What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I was thrifting…SURPRISE ( I know it’s not a surprise at all).  These goodies actually came from two different thrift stores.  One rarely has fabric but the last two times I was there they had fabric!!  The other regularly has fabric.

The little bundle was okay.  I pulled what I wanted…everything in the bottom of the photo and will ship the things in the top of the photo on to charity.

This fabric was kind of fun.  I remember seeing it in the early 90s.  I’m pretty sure I had some.  It’s little feed sacks, see ...

I finally got some pictures of the Card Trick quilt I made for my husband, so I thought I’d share them today. A few months ago he started buying a few really cool looking decks of cards, so I looked for playing card fabrics…..and found ONE.

SERIOUSLY, one! So I got a couple yards to use for the border and binding and made him the Card Trick quilt using the pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Co. I had a grunge star jelly roll to use, and found a neat background fabric that worked with all of it. (it ...

Get Away is the Island Batik Blog Hop theme for January 2019. And, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to make Storm at Sea, a traditional block–but I ended up altering it in a modern way.

First…the Fabrics! My fabrics are from the Soul Song Collection by Island Batik.

I decided to use these fabrics shown below in the project–you’ll see why in a moment.

It’s been all hand work this week. Here’s the progress I’ve made on the penguins.
The face looks kinda creepy, doesn’t it?
I’m a little disappointed that the colors are a bit dull. As close as I can figure, the designer used a different brand of floss to stitch the original piece, and the conversion to DMC wasn’t quite on the mark.
If I had realized it before I started I could have made some changes. As it is I will stick with the colors in the pattern.
Here’s the project as shown ...

I spent my week finishing the Yellow section.

I am enjoying the green making its appearance along the edge of this section.

I had mixed feelings about the blocks with the color Daffodil in them. Those three blocks are pictured here. In comparison to the other colors, Daffodil appears ultra subdued along with the two other colors that are less intense in those blocks. I considered making those blocks over again, but decided instead to normalize the less intense colors by using Daffodil along the edge of the quilt so they will look as if they belong. At least I ...

by Mary Beth Krapil

Have you heard about the Ruler of the Month Club? We are on round 4 starting this month (January 2019)! The HQ Ruler of the Month club is a great way to challenge your quilting skills and build ruler work confidence. Each month in the six-month series features a debut acrylic ruler paired with mentorship from your local shop, step-by-step video instruction and design ideas. You get exclusive access to a brand new ruler, and at a discounted price! And you will receive a special club member gift.

You can get involved at your local HQ ...

by Mary Beth Krapil

Have you heard about the Ruler of the Month Club? We are on round 4 starting this month (January 2019)! The HQ Ruler of the Month club is a great way to challenge your quilting skills and build ruler work confidence. Each month in the six-month series features a debut acrylic ruler paired with mentorship from your local shop, step-by-step video instruction and design ideas. You get exclusive access to a brand new ruler, and at a discounted price! And you will receive a special club member gift.

You can get involved at your local HQ ...

In the Quilters’ Guild Collection there is a fascinating quilt called The Ladies Work Society Coverlet. This quilt was shown at the QGBI Conference in 2016 and its striking layout and unusual applique shapes stood out to me. I read about its background – a quilt made in the early Edwardian period by a group of women who had formed a society to offer ‘respectable’ employment to ladies of ‘quality’ who had fallen on hard times. Many of these women had links to the Arts & Crafts movement of the late Victorian and early Edwardian period and its support of the handmade ...

At the start of 2018 I was involved in a radio programme for BBC Radio 4 called Moving Pictures by Cathy FitzGerald. This programme partnered with Google Arts & Culture to present ultra high definition pictures of works of art that can be examined online alongside the broadcast radio programme. The work of art for my programme was the Ann West Coverlet, a masterpiece coverlet from the V&A Museum, appliqued in breathtaking detail depicting biblical scenes as the centre of the work – but even more fascinating to me – around the outside she also creates scenes of characters from her life ...

I had a great weekend.  It was busy and I didn’t accomplish much in the sewing room but that’s okay.  Family first ALWAYS.

Saturday morning Kalissa, Carver and I took off early.  Our mission was to find the big orange “H”.  That’s what we told Carver anyway.  He knows his uppercase letters now so we’re always making him look to find them out in public.

Kalissa had ordered online and we only needed to pick up her order.  Yes, we did end up with a couple more things but the things that were pre-ordered were things ...

A bit ago I posted this photo on our Instagram account.  It was of the mystery quilt….a finished top, loaded and ready to go.
Mary from Country Threads left a comment on the post:
“How in the world did you get that assembled so fast? I’m just to Border 2! I hate handling big quilts back and forth from the ironing board to the machine! And you’re probably doing day care at the same time! Yikes!”

Mary is a hoot!!  We always tease each other back and forth.  Mary calls this a big quilt.  It was 72 ...

One of my goals this year was to sew every day and, I must admit, I’ve done pretty well. My mom came to visit through winter break so I decided to do a little hand applique. I managed to get a face on the second nutcracker in my Christmas Carol row along quilt. (The bells were my row. ) I also started trying to sew my way through a lovely bag of strings and bits. So far, I’ve got 22 9″ blocks so far and the bag looks just as full!!!

I even used a few of those scraps ...

Since my sewing is clean, no place in my house is safe from a quick cleaning session.  This day, it was my laundry room.  I started cleaning and then ended up completely sidetracked with this….

Somewhere on the internet I saw that you could make crayon letters using molds and old broken crayons.  I loved the idea as most of my kiddos have names that they will never be able to get anything personalized.

I did them myself without the kiddos help and plan to give them as a valentine gift.  I was going to wait and blog about making ...

I feel like I had a very productive Monday, and if felt awesome! First up, I made the Pershing block for the 2019 Gypsy Wife QAL. Then I started pulling out the project boxes to see how far behind I … Continue reading →

I’m so far behind on my BOMs that I should spend the next several days working on those to get caught up. After all, each month of Sew in Love is eight blocks. And I have three or four of … Continue reading →

Hello Friends! The Island Batik Ambassadors are all taking part in a FABULOUS Giveaway and Blog Hop to celebrate the latest fabric collections. My Post with my project and GiveAway is up HERE.

In the meantime, here are all the Ambassador blog links in one convenient post!

WEEK 1

Monday, January 7 – Crystal Ball

Maryellen McAuliffe- Mary Mack’s Blog
Sandra Walker- Musings of a Menopausal Melon

Tuesday, January 8  – Ditty

Stephanie Jacobson – Steph Jacobson Designs
Michelle Roberts – Creative Blonde

Wednesday, January 9 – Elk Lodge

Connie Campbell – Free Motion by the River
Anna Branch- Ark Angel Creations

Thursday, January 10 ...

Shelly has sponsored the 350 block project since 2013, and I have participated every year.

Somehow, it is satisfying to keep track of what I am doing.  You might want to join us.

Here are the 2018 results, as well as previous totals:

January: 56
February: 41
March: 32
April: 32
May: 26
June: 59
July: 31
August: 21
September: 42
October: 19
November: 62
December: 43
—————
TOTAL: 464
2017 TOTAL: 596
2016 TOTAL: 453
2015 TOTAL: 410
2014 TOTAL: 369
2013 TOTAL: 500