:57 am

  I'm heading out today. I am SO excited, that I am sure that is why I am up again at 3am. I've been piecing 5" pineapples since, and preparing to leave in a few hours for Charlotte to catch my plane.Yesterday I hit Kohls for some last minute shopping, and some little necklaces caught my eye. Sterling silver, marked down from $50 to some ridiculous low price of $14.00.I bought one, just to remind myself....it's a little round twisted ring with words on it that say "LOVE LIFE, BE BRAVE" :cD It's my talisman for this trip.The little verse that came inside the box reads:It's not who you are that…

• Snugglies for the Plane??

  20 Oct 2009 | 12:43 pm

  Or Maybe a project to quilt on during long airport layovers? :c)You know me, I hate to be found without a project to hand. Chances are I usually bring TOO MUCH. Wouldn't it be easier just to have a book to suffice, like NORMAL people?But I got to thinking..it's a red-eye flight. I get cold. Those whimpy plane blankets never do me any good...and I need a new hand quilting project to take with me since the small little one (which wouldn't keep me warm even if I tried..okay, maybe one THIGH?)is almost done.SO. I grabbed this orphan top that I've had done for quite some time...it is a good "sit…

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  Threads of Friendship

• Surprise, Surprise!

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:24 pm

  I was looking through this  months Homespun magazine (Vol 10.11) when I discovered this: I wasn’t sure that my email had even reached them as I hadn’t reduced the file size of the photo and it seemed to take a long time to send. That was a lovely surprise. There’s a couple of lovely quilts in this month’s edition that I might try too. Maybe I’ll use some of this fabric that arrived in the mail today… I thought we needed a holiday quilt – I can imagine holiday photos and memories being built with such a quilt as a common thread!… And I couldn’t resist the HAPPY CAMPERS…

• Threads on the floor, on my clothes, in my hair…

  30 Oct 2009 | 7:00 am

  My DH says my craft room currently looks like the Fabric Fairy has thrown up in it. It is a wee bit messy and re-arranged, but for a good reason. My friend Kaye and I are having a bag stall at: The Inglewood Artisans Market Which is held on the 2nd Saturday on the Month (not THIS Saturday, like in the ad above). The next Market will be in 2 weeks time – on 14th November. I have been sewing PVC covered bags all day today, here are a few examples. I shall be giving my lovely Pay It Forward girls (no, I haven’t forgotten you!) their presents from any of the bags that don’t sell. I will…

• To market, to market…

  25 Oct 2009 | 8:47 pm

  I return to the world with a little more brain space after weeks of preparation for my children’s annual Spring Fair which was last Saturday. It was a perfect day and my 9 year son and I shared a stall. (Sorry – no photos as I left the camera at home) He had made boats from pine, which he cut out, sanded and oiled. I made the sails from lots of bright scraps. He laid them out on a blue cloth and they looked great. He sold all 18 and was very pleased with his fundraising efforts (going to his lego fund and NOT the school!) I had made some tops, covered notebooks, sock monkeys, hairclips…

• Back in the REAL world again.

  13 Oct 2009 | 7:30 pm

  I finished the book on Sunday, on the way home from a week of family holidays in Dunsborough (South Coastal WA). We had a refreshing time away which included lots of sight seeing, eating, shopping, fishing (DH & kids), reading, catching up with friends and some sewing!!! Yes, DH let me pack the Janome :) DH and kids on the Busselton jetty Heidi and Indianna, and the Babushka wall hanging I made her (pattern by Hot Possum) I also made another bag… It’s a McCall's pattern (M5599 or Easy Stitch and Save M5790). The fabric is by Michael Miller (Lavender Round About). I thought I’d…

• RECESS time

  7 Oct 2009 | 6:56 pm

  I fell in love with the “Recess” range of fabrics last year and knew I would have to make a quilt with them. I bought my first ever layer cake and some yardage and got planning. After some playing around with angles and graph paper, I came up with this block layout: I made the quilt top with a simple layout, and sashing. It looks like this currently: I’m going to get it quilted professionally, as it won’t fit into my machine. I’ll give you an update when it’s all done. There were a few left over blocks, so I made this quilt: I like the red border on this one – the large quilt…

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  Canton Village Quilt Works

• A Touch of Spring... Revisited

  5 Nov 2009 | 3:42 am

  Hello Everyone, I hope some of you remember this post about my quilt in progress, A Touch of Spring. I had so much fun putting this one together, but had hit a road block. I just got tired of working on the same thing. That must happen to everyone.Well, recently I was renewed! I decided to finish piecing the rows together to complete the quilt top. Yes, I said complete and I love it!! Here are the photos...The lower right corner. See how it transitions from raspberry to chocolate?The upper left corner, again the transition of color.The lower left corner, just all raspberry.The upper right…

• The Big Winners!!

  3 Nov 2009 | 5:02 am

  Hello Everyone,First off, WOW, WOW, WOW!! Thank you ALL who entered my giveaway, signed up for my newsletter, are now following my blog. I promise I will not disappoint you in any way. You all just blew me away, 1553 comments!! Unbelievable. Thank you so much!!So anyway, I decided to used the Random Number Generator for this drawing. So the winning numbers in chronological order are:Comment # 2Comment # 356Comment #416Comment #700Comment #856I am sure you want to know who those lucky winners are:In order # 2 is Sara wins the Moda Jelly Roll and Layer Cake# 356 is Brooke wins the Moda Sampler…

• Sharing My Good Fortune With You!!!

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:28 am

  Hello Everyone,First off, I wanted to share two more photos of lovely people I was able to see again at Quilt Market.The lovely Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs. She is such a sweet person with such beautiful designs. Pop in to say hello to her, you will be glad you did.Also, the wonderful Lynette Anderson and her son Eddie. Lynette has a project featured on the cover and inside the magazine Quilt Country, a French magazine. So if you can get your hands on it, you need too. They are always a pleasure to see! Now onto the good stuff, (not that the previous wasn't good, because it was great!),…

• "Hey... Don't I Know You???" Quilt Market #6

  24 Oct 2009 | 4:53 am

  Hello Everyone,First some business... some quilty inspiration has just been uploaded to my gallery. Go there and look under the Recent Additions. Beautiful quilts!!Now onto more Quilt Market. One of the distinct advantages to going to market, is that you meet up with some very cool people. Some quilting celebrities, some friends, some blogging buddies, well you get the idea.Anyway, it is like old home week! Such fun and such great people. So lets see who I ran into...First up the lovely Brenda Riddle from Little Acorns. It was nice to see her again, she is just the sweetest and has a great…

• Inside and Outside Quilt Market #5

  22 Oct 2009 | 8:16 am

  Hello Everyone,Yes, I know you are probably all asking yourselves... "Isn't she done yet with those Quilt Market posts?" Clearly the answer is no. But rest assured I have thousands of pictures... only kidding. Really, I am weeding through them and taking only ones that I think might interest you.But first, go over to my Etsy shop and take a look at the new 1930s charm packs and die cut circles I added. Shameful plug for my shop, sorry.Okay, now onto the fun inside market...Looking down onto the market floor anxiously waiting for the doors to open!My travel partner/friend Pam chomping at the…

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  With Needle in Hand

• My How Time Flies!

  27 Oct 2009 | 6:01 am

  It was 25 years ago that this young couple met and fell in love. They met at a church singles bowling league on June 24th. Their first date(July 7th) was a very special occasion with dinner out and a trip to Galveston for a moonlight walk on the beach. They were engaged on August 10th over a romantic steak dinner and movie (Somewhere in Time). Can you tell he's a romantic?She had just graduated from college and was "supposedly" home for the summer and then on to seminary in the fall. But that's not the way it happened.They married on October 27, 1984.And have lived happily ever after!!

• A Glimpse of Africa

  17 Oct 2009 | 7:09 am

  This song rings true in my heart. Sara Groves has taken her experience in Rwanda and put it to music. The images are the same as Uganda so I thought I would share this beautiful message with you.Thanks for stopping by. More to come!!

• My Ugandan Treasure

  12 Oct 2009 | 7:50 am

  One of the treasures I brought back with me from Uganda is the memory of this precious woman. This was taken at a women's meeting we held on our visit to Llolwe Island. What a blessing to be able to share with the women of the Island as well as listen to many of their stories.Just look at that smile. You would think that this woman didn't have a care in the world. But she did. She began her story by telling us that she was the mother of nine children. She had buried eight of them. Her nine year old had just been buried the week before we arrived. Now look again at her smile. She exudes joy.

• Now for the Nitty Gritty

  10 Oct 2009 | 6:25 am

  Ok, so now I'm going to share some of the nitty gritty facts about Uganda! I know you have been waiting!! I've already shared that we had no privacy whatsoever while on the islands. There were kids everywhere and most times they were peeking into the windows anytime anyone was in our "room". The reason "room" is in quotes is because it was a classroom which had been cleared out for us to sleep in. Here is my "home sweet home" on Llolwe Island. I shared it with Deb and Jo. There were also two other tents set up in here for the other ladies on the trip. Ah, the comfort of concrete floors!!Since…

• Taste and Touch of Uganda

  8 Oct 2009 | 11:03 am

  You feel the constant sticky heat and excessive humidity and wonder why the people of Uganda wander around in winter coats.You are pressed on every side by the wall of people in the city or the scurry of never-ending traffic mostly consisting of taxi vans overloaded with people or Bota Bota’s (motorcycles used as taxis) carrying two or three passengers along with their belongings.You were surprised as the sudden rains of rainy season drench you as you go about your day or the dusty roads that don’t seem to even acknowledge the rains.The many dirt roads that rattle your bones to your very…

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  Highland Quilter

• Rosalie and Leanne's Campania projects

  5 Nov 2009 | 8:20 pm

  Above is a picture of Rosalie's display. Such gorgeous things. I am really keen to make the Dolls House quilt....will add it to my growing list! Rosalie's Christmas Snowman stitchery. This stitchery is cleverly mounted onto a canvas.... a good idea!Another stitchery from Rosalie....so pretty and bright.....I would like to do this one too!!Leanne's Craft and Needle bag.This was the project that I worked on for the day.My version of Leanne's bag.It was a lovely project to work on.....

