What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Yesterday, we released Collection #57, Farmers Market, to our Club members!

This pattern contains instructions to make a quilt, pillow, and a set of place mats! There are EIGHT applique choices and NINE hand embroidery designs, so there are LOTS of mix & match options! I had a lot of fun sketching out the applique and embroidery patterns- my personal favorites are the Farm Fresh sign and the radishes! Imagine how cute a set of place mats will be with these designs!

The quilt has a repetitive design which reminds me of plaid and a basketweave, which have that classic farm ...

Rule #5 Keep walking...both physically and figuratively. I'm intrigued how the two are linked. The summer after I moved to Ontario was a very difficult one for me. I'd had difficult times before but it seemed nothing had prepared me for the new challenges I faced. Separations are never easy and it felt like new worries were being piled on top of old.  I would take my little Shuffle with my music in my ears and walk all over the small town I was living in.  I would walk fast and return to the house tired but ...

Good day everyone. I wrote this piece for Woods Reader, a beautiful, inspiring publication based in Spring Lake, Minnesota. It can be found in their Winter 2020/2021 issue.

The grassy green field was alive with energy and vitality. School children, in groups of five or so, squealed with delight taking turns kicking the black and white soccer ball. Dogs barked; their owners allowing them freedom to run and play. The rush of four lanes of traffic roared by, leading in and out of the neighbourhood. Yet, the instant I stepped onto the spongy path of the Birth Place Forest ...

Our latest Collection for The Art of Home Club is called Turkey Time, and it contains instructions to make a quilt, an “interactive” wall hanging, and bonus handprint turkey towels! What a great turkey quilt to make for Thanksgiving! Also included are 7 different applique and 7 hand embroidery patterns- That’s right- it’s an entire collection of designs and projects that you can mix and match and have a lot of fun with!

This is a very scrappy quilt- let’s talk about palette! I know that a lot of us equate an “autumn” quilt with dark browns ...

 I just released my newest Autumn Cross Stitch patterns!

First, I have a couple of traditional, classic designs for Thanksgiving:

And this is my latest addition to the Crazy Ornaments series:

And of course, the newest designs in the Colorful Cats series:

Finally, Gingerbread The Colorful Cat is now available through me:

You can find all of my patterns in my Etsy store.  Be sure to use Coupon Code:  STITCH1

This post is linked to: From Bolt to Beauty,   Alycia Quilts, and Confessions of a Quilt Addict.

and Quilting is more fun than housework.

In early January I made a list of quilting goals and making a Fall quilt was on that list.  AND I actually completed it!

Here is "AUTUMN DREAMS":

Also on my list of goals was to just use what I have on hand in my quilt making this year.  I already had each fabric in this quilt.  It is made of lots of scraps, fat quarters, etc.  There are a few fabrics that appear only once ...

I wanted to keep up the pace I set for myself, but something didn’t work as I thought it would, and that killed the momentum. Let me show you.

The photo is of the Fallasburg Park covered bridge in Lowell, Michigan. I have been across this bridge, and also the other that I will include in the quilt. I loved the autumn colors on the trees, and hoped to recreate them well.

I began as I usually do, deciding the background. I used plain white cotton for the center part that will be completely covered, and ...

It's a dull weather day today as we brace for snowfall later this afternoon, the first real snow of the year. It is thanks to conditions far away...something called a Colorado low.  See how connected we are, my American friends.

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago, but its hard to get outdoor pictures of quilts this time of year.  I have to wait until the weekend and you never know what the weather is going to be like.  Yesterday was the perfect day to go outside!  There was hardly any wind and warm temperatures.

So I spent some time doing something I enjoy .....taking pictures of quilts.

First of all here is the finished Teenager's Quilt:

My final thoughts on this quilt:  I really did not like it when I first started making the blocks.  After the ...

I bet you would not be able to guess which of the garden plants this little leaf came from. The strange weather this year- cold and then very warm again, seems to have made for interesting patterns in the fading leaves. This is from the old rose bush and the ground was covered yesterday with similarly patterned leaves. Such a pretty autumn palette. 

The sunset on November 1st was particularly glorious and captured the beauty and fiery colors of autumn.

Last night, the clocks turned back one hour. For the next two months, the days will grow shorter and twilight will come sooner each evening.

I always look forward to this time of year with great anticipation. Why? Because of something the Danish call “Hygge.” The word Hygge (pronounced “hoo-gah”) is usually translated as “cozy” or a sense of “coziness”. It’s much more than warm lighting and flickering candles. Hygge is also a mindset or the purposeful practice of relaxation and being ...

The weather has been best described as indecisive lately...sun, cloud, cold and then warmth...this fluctuation ongoing all day long like Mother Nature can't make up her mind. All over the place and this week rain and cloudiness thrown in.  The season is trying to change that's for sure. 

So happy that Abby came along with SIL when he dropped by to do a few bigger outside chores (like straighten a chimney on the garage- Hubby is no longer allowed up on roofs). The two Labs get along well and Murphy tolerates the much younger Abby's ...

Right now I am missing these little birds. I'm missing their song and the way they fly through the air snatching flying insects and return to the same spot to perch like on my lamp light.   In fact, sat there enough that a cleaning of the lights is now in order.   Eastern Phoebes have nested here every year using the various sheds and building distinctive nests with mud and moss.                             I'm also missing the hummingbirds. Though silent, they were a constant fixture this summer flitting about the two feeders.  

  I have to take in their feeders and clean ...

This is a close up of phlox.  A few bunches are here and there all over the garden. There is white as well but not nearly as showy. It was an excellent year for phlox and it did well despite the July heat and drought. Another wonderful perennial for a little further back in a flower bed.

I was struck while out and about by how much violet/pink is represented in an autumn time garden. Here is a smattering.

The sedum which is coming into bloom. There are two kinds here.