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January 4, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I never thought I would get hooked on a soap opera. Resisted watching this one until pressure from friends forced me to check out an episode. Got hooked right away. You know which one I’m speaking of, I’ll bet. Yep, Downton Abbey. Can’t wait for the new season to begin, and it’s almost upon us. If you’re a fan as well, there are so many videos all over YouTube lately leading up to the first episode. Here’s one I found fun. So how about you? Are you hooked too? (Keep an eye out, but I’m fairly certain there will be no quilt sightings in any of the episodes. Quilts are probably too common-not posh enough!) If I find that there are lots of Downton Abbey addicts among us, I can add a category to this blog for us to use this season to make “discussion” […]
January 2, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Got my sewing/crafting room straightened up and somewhat clean today. Starting fresh for 2013. Changed the blades on all of my rotary cutters. I always write the date on one side of the blade when I put a new one in. In a few weeks or months, depending on how much I use them, I will clean the blade, add a drop of sewing machine oil and flip it over. I write the date on the other side then. I can get awhile longer out of it usually. But it doesn’t pay to be stingy on those blades. A sharp blade can make a lot of difference in your cutting accuracy, and will reduce some strain on your wrist. I see many quilters in my classes using the smaller diameter blades. If you do a lot of cutting, consider moving up to the largest diameter. […]
January 1, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Are you one who makes resolutions each year? I used to be such, but didn’t usually follow through very well. I have good intentions, but… In the latest newsletter from Superior Threads, in my inbox this morning, Mother Superior gives a suggested list of resolutions which I think I will give a try. Some I do already, which cuts the list down from its ten. And others I’d like to push myself to try. I’m including her list here, with a few annotations from me. See what you think. 1. I will read my machine’s Owner’s Manual. If it puts you to sleep, at least read the Tension chapter. If you do not have the Owner’s Manual, go to Google and type in “machine brand, model number, owner’s manual” and you should find it online. 2. I will use a thread I have never used […]
December 30, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen back again. In yesterday’s post I mentioned I’m going to make some tote bags for my organizational “system”. In my e-mail today I got a link to a video from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. If you haven’t watched any of her videos, make that a resolution for this year. You will love Jenny Doan, the hostess, who has such a nice way about her and her wonderful ideas. In the video today she shows an easy way to make three totebags from one charm pack. Yep, that’s right-three!!!! Granted they’re not big bags, but the “pattern” can easily be modified to be wider or taller or both. The general procedure, which she explains very clearly, is so simple. Sometimes Jenny plays fast and loose with some of “the rules” of quilting, but that’s okay by me. She makes it fun, and gives great ideas. Most […]
December 29, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It’s approaching that time again-the time for goals for the new year. In addition to the old standards-more exercise, less food, finish UFO’s, buy less fabric (actually this goal might be INSTEAD of the old standards!) I’m thinking about adding some new ones to my list. One of them is going to be to start diving into my increasing collections of selvages and make a few projects. I love every project I’ve ever made with selvages and I always get such nice comments when folks see them. Perhaps I’ll take some photos of a couple of them to show you (the ones I still have in my possession). I want to make another big tote bag-I find that I organize my “stuff” for classes and demos by the totebag system (each class or demo gets its own bag) and I could use a few more […]
December 20, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. By now I hope you are all in tune with our upcoming seminar instructor, Pat Sloan. You now perk up for her ads in magazines, have visited her blog, maybe listened to a podcast or two. Great! In 2014 we’ll be hosting another live wire in the quilting world, Bonnie Hunter. You may know I am a big fan of scrappy quilts, love this quote at Bonnie’s site: “If it’s still ugly, you just didn’t cut it small enough!!” She has been the force behind www.quiltville.com for some time now. Over at the Quilty Pleasures blog, from Quiltmaker magazine, Bonnie is featured today. Take a moment to “meet” another one of our instructors-to-be. There are links to her site and to her feature called Quiltcam. As you might expect, it’s a video cam in her studio which she will sometimes make live while she is […]
December 19, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Heard some amusing stories on the radio this morning about regifting mishaps. Perhaps some of you are using “regifting” as a way to cut down on shopping and spending. All of the callers seemed to be of the opinion that regifting is perfectly okay, as long as you don’t regift back to the original “gifter”. Aren’t quilts some of the original “regifts”? We often pass a quilt along to a family member or friend, or down the generations. Perhaps that falls into a different category. I have been regifting for years. I must say though, that I usually try to repackage the gift, or personalize it in some way before it moves on. Somehow just taking the gift and putting it into a different gift bag doesn’t feel quite right to me. In these days of recycling and reusing, I think regifting is just sensible. […]
December 18, 2012
Hello again, Mary Ellen back. Just checked the results of the Morton Masterpiece contest. Our member, Lauren DeVantier, won the viewer’s choice prize! CONGRATULATIONS! If you have seen her work, you know that this quilt is probably truly spectacular in person. I hope she’ll be able to share it with us soon-at least to have it hang in our next quilt show.
December 18, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I know that many of our members are big fans of Sue Nickels. She and her sister Pat Holly will be presenting a BOM over at the Quilt Show website, via the e-mail and blog. You do not need to be a paid member, I don’t think, since I’m not and have been receiving all the information about it. The quilt is called “The Two of Us”. As you would expect, it is a combination of wonderful piecing, lovely applique, and beautiful machine quilting. The quilt was shown at Houston this year. Here’s a link for some of the details. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
December 17, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. We’re in the home stretch now, ladies. Lots left to do, and not too much time in which to do it. Just finished another batch of cookies. I’m hoping to do a batch a day this week. (LOL) And I’m hoping not to eat too many of them before the big day. (LOL even louder) Mary D., one of our past guild presidents, shared this article with me. As you must know if you follow this blog, Pat Sloan is our next seminar national teacher. She is a big presence in the modern world of quilting. Here’s an article from the Sewing Savvy newsletter, helping us get to know her. Thanks, Mary! Back to the kitchen sink, the dinner in the microwave is calling, and I’ve got cookies to package up. TTFN.