• Campania

  4 Nov 2009 | 12:41 am

  This Saturday saw many Tasmanian ladies head off to Campania for the 6th Gathering held by The Quilted Crow ladies. A terrific day was had by all. The guest tutors were Leanne Beasley and Rosalie Quinlan! While the day was all about Christmas there was a definite Halloween theme in the air. The date of this gathering was infact Halloween. Dierdre displayed her amazing collection of Halloween related craft and several bloggers arrived dressed in witchy outfits!! The beautifully decorated hall. A Halloween Tree. My favourite Halloween quilt. (apparently the pattern for this quilt was in…

• Stitching Angel Surprise

  27 Oct 2009 | 11:45 am

  I had a very pleasant surprise in the mail yesterday! All of these beautifully wrapped gifts arrived from my Stitching Angel. I don't know who my angel is, only that she lives in Salt Lake City.....very mysterious and sneaky! And these are all the gorgeous black and white goodies that my Angel sent.....A large black and white bag, a very cute cherry fabric bag, a pin cushion, a needle case, plus fabric, buttons, cottons and other notions....The inside of the needle case...Thank you So much Angel. I love black and white things and I love all of the things that you have sent! I have been very…

• A Stitching Angel

  24 Oct 2009 | 2:43 pm

  It has been more than a month since my last post. Very slack I know!!I have been busy stitching during this time. I have almost completed 2 Christmas swap gifts, made 4 Quilt Aid blocks and stitched for my Stitching Angel partner. Above are the gifts that I made for Jo. I thought it was very funny when I opened the email from Helen and it said that Jo was my partner. It was even more amusing because the weekend after that email I went to Hobart and stayed at Jo's house for 2 nights. I was so tempted to leave "Stitching Angel" messages around Jo's house but I thought that might have been a bit…

• Raggy doll swap

  24 Sep 2009 | 1:21 pm

  I have had an extremely busy and tiring 3 weeks, however a few positive things have come from it. The first is that my back-yard is now under control. Andrew and I worked tirelessly to reclaimed the garden beds and found the plants in amongst the weeds!! The other more exciting news is I have changed my work-load and I am now working .8 again. This means I now have Fridays off and only work an 8 day fortnight. Hopefully I will now have more time for me. I intend spending my Fridays catching up, hopefully going for a nice long walk in the mornings, spending more time in my sewing room,…

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  Quilter Going Bananas

• Goals for November

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:25 pm

  It's time to say what I'm hoping to accomplish for the month of November forandFirst up is to finish Block 5 from the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery BOM. I started working on it on the last morning of the quilt retreat, on November 2nd.I have ordered the Schnibble pattern for November, called Picnic. If it takes 14 days to get here by mail (like last month!) then I don't know if it'll get done this month. But I'll certainly try.I'm also going to finish my Half Pint Quilt Along top this month. Just need to add some borders to it. First I have to make sure I have enough of the background…

• Saturday Sampler Pic

  6 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm

  Today's the tenth installment of the Saturday Sampler series. That means we're halfway through the blocks now. Ten down and ten to go! Check back here for the first installment if you want to read it from the very beginning.This hand pieced block is called 54 50 or Fight ( I think). My memory is drawing a blank otherwise. If you think you know the proper name for this block please let me know! Until next time...

• Even More Retreat Pics

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:01 pm

  Here's the last installment of the pics from the quilt retreat last weekend.First up is a knitting bag that Y made. It's expandable. Don't you love the sheep fabric she used?Y also finished up this Turkey quilt. I just love how it turned out.Next up is what I worked on during the retreat...I finished up the 3 inch (finished size) nine patches for the Half Pint Quilt Along and then completed the main part of the quilt.Next come the borders.I also finished my October Schnibble project on October 31st. The pattern is called 'Cindy Lou Who' and the fabrics are Moda's William Morris Collection by…

• More Retreat Pics

  5 Nov 2009 | 2:00 pm

  Here's some more retreat pics from last weekend...D finished up this disappearing Nine Patch in Christmas fabricsand then finished off this flannel quilt topHere is Y's Disappearing Nine Patch that she finished the bindingE was very busy finishing off this Bargello quilt top. There's 14 different purple fabrics in it!P brought some finished scrappy quilts using a technique she learned years ago where you take your scraps of fabric and sew them onto strips, cut them apart and then sew that to more strips etc until you get a piece wide enough to square up with a 6.5 inch ruler. Make several…

• Retreat Pics

  3 Nov 2009 | 12:00 pm

  Here's some retreat pics for you to enjoy!Click on each one to take a closer look.One Tesselated Pinwheel quilt top by Jand another one also made by J Then she moved onto this project on the day of HalloweenAnd lastly she was working on these stars.I'd say J had a good weekend!Here's a blue and purple batik quilt that D finished.Here are some train cars and airplanessemi trucks and construction vehiclesand of course cars, helicopters, and rocket ships!N was working on this group of blocks to make a quilt for her GS with a transportation theme, and no these blocks were not paper pieced!Here's…

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  A Quilting Life

• Whew!

  4 Nov 2009 | 3:55 pm

  Finally...although I don't know why...I'm feeling like things have slowed down a little...never mind that Christmas is on the way and I'm behind on all my projects...for whatever reason things seem a little slower this week. What was it about September and October? They seemed so rushed! Just this afternoon I finished my Cameos Christmas quilt top...the colors in the photo didn't come out as bright as they actually are...the pictures when I first posted this are a better representation of the true colors. Last month I completely missed the boat on my Charming Girls' Quilt Club…

• Winners!

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:07 am

  I can't post without at least a picture or two...so before I announce the winners from our Schnibbles Parade this weekend, I'll share a couple of things I was able to work on Saturday.First I made a couple more of Rachel's Friendship bags using Flower Sugar. I think they'll be great to have on hand for gifts. Then I started a project using Amy Butler's Love...hopefully I'll finish this one soon! Okay...now for the winners! Carrie posted her winners yesterday here. From Sinta's parade Megan of Crooked Seams won, and from my parade Jocelyn of Happy Cottage Quilter. Megan and Jocelyn please…

• Schnibbles Parade!

  1 Nov 2009 | 12:01 am

  Well, it's November first...the big parade...but, first things first...do you recognize this Schnibbles pattern???It's one of my favorites... The November Schnibble is..."Picnic!" Mine is made with Simple Abundance by Moda (thank you for the suggestion, Carrie)! I had a great time making this pattern and can't wait to see all of the "Picnic" quilts on December 1st! A couple of ladies requested fabric requirements so they could start gathering materials while waiting for their patterns to arrive...I thought that was a great idea...so for "Picnic" you'll need 2 charm packs, 7/8 yard for…

• Best Laid Plans

  29 Oct 2009 | 4:08 pm

  Really, I wasn't going to make this until next year...really. I have a plan of projects for the next couple of months that didn't include any new Christmas quilts for me.But the fabrics all came from my stash, with most of them purchased last January at 75% off. So since it wasn't costing anything, I convinced myself to make one block, just to be sure that this was what I wanted to do with these fabrics. Next year, of course. I soon realized this was what I wanted to do with these fabrics, and now that I'm half-way done, I might as well finish it, right?! (The fabrics are from several…

• Sometimes You Know...

  27 Oct 2009 | 1:00 pm

  Sometimes you know that a project is going to turn out so cute that you might as well just make two to begin with...that's the way it was when I set out to make a couple of friendship bags from Simple Abundance using the tutorial by Rachel of PS I Quilt. After making the bags I decided one would be perfect to go along with the gifts I was making to send to my Stitcher's Angel...across the ocean...(I hope she likes Simple Abundance)! My gifts from my stitcher's Angel recently arrived. I received a wonderful tote bag, "Sweet" needle case, luggage tags (I really, really needed these) and lovely…

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  Anyone Can Quilt

• Happy Halloween!

  AnyoneCanQuilt

  31 Oct 2009 | 4:07 pm

  Have a nice, cozy, yummy and creepy night friends!  We are busy rushing about this evening.  Getting pumpkins carved, pumpkin seeds roasted, costumes assembled... Whew!  I don't have any costume pictures for you yet.  But if you'd like, please take a stroll back in time to here.  It still cracks me up every time.  Can't wait to show you what we cooked up to humiliate her this year.  Stay tuned friends, there's nothing like the look of embarrassment on a dachshunds face.  Merry Halloween! x

• Once upon a time...

  AnyoneCanQuilt

  22 Oct 2009 | 5:46 pm

  ... there was a shiny new sewing machine.  Fresh out of the Elizabeth, NJ factory in 1923.  She was a sturdy gal, and ever so lovely.  She was powered by a treadle, and was always reliable while mothers made clothes for daughters, and patient while little girls spent hours learning to sew.  She was loved for many years and was brought from house to house and even traveled all the way across the country.   She was happily handed down to grown up daughters.   When this precious sewing machine was about 50 years old, she was sold to a new…

• A Quickie Post, you know, to let you know I'm alive and all...

  AnyoneCanQuilt

  12 Oct 2009 | 8:24 am

  First of all, my bread was smiling at me last night.   Yes my friends, this is the sort of thing that cracks me up.  Only I can't show you how I carried it around to my family making it talk and sing... Then my kids wanted to know which grilled cheese sandwich had the face on it because they didn't want to eat that one.  Moving on.I know my poor blog is feeling lonely and neglected as I try to get myself into a nice life/blogging groove this fall.  So I decided to walk around and snap a few pictures of my early morning to do a little post.  I…

• What the world needs now...

  AnyoneCanQuilt

  29 Sep 2009 | 8:37 pm

  Homemade slippers, with wool insides.  And with yo-yos and buttons of course.So do you need some new dainty slippers this autumn?  I dare think that you do.  I made a pair for my sweet mom, and this pair here for my liebe Freundin Sabine.  I have grand plans for a pretty basket by my front door full slippers in beautiful fabrics.  These are another wonderful project from this book.Now, how about some more of my Montana trip pictures.  We'll start with Idaho.  We stopped at the Cataldo Mission.  It claims to be the oldest building in…

• Who wants a weiner dog?

