What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Yes, you read that title correctly.

I've quilted up one of my shop's windows.

No worries, I haven't gone bonkers, nor did any glass get broken. See, I have four big windows at the front of my shop and two of them have gone all foggy between the panes. I've been eyeing them for quite some time to do something to make them look better.

Replacing them is out of question as we rent the space and it would have to be done at my expense. Since we hope to outgrow this spot within the next ...

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     I try to participate in at least one block swap per year. It forces me out of a comfort zone and it is neat to get back different blocks. Last year I did bow ties with Barb Vedder. This year, again with Barb,  I made broken dishes blocks. We had to use only solids, one red and another choice. I made two sets of 30. I used my Accuquilt Studio die to cut the triangles. It blunts the points and then there is no trimming. They are going in the mail hopefully tomorrow.

     This year, I made Batik Star blocks ...

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I have been making t-shirt quilts since 1998.  That's when I started making my first one for my daughter for her high school graduation gift.  I thought I'd give myself a year to make it since I had never made a quilt before.  I think she finally received her quilt in 2000 since I was so intimidated by the whole process it took me that long.

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I have been in full on letter piecing mode, and that is the phrase that I keep thinking over and over again!

"I would like to buy a vowel"

Do you know what that's from? I feel like I might be just old enough to know it, so I'm curious to see who else does too.

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Written by Linda Chaney, mother

I'm always looking for smaller zippered bags to store my take-along projects and was excited when a bonus project appeared for making zippered pouches on The Splendid Sampler.

As usual, I couldn't just follow the pattern. Instead I used clear vinyl for the backing so that I could easily see what was in the pouch. I also found I could use regular zippers to give the same finished edge.



In honor of my daughter, who loves hexies, I decided to make a couple of hexagon shaped pouches. The same basic technique was used ...

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It's a sweet start to the work week here at Ashton House. I couldn't seem to stay asleep last night so I got up at 4:00 a.m. and made some 50-calorie, healthier brownies (can't say it's healthy as what brownie is?!) for my husband to take to work today. They do not contain any flour, butter, oil or refined sugar (except for the pink sprinkles, of course!). Those of you who read my blog regularly know that my sweets-loving husband was pre-diabetic so I am always looking for low- or no-sugar delights to try ...

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All the bits are finished for my butterfly.  Now I just have to figure out how to put it all together

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Not sure, but this carrot may be looking for the mother ship...  haha.  I made a big pot of ham and bean soup yesterday and when I got the bag of carrots out, this dude was in it.

The ham hock I used in the soup came from the meat market in Arthur.  I had thrown it in the freezer with some of the other meat I bought there.  This is the last of the meat from there.  It is really good.  We sampled the soup last night, but tonight it's going to be our dinner, along with corn ...

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My husband often makes me French Toast on Saturday mornings.  The recipe I’m sharing today is my husband’s idea and was inspired by one of our favourite restaurants that dips their French Toast in panko bread crumbs.  Instead of panko, he dialed up the sweetness factor by using crumbled Cinnamon Toast Crunch as the breading.  You could modify this recipe by switching it out for any other sugary cereal.  There’s nothing healthy about this recipe, but it’s a lovely treat!

Yields: 6 slices of toast

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract ...

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Tablecloth update:

Having finished embroidering and doing the cutwork in all but one corner, the tablecloth is on hiatus.  My daughter is going to finish up the last corner so we will end up with an heirloom stitched by three generations.  The whole story of the tablecloth is elsewhere on this blog.

Next project:
I always like to have some carry-along needlework at the ready to fill tedious waiting times and to doodle away on when watching some show with loads of commercial breaks.  So.....

This is a dresser scarf with a delightful debutante at each end.  She has a ...

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Last week I talked about working on my floor quilt and how pleased I was to be making headway on one of my largest PIGS (Projects in Grocery Sacks).

I’d like to share with you why I have so very, very many PIGS. I spent my sewing time at home last week working on my floor quilt. I have the border down one side nearly quilted. That’s good so far. Staying focused. Working steadily.

At work, though, I started a new quilt using these pretty fabrics from Dreamscape by Benartex.

When we do a ...

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I'm having an exhibit during the month of October at Village Artisans with all of my recent quilts that I've made using Island Batik fabrics. The quilts in the show are: "Flight," "Branches," "Depth," "Window Web," "In Search of the Yellow Submarine," "Purple Raindrop," "Lavender Mountains," "Mini Mountains," "Psychedelic Pumpkin," "Delightful Daisy," "Mini Flight," and of course "Island Colors." I'll also have the three table runners there.

Village Artisans is located at 100 Corry St. in Yellow Springs. The show runs through Nov. 6 and is open M-Th from 11a-5p, F-Sa from 11a-6p, and Su from noon-5p ...

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My X-strings quilt is finally finished! I can't believe it has taken so long, but here we are, at least it is finished and we can enjoy it for the winter!

The blocks came from Sew Euro Bee An in April 2013 (!) and I was missing a couple to finish the top. Thank you to all my lovely bee mates for the fantastic scrap blocks they made for me. I had written a tutorial for the blocks here, if you are interested.
After about 3 years of hibernation, I finally finished the last few blocks this spring to make ...

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A couple of years ago I made this apron using one of my husband's old denin shirt. I got the idea from the book Kitchen Stitches which has awesome projects, compiled by Karen M. Burns from Martingale (see original post here). I really liked all the projects in the book but this apron caught my attention. I raided Chuck's closet and found the perfect candidate for a makeover!



I added a cool trim as well as multi-colored ric-rac I had purchased in Brazil.  I love the worn look and colorful details. At the time I put it away ...

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I'm a little excited and very nervous to share a project that has been in the works since last spring. My new book, No Scrap Left Behind, is scheduled to be released in February 2017! It's being published by Stash Books/C&T Publishing (same as Sunday Morning Quilts). This book contains 11 quilts and 5 projects that use scraps of all sizes. It's bright, colorful and happy! More details to come, but I'll leave those for another day. The book is already available for pre-order here. (Eeep!)

I am so thankful to you, my readers ...

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