New Blog from Judy in Arizona

Take a look at this new quilting blog and say hi to Judy Danz. She's been writing about using the new GO fabric cutter. Judy is a longarm quilter, breast cancer survivor, and grandmother.

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Wanna hear something embarrassing that happened to me? I was out in a crowd recently and saw a young guy wearing a tee shirt with a sweet sentiment on it. It said: "You're #1 on my to-do list." Of course I took it to mean that you are top-priority to me. You know, you come first before all the things that I have to tend to. So of course being the friendly, chatty person that I am, I said "I really like your tee shirt. Very sweet." He looked at me like I had two heads. So I just smiled and said something like "Okay, uh, take it easy." And I got out of there. Then it hit me. Lol!

Penny's New Tile Quilt

Penny from the Sew Take A Hike blog just finished this tile quilt. It's machine appliqued and hand quilted (which she says almost threw her over the edge). See how she quilted around some of the polka dots in the border? And I like the red polka dots in the tile section too. The nice big spaces between her "tiles" gives a light, airy feel to this quilt. Very modern. Great job!

Penny was inspired by Amanda Jean's "Ticker Tape" quilt. See the tutorial on Sew Mama, Sew.

Melinda's New Curiousities

Melinda of Marietta, GA did a Google search for zipper flower tutorials and this is what she made. Pretty clever! Take a look at her blog.

Melinda received this woven tape measure bag from her friend Maetha. I like the polka dot fabric along the top near the zipper. I'm thinking selvages could be woven to make quilt blocks.

Painted Porch

No this isn't my porch. It's a Mexican restaurant south of Stockbridge, MA, a very classic New England "white clapboard with black shutters" town. The inside is just as colorful! But from the street, it's just a quiet pale yellow house. Oh, with bright yellow columns. :)

I can imagine my painter asking me, "So, you want everything white?"

"No," I reply, "I'm thinking bright orange, hot pink, electric yellow, and a creamy yellow."

Sarah London's Selvage Star Tutorial

Sarah London has a tutorial on her blog showing how to make this selvage star.

And if you love crochet, you'd better make a new cup of coffee before visiting her blog (and flickr page). I'm eyeing my crochet hooks right now.

Autumn is Arriving in New England

The leaves are still mostly green in Connecticut, but there are early splashes of brilliant colors here and there. It's like nature's orchestra starting to tune their musical instruments. I love fall.

Antique Quilt Offered on eBay for $5,000

This quilt was made by Melissa Gardner in 1881. We know this because she embroidered a label on the back of the quilt. The opening bid is $4,995. This looks like a museum quality quilt: classic color combination, fabrics still nice and bright, extensive quilting, expert workmanship. Wow!

Wouldn't Melissa be astonished to see her quilt selling for this price!

Old Ugly Quilt in Terrible Condition

Yes that's the title for this quilt auction on eBay! No chit chat about its rustic charm or bold design, just the facts. Haha. Opening price $19.99, no bids with 20 hours to go at the time of this writing. "It looks like a rag quilt as there are many different pieces of material used," according to the seller. It weighs over 5 pounds. Oh yeah, it smells too.

This seller-wannabe could use a little training in marketing! And in quilting.

Selvage Spider Web

Elizabeth from Edmond, Oklahoma made her first selvage project, a pot-holder. This spider web block (from a tutorial on Sew Mama Sew) with hand quilting is much too nice to use as a pot-holder, in my opinion. Over the weekend she was de-selvaging her stash in preparation for her next project. I can't wait to see that! Hop on over to Elizabeth's blog: Pieceful Life.

Antique Log Cabin on eBay

Here's another interesting quilt that was offered on eBay by french72 recently. Look at each block. The quilter had to keep track of the adjoining blocks to make each "lantern" all the same two colors. Lots of planning in this quilt! I love a log cabin with tons of little pieces.

Chicken Color Windows on New Fabric Line!

