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July 10, 2016
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. When you were a kid did you find that certain crayons in the box got worn down and broken very fast, while some of the colors still had the pristine unused points from the factory? I sure did. And that sharpener built into the back of the box did not do the trick–AT ALL! I would want a new box of crayons when my favorite colors were wearing down. Did you see the article in Friday’s Buffalo News about color combinations? What combinations say summer to you? What combination is your go-to when you are making a new quilt? I find that if I don’t force myself to get “out of the box” that I will always be drawn to something with purple, and hot pink in it. I used to be drawn to shades of blue, as would be evident if you could see […]
April 17, 2016
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. In my last post I talked about using or losing your scraps. One of my strategies which kind of combines the two ideas was to clean out my scrap bins to give a bunch away. At our guild’s upcoming quilt show (Apr. 22-24) there will be a scrap pool to play in. (Pay a small fee, get a bag, jam as many scraps of your choice into the bag to take home!) I have some pictures following to show you my “success”. I have been keeping the two bins (one for darks and one for lights) somewhat under control by giving away my smaller scraps to Robi, our guild president, who will work with scraps smaller than I like. But nevertheless the lids and sides of the two bins are usually bulging. So I thought I’d put a big dent in that with a garbage […]
March 23, 2016
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’m just back from an almost annual trek to the Easter time Broadway Market. The place was abuzz. I have a Polish brother-in-law who has taught me which stands to frequent and which baked goods one must have at this time of year. But what does the quilter in me gravitate to? The decorated eggs. There were many more stands selling the traditional pysanki than I’ve seen in other years. Must be more folks collecting them, or fewer folks making them at home. I have quite a collection that I’ve accumulated slowly over the years. Nearly all of them are traditional geometric designs, with a bit of symbolism of wheat etc thrown in here and there. Most of those designs are very quilt-like with “piecing” in the geometry, and “applique” in the symbols included. The colors choices are broadening somewhat from those I recall back […]
February 16, 2015
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’m sure that some of you have seen these photos before. Staring out the window this morning looking at bunny tracks in the snow brought them to mind. Our current weather would be great for this. Maybe one of you could go to the meadow in Delaware Park and produce one. Not me! click here.
October 24, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. What have you been up to lately? I recently drove down to Penn Yan with a friend to have my sewing machine serviced. Discovered that Mapquest and Yahoo maps can’t always be trusted. After having a very detailed tour of the Cayuga Lake shore neighborhoods, we eventually ended up at the shop we were aiming for. Fortunately it was a nice day, and the hillsides were gorgeous with fall colors. After dropping the machine off at the shop, we headed further on for some quilty fun. Our first stop was at Quilters’ Corners in Ithaca. I had known of this shop from quilt show venders malls, but had never been to the brick and mortar place. Wow! Lots of eye candy. So many samples to look at, and of course many different fabrics than our local shops. I love seeing the different choices that each […]
October 10, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I come from a family of folks who spend their days immersed in math and science. Except for one. I have a niece who loves history, in all of its forms. She is currently living in the Washington D.C. area, discovered this exhibit at the DAR museum, and sent me the link. Eye on Elegance is an exhibit of quilts from the Maryland and Virginia area. This “show” online is wonderful for those of us who will not be in Washington soon. There are video clips from the curator, and many photos of the quilts which you can explore. You are able to zoom in and look at the details of the quilts. If you are interested in the history of our art form, I think you’ll find this very interesting. So much to learn about the beginnings of quilting here in the US, and […]
October 8, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Do you have a quilting bucket list? All those quilted projects that you want to accomplish before the end? I do. Lots of things on it, but here are a few… a totally red and white Irish chain, a white on white with feathers drafted and quilted by me, a very fun Halloween “redwork” quilt with 15 blocks so detailed that I can’t even get started!, … Well I just found another quilt project to add to the list. I love the fabric manipulations (origami, smocking, etc.) on this quilt. Definitely want to try this out. Check it out here. What’s a project on your quilting bucket list? Come on, share!
October 3, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. How do you find inspiration for your next quilt project? Here’s a link to quilts made for a challenge from Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics was to use 3 “wicked” greens from their 2014 line and make a quilt inspired by “Wicked”. It’s the 11th anniversary of the show “Wicked” in NYC, so many chose their inspiration from there, but other worked from the meaning of the word itself. Good theme for Halloween season, isn’t it? click here (if you dare!) How are your seminar projects coming? I hope you enjoyed yourself and learned a least one new thing. Those are the goals of seminar. We’re working on getting our national teacher lined up for 2016, and hope to announce the name at the next guild meeting. Bring those completed (tongue in cheek) projects for show and tell in October.
July 16, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I hope your summer is going as well as mine is. Today’s weather (on the cool side for some) is glorious in my book–sunny, breezy, and temperate! This link is not strictly quilt related, but I think any of us who appreciates fiber art would love to come across something like this. Most of these are from sites in Europe; it seems European hazard fence is more grid-like than what we’d see here. Our chain links I thinkwe might say are more “on-point”! Wouldn’t it be great if this caught on among the craftsmen in our downtown areas? click here How is your summer stitching going? Are you more productive in the summer, or is it too hot to quilt?
July 3, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I’ve got my bin of selvages out and have been working on a tote bag design. I find playing with the selvages to be fun and relaxing. Really one can’t make an heirloom project (that’s not a challenge, anyone!) with selvages, so it’s not necessary to worry too much about perfect seams or colors matching just right. I ran across this post (click here) at Exuberant Color with great quilts using strips of varying widths. I think they could be great inspiration for selvages. Another idea for the bucket list is born. Here’s a link to a pretty stitched piece. Not too complicated and it’s “summery” looking to me. I love the dotted fabric as the fabric base. (click here) Time to get out your patriotic quilts. I leave them out for all of July (and sometimes August too if summer is busy!) How about […]