Selvage Shoes

Selvage shoes by Michelle at the Firetrail Designs blog. 

Take a look; she has a tutorial with good photos. Nice job, Michelle!

Selvage Snowman

Cute selvage snowman quilt by Linda from Nova Scotia. Her blog is Scrapmaster. 

Ice in Connecticut Today

I took these ice photos today in Thomaston, Connecticut. It's 33 degrees. I could hear water dripping behind the ice, but I don't think I'll call these pics "Signs of Spring." Haha.

Lynne's Double Fat Jack

Made during a fit of royal fervor by British quilter Lynne. She shows how she made it on her blog: Lily's Quilts. Her Welsh husband calls Lynne "Lily," hence the name. This quilt measures 22" x 29."

Lose Quilting Time?

 Just take the hour from something else! 

Hurry up, Spring! Sadly this photo isn't from my yard, it's from Google.

This is the view from a window in my house. The snow is knee deep.

Fabric from Sweden

Textile design from Sweden from the blog: textile design projects. 

 I find that a fabric like this is hard to use in a quilt because it has equal parts dark and light but 

I like the interesting silhouettes.

Shopping Cart Giveaway Winner!

The winner of the shopping cart giveaway is Abbigail from Calhoun, Kentucky! Yayy, Abbigail!

Amazing Machine Quilting!

Martha Briese of Oregon did this beautiful machine quilting when Cindy Needham was the guest teacher for Martha's guild. You can see more about this project on her blog: Nana. 

Wow, I'd like to try this. It looks like flowing Zentangle!

Design Wall Today

Today I'm working on a quilt for Melanie in Ohio. She wants a 72" x 84" quilt to hang in her foyer that goes with her abstract rug and a custom painted ceiling. She emailed me some photos of the space. I mailed her a pile of possible fabric swatches and she chose her favorites including abstract prints, batiks, a few modern prints, and some solids. This quilt contains all of them. 

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I'm in the process of sewing the horizontal rows to each other. That's why there's a white space in the middle, but that will be closed up. And there will be a 6" outer border. Her inspiration was my Serendipity quilt. It looks so much different done all in solids vs. prints, doesn't it? 

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Back to the sewing machine. We have new snow and ice. Perfect for quilting!

Art Yarn

Hand-spun art yarn: Sitara by Yarnmantra on flickr. Wouldn't this look gorgeous couched onto a crazy quilt? Wow! Click on the link to see many creative yarns.

Tree of Life Selvage Quilt

This Tree of Life selvage quilt was made by Cynthia Fuelling. It is one of the quilts in my 2008 AQS book: Quilts from the Selvage Edge. I like Cynthia's version with the nice border! My quilt is shown below.

 See instant download selvage quilt patterns here: 

Red Zinger

Cane Weave

Button Box

Star Bright

Angela's Asterisk Quilt

A modern, light and airy version of the Asterisk quilt! This was made by Angela Pingel and featured on her blog: Cut to Pieces. I love that black block. Cover it with your thumb and the lights seem to go out in this quilt. Uncover it and it's snappy again!

Want to see lots of Asterisk inspiration? Click here then scroll down.

Want to see the Asterisk pattern? Click here. 

Happy quilting!

Color from Sweden!

Today is the last day of February and we are needing some color! Saini Salonen designed this fabric for Boras Boras of Sweden. It's from the 1960-1970's. 

Here's another view (above) from Scandinavianseance on Etsy.

I found this "Yellowtail" fabric in 4 colors online at Rakuten Global Market. It's made in Japan.

Snow Lumps!

Make big snow lumps. 
Insert glow sticks for eyes. 
Freak the neighbors out.

Too funny! We have so much snow, we might as well make the most of it.

I wonder where this photo was taken.

Originally posted on fb by Pat Redmond, re-posted by Akiko Kunst, a quilter in Massachusetts.

Shopping Cart Giveaway!

I found this little shopping cart at Hobby Lobby and customized it with tiny bolts of fabric from my stash. The cart has a baby seat and the wheels work better than the carts at my grocery store. This cart is about 4" high and 5" long.

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Your comment is your giveaway entry. A random winner will be announced on Thursday March 5. I will ship anywhere in the world.

Tell us what kind of fabric you are on the lookout for now. 

I'm on the lookout for low volume modern prints and anything really gorgeous or truly unique.

Selvage Bubble Quilt

Little selvage quilt by Tiina at Cottilello. Nice job, Tiina!

Selvage Monkey Wrench Block

Riel Nason from New Brunswick Canada, (The Q and the U) made this pretty Monkey Wrench block. That black background fabric really makes the selvages pop!

She has made many wonderful selvage quilts. Many have been featured here.

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Riel is also the author of The Town That Drowned, a book that I enjoyed reading and recommend to you. 

