Appleton Dance

by Linda Theil Original indigo and white workshop product by Linda Theil, May 21, 2021 I took David Owen Hastings live-online, design workshop, "Indi-Go-Modern",  sponsored by the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild last Friday -- May 21, 2021.  Hastings presented six hours of instruction via the Zoom Internet platform from his studio in Sequim, Washington. Students used indigo prints of their own choosing, and solids in white and indigo to create small works from six-inch blocks of our own design. My fabric choices for the David Owen Hastings "Indi-Go-Modern" workshop  As a warm-up exercise, we cut paper that was printed with indigo fabric designs into strips, and sewed the paper strips together to make strip sets. We cut the strips sets, and sewed them onto solid white-, or indigo, three-inch paper squares in various combinations that could be manipulated into compositions of the student's own inspiration.  3x3-inch-square, stitched paper design by L. Theil from exe...

by Alisa My aunt recently moved house after many years in her home. She did a lot of work to prepare, purge, and pack before the move so my mom and I wanted to put together a care package that would make her move-in easier. Here's our brainstorm list of items and links to what we chose for her special, move-in gift pack. Safety CO detector  - maybe find out if they have natural gas first. Fire Extinguisher  -- tried this aerosol spray one, easy to store and small enough to stash several around the house. Dusk-to-Dawn Pathlights  -- pop these into plugs near stairs or in hallways to automatically illuminate unfamiliar areas. Motion-sensing Nightlight  -- these are great for bathrooms or areas where you don't want a light on all night. Install Picture hanging kit  -- best thing about this Kurui-brand kit is the amazing little hammer! Drawer liner  -- this one is thick and wipeable and great for drawers or refrigerator shelves. Decor Kitchen towels -- we chos...

by Linda Theil  I designed this easy bird block that would be cute on a baby quilt or placemat. I used the quilt-as-you-go technique to fill out my bird block with log-cabin style stripes to make fabric for a quilted tote. I used the Spencer-Ogg "Forever Shopper" pattern by Diane Spencer Ogg to make my tote. As a special feature, I added a swivel clasp and D-ring to secure the contents, or to use as a key leash. This photo shows the back of the tote with quilt-as-you-go stripes. I added diagonal quilting before construction. This is a photo of the quilted fabric before tote construction. How to make an E-Z Bird block This is the E-Z Bird block with log-cabin sashing. The beak is a prairie point inserted in the seam between the bird body and the first row of sashing. This block as constructed according to these instructions is 15.25 x 14.25-inches. For one E-Z Bird block you will need: scraps of four contrasting fabrics. For the background, you will need scraps for snowballin...

by Linda Theil  Angie brought chicken salad to Mothers' Day brunch and gave me the recipe, so I tried it out today. Here is what I used according to her directions. Proportions are suggested, and are flexible. I couldn't buy dried cherries at the store, so I may dress a sandwich with cherry salsa, instead. This recipe makes about two quarts (two pounds) of chicken salad. So, it's really good. And really easy to make! Angie's fruit & nut chicken salad One rotisserie chicken from grocery deli. Clean meat from carcass while warm (about 2 to 3 cups of chicken meat). Store in refrigerator; when cool, rough chop. Six stalks hearts of celery, chopped fine -- about 1/2 cup One small onion chopped fine -- about 1/2 cup One large Fuji or Golden Delicious apple, cored but not peeled, chopped 8 oz seedless grapes, washed and halved -- about two cups 4 oz chopped pecans -- about 1/2 cup 1 cup Montmorency dried cherries Salt and pepper to taste -- start with 1/2 tsp. of each 1 cu...

By Alisa I started this quilt in 2019 and worked on it off and on through the lockdown of 2020.  My quilt was inspired by the Brickyard Quilt tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The Missouri Star quilt was made with a white background and I wanted to flip it to black; but I did use the lovely Ombré Confetti New Colors Metallic Jelly Roll by V. & Co for Moda Fabric  that they demonstrated. The jelly roll is no longer available, but there are lots of “Ombré Confetti” yardage options available. The blocks are cut from longer strip sets made up of six jelly roll strips. Because the fabric is ombré with a big variation you’ll get several blocks with the same color family but no two blocks are exactly the same.  The pattern calls for two of the block corners to have a background triangle added. I didn’t add the corners because I noticed that my blocks were dramatically different sizes. I didn’t square them up after the initial cut from the strip sets -- tha...

by Linda Theil 9.5 x 9.5 x 5-inch "Forever Shopper-small" tote in "Purple Finch" fabric from "Best of Charlie Harper collection by Birch Fabrics For Christmas 2019, Alisa gave me a selection of fat quarters based on the art of Charlie Harper. While each fabric is incredibly beautiful, the designs didn't harmonize in any way that I could work into a quilt, so the Charlie Harpers have been stewing in my stash all these months. I had just finished making my second Diane Spencer Ogg "Forever Shopper" , and had returned to the Charlie Harper conundrum when I realized I could use a single Charlie Harper fat quarter as part of a two-toned tote in the small-sized "Forever Shopper" pattern. I used a fat quarter of the " Purple Finch" design from "Best of Charlie Harper" collection by Birch Fabrics to make a  9.5 x 9.5 x 5-inch tote.  I cut the fat quarter into two 11 x 18-inch pieces and sewed the pieces to each side of a 11 ...

 by Alisa There were a couple special birthdays in my family in January 2021 and I made the same pillow gift for both of them!   