You know how we're often saying that fabric manufacturers should make selvages more interesting now that so many quilters are giving them top billing in quilts? Well take a look at the cool chicken color windows in Sarah Fielke's new fabric line "From Little Things." I wrote about her giveaway yesterday, but then I found this selvage photo that I had to share with you too. You can still enter to win one of 5 fat quarter packs.

See Sarah Fielke and Kathy Doughty's new book. I'm keeping an eye out for this one. Looks good.

New Fabric Line - Giveaway!

Sarah Fielke of Australia (former co-owner and co-author of Material Obsessions) has a brand new line of fabric that hasn't even been shown in Houston yet! It's called "From Little Things." Isn't it fresh and beautiful?

You can see more and enter the giveaway on her blog: The Last Piece. Good luck!
The photo below shows the packs that will be given away, one of each colorway. Five winners.

Selvage Wallets by Ardis Hasenbeck

Take a look at these beautiful selvage wallets made by Ardis Hasenbeck of Texas. She used a pattern by Valori Wells that was given to her by her friend (and mine) Gretchen Thompson of the Spicewood Quilting Diva blog. They are addicted to making these. Ardis has made over 50 so far (by the time you read this, who knows what the actual number will be!) and she donates them to a charity bazaar. Great idea. Nice job, Ardis!

Julie Silber's Amazing Antique Quilts

Here are some wonderful antique quilts from Julie Silber's blog. As you probably know, Julie is a quilt expert, curator of the Esprit Amish quilt collection and a buyer and seller of museum quality quilts. You will love the quilts on her blog.
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Does the block style (above) look vaguely familiar? I've seen photos like this tile quilt before and I think that was somewhere in my subconscious when I made my raw-edge quilt recently. The antique quilt pictured is needleturn applique, not raw-edge. Also, these pieces are curvy, and mine are straight edged. The fabrics are different too, but the overall "feel" is similar. The heart adds a nice focal point. I wonder what the border looks like.

Julie suspects that the inspiration for this fantastic red and white quilt (above) was crocheted doilies. Have you ever seen a border like this? I love it. I bet all those little circles are stuffed.

Hey, red bird, put that flowerbud back!

Don't you hate it when applique birds mess with your quilt design?

More Transparent Stuff

Here are some more transparent products to tickle your imagination. I would love to take this canoe out in a clear lake and watch the underwater world. Price $1,500.

I don't think I'd want to see into my refrigerator all the time, but still an interesting idea. I could probably waste some time watching my clothes get washed though. These are both from Japan. You can see more on this blog.

This toaster makes sense. The tub, well I'd have to get used to it. It looks like a big measuring cup. If you want to use less water I think a smaller but deeper tub is best. Like an Asian soaking tub. Ahhh.

Update: The antique crazy quilt (with the asterisk-like designs) sold on eBay for $202.

Transparent Iron

Isn't this an ingenious idea? A transparent iron from Yanko Design. Now you can see what you're pressing! I like this idea. See more about the transparent "B-Iron 715." (It's just a concept at the moment, not a product that is available for sale.)

I guess you'd have to give up the steam option though. And I really like steam.

Funny that it's still called an "iron." Maybe that will change to "presser," or "smoother."

Antique Crazy Asterisk Quilt on eBay

Take a look at this one-of-a-kind antique quilt that was recently sold on eBay. Made in 1870 it measures 58" x 76." This caught my eye probably because of those crazy, improvisational "asterisks." The quiltmaker added some embroidery and applique for good measure too. I really like the cheddar, black and red in this quilt...and the pink too. I like the funky "Gee's Bend" flavor of this quilt!

This quilt sold for $202.50.

"Stamp Collection" Tile Quilt (Empire October BOM)

One of my "jobs" is to design the Block of the Month blocks for my guild, Empire Quilters in NYC. This raw-edge machine applique block is our block for October. I made this tile quilt as an experiment to see what would happen when it was machine washed and dryed. I know it's pretty big for an experiment, but I was having so much fun.

