Appleton Dance

Marilyn Knepp's Spellbound tote made with Knepp's unique fabric created at  design-your-own-fabric site, Spoonflower. (Front panel shown) Ann Arbor quilt artist Marilyn Knepp shared her latest project -- a totebag promoting her daughter's tech firm, SpellBound Books -- with fellow members of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild on Jan. 16, 2016. Knepp used features of the SpellBound logo to create an original fabric from the design-your-own-fabric website, Spoonflower . She also created a coordinating, striped fabric for the totebag. Knepp said: This was my first foray into Spoonflowering and now I can think of many reasons why I'll be making more -- even though I am not a fabric designer. In addition to admiring my bag, I hope your readers will look at the Spellbound website (address conveniently highlighted on the tote bag), and consider Spellbound's  Indiegogo Campaign to fund a pilot project at Mott Hospital. Reverse side of Marilyn Knepp's S...

Screenshot of GAAQG's new website designed by Hoyden Creative Group, live Jan15, 2016. Unveiling the brand new Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild website  by guild president Sonja Hagen was the highlight of Saturday's bi-monthly, quilt-day meeting. The new site, created by marketing firm Hoyden Creative Group based in Adrian, Michigan, went live Friday night, Jan. 15, 2016. Hagen and the new webmaster Mary Beth Donovan, along with blogger Kathy Schmidt and several members of the website team have been working for months with Hoyden to create an up-to-date, interactive site. "Our goal was to build something that would serve as a valuable resource to our members and the wider community," Hagen said. They hit the bullseye; check it out! Quilt day speaker, Frieda Anderson Fiber artist Frieda Anderson   presented a lecture on the topic of "Free motion quilting" and gave some tips that I am going to try: 1. Use an open-toed, hopping foot instead ...

Mini-house, pattern by Missouri Star Quilt Co. Runner created by L. Theil 2016. I love the look of a house block, but most I've seen seem complex and more suited for paper piecing than traditional piecing, so I was intrigued by this simple little house block demonstrated by Jenny Doan on the Missouri Star Quilt Company channel on YouTube. Doan uses raw-edge applique for the door and windows and cuts the roof pieces using a half-hexigon template. The only tricky part of the piecing is matching the roof half hexigon to the roof-background half-hexigon. If your seams are not accurate, the roofs -- which are made in a long row separate from the houses -- may not fit their houses nicely. Using a quarter-inch seaming foot can help with this difficulty. Learning to match those hexi angles neatly comes with experience. Quarter-inch seam foot with guide edge for Janome sewing machines Doan offers videos on how to make this simple house block in two different sizes: a larg...

French Braid patchwork technique in "Mistletoe Lane" by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. This fall I bought a jelly-roll of "Mistletoe Lane" fabric line by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. The fabric was a half-price, Daily Deal from Missouri Star Quilt Co.  I wanted to try the tricky  French Braid patchwork design  that Susan showed me how to make when she was here in August.  (The directions linked here from Quilter's Cache are simple and clear.) I cut each 2.5-inch strip from the jelly-roll in half and alternated dark and light until I had a piece of patchwork about 27-inches wide and a yard long, after trimming. I used about half of the jelly-roll, or 46 2.5 x 22-inch strips of fabric.  I made a tote front from half of the patchwork, and a standard-size pillow sham from the rest. I machine quilted the sham using my new Sew Steady table made especially for my old Jenome machine, a teflon mat, and top-feed, quilting foot. Patchwork tote in "Mistl...

Microwave mitts made with "Garden Project"  fabric  designed by Tim & Beck for Moda I learned how to make these bowl-shaped potholders at the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan this September. The potholders are meant to be used with bowls inside the microwave to keep diners from burning their hands on crockery filled with hot liquids. The microwave mitt is made entirely of cotton materials because polyester might melt in the microwave. I think it would also work well to cook a potato in the microwave.  If packaged with a covered soup bowl and dry soup-mix, this mitt would make a thoughtful holiday gift. Please read and print the WARNING at bottom of this post. If used as gifts, include a copy of the warning with each gift. Materials 2 10-inch squares of 100% cotton fabric in coordinating colors (I used "Garden Project" layer-cake precuts by Tim & Beck for Moda.) 2 10-inch squares of Pellon Wrap-n-Zap Tator batting (or other 100% cotton ba...

GAAQG members stack 89 quilts donated at Nov. 21 meeting from a 2015 total  of 347 handmade quilts donated to Safehouse Center in Ann Arbor. Safehouse quilts When victims of domestic violence arrive at Safehouse Center in Ann Arbor, a handmade quilt covers each bed; and when they depart, their quilt goes with them. Yesterday at the Nov. 21 meeting of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild  , Safehouse director Barbara Niess-May thanked guild members for the 347 quilts donated to Safehouse in 2015. Niess-May also accepted a check from the guild for $3324 in support of the work at Safehouse. "I am blown away by the thoughtfulness, love, and compassion that have gone into making these quilts," Niess-May said. "Your quilts are part of something bigger -- it's because of all the things we do along the way that allow people to believe things can be better. You are part of that -- your quilt is the first message we get to send that says 'We care.' I can't t...

Photo of gartenhaus door, Zoar, Ohio -- Spring 2007 by Linda Theil In March, the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild - offered a class in how to make raw-edged appliques from a photo or artwork. The process involves using a simple projector -- one brand is called Tracer . These simple machines are used to project a photo or other image onto a wall where a piece of paper is hung. The artist traces the lines of the projected image with a pen or pencil onto the hanging paper.  This photo shows my original foundation tracing on brown wrapping paper overlaid by a piece of tracing paper that has the design traced upon it. The tracing paper is then cut apart to be used as individual templates for applique pieces cut from fabric. A double-faced fusable web such as Wonder Under or Steam a Seam II is ironed onto the back of the fabric choice for each template/pattern piece. The pattern piece is then cut out. When all applique pieces are prepared, the paper backing is remove...