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September 25, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Life is ever so slowly returning to some normalcy. I’m trying to plan visits to my mom as just one more thing to do each week and to not worry about them so much. We’ve been lucky to find a great crew of aides who are taking very good care of her. …But it’s my mom so you know how that goes. Our guild seminar went well. Pat Sloan was a hit among all who took her classes. Even several ladies who said they didn’t really quilt in Pat’s style came out at the end of the day having loved the class. Just shows how if you go into a class with an open mind, you are hardly ever disappointed. (Many of you missed a great opportunity by not giving her a try. Don’t make the same mistake with next year’s guest: Bonnie Hunter of […]
August 22, 2013
Hello all Mary Ellen here. Since our guild meeting last week with the “modern” visitors, I’ve been looking at my latest magazines and blog subscriptions through a different lens. I’ve been thinking, as I shared in an earlier post about the show and share projects at that meeting, that many “standard” or traditional projects have a modern look, or could easily be modified to look “modern” with just minor tweaking. This link to a “tweak” of Dresden Plates, one of my favorite blocks, illustrates my point well I think. Before you click on the link get a mental image of a dresden plate block. I’ll bet it’s a fairly “traditional” image you have in mind. Now click on the link to the modern dresdens. Whole new look, but still very recognizable as a dresden. Cool beans, I think. Modern Dresdens: click here. Still gathering celebrants in our 40,000 visits party. […]
July 3, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen back. I need to finish a quilt. Back when we began the Lucy Goosey quilt-along here, I started making red, white and blue star blocks. It’s a UFO project. I’ve been working on the first version, the one done in tropical scraps, trying to get it finished as a summer project. As I hung the flag out front this morning, I thought I should get out some patriotic quilted pieces. Well…I don’t have many of them. Have to remedy that situation. Do you change out your quilts for the time of year, or for special days? How’s your collection of red, white and blue projects? Here is a gallery of patriotic quilts to inspire you. click here. Have a safe, fun, Fourth of July everyone!
June 24, 2013
Hi y’all, Mary Ellen here. If you’ve been following this blog for awhile then you know that I like to listen to Pat Sloan’s podcasts for American Patchwork and Quilting while I walk the dog. One segment of the most recent one was about a new author, Annabel Wrigley, and her book, We Love to Sew, containing projects for teaching tweens to sew and quilt. Great things at her blog too. click here to visit. I have a little sewing buddy who lives next door. She is the official babysitter for my dog, whenever I need someone to feed him or let him out when I’m at work or gone for long periods. She works for fabric. When she was tiny she asked me if I would teach her to sew. I told her when she turned 9 that we would start. She never let me forget it. We got […]
April 16, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here again. I think I’ll share a bit more hexagon love today. Nothing quite as neat as the way hexagons will nest together and provide so much more interest than some of the other shapes that will nest (tessellate actually). Even Mother Nature loves a hexagon–think snowflakes, honeycomb cells, crystals… There aren’t very many regular shapes that will do this-squares, rectangles, equilateral triangles. There are ways to construct shapes that will nestle nicely–but they aren’t easy to piece as quilts, and it would require a math lesson to talk about those, so I’m not going there. Here’s a bit more of hexagon math for those who might want to design something of your own using this versatile shape. This is from the Quiltmaker magazine blog: click here. At the Hexie Love board at Pinterest that Quiltmaker has set up (click here) you’ll find wonderful ideas for […]
April 15, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Are you a nut for those gorgeous pre-cut bundles that every quilt store puts out to tempt us? I know we could cut them easily enough ourself, but we’d never get the little sample of every fabric in the line without driving some poor salesperson nuts cutting little bits for us. And the ladies behind us in line would be shooting daggers at us with their eyes. So much time is saved when someone else (actually some computerized machine) has done all the cutting for us. And then there are all the beautiful patterns written specifically for pre-cuts…I could go on and on. It seems, from the ads I’m seeming of late in the newest quilting mags, that a new pre-cut is coming along–pre-cut hexagons. Don’t flinch at the thought of sewing those. They don’t require hand stitching. Here’s a free pattern and a very […]
April 12, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. What a lovely day in the neighborhood! Fortunately I can find plenty to keep me busy up in the craft room. I’ve been working on things to be posted at our guild website soon, all seminar details. We’ve gotten the brochures and bookmarks back from the printer and will be labeling those this weekend. If you attend the guild meeting next week, you’ll receive your copy there. A friend can pick yours up if you’re not able to attend. Those remaining after the meeting will be left at the museum for mailing. Anyone who attended last year’s seminar, but is not a guild member, will also receive a brochure in the mail. If you’d like to keep up with Pat Sloan’s quilting adventures, have a look at her April newsletter. She’s posted a free scrap buster pattern called Traffic Jam that I really like, and […]
April 4, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen’s back. I’ve been busy working on our seminar brochure so we can get it to our members at April’s guild meeting. It’s off to the printer’s now, so I have a bit of time until my next deadline! We (actually Kit and Marija) have lined up wonderful teachers for this year, please join us for 4 days of quilting camaraderie. (Sept 18-21, 2013…go here for more details as they become available) Quilters are often very creative in incorporating tools and gadgets, which are seemingly unrelated to sewing, into our craft. An easy example could be my method of organizing piecing for blocks and quilts with paper plates. Many of you use blue painters’ tape for a variety of quilty tasks. Here is a tutorial from a mom, who is apparently surrounded by her children’s Legos, on how to make a mini sewing machine from them. If […]
March 4, 2013
Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Robi has graciously given permission for me to share the photo of a quilt she is currently working on that I mentioned in an earlier post. I love looking at scrap quilts, finding fabrics that I recognize. As I told Robi, I spotted my favorite dog fabric ever, Laurel Burch’s design, in her quilt. I know that since Laurel’s death some of her cat fabric designs have been re-released. I hope the dogs will be back as well. Can you spy them in Robi’s quilt?