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Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Not too long ago I posted a link to some “quilty” art that an artist put onto snowy fields while walking in his snow shoes. Today here’s a link to something similar on a beach in the sand. I’m guessing that the art doesn’t last even 24 hours as the tide comes back in. Amazing the work the artist puts in, only to have the art disappear before long. Click here. On Saturday we’ll have leap day–an extra day this year for…what? Anything special on your agenda? Have you a friend with a leap birthday to be celebrated? I’m planning to spend this blustery day making a couple of those shamrock blocks that were in a recent post. I’m going to use green selvages and scraps. I just have to find a way to keep the puppy from also enjoying digging in the scrap and […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Thanks to all of you who have written comments lately. I like knowing that people are reading the posts. Please continue! What project are you currently working on? I’ll bet many of you are heading toward quilt shows, finishing up projects to be hung in the show. I’m working on a bargello style table runner which uses some adorable fabric of chickadees (my favorite garden bird). I used the new XL Stripology ruler and Gudrn Erla’s new mat. Love my stripology rulers. I’m just finishing layering it up in preparation for quilting. Now to decide how I want to quilt it. Free motion? Walking foot? What design? Gotta get started on the quilting tomorrow so decisions must be made. What’s under your needle? Do tell!

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Let’s start with some bits from our guild meeting last evening. Our raffle quilt for this season was unveiled-a master work. Sylvia took lots of photos of quilts last night which will be appearing on our Facebook page soon. Wait til you see the raffle quilt. Thanks to the “Quilt til You Wilt” group for all of their work! A group of our members has been working on a mystery quilt project. The finished quilts were also unveiled last evening. All were so inspiring-I always enjoy seeing  how the choice of a different color palette can make such a difference in the finished appearance–one pattern in many variations. Annette Meyer-Grunow told us about an exhibit of women artists currently at the Castellani Art Gallery on the Niagara University campus. Annette has one of her art quilts included in the show. All of the works are […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Getting our blog back up and running. You will now receive notice whenever a new blog post goes up. If you do not want to receive the notices, you can unsubscribe by clicking the button in the notification post. If you know of a member of our guild who would like to get the postings but is not receiving them, let me know. Here’s a free printable pattern (click here) for a very easy mini quilt for March holidays. Since it is basically a one block quilt, it would be quite easy to make more blocks for a larger project. This block would look best with a variety of green strips. Have funny digging through your stash or scraps, or perhaps swap some greens with a quilter friend. Don’t forget to leave a comment in order to have your name entered in the drawing for […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’ve seen clips of this artist’s work in the past, but never had heard him talk about his process. Quilte a few of his thoughts about the inspiration process for him sound like they could be spoken by quilters as well. And at the end when he’s walking up the mountain for the big reveal, I recalled the feeling of putting a finished quilt up onto a design wall and standing back to get the “big picture”. I hope you’ll enjoy this as I did. Click here.

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Despite the very cold temps today, the bright sunshine is making me think it’s going to be a lovely day. (Of course that will probably change when I first go outdoors!) Do you have quilts for the seasons? I try to change up at least a few of my quilts for the holidays or the seasons. One of my favorite ones for spring is a small wall quilt where I learned my first bits of Seminole piecing. I’ve thought I should make it again now that my 1/4 inch seam is much more consistent. It’s rows of cabbages and carrots with a picket fence across the bottom. I added a big white pom pom between 2 of the pickets to remind me of Peter Rabbit. Here’s a link to 14 patterns for spring.  click here Several of them would be great for using fabrics from […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Came across a very nice free quilt pattern this morning. A woven ribbon type bay quilt which has spaces perfect for featuring large prints that you don’t want to cut into little pieced. I’m guessing this could be a weekend project if you knew there would be few interruptions. Have a look here: click here. How about entering a comment? Remember there will be prizes (presents) at our March birthday party. What is your most frequent source of quilt patterns? shared with friends? magazines? purchased at quilt shows? design your own? …

Hello everybody, Mary Ellen here. It’s been a long time hasn’t it? Let’s get back to it! We have our guild birthday party coming up in March and I have some “presents” to give away. Each time you submit a comment, from this post forward until the day of our party, you will be entered in a random drawing for one of the prizes. I’ll give you prompts for the comments sometimes, and other times they will be open ended. Here’s the prompt for today: Other than your rotary cutter, cutting mat, and fabric what tool or supply is a must have for your quilting? Do you have any special quilted pieces that you get out for the month of February–maybe it would be a Valentine piece, may just features the colors red and/or pink, or maybe it’s just a cute wintery snowman holding a heart? If you have something […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post, hasn’t it? The summer has gotten away from me. How about you? Let’s get back to it–me writing and you commenting so I can give away some more prizes. How about if you give short updates on the quilting bucket list from earlier this year? If you’ve been to a guild meeting that counts! Or have you taken a quilting class (we’ve had a couple at the museum)-that counts! How about finishing a UFO? That counts! Check over the list of bucket list items and let us know if you’ve got one or two to check off. Maybe throw down a dare to the rest of us. Do you find that you have no time to quilt anymore? Here are a few suggestions I found in a new bloggers post. Try out her ideas to […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. This week one of the quilting world’s very influential teachers passed away. Gwen Marston, perhaps the mother of improvisational piecing, gave many of us permission to ignore some of the edicts from the Quilt Police and to try things which made some traditionalists gasp. I love her work-both her traditional beginnings and even more her free form second act. Rest in peace, Gwen. How are you all doing on your bucket lists? Updates anyone? I got some good ideas at our guild meeting this week for finishing up a long time UFO. How old? Well I know I bought the pattern at Pine Grove when it was out on Stone Road beyond Lockport. Hoping to finish it up before next month’s meeting…Yah, right!? Well maybe before our quilt show is more like it. What are you working on? Did you ever take a class from […]