  AnyoneCanQuilt

  24 Sep 2009 | 9:04 am

  No I'm not giving away Roseanne.  But she was the inspiration for these little stuffies.  Just finished to send to two special little girls.  Here's what they looked like as I stitched yesterday during my girls' school lessons.  I had such fun making these!  I like projects that change as you go along.  Pattern tracing, then sewing, then cutting out and stuffing.  Then stitching and attaching body parts.... you know, stuff like that.  And it's a good thing I liked making these because my girls have two more on order.  I…

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  Cherry House Quilts

• A Request for quilts

  Lizzy House

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:25 pm

  By know, I am sure the entire world is aware of the tragedy at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.  My son is Spc. Luke House, command executive assistant, STB, III Corp, at Fort Hood, and was working yesterday when the horrible events transpired.  I thank God with all my heart that he was not harmed or injured, but I am so saddened about the lives that will be forever devastated by what happened. What can we do to help?  Quilts.  We can comfort them with quilt.  I would like to gather 31 quilts to provide for the soldiers that were wounded yesterday.  Currently the wounded are divided…

• How about a scrappy quilt along?

  Lizzy House

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:02 am

  A while back I introduced you to my 'One Mountain, Ten Quilts  a series of 10 quilts that I created from a very large, very stuffed bag of scraps that I couldn't bear to throw away.  The scraps that had been saved were very similar in terms of color and style...mostly pastels, many children's prints - quite literally leftover scraps of fabric from clothing I had sewn for my sweet children when they were little ones.  I had made a game of using as many of the scraps that I could, and I imposed some rules as well... The #1 rule was, that I could add as much white (solid or tone on tone)…

• Something fun!

  Lizzy House

  1 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pm

   Do you remember this photo?  One of my first quilts in a magazine!  Well yesterday I dvr'd Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting.  Liz was introducing the guest, and over the lady's shoulder, I believe I see a photo of this quilt; which I couldn't believe.  So I reversed the dvr (gotta love the dvr), and sure enough, a huge poster size print of this photo is hanging in Fons and Porter's new tv studio.  How crazy is that?  Did anyone else see it?  I can't tell you how tickled I was...made my day! Cherri

• CHQ kits on sale at Fons and Porter!

  Lizzy House

  28 Oct 2009 | 12:05 pm

  If you are looking for a great bargain check this out at Fons and Porter.  Kits for our best selling I DO and Sweet Melissa are currently available in the fabrics shown: I Do for $92.00 Sweet Melissa for $85.60 Be sure and check out our new pattern store while you are here.  The store has all kinds of bells & whistles that we didn't have before like how many views a particular pattern receives...City Park and 'I Do' are having a race as to which is your favorite...which would you choose? Happy Wednesday! Cherri

• Lizzy's Parade

  Lizzy House

  24 Oct 2009 | 8:27 pm

   Have you seen the new Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts Winter 2009?  If not, you should check it out!  On page 74 you will see Lizzy's Parade.  I thought it the perfect title for a quilt featuring "flags" from Lizzy's Red Letter Day fabric.  On a personal note, I can't adequately express the joy I feel in creating a quilt with my daughter's fabric...truly a dream come true!  It's one of those strange occurrence that instead of it being a dream in the far off distant; maybe never to happen future, it is happening now - and it is as wonderful as I imagined; which is also a sweet surprise!

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  Red Fish Circle

• Morning Visitor

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:46 am

  So as I am stepping out of the shower this morning, I notice something very large scoot past outside the window.... and it was this beautiful buck that found his way into my front yard. I quickly got it together to snap some pix of my morning visitor. What a lovely way to start the day.

• Always Better in Person

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:22 am

  I received my samples of the All My Heart collection - it is always a rush to feel the fabrics and see the colors in person vs. on the web. They are so much more vibrant and rich than photos do justice. Here are some random pix I shot including the lemon colorway of the hearts in circles print. I hope you enjoy the fabrics. Stay tuned for a fun give away - I am a bit snowed under with projects, but I hope to do it before the holidays.

• KooKoo for Kokko

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:32 am

  Please pardon my current obsession. There is fun, there is good, and there is even great, but then there is inspired. I am crazy about Nani Iro, designer for Kokka textiles.Here are some favorites:

• Art Prints

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am

  I have re introduced an art print section in my Etsy shop with some of my favorite images.

• The winners are....

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:50 am

  The three winners of copies of "the War of Art" (picked randomly) are:1. ninaseven2. jess gonacha swift3. jacquieI will contact you individually to let you know. Congratulations!!

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  Candle Lite Quilter

• Giveaways Galore!

  6 Nov 2009 | 8:19 am

  There are some great give-aways going on out there and below are 2 of them. This month is my Blogiversary so hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have a give-away for that, but in the meantime, be sure to check out the below give-aways! Quilt Hollow is having an awesome give-away! Make sure you stop by and join in on the fun! Sunflower Quilts is having a Blogiversary Giveaway! Look at the wonderful items she's giving away! Be sure to check out her blog and sign up!! Oh, and one more thing ... check out the yummy cookies Amanda has on her blog...they look so good! I am soooo glad it's Friday…

• Something Accomplished :O)

  5 Nov 2009 | 10:29 am

  I'm on my way!!! The Door Mouse is open until 8 on Wednesday's, so I ran over there last night, bought my thread, bought fabric for my November Schnibble and bought some green fabric to make the Trees On The Table topper. On my way home I picked up a pizza for dinner ... it was 7 o'clock and we usually eat earlier, but that worked...came home, ate and got to sewing. Put the binding on 4 of the pumpkin toppers and am excited they are done! Here is a cute picture of them washed and crinkley :O) Once I sat down i made an agenda in my head of what all i am going to accomplish this weekend and can…

• Just My Luck!

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am

  Have you ever had one of those nights when you just know you should have sat on the couch with a bottle of wine or pitcher of margaritas and just watch a good movie?!?! Well, i think that is the night i should have had! Don't get me wrong, i did get alot done, but i had such big plans for this evening and it bit me! I wanted to get 4 of the pumpkin toppers quilted and bound and was on my way ... when i only had 2 more lines to quilt with the orange thread and I RAN OUT! UGH! So i thought no problem, i'll just get the binding made for all 4 and i can get the 3 bound that i did get quilted ...

• Ho Hum

  3 Nov 2009 | 10:39 am

  Hi Everyone! I'm still here! just nothing to report. i have done absolutely NOTHING in the last week. So last night when hubby went to work i sandwiched, quilted and bound a table topper and then i sandwiched and pinned 4 of the pumpkin toppers so that tonight i can quilt and bind them. then this afternoon my quilter lady called to tell me she had some stuff for me, so i can go get that and put the binding on that this week too. I feel like i have a lot to do, but nothing too exciting. OH! the Schnibbles for November is out and it is called Picnic. I haven't decided what i'm going to do it…

• No More Pumpkins!

  25 Oct 2009 | 2:46 pm

  So...ya think i like the table topper/runner from Green Fairy Quilts???? Obviously this is what I did this weekend!

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  Contemporary Traditions

• Be Attitudes

  28 Oct 2009 | 5:44 am

  One of my customers brought this quilt to me for quilting . It is called the Be Attitudes quilt and comes from Art to Heart. I love the quilt so much I bought the book and started on a couple of the blocks in my spare time. Enjoy the photos…     

• Kaleidoscope in Greens and Purples

  19 Oct 2009 | 4:57 am

  I quilted this top for the local quilt shop. Isn’t it lovely? I like how the top seems to sparkle with all of the different colors and values. I quilted continuous cures in the center using light and dark green threads. The light green border has hibiscus-like flowers in it.

• Eye Candy

  1 Oct 2009 | 4:24 am

  I have some eye candy to share with you, but first I want to post a link to an interesting news article I read. In studying the History of Art I've always wondered why it is so many of the Masters were so disturbed, or disturbing (Van Gogh, Picasso, and others). Is the disturbing aspect what made them Masters or did being a Master make them disturbing? Or is it just that their disturbing work

• Civil War Sampler

  22 Sep 2009 | 3:59 am

  I recently finished quilting this Civil War Sampler for a friend. Isn’t it lovely?   I quilted a Baptist Fan on it using Signature 100% Cotton thread.

• Rain Lilies

  2 Sep 2009 | 5:01 am

  My yard is sprinkled with Rain Lilies this week. Rain Lilies lie dormant for most of the year below the grass. A few days after a rain they appear like magic. The blossoms open slowly at dusk, gradually expanding during the night to appear in full flower the next morning. Both the rain and the lilies are welcome sights here in San Antonio.

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  Quilting with the Past

• Elk Rapids Gwen Marston part 2

  15 Oct 2009 | 10:41 am

  A highlight for me this trip was to meet Nancy Ray. Nancy is the owner of the antique tulip quilt I was inspired by to make my own version. It is published in Gwen's book Liberated String Quilts. Nancy went to Gwen's retreat the week before I came. She stayed a few days longer just to meet me, how lucky was I? She wanted to meet me and showed me the original quilt. It was so special to see them together. Unfortunately I can show you a little peek of them together becuase some of the pictures will be hopefully published in Quiltmania march issue. My quilt will be published with a pattern.

• Elk Rapids Gwen Marston part 1

  14 Oct 2009 | 2:02 am

  Some of you already knew where I was last week. I was at the GWEN MARSTON'S QUIlT RETREAT!!!! Yeahh, what a thrill. I'm dealing with a jetlag right now and my mind is so full with all my experiences. I went with Isabeau, Joes and Bonnie.It was beautiful up there in Michigan. The trees are turning in so many colors this week. I will share you pictures from the area I tookThis is the view from the condo we rented.and this was outside of the studioSome pictures on the road to Charlevoix. It was raining that day.We saw a few lovely old one room schoolhouses just like in the little house on the…

• What’s left to do is wash...

