Creating, Sharing and Living the Patchwork Dream

Last Saturday was the annual North Central Ohio Rug Show and Hook-In at Kingwood Center put on by Katie Allman of Kidl'-de-Divey Woolens . T...

"Scraparadise" inspired by Suzuko Koseki and Brigitte's Forum Farbstoff BOM

woolens and such

Our 15th biennial guild quilt show was this past weekend and as always, the quilts were fabulous! We have about 200 members and the show had about 200 quilts--though only about half the members entered. Here are some of my favorites, beginning with my entries: Stella's Splendid Sampler, my quilt Rajah Revisited, my quilt Color in Black and White, Small, my quilt Smitten, my quilt X Marks the Spot, one of my favorite quilts Best of Show and Viewer's Choice, Baltimore Rhapsody--Symphony by Teresa Rawson of Fabric Therapy, totally original designs and patterns, which she has available on her site. This quilt won Viewer's Choice at two AQS shows in earlier years. It is stunning: Teresa's other entry, Contentment, a 25th anniversary quilt, all original designs: Stars and Stripes by Sharon Stifflemire, I have the fabrics to make this someday: Chronicles of the Civil War by Jerry Alexandria: Daughter's Choice by Lewis Harmon, quilted by Mechelle Armstrong--it won Best Track Machine Quilting: Contemporary Strings by Teresa Covington, quilted by Elaine Poplin: Imperial Star by Ben Darby: Not Your Grandma's "Whitman Sampler by Mary Millhouse: School Rules by Kari Hawkins: Masquerade by Ben Darby: These next five are all by Elaine Wick Poplin, one of our younger members, who is following her bliss and just keeps getting better. You can probably tell she has a mathematical side--she is a high school math teacher. She quilts on a Longarm. Touchdown, Alabama April 27, 2011. The radar image of a tornado: Linus: Fusion. This quilt also received a National Association of Certified Quilt Judges Award of Merit: Vertigo: The Plan Is: There Is No Plan: We had funny quilts, like Eclipse by Bonnie Spencer. The subtitle is "Totality Awesome": Bonnie also coordinated a Special Exhibit of Doll Beds and their quilts from our members. These are just a few: Another special award, Judge's Choice, went to Sue Bartlow for her memory quilt, Life Full of Memories: We had a few garments too. My favorite is Indigo Patchwork Jacket by Cecelia Bruton: My other favorite, I Love Purple, by Claire Whitmore: Last, but by no means least, every teacher loves when a student gets an award. Donna Daniel entered her Smitten quilt, which she titled Meander, in the category First HQH Fanfare Quilt, for those who have never entered our show before. She got First Place: This is just a small sample of the great quilts we have in our show. Each show just gets better and better. I hope you can make it to the 2019 show. Let's Quilt! Barbara

A very long time ago it seems, I met a lovely lady who asked me to make a piece of embroidery for or rather a collection of small pieces mounted together. We discussed colours and she said 'think old Venice' Well I'd never been to Venice so I put it on the back burner for a while. Earlier this year we went to Venice and I took a million photos. It was still on the back burner as I was busy up until Yarndale but after that I got going. Looking back through my photographs, at the colours of Old Venice, I saw faded lime-washed walls, grey green water, curly iron work, and bare stone and white marble. I had some lovely felt coloured with natural dyes some time ago at our felt group. Soft and muted and perfect for the task. I made a start, using the motif Wyn liked, which I suppose is reminiscent of Gondola 'pointy bits' I used muted velvets for the centres with the exception of the terracotta which I thought was a very accurate match for the view from the apartment we stayed in in Venice. A little pale green echoes the verdigris on the spire (Although I've only just spotted that!) Ahh lovely Venice, beautiful scenes around every corner. I mounted them on a card, just slightly raised from the background and used an unfinished deep pine frame which can be painted or varnished. Well I'm extremely pleased with the way it turned out and I think Wyn loves it too. It makes me think I might do more in a similar vein.

Explore Ann Willey's 130 photos on Flickr!

Seven Path Labyrinth by Kris McDermett, VT USA Original design, hooked, braided, as-is and hand dyed fabrics

An important step in the punch needle process is selecting and preparing threads. Learn all about it in Lesson 3 of this punch needle series.

Last Saturday was our regular monthly meeting of the Wine Country Rug Hookers which is always a lovely time of hooking and talking with fri...

Well another Camp Iawah retreat weekend has come and gone. 12 – 13 of us met this past weekend and shared food, friendship, laughter and rugs. We met up with a quilting group who were also ho…

Block 25 - Cactus We are over half-way through the Patchsmith Sampler Blocks sew-along and we are marking it with a versatile little block – the Cactus block. Block 26 is another good blender block - blender blocks add cohesion to any quilt project as they pull the blocks together through the use of fabric scraps used elsewhere in the quilt. You can make the block using just one colourway in true spirit of a Cactus in which case cut all B to H strips from green fabrics: A prickly single colour Cactus Block Or you can add a little flower because some Cactii bloom. In this case cut pieces B, C and one D piece from a floral fabric. (If you only want a bud on your cactus cut just B and C from floral fabric and the remaining D to H pieces from green fabrics - as the diagrams in the book show.) Block 26 in flower! But it doesn’t have to stop there. This block was created with a traditional Pineapple patchwork block in mind and so you why not transform the Cactus into a Pineapple block. (Cut pieces B to E and one fabric F strip from yellow fabric; cut the remaining F strip and the G strip from green fabric.) Block 26 - Pineapple Version Whichever version you make you will find it easier if you lay your strips out onto your worktable prior to stitching and lay your marked A squares on top of the strips as shown in the pattern. I hope you have fun with this block - I am thinking I might make an Artichoke version in purples. Until then I would love to see you versions over on Instagram (#block26cactus) or in the Flickr group. Until next time .......

You may already be aware of my fondness for Vikings. Today, I wanted to show their softer side, and I created some needle-felted Vikings. These little guys will end up being gifts for my aunts and uncles who are all of Scandinavian heritage. It’s funny to me that such brutal warriors can look so adorable …

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