February 2015 – Amherst Quilters Guild

February 24, 2015

how dedicated are you?

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Do you consider yourself to be a dedicated quilter? Every 2 years or so the organization Quilts in America funds a survey of quilters across the US to find what a dedicated quilter is about. I’m sure that manufacturers and retailers find this information useful in planning their focus. The amount of money spent on quilting is comparable to, (and I’ve heard but can’t find the citation for you) and has been at times more than, the money spent on golf! Have a look at this summary of the survey results to see where you fit. In many aspects, but not all, I fit the profile. My one concern about this, if you can call it that, is the average age of dedicated quilters. I won’t go into the math of averaging data, but it does tell us that we are an aging group. The […]

February 16, 2015

quilts in the snow

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’m sure that some of you have seen these photos before. Staring out the window this morning looking at bunny tracks in the snow brought them to mind. Our current weather would be great for this. Maybe one of you could go to the meadow in Delaware Park and produce one. Not me! click here.

February 14, 2015

Ya Gotta Have Heart

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Happy Valentine’s Day. With this weather it’s a great day to sit inside and quilt. I’ve done a little search for some heart quilts that could be quick and easy-although you probably won’t get them done today for this year’s holiday, they could be easily finished in time for some other occasion needing heartfelt wishes. log cabin heart (only 12 blocks): click here hearts and chevrons (uses only half square triangles and snowball corners, can easily reduce the number of each needed for a smaller quilt): click here pieced heart block (this is a 12″ block pattern, you can make just one for a small table mat or several for a baby quilt or more): click here Since we’re a bit of the way through February, those of us participating in the gifting challenge quilt-a-long should be on our 2nd quilty gift project. How are […]

February 5, 2015

Not happy with your work?

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. This clip that I am linking to below was shared by one of our guild members, Karen G., who is a blog reader as well. The clip is from Ira Glass, a commentator on NPR. He’s not talking about quilting per se, but about the creative process in general. Good counsel for all of us, I think. Thank you to Karen for sharing, click here