Thursday, February 25, 2016

Feelin' the Love...

I was recently contacted by a Northern New York resident that started a sewing group that meets at the local library...

Dear Melva,

I am sending you this email to ask permission to use your pieces of my heart block #791 and turn it into the St. Patrick's small quilt as found in winter 2013 Quiltmakers 100 blocks.

I live in a small town in northern New York and have started a small sewing group this winter at our local library. Our goal is to find a small seasonal project to increase the sewing skills while forming new friendships and combating the long cold winter.

You would be given credit as the designer and it would be made clear that this is for own use only-not for profit. Thank you for considering my request.

I was humbled (yet excited) when I learned that my block - Pieces of My Heart - was selected to be included in volume 8 of Quiltmakers 100 blocks.  And even more so when I discovered that my shamrock wall hanging had been included as well.

How nice that I was asked permission for the sewing group to use my pattern and layout!  

And today I received a picture from the group!


Nice job, ladies! 

What a great way to fend off a case of "winter blues"... with a little bit of love.

What do you do to fight the "blues"?


Happy Quilting!

Melva

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Monday, February 1, 2016

First items of my 2016 "Bucket List"

As I turned the calendar to February I thought I would share a few projects from January...

The "Photo" quilt was actually started in late December, but I just completed it last week!  It was a somewhat slow project, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process and challenge of the quilt. Here are a few pics of the process...

              Day 1...


 The assembly of the leg and tail feathers... because I had basically run out of room on my design wall!

 Now that the lower half of the body was done I could move on to the upper half...
 With the rooster completed, it was ready for borders... and backing.
I found the perfect backing!  Chickens!!!!


And the sunflower border on the top & bottom came from the same chicken panel... It was meant to be!  It was the perfect size!  It certainly would have been nice to have the sunflowers on the side as well, but since I purchased the last bit of fabric on clearance at Wal-mart, I had to be happy with what I had.


A few years ago I picked up some batting and a quilting hoop off of a local swap shop for a screaming deal - The quilt hoop alone is worth around $200! (I actually didn't know this, but figured it was worth what I paid for two different battings & the hoop)  So, I pulled it out and spent a few evenings and afternoons hand quilting my Bitty Block quilt... 

It has been a learning process, but I think I have gotten the hang of it.  












I cannot believe one month has already passed by - and sew quickly! ;) 
So... Hello February!  

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