Hello all, Mary Ellen here.

The demo night at guild last month was a success as always. My only wish is that there would be a way for those who are demonstrating could visit the other tables and see what other fun things are being shared. As Roxie announced, I will be sharing more Christmas ideas here on the blog to continue with the Christmas in July theme. Can you believe that on some of the radio stations they are already doing a countdown of the shopping days left?!! No wonder the holiday has become so commercialized.  This first link I’m sharing is one of my go-to’s for free Christmas patterns of all kinds. There are ideas for quilting, sewing, crocheting, knitting, cooking…  If you like the idea, you can sign up to get e-mail notifications from them, but that is not a requirement at all. Try them out here.

Today I’m going to be working on a basket from the ladies at Aunties Two Patterns. Previously I  made a beach tote of theirs, and a similar smaller scale purse. Both were fun to make, and garnered compliments when I’ve used them. The basket will be for a series of Christmas demos at a local shop, but it will come home to my house when the demos are finished. I can confidently recommend the patterns from Aunties Two. I find them to be well written, with plenty of photos accompanying the directions. Not all pattern companies do a good job with the technical writing. Don’t you hate it when there are omissions or errors in the directions that you have to sort out?

(Pausing here for real life … several days go by …. humming Jeopardy theme to self)

Now here is a goldmine of patterns from Ruby McKim. Ruby was designing stitchery and pieced quilt patterns actively in the 20’s and 30’s. Those of you who are fans of redwork quilts are probably familiar with some of her designs, even if you did not know the designer’s name. Many of the antique redwork or penny square quilts still around are stitched from Ruby’s designs. I found this link at a member’s (Karen G.) Facebook page. In addition to all the patterns there is a section at the end of the “book” of patterns that were for sale with their prices. It’s fun to see what those cost back in the day. Amazing actually. click here

Spent the day at Fantasy Island with the kids yesterday. Back to the sewing machine today. Continuing on the basket I mentioned earlier in the post. The weaving will begin today!

TTFN!