  7 Sep 2009 | 12:21 am

  This weekend I finished my doll quilt. Everytime when I quilt a top to me it starts coming alive! Especially when a quilt isn't very scrappy like this one or an Amish quilt.For quilting I used a flower template I had in my closet. I like using templates for my quilting. They are easy to use. I love the way the darker binding gives the quilt a bolder look. It was a good choice for my quilt.Now I need to wash the quilt to get that feel and look of an old well loved doll quilt.Lucy

• Windmills

  31 Aug 2009 | 12:23 am

  Look what I made in one evening, a doll quilt! I love to sew small quilts. They go together quickly and helps you learn what fabrics work together. I wanted to make a quilt that was not so scrappy and busy. Now that the top is finished I think it is too neat, too controlled, not so my style! I think it will look better after it is hand quilted and washed and dried in the dryer. I'm hoping that the handquilting and the dryer will give the antique look I love.Lucy

• Jacob's Ladder

  12 Aug 2009 | 12:48 am

  It has been a long time since I posted.Gré Koopman, the shopowner of De Sampler(where I work and teach), my boss passed away. She had been fighting for cancer for a short year. Till the last moment she was so positive and tried to go to the shop everyday she could. I will miss her. Our summerbreak is over. The kids are going back to school next week. I had no luck this summer. I'm dealing for three weeks with a terrible infection which even brought me to hospital for a few days. I'm feeling better now so time for me to sew again :-) I started a Jacob's ladder. Love the antique feel of it.

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  Barn Quilt Memories

• Share your news...

  2 Nov 2009 | 3:09 am

  I have been spending much of my time dealing with family issues, but continue to search for Barn Quilt (Quilt Barn, Quilt Trail), news...This coming Saturday (November 7), the Quilt Trails of Western North Carolina will sponser it's first Quilt Trail Road Rally. The object is to connect 15 Barn Quilts with the least mileage. Proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.Truman, Minnesota (Martin County), repotedly has a Quilt Trail, but I am not sure how many there are, or if a map is available.The Wardsville (Ontario, Canada) Community Association has plans for a Quilt Trail, but there does not seem…

• Grand Traverse County, Mi

  27 Oct 2009 | 12:40 pm

  Several months ago, I mentioned what was going on around Traverse City, Michigan. Read about their Quilt Trail (below). I am adding Grand Traverse County to the sidebar. Part of the county is also known as the Old Mission Peninsula. For much more information on all of these barns, refer to the book BARNS OF OLD MISSION PENINSULA AND THEIR STORIES, written by Evelyn Johnson.You can get more information by visiting: http://www.barnsofoldmission.com/ or http://mibarn.net/Events/QuiltBarnsofOldMissionPeninsula.htmlMike Norton has written the following for the Traverse City Convention &…

• I do have roots in South Carolina, and now...

  24 Oct 2009 | 4:59 am

  Oconee Heritage Quilt TrailSouth CarolinaText below is from: http://www.oconeeheritagequilttrail.com/The Blue Ridge Arts Council is taking the lead in bringing the National Quilt Trail to South Carolina. The Quilt Trail began in 2001 in Ohio when Donna Sue Groves installed a painted quilt design on her barn to honor her mother, a fifth generation Appalachian quilter. From that simple act, the project has spread to more than 2,000 colorfully painted quilt designs on barns and other structures in twenty-four states.The popularity of the quilt square design trails has grown as communities see…

• Ar, Randolph County

  21 Oct 2009 | 12:54 pm

  I have added Randolph County, Arkansas to the sidebar...

• McDowell County, NC

  14 Oct 2009 | 10:47 am

  Another North Carolina county (McDowell), has created (work in process), a Quilt Trail. Anyone interested in creating their own Quilt Trail might enjoy checking out their blog at: http://mcdowellquilttrail.org/ . They have a good start. I certainly hope that they have a warm place to paint this winter. I have added a link to their web-site on the Barn Quilt Memories side bar...Also read: The McDowell News Published: August 31, 2009

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  Art and Quilts, cogitations thereon

• The Length of the Stitches

  Elizabeth Barton

  6 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm

    My quilt show opened at Campus Gate Gallery, Young Harris, Ga last night with banjo music (as appropriate to the setting!).   Many local visitors, college faculty and students came – including the ex poet laureate of Georgia (I’d love to think she rushed back home and composed a poem about the quilts!) and the president of the college – a nice honour.   It’s great to have quilts recognized as a real art form -worth visiting and respecting.  Of course the students came because it would help their grades!!  Good to think that art quilts help grades –…

• Solo Show

  Elizabeth Barton

  4 Nov 2009 | 7:08 am

  You are all invited! I'm having a solo show - approximately 25 quilts - at the Campus Gate Gallery at Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA. The opening is on Thursday night: November 5th - Guy Fawkes day! I sure hope my quilts sparkle! Yesterday I drove upto Young Harris through the Smoky Mountains and it is a gorgeous time of year up here - oranges, golds and reds with a misty blue background. Nature does a good job with her split complementary colour schemes!Take it from Ma Nature every time!It's always a little nervewracking taking quilts to a show - not every gallery person understands…

• The teacher returns and looks back…

  Elizabeth Barton

  1 Nov 2009 | 8:39 am

  It’s always fascinating how much a group of quilters can bond in a workshop and how you miss everyone (for a while!) when you get home.  I always long to know “the end of the story” so I’m hoping that all the ladies who participated in the Hudson River Valley workshop I just taught will send me pictures of their finished pieces. (hint!). It was an excellent week with everyone making distinctly different work from very abstract to very literal, from graphic to mysterious to meditative.  Here are the pieces…some pinned together tops ready for stitching when the quilters get…

• Hudson River Valley

  Elizabeth Barton

  23 Oct 2009 | 9:22 am

  I’m going to be away next week teaching a workshop at The Greenville Arms in the Hudson River Valley.  I’ve heard so much about this venue from other teachers that I think it’s going to be a great week especially since I just discovered – reading about them online – that they are also the Chocolate Center of the World!!  since as we all know chocolate is one of the Most beneficial medicines there is, it’s going to be a healthy week too. And, a little known fact about me is that I worked for a year after leaving high school in a chocolate factory! Unfortunately they…

• Work to please yourself

  Elizabeth Barton

  21 Oct 2009 | 4:03 pm

    I was reading about the Canadian painter A C Leighton (1901-1965) and some of the advice he gave other painters many years ago and I felt it strongly applied to art quilts. He emphasized that the true artist should really be working to please one person only: him or herself. This is difficult to follow when you are not sure whether or not you’re making the right decisions in a piece.   I don’t think that you can always “trust yourself” if you don’t have the skills and information but, once you have some basic knowledge…or, know where to get it then Please…

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  Sunrise Quilt Studio

• Color Play

  3 Nov 2009 | 1:53 pm

  While on vacation at the beach last month, DD's and I did some painting with water colors one rainy day. These photos are some of what I painted. They are lessons out of "Color and Composition" by Katie Pasquini Masopust & Brett Barker. It was an exercise in non-representational design using a triadic color scheme. I made 3 paintings using a different triadic color scheme in each one.Of course, these exercises were to be done with fabric, but I didn't have any with me. Watercolors was the best option at the time. I didn't take a lot of time with these either, so they are pretty loose. It…

• Machine Embroidery

  2 Nov 2009 | 5:55 am

  Isn't this gorgeous! This is a machine embroidered customer quilt that I finished on Saturday. I can only imagine the number of hours the customer put into creating this quilt top. It just blows me away!

• Quilter's Tools & My History of Quilting

  29 Oct 2009 | 8:09 am

  These are my new PrismaColor colored pencils. I decided to add to my collection and purchased an array of purples, 2 greens, a light blue, and a yellow ochre. I'm going to continue to work on the flower sampler from earlier this week. This purchase got me to thinking about the tools quilters use now-a-days as opposed to what my grandmother used. The tools we have access to as quilters today are endless. I think about how my Grandmother quilted with just a needle, thimble, thread and a wooden quilt frame, and using pieces of cardboard for templates and a pencil for tracing them as well as…

• Coloring on Fabric

  26 Oct 2009 | 7:24 am

  Last week I bought 2 sets of fabric markers and finally got around to trying them out yesterday. I pulled out a Dover copyright-free coloring book and traced the pages onto a piece of white muslin with the black marker.  These are "FabricMate" markers and they work well putting down the color without bleeding. They dry fast which is good to prevent smearing.This flower was done primarily with the FabricMate markers. It gives a different look than what I was looking for, but I still like it. It's a bit more of an animated look. I added a bit of "Pentel Fabric Dye Sticks" for the yellow…

• My First Quilting With the Retro-Fit

  20 Oct 2009 | 8:42 am

  Here is a photo of the first quilting I did with my newly retro-fitted Gammill Classic Plus. I put some muslin on the machine and drew some borders and blocks with a water soluble pen. Once I started quilting I realized that the verticle and horizontal channel locks would do a much better job at quilting straight, parallel lines than what I could do with a ruler and pen. So, away I went!The feathers quilted up smoothly, too. It is so much easier to backtrack now that I can slow down in those places. I still need practice to get used to the way this machine quilts and moves, though.Part…

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  Susie Can Stitch

• Kawung Style Embroidery

  3 Nov 2009 | 6:35 am

  I reviewed Dritz Mark-B-Gone Marking Pens for Craft Critique. Click HERE to read my article.I also finished my last stitching for my Tea Towel Tour swap at Craftster. Click HERE to see our gallery. Find the "See Images Only" tab to edit out the chit-chat.Kitten Wrangler indicated that she was interested in traditional Indonesian design so I did some research. I found mostly batik designs, but a motif I thought would translate to embroidery was this style of interlocking circles called "Kawung".It is a beautiful loose weave linen cloth, so the circles came out very slightly wonky. Batik motifs…

• Halloween: The Aftermath

  2 Nov 2009 | 2:03 pm

  It was cold here! My son has decided that he is too old to trick-or-treat, so he stayed in and handled the door while we watched a "scary" movie. (Poltergeist made him jump a couple times, but he declares he wasn't scared t all.)Lots of people were out-of-town, and we live on the side of the street that gets less trick-or-treaters. I have never ever had an impolite kid come to the door. My husband took my daughter around and it seems she knows every kid in the neighborhood. She's our little extrovert in an introverted family! I let her design our doorway display. Her costume is a vampire bat…

• Happy Hallowen!

