Little Bird from St. Petersburg, Russia

This little bird is the creation of slava che, a native of St. Petersburg, Russia. He has loved glass since he was young. I bought this on his Etsy shop Russian Miniatures. I love the colors and how you can see right through it. It sparkles in the sun. Nice job, slava!

New Clergy Stole with Dove and Olive Branch

My new clergy stole design features a dove with an olive branch. I really like this one. You can see the listing here. Thanks for any internet love like Pins or FB.

Interesting Stone Work

Olive tree image in a wall. Pinterest, unidentified.

Stone work by Ithaca VW.

Amazing creativity with rocks!

Time for a Giveaway!

Scroll down to read about the new site Quiltship, and enter

the giveaway! 

QUILTSHIP - a community for quilters! & GIVEAWAY

Quiltship is a new online community for quilters! Drop in and visit with quilters from all over the world. See quilt project photos, get ideas, join groups (scrap quilt lovers, charity quilters...), find out about quilting events (real cruises, quilt shows...), and buy or sell quilt patterns.

I joined 3 months ago and it's been so much fun making friends here. I've posted some quilt photos, some patterns to sell, asked some questions, joined some groups and had some good laughs.

Sign in with an email and password. It's free and they never misuse your email. This is a top-notch group of the nicest quilters out there.

Join the fun aboard this virtual ship! We're saving a seat for you!

GIVEAWAY!

After you sign in to Quiltship, come back and enter the GIVEAWAY! Your quick comment on this post is your entry. Three winners from anywhere in the world will be chosen at random on Friday June 30th. Each winner will receive a felted wool pincushion handmade by me! Each pincushion has a pretty metallic button and two pinsies. Yup, fancy!

Sheenaliam's Embroidery

This was posted on Instagram by Sheenaliam. So clever!

Joyful Red Clergy Stole

Finished this red stole today! Just in time for ordination and Pentecost season. Quilters will recognize these Kaffe Fassett Westminster fabrics. I love the colors and how they all look great together.

See more photos and details here. As you know, I always love Pins and fb. Thanks!

Asymmetrical Blue and Green Clergy Stole

I just finished this clergy stole a few minutes ago and wanted to show you. This fabric is by Timeless Treasures. I love the colors: blue, aqua, purple and greens. They're cool and soothing. This stole took less time to make than the one in the last post, but I spent some time deciding how to position the pattern before cutting the fabric. I like that green stripe. I don't know if my customers will like the asymmetry, but I'm guessing they will. See more details in my Etsy shop: Water Stole #191.

And if you're in the mood for Pinning, thanks!

Blue and Green Clergy Stole

Quilters will recognize these fabrics! Yup, I used my blue and green Westminster fabrics to make this clergy stole, and I think the result is delicious! This is Joyful #185. (I started with #1, and this is my 185th stole! I tend to go overboard with things.)

In case you're new to clergy stoles, they're worn by many ordained Protestant clergy. Some are subtle, and others, not so much. Haha.

P. S. I'm hoping my readers will help me by Pinning the listing. Thanks!

Pat Kilmark's First Prize Quilt!

This fabulous quilt by Pat Kilmark won first prize at Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee in March.

She used my Fandango pattern for the center, then she invented an awesome asymmetrical border. I particularly love those polka dots and the striped fabrics in the fans. Lots of action there.

Congratulations, Pat!!

Boho Springtime Quilt by Monique

I found this colorful quilt on Etsy. It was made by sewfunbymonique in California. She used Jennifer Paganelli's fabric line: Crazy Love. Such a simple design, but the bright fabrics do all the work.

Monique uses minky on the back and no batting in the middle. Clever, Monique!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! May the saving message of Easter bring you hope and peace and joy.

Fancy Feathers' Incredible Longarm Quilting!

Have you ever seen a modern whole cloth quilt like this? It's the work of longarm quilter Rose Bell in Canada. Her website is Fancy Feathers. Nice work, Rose!

Beautiful Shibori!

Take a look at this beautiful handmade shibori fabric from the Yunnan Province in China.

 See more details on These Days of LA, California.

See more examples of outstanding shibori here on my Pinterest board.

New Selvage Quilt from Nancy Eaton

Take a look at this beautiful new selvage quilt by Nancy Eaton of Connecticut! She was inspired by the quilts in my book "Quilts from the Selvage Edge" pub by AQS in 2008. Nice job, Nancy!

More Couching from Hata Larson

I found the entire post from Hata Larson. She couches strips cut from old tee shirts (1-1.25") onto foundation fabric along drawn lines. She starts with the flowers, then fills in the background. And this new photo shows beads too! Nice.

See translated post here.

Good Quilt for a Snow Day

Upcycle is perfect to make during a blizzard because you already have all the supplies: fabric scraps, background fabric, glue stick, and basic sewing supplies.  It's fast and fun to make. And it's a sturdy machine washable quilt too. Get the pattern. If you don't love it, let me know and I'll issue you a full refund. Enjoy the day!

Up-cycled Thread Spools

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, you know that some quilters save our empty thread spools and then count them at the end of the year as a rough measure of our quilting productivity. Every January someone asks for ideas about how to use them. How about this spool chair/folk art? Granted, the chair wouldn't look as amazing if it was made from the white plastic spools we have today. Haha.

This spool table was made around 1900. It was featured on Antiques Roadshow, and valued at $1,000-1,500 a few years ago.

Click here to see more ideas for up-cycling thread spools.

 Have a creative day!

Selvage Pickle Dish - Free Pattern from B

 

See B's free pattern showing how to make a little 4-block pickle dish quilt: Modern quilting by B. She says that using selvages makes this block easier. I like her fabric choices, very modern. Nice, B!

Flow Acrylic Painting

Flow acrylic painting has captured my imagination this winter and I'm working on achieving these pretty "cells," the rounded shapes with narrow borders. It's tricky business getting the paints mixed to the correct consistency, and getting the right variety of paints so that they interact in interesting ways (like forming cells). It's very messy too! This painting is one of my most successful ones. I have a lot of duds, but I just paint over them.  

I haven't given up quilting; this is just a little side-trip.

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