Blog – Page 52 – Amherst Quilters Guild

June 24, 2012

catching up

Hello everyone, Mary Ellen back again. Well this week kind of got away from me–haven’t posted in a while. I’m sure you all have had weeks like that too. Didn’t have much time to sit over my coffee and mull all the world’s problems, coming up with my solutions. “If I ruled the world,…” So what’s new everyone? I’ve been playing with my 60 degree triangle rulers this week. I have had the 8 1/2″ one for a long time–you know the one that makes that popular runner from a striped fabric. I have the larger one now also–it’s 12 1/2″ tall– and am exploring what it can do. Of course one could just repeat the tricks the smaller ruler will do, but I’m trying to find some others as well. I’m doing demos on this ruler this week and want to have some new things to share. Have you […]

June 20, 2012

antique quilt patterns

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I have admired antique quilts for years. Our family has a few, and I own two. One was made for me before I was born, and sadly I must admit that is enough to make it antique. It’s a very simple polka dot quilt. My great-grandmother had set herself a goal to make a quilt for each of her great-grandchildren. Mine is the last one she finished. The second is an Iris applique quilt that the same great-grandmother made for my mom to celebrate her 16th birthday. In our family quilts were used, not saved. Sadly this iris quilt is in bad shape. The edges are so tattered that there is no saving them-and there are irises appliqued all along the edges. The center of the quilt is a large iris medallion. I have been searching for the pattern and designer of this quilt for […]

June 19, 2012

sew and tell Friday

Hello all, ME back again. A while ago I shared how Marija and I have decided to make sure that posts go up regularly by giving ourselves assignments. My assigned day is Friday and I was looking for a catchy name for it. Came across this name (above) at another blogger’s site. This morning I listened to another podcast from Pat Sloan. (If you haven’t tried them yet, I still encourage you to give it a whirl. They’re free and can be listened to on your phone or mp3 whenever you wish, or via your computer. Gotta be better than listening to regular talk radio!) When the dog and I returned home from our walk, I went to her website to see what she had up for today. It’s an interview with a quilter I had never heard of–and will be going back to visit again and again. Here’s a […]

June 18, 2012

bits and bobbles

Hello all, Mary Ellen back again. Hope you had a great weekend. Fathers’ Day was super for all of you? Another excuse, if you need one, for getting together with all the family. Perhaps not quite as fussy a day as the celebrations in May for moms. Dads are more BBQ, boats and beer than cake, curls and champagne–at least mine anyway. Wrote last week about Liberty cottons coming out with quilting weight fabrics-to be released here in the US in the fall. Lets nominate a local shop and all start lobbying for the shop to carry Liberty. What do you think? I found the Liberty boards at Pinterest this morning. Some gorgeous projects to be found there, and inspiration for all fabrics, not just Liberty. The various fabric flower uses of Liberty are very pretty, I think. Do you own a dresden plate template? Maybe you purchased the Darlene […]

June 15, 2012

rainbow ripple

Hello all, ME here. Kind of sounds like an ice cream flavor, doesn’t it? It’s actually a great bright quilt. Shows how the humble half square triangle and solid fabrics can be made into a wowser of a quilt. I’m always looking for more ways to quilt with my walking foot and I appreciated the close up of the quilting. I get so many questions from quilters at the shop about ways to quilt other than free motioning. (Is that a word?) I keep a collection of quilting designs that could be done with a walking foot-some photos, some sketches, some my own ideas, some CASED* from magazines and quilt shows. There certainly are so many that one needn’t stay in the ditch-that’s actually harder to do accurately anyway. Does anyone know of a quilt shop in the area that has a nice selection of solids like the ones used […]

June 12, 2012

Quiltspirations – in several sense of the word

Hi everyone, I just had to share this quick – Quiltspirations is a new, looks-like-fun game fro us quilters, from designer Ebony Love (up and coming designer and long arm quilter with great ideas!). I saw a post about it on Facebook, that led me to the Moda Fabrics blog that explains somewhat what it is, althought I think all the details and possibilities are still to be determined. Do you think we need this for the Guild? Sound like that to me! 🙂 I just got information form Ebony on both, how to order it on-line and how our local quilt shops can order it too – yay! I like the word Quiltspirations. It came to my attention today quite serendipitously it seems – I just finished last night and posted today on my blog something that could definitely be described by that word! In trying to “come back” […]

June 12, 2012

“art softens our world”

Hi y’all. Mary Ellen here. Here’s an interview with an artist whose work is influenced by quilts. Love to listen to a Southern accent, any accent actually. The title of this entry is a quote from the artist. Here’s the blog post that actually got me looking around to find out more about Greely’s work. Greely wrote an article that was published in the July 2012 issue of American Quilter. After reading the article I went to the internet…enough said? Follow the links in the articles to find even more. So cool that the quilts are made of recycled street signs! Wouldn’t it be great if we could put something like this on the grounds of the museum?

June 12, 2012

never ever again

Hello everybody, Mary Ellen here. Ran across this blog post about a quilt the blogger will never ever make again. I give her tons of credit for starting, sticking it out through all the paper piecing, and completing the assembly. Now she has the task of removing all of that paper from the back! OMG! I think I like her version better than the one she shows on the pattern cover, but God bless her little pea-picking heart, she has WAY MORE patience and determination than I do. Have you ever made a quilt (finished one or even started one) that you will never ever do again? I have an unfinished top that I started a while ago. It has paper pieced spring flowers around a pieced center, and it should have a border of pieced triangles. The trouble is that the directions have been inaccurate the whole way through. […]

June 11, 2012

sweet land of Liberty

Hello again, Mary Ellen here. If you have been a fabric fondler for a long time, particularly if you enjoy all types of fabric–not just quilters’ cottons–then I’m fairly certain you know of Liberty cottons. Make in the UK for several hundred years, they have a certain “look” about them, and a texture or “hand” which is well-remembered once you get a chance to experience it. Many a fabricaholic has brought home several meters of Liberty cotton as a souvenir of a trip to England–and then not wanted to cut into it. Liberty cotton is a cotton lawn, finer and softer than what we use in our quilts. Imagine the ethereal nightgowns of a Victorian novel, or the best of christening gowns in old money wealthy families. The quality, and so the price, is far superior to other cottons made for similar purposes. Liberty is now going to be adding […]

June 8, 2012

modern or traditional

Hi again, Mary Ellen here. If forced to categorize your quilting sensibilities, would you call yourself modern or traditional? I’d have a hard time with that myself. I love the graphic geometries of traditional blocks, traditional quilt layouts. I also love the modern fabrics that are so abundant these days. Large colorful prints-nothing muddy or grayed out. My own quilting is becoming more and more of a hybrid I think, marrying those two loves. How about you? I have written quite a bit about the modern movement in quilting. Denyse Schmidt’s name often comes up in the discussion on modern quilting. Here is a blog post from etsy (another modern development for selling your crafts) that nicely introduces you to Denyse. Her latest book’s inspiration is discussed. It’s interesting to read the reviews at Amazon from those who have purchased the book. Not very many yet, but the dissenting reviews […]