  31 Oct 2009 | 8:19 am

  Have any of you noticed that completely new movies are running on cable TV? This excellent horror film House of the Devil was on one of my HD channels this week. It was very creepy. I didn't know it was a new film until I looked it up on IMDB. It faithfully recreates the feeling of the "girl in peril" films of the early 1980's. The suspense got to me. I was watching it alone when everyone was asleep and I kept having to switch on the guide to minimize the picture to get some relief.My husband and I watched this classic The Devil Doll this week. It was good! Lionel Barrymore cross-dresses to…

• Felt S'more Needlebook

  27 Oct 2009 | 12:09 pm

  These are some needlebooks I made for a beginning Brownie Troop. Their leader contacted me and since it happens that she is from my hometown and these Brownies go to my very own elementary school, I took on the project.I used that Ecofelt which is made from recycled soda bottles. I also machine stitched the components because it went a lot faster and I had only a few days to finish them.They each have a chocolate colored monogram. The closed needlebook can also be used as a pincushion.These were fun to make! I have a couple left that just need to be handstitched together.

• Flirty Taco Chips

  16 Oct 2009 | 6:45 am

  These are the flirty taco chips I stitched up for ritapizza in our Tea Towel Tour on Craftster. This is a pattern by Jacque Davis that she made available free in the Hoop Love group on Flickr. Get it HERE. They are bathing in guacamole. I decided that if Rita doesn't like guacamole, then it is spinach dip. Rita reports that she does like guacamole so all is good! I used chain stitch throughout, except on the eyes and boys' faces. The chain stitch gives the ladies puffed up collagen lips which I like (in stitching, not in real life..)Here in Chicagoland we have the best, most delicious corn…

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  The Quilter

• A Christmas Wish

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:29 pm

  I know I haven't said anything about working on this Gail Pan design but here it is in flimsy form. Originally, it had nine blocks, but I wanted a table topper for the antique chest that is used as a coffee table in my home. To do that, I needed one more block. It wasn't hard to design one more, can you find the additional block*? The hard part was deciding on a word that fit right in with the rest of the blocks. Without any additional borders, this is a perfect size for that chest. Now to sandwich it and get it quilted -- maybe in time for Christmas? *grin* But if I don't, then that's okay…

• A Quilting Tip

  30 Oct 2009 | 6:00 am

  Here's a quick tip for you. I wanted to do some wavy line quilting on the borders of a quilt and I needed to keep them parallel. So I took a hint from the long arm quilters and used a small ruler. To keep it from slipping on the fabric I sprayed the bottom of the ruler with some Sulky KK 2000. Voilá! No slippage and nice straight  parallel wavy lines.

• Talk about a giveaway

  28 Oct 2009 | 3:41 pm

  Jackie, at Canton Village has a supurb giveaway going on right now! Hop over there and sign up 'cause everybody deserves a chance to win.

• Declutter and UFOs

  28 Oct 2009 | 5:00 am

  Believe it or not, both decluttering and UFOs go hand in hand. In an effort to free up some space in the yarn stash so the yarn garnered at the yard sale could be added, two completed baby afghans (one for a preemie) came to light. So  a pile of Project Linus quilts and blankets was created.Then a there was the light bulb *AHA* moment from several weeks ago. Have you seen these Skillbuilder Panels? Both of these were quilted, a fleece layer was added to the back to cover the printing and the whole thing was tied. To bind them, the fleece was pulled from the back to the front, a…

• Honestly, I was not planning to buy

  26 Oct 2009 | 5:00 am

  ...but it was a fiber related yard sale. I actually showed remarkable restraint. Only 20 fat quarters. (Amy, do you have that cat fabric on the top, it is an Alexander Henry?) I had only planned on picking up some acrylic yarn (if there was some) for Project Linus afghans. That I got. I thought the white in the bag on the right was acrylic until I got it home and realized there were 5 skeins of Lamb's Pride Worsted. The real score was the blue/purple that you can barely see: 12 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky SuperWash. After a bit of research I found that that yarn was originally $120 -- I got…

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  Giraffe Dreams

• Coming Up on 700

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:37 am

  image is from University of New MexicoNo, 700 is not my age! But, I am coming up on Post #700 very soon! Watch for a modest give-away as soon as I hit 700.

• Dona Nobis Pacem

  5 Nov 2009 | 7:47 am

  Today is Blog Blast for Peace day. Check here to see other blogs who are participating.I want to give credit for my boost in inner peace to the wonderful book group to which I belong at my church. We have read many books about faith and spiritualtiy. All the discussion and friendly support in the group has helped me immensely. My faith has definitely been strengthened, and my determination to live a spiritual and peace-inducing life has blossomed. I have new-found joy in my inner and outer relationship with God and with life in general. And I hope to continue seeking, learning, and…

• Move-In Accomplished

  4 Nov 2009 | 8:24 pm

  Many hands pitched in to get parents-in-law moved into their new digs. It rained, but that didn't hinder us. We started yesterday, late afternoon; Charles and I didn't get home 'til 10:30 p.m.! We were tired today, and I should have been smart and gone to bed early tonight, but here I am still up at 10:30 again. *yawn!* tight fit.. but they made it dinner break... Jimmy Johns sandwiches assembling the new bed frameHappy New Home!

• IBOL Guy Marches On

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:35 pm

  Remember IBOL guy? While in Iraq he collected fabric bundles (Iraqi Bundles of Love) to deliver to sewing groups and individiuals in Iraq... his way of showing a little love and creating peace, one person and one bundle at a time.IBOL guy is home now, and he has registered for a walk to support Juvenile Diabetes research. Check out his pledge page. He had to declare a pledge goal, so guess what he did.. he used the final number of IBOL bundles he received in Iraq: 3445. And he's counting on the continued generosity of fabric and yarn enthusiasts to help him reach his goal. Want to join in the…

• Haunted House Horrors

  31 Oct 2009 | 10:17 pm

  Muhahaha! Doesn't this Halloween House looked terrifying under the full moon and all?? Seen at this house on Halloween night were witches, slashers, princesses, ghosts, bunnies, monks, and the Statue of Liberty. Eeeeek!

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  Third Girl From the Right

• The Best Laid Plans

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:51 am

  Okay, I admit it, the garage sale did not happen. Instead of doing something new I reverted to my usual modus operandi with one small twist. I gave stuff away to family and friends, sold a couple of big ticket items through craigslist and word of mouth, and I've started listing things on freecycle again.Oh how I love freecycle. I figure that anyone who is willing to take the Subway, walk or ride their bike across to town to pick up one or two Piano Primers deserves them! There have been two small disappointments on the road to decluttering. We have each discovered that our treasures are not…

• Giving Thanks and Giving Back Garage Sale Saturday October 10th

  26 Sep 2009 | 6:31 am

  As we prepare to move into our new home, and as we enter the season of Thanksgiving we realize that we are blessed by an overabundance of possessions. For a number of years our "Family Charity" has been the Therapeutic Clown Program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, fondly referred to as Sick Kids. To quote Flylady we are going to Bless our home by getting rid of the things we don't need and Bless the Therapeutic Clowns by donating all the proceeds to their program.Please consider digging through your closets and storerooms to help make this event a huge success. Contributions of…

• Celebrating Mishpochah

  11 Sep 2009 | 6:30 am

  I was so touched and proud to hear that my beloved Auntie Eleanor has been reading and enjoying my blog. When one sends these rambling thoughts out into the ether there is no knowing who (if anyone) will show up. What a wonderful word mishpochah is. I love the fact that there are a dozen different spellings, just as there are dozens of different ways people can be connected to you to count as part of your mishpochah.Yesterday I attended the funeral of my cousin's cousin's mother. My Dad's sister's SIL. A woman who proudly laughed back in 1982 that her BIL's, BIL's, BIL's BIL and her BIL's,…

• I Must Be A Gemini

  26 Aug 2009 | 2:29 am

  My interests shift and change. Gardening got me through last summer,designing and making charity quilts and Judaica was my passion over the winter. And now I am obsessed by tables, couches and colour as we prepare to move to our new home. Our lifetime home. The house is beautiful and old with a rich history (fitting since one of the present owners is named Rich). I'm told that the house was originally built on spec for Lawren Harris I feel a responsibility to the house and to my family to make it lovely and welcoming. A simple colour scheme, comfortable furniture, a hidy hole for each of us…

• Artists For Change

  17 Jun 2009 | 11:55 am

  I just joined Artists For Change a Kiva lending team.You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going. The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions…

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  Wild Thread Studio Art Quilts

• 3 Nov 2009 | 4:14 am

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:14 am

  I dyed this small piece of cotton cloth over the weekend too. It's about 8x10" and was just the piece of cloth I used to experiment with. Sometimes the rag cloth becomes a ragged treasure.

• 2 Nov 2009 | 4:14 am

  2 Nov 2009 | 4:14 am

  This is a piece of silk cloth with dyed with breakdown printing, silk screening and overdyeing. Do you see the egg? It's about 20x20" so a nice larger size. I think I'm going leave it as a whole cloth piece and add stitching and enhancements.

• 31 Oct 2009 | 5:26 am

  31 Oct 2009 | 5:26 am

  It evolved over the week. Now off to prepare some dye paste screens for breakdown printing on the gorgeous silk cloth that arrived a few days ago. And, I guess, some housework needs to be done. We're having a bunch of people over for dinner next Saturday. I need a full week to prepare for this....must remember to make lists....must remember to give some of the lists to Steve (he's such a good sport)....must remember the wine...lots of wine.

• 24 Oct 2009 | 10:57 am

  24 Oct 2009 | 10:57 am

  What better to do with a rainy Saturday than ART? The photo doesn't do this justice. It's filled with layers, textures and depth. Anyhoo...I might - just might - clean the kitchen now or - maybe, just maybe - finish a pastel painting I started on Thursday night.

