January 2013 – Amherst Quilters Guild

January 27, 2013

the power of a quilt

Hello again, Mary Ellen here. I’m not much of a baseball fan. I know just enough to keep up my end of a conversation about the generalities of the game. My sister, on the other hand, is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. Really, by her request, she and her husband went to Fenway Park for a game on their honeymoon. It’s a long story for her going back to playing checkers with our grandfather, while listening to the Red Sox on the radio. In the blog entry here, you can read about a quilt moving a tough baseball player, Joe Torre formerly manager of the NY Yankees, to tears. He sponsors a foundation to help at risk school children in NYC who are living surrounded by violence. As a thank you to him and in recognition of the 10 year anniversary of the foundation he sponsors, a group of […]

January 25, 2013

running smack dab into ugly

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I stole that title from the blog post I’m going to talk about. You know I like scrap quilts if you have read most of my blog posts here. There’s just something about the interplay of the colors and values, and I enjoy imagining where the fabrics came from. What is the story of the quilt? Even though I have made several, I’m not always happy with the colors in my own scrap quilts. I’m getting better, but I have a way to go yet. I’ve learned that smaller pieces are better. I like a quote I read at Bonnie Hunter’s blog (Bonnie will be our 2014 seminar national teacher) “If it’s still ugly, you haven’t cut it small enough.” Truly random placement of the colors works better for me than attempting to have a plan. (Very hard to do for a retired math teacher!) […]

January 24, 2013

The Wrath of the Crazy Quilt Ladies

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Found a video on YouTube by that name. It actually is from the New England Quilt Museum. A new intern there has made 2 videos about the museum, one serious and this one not so much. Is this what your relatives think about quilts? Check it out here. You’ll find a link to the serious video there as well. Enjoy!

January 22, 2013

Celebrate your local quilt shop!

Hi everyone, MIA-Marija here…finally!! Hope you are all doing great in this still somewhat NEW year and maybe even have a few resolutions intact? 🙂 Not the case with me, but hey – I didn’t even make any! Clever, huh? No not really, but I did declare to myself a “word-of-the-year” to be DISCIPLINE. Well…we can talk about this over pages and pages here, but that is for another time. Today, I want to tell you about much more important thing: Thursday, January 24th is National VISIT YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOP DAY!!! Yes, yes my friends – we need to go visit, shop, have fun – and it is all legitimate and justified!! YAY!! But wait – that is not all! Industrious, creative quilting community made it into a real, big, national party – there is a web-site , a Facebook page and even a great photo-contest for all of […]

January 20, 2013

getting craftsy

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Have you visited the Craftsy site? You really ought to. Although it is free to join, you don’t have to be a member to visit much of the site. There are all sorts of goodies to explore. As a crafting addict I have supplies for more crafts than I’ll ever be able to complete in several life times. I’ve tried so many things. I think I can name the crafts I have NOT tried in a shorter list–stained glass making, pen and ink drawing, sculpting, glass blowing … Right now at Craftsy I am taking an online class taught by Anita Grossman Solomon, who was our national seminar teacher last fall. I was only able to take one class of hers during seminar and I really enjoyed it. Haven’t finished the project of course. The block I made in seminar, the pineapple block, is one […]

January 17, 2013

scrap quilting

Hello all, Mary Ellen back. I love scrap quilts. I’ve made several-4 or 5 large ones, and many minis. I love the interplay of the seemingly unrelated patterns, the focus they put on values rather than individual fabrics. I can’t say where this interest comes from. Although I do come from a long line of needleworkers–my first quilt was made for me by my great-grandmother–all of those quilts in my background were planned fabric assortments. The really early ones are made of solids. The current episode on Quilters Newsletter TV (a free video compilation) is an interview with Pepper Cory about her feelings on the importance of scrap quilts in helping to maintain our history and quilting tradition. It’s about 10 minutes long. Pepper has been a “name” in quilting for quite some time. Back when I began quilting in earnest, in the 80’s, there were only a few “names” […]

January 16, 2013

a classy HST

Hello all, ME again. The half square triangle is really a quilting work horse. So many designs, from simple to complex, incorporate the HST. I ran across this idea today for taking your HSTs up a notch. It’s kind of like putting a piping or flange along that diagonal seam. This definitely is an idea to file away for future reference, but if you’re like me… don’t forget where you filed it! Here’s another classy HST. She calls it a cathedral window remix–let’s say it’s a hybrid of the two. Again an idea to remember for those times when you want to make a basic block look snazzy. It’s time for me to get off the computer and go get some work done. TTFN!

January 15, 2013

See the USA…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Wouldn’t a quilt like this be a fun group project? The next raffle quilt? No, I don’t think so! Read all about it at this blog. (Jan. 11 entry) I think this rainbow idea is very nice, but wouldn’t it also be fun to try to choose a fabric to represent each state? What would be good for NY? First thought was apples, or Statue of Liberty but those are more for New York City rather than the entire state. I suppose this idea might also be difficult to execute–getting enough contrast between bordering states. So many of the comments at the original blog post talked about making the quilt for kids-maybe this could become a quilt for courage kind of thing. Anyway, I love this quilt.

January 13, 2013

color of the year for 2013

Hello again, Mary Ellen back. As quilters we are surely in tune with the newest fabric colors each year. Even if we don’t buy a lot of new yardage, we enjoy going into the shops and looking at the latest fabrics. Here’s the color of the year for 2013: Emerald. “Lively. Radiant. Lush… A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony.” Whether you’ll see emerald in our stores soon probably depends on the store’s buyers and their inclination to jump in before the public reaction can be gauged. Those of you who frequently travel to the “big city”, like Toronto or NYC, have perhaps already seen Pantone’s influence. You might enjoy the slideshow at the Pantone site, which will show you all kinds of consumer goods in this new shade. If you visit other parts of their site, you will see how much […]

January 13, 2013

Quilting on TV

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Do you watch the PBS show Sewing with Nancy? I used to be a true follower, never missing or skipping an episode. I find that now I sometimes delete them from the DVR if I am not intrigued by the title. I’m glad I didn’t do that this week. Tula Pink is a self described hippie quilter. She’s one of those younger women who has, shall we say, a very free fashion sense. Kind of like the kids you see on Project Runway. Well Tula is the guest on Nancy’s show this week, and was in the first episode of the series last week. Her quilts are very modern looking, but are based on traditional blocks and techniques, granted very loosely based on them. As I watched the episode, I became intrigued with her houndstooth quilt and thought how tremendous it would look as a […]