Faux Crazy QuiltI was walking down the hallway at my sons' school and, out of the corner of my eye, spotted a huge crazy quilt hanging on the wall! what?!Upon closer inspection, I discovered this crazy quilt is made of paper by second graders. You see, the students were learning about Victorian Era crazy quilts and how they were made. The students made this "quilt" with millions of pretty patterned paper and then drew on the fancy "stitches" connecting the pieces.It has been hanging in the hallway for a bit now, and I smile every time I walk by....

Read more

There is a column in last month's issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine that discusses the positive effects of hobbies and crafts on our mood. I bet we can all identify with that, right?I think this sign is fun...if you could remove the word "bike", what would you replace it with?Here are my substitutions:"sewing machine"/ "fabric"/ "quilting book""plant for my garden""caramel""pet""pretty underwear" (right? you were all thinking it, but didn't dare say it)My mom likes to ask "what would we do without our hobbies?"See you tomorrow for W.I.P. Wednesday,SharonGuess What!? this is my 50th post. wow! it has been...

Read more

pieced quarter NY BeautyI am starting a new project and you know what that means: playing in my stash, feeling my fabric, auditioning and choosing colors!I am starting another NY Beauty block to use as demo for my class coming up at Quilt Beginnings in Columbus, Ohio. I knew I wanted to use something I already had in my stash and wanted lots of color.I opened up my drawers full of batiks and voila! tons of leftover strips from this quilt just begging to be used! So here is how it started....stash mash: stripsand this is the progress:NY Beauty Components: in...

Read more

Nobody who has been reading this blog for long is surprised that my little one dressed up as a pirate! He added the safety glasses himself, nice touch, don't you think? He gets his style sense from his mother.I got some treats myself today,stash building!I bought the Summersville (Moda, Spring 2012) fabrics last spring, but I just picked up the Bella ones (bottom four, gray, orange, blue). I think they coordinate well, think I will try to collect some more. I like that they have more color, less white. The Summersville have so much white, not sure how to...

Read more

Feathered StarsThe Blogger's Quilt Festival seems to have gone viral, so I might as well continue the contagion! This is my entry, way down in the lower forty, I am #425 on the links.My All Time Favorite classic quilt pattern is the feathered star. I used a set of Marti Michell acrylic templates to make these blocks, and the templates are wonderful!This started as a block of the month kit from Fons and Porter, but, as is my custom, I veered off in my own direction, creating this five star bed quilt. It is very scrappy, with fabrics from...

Read more

Merry-go-'round class, October 27Fabrics:I had a fantastic time today teaching the Merry-go-'round quilt class. Big thanks to Stacey, Carol, Amanda, Linda and Janet for spending the day sewing with me! I had a great time and I really hope they did, too. (by the way, I am the one on the far left with the orange and blue circle, the sample I made for the class demo)Everyone sewed like crazy and got at least one square finished up. Lots of inspiring color choices.And Flowers:My garden put up a good fight, but Fall is overtaking us. We did enjoy some...

Read more

FabricsSuzy Ultman fabric BundleKites with large Eyeballs!Transportation fabricMy mom and I visited an adorable local fabric shop today, "Sew to Speak", because they were hosting designer Suzy Ultman. The fabrics above are from her newest collection and I WON this bundle of ten fat quarters! they were giving away several items of her art as door prizes and my mom and I both won a fabric bundle. can you believe it? I think they are really cute.And Flowers (and fall foliage, too)the winners of the newest Yankee Quilter pattern, Reflections, are...drumroll....Tiffany and Mimi!You have a treat in your inbox.Thank...

Read more

I have to confess that I have not been very well behaved this week.I went to Starbucks twice yesterday.I bought fabric yesterday and today (why do I fool myself that I can just "stop in" to quilt shops and not give in to temptation?)Now, you are probably thinking, what is so bad about fabric shopping? well, the thing is, on Tuesday, my mailbox was filled with three (three!!) packages of fabric (to be fair, one of them was fabric I won for the Remember September project giveaway). My stash is exploding. And there is still so much beautiful fabric...

Read more

Happy Monday!Whew! I survived a harrowing weekend of parents- and siblings-in-law and cousins visit...You know that overwhelmed feeling of way too much stimulation, way too long?Anyway, my boys had fun playing with their cousins and overall the visit went well, just noisy.So, I am thinking about my 100 day hustle to-do list. One of the things I have on it is to make progress on my orphan Lemoyne stars.I started with this fabric, it is soooo pretty, water-colory leaves in shades of green, gold, purple with little touches of pink.I took the palette and started making stars in four...

Read more

FabricsOctober Compass BlockAnd FlowersCoreopsis "cosmic evolution"Heuchera, mixed varietiesBlanket Flower "oranges and lemons"I have a house full of company (in-laws) this weekend, but have managed to flee to my sewing room for long enough to finish my monthly compass. I have three of them done now, all pinned to my sewing room wall.Loving the beautiful transformations happening in my garden right now, too. Those coreopsis that are now pink were yellow during the summer when it's hot, then turned pink in cool weather. Cool.Enjoy your weekend.Sharon

Read more