Pastiche Quilt Pattern!

Gather up all your quilting fabrics for this one. Everything is on the menu: gorgeous favorites, ugly fabrics, old and new, large and small prints, the whole shebang. You only need a little strip so you won’t even miss it. Stash quilts make a nice souvenir of our quilt-making journeys.

The Pastiche* pattern has lots of helpful hints for better results and more fun. No stress.

*Pastiche: (pa-steesh'), noun, a work of art that mixes styles, materials, etc. Hodgepodge.

See the Pastiche pattern. Please spread the word on Pinterest, blogs, fb, etc. Thanks!

Sea Glass Quilt Pattern!

"Sea Glass" is a fusible applique quilt that measures 36" x 54." I just finished the "Sea Glass" pattern yesterday. I did a Google search of "sea glass" to get ideas before making this quilt and I saw photos of an amazing beach in California that's loaded with this stuff. It's called Glass Beach near Ft. Bragg. Apparently the locals used the beach as a dump in the 1940's (I know!) and now it's all nicely tumbled. Visitors like to take bags of it home with them. Scroll down to see a photo of it.

Glass Beach, Ft. Bragg, California. Read more here.

The Optimist Quilt!

Quilters who haven't yet made a string quilt are in for a big treat! This is a classic string quilt with a modern look. Fast and easy, it will make an optimist out of anyone. See The Optimist pattern.

I took this photo last night at 7:30 with no flash! I love this time of year.

This quilt lends itself well to fussy-cutting. I especially love the polka dots and that little red tiger, and the brown twigs, and the chairs (bottom photo)...see what I mean?

Visit The Optimist pattern. Please Pin, fb, Tweet, etc. Thanks!!

RV Sewing

Imagine all the quilts you could make if you could sew on those long road trips?

Paulette is a retired teacher from Canada. She wrote about this on her blog Sweet P Quilting and Creations. This isn't her sewing machine, but I think she wants one!  :) 

Square Web Quilt Pattern! Do You See the Fish?

Got scraps? This Spider Web variation quilt pattern eats them up! 

The "webs" are square-ish and a little wonky. 

This quilt is easier to make than it looks! Fun too.

See the Square Web quilt pattern in my Etsy shop. 

This quilt measures 64" x 64". To make an X-Long Twin (64" x 81") 

just add two more rows of blocks to the length.

Clear directions, lots of how-to photos. 15 Pages.

No paper-piecing. No foundations. No stress.

If you don't love it, let me know and I'll issue a full refund.

As usual, I've added some "I spy" fun. Nice fish, huh? 

This is definitely a fun quilt to make.

Help me spread this around: Pin, Like on fb, blog, Tweet, etc. Thanks!!

Here's the pattern.  

Meet Tula Pink

Elizabeth Maxson in St. Louis, MO has a very good post on her blog The Adventures of Elizabeth about quilter and fabric designer Tula Pink (pictured above). Look at the quilt on the design wall behind her! Wow! The photos on her blog are stunning.

Elizabeth was doing a photo shoot at Tula's studio (a renovated dairy barn) for an article in Artists and Makers magazine. Isn't this studio great?

Selvage Quilt from CV Quiltworks

Selvage quilt by Karen at Canton Village Quilt Works. This is one of the patterns in my book: Quilts from the Selvage Edge (AQS 2008). I really like the way she got so much color in there! Nice!

Kid's Art Would Make a Nice Quilt

I found this on the Joe Tulips Quilts blog. She saw this display in a school and thought it would make a good quilt. I like the kids' circles even more than Kandinsky's.

Lamp Gallery Quilt Pattern!

Here's my brand new quilt pattern: Lamp Gallery! Search your stash to see what cool lamps you have in there. Good for novelty prints and fussy-cutting.  

This applique quilt measures 51" x 62." Directions are also given for Twin and X-Long Twin size.

There are three methods of applique to choose from. The border fabric is striped, not pieced.

My favorite lamp is the plum colored one above. I had fun choosing the fabrics and making these blocks. It's a very soothing project. Quick finish too, which is nice.

Jacquie's Selvage Spool Quilt Tutorial

Jacquie has a tutorial on her blog showing how to make this clever selvage spool quilt.

