Imagine spending Christmas in the peace and quiet of the country. You are in the fresh air, with good company, a roaring fire, and a bright star overhead. A hammock swings gently in the evening breeze. A lantern lights the words in your favorite book. If only life were so easy!
Here is a Christmas card from the Campground, in quilt form, to make and hang in your home.
The pattern should be ready by next week and available at Maryland Quilter.
Last year around this time I renovated a haunted house quilt. This year, I’m remaking another quilt, Christmas in the Campground. Here is the original quilt, designed in 2011:
A few weeks ago I decided to make a pattern of the quilt to sell in my shop. I thought it would be an easy project. The quilt was already made, writing the pattern should be a snap. I’ll just make another version of the first one, taking pictures and writing the pattern as I go. But then, as I looked at the quilt, ideas came to me. I thought, what if I just did this, added this, changed this, moved this, took out this, and pretty soon I had a completely renovated Campground quilt. It is taking me weeks instead of a couple days to complete and I’m not done yet.
Here is the new 2015 version of Christmas at the Campground, in progress:
Here is a detail:
I hope to have the quilt and pattern done by next week.
It is 90 degrees in Maryland today. The only ice and snow I can imagine is in a snow cone with grape syrup squirted on top.
But the calendar says Labor Day is over, so pack up the swim suits and dig out the sewing machine. You know where it is, under the beach towels. Clear the sea shells and glue off the craft table, plug the machine in, stretch your fingers and start sewing!
If you start today, you will have those cozy quilts made for Suzie and Jill and Billy and Mike. Work hard and you might even get around to Great Aunt Betty!
I’ve done my part, I made the first quilt. I even made a pattern of it, just for you.
This quilt is so easy and fast to make, you really do have time to make one for everyone on your list. Here is the pattern: Christmas Argyle Quilt Pattern . Here is the quilt, also for sale at Maryland Quilter: Christmas Argyle Quilt.
Living here in Maryland the weather is often exasperating. Like Goldilocks’ porridge, the weather is either too hot or too cold. If the temperature is okay, then it is windy or rainy or just cloudy. Then there are those few days that are amazing. Perfect humidity, clear skies, chirping birds. You want to tell nature, “You got it right, now don’t stop”. Alas, nature has it’s own agenda.
So, what can a person do? I have decided to forget about the weather. I will instead enjoy the flowers. They are more predictably beautiful. In fact, if you create your own fabric flower garden it will bloom in perpetuity. Here is a flower quilt to enjoy every day, regardless of the weather.
The quilt has been sold, but the pattern is available at Maryland Quilter.
Sometimes I look too closely at the individual stitches in a quilt and forget to consider the design I’m creating. A good quilter keeps her eye on the details but always considers the entire tapestry. That’s not bad advice for living life, either. I don’t want the consideration of small tasks to keep me from seeing the big world around me.
Do you want help remembering the big world? Here is a quilt to remind you to look at the world from a bigger perspective:
The mini quilt will fit on a counter top or hang on a wall. The completed quilt is available here The pattern is available here.
Why is it every time a major holiday rolls around, snippets of silly songs from my childhood pop in my head? I think of Christmas and all of sudden I’m humming “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”. Halloween brings to mind the scary drumbeat soundtrack from The Wizard of Oz when the witch says, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”.
Today I was deciding the title for this Easter blog post and, naturally, I started singing the Peter Cottontail song. So, my Easter gift to you are old TV memories. In the classic words of Porky Pig, “That’s all folks”.
Are you looking for a sweet spring quilt to make or give? Here’s one with pretty flowers and Peter Cottontail:
This is a very fun quilt to make. It goes together fast, is full of colorful fabric and, best of all, it’s guaranteed to look great! Here is the pattern and here is the quilt .
The top and bottom of this Christmas quilt has a border in my favorite fabric design,The Ghastlies, by Alexander Henry. The Ghastlies remind me of the Adams Family or the Muensters. Remember those shows? Kinda funny, kinda scary, weird. That’s the Ghastlies. The particular Ghastlie design used in this quilt is “a ghastlie holiday” in red.
This holiday quilt will make you smile instead of stress:
The quilt is available in the shop here
Every year in November I design a new Christmas ornament. One year it was redbirds, last year was Beta fighting fish. This year’s ornament was suggested by my daughter, Evelyn. She wanted a snowman. She was probably thinking of Olaf, but I was thinking traditional.
I love making the ornaments in batches. Making so many allows me to streamline the pattern, improve it, and experiment, too.
So here is the Maryland Quilter 2014 ornament:
If you want one, buy any item in the shop and mention “snowman ornament” in the comment section at checkout. I’ll include one in your order through December 20, 2014.
It’s bitter cold this morning in Maryland, wayyyy below average. I looked out my window and the birds are slow to come to the feeder because of the cold. For an instant I was afraid for them, that they would freeze on the branches. But then common sense took hold. They have been cold before and will be fine. God takes care of them.
What are you afraid of? Whatever you fear, it probably won’t happen. Fear is a liar. I tell myself that and have a poster to remind me.
Here is a quilt and pattern I made awhile back. It features some of the chilly animals I care about:
The quilt and the pattern are available in the shop here .
Let’s set the picnic table for a Ghastlie Halloween celebration! The table placemats feature four of the most interesting Ghastlie family members: Mathilde, Daria, the Widow Ghastlie, and Garrick Ghastlie. The background fabric has Sebastian the cat cavorting. Your plate of Halloween hot dog fingers and boiled egg eyeballs will taste better than ever 🙂
Creep over to Maryland Quilter and check them out!
Maryland Quilter 