Humorous Tee - Sports

In an extended family of sports fans, this shirt tells how my husband and I feel about it all. Haha. (image found at Party Brew on Etsy)

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for! Enjoy!

Nancy Sonneborn's Fabulous Fandango Quilt!

This stunning Fandango quilt is a recent finish by Nancy Sonneborn. What a beauty! Her blocks have a lot more pieces than mine. I love it! See the pattern for Fandango in the sidebar on the right.

This is what Nancy had to say about her quilt:

My fans started out a little wonky but improved as I kept at it.  They are all in the quilt and now,  I cannot tell which ones I questioned the execution of.  All the blocks are from multiple scraps I cut before beginning.  No blocks are identical but because I only used the original cuttings the colorway extends throughout.  The most fun happened once I began putting it together.  It did take a while for that time to come but the final product is so worth it.  I do love your patterns and "sewing by eye."   

"Bird House" by Karen Griska for Curated Quilts

This is my submission for Curated Quilts' Mini Quilt Challenge for an upcoming issue featuring house quilts. This is "Bird House." It measures16" x 16."

The actual colors are clearer and prettier than shown in this photo. It is machine pieced, machine appliqued, raw-edge appliqued, and machine quilted. The house door is a yoyo.

You can see all of the wonderful quilts that have been submitted by clicking here.

Day Three - Hat by Arturo Rios

Day three: Another creation by talented California hat-maker Arturo Rios. He avoids the challenge  of finding outfits to go with this hat. These incredible hats really feed my creativity!

Day Two - Yellow Hat by Arturo Rios

Another fabulous hat by California hat-maker Arturo Rios. This will jump-start our creativity!
One more hat tomorrow.

Three Days of Hats - All by Arturo Rios

Arturo Rios is a fabulous hat-maker in Los Angeles, California. He offers his collection for sale on Etsy: Arturo Rios. I'm enjoying looking at his hats; it sparks my creativity. I'll feature another one  Friday and Saturday.

Now I need a formal outdoor event to go to. I don't know if I could pull this off, though. Could you?

Big Selvage Pillows

Barbara Cain is the author of "Go Big Go Bold, Large Scale Modern Quilts" and her quilts have appeared in many magazines too. She thought it would take a long time to save enough selvages to make anything, but creating these two beautiful selvage pillows (24" square) hardly put a dent in her selvage stash. Barbara used muslin foundation strips. You can read more about this project on her blog: Modern Quilting by B. Nice job Barbara!

Selvage Table Runner - Feathers

Take a look at Renee's reversible selvage table runner: teal selvage feathers on one side and rows of multi-colored selvages on the other. Renee lives in New Mexico. You can read more about this runner on her blog: Quilts of a Feather. Nice work, Renee!

Rewards of Climbing the Photoshop Learning Curve

Finally, the clergy stole photos for my Etsy shop Shadrach's have clean white backgrounds!  I recently got a new computer and had to learn Photoshop because Picasa 3 is now defunct. Picasa was great, except that it couldn't lighten just one area of a photo. It was all or nothing. So this is my reward for learning a new skill: crisp photos. I love it. Ah, the rewards of biting the bullet and leaving my comfort zone.

I'm looking forward to getting back to quilt-making. My collection of quilt pattern ideas is getting very big! And I'm still saving selvages. We'll see.

Boardwalk Quilt Pattern is Available on Etsy!

 

This quilt combines the charm of a classic string quilt with the light and airy vibe of a modern quilt.

See the pattern here: Boardwalk Quilt Pattern.

There's plenty of time to make a bunch before Christmas! Fun to make. No fuss.

I'm loving that black and white scribbly fabric (above). Can't find the selvage for details. I'll update this post when I find it. Lots of good fabric-arranging fun in the making of this quilt! 

Translucent Triangles Quilt

"Translucent Triangles" is my entry for Curated Quilts' upcoming issue featuring triangle quilts. I love how this one simple block arranged in two directions looks like floating triangles. Fun to make too. Pattern coming soon!

Love Letters Quilt

Recently finished this quilt, a different style for me. Fun to make. 

Happy Easter!

