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November 11, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. What a beautiful morning we have today! The first canine perambulation of the day was so refreshing! Both of us enjoyed meeting some of the neighbors out walking too, since many of them are working today due to the holiday. I’ve been playing with a new computer program (EQ7 is new to me and my Mac) which makes it so easy to move the placement of values in a quilt block. I once heard a big name quilter (can’t recall exactly which one though!) say that “value does all the work, but color gets all the credit!”. Definitely is true. Here’s a link to a short video (click here) which makes this point so well. I think a fun challenge for our guild might be to choose a block, give just a line drawing to participants, and see what everyone does with it. If we […]
November 11, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Title is self-explanatory so I won’t say anymore. star 1: click here pentagonal star: click here Very easy–my personal favorite (can use 60 degree triangle ruler): click here demo night ornament (I think it is anyway, I was giving a demo myself so I didn’t get to visit the others. I did see one of this type of ornament on the table though.: click here
November 9, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Still not adjusted to the new times yet (nor is the dog!). I find myself wide awake quite early and find it’s better to get up and moving, than to just stare at the ceiling wishing I could sleep for another hour. Instead of heading out on the morning walk before the world awakens, I have explored the web instead. I’ll share a few of my recent finds. fabric twine–love this! Can use up very narrow scrappy strings since she says 1″ wide is the maximum! Does anyone you know make blocks with pieces narrower than that?! click here Houston Quilt festival (on the bucket list!) click here Recently I made fabric baskets from a pattern from Aunties Two. Their patterns are very well illustrated and explained. I went to the website to see what others they have that might be fun and found a […]
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 […]
September 16, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Got any spare fabric around? (LOL!) It could be used for gift wrapping instead of paper. In this video the demonstrator also suggests silk scarves. I don’t know about you, but I have many of those just sitting in a drawer from my working days. I often wore a basic T or light weight sweater and put a scarf on to jazz it up, or to make it match a particular skirt or slacks. Although scarves are coming back, they aren’t the same style as the ones in my drawer (of course not, that would be too easy). I think this fabric wrapping would be particularly nice on gifts for your fabric loving friends. Much better than paper that ends up discarded. See what you think. It looks quite easy to me. Click here. Here’s another gift wrap idea for using up smaller pieces from […]
September 9, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Perhaps you have a new little one on the way in your family, or perhaps you make toppers as charity quilts for newborns and preemies. This technique shown in the video (click here) would be perfect. My only suggestion to those of you making this sort of quilt to give to a hospital NICU is to find out the size restrictions if any. Some hospitals put them on top of the isolette and some put them inside. Some hospitals are particular about the sizes they will accept. Just check so your efforts can be used and appreciated. I recently signed up for the free subscription to the group making the video above (along with others). I’ve watched just a few so far. To date I’ve recognized the names of all the featured quilters as belonging to the staffs of Quiltmaker magazine, and both McCall’s quilting […]
September 9, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Busily getting the last of seminar preparations completed. Fielding lots of e-mails from those quilters coming from a distance. Where to stay? Where to eat? Are there quilt shops near by? Where else can we shop? Those are the FAQ’s for this week I think! As I’ve gone through my own e-mail each day, I’ve just copied and pasted a few links that I think might be of interest to you. No time to do much more than that these days. I hope I’ll see you at seminar! funky stuffed pumpkins click here found this via a Facebook friend, I have heard several of these comments after demos I have given. Yikes. And BTW what are quilting chakras? Every comment on every quilt blog ever: click here. beautiful star quilt, perfect for featuring a collection of fat quarters or for using up scraps: click here.
September 2, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Are you a fan of Amy Butler fabrics and patterns? I just received notification that her free pattern for her latest fabric line is now posted at her website. Here’s the link: click here. I also received notification not long ago that her latest clothing pattern: a pieced duster, is now available. She looks great in it, and I love the concept but I’m afraid I may be past the age cut off for her style. Although I am thinking about how it would look in a collection of somewhat “quieter” fabrics–batiks maybe. See what you think of her style. It would be great for you younger women out there. Looks like it would be very comfortable and could definitely take a pair of jeans up a few notches. Click here. As I worked through my e-mails today, I noticed that a theme was in […]
August 28, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Want to see some extraordinary quilts up close? At this site (click here) you can zoom in close for a good look at some spectacular quilting and applique. I don’t see myself ever making a quilt of this caliber, but I do get some inspiration from the quilting. When working on my free motion skills, I have a few patterns that I fall back on again and again, and it’s nice to find some new ones to try. I’m sure those of you who applique will find the designs on the applique quilts amazing as well. What are you working on these days? Remember the Lucy Goosey quilt along that I had on the blog a while back? I’m making another block so I can set the blocks on point, and then I’ll be finishing the top up. I am making an effort to get […]
August 18, 2014
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Visited Bonnie Hunter’s site this morning. Found this link to a clip about making scissors by hand. Would love a pair of these! Click here. Bonnie is just home from a recent quilters’ trip to Great Britain. That girl sure gets around–she’s home right now, but before she comes to us in mid September, she’ll be spending time in Alaska teaching. Weaving modern cloth on old looms (found in side bar at link above): click here Here’s a bit of trivia for you. The roots of modern-day computers are linked to weaving. Joseph Jacquard came up with a system of punched cards for weaving patterns which eventually inspired the binary code of ones and zeros representing the punched or unpunched holes in the cards. Those ones and zeros were linked to electronic circuitry being on (the one) or off (the zero). And the rest is […]