Margaret's Hope Chest

The mission of Margaret's Hope Chest is to bring hope to people enduring hopeless situations by giving them a handmade quilt. It was started in honor of Margaret, a grandmother who was murdered at the age of 81.    There is also a blog where you can follow along and see quilts like the beautiful one above. You will enjoy the stories on these two sites, and you can see how to get involved too.

Again, thanks to JoAnne in California for sharing this heart-warming link with us.

Selvage Mug Rug

Sandra Shigeno from North Carolina writes:

"This mug rug is something I made for our local librarian, using selvages as the titles for the books on the "shelf." I've been collecting possible book "titles" from selvages for a while and hope to make a whole bookcase full sometime."

That is such a good idea! Thanks, Sandra.

Ana Paula's Selvage Pillow

Ana Paula is originally from Brazil and now lives in California. She recently made this pretty selvage pillow and posted about it on her blog Passion Fruit Princess. Nice job, Ana Paula!
If you're looking for more quilting blogs, she has the longest list of links in her sidebar that I've ever seen!

Prairie Peasant's Selvage Mats

 Take a look at what Laura of the Prairie Peasant blog (in Manitoba, Canada) is making! She's cutting up her scraps and making colorful coiled mats. Some are even made with selvages, as you can see below. Take a close look and you'll see some of the writing and color dots on the selvages. Isn't her photography beautiful?

Laura's daughter thinks these make nice hats! Haha. Kids keep our lives very interesting!

Laura has two Etsy stores: Prairie Threads and Prairie Peasant. She sells the coiled mats for only $10 (US) on Etsy. Laura also sells repurposed old hardcover books which have been refilled with blank pages to be used as journals. What a great idea. I remember those old books: The Bobsey Twins etc.

You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter. Laura, I'd like to know where you get all your energy!

Amazing Sewing Video

Take a look at this video of P. Nosa's fanciful cartoon machine sewing. For more creative inspiration visit P. Nosa's site.

Thank you again to JoAnne in southern California for sending me this link!

Salvaged Selvages in Citrus by Liz Broussard

This diagonal selvage quilt is the creation of Liz Broussard of Houston. It's her 15th selvage quilt! And she says she still has lots of selvages left over, thanks to generous quilting friends. That's the way it goes: the more selvage quilts you  make, the more selvages you have. Go figure. Great job, Liz!

Selvage Challenge at Venezie Designs

Take a look at Venezie Designs for details about the selvage challenge.

You could win a $50 gift certificate. Photos due by Friday July 1.

I know that's fast. I just heard about it a few minutes ago.

 But maybe you already have something to enter!

Pink Selvage Quilt for Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative

This curvy, pink selvage quilt titled "Expect the Unexpected" was made by Susan McConnell from Wellsboro, PA. It measures only 8.5" x 10.75." It's for sale here as part of the Alzheimer Art Quilt Initiative, a project started by quilter Ami Simms. Check it out. Ami has a great sense of humor.

Thank you to JoAnne in southern California for telling me about this quilt!

Hawaiian Zig-Zag by Dorothy LeBoeuf

This light and airy quilt was made by Dorothy LeBoeuf and exhibited at the Quilter's Anonymous quilt show in Monroe, Washington. She made it using Hawaiian shirts that she found at a thrift shop. She certainly picked out the right shirts! The orange and the periwinkle add a nice sparkle. This quilt was featured on Sharon's blog Indigo Threads. Thanks, Sharon.

Southford Falls

This is a state park a mile from the house I grew up in. I used to ride here on my bike with my friend Barbara nearly every day after school. There's a covered bridge and hiking trails there too. And ice skating in the winter. So beautiful. My mom and I visited yesterday and I took this photo.

Reunion Quilt Top is Done

Remember the reunion on Saturday that I told you about? Well one of our neighbors, Judi, is moving to Arizona next week, so I asked everyone to write a message on a quilt block for her, and here is the quilt top. (She wasn't at the reunion, and she doesn't read my blog, so this will be a surprise.) Here are some of the messages below.

Judi is so funny and she has a laugh that is very contagious. When they were little, she and my sister Eileen clipped a whole bag of clothes pins in their hair! I'll have to find that hilarious photo for you.

 

I'm sure you recognize the rectangles from my recent "Tracks" and "Summer Paths" quilts. Having all the pieces cut really helped this project go fast. I'm wondering if I should put any batting in this quilt since it will be living in Phoenix, not a place where you need extra warmth! Whaddyathink?

My Sister Eileen's Selvage Quilts

 My sister Eileen Lovett of Rhode Island came to my house yesterday for a reunion, and she brought some selvage quilts to show us. Didn't she do a great job? These three patterns are in my book "Quilts from the Selvage Edge." You can see her peeking over the top of the quilt above.

We're still friends with the girls who were our next-door neighbors when we were growing up, so we've known each other from day one. Three girls in our family, three in theirs, and our two moms. We had a great time. Eileen made up a contest called the "Mother Goose Awards" where our two moms awarded ribbons for tons of different categories; the prize was the "Goody Two-Shoes" award (baby-sized clear, sparkly jellies, $5 from Walmart) won by Sandi in the pink top. Lots of laughs. Then we looked at old photos of our birthday parties from the 1960's. Cool dresses. Haha.