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I should have used a zigzag stitch to applique the patches, or sewed a little further away from the edge (more than 1/8"). A few of the "tile" edges came loose in the wash and needed repair. The quilt also needed a trim to remove lots of frayed edge threads. But that's okay. It has a soft, shabby chic look now, and I like it. I think it looks fabulous from a distance! Haha.

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If you like the look of tile quilts, you might be interested in a book called: Tile Quilt Revival: Reinventing a Forgotten Form by Carol Gilham Jones and Bobbi Finley, published by C&T. The quilts in this book use the needleturn applique technique rather than raw-edge.

If you had three extra hours every day...

...what would you do with them? Get more sleep? Finish your to-do list? Have fun? Write a novel? I really want to know.

I think I would read, at first. There are so many things I want to read, but it seems like I never get to it. And then I would quilt. Maybe thinking about this will help me re-work my priorities and jump out of my ruts.

Quilters Remember September 11th

Have you visited the National Tribute Quilt at the American Folk Art Museum (Lincoln Square Branch) in New York City? To see close-up photos and read about this amazing quilt, visit the Online Quilt Museum Exhibit.

The man in the black coat and hat appeared just as I was photographing the quilt. I think his shilouette adds a somber note to the photo. The Empire guild meets tomorrow. I'm sure we'll have a quiet moment to reflect on this sad day.

Lovely Selvage Gift!

I just received the nicest gifts from Joan of Smyrna, Georgia. She made a selvge cover for this quilter's notebook ("needlework companion"/idea book) and a selvagey bookmark. Aren't they beautiful? Thank you, Joan!

The little button closure is covered by this happy face resting on two yoyo-like flowers. It makes my heart smile :-) Also notice the red zig-zag stitching along the selvage edges. A nice touch.

A selvage near the happy face says "Blank Quilting." This one always makes me chuckle. It's like "flavorless chocolate." What's the point? Lol. Perfect, I like that one. Another good selvage is the "Girlfriends" below. I hope fabric manufacturers will give us more selvages with "useable" words on them, like "Happy Birthday," or phrases, quotes, lyrics, names, places...anything.

Thank you, Joan. Aren't quilters thoughtful?

Elfa drawers for fabric stash? Need advice.

I'm thinking about using some of these units to hold my fabric stash and selvages. They're from elfa. I saw them in person at the Container Store. They feel sturdy and they look pretty nice. You can get a wood top to put on them (like a counter top.) Lowe's also has some similar wire baskets.



This arrangement would allow me to see my fabrics, and to remove a drawer and bring it to my cutting table. Each drawer is 11" deep and 20" wide. The 3" deep drawer on top would be good for tools, etc. They have liners so little things won't fall through the holes.



So what do you think? Would dust be a problem? Can they handle heavy loads of fabric? I fold my fabric, but I'm not the "fold around a cardboard template" type. Any ideas? What works for you?

Edda's Red Selvage Star Quilt

I'm so excited about Edda's new selvage quilt! Isn't this a beauty? I love how the star sparkles on the delicious red background. This and several more of her quilts will be in the Cal-Co show this weekend in the Battle Creek, MI area. Selvage newbies are in for a nice surprise!

This quilt measures 34" x 34." She had all the reds in her stash and she used leftover batting, so this quilt didn't cost her a cent! Her inspiration was the "Twilight Star" quilt in my book, "Quilts from the Selvage Edge." (It really isn't hard, especially for such a cool-looking quilt.)

Asterisk Quilt Wins Ribbon in the New York State Fair

Congratulations to the maker of this Asterisk Quilt and winner of a yellow ribbon at the New York State Fair! Linda Lasco's sister took this photo. Thanks Linda, for sharing it with us.
Using my new reading glasses and best Picassa forensic tools, it may say: "Lois Sayles-Woods" on the label. Very nice job!
(Let me know of you have more info about the maker. Thanks.)

Offline Wikipepdia and More Instant Vacations

Did you take a trip over to the IVman's blog recently? IV stands for "Instant Vacation." He's a professor of French and has lots of short interesting posts.

Boy, I could really use some walls like this in my house!