Have you ever heard of www.significantobjects.com? Writers are assigned an inexpensive flea market object and asked to write a fictional story to go with it. The objects are auctioned off on eBay and the profits go to charity. The $2 items sometimes sell for big bucks due to their stories (even though buyers know that the stories are made up).
This beautiful string block is the creation of "jmbmommy" on flickr. She says it's a little fluffier than she intended, but I think it came out great. I love the colors. You could add a few selvages to these trees too. I don't know if you can see it in this photo, but the trunk is made from 2 pieces of purple fabric, one on the right half and one on the left. Nice job!
The Empire Quilter's Block of the Month for February is this fan block. Take a look here to see an easy method for make them: www.empirebom.blogspot.com.
Above photo by Express Monorail on Flickr.com.
Above photo by Cory Dishbrow on Flickr.com.
Above photo by Jim Bricker on Flickr.com.
Is this photo cute or what? It's from the website of fabric designer Jennifer Paganelli who has produced some of my all-time favorite fabrics. She says she gets inspiration from everything for her vintage fabric designs. She spent her youth in the Great Lakes region, her adolescence in the Caribbean, her college years in traditional New England, and her early career years in New York City. Now she lives in Connecticut, like me. I hope to meet her sometime.
Look at this whimsical selvage house (and tree) quilt by Barb from Northern New Jersey. It's called "Whooville." Didn't she do a wonderful job? The more I look at it, the more things I find to admire. To name just a few: the monkey in the window, the cat on the chimney, and the selvage strips placed askew in the tree. The background fabric looks like a snowy night to me, nice choice. Black and white fabrics are perfect with bright prints and selvages. Yayyy, Barb!
The quilter from "2 Hippos" blog saved her selvages in 2009. When Stephanie at Loft Creations announced her String Quilt Challenge, she was inspired to make a selvage quilt. After all, a selvage quilt is a string quilt, right?
Kay Rindall of St. Paul, MN found these unique selvages and took some photos to share with you. Rather than color "dots," these manufacturers use cats and strawberries. Why not? Thanks, Kay! 
Lynne Demeter made this amazing selvage quilt. It has 64 four-inch blocks! And take a close look at the border. Isn't that clever? I love it. Take a look at Lynne's blog: www.quiltsandcats-lynnedemeter.blogspot.com. Nice work, Lynne!
My friend Rose took this great photo at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden. I love a whimsical display like this. I'm thinking of painting my wheels pink. My husband would like that!
I'm sure you know Brenda from the Scraps & Strings blog in Manitoba, Canada. Take a look at these charming selvage tea cozies. I also like her black and white selvage block. It has no printed pattern showing, and hardly any dots. I like how she used that "Dick Jane and Sally" fabric in the middle. I learned how to read using those books. Good memories for me. Nice job, Brenda.
Stop by Darlee Byron's new blog and website throughout the coming year. She is featuring her favorite quilt books, and projects inspired by them. In February she'll be working from "Quilts from the Selvage Edge." Her objective is to try lots of new ideas in 2010, and she invites readers to participate. Take a look: http://www.quiltsamplerjournal.com/, and http://www.quiltsamplerjournal.blogspot.com/.
June Calender on Cape Cod has been making selvage quilts. The top photo is a little quilt (a "quiltie") that she made for a swap. June is originally from the Midwest. She lived in New York City for a long time, then moved to the Cape. I met her at the Empire Quilters guild in NYC. She has an interesting blog where she tells about her new life in MA and the projects she's working on: http://www.calenderpages.blogspot.com/ Hi June! I like that "Gems on Point" quilt.
Does this sort of display make you want to start a new quilt? If this was my thread collection, I'd take all the spools out of the rack and rearrange them in a more pleasing way. Then I'd take a photo and rearrange them again. Some good music and a cup of tea, and I'd be happy all afternoon. Yes this would be a very expensive peg-board toy. I don't even want to know the price.