Teri's "Ode to Cigar Silks"

Wowzers! This is Teri Murdock's latest creation, "Ode to Cigar Silks." You can see how to make one of these in my book "Quilts from the Selvage Edge," but Teri has added her own improvement with the red triangles in the corners. I think it looks terrific! Nice job, Teri! She's planning on entering it in the South Carolina State Fair.

Selvage Circles Quilt by Nancy in CT

This Selvage Circles quilt by Nancy in Warren, CT is for sale on etsy.com for $800. Warren is just one town away from me! I have to find this sister-in-selvages. I'll go to her etsy profile and email her. Maybe she'll comment here.

Elena's Spools Selvage Quilt

Do you remember Elena McDowell, the prolific selvage quilter from Austin, Texas? I've been looking at all the selvage items for sale on etsy.com and I found this delightful quilt made by my old friend Elena. It's listed for $100. Isn't this a cool quilt? I really like this one. Hugs to you Elena!

Brown Zinger

This brown version of the Red Zinger selvage quilt is for sale on etsy by Cynthia Fuelling of Fuelling Designs in Idaho. It's listed for $250. Nice job, Cynthia!

Selvage Family

Do you read Riel Nason's blog called The Q and the U? You've seen some of her fabulous selvage quilts here. She has the snowman quilt and the orange sampler on her sidebar. This is her new header; isn't it clever?

Riel has a book coming out in September called "The Town that Drowned." 

Modern Quilt from Zambia

This quilt is for sale by Lazy Lion Quilts on Etsy for $400. There's something about this clean and simple design that appeals to me. The white "background" sets off the stripes nicely.

Summer Paths Top is Done

This top went together pretty fast. The process is addictive. Quickly choosing the next fabric to add to the strip helps me overcome my tendency to "overthink," keeping the design fresher and more interesting. I love these narrow black print stripes. Without them the top might look mushy. Now I'm making a spider web with the leftover rectanagles. This is so much fun!

I couldn't resist showing you another few close-ups. I like how one of you called this an "I Spy" for grown ups. Too bad the sheep above lost it's face. At least the sock monkey is all there.

Summer Paths Quilt

This quilt top-in-progress is like the recent "Tracks" quilt, but I'm using only light and medium summery prints (no darks). Between each double row of rectangle strips, there will be a 1" strip of floral on black. You can see the layout on my "design floor" below. I want this to be light and summery, but a little black adds some life here. I love black with bright colors. (That's 1" cut, and 1/2" when sewn. So it's just a touch of black.)

I have such a good time including little surprises like the teacup and the bicycle below...and that squiggly writing. If it says something, I hope it's nice. Haha. I feel another selvage quilt coming on soon. The box is getting pretty full as you can imagine. And this is the Selvage Blog, after all. This "Summer Paths" quilt contains nearly 200 different fabrics (used more than once each, of course). I hope your heart is happy with quilting fun.

We are off to Cape Cod

We are leaving this morning for Cape Cod, and we're going all the way to the tippity top, to Provincetown. My DH and I are just staying for one night, but it'll be fun. We want to walk along the beach, and check out the little artsy shops in town. I'll get some photos to show you. (If you're unfamiliar with this part of the world, that's Boston in the upper left part of the map.) Hello to June and Judy and all the other quilters on the Cape! I'll wave to you from Rt. 6.

Correction: Oops, that's Plymouth in the upper left, not Boston. Boston is a little bit north.

Poison Ivy - It's Out There

Every spring I post some photos of poison ivy just in case someone out there doesn't know what it looks like. You really don't want to touch this stuff and suffer weeks of terrible itching! If you do come in contact with it, there's special soap that will help remove the oils from your skin. We have lots of poison ivy in the woods around our house and I treat it like a haz-mat scene. Make sure your loved ones can identify this plant.

Is it true that Australia doesn't have any poison ivy?

Corning Museum of Glass

The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York is a beautiful modern building with an impressive collection of antique and new glass. Throughout the day they offer demos and short lectures on many glass topics, and even science-challenged people like me can learn fascinating things. If you have the chance to go, I recommend it.

The first 2 photos show a glass ball by Susan Plum from Brooklyn, NY that stands about 36" tall. The pitcher below was made around 400-450 BC! I had no idea they were blowing glass that long ago.

The teacup and saucer below is from France, made around 1850. Wowzers.

These glass slippers were made in 1925 for a production of Cinderella that was eventually cancelled.

The museum is within easy walking distance to the Rockwell Museum of Western Art and the quaint downtown area of restaurants and shops.

Tracks Quilt

Have a seat in my quilt room while I show you what I'm up to. Iced tea? Cookies?

This is my current quilt project, the Tracks quilt. I cut up a big collection of dark and light prints, approximately 3.5" x 2-2.5." I sewed strips of all lights, all darks, and dark-light-dark-light. (The strips were trimmed to 3" wide.) Then I sewed 5 strips together: dark in the middle with a dark-light on either side, then a light strip on either side, as you can easily see in the photos :) You can see some of the great novelty prints above. In the top photo, see the big red tomato on the far right. Below see my worktable covered with darks and lights. It looks like there's enough to make another dark-light quilt! And you'll notice some new yardage ready to be cut up too, mostly light florals. Thanks for visiting. Hugs to you.