Quilt Designs in Scotland

This building was painted with quilt-like designs in 1978. It's located next to a playground in Garnethill, Glasgow, Scotland. I found it on Flickr. The Comments are interesting.

Apple Pies and Snow!

It's snowing hard here today. 

The first snowstorm is so pretty. 

By next March, not so much!

If you are traveling today, be safe!

I'm home baking apple pies.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is not a poem.

Pretty Quilt Back

Yes, this is the back of a quilt, found on BGelhausen's Photostream on Flickr.

Visit that page to see her quilts, aprons and purses. Nice work!

Pitcher Pincushion Winner!

Brittany from the Pickles Quilting blog! Yayy, Brittany!

More giveaways coming soon. This is fun!

Green Quilt

"Green Quilt" by ElizabethCake on flickr. Nice photoshoot! 

Another possible name for this quilt: Grandmother's Foliage. I like the mixture of warm and cool greens in this quilt. And the bright spot in the middle makes it sing. Nice job!

Button Art - Phyllotaxy

This button art creation is called Phyllotaxy. According to Wikipedia that means: 

In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem. 

Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.

I found this photo here. It appears to be a poster (no longer available) by Jim Bumgardner. 

This design reminds me of the center of a daisy or a sunflower. See the blue swirl? Nice!

Two Giveaway Winners!

And the winners of the string quilt book giveaway are:

1. P from Wisconsin (Her blog is The Way I Sew It)

2. Heather from Illinois (Her blog is Peachy Pages)

Yayy! P and Heather! (crowd cheers wildly) Your prizes are on the way.

The Photo above is from a 1920's beauty pageant. It's how I imagine P and Heather. Heehee.

Keep an eye out for Simply Strings by Rana Heredia. Thank you for the books, Rana! 

Knitted Blanket by Linda Aylor

Gorgeous knitted blanket called "Lizard Ridge" designed by Linda Aylor. The pattern is available on Ravelry as a free download. Scroll 1/4 of the way down the page.

What a stunning photo too!

Vintage Pincushion Giveaway!

Win this vintage pincushion! I made it a few years ago when I was on a pincushion jag. 

Random winner chosen from the Comments (below) will be announced next Monday Nov. 24th. 

Tell us if you sew alone or with others. 

GIVEAWAY contestants can be from anywhere on Earth. 

If today is your birthday, you may enter twice.

Scroll down to enter the book giveaway too.

 

Here's the write-up from back when I had pincushions in my Etsy shop:

I found this little pitcher in an antique shop in Connecticut. It was made in Japan for Lefton's. There's a cherub with grapes and grapevines on the front and the back. Colorful Impressionist painting design on the fabric. Two 3" long removable pinsies have elongated pearls, and glass beads in yellow, turquoise, and clear glass (which looks like ice). Pincushion measures 4" tall x 3.5" wide, handle to spout. It feels nice in your hand because the design is very pronounced and the handle (if you looked at a cross-section) is square, not round. 

Upcycled Sweater Blankets

Aww, what an angelic picture. Cozy upcycled sweater blanket too. 

From Counting Stone Sheep (where knitters go when they can't sleep). Haha.

Here's another sweater blanket from RecoverGirl, below.

Here's another version from the Better Homes and Gardens blog.

Colorful sweater blanket from Rose Hip (below).

Can you believe this? From Daily Danny. She's using old sweaters to make a "Potholder Rug." 

And finally from the Purl Bee, a felted wool patchwork tutorial for this neutral blanket.

Simply Strings Book and Giveaway!

Have you seen Simply Strings, A Modern Approach to a Traditional Quilt Block, by Rana Heredia?

Rana has created an inspiring string quilt book that covers all the basics and has some very new ideas too. One of my favorite modern style quilts is shown below, "Organic." The string vine has some bias pieces in there for easy curving, and see the little yoyo berries? So clever! 

See the GIVEAWAY below. 

I often "read" quilt books by just looking at the pictures, but Rana's text is fun to read. It's like chatting with a very interesting friend about string quilts. 

Also visit Rana's pattern shop. And her blog: Pieces of Rana's Life. 

Enter the GIVEAWAY for this book by leaving a comment below. Answer the question: How many quilt tops do you think you could make with the scraps that you have right now?

Two random winners will be announced here next week, Wednesday Nov. 20.

I'm sure Rana would appreciate it if you'd spread the word about her new book in your social media forums. This is going to be a popular book. Nice job, Rana!

Crocheted Rag Rug - Shabby Chic

Here's an easy shabby chic rag rug. Cut old tee shirts in strips about 2 1/2" wide and crochet a long long chain stitch. Coil into a circle and sew on the back. I found this tutorial on Cuada Design. I like crocheting fabric, but it can be a little tough on the hands. It helps if you keep the tension loose.

Hedgehog and Pillowcase

I'm not usually a big fan of cute things, but this appeals to me. Isn't it cute? Haha. I like the light touch of colors in the pillowcase. Nice combination of colors and the white print at the top. Nice!

I found this on the Follow the White Bunny blog. Nicole lives in The Netherlands.

Visit her embroidery shop here.

Fandango Quilt Pattern is Available!

This is "Fandango," one of my all time favorite quilts! I've had so much fun exhibiting it. And now I finally finished the pattern. It's easier than it looks! Fortunately. This pattern will not drive you crazy; I promise. If you don't like it, I'll refund the $5. Eleven pages, instant download, clear how-to photos. Quilt measures 66" x 66." Good winter blizzard project.

Ancient Trapunto Quilt

Victoria & Albert Museum. Detail: Tristan Trapunto Quilt circa 1360-1400 a.d.

See the post and how-to videos about trapunto at the blog: Adventures of a Wanna-Be Seamstress. I like this design. I wonder how the quilt stayed is such good condition over the centuries.

Nice Fabric Recipe!

 I love the fabric "recipe" that this quilter used. Rather than thinking just "dark vs. light," she was also thinking "warm vs. cool." And look at that quilting in the border. Wow! I also like the liberated way the border on the left side runs off the edge of the quilt, but the little sawtooth border is perfectly planned. I wish I could see the whole quilt!

This quilt photo is from Terri Watson's Threadtales blog. It is likely a customer quilt. Terri is a very talented long arm quilter.

June Calender's New Quilt!

June Calender from Cape Cod, Massachusetts finished her "Whirligig"quilt and it's a beauty. She wrote about this quilt on her blog: Calender Pages.

 June enjoys taking a liberated approach to both fabric selection and piecing. Nice job!

If this fan block looks familiar, it's from my Ferris Wheel pattern. It's fun; take a look.

Improv Wedge Quilt

This quilt was just added to my Etsy shop. See the pattern here.

It measures 58" wide x 65" long. All Kona cotton solids. This quilt is fun to make. 

It's a little short to use on a bed, but it looks awesome on the wall, especially with a spotlight on it.

(The narrow outer stripe is the binding. It was photographed on a white wall.)

Cute String Quilt

Cute retro style string quilt with lots of "I Spy" fun. See more photos here.

You could easily whip up one of these for a Christmas gift. The light brown sashing was cut 1.25" wide.  Scrap quilts are so much fun to make. The quilt measures 60" x 66." 

So twentieth century!

Tumbler Quilt

Wow, look at this amazing tumbler quilt by Jana Lalova from the Czech Republic. Nice work!

Sujata's New Book

I can't wait to see Sujata's new book: Cultural Fusion Quilts. You know Sujata's wonderful quilts from her blog: The Root Connection. She makes maverick quilts in the liberated tradition with awesome colors. Yayy, Sujata!