Blog – Page 28 – Amherst Quilters Guild

August 24, 2014

just because

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. We’ve all been seeing bits about the Ice Bucket Challenge everywhere in the news of late. Do you know who Lou Gehrig is? I come from a family where my sister is nuts over baseball. She requested a trip to Fenway Park for her honeymoon! My grandfather got her started as a Red Sox Fan as a tiny tyke and she’s still one today. We always had baseball on the tv or radio through the season each year. Although Lou played for the Yankees, he was one of the players that all true baseball fans admire. Even if you’re not a baseball fan yourself, if you are aware of youth baseball programs because of a child in your life, I’m certain you’ve heard the name Lou Gehrig mentioned. It’s the 75th anniversary (July 4, 1939) of Lou Gehrig’s speech about his “bad break”. I’m sharing […]

August 23, 2014

bits and piecing

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Heading off for an eye exam shortly. It’s getting harder and harder to thread those darn needles! I’m sure many of you can relate. I think I am going to graduate from drug store readers to a real pair of glasses. (Of course, maybe not, when I hear the price tag info!) As I kill a few minutes surfing around the internet I’m sharing the sites for fun things I find. Huge button art for your sewing room wall (It’s DIY so you can keep the price in check. Would make a great gift too for any seamstress friend.) click here Clever way to take simple scraps and Christmas ornaments up a notch. If you have some kid’s craft foam around the house from other projects, you’re all set. click here From one of my favorite sources for classy free patterns, a twenty-minute tote! They […]

August 18, 2014

the old ways…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Visited Bonnie Hunter’s site this morning. Found this link to a clip about making scissors by hand. Would love a pair of these! Click here. Bonnie is just home from a recent quilters’ trip to Great Britain. That girl sure gets around–she’s home right now, but before she comes to us in mid September, she’ll be spending time in Alaska teaching. Weaving modern cloth on old looms (found in side bar at link above): click here Here’s a bit of trivia for you. The roots of modern-day computers are linked to weaving. Joseph Jacquard came up with a system of punched cards for weaving patterns which eventually inspired the binary code of ones and zeros representing the punched or unpunched holes in the cards. Those ones and zeros were linked to electronic circuitry being on (the one) or off (the zero). And the rest is […]

August 7, 2014

Bonnie H update

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. We spent time yesterday at the museum getting the mailing of supply lists, etc for this fall’s seminar all set. They will be going out in today’s mail. Please pass the word to your friends who do not have the internet that they should be expecting them in a day or two. We set a record this year–16 mailings going to Canada! Several all the way in Toronto! We sent to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Long Island… More than half are to non-members; many out of the immediate area. Must be the avid readers of Bonnie Hunter’s blog. Right now, as you know if you are one of her subscribers, Bonnie is in Great Britain-London for the past day or two! She really gets around. We have had a cancellation for a seat in her Crumb Piecing class. If you are interested, go to our guild page […]

August 3, 2014

back again

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. […]

July 31, 2014

Just a quick note…

Hi everyone, hope you still believe this is summer? Brrrr…a bit chilly I have to say, although I am really not complaining!! Some rain is always good for my sewing and cool nights are just wonderful to snuggle under the quilt and sleep well – nothing to complain about! 🙂 Today I am just popping my head in here during the lunch break to share few quick finds that I liked: Here is a lovely quilty quote for you – maybe framed and up on the sewing room wall? And as long as you are in your sewing room, how about busting that scrap basket by making a … SCRAP BASKET?? You will find a complete free pattern HERE. Did you notice how this year all the flowers in the garden kinda just “rush through”? They open to bloom, lovely for few days and – boom! – all gone! […]

July 24, 2014

Guild meeting Show and Tell

Hi everyone, I took me a while but finally getting around to post photos of our July’s meeting Show and tell! I don’t know about you, but I really LOVE meetings like we had in July – with fun demos! As much as I loved doing a demo, I would have loved to see the others too, but I hope you all had fun? If anyone needs any help with that Quick Curve Ruler or the pattern I showed – just let me know! Thinking of it now…I might do a quick “pictures tutorial” here, so you all have a “refresher” ?? What do you think – yes or no? Anyone already made a few Christmas projects after that? 🙂 He… he… I always, always say that I will start early but so far that didn’t happen much… Maybe this year? Well I will finish those Poinsettia pillows, so that […]

July 16, 2014

not quilting, but…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I hope your summer is going as well as mine is. Today’s weather (on the cool side for some) is glorious in my book–sunny, breezy, and temperate! This link is not strictly quilt related, but I think any of us who appreciates fiber art would love to come across something like this. Most of these are from sites in Europe; it seems European hazard fence is more grid-like than what we’d see here. Our chain links I thinkwe might say are more “on-point”! Wouldn’t it be great if this caught on among the craftsmen in our downtown areas? click here How is your summer stitching going? Are you more productive in the summer, or is it too hot to quilt?

July 11, 2014

Inspirations and tutorials

Hi everyone, hope your summer is going great! As much as summer is time for outdoors, I find that I also quilt a lot, maybe because days are longer? I find myself waking up at 4 am sometimes wondering…”is it too early to start my sewing machine?” ha ha! Hey, if it is, I can always cut, or sort fabric, or just daydream of another project… right? 🙂 As I still play with my friend’s Katarina new fabric collection (my last post), I wanted to share with you new Blog Hop party that started this week – many wonderful quilters are playing with these great fabrics and posting tutorials and free patterns! You will find the list of participants on Katarina’s blog HERE and yes, yours truly is there too (so excited!!). There is no definite schedule for this blog but there will be new posts almost every day. I started […]

July 3, 2014

On the edge…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’ve got my bin of selvages out and have been working on a tote bag design. I find playing with the selvages to be fun and relaxing. Really one can’t make an heirloom project (that’s not a challenge, anyone!) with selvages, so it’s not necessary to worry too much about perfect seams or colors matching just right. I ran across this post (click here) at Exuberant Color with great quilts using strips of varying widths. I think they could be great inspiration for selvages. Another idea for the bucket list is born. Here’s a link to a pretty stitched piece. Not too complicated and it’s “summery” looking to me. I love the dotted fabric as the fabric base. (click here) Time to get out your patriotic quilts. I leave them out for all of July (and sometimes August too if summer is busy!) How about […]