Nicole's Quilt

From Nicole on Modern Handcraft. I like these modern fabrics paired with the light colored newsprint background. More interesting than plain white. I'm on the hunt for low volume background fabrics today.

The Graffiti quilt is almost finished. Just some hand-stitching and I'm done!

Graffiti Quilt - Almost Finished!

I'm planning to finish this quilt today. It's a combination of machine piecing and raw-edge machine applique (both straight stitch and zig-zag). And there's a lot of decorative top-stitching too.

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This is a custom project for a quilt collector in San Francisco. He wants a graffiti-style wall quilt that's hip, something that feels like it might be from the 1980's. It will measure 60" x 60." We have been sending photos and drawings back and forth. His original inspiration was the Kenzo shirt shown below. I love quilts that surprise me, and this one certainly has. 

Graffiti Quilt close-up photos show some of the top-stitching.

Originally I planned to machine wash and dry the finished quilt to fray the raw edges, but we decided to hold off so he can see if he prefers the crisp raw edges. 

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Click here to see the listing on Etsy.

Selvage Pillow from Three Old Keys

Look at this very pretty selvage pillow from Three Old Keys! The selvages are from the 1930's style fabrics that were used on the other side of the pillow (hexies). I love how she used a row of rabbits in the print part of the fabric. It looks like a very cool selvage. Quilters are so clever. Nice job!

(Click on the link for her post about this project.)

Tina's New Selvage Quilt

Tina Craig of Seaside Stitches in Rhode Island just finished her second selvage quilt, and it's a real beauty! It was inspired by my pattern Button Box, but she gave it a new twist with the on-point layout. The Squares are Kona Tomato. Nice work!

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Tina has noticed that making a selvage quilt somehow doesn't deplete your supply of selvages!

I've made a bunch (19?) of selvage quilts and I now have more selvages than ever. How can that be?

Absorbent Hairbrush

These hairbrushes by Goody have absorbent microfiber bristles that dry your hair while you brush. 

What a clever idea! Available at Walmart, Target, Walgreen and CVS. I've never seen them in the stores. Am I the last one to hear about this?

Zig Zag Selvage Quilt

This beautiful selvage quilt is the creation of AnnMarie Cowley from Oregon (Run and Sew Quilts). You can also find her on Instagram. She is a member of the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. 

Nice job, AnnMarie!

Betsy Youngquist, Bead Sculptor

Beaded hare by Betsy Youngquist. 

This is just one of her many creations featured on: Beads Magic. 

I love the owl too. Nice work, Betsy!

Bargello Quilts

 "Bargello Blues" by Ruth Blanchet at Arbee Designs. Wow! She offers a pattern in 2 sizes.

"Argyle" (above) by Eileen Wright, author of More Twist and Turn Bargello Quilts, 

featured on Martingale's website.

 "Aquarium 1" (above) by Ann S. Lainhart from Massachusetts, on Quilted Gallery.

Multi colored Bargello (above) by Becky Botello on Craftsy.

DON'T MISS BECKY'S QUILT PAGE. 

"Mirage" pieced by Gloria Meyer, designed by Derek Lockwood, featured on Jane's In Stitches. 

I think I might have to make a Bargello quilt this year! Looks like fun.

Quilt Dangerously

Haha, I'm making just such a quilt now. Show you soon!

Heart Selvage Quilt

This amazing heart selvage quilt is the creation of Canadian quilter and author Riel Nason. 

Her blog is The Q and the U. She is so talented! 

Also, take a look at my other posts featuring Riel's work.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mrs. Bobbins' Valentine

Yo-Yo Chair

Art doesn't have to be practical, does it? 

I think I have enough yoyo's to do a set of 6! 

Found on Copy and Paste. 

Gorgeous Sampler Quilt with Curves

This gorgeous sampler quilt was made by Helen using the Quick Curve Ruler. 

Take a look at Sew Kind of Wonderful for more photos and info. 

Wow, I like this!

Dyed on the Sheep

The sheep farmer near Bathgate, Scotland dyes his sheep with nontoxic dye to entertain passing motorists. This photo was taken by Cooldawg: Katy Buxton from the UK and posted on Deviant Art.

Teresa Raleigh found this and pinned it on her Pinterest page. She has lots of interesting pins.

Add Your Zinger to the Pinterest Board

If you've made a Zinger (Red or otherwise) please add it to the Red Zinger Pinterest board. 

Visit the Pinterest link (above), click to Follow, then email me telling me you want to add your photo(s) to the board: karengriska@optonline.net. I'll send you an Invitation to post. It's easy.

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Click here to see the Red Zinger pattern.

Paint-Splatter Pincushion Giveaway Winner!

Margie from Oregon! Her blog is: Threading My Needles. Yayy, Margie!

Transparent Camping Tent

Inflatable bubble tents from Bubble Tree in France. They would protect you from the wind and rain. Want to read people's comments about this? Click here and then scroll down.