Appleton Dance

My tessellating tees quilt, prepared for hand-sewing the flanged binding. Borders and binding from Henry Glass & Company's "Sunny Side Up" collection. I have been a fan of Anita Grossman Soloman  ever since making the "arrowhead" quilt from her Rotary Cutting Revolution (C&T, 2010) book in August 2011. (You can see the arrowhead quilt I made in my August 2011 post "Arrowhead quilt block from Solomon's Rotary Cutting Revolution" .) When I saw that Soloman had a tessellating-tee block in the Mar/April 2014 edition of Quiltmaker Magazine, No. 156 this spring, I bought the magazine right away and got busy searching for fabrics. I decided to use only fabrics from my stash. I needed about two yards of a solid for the background and about 1/3 yard each of six different prints. The majority of my prints came from patterns and colors from the "Sunny Side Up" collection by the Buggy Barn for Henry Glass & Co. that I bought a...

Last weekend I returned to Dutilh United Methodist Church in Cranberry Township, north of Pittsburgh, PA where I was privileged to attend the memorial of beloved friend Francis Sutter, an advocate for peace and social justice who passed away last month at the age of 101. She was the founder of the Pittsburgh North People for Peace and Justice , and a supporter of the Thomas Merton Center, Pittsburgh's Peace and Social Justice Center. Mrs. Sutter was honored and revered by many for her good works, and she was loved by everyone for her great and generous soul. She touched her friends with kindness, and like her Pittsburgh compatriot, Fred Rogers, made everyone she encountered happier for having known her. Mrs. Sutter was memorialized July 1, 2014 by Mary Sheehan in  The New People, Pittsburgh’s Peace and Justice Newspaper  article,  “In Memory of Francis Sutter”.   * * * On this trip to Pittsburgh, I was fortunate to spend time with fiber artist Lo...

This jaunty carrot, mug rug measures 4.5-inches wide by 9.5-inches long. Make a set of two little rugs with one 10-inch square of backing fabric, a 10-inch square of batting, fourteen 10 x 1.25 inch scraps of orange fabrics, and a half yard of green ribbon. I was inspired to make these rugs by a quilt-as-you-go, carrot-shaped, table runner from Better Homes and Gardens. Their free pattern is available at quilt-as-you-go Carrot Table Runner . The d irections for creating my little carrot mug rugs are below. Materials for one set of two carrot mug rugs: One 10-inch square orange print fabric for backing Seven 1-1/4” strips of orange prints and solids 22 inches long (or fourteen orange scrap strips 1-1/4 inch wide by 10.5 inches long) * One yard (two 18-inch pieces) 1-inch or 1.5-inch wide, light green ribbon (chiffon or grosgrain) Costume jewelry pin, or small pin to attach ribbon to carrot 10-inch square iron-on batting Thread to coordinate with backing square Pape...

Lots of news, tips, and fun at the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild (GAAQG) bi-monthly meeting today! Members of the General Henry Dearborn Quilting Society sold tickets for two quilts that will be raffled at their quilt show, "Piece by Piece" to be held April 25 and 26, 2014 at the Dearborn Historical Museum. They were also selling these adorable cupcake pincushions made from the ribbing of old sweaters. I couldn't resist picking one up! I found several Internet sites that show the construction process. Both of these look good: "Felt Cupcake Pincushions" at Tipjunkie and "How to make a no sew cupcake pincushion" at the brilliant UK site Red Ted Art. During announcements, we got a hand-saving tip from a guild member who loves  O'Keeffe's Working Hands hand cream , as recommended by her pharmacist. We also got a recommendation for the Missouri Star Quilt Co. for its great collection of pre-cut fabrics, enormous Moda selection, and ou...

Curious George Finds the Badger Prince of Tenacity by Linda Theil | Make Your Own Book Here is the birthday present book I made for my grandson using the Blurb BookSmart software and their online publishing company at Blurb.com. You can read the entire book from the preview or order a free eBook at  http://blur.by/1eh291L . We ordered the 36-inch Gund brand Curious George from Chesterton Manor on Amazon and I took the photos with my iPhone. It was a lot of fun posing George for his adventure!

I made this traditional Swedish Heart to hold a tiny Christmas present. It measures almost 4.5-inches square and was made using two 2.5 x 8 inch pieces of felt -- one white, one red. I refreshed my memory of how to make the Swedish heart using the book Christmas Customs: Handcrafted Ornaments published by Creative Publishing International of Minnetonka, MN in 2001. The book appears to be out of print, but it is available for the cost of shipping from sellers on Amazon. There are also directions online as Woven Heart Basket on First Palette: Your step-by-step guide to kids' crafts. This site gives a good guide on the actual weaving process, which is a little tricky until you have practiced a few times. To create your heart, you may use: paper; or fabric stiffened with iron-on interfacing, or two pieces of fabric adhered with a bonding medium like Stitch Witchery; or any kind of felt, as I did. Basically, you cut two rectangles in a three to one proportion, fold the rectangl...

Newly painted family room in Behr's Mojave Gold I LOVE my new family room! I had been using my family room as a working office for fifteen years and it was full of office equipment and files. After I retired, Alisa helped me get rid of a lot of the clutter and office equipment, but the room was still full of personal files, bills, junk, and one huge chaise longe. And lately, the chili pepper red walls had begun to wear on me. So, on Thanksgiving Day when Ben said they were getting rid of a couch, I asked for it to use in my family room and I asked Alisa to help me paint. They both said yes, and the transformation of my family room began. I took everything out of the room, and Sandy and Alisa and I painted with two coats of Behr's Primium Plus Ultra Interior Matte  paint in the Mojave Gold color  that weekend. We only needed one gallon.  To try out colors, the sales lady at Home Depot suggested  Sure Swatch  tacky film that you paint and stick...