I acquired a vest and purse totally covered with pearl buttons more than twenty years ago. They have graced my sewing room as a testament to the buttons used on blouses, baby clothes and more. The vest was in a bad state of repair when …
Ode to Quilters of ‘57 Before leaving for our extended summer vacation throughout northwest USA and Canada and Alaska I had cut pieces for a quilt that I might work on while traveling. I did take my Featherweight Singer machine thinking there would surely be …
Our marathon Alaskan vacation is coming to an end. We are at our last stop of the caravan and actually have fairly fast internet–fast enough that I could get on my website and post without being dropped. As soon as we get to Hannibal I have been writing and will begin posting things about quilt shops visited during our travels and some of the design ideas that will be prioritized for actual making and then hitting the machine to quilt all those things that have been on my mind during the travels. We have been traveling since June 1 in a 25 foot Airstream. While it was nice weatherwise the space was fine but boy those rainy days the last two weeks made the space shrink. Will be good to expand and check out the changes at home. Will be especially great to see quilting friends and the works they have done.
As we are traveling this summer I was wondering how I would cope with my passion for quilts and the designing of them. No problem in the inspiration department!! We haven’t even gotten to Alaska, our ultimate destination and I am thinking about possibilities that …
I was surprised to explore the Wind CAve National Park exhibit and find small art quilts representing the National Parks and their 100th anniversary. The quilters are a group from Nebraska that are “friends of the parks” and decided to make the quilts, contacting the …
I have been incubating an idea for the 2016 Cherrywood Challenge and finally started it today. Below are the pics of the dimensional leaves being “veined” and then sewn into the background strips and finally the rough finish. Now to find the right quilting pattern. I’m thinking it will include a silhouette of a tree that I don’t know the name of but do have the shape in mind. The quilting will be done with metallic gold thread as are the veins of the leaves. Hopefully it will look a little more related to the theme after quilting. I may get this done yet–it has to be quilted before summer travels.
I have taken an interest in hand applique, especially since we are going to be spending a lot of time this summer traveling–good handwork, little space needed. I love using my hand dyed vintage linens as the background for many of my projects and this …
The initial block was made with a border type fabric and then fussy cut and enhanced with woven ribbon strips of color. A brave step to meet the parameters of a challenge was to cut this carefully planned and sewn block to make something new …
Errant Ones is the name given this playmat for baby, my original design and unfinished in this photo. The finished quilt was given first place in the crib quilt category at the Hannibal Piecemakers Quilt Show going on April 1 and 2 at the Admiral Coontz Armory. The pattern is called Baby’s Playmat and is available at the Hickory Stick Quilt Shop in Hannibal. The show features over 350 quilts and many vendors making it a great opportunity for a weekend road trip to the birthplace of Mark Twain.
Quilt shows now abound at any time of the year and all across the country, small towns and cities. Before leaving our winter home I attended one last show in south Texas. I always hope to see something unusual and/or creative that I haven’t seen …