June 2012 – Amherst Quilters Guild

June 30, 2012

working out at the sewing machine

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Had my annual checkup this week, and got my annual advice about getting more exercise. As I decide annually, I will try to do more. (yah, right!) But to be honest I do notice that more than in my younger years, I feel tired and sometimes sore after a long session of stitching. Does that mean quilting is a workout? No, more likely pieces and parts are either suffering a bit from repetitive motion, or stiffening up from not enough motion. Recently on the Quilty video series (with Mary Fons, daughter of Marianne Fons of Fons and Porter fame) there was a video about stretching out before and after sewing. The nurse who was the guest gave several good ideas for quilters, many of which could easily be done right in your sewing chair. It would be good for all of us to take care […]

June 28, 2012

blog candy winner

Hey all, Mary Ellen here. Just got the random number to choose the blog candy winner from our little survey about sewing with shoes on or off. Yay! the number 7 comment wins. Send me an e-mail (address in guild roster) so we can arrange how I’ll get your prize to you.

June 25, 2012

reversible binding

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I dug out an old pattern the other day which I have made many times. It was designed by Karen Montgomery, famous for her runner from striped fabric which uses the 60 degree triangle ruler. The date on this pattern is 1992. On oldie but goodie for sure. It is a “quilt as you go runner” which ends up reversible, with two different triangle/strippy designs on either side. She puts on a regular binding made with a fabric that matches both sides. I want to put a reversible binding on it, made with 2 fabrics so the binding that shows on either side matches the fabrics on that side. I have done this before, using directions from Anita Murphy. I think Anita came up with the “quilt as you go” method WAY before anyone else did. The trouble is that most of her things are […]

June 24, 2012

on or off?

Hi, it’s ME. Let’s see if we can bring out a few comments from those who have been lurking around this blog. Don’t mean to offend anyone, lurking is the “blogger” term for reading but never commenting. I’m hoping this painless question will make it easy for you. No need to compose even a whole sentence. No spell checking, no grammar checking, easy peasy. Do you sew with your shoes on or off? A one word comment will be fine. Just scroll down a bit to where it says “leave a comment”. Click on that and a short message will appear. Below that will be a box that says enter comment. Click on that and type your answer. Thanks! Oh, BTW there will be a bit of blog candy for a name chosen at random from the list. You have until Wednesday at noon.

June 24, 2012

catching up

Hello everyone, Mary Ellen back again. Well this week kind of got away from me–haven’t posted in a while. I’m sure you all have had weeks like that too. Didn’t have much time to sit over my coffee and mull all the world’s problems, coming up with my solutions. “If I ruled the world,…” So what’s new everyone? I’ve been playing with my 60 degree triangle rulers this week. I have had the 8 1/2″ one for a long time–you know the one that makes that popular runner from a striped fabric. I have the larger one now also–it’s 12 1/2″ tall– and am exploring what it can do. Of course one could just repeat the tricks the smaller ruler will do, but I’m trying to find some others as well. I’m doing demos on this ruler this week and want to have some new things to share. Have you […]

June 20, 2012

antique quilt patterns

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I have admired antique quilts for years. Our family has a few, and I own two. One was made for me before I was born, and sadly I must admit that is enough to make it antique. It’s a very simple polka dot quilt. My great-grandmother had set herself a goal to make a quilt for each of her great-grandchildren. Mine is the last one she finished. The second is an Iris applique quilt that the same great-grandmother made for my mom to celebrate her 16th birthday. In our family quilts were used, not saved. Sadly this iris quilt is in bad shape. The edges are so tattered that there is no saving them-and there are irises appliqued all along the edges. The center of the quilt is a large iris medallion. I have been searching for the pattern and designer of this quilt for […]

June 19, 2012

sew and tell Friday

Hello all, ME back again. A while ago I shared how Marija and I have decided to make sure that posts go up regularly by giving ourselves assignments. My assigned day is Friday and I was looking for a catchy name for it. Came across this name (above) at another blogger’s site. This morning I listened to another podcast from Pat Sloan. (If you haven’t tried them yet, I still encourage you to give it a whirl. They’re free and can be listened to on your phone or mp3 whenever you wish, or via your computer. Gotta be better than listening to regular talk radio!) When the dog and I returned home from our walk, I went to her website to see what she had up for today. It’s an interview with a quilter I had never heard of–and will be going back to visit again and again. Here’s a […]

June 18, 2012

bits and bobbles

Hello all, Mary Ellen back again. Hope you had a great weekend. Fathers’ Day was super for all of you? Another excuse, if you need one, for getting together with all the family. Perhaps not quite as fussy a day as the celebrations in May for moms. Dads are more BBQ, boats and beer than cake, curls and champagne–at least mine anyway. Wrote last week about Liberty cottons coming out with quilting weight fabrics-to be released here in the US in the fall. Lets nominate a local shop and all start lobbying for the shop to carry Liberty. What do you think? I found the Liberty boards at Pinterest this morning. Some gorgeous projects to be found there, and inspiration for all fabrics, not just Liberty. The various fabric flower uses of Liberty are very pretty, I think. Do you own a dresden plate template? Maybe you purchased the Darlene […]

June 15, 2012

rainbow ripple

Hello all, ME here. Kind of sounds like an ice cream flavor, doesn’t it? It’s actually a great bright quilt. Shows how the humble half square triangle and solid fabrics can be made into a wowser of a quilt. I’m always looking for more ways to quilt with my walking foot and I appreciated the close up of the quilting. I get so many questions from quilters at the shop about ways to quilt other than free motioning. (Is that a word?) I keep a collection of quilting designs that could be done with a walking foot-some photos, some sketches, some my own ideas, some CASED* from magazines and quilt shows. There certainly are so many that one needn’t stay in the ditch-that’s actually harder to do accurately anyway. Does anyone know of a quilt shop in the area that has a nice selection of solids like the ones used […]

June 12, 2012

Quiltspirations – in several sense of the word

Hi everyone, I just had to share this quick – Quiltspirations is a new, looks-like-fun game fro us quilters, from designer Ebony Love (up and coming designer and long arm quilter with great ideas!). I saw a post about it on Facebook, that led me to the Moda Fabrics blog that explains somewhat what it is, althought I think all the details and possibilities are still to be determined. Do you think we need this for the Guild? Sound like that to me! 🙂 I just got information form Ebony on both, how to order it on-line and how our local quilt shops can order it too – yay! I like the word Quiltspirations. It came to my attention today quite serendipitously it seems – I just finished last night and posted today on my blog something that could definitely be described by that word! In trying to “come back” […]