Falling Off the Wagon, Again….

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

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Snow, Snow, Snow and Sugar Too

How do you combat a brutal winter full of snow and ice? In a word– sugar! Just looking at the white granules of snow reminds me of a full bowl of sugar. Cranking up the oven warms the house and produces cupcakes which are full of sugar!! When the cupcakes are eaten there is still the remaining icing to finish off and it’s all good! While the sugar high is going strong, you can make a sweet quilt that reminds you of Easter colored sugar sprinkles! When you need a break, the kids are always ready to play Candyland, which is also full of, wait for it…. sugar!

Here’s my sugar high quilt:

It is called Sugar Bunnies Baby Rag Quilt and is available in the shophere . The pattern will be published later this week.

Eli’s Super Duper Amazing Animal Quilt

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.

Roald Dahl

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/roalddahl562488.html#xPoMBZhs7T0WKkrW.99

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.
Roald Dahl
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roald_dahl.html#Jt3dFPiLhOGOYbXA.99

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.
Roald Dahl
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roald_dahl.html#Jt3dFPiLhOGOYbXA.99

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.
Roald Dahl
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/roald_dahl.html#Jt3dFPiLhOGOYbXA.99

In My Best Dreams, I’m Flying

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  

What is a Fussy Folk Quilt?

“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

There’s a Monster at the End of This Blog Post.

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):