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December 15, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Just finished cleaning up the floor from the crunching sugar sprinkles left by cookie decorating helpers. Had a good time with them. Didn’t get a ton of cookies made, but made a memory instead. I’m happy with that. Here’s a musical treat for you. I love the Sugar Plum Fairy, and this is a different take on it. TTFN
December 13, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen back again. I’ll admit I took a gulp when I wrote that heading. As soon as we enter 2013 we will begin the process of preparing the seminar brochure. We have our one national teacher signed, Pat Sloan. This will be the first time, I believe, that there is only one national teacher. It will help us cut our expenses considerably-but the gamble is whether it will also cut our attendance. We certainly hope not! Pat is out and about in the quilting and sewing world, a definite presence on the internet, and a pattern and fabric designer. There is a brand new free pattern designed by Pat over at the moda bakeshop. I would love to see a bunch of Pat’s designs in a show and share during seminar. Our guild library has recently added some of her books, and she has many freebies available […]
December 11, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’ve spent some time over the past few days cleaning the bookshelves that hold all of my quilting and crafting books and “stuff”. I will be bringing the back issues of many magazines for auctioning in our January quilt buck auction. There are issues of American Patchwork and Quilting back to the first issue, if you want a piece of quilting history. Those are the only magazines I kept whole. For all of my other subscriptions, I tear out articles that seem interesting and file them in notebooks. I must admit I seldom go back to find patterns to be made, but I do peruse them for inspiration now and then. So many of the quilting magazines (and others) now have digital subscriptions available. I’m thinking about switching some of my subscriptions (I subscribe to LOTS of quilt magazines!) over. I wonder if I would […]
December 10, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I am ashamed of myself. When I looked at the date of my last post, I was surprised-and not pleasantly-at how long it has been. I’m going to work on that. Are you like me and hoping to get a few more hand-made gifts done before the big day comes? I have plans for a few more small gifts for neighbors, and am working on a quilt for my sister which is long overdue. Her softball team won the state championship in 2011, I collected signature blocks from all of her players and have been continuously moving the completion of her quilt to the bottom of the to-do list since then. Well, it is now at the top of the list. I am putting the borders around the main center and then will get to the quilting, by machine of course! I will get this […]
November 21, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I hope you all are planning to take some time for yourself over this holiday weekend. Is anyone taking part in the Black Friday frenzy? I do my best to stay away from the stores over this weekend. I’ll be going home to visit my mom and siblings. This is the first Thanksgiving in about 5 years that both of my nieces will be home for the meal, so I am looking forward to that. On Friday I am going with my brother to meet a family of Amish quilters. My brother lived in Wyoming county for a while and met the family through his volunteering with the EMTs. The ladies of this family are beginning a hand quilting business and have invited me to come have a look at their work, and give them some input as an “English” (non-Amish) city quilter. How could […]
November 19, 2012
Hi everyone, I very much second Mary Ellen’s thoughts about Seminar and really, really hope all of you will get involved – first in looking and suggesting classes for Pat Sloan to teach at the next seminar, and then in anything else when time comes! Same goes for any local teachers and classes – let me know what you would like to see and who would you like us to invite (either by commenting here or sending me an email, phone call…etc.) But TODAY, here is some fun for you all that includes BOTH, out past teacher, Beth Ferrier and the next one – Pat Sloan: Beth is a guest on Pat’s radio show and you can see all the info HERE! Hope some of you will see this in time to tune-in and listen! OK, so while I am on this coffee break, let me share few other finds […]
November 17, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Just gave my “sort of” final report about seminar 2012 at this week’s guild meeting. Already Kit, our chair of national teachers, is telling me we need to think about what classes to ask Pat Sloan, our 2013 teacher, to do for us in the fall. This will be the first year we will have only one national teacher-all of our eggs in one basket so to speak. Pat has a great presence on the web. Start by visiting her blog to get familiar with all she does. Look around on her sidebars for freebies, and links to her other enterprises. If you are interested have a look at her listing for classes she offers and let us know if there is something you’d like us to bring to seminar 2013. You can reply right here, or contact me or Jan Reilly or Kit Willey […]
November 16, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Finally…the last Lucy Goosey block. It’s a nice easy variation of the Friendship Star block. Several variations are mentioned in case you need a few filler blocks. The directions are here: lucy goosey #6
November 16, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. If you have been to any of our quilt shows, I’m certain you have admired the beautiful quilts made by one of our guild members, Lauren DeVantier. Her piecing and applique are wonderfully done, and always complemented so nicely by her friend Norma Chapin’s quilting. Lauren is one of the 10 finalists in the Morton Masterpiece contest. Photos of the quilts made by each finalist are posted here and you can vote for your favorite. Voting for the winner is open now and will close on December 15. The quilts had to be made totally with Jo Morton fabrics, and could be a maximum of 60″ square. Lauren’s is just under 57″ square. Use the magnifier option at the site and have a close look at the detail in her blocks. I was told that she started this quilt in April. All of the quilts […]
November 5, 2012
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I should have visited her blog sooner. Beth Ferrier writes about her trip to our seminar in her blog. Some of you may recognize yourselves in the photos. She was quite impressed with Niagara Falls. Here’s the link. In case it doesn’t take you directly to the right spot in her blog, you are looking for the September 19 entry.