Pickle Dish Quilt

Here's another stunning quilt done in pink and cheddar. The little bits of green add a nice touch. See more photos and details about this quilt at Sane, Crazy. Crumby Quilting. 

This quilter (not identified in her blog) also made a beautiful basket quilt, shown below. Wow!

Socks Made From Sweater Sleeves!

Socks made from sweater sleeves! How clever is that?

This photo is from Autumn Enchanted, a cache of cozy autumn photos.

The site isn't for knitters, so it doesn't give any info about how to deal with the raw edge at the top of the sleeve. But if the sweater was in throw-away condition anyway, we'd figure it out.

Something New: Mermaid Crowns!

Something about this makes me smile: a mermaid crown made from seashells. This one was created by Corina Brown of Wild & Free Jewelry in Santa Barbara, California. 

Looking at her crowns just gave my creativity a boost! Off to the sewing machine!

Quilt by Maria Shell of Alaska

This quilt titled "To Agnes Martin With Color" was made by Maria Shell of Anchorage, Alaska.

It was exhibited at Quilt National in Ohio in 2015. Visit Maria's website here, and blog here.

I love all the crazy tiny pieces in this quilt! It looks like all solids.

Nice work, Maria!

Sarah Nishiura's Quilt

Sarah Nishiura (from Chicago) made this machine-pieced, 

hand-quilted quilt in 2013. It measures 87" x 85." 

See more of Sarah's quilts here.

I'm interested in the pink/gold color combination.

 It feels like Indian summer to me: goldenrod and the last of the pink roses (below). 

 

Nancy's Camelot Quilt

Nancy H. Sonneborn just finished this beautiful Camelot quilt. She made two rows of boys and two rows of girls. Each one is different. (From top to bottom: boy, girl, girl, boy.)  Great colors! She said this quilt was lots of fun to make. Nice work, Nancy!

To see the pattern for this quilt, click here: Camelot Quilt Pattern. 

Green Mosaic Clergy Stole

This is my third mosaic clergy stole in a series. As you quilters can probably tell, the "tiles" are Kona solids, fused onto the stole with Pellon #805. See details here: Green Clergy Stole. It takes me one whole day to make one of these. I'm not complaining though, It's very relaxing to do.

October is Clergy Appreciation Month. My Etsy shop Shadrach's is well stocked. ;)

Red Mosaic Clergy Stole

I've put fusible mosaic designs on quilts before, but I have to say doing this on clergy stoles is so much fun. See how the smidgen of blue pops? I love that. Click here to see my stole shop: Shadrach's. Or click here to see more about this Red Mosaic. So far, it takes me a whole day to make one of these. I don't know if it will get any faster, but it's soothing. It will be a good winter project because of all the time spent with the steam iron. :)

Coming up next: green!

Mosaic Design Using Fusible Web

I finished my first mosaic style clergy stole today. The foundation is black Kona cotton. The "tiles" are made from 12 shades of blue, turquoise and purple. The colors are more accurate in the photos below. You can see  more details here. I used Pellon #805 fusible web. 

Labor or Fun?

Well, that depends. Whatever you're planning for today, I hope you have a Happy Labor Day!
I'll be sewing. :)

Clergy Stoles from Guatemalan Handwovens and Kona Cottons

I just discovered the beauty of combining handwoven fabric from Guatemala with Kona solids. At the moment I'm focused on making clergy stoles for my Etsy store: Shadrach's, then I'll get back to quilting. This particular stole is called Dusk. I found the Guatemalan fabric on Carrie Wood's Etsy store: More Love Mama. The fabric is 36" wide, and costs $7.99/half yard. She has a great selection.

I love the 3 periwinkle rectangles in this stole. They cool down all the reds/oranges. This is my favorite clergy stole so far.

Read any good books lately?

Read any good books lately? I could really go for a good story. 

Leave your suggestions in the Comments.

Here are some that I enjoyed and you might like too:

1. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese

2. Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, Erik Larson

3. The Geography of Genius, A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley, Eric Weiner

4. The Boys in the Boat, Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Daniel James Brown

5. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

6. The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer

7. Gilead: A Novel, Marilynne Robinson

8. The Help, Kathryn Stockett

9. The Invisible Hand, R. C. Sproul

10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer

11. Ordinary Grace, William Kent Krueger

12. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner

13. Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson

14. Abba's Child, Brennan Manning

15. The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis

April Roudabush's Ferris Wheel Quilt

April Roudabush of Pennsylvania made this stunning Ferris Wheel quilt to give as a gift. 

The recipient of the quilt put it under a black light (below). Wow!

She is on Facebook as This Biker Quilts. 

Wonderful job, April!

Donna Bruno's Park Place Quilt!

This gorgeous Park Place quilt is Donna Bruno's latest finish. Isn't it a beauty? The little pink dots on the light background are actually little flowers. I love the red inner border and the black floral border too. Nice job, Donna!

Donna lives in Torrington, CT. She was co-President of the Hearthside Guild in Harwinton last year.  

To see the pattern for this quilt, click here: Park Place.

Everything Tea!

I've been binge-browsing on Pinterest, looking at everything tea: beautiful tea cups, interesting pots, tea party ideas, tea growing, tea houses, tea blends, and clever tea party recipes.

Treat yourself to a little virtual tea party inspiration here: Tea Time!

The lemon flower idea above is from SkinnyMs.

Haha. For links to the shirt and cup, see: Tea Time!

Knotted Binding?

I'm curious about this knotted quilt binding! I found this photo on 10Marifet, but it didn't tell how-to. 

Guzellestirin means "beautify" in Turkish. Well, I knew that from the photos! :)

I would guess you make the knots, then line them up side-by-side and sew them onto a narrow foundation strip. Then insert the strip into a knife-edge binding and top-stitch? I need to give this a try. Any advice?

Couching on Monk Cloth Looks Like Fun!

Look at this! It's by Hata Larson. The source is Postila in Russia. Even though I can't read it, each picture is worth a thousand words. This looks like fun! Knit strips couched on monk cloth. Draw the main shape, then just fill in the spaces. 

Portrait Quilt by Kate Themel

Stunning portrait quilt, "Looking Back," by Kate Themel. It measures 18" x 27."

And she lives close by, in Connecticut! Read about this accomplished artist here. 

Not Your Average Black Dress!

This gets my creativity gears turning! Pretty amazing!

This is from the 2015 Noir collection by Kei Ninomiya.

Read more about it on Style Zeitgeist.

More images on Google.

Sweater Loaded with Beads!

Wow, look at this! I may have to make one of these. Maybe I wouldn't put beads on the sleeves because they might snag on the body of the sweater. Leaning back in a wooden chair could be  uncomfortable too. Okay, beads only on the front. But still!