August 2015

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. At the end of July I wrote 2 posts about Carol Bryer Fallert whose quilts and awards changed the trajectory of quilting. She gave machine quilting its stature in the quilting world, I feel. The quilting police were forced to recognize the skill and artistry that are required to quilt projects by machine, whether those machines are long arms, mid arms or, for most of us, our domestic machines. If you’re going to be in Massachusetts this fall you might want to visit the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts to see a retrospective of Carol’s work. What spectacular quilts you’d get to see; it might be worth making a special trip with this exhibition as your destination. Click here for details.

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Very short post. Look at these great shoes. Perfect for fabric fanatics, I think. Thanks to Cathy C. for this info. She saw them at the Lewiston Art Festival. Click here.

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I think we all know that most of us hope our quilts are priceless–that they are loved and treasured by those to whom we give them. But let’s be business women for a moment. Many quilters sell their work as their livelihood or to supplement the family’s income. What do you think is a fair price for a quilt? I have seen quilts that I felt were mispriced in both directions. I have seen work at some of the craft shows that abound in the pre-holiday season that I think are very overpriced. Cheap fabrics and poor workmanship give shoppers a false impression of the work that many quilters produce. On the other hand I have also seen many quilters grossly underprice their work-sometimes not even charging enough to pay themselves back for their materials, let alone their time and talent. Have a look at […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Are you also trying to squeeze a lot of summer into the little bit that remains before school starts again? Why do we do that, even when we aren’t going back to school? I will admit that when I was still teaching for my supper, I hated to see the first back to school ad-whether it was a print ad or on tv. They seemed to come earlier and earlier each summer. I would boycott that business for awhile in my own childish protest at summer’s speed in passing. Nowadays I like to comb the back to school ads looking for bargains on school supplies that I can re-purpose into my quilting. Sometimes the item will be a store’s loss leader and the savings will be phenomenal! I’ll list of few of my favorites for you. If you’ve heard any of my lectures, or taken […]