What Fabric Diet?

I'm afraid I fell off the wagon yesterday while keeping my friends company at Verna's fabrics in Mifflinburg, PA. I was just along for the ride (seriously) until these two fabrics called my name...

How Does My Garden Grow?

My garden blossomed quite a bit this past weekend...

I have the blocks up on the design wall while I decide on a fabric for sashing...

So far this has been made completely from my stash.

I'm Nuts

I need another quilting project like I need a hole in the head, but I couldn't help myself...I needed a pick-me-up today...

I Want One of These Shirts!

Some of you may have seen talk about this on other quilting blogs, but for those who haven't, take a look at this. The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia and just recently the Organizing Committee unveiled the Look of the Games. The concept revolves around "the principle of the patchwork quilt -- a combination of 16 designs representing the most famous traditional Russian arts and crafts".


As you take a look at the other photos on this link, you'll see that Russians love color...I guess that explains my fabric choices....it's in my blood!


Now all I have to do is figure out how to get to the Olympics....

That Time Of Month Again

This is my June contribution for the"Quilt-a-Month Club" at the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative site. I've named it "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". To see all the quilts for sale by AAQI, click here. If you wonder what you'd do with a small AAQI quilt and you don't want to hang them on your wall, think about using them for mug rugs! They're the perfect size.

You can see my previous AAQI quilts by clicking on the AAQI label on the right sidebar of my blog.

A Little Bit Country?

Remember this post about what I consider to be "country" colors, or at least, what I consider to be "country" colors in my stash of fabric? I finished the quilt using those fabrics about a month ago and sent it off to the recipients. They tell me they love it.

Here's a closeup of the "line dancing" quilting that I did on my HQ16...

...and what it looks like on the back...

(click on the photos for a larger view)

Even I could live with these "country" colors....

The quilt is based on this pattern on the Moda Bake Shop website, although I didn't use layer cakes. But I did use the easy method to make flying geese blocks as shown in the pattern.

Vintage Sheet Quilt Update

While visiting my parents, I found a clothesline on which to hang my vintage sheet quilt (I blogged about it here) and I think it looks much better. But I completely forgot to take a picture of it at the beach at our Cape Cod vacation last week! Oh well, I guess I'll have to go back...

Back To Jane

I made this a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to posting it.

This is "RS12, Linda's Church in the Valley", an intermediate-level triangle that I paper-pieced.

Only 24 more to go....

Dog Ears Explained

For Laurel (and other newbie quilters)...In answer to your question on my blog post about what "dog ears" are, hopefully this photo will help explain.

See those tiny little triangle pieces of fabric sticking out on the bottom left and top right of the half-square triangle?  (sorry for the really ugly fabric and the really ugly background). Those are known as "dog ears" in the quilting world. They should be trimmed off before this HST is sewn to other fabric. "Dog ears" show up whenever you sew any kind of diagonal seam, unless you use a template like this when you cut your fabric that eliminates those pesky little things. I think trimming the dog ears off is easier than using a template, but that's just my personal preference. They just get cut off when I'm squaring up the HST.

Loose Ends

Have you ever commented on a blog or entered a giveaway and wondered why you never received an answer or why you didn't win?

Perhaps it's because you have your Blogger profile set to "no reply", which means that the person on whose blog you commented has no way of contacting you. If you'd like to prevent that from happening, check out the instructions here on how to change your setting so that you can be contacted. It's very easy.

If you prefer not to use your current email account for this, it's easy enough to set up a "play" email account either at Yahoo or Google. You can use that play email account for fun stuff and leave your normal email address private and only for your important messages.

Over the last several months, I have had a number of people comment on my blog posts who are "no-reply bloggers", so I can't contact them to answer their questions or just thank them for commenting. I'll try to answer a few of those questions here...

1) Kutiequilter -- you asked if I enjoyed my visit to Pucky Huddle Delight -- The answer is "YES" and I'll be going back, the next time with a plan.

2) A few "no-reply bloggers" commented on several of my blog posts about the NYC Red and White quilt.exhibit. Thanks for commenting, but I couldn't reply to you directly.

3) Kayleighinstitches -- you've left a few comments, but I can't reach you except by commenting on your blog. I'd much rather send you a private answer to your comments.

4) Laurel -- you asked what "dog ears" are. Look for another post soon explaining these.

And someone else asked about a pattern for this wine quilt -- I'm afraid I don't know anything about it or where it can be purchased. The quilt was just hanging in the winery and I was told that it was made by the owner's mother-in-law.

I hope this clears up a few loose ends and helps some of the no-reply bloggers out there!

So Not Me

I'm currently working on a gift using fabrics that are sooooo outside my comfort zone...

Better Late Than Never

Remember these?

These were tumbler blocks that I cut out many months ago using my AccuCut Go Cutter. (Yikes, I just checked my blog archives and realized that I had finished the top back in September of last year and had promised a photo of the completed top). I talked about the fabric that I used in this post from more than a year ago. A few other fabrics were from an exchange with my friend Susan who had also acquired a collection of vintage sheets.

The delay in showing a photo of the top has to do with getting a decent shot without all of the white areas being washed out.

Anyway, I finally got around to finishing the entire quilt, so here it is, bad lighting and all.

And the back... (The back was a test to see how close I could come to centering a backing on my HQ16. Close, but not quite, as you can tell by the uneven sides of the bright fuchsia.)

Here's a closeup of the free-motion flowers I quilted...

And finally, a prettier shot...

This quilt now has a permanent home in the back of my van to be used as a picnic and beach quilt. Since it's made with repurposed vintage sheets from the thrift store and since I still have oodles of the fabric left, I don't really mind if it gets stained and worn. I'll just make another one without having to buy more fabric!

Anticipated Visit

To see who is coming to my guild's meeting this month, check out my group blog.

PIF Part 3

Check my two previous posts for parts 1 and 2...

This is a tissue pack holder that I included in Mary-Frances' PIF gift. I learned this technique from Linda Halpin when she came for a workshop to my guild quite a number of years ago. Ami Simms also has Linda's pattern on her site.

The last thing I made was this (belated) birthday postcard for Mary-Frances. It was belated because I wanted to show off all of these projects at this month's guild meeting before I sent them off to her in Calgary, Canada. If you'd like to learn how to make one, I have a tutorial for this kind of postcard on my right sidebar.

And after making all of the projects you've seen in these three PIF posts, I literally had just this small plastic bag filled with scraps. And at my guild meeting, I gave the bag to a member who uses leftovers like this for dog-bed filler.

So, not a bit of those two yards that I started out with ended up in the trash. That's my version of Zero Waste Design.