Sunshine and Shadow Quilt

This is one of my favorites, an Amish Sunshine and Shadow. I love to play with hand-dyed gradations to make the boldest arrangement possible. Haha. Wouldn't this look fantastic near a lamp? Etsy store coming soon. Stay tuned.

My New African Quilt

There's a vendor from Ghana who sells African scrap bundles and yardage off the bolt. I bought some of his fabrics at the last Empire Quilters show in NYC and added it to my stash from previous shows. Then last week I turned it into this quilt. It all started with that skinny chicken in the center (see bottom photo). Then 7 borders later, it was finished. All the fabrics are from Africa except the dark solids in the outermost border. The sawtooth border really makes the quilt, I think. I'm setting up my Etsy store, and this quilt is in it. I'll invite you all there soon.

Virtual Selvage Blog Field Trip

Who wants to rest here today? Me too. Okay, let's go. I'll bring cookies and drinks.

 I have a quilt that's ready for the binding. Bring your handwork.

This is the Rock Restaurant in Tanzania. Bliss.

Are you in?

Quilt by Hideaway Girl

What a beautiful quilt! The Amy Butler (and one Sis Boom) fabrics really sing on this white background. I love how Hideaway Girl used dark, medium and light prints; it keeps your eye moving.

This quilt says summer to me. We are now officially in autumn. Sigh. But this is good quilting weather. (Haha, all weather is good quilting weather!)

Quilt by Judy Irish

This quilt is called "Hollow Cube" by Judy Irish (pattern by Sara Nephew). I found this on the Blue Nickel Studios blog. Isn't this quilt amazing? It was made from chicken fabrics! Nice job, Judy!

Silk Cigar Ribbon Quilt Inspiration

This antique silk cigar ribbon quilt is offered for sale by Laura Fisher Quilts in NYC for $4,500. But are you thinking what I'm thinking? I'm seeing a selvage quilt design in here!

This is my version of a silk cigar ribbon sort of quilt. It's one of the quilts in my book "Quilts from the Selvage Edge." I'll be leading a workshop in CT showing how to make this quilt.

Do You Have an Etsy Store?

If you have an Etsy store please tell us your shop's name in the Comments so we can visit.

I'm getting my store geared up now. I'll show it to you soon. :)

The quilt in the photo was made by Nancy in Warren, CT, and she's listing it in her Etsy shop UniquelyNancy. I'll meet Nancy for the first time today. We're meeting for tea halfway between her house and mine. What do you think we'll talk about? Gee, I wonder!

New Selvage Quilt by Linda Robertus

Linda Robertus, a talented quilter from Brisbane, has just made another selvage quilt. You can see more photos of this quilt on her blog. Also check out her Etsy store: Blue Jacaranda. I've featured Linda many times here on the Selvage Blog. Click here to see the posts. Nice job, Linda!

Rail Fence Quilts Continue

This quilt started with the block in the top row, center. (See yesterday's post.) Here are the odd fabric combinations that I had in mind. Now, how to describe this quilt? Modern (yellow dots on gray, turquoise and lime green, b&w paint splatter)? Retro? Floral? I love that b&w fabric in the center block. Notice the two blocks going in the wrong (inconsistent) direction? Should I "fix" those, or leave it as is?

Smaller Scale Rail Fence Block

The quilt top from yesterday's post is finished, and now I'm doing the same block with 2.5" strips, rather than 3" strips. Using two dark strips and two light strips, I have enough units to make 4 blocks (above). This one will have some oddball fabric combinations. No "spreading" of blocks in this top. I'll keep you posted.

My Design Wall Today

This "Staircase" quilt is made from the October "Block of the Month" for Empire Quilters. Coming up with block ideas is one of my little jobs. This is my third year doing that. It keeps me thinking and drawing little designs on napkins and envelopes. Haha.

The block can be seen in the upper left corner, black and light pink. But some of the blocks seems to spread into a non-square shape because I used leftover units in between the blocks. See the photo below. My 27 yo son asked me to make him one of these. No flowers, he wants 1960's style geometrics. I'll show you when I make it.

If you'd like to see how simple this block is to make, take a look at the Empire BOM blog.

New African Batiks

These pretty indigo batiks are part of a collection imported from Mali, West Africa, and offered for sale by eQuilter. They were inspired by the traditional fabrics of the Tuareg people, also called the Blue People, because the pigments in their turbans and robes used to run and make their skin blue. Indigo blue turbans are still worn for celebrations. They would be pretty in quilts too.

Japanese Selvages

Japanese fabrics have the best selvages! The new Moda fabrics are outstanding too. These will really jazz up our selvage quilts.

Sara's Quilt

This fantastic quilt was made by Sara in Connecticut. She's a friend of Jackie's (Canton Village Quilt Works). Sara wanted this quilt to look like a painting. Take a look at Jackie's blog to see more.

Great job, Sara!

Granny Square Pillows

What a beautiful riot of color! These pillows were sold on Etsy by Dutch Sisters Corry and Heleen. To see the pillows, you have to scroll down to "Shop Info" and  click on "Sales." What a nice job they did! One of these would look great in my quilt room. (My DH wouldn't want it anyplace else! Haha.)

Quilt for Basics

This is my quilt for Victoria's Bumble Beans Inc. Basics Quilt Gather project. She's hoping to get 700 quilts for this transitional housing organization in New York City. That's thinking big! I hope this quilt warms someone's heart.

Question for Quilters

Does anyone know the name for this quilt block? I made the quilt below, but I don't know how to describe the block. Would you call it "Birds Almost in the Air?" Just kidding. This is a wall quilt, 26.5" wide x 31" long.

My Sister's Selvage Quilt from the 1960's

My sister Lynne Jakubauskas of Vermont made this quilt in the 1960's when she was a little kid in grammar school. I think she'd never heard of not using the selvages, and she just wanted to get a lot of squares out of her scraps. And these quilts are still in use at her house. That says something! So much for the idea that selvages would get all twisty and act different from the rest of the fabric.

Amazing Sept. 11 Memorial Quilt

Sherri Lynn Wood of the daintytime blog is making this Sept. 11 memorial quilt. She had help from her quilting buddies embroidering all the names. Sherri started this project in 2003. What a powerful, historic quilt this will be! I love to see somebody thinking BIG! Great job, Sherri Lynn!

Sept. 11 Ten-Year Anniversary

The television coverage of that day has been heart-wrenching.

The waterfall at the new memorial is inspirational and beautiful (below). It's even prettier at night.

See the entire National Tribute Quilt.

New Fabric by Dan Bennett in the UK

Remember the "Monkey Blues" painting that I showed you recently? Doesn't this new fabric look just like it? This is "Tribal Fantasy," part of the Premier Lord Collection by Dan Bennett for Free Spirit. Here is the ad for this fabric at eQuilter. Here are some related fabrics. And here is a link to Dan Bennett's website. And here are more of his designs (acrilyc, not fabric) shown below.