Jill Bunis in New Jersey made selvage wedges to form a circle! She has some great in-progress photos on her blog: http://www.cre8fmomquilts.blogspot.com/. You'll remember Jill made the selvage cornices shown here recently. She's thinking out of the box!
Take a look at Jackie's blog to see more great photos of her recent project. I love the colors in this. She does beautiful machine quilting for customers and for herself.
You've probably seen this, but I wanted to make sure. Check out Jodie's blog to see her wonderful new softies. She casts them in stories. She is so imaginative!!!
This very up-to-date spider web string quilt was made by GoingSewCrazy. The crisp white sets off those pretty colorful prints just right.
Now I'm going to sleep like a baby. Thanks for your suggestions. I remember saying (years ago), "Why would anyone need a personal computer?" Now I know. Nighty-night.
I'm about to throw my computer onto this junk pile! Figuratively speaking, of course. This satisfying photo came from flickr. (I'm using DH's computer now.)
Marilynne Robinson's book "Gilead" is a real treat. It's written as a letter/memoir from an elderly father to his young son, to be read when the son is older. Remember the New Year's Eve post here on the Selvage Blog? We were talking about this exact idea. Oh, I wish I could write like Marilynne Robinson! She teaches at the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop and she won the Pulitzer Prize for this book. No surprise there! Just read the first page and you'll be hooked. Here's the link to amazon where it's rated 4 (of 5) stars by 344 reviewers:
I've been thinking about the humble one-patch lately. There's so much you can do with it. I like this arrangement of Asian patterns. I bought a box of 2" square papers with designs like these to arrange and frame. This time of year we need some color in the Northern Hemisphere. Thanks, Karaku!
This gorgeous quilt was dyed, made, photographed, and posted on flickr by "Stitchindye." I love the bright colors and the casual piecing. What a perfect location for the photo too. Lots of creativity going on there!
"Colour-In dress by Berber Soepboer and Michiel Schuurman allows you to create your own designs by adding different colours using textile markers." -Toxel.com
Erika from Wien, Austria made this cell phone pouch (above) and these needle cases (below).
Erika made these selvage needle cases for her friends who have been saving their selvages for her. She's hoping that her friends don't decide to keep their selvages for their own projects now!
JoAnne in Keller, Texas made this beautiful blue selvage tote bag. I really like this one.Take a look at JoAnne's blog at: http://nappinnanaquilts.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-selvage-bag.html
This dress was made by Julios Paons using only phone book paper! Have a very creative day.
Fiesta from Florida made this pretty selvage basket cover. What a nice job! When she's not quilting or gardening, Fiesta is a Spanish teacher. Take a look at her blog:
Jill from New Jersey made this wonderful black and white selvage zinger. Isn't it a beauty? See her blog at: http://cre8fmomquilts.blogspot.com/ Yayyy Jill!
Nancy in Connecticut made these small zippered selvage bags as gifts. I like how she used a zig zag stitch to attach the selvages. Good idea! Here's what Nancy said about them:
Jen Duncan of Eureka, California just finished this great selvage chair for her sewing room. I like it. Here's what she says:
"I've wanted for some time to recover my sewing chair in selvages. It was an ugly fabric covered office chair but still worked fine so I couldn't justify throwing it away. Spent my free time during the past couple of days finally getting it done. Overall I like how it turned out and thought I better share it with you, since you are the original source of all my selvage-y inspiration! :-) Not sure what I'll be making with them next but you can be sure it'll be something because I really do enjoy working with them."
Nice job, Jen!
Geta made these shopping bags as Christmas gifts. She has a detailed tutorial on her blog showing how to make them. It looks quick and easy. Maybe a selvage version would be nice too. Did you notice the quilted background in the top photo? Wow!
Suzi Parron of Stone Mountain, Georgia is a lover of barn quilts. She's writing a book on the subject and posts her progress on a blog: "Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail: Making my way across the country documenting this grassroots art movement." You can hear her enthusiasm in the quote below:
Hen from London makes and sells a colorful assortment of goodies that you'll enjoy looking at:
