Celebrate Independence Day with a red, white and blue pinwheel quilt. The pinwheel is made with a unique 3 dimensional pattern that is both striking in appearance and easy to create, even for a beginner. What I love best about this quilt is the texture– the pinwheel seems to pop out of the quilt– maybe it wants to be a real pinwheel.
The quilt and pattern are available in the shop, here
My daughter, Elizabeth, named this week’s quilt and pattern. As soon as she saw the rough drawing of the dragon, it reminded her of a children’s book by Jack Kent, called There’s No Such Thing as Dragons. The book is about a real dragon that comes to visit a little boy. His mother refuses to believe it exists because she doesn’t believe in dragons. The dragon starts out small but keeps growing and growing. Finally, the mom has to acknowledge it’s existence and as soon as she does, the dragon shrinks again. The story is sweet and entertaining. The message is subtle, but the question is posed– how big and clear does reality have to be in order for someone to alter their worldview and accept it?
Here is the very real quilt and pattern:
They both are available in the shop here.
The Mockingjay quilt pattern was inspired by the Hunger Games series of books written by Suzanne Collins. It has a beautiful blue mockingjay bird with outspread wings breaking through the barriers of the restrictive government. The pieces of the circular barrier are falling away as the mockingjay flies through. The Mockingjay art quilt captures the theme of the Hunger Games and keeps in the spirit of the simplicity and folk style of district 12. This pattern arrives in a pdf format that allows you to print the applique pattern.
The pattern is available in the shop, Maryland Quilter, for instant download.
Sometimes we make things harder than they have to be. For instance, you could go crazy trying to find a different gift for everyone on your Christmas list, or…. you could make them all a personalized quilt blanket. One pattern, 2 versions, endless possibilities. The children on your list could have a quilt with fun bright fabrics, the guys could have them in their favorite team colors. Your mother in law would love a red and green Christmas quilt. So go ahead, make it simple for you. They will love their handmade quilt, I guarantee it!
Here are some possibilities for a chevron stripe quilt blanket:
The pattern is available for instant download here. Don’t want to make one, want to buy one instead? There are lots to choose from all for $75.00 each. These and many more are available at Maryland Quilter:
I have a new great nephew named Elijah, (Eli for short). I just love the babies that are sprouting out in my extended family tree. I now have 3 great nieces and 3 great nephews. You know I only want more so that I can make more baby quilts for them, right? I’ve decided to name some of these baby quilts after the babies that inspired me and they get the original quilt as a bonus. So today, it’s Eli’s turn.
Here is Eli’s Super Duper Amazing Animal Quilt:
And here is a detail of the fox block:
The quilt pattern and each of the individual animal block patterns are available in my shop
Eli gets the quilt, of course:)
Linking up to a great blog this week: Stitch by Stitch
Had I not had children of my own, I would have never written books for children, nor would I have been capable of doing so.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/roalddahl562488.html#xPoMBZhs7T0WKkrW.99
One mile down the road from my house is a ford. It is a throwback from an earlier age and scares the city drivers. The stream crosses the road and if you want to continue forward, you have to be brave and drive through the water. Most days, I walk to the ford and back for a bit of exercise. Today the autumn weather was glorious and I took this picture of the creek from the ford:
This week I also designed a new quilt. I like it so much, I want to keep it for myself. But for now, it is available in the shop along with the pattern, so you can make your own version of Moonlight on the Weeping Willow Tree:
I am afraid of heights. Whenever I look over the edge of a balcony or a cliff I feel an incredible pull, so strong I think it may drag me over the edge. I back up quickly and look away. When I fly in my dreams, there is no downward pull. It is all joy. I do flips and rolls and soar in the sky. I like to imagine those dreams are a glimpse of heaven and when these ties are loosened I’ll know for sure. For today, it is enough to watch the birds, dream and sew.
Here is a new mini quilt and pattern, Sunshine on Little Bird, available in the shop.
This post is linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday
“Fussy” is a quilt term. It is the current vernacular for “Broderie Perse” which in french means “Persian Embroidery”. All of the different labels are for a way of cutting out fabric that focuses on a motif in the pattern rather than the entire fabric pattern. So, if you find fabric with cute penguins and seals and you cut out the penguins and sew them on your t-shirt, you are sewing using the fussy cut technique.
My newest project, ” Wild Flowers” uses fussy cut flowers and stems to create appliques. Because the background of the quilt has a bold print, I put solid colored background flowers and leaves behind the appliques to help them stand out. The outer petals are rag cut to give texture and life to the flowers. All the appliques are sewn with raw edges to give a relaxed, folk style to the quilt. A red print border with a clipped edge finishes the composition.
The quilt and pattern are available in my shop
Last week I got serious about using up some of my huge inventory of flannel fabric. It had grown out of control. (Don’t you love how I made it sound like I had no responsibility for this. haha) I have one large wall of shelving devoted to flannel fabric and it was bursting at the seams. So last week most of the stash was measured and cut. This week and next will be sewing and listing. Hopefully the completed baby blankets will be swaddling happy babies in the near future.
Here’s the fabric in nice cut stacks waiting to be made into the most useful, comfy baby blankets ever:
And here is the monster I promised, handmade for Ms.Duffy’s second grade science class by Evelyn Haney and Mom (me):
Alexander Henry fabric company has an amazing new line called Fulham Road. It is so so beautiful I want to just make quilts and quilts and quilts.. Well, you get the picture, I’m a little out of control. Part of the problem is that they double whammied me with a combo of fabric and books, my two favorite things in the world. So I bought just 1 yard of Somerville Study in Tawny Plum and made this quilt:
Maryland Quilter 