See her blog: Tallgrass Prairie Studio. Nice job, Jacquie!

Happy Father's Day Quilt Show

"Dad's Neckties" from Goose Tracks (above).

"Happy Father's Day" (above) by Janet Elwin, posted by Janet on Pinterest. 

She used neckties and shirts.

"Plaid for Dad, Happy Father's Day," (above) made with plaid and golf-themed fabrics. 

See this and more quilts and patterns at "My Quilt Pattern."

Father's Day One Patch quilt from Hungary Louis. The rectangles measure 5" x 7."

I like that aqua stripe on the right. 

Spring Gardening

Better late than never. Today is the last day of spring and I just planted some flowers in pots. The pot above has lantana (upper left), pink dianthus, and light yellow petunias.

The red and yellow begonias are prettier in person. More dianthus in the middle.

And here's my kitchen herb garden. Haha, just a pot of spearmint (left) and a pot of basil (right).

Plus some lavender lace cuphea (not an herb, just a pretty flower).

Okay, now back to quilting.

Important: Avoid poison ivy and poison oak!

This is poison ivy! Sometimes the leaves have notches, sometimes it has a shiny reddish appearance. The constant characteristic is that the leaves grow in threes. Getting the oil on your skin can cause a miserable itchy rash. Most of you know this, but I want to warn those who don't! 

"Leaves of three, let it be!"

And here's a photo of poison oak, below. Terri left a comment on this post about poison oak, so I added this photo. It looks like a baby oak tree. It would be tempting to pick some of this for a floral arrangement. Note to self: Don't do that!

Mountain Laurel

The mountain laurel is in full bloom at Nipmunk State Forest,

 a 9,000 acre forest in Northeast Connecticut. My DH and I visited this week. 

Each flower is one bowl-shaped petal that has 10 indentations, each with a red dot. 

I love these flowers.

While there, we met this little fellow. He peeked out of his shell like this, 

but wasn't taking any chances.

Tiny Pieces!

This gorgeous quilt is the creation of Brenda Henning of Bearpaw Productions. She sells patterns for this and other scrap quilts. Brenda lives in Alaska where quilting season lasts a long time.

The Wedding was Wonderful!

More photos to come. We all had a wonderful time in Short Hills, NJ on Saturday.

Now the happy couple is in Europe on their honeymoon.

Thanks to my friend Barb Marroquin for the photos.

Wedding is Coming Up!

Our son Brian is getting married to his sweetheart Lauren. We took this photo last summer on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. (The shutter was open for 30 seconds to get those stars.)

After the wedding I'll be back. Bye for now!

Selvage Star

This selvage star quilt is the work of twins Jessica and Jennifer of Twin Fibers. I love how they cut the selvages nice and wide to show the beautiful fabric prints. And the quilting is great!

Their newest projects involve upholstery.

Interesting tutorials too.

Scrap Creatures

This scrapy snail is just one of Sandra Hanken's charming patterns. Her shop is Becoming Bears ETC on Etsy. ETC stands for Especially Terrific Creatures, of course. Sandra lives in northern Minnesota.

Jubilee Quilt

"Jubilee" quilt by accomplished fiber artist Diane Melms.

Silk Ribbon Embroidery

There is a wonderful tutorial for silk ribbon delphiniums on Carol Daisy from Carol Steemson.

This would look fantastic on a crazy quilt! 

And here's another silk ribbon beauty made by Danielle Roothooft featured on Stitchin Fingers.

Teapot Quilt

See KateThemel on Indulgy for this and similar quilts. I followed numerous links on Indulgy but I'm still not sure who make this quilt. If you know, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: Thank you for the links to Kate Themel's sites in the Comments below.

Kati's Striped Quilt

This fresh modern quilt was made by Kati and is featured on her blog: from the blue chair, a good source of inspiration for modern quilts. Nice work, Kati!

Art from Recycled Items by Magdalena Godowa

Recycled items and apple quilt (below) by Magdalena Godowa from Poland. See more of her art on Flickr.

Modern Log Cabin from Insung Kim

Modern log cabin quilt by Insung Kim on Flickr. 

I like how she used  prints with white backgrounds. They make the blocks look light and airy. 

Nice job, Kim!