Blog – Page 30 – Amherst Quilters Guild

May 10, 2014

quilts for the men in your life

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Quilts for guys. A continual puzzle. How do you find a quilt pattern that is manly but still fun to make? Is it possible to make a guy quilt without using camo fabric or tractors or muscle cars? Of course it is, but it ain’t easy!! Even the fabrics in most quilt shops are working against us–those gorgeous florals and prints are just too pretty for most men. It’s the time of year for graduation quilts. Quilts that can go into dorm rooms. I think Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company has come up with an easily made quilt that fits the bill. This one could go into a guy’s dorm room I think. The blue and white combo she uses is a classic, but of course any 2 color combination works. Even school colors-but some of those combos would be godawful–I’m thinking of […]

May 9, 2014

more about Bonnie

Hello all, Mary Ellen again. Bonnie Hunter, our fall seminar teacher, has been on the road quite a bit lately. I’ve subscribed to her blog feed and was so jealous of the seminar she gave at Mackinac Island. An absolutely gorgeous setting, both in the Grand Hotel (grand in every sense of the word), and the naturally grand setting around the island. I would love to go there. The seminar was actually a needlework seminar (not just quilting) so other needle arts were featured as well. I think I’ll put that one on my bucket list. Click here for one of her posts about the island. A while ago Bonnie filmed a segment with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims to be shown on their internet based The Quilt Show. Here’s a slide show of some of Bonnie’s bits. Click here. Registration for our seminar is going well. We have 2 […]

May 2, 2014

Maybe one of these…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. In my last post I wrote about a quilt I’d never make. In this one I’ll share some I might make. If you are a reader of the Fons and Porter magazine Love of Quilting you are familiar with the Pilgrim/Roy collection of quilts. There is an article each month about a quilt or two from that collection. If you’ll be in Boston this summer, you might want to make a stop at the exhibition described in the post at the link I’m including. It might even be worth a trip to Boston specifically to see these. click here If you know of places that quilters would enjoy visiting while vacationing this summer, please share! A road trip is always fun.

April 25, 2014

a quilt I will never make

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Every now and then I run across a quilt that I know I would never ever make. And here’s a clip featuring one of them. I like the original name for it: Insanity! I know that many traditionalists will absolutely love this quilt; we have a separate category in our guild shows for quilts of this type. I appreciate the workmanship, the precision, the patience but as I said…Insanity! click here

April 24, 2014

more morning thoughts

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Lovely sunny spring morning. Shh! don’t jinx it! Here in WNY we’re still in the “anything could happen” stage of weather. Was thinking about going out to get new sneakers today and came across this in my inbox. Love it! All of you zentangling ladies might like it too. click here Lovely idea here for coloring stitchery blocks. She has a free BOM quilt available too. click here Same woman’s site-great idea for a mother’s day gift, either the gift itself or its wrap. click here If you have an upcoming graduation or wedding for a social media junkie, then this hashtag block might be just what you need for the quilt you are going to make. (Don’t we always make quilts for those occasions?) click here

April 20, 2014

Rabittat

Happy Easter! Mary Ellen here. Perusing the internet for springy, Eastery,” bunnyish” things today as I enjoy my morning coffee. Found the picture above, the inspiration for this post, at Pinterest. The work looked a bit familiar so I chased down the originator of the stitching. Sometimes for no particular reason I like to go to Barnes and Noble and just browse for a few hours. I will often spend a bit of time in the children’s book section, especially enjoying those books that are richly illustrated. I think that is where I knew of this stitcher’s work. Perhaps you will recognize her style too. This is a link to a very short film about her work, with links to her own blog posts about the stages of the construction of Rabittat. click here. What beautiful work she does-and amazing to me-all by hand! Have a beautiful Easter everyone!

April 18, 2014

musing #2

It’s M.E. back again, I think I might be on my way to “Queen of the World” status! Any one out there also in the running?

April 18, 2014

musings…

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’ve been cleaning up a bit in the sewing room, adding larger and larger pieces to the scraps (because I have found someone to give them to who provides a good life for them…they actually end up in quilts). I’ve decided I may have an issue with the amount of fabric I have. Seriously am trying to cut back on new purchases. Maybe you can relate to this. Am I a hoarder or a collector or just way behind on my “to do” list of quilts?

April 16, 2014

Virtual visit to our quilt show

Hi everyone, well – WE DID IT! Show was wonderful, colorful, full of visitors, old and new friends, demos and shopping…well done Amherst Guild!! Special thanks go to our two show co-chairs – Kelly and Kit for all the hard work, as well as all and any committee chairs, volunteers and last minute, impromptu helpers – ALL together made yet another wonderful quilt show! I am almost sad that we need to wait for two years now! Ha, ha! Did you take lots of photos? If you want me to share them here, please, please email them to me and I will! Here are some of mine: we had our first participation of many members of new, WNY Modern Quilt Guild – thank you to all who entered their quilts! Our former president and friend Betty Lerner came to visit! Our hand-quilting experts at work: Cheryl’s quilt […]

April 11, 2014

This is it!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here! This is quilt show weekend here in Amherst. Hoping to see you out at the village from 10-4 today, tomorrow and/or Sunday. The quilt auction is at 3:00 Sunday afternoon. Saw them all at the preview party last night, and as always there are so many gorgeous quilts! Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village 3755 Tonawanda Creek Road (corner of New Road and Tonawanda Creek) Amherst, NY 716-689-1440 See you there! Come up and introduce yourself. I’ll be at the seminar table all day, each day.