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I sort of like it, but I think the colouring is wrong, though it works in most of the designs in this project file. Too much of the dark red.

Exactly the same colours, but different blocks, and it looks much, much better!

Love it!

Love the second one, but the first is my favourite.

My friend Deb told me about a swap she and her stitching friends are doing. 

Of course, we love that they chose Mary Witherwax blocks!

Her group has existed for years, bonded in friendship and love.   

They’ve moved all over the country and still retreat together when they can.

They all do hand appliqué and don’t have too many ‘rules’ for the swap.

Having a history of many group projects they know what they like.

Their ground fabrics will all be scrappy shirtings - each member making duplicates of the same blocks.

In the end - they will each have ...

My love affair with String of Beads began at the first quilt exhibition I attended soon after I fell in love with patchwork and applique and has no sign of fading away.

I have probably got enough beads left over from previous projects to make another one … but the colours would be a horrible mish mash of colours. It is always more fun to collect fabrics for a project!

 This quilt was inspired by a quilt I saw in Quilts for Kids Nepal. It isn't affiliated with the U.S. version of Quilts for Kids. I wanted to make a folk art peacock quilt.

I won't show you that first progress picture, because you have seen it twice already. I started with a background that feels Indian to me, and I added a green strip to add some interest in the background. I love that they both echo the shapes even though the mood of each fabric is very different from each other. 

The original quilt had ...

This project file is now 1 day old, though many of the blocks were waiting for some attention.

About half of the blocks in the sampler above are new variations on the theme.

Love the design above, but will continue playing with the project from time to time as there are still blocks which haven’t found a place in a quilt design yet … not even a sampler.

Pretty.

Not so pretty, but very interesting.

Interesting.

The block in the corners of the main body of this design is a modification of Mexican Rose 2, found in the Electric Quilt Block library. It is probably the most used of all the applique blocks, and has been twisted, turned, expanded, reduced and pulled to pieces to create many modified blocks for use in many of the project files I have in my EQ file.

Love the second design, which features some other applique blocks which I have modified a few times.

She's a generous and full book at 138 pages!

There are full color photos as well as a gallery of finished quilts.  The finished examples include bed and wall sized quilts.  We include the history of the original quilt, as we know it today.

Full size patterns include the full alphabet to use your name like Mary and I did.  

Also included are some alternate applique blocks to add to the fun.

Over 165 blocks + Full Alphabet + Full Border

Pattern pages ...

I like every design in this project file … the combination of the colours and the blocks seem to work pretty much every way I twist and and shake them up!

Love the second design!

I have spent a lot of time playing with dirt in the garden over the last few years, in particular, over the last year. My garden is a lot less grand than the ones in my virtual quilts, but the weeds are much more impressive, but I keep dreaming that one day the weeds will be under control, or even eliminated altogether.

However, in the next twenty four hours I think I will have some flowers on a plant I have never grown in any of my ten gardens. It feels like I have just stitched the binding on a ...

I have to admit that just about every day I find time to play with my favourite toy, Electric Quilt 8, it feels like I have just opened a wonderful Christmas gift.

I have to admit that there are some days when I don’t get something I like, but they are not the majority, and quite often when I open up that project file next time I see the designs with fresh eyes, and either can see how to fix them, or discover that they are not so bad after all!

I have learned a lot of what works ...

Love it!

The second almost fades into oblivion compared to the first!

From now until Christmas I will be sharing designs each day with a Christmas theme, and like these designs, some not related to Christmas, like these.

Not a Christmas quilts, but I am guilty of making felt Desert Pea flowers to hang on a Christmas tree.

And I certainly don’t removed the Desert Pea magnets off the fridge at any time of the year!

 Baby quilt is done, washed up and already gift wrapped! Big, big sigh here. It was on the get-done-before-Thanksgiving list and I didn't want to have to bump it off till Christmas or try and mail it through the USPS during the holidays.

Baby quilt is finished!

Hand ...