• 22 Oct 2009 | 4:28 am

  22 Oct 2009 | 4:28 am

  Ok...sooooo...most people wouldn't look at this and say "that's Steve" (husband person) but it does bear a resemblance to him...if I do say so myself. I plan to try drawing everyday since I've now committed (hear that, Melanie?) to hanging at least 15 pieces of art on a gallery wall in March. What made me willing to get off the fence and commit was when the gallery director told me she would be thrilled with acrylic abstracts and textile art in addition to some pastel paintings. A complete multi media show - just the thing for this woman who has difficulty committing to any one thing.....

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  Art-Quilt-Works

• My day didn't go as I had

  5 Nov 2009 | 5:09 pm

  thought it would when I put my feet on the floor first thing this morning. I had planned to do more dye painting today, in fact I thought that I would get most of the background done, but NO.I went to the lake to walk as usual and was for the second day detoured to a different pathway because there was a large crew of workers in the park moving about like industrious ants setting up the Holiday decorations. One part of the pathway around the lake when completed will give you the impression of walking down lollipop lane.CUTE... There will be lighted figures afloat on the lake as well. I have…

• Day three and

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:49 pm

  this is what it looks like today. It is not necessarily as I imagined initially.The additional flowers on the right side makes it more balanced. I had thought about and wrote in my journal that I would try for a grayed blue/purple color for the background, but just could not make myself go that blah, especially when the sun was shining and the sky outside my window was so clearly blue today. The piece as pictures measures 45 square inches and will more likely than not finish about three inches smaller, width and height after quilting and the edges are finished with a facing. Will let you know…

• Moving right along

  3 Nov 2009 | 4:29 pm

  with my current work at a good pace. Having allowed time for the dye paint to dye to the touch, I began to section off the background in preparation for painting additional painting tomorrow. When that was done, I took a good look and decided that the composition needed more flowers so I drew one and a part of one on the right side and will get them dye painted tomorrow in addition to getting quite a bit of the background done on the left side where the dye paint will be dry and not subject to being influenced by the background color. I am not sure what color the background will be at this…

• Flowers real and imagined

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:44 pm

  As I began painting my newest composition it dawned on me that the colors I was mixing and using were very close to the colors of the flowers I currently have in my apartment. I got a lot done today and I am feeling quite pleased with my progress. Will give you another quilt dye painting update tomorrow evening. I could have done more, but stopped for an early dinner and then I went to the quilt guild meeting. Again thanks to the GPS I found the meeting place and returned home without a problem, Quilt guilds and guild meeting have not changed and this one moved along just as I remembered. The…

• Today I had a quiltingly great day

  1 Nov 2009 | 5:58 pm

  that really got started yesterday when I went in search of a quilt shop that as it turns out is not that far away. Actually closer to me than JoAnn's. The store carries more than cottons for quilters, it is a multi-sewer's small paradise. For those of you in Louisville, it is a Baer's on one level with multiple rooms off the main and had a little of everthing that made Baer's the place to go in its time. (Home dec, bridal, fashion wear, patterns, craft). I found them because I was searching for Mettler's and/or Aurifil thread. Over the phone they said they carried Mettler's, and they do, but…

• 
  Barbara Strobel Lardon

• ....and it goes on!

  6 Nov 2009 | 11:15 am

  "The Swing" is no. 21."Sunset in the Birches" is no. 22"The Shore" in No. 23 The comment from my art director was this looked too lonely so Iam thinking of what I can add to eliminate that feeling. Any ideas?"Harvest Moon" is No. 24. It is on my design wall now and I am trying to decide if it is finished. The quilting will add some texture and furrows to the foreground so I think I am finished with it.Four more to go and still some bindings and sleeves to put on plus all the labels and more hanging rods to make.I feel confident I will make it on my deadline now and that takes away much of the…

• Changes - Continuation - New Direction

  26 Oct 2009 | 4:32 pm

  It has been a while since I posted. In those weeks I finished No.17 "The Trellis" which is inmy two colors of slate blue and yellow. The trellis is self created and the flowers and birds are broderie perse. It was a lot of quilting and doing the small meandering stitch almost drove me crazy but I got it done.The art director I am working with decided we needed to change directions now. She wanted more abstract quilts. In some ways it was a relief as I was beginning to burn out on mother and children themes. So I made "Sprigs" and quilted it today, No. 18.Then i designed "A River Runs Through…

• No. 16 - "The Fawn"

  16 Oct 2009 | 12:01 pm

  I was not going to post this one since the photo turned out horrible, but since I have the time right now I did it anyway. It is really dark in this photo where in reality it is much brighter.The border is a slate blue and there is seafoam, lavender, yellow in this. At least you can see the composition. I will retake the photo and post it at the end of this series when I show the entire 28 with bindings added.

• No. 15 - The Guiding Lights

  16 Oct 2009 | 11:54 am

  Here is No. 15 - "The Guiding Lights". I have almost finished quilting it.Got a bit behind because before all this started, I had planned a weekend at the Lake for my husband's surprise 70th birthday Party. I rented a beautiful house on Powers Lake and all the "kids" and their husbands/boyfriends, two of our 7 Grandchildren all got there early andloaded up the frig as well as decorated. Bob and I went down there on the pretense that I was taking him for an overnite and dinner. It was quite the surprise for him since two of our daughters live in Indiana and we do not see them as often as we…

• No. 14 - "Little Flowers on the Prairie"

  13 Oct 2009 | 8:30 am

  Publish PostFinished "Little Flowers On The Prairie" this morning.It has brown eyed susans, purple cone flowers, and phlox included in it.This is No. 14 of my 28. I am at the half way point.

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  Art @ The Hermitage

• Roses Still Going Strong...

  15 Oct 2009 | 5:22 pm

  In spite of the constantly changing weather in recent weeks, including that bucket-brigade style deluge earlier this week, my roses seem happier than ever, and are starting to bloom all over again. Many of them are full of new buds, and I need to get out and groom them to make way for new blooms. Here are three of them showing off:New DayFalling In LoveChris Evert

• Goodbye, Emma...

  11 Oct 2009 | 8:19 pm

  Emma Allebes, one of my favorite people, crossed over last week. Emma was a woman of extraordinary talent and creativity in the fabric art world. She made some of the most wonderful quilts and wearable art I've ever seen - colorful, imaginative, flamboyant, sometimes silly, always excellently crafted, and, most definitely, never boring! I met her many years ago when I was just a novice at art quilting, and used to attend quarterly meetings of the NorCal SAQA group. I've been unable to attend the meetings for quite a while, and have missed the group very much - the inspiration I got from…

• 25 against 1 - and guess who's ahead?

  5 Oct 2009 | 11:58 pm

  We have a mouse living in our kitchen and one would think, with twenty three cats and 2 humans, the mouse wouldn't last long... but it's been three days and Ms/Mr. Mouse is still running the show. The cats have practically destroyed the kitchen - knocking stuff off the counters, breaking dishes, burrowing under small appliances, rummaging in cupboards, ripping up plastic bags. Still the mouse endures. The two humans have set up the Tin Cat and loaded it with a big, yummy dollop of peanut butter and some cat kibble, but so far it hasn't had any affect on the mouse, although the cats sure are…

• Mmmmm... Something new to try

  4 Oct 2009 | 5:44 pm

  I really like black-eyed peas, and always look forward to New Year's Day when I prepare a giant pot of Hoppin' John, with lots of onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes and a fistful of bacon ends - enough to have for a half dozen dinners during the first couple of weeks of January, when the cold weather makes them taste sooooo good! Occasionally, during the summertime, I'll whip up a batch of black-eye salad, when the rest of the family gets tired of potato salad (me?... I NEVER get tired of potato salad...!) However, I've never prepared (or even seen) FRESH black-eyed peas before last Wednesday…

• Chaos in the guise of improvement...

  30 Sep 2009 | 3:18 pm

  It's difficult to believe things could get more chaotic around here than they've been for the last few months, but this week we've managed to make it so. We've been having some major dry rot and termite repair work done to the front of the studio house, and the bamming and slamming and hideous noises of hammers, saws and power tools has been driving us, and the cats, bonkers. The smell of fresh paint and various other noxious sealing and anti-vermin potions has only added to our despair. Fortunately, the work will be finished by this evening, and, after cleaning up tomorrow morning, things…

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  Artwork by Jamie Fingal

• Inspiration

  4 Nov 2009 | 10:26 pm

  Ceiling of a pool houseInteresting angle of these trees in Lithia Park, Ashland, OregonLove the contrast of this tree taken at Pelton House in Ashland, OregonGardens at Stanford Inn by the Sea in Mendocino, CAPeace sign drawn in the sand

• Work in Progress

  1 Nov 2009 | 10:29 am

  I am working at home this weekend on my large ironing board that can be lowered down so I can sit in a chair! My process of working on a piece is to sew the zippers in first and then proceed. I am going to take a risk. I decided to do some of the Mistyfusing first. All of the sections have been cut to allow for the zippersI am not sure how much designing I will do before I sew the zippers in?Gasp! I may wait until all of the free-motion machine quilting is done and then sew the zippers in place. That is the beauty of my work - daring myself to be different! Maybe it will be a growth…

• 500 Art Quilts by Lark Books

  24 Oct 2009 | 2:06 pm

  My art quilt "Living Out Loud" will be in this book!An Inspiring Collection of Contemporary Work; a beautiful new addition to the successful series; A vibrant and growing community of crafters has embraced quilting, and this outstanding international collection will inspire and captivate them. Juried by Karey Bresenhan, one of the most prominent figures in quilting, it presents 500 magnificent contemporary art quilts, made in fabric and other media, and showcasing diverse designs, materials, and techniques. From their very inception, these quilts were destined for display rather than…

• People at Festival in Houston

  17 Oct 2009 | 7:15 pm

  Make It University - Melly Mells Testa, Leslie Tucker Jenison, me, Judy Perez and Pokey BoltonMelly Mells Testa in Open Studiosme and Leslie Tucker JenisonSAQA President Lisa Chipetine in the SAQA booth holding the new and fabulous Portfolio 16Heidi Lund and Maggie WinfieldJudy Coates Perez in MIU's Open StudiosJane Davila and Susan Brubaker KnappCarol Sinnreich, Rachel Parris and me at the Alliance for American Quilts receptionme and Sherry Boram (we finally had a chance to meet each other!)