Very best wishes to you and your loved ones this Easter!

Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge: Triangles

"Triangle Quartet" is my entry for the Curated Quilts Mini Triangle quilt challenge.

It measures 15.5" x 15.5". 

My Sister Eileen's Green Quilt

This quilt was made by my sister Eileen Lovett. These 45 degree triangles look amaizng, don't they? And look at that binding! She was going to sell this quilt, and to save it, I had to buy it! I'm glad I did.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Worldwide Quilting Day!

This stunning green quilt was featured 6 years ago on the Quilt Inspiration blog, and I still love it.

"Jour de Semaine Charges by Gyöngyi Váradi, seen at the Hungarian Patchwork Society."

Have a great day!

New Quilt Pattern: Lady of the Lake

Did you know that the classic Lady of the Lake quilt block originated in Vermont in 1810 and is one of the few blocks that hasn't been known by any other names? This according to "The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America" by Rose and Kretsinger (1935). 

See the pattern here: Lady of the Lake

This pattern shows how to make fast half-square-triangles, 8 at a time. I'm sure my readers know how to do that, but it's a real eye-opener for new quilters! 

These two throw size quilts are made with RJR's gorgeous batiks: Jinny Beyer Best of Malam.

Thanks to my new EQ8 software, I can show you this quilt in two colorways. Or as many colorways as you want! Haha. Don't get me started.

Hexagons Raffle Quilt in Oregon!

Tina in Pendleton, Oregon made this stunning 88" x 101" Honeycomb quilt 

for her guild's raffle. What a wonderful quilt! 

She used my pattern: Hexagons, (The pattern is for a twin size.)

UPDATE: For info about the May 5 & 6 quilt show, visit:

krazyhorsequilters.org or Facebook. You can get raffle tickets there too.

Jessica's Selvage Bookcase Quilt

Jessica Skultety loves to read almost as much as she loves to quilt. 

She also has a blog: Quilty Habit, and a quilting newsletter. 

Click here to read about this quilt and see in-progress photos.

To see my previous posts about bookcase selvage quilts, click here.

I Need Advice About EQ 8

When I make quilt patterns, I currently take photos of the actual process, then I use Microsoft Word to make the pdf. I don't do much math, my designs are uaually the "liberated" type. 

I'm considering switching to Electric Quilt 8. 

My question is: I want to create my own blocks; I don't want to use their library of blocks.In that case, would it be a waste of $ to buy EQ8?  Do you like using it? Do you recommend it?

I really appreciate your advice!  Thanks!

Violet Craft's Selvage Blocks

Violet Craft made these blocks using selvages from her own fabrics and

the book Sister Sampler Quilts by Anne Marie Cheny. See Violet's blog post.

Violet is a former software engineer who now designs fabrics which are influenced by her tech background. She also  has a children's clothing line called Kung Fu Bambini. She is one busy quilter!

Read about Violet here.

Selvage Quilt by Anne Marie Chany

Look at these very cute selvages from Anne Marie Chany's fabric line. Anne Marie uses them in one of the modern style quilts featured in her book: Sister Sampler Quilts. You can read about it on Violet Craft's bloc post. 

Quiltcon Show Next Month

Looking forward to fresh quilt inspiration for the new year!

Kaffe Collective Fabrics for Clergy Stoles

I just made a series of red clergy stoles (worn by some ordained Protestant ministers) using my collection of Kaffe Collective fabrics (and a few others). These happy fabrics are a joy to work with, especially in colorless January. I'll be back to quilt-making pretty soon.

I hope your new year is off to a good start!

Selvage Double Wedding Ring Quilt

This double wedding ring quilt with selvages was made by "Miriam/berlinquilter." Her blog is Berlin Quilter, and she is on Instagram with the same name. Nice job, Miriam!

Spools of Thread Emptied in 2017

Another year of quilting and clergy stole-making emptied 23 spools of thread. 

 I use Coats & Clarks All Purpose thread. 

When I get around to machine quilting my ufo quilt tops, then you'll see a real pile of empty spools! But I don't know if that will happen in 2018. We'll see.

I hope you have a wonderful year of quilt-making!