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.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In honor of the patron saint of Ireland, here are a few green items available at Maryland Quilter:
The dragon above reminds me of another famous saint, St. George, who slayed the dragon and rescued the princess. My green dragon is part of a quilt, the pattern and quilt are available in the shop, here.
Wouldn’t a green kitchen set of 2 pot holders and 2 tea towels be the perfect way to welcome spring in your home? You can find them here
What a lucky baby or grownup if they get a blanket like this one! Beautiful green and so so soft. It’s available at Maryland Quilter.
Most people have two times of the year when they stop and reflect on their lives; these are New Year’s and their birthday. Well, New Year’s Eve is also my birthday so I do a marathon of reflection this time of year. Looking back at the business side of my life, Maryland Quilter grew over 10% in revenues this year. Expenses were a whopping 50% less than in 2013.
Now the fun part begins– planning the future growth for 2015! I am going to sort through the myriad of possibilities using the good, better, best method. I’ll take all the ideas for projects, expansion, marketing, etc., evaluate each one and label them good, better, best. The best ones will then be prioritized. Then the work begins 🙂
Here is a quilt in the shop called Seize the Day, appropriate for a New Year and a birthday:
The quilt is available for sale in the shop here
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
Fall is the season of squirrels. Everywhere I look, there they are running up and down the tree trunks. I love them all, even the ones that figure out how to raid my bird feeders. It’s amazing to me how the animals have a complex society in my backyard. They live, fight, love and die right outside my window, whether I notice or not.
So here I am, sewing virtual squirrels on baby quilts, while the real squirrels carry on outside my window.
This baby quilt is available in my shop, here
Free shipping on everything for the holidays!
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!
What is the best size for a baby blanket or quilt? I’ve been asking myself that question for a couple years and I have the answer: Babies need some of every size. When they are newborn and need swaddling, bigger is better so their feet don’t stick out. When they are in the stroller, smaller is better so it doesn’t drag on the floor. When they start to crawl, any size works.
I have many large baby blankets in the shop. Now I’m stocking the virtual shelves with smaller stroller quilt blankets. Here is one of the newest and cutest, with Frog and Toad fabric:
And since I’m still stuck on Halloween, here is a bats quilt:
Frog and Toad is available here
Halloween bats quilt and the pattern are in the shop here
I’m trying really hard to think about Christmas stockings. Meanwhile, here is yet another Halloween quilt– I love the jars of lighthearted Halloween fun:
Here’s a detail of the quilt:
The quilt is for sale in the shop here
A couple weeks ago I said that I was done sewing Halloween quilts for this year. Then last week I made another one. Then I fell off the wagon again and made one more. This quilt began innocently enough with a yard of Alexander Henry’s Ghastlie Garden (This is the flower print on the top of the quilt). It isn’t really Halloween because it’s just gray and flowers, right? But I wanted more and I happened to have some of this really cool Ghastlie Grounds print which has interesting rows of ghastlie pictures, Sebastian the cat, and gothic garden stuff. Since flowers grow in gardens and the fabrics went together so well, I just had to make yet another ghastlie quilt. So here it is:
Here is a detail of part of the bottom of the quilt with a handmade black fringe:
I make no more guarantees that I’m done with Halloween until November, then I’ll be done. The quilt is available in the shop, here
I only know one person who likes to read more than I do. That’s my sister, Lois. Not only do we both share a love of reading, but we both love books– we love to hold them, flip through them, display them on shelves, and read them.
My sister has found a new creative outlet for her love of children’s books. She brings the story characters to life by creating play sets from Little Golden Books. Children can read the books and play with the characters in their own setting. She just opened an Etsy shop, Tuscaroraarts, to sell her books and playsets. Here is my favorite, The Poky Little Puppy:
You should go visit and see her other amazing, creative playsets.
Here is one of my newest projects, a trick or treat quilt. The triangle at the end of the stripe kinda reminds me of candy corn. This was a subliminal addition to the quilt, a product of my unconscious desire for Halloween candy 🙂
The quilt is available in the shop here.
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