• Late Night PJ Parties!

  16 Oct 2009 | 2:18 pm

  Gesso'd canvas on the floor - in the midst of free-form painting with acrylic paints; ready to paint are Leslie Tucker Jenison, Frances Holliday Alford, Rachel Parris, Judy and Nina Perez and meJudy and Nina Perez working on one sideWe started on a table, so we could stand up - by drawing with Sharpie'sThe paints are all lined up, and some of them glow in the dark!Painting has now moved to the floor, and we're switching it around, so the same person does not work on a section for too long.It is coming togetherOn Saturday night, a few more people join the party to paint!Barb Forrester and Barb…

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  Me & My Quilts

• Furry Friday

  6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am

  MIL's china cabinet has been moved to our house to store/display some of my quilts. The furniture was originally dark wood, later antiqued with 60s burnt orange, and finally painted this age-yellowed cream. The glass doors have been stored and, at some point, we'll move the cabinet outside so that it can be re-painted (color to be chosen after we live with it for a while). My original plan was to remove the lower doors and also have quilts in the bottom section, but I'm not so sure we want to create a cozy kitty-nest. Look up on the balcony . . . do you see him? That's Rufus in full…

• Thinking Thursday

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:00 am

  "The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself." (Alan Alda)"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." (Albert Einstein)"The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the…

• Checking In ...

  2 Nov 2009 | 7:30 am

  Time to check in and let ya'll know that I'm still here . . .September and October were a blur of emotions and activity ~ there was SO much going on and things have changed so very much. Trick or Treat time has come and gone and now it is November. The leaves have turned all shades of glorious colors and are beginning to fall off the trees, the clocks have all been changed, and the mornings are chilly (in the 40s). Our area was blessed with two beautiful sunny days over the weekend and today the sun is out again (after so many dark gray rainy days, we're most grateful).I've started hand…

• Resting Spot

  26 Oct 2009 | 6:30 pm

  Given that there's very little quilty going on these days and ya'll are likely to get pretty tired of random kitty photos (they really are taking up a great deal of time these days), there will be far fewer posts than normal in the coming weeks.I have a new hand quilting project (40" x 50") to work on in between everything else and I may pop in here or there with comments or an occasional post so I'm not leaving, just resting for a bit.So much to ponder . . . Quiltdivajulie--------------------"The pause - that impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence,…

• Furry Friday - Pay It Forward

  23 Oct 2009 | 7:00 am

  I actually spent some time in my studio Thursday evening. It was the first time since Rufus has come to live with us ~ and oh, my ~ he is retraining me in a hurry! Funny boy ... so curious ... He's working hard to live up to his new title of Assistant Quality Control Manager (Angel will forever retain her position as QC Manager). He's discovered the windowsill . . . And he's discovered the table for my original machine ... this is his "keeping an eye on the arrival of another kitty" pose.I did my small part to help keep USPS in business this week. MIL's hearing aids and stash of replacement…

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  About.com Quilting

• Scrappy Basket Quilt Blocks

  6 Nov 2009 | 12:30 am

  Quick pieced half square triangle units make up the majority of this scrappy basket quilt block, with rectangles and single triangles completing the mix. The block goes together quickly and pieces are small enough to cut from patches in your scrap bin. © Janet WickellScrappy Basket Quilt Blocks originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 08:30:40.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• Baby Chains Baby Quilt Pattern

  4 Nov 2009 | 1:40 am

  I received lots of positive emails in my response to the question, would you like a baby quilt version of the Cozy Chains quilt. So here it is. Called Baby Chains, the quilt is made with 6" square blocks (half the size of the original) and finishes at 36" x 48" with a border, or 30" x 42" if you omit the border. I see several more of my larger quilt patterns that could be converted to baby quilts, and might spend a bit of time working on that.Baby Chains Baby Quilt Pattern originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 09:40:20.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• Missouri Puzzle Quilt Pattern

  3 Nov 2009 | 7:45 am

  I'm from Missouri, so I wanted to write a pattern that shows off one of the blocks named to commemorate the state. This one is made with Missouri Puzzle, and is a square quilt with sashing and cornerstones between blocks. The blocks finish at 11-1/4" square and the quilt itself is about 66" x 66". I'm adding directions for a single 30" square Missouri Puzzle block, but have to run a few errands before I get that online. I've had requests for more big blocks, so watch for them throughout the year. You can use big blocks for wallhangings, table covers, (big) throw pillows, medallion centers or…

• Pretty in Pastels Baby Quilt

  2 Nov 2009 | 2:15 am

  Pretty in Pastels is a 30" x 42" baby quilt that's made entirely with the traditional Clay's Choice block. I felt that pastels suited the design, but you can change the quilt's character by working with vibrant colors. Place darks or very warms where my blues are, and then use cool colors for the outer squares of each block -- the design will shift significantly with those simple changes. Janet WickellPretty in Pastels Baby Quilt originally appeared on About.com Quilting on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:15:16.Permalink | Comment | Email this

• Cozy Chains Quilt Pattern

  29 Oct 2009 | 6:04 am

  Cozy Chains is a layout that's somewhat like last week's Easy Framed Nine-Patch Quilt. The two are made with different quilt blocks, but are similar in that the same block is used throughout each one (in two different colors to create definition where the blocks are sewn together). The Cozy Chains quilt has dark squares than run diagonally through all of the blocks, adding another bit of visual texture. Quilt blocks finish at 12-inches square, and the quilt measures 70" x 94". I included half-size blocks for the Framed Nine-Patch, and (if there's an interest) could add those instructions for…

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  Bunny Tales

• It’s Tisket A Tasket Day!

  Anne Sutton

  5 Nov 2009 | 12:01 am

  Were you expecting a turkey in the basket? Well here’s the problem…I can’t appliqué a cute turkey. At least not inside a basket. Just can’t do it. You’d be asking each other “what happened at Bunny Hill?”. So, because of my turkey problem, you get a squirrel in your basket! She’s a staple here at Bunny Hill. I’ve used her in several other patterns, and there’s no doubt you’ll be seeing her again. She’s got a bushy tail and she’s plump. Pleasingly plump! And the best thing is, she’s EASY to appliqué! If you read my newsletter this morning, you already know about…

• Diversions

  Anne Sutton

  3 Nov 2009 | 11:10 am

  November has arrived can you believe it?  I’m a few days late, but I just turned over the calendar to November and let out a gasp.  It’s a short month, made even shorter with Thanksgiving.  Christmas is barreling at us full force! Are you ready? When I get too busy with projects, I have a tendency to wander off for a bit and create diversions. A really bad habit, and I admit, part of my character.  I was thinking about the newsletter I have to write, the projects I should be working on and instead,  I picked up the camera and took few shots in the studio. …

• Orange toenails

  Anne Sutton

  31 Oct 2009 | 10:36 am

  Roxie is our neighbor’s dog.  She’s a love.  Even Chelsea thinks so. Chelsea watches from the studio window and not once has Chelsea barked at Roxie.   Roxie passes all the “Chelsea” tests.  Roxie also has orange toenails… and a “bad dog” hat.  Chelsea wanted one too when she saw Roxies’s hat. She gave us the “look” we can’t resist. So Ross went on the hunt to find her a bad dog hat.  Well, when he got there, the cupboards were bare, and so the poor dog had… …A spider collar?  We’re kidding right?  Nope! I promised next…

• Gift of Words

  Anne Sutton

  29 Oct 2009 | 3:25 pm

  If, as wee babes, we could each select our own special attributes, I would have chosen the gift of words.  The ability to write what we want to say with eloquent, flowing words.  Priceless! Now, please don’t get me wrong,  I don’t think I’m “horrible” at writing, but I really have to work at it. I write and then re-write everything.  And, then sometimes I go back and write it again!  If you have a blog you probably know what I mean.  It’s not easy.  Unless you have the “gift”. As I read the article written by Patience Brewster, in the current…

• Studio Stage One

  Anne Sutton

  27 Oct 2009 | 6:27 am

  Often when you change one thing it has a tornado effect.  While I was at quilt market my husband, Ross, built IKEA cubby shelves in the studio closet.   Building shelves in a closet = chaos.  Everything has to come out. Everything!  Remember that built in ironing board I had in the closet?  It’s now sitting in the center of the studio.  Hard to iron when it folds down to the floor.    And the cabinets that were calling the closet home?  They made their grand entrance into the studio and are now sitting in front of the bookshelves. …

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  Thimbleanna

• Just Playin’ Around

  Thimbleanna

  6 Nov 2009 | 7:24 pm

  A few weeks ago, I won an adorable brooch kit from Dear Fii. It arrived a few days ago and I couldn’t wait to sew all the buttons on my little kit. Looking at the picture of my brooch, I realize that a) I need more practice to become as good as Dear Fii, and b) my brooch needs one more button there in the middle, to cover up that little gap. It was super fun to sew this little brooch together. Thanks Fiona – I just love it and it will look so pretty on my winter coat! Speaking of winter (oh, wasn’t that a sad segue?), I always want to knit more in winter. No time lately to…

• November Already!

