What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I remember the first time I realized that the amazing quilts I saw in quilt magazines and national shows were made by very human women and not some kind of artistic geniuses.  Before that I thought they must have some special gift from God bestowed on them on some higher level  to achieve such masterpieces.  Well,  they did, but it wasn't really what I originally thought. Don't get me wrong though.
These women are all talented artists but their  real "magic"  lies in the fact that they have discipline, patience and perseverance.   Behind every great piece are hours ...

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After spending two weeks straight in this old Victorian, it's fair to say that I'm suffering more than a little bit of cabin fever.  For once, Erie has escaped most of the bad weather that has played havoc with the rest of the country.  So I'm thinking that this weekend is a perfect time to get out....welllll.... what is consider "out" during a pandemic.  Unfortunately, my state can't seem to get it's act together and very few people are vaccinated, so most restrictions are still in place.  

Despite that, the museums are open for ...

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Son Light, Nina-Marie Sayre

I don't know about you,  but I like me a good title.  I mean if the title is good, I'm more likely to pick up a  book ... buy a movie ticket... or catch a new TV show.  First impressions mean a lot and the title is the first impression of most things....except art.  (Now for this discussion let's not forget that every quilt is art!)

The thing about a piece of art is that the viewer will look at it first then look at a title.  The title is

The Scream, Edvard ...

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 Is it just me, or did it feel like all of 2020 was spent just "waiting it out".  It kinda reminded me of my childhood in the 1970's on the Tug Hill Plateau in upstate New York. (And when I say Upstate NY, I don't mean 45 minutes north of New York City, but the truly Northern end of the state)  We would get these ridiculously huge snow storms where you were lucky to make it the mailbox more less to the grocery store.  You just spent the next few days, just waiting for the weather to break ...

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 I really don't know where the time goes!  I peeped in my studio the other day and realized that it had been  a full week since I had been in there.  There my umbrella quilt sat...almost done.  Why is it that in the beginning of a project you are all Gung-Ho, and then somewhere along the line you start losing momentum.  Does it suddenly get boring?  Is your mind off onto  the next shiny new project?  Are you at a point where you just don't know where to go?  Or did life just start getting busy and ...

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I was thinking today about my "Why"?  Why is it that when I have a day off from work, the first thing I want to do is make a To-Do  list in my studio?  Why is it that all my Christmas gifts start at DickBlick's and the Fabric Shack?  Why are vacations required to be creative  rather than relaxing?  Why?  Why? Why??  (And yes for this discussion my Why will be a capitalized noun...why?? because I think my Why is that important!)

I think from time to time its good to re-examine your "Why".  Why look at your ...

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So yes, it's true.  My English Paper Piecing bug has been reawaken and has been taken to new heights.  I knew that my creative juices would start to flow again...sooner or later...but I would have never guessed that a simple EPP kit in little girls colors would spur it!!  While I finished up the 40 little umbrella blocks of the Abbie quilt I'm making, I started to think what next?!  As usual I started

researching what other people are doing currently with EPP.  Well, apparently, while I've been in ...

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It's been hot.  I mean really HOT....well at least for the Lake Erie region it's been hot.  With that I've spent a lot of time hold up in my air conditioned bedroom doing hand work on my pinwheel's quilt.  There is something relaxing about the white noise of the conditioner  and just stitching piece after piece.  It's meditative and soothing.  Many summers I've spent the dog days of August finishing up hand quilting for our county fair.  I love the repeating of the small little stitches adding so much texture where once there ...

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So I've been thinking about what project I wanted to work on now that my studio is all done.  Finally work is slow, the studio is cleaned and I have time to sew.  But WHAT??  Lord knows, I have a ton of unfinished projects from all the false starts of the last couple of years.   I also have a couple of big ideas in my head for new original projects that I can't seem to let go.  Hmmmmmm



One of the ideas is to do a "Mary Blair Inspired" piece that would also have hints of Paul Klee ...

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Well I'm sorry to report that I got no sewing done this week....zero...zip...nada!!  Nope  NONE!!  

The Covid-19 hit our offices hard and its been all hands on deck.  Working from home, it's easy enough to  pick up hours and help out.  One of my teammates said she felt like we weren't doing anything to help when there are people on the front lines literally risking their lives for others.

But that's really not how I look at it.  All of us are doing our part.  For me, every lady I help, every order ...

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 I was thinking this week how blessed I was to have my job.  It's like a rock that I can cling onto as the river of this virus rushes by.  Then that it got me thinking, what I liked about being a sales rep. Its definitely not the pay or the prestige, because it turns out that helping senior ladies catalog shop all day has neither of those qualities.  Its the fact that #1....everyday you know what to expect with out it being too boring and #2 ... I've developed the skills to make me good at it ...

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You know I'm never really short of ideas.  They seem to pop into my head all the time.  The problem is that they tend to pop right out.  I know that sounds strange but life is loud and it can drown out the ideas.  Not to mention, was that idea really any good anyways??

I know you know what I mean....you finally get  some creative time....there's a quiet studio ...all clean... filled with all the wonderful fabric and goodies you got over Christmas ... and you got nothing.  So you start looking for inspiration ... you jot down ...

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