Guild Saturday in New York City

As you know, I keep a keen eye out for interesting things to show you when I visit New York City for my quilt guild meetings. We meet at the Fashion Institute and I was walking behind this student for several blocks before I decided to take a discreet photo. Gotta love those dots!

This is the crowd outside the Hotel Pennsylvania on 7th Ave, near Madison Square Garden.

It was a beautiful day. I did a lot of walking before and after the meeting.

These flowers were for sale near Grand Central Station. They smelled so good!

I liked this smiley cake with hair made out of slivered almonds. Just window shopping, though.

These tempting tarts, fruit, and candy were for sale at the Grand Central Market.

Take a look at the Main Concourse at Grand Central below.

See what's going on in the foreground?

Yup. Wedding photos. You never know what you're going to see here.

A few last minute curiousities before boarding the train. Yes, "half wild boar" salami.

These fish were really surprised to see me. I couldn't hear what they were saying though.

Any guesses?

I hope you liked this virtual visit to NYC. I love looking for interesting stuff to show you.

Selvage Hexagons from Jerusalem

Debbie in Jerusalem just finished piecing this wonderful selvage hexagon quilt top. I love the rainbow effect. Now she's looking for suggestions about how to quilt it.

Debbie also has a new grandson! You can see both on her blog.

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember the "Show us your selvage stash" series. Back then, Debbie's stash consisted of just one lonely selvage. That's progress!

Julia Wood's Selvage Quilt: T

Julia Wood of Birmingham, AL made this beautiful selvage/label quilt for her older daughter and future son-in-law whose last name starts with a "T." The "T" is made from clothing labels. Isn't this quilt amazing? Great job, Julia!

Julia challenged herself to spend a year quilting with her existing stash and recycled items. You can read about it on her blog GreenQuilts.

You may have seen Julia's book Fabric Photo Play published by AQS in 2005 about making portrait quilts.

Fat Quarter Winners Announced!

Here are the winners of yesterday's fat quarter give-away:

1. Fiona of http://www.rubzrugz.blogspot.com/ in Australia
2. Di of http://www.snippetsnscraps.blogspot.com/ in Australia
3. Joanne Lendaro of http://www.splittingstitches.blogspot.com/ in the USA
4. Jan Potts of www.jansquiltingobsession.com in Celine, Texas

Congratulations! Send me your mailing addresses and I'll get your packages in the mail.

Justine in CT, I couldn't reach you (no email in your Google profile) so please mail me.

I wish I had 98 packages so I could send one to everybody!! Thanks for playing.

Coverlet Museum in Pennsylvania!

Have you visited the National Museum of the American Coverlet in Bedford, PA? I just learned about it today and I can't wait to go. They have an inspirational collection of antique woven coverlets dating back to the 1700's and 1800's as well as spinning wheels and weaving looms, a museum shop offering reproduction fabrics (photo above), gifts and books, and classes on spinning, dying, weaving, and rug hooking. Does that sound like fun or what?

If I wasn't a quilter, I could easily be a spinner and weaver! Or a maker of Navajo rugs. There's something so attractive about creating order out of chaos with fibers and textiles.

Fabric Give-Away Today - 4 Winners

Jewel Tones. (above)

Neon Brights. (above)


Pastels. (above)

Mid-range. (above)

These geometric fat quarter collections will be given away to four winners in a random drawing. To enter, just leave a comment on this post. I think these are Westminster prints, but the selvages with the writing are on the other side of the fabric (the side I don't have)! What was I thinking?

Winner chosen late tonight (Thursday)...so shake a leg!

More give-aways coming up. Sign up to follow this blog so you don't miss something good.

DeeRoo's Embroidery

DeeRoo is a talented quilter/blogger from Virginia. If you visit the Old Red Barn Quilt Company group on flickr, you've seen lots of her creations. You'll also enjoy her blog. Isn't this embroidery charming? I like how the swing is swaying in the breeze, and who would think to embroider a white fence on a white background? But I really like it.

Selvage Bags from Crystelle Boutique

Marijke Mill made this fabulous selvage bag featuring a big selvagey flower on the flap and giant pom-pom fringe around the edge. Wow, I love it!

Take a look at Mrijkie's blog Crystelle Boutique to see her selvage bags, things she makes using potato bags (like valances, using a rake for a curtain rod!), interesting finds like the furniture below and more. Marijke is originally from the Netherlands, but now lives in Idaho (hence the potatao bag fabric).

And best of all, one of Marijke's selvage bags is featured on the cover of the new issue of Haute Handbags magazine. Congratulations, Marikje!

This bag also features a big, fancy selvage flower and leaf. Perfect. If you like to make bags, be sure to take a look at this magazine. It's full of creative new ideas.

Michelle's Selvage Coaster

Michelle of Nostalgic Cafe from Belle Isle, Florida made this selvage coaster as a gift for a friend who gave her a bunch of selvages. Even Michelle's coffee mug has selvage windows on it. That's what happens when you get addicted to selvages.
Visit Nostalgic Cafe. I'm still chuckling.

Meet Fashion Blogger Zoe Schlacter

"Everyday is a fashion show, and the world is your runway." Zoe Schlacter

I was visiting a Barnes & Noble in Tennessee when I spotted this very clever tote bag with the giant clock on it. I think it was almost 10am. (I couldn't help saying that.) So I struck up a conversation with this charming fashion blogger/student Zoe Schlacter. Being a blogger herself, she graciously let me take her photo to show you. Her blog is Girl With the Flower. Her post "Space Clouds" will make you smile.

Selvage Lingerie?

This interesting bit of selvage lingerie is for sale on Etsy by clubaloha. She calls it Bridal Style Women's Thong, Selvage Strip Lingerie Panty. Just shows you how boundless quilters' creativity is! These sell for $10.

Thanks to Jill Bunis of New Jersey for sending me this link. Jill has an impressive list of selvage accomplishments: selvage sofa, selvage chair, selvage cornices!... You've seen lots of her creations here.

Val's Bella Bag from the UK

Val Allen from Oxfordshire, UK has made another Mary Poppins travel bag. Even the things inside are made from selvages! And so much detail! Take a look at her fabulous Bella Bag's Blog. Didn't she do a great job?

Mary Poppins would be so lucky to have this bag. There's even room for her big umbrella!

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.

***

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.