  Thimbleanna

  2 Nov 2009 | 8:23 pm

  Kind of scary, huh? Did you all have a good weekend? It was very busy here and I had a great weekend! I even got a new blog banner done — extra special for my QueenNagger (with the spiffy new blog banner herself!)  Bye, Bye Coneflowers! And just to clarify, that is not photoshop, those are REAL thimblecorns! My weekend consisted of Cleaning: (Especially the dungeon where I had a big bag of walnut shells that I use for pincushion stuffing and I didn’t want it to spill all over, so I got a new jar and scoop to hold it all. It sits on my cutting table and I love it!) Sewing: (We…

• October Book Group

  Thimbleanna

  30 Oct 2009 | 10:38 am

  Last night was my turn for our monthly book group, which means it’s been a busy week in ThimbleannaLand. Our book discussion was The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Definitely not a fan favorite. As I heard one member put it, “That’s a few wasted hours of my life that I wish I had back.”  I think the general consensus was that her writing was beautiful, but the story was awful. My table setting was pretty simple. On Barefoot Contessa this week, I heard Ina say that when people start talking about tablescapes it makes her crazy. My sentiments exactly! A pretty centerpiece…

• A Late Night Post

  Thimbleanna

  26 Oct 2009 | 11:20 pm

  Hello. Did ya miss me? Shhhh. I’m whispering, ’cause it’s really late here, and I’m sneaking my sins from the day into the house. I’ve been off for an overnight visit to TheFirstChild and SweetiePie.  I barely saw TheFirstChild — he’s been working so hard studying and it’s a big test week, so he was very busy.  SweetiePie and I, on the other hand, got into a bit of trouble. We had a great time shopping — a few quilt shops, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, etc — all the fun shops we don’t have here.  We were well behaved…

• Candy Corn, Pranks, and a Quilt Frame

  Thimbleanna

  22 Oct 2009 | 6:08 pm

  Otherwise titled, three random items: One. Fall is definitely here in ThimbleannaLand.  Although we didn’t really have much of a summer this year, it seems as though we’ve jumped from warm weather, right into the chilly stuff.  We’re in for several days of drizzly, rainy days.  That means the start of yummy oatmeal breakfasts.  And it’s October, so forget the raisins and bring on the candy corn! Two. If you’ve been a reader very long, you know how much I love a good prank.  I love to laugh and make merry — I feel that Laughter truly IS the best…

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  crazy mom quilts

• ready or not

  5 Nov 2009 | 6:36 am

  Today's the day! I fly out to Colorado for the retreat this evening. I've worked very hard over the past month and a half getting samples ready and preparing for my classes, so I think I'm ready. I'm quite excited!! Be prepared for quilt overload when I get back. :)After looking at the stack, I DO use a lot of white in my quilts. Oh, my.

• three!

  2 Nov 2009 | 9:09 am

  Today my little blog turns 3 years old!!! It's hard to believe it's been that long already. Then again, I can barely remember my pre-blog days, as it has become such a part of my life. As I was thinking of what I could do to celebrate, I decided to do a giveaway, as is a common blog custom. But, I'm going to switch it up a bit. Instead of picking a random winner, I decided that I would be giving away three quilts to Margaret's Hope Chest in honor of my 3rd blog birthday. (I also have 3 children, so it seems fitting to send 3.) I know I have written about this before, but Margaret's Hope Chest…

• discharging fabric

  29 Oct 2009 | 3:55 pm

  I've been doing a little playing with discharging fabric, which is just a fancy way of saying I threw some of my fabric into bleach water. I would love to try to dye fabrics someday, but for now, this is a good experiment to tide me over. It's pretty fun.After discharging on the left, originals on the rightFrom what I've found, the best candidates are high quality fabric. The cheap stuff seems to just get ruined. I chose some fabric that I had scraps of that the color was a bit challenging to work with. A trip through the bleach water yielded good results. At least on these.left-discharged,…

• spare change

  28 Oct 2009 | 8:11 am

  This is a coin quilt that I made with the leftovers from the filmstrip quilt. The fabric is Nouveau from Moda. I used an IKEA sheet for the sashing. Sheets are perfect for a quilt like this because you need long pieces, so if you cut it right, no piecing strips! It's so handy. I do love the way the sheets shrink up and crinkle, too. Although if you are making a bed sized quilt, it works well if you remember to add a few inches to the overall size ahead of time. Don't ask me how I know. :)For the back, I used half of a duvet cover, also from IKEA. Yes, I'm a junkie! Isn't that a great pattern?

• mini quilt monday

  26 Oct 2009 | 1:13 pm

  tiny ticker tape quilt, 16" x 20"and it's for my girl. :)the cradle was a $1.oo garage sale find this past summer.and this is what happens after washing.there is something so satisfying about using up every last bit of fabric. (each piece measures about 1" x 2".) i think i could make about 100 of these.if you are interested in making one of these yourself, there is a little tutorial here.

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  Don't Look Now

• Joseph's Coat - Placement of applique shapes & finishing your block

  Kellie

  6 Nov 2009 | 6:55 am

  Now this is the fun part! Grab a cuppa, your petal shapes, a 12" square of your background fabric, glue stick, applique pins, needle (size 11 straw), threads, scissors, a light box ... if you have one ... and lets go! Placement of your applique shapes ... You will need to position the placement guide, that you made in step one, on a flat, firm surface where you can place your background fabric over it and still see your placement makings through the fabric. Obviously, the easiest way to do this is by using a light box but if you don't have one there are other ways to do…

• Joseph's Coat - Cutting your fabric & making your applique shapes

  Kellie

  3 Nov 2009 | 3:05 am

  So are we having fun yet???? I am purposefully dragging this out a little as so that I can organise a bit of a head-start ... I have managed to finish off 7 blocks ... which will hopefully give me a good buffer should the wheels fall off while we are making this quilt!!! I have had a couple of questions already about cutting such large expanses of fabric ... don't fret too much ... I can't cut a straight line to save myself!!!! The cuts that we make in the background fabric don't need to be precise you wont be piecing these squares! Providing you…

• Joseph's Coat - Drafting your block, creating a placement guide & template shape

  Kellie

  31 Oct 2009 | 10:38 pm

  Drafting the block... Go make yourself a cup of tea or a glass of wine, get comfortable and take some deep calming breaths ... this part of the project is going to involve a little geometry ..... You are going to need a sheet of paper about 22" square ... join together some smaller sheets if you have to. I suggested using A3 sized paper ... for those of you who aren't familiar with A3 paper ... it is twice the size of an A4 sheet of paper ... does that help? ;) Which ever way you manage to come up with your big piece of paper to draft your pattern onto is really irrelevant ....

• A weekend in Hettie's Patch!

  Kellie

  28 Oct 2009 | 7:18 am

  But first the giveaway winners ... Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers:191 62 107 179 164 Timestamp: 2009-10-26 14:59:48 UTC So these are the names that go with the numbers ..... Sylvia from Sylvia Stitch (62) Jeannet from Serendipidy Designs (107) Blogless Dianne left the 164th comment Blogless Lyn Smith left the 179th comment & Blogless Lisa left the 191st comment Oh so frustrating ... so what to do about the other two parts of the giveaway? ..... I collected the emails that were sent to me telling me of their link to the ppost and pulled out ....

• Bugger.....

  Kellie

  26 Oct 2009 | 7:01 am

  In my haste to list the requirements list for the quilt along, so that you would all have ample time to get prepared, I have managed to list the incorrect Floriani product ..... the product you need is actually .... Stitch & Wash Fusible I am so sorry about this! Honestly you could not be more pissed off with me as I am with myself right now!   I have now corrected this in the requirements list. I'll be back on Wednesday with the winners of the giveaway.    Kellie

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  DreamWeaver's Quilts Quilt Epiphany Blog

• AQS Quilt Expo wrap up

  Nadine

  4 Nov 2009 | 5:35 am

  Wow—what a bad blogger I have been! Time has gotten away from me, and ten whole days have gone by without a blog post, though I won’t admit to being a complete lazy slacker since there were extenuating (and exhausting) circumstances to contend with. And now that I’m home there’s so much to tell, I’m left wondering exactly where to start! I headed toward Des Moines, Iowa for the AQS Quilt Expo on Monday, 26 October after visiting with family in Nevada and Utah since leaving Quilt Festival in Houston. I say “headed toward” since of course, American…

• Machine Quilting–Master the Basics Online Workshop

  Nadine

  4 Nov 2009 | 1:59 am

  Just a quick note to let you know that I’ll be teaching Machine Quilting—Master the Basics at Quilt Campus starting this Saturday! This is a great beginning machine quilting workshop that you can take online from your own sewing studio. The workshop is presented in four lessons over four weeks, with plenty of opportunities for discussion and feedback with your fellow students and me in the online forum! See more about the workshop on the Workshops page, and then visit the registration page at Quilt Campus to sign up now! Stay tuned for a post filled with info and FUN about the Des…

• See you at the AQS Quilt Expo Des Moines!

  Nadine

  24 Oct 2009 | 4:05 pm

  For the last week, I’ve been visiting family in the States, since I didn’t go all the way back to Germany between Quilt Market/Festival in Houston and the AQS Quilt Expo Des Moines. I’ve been at my parents house relaxing for the last few days after visiting with my uncle and aunt the weekend before. Believe me, the peace and quiet has been sorely needed after the craziness and constant activity of Quilt Market, and I might finally be over the jet lag! But I’ll be back on a plane on Monday headed for Des Moines! Will you be at the AQS Quilt Expo in Des Moines? I’d…

• The Business End of Quilt Market

  Nadine

  23 Oct 2009 | 8:04 pm

  The rest of Quilt Market and Festival was about the same as the first parts: crazy busy! A few of the goings on: More book signings and demos at the AQS booth and also at Petersen-Arne (a large quilting supplies distributor). Again, lots of excited quilt shop owners and managers took home free copies of Inchie Quilts, and placed orders for the book and the InchieSee & InchieDo Viewer Tool & Ruler Set, so don’t be surprised if you see Inchie Quilts at a local quilt shop near you very soon! I chatted with Doug Kreinik of Kreinik Manufacturing Co. about creating some custom…

• Quilt Market Report: Book Signings and Dinner with Moda

  Nadine

  21 Oct 2009 | 6:49 pm

  After I managed to get through the Schoolhouse presentation and the vidcasting on Friday, Saturday was a bit easier. On Saturday morning, I was scheduled for a demo and book signing at the AQS booth, and AQS very generously provided many copies of Inchie Quilts for me to sign and give away to shop owners attending Quilt Market. I visited with a number of excited shop owners and managers and introduced them to Inchie Quilts, so you can look forward to seeing Inchie Quilts and the InchieSee & InchieDo Viewer Tool & Ruler Set at a shop near you! AQS had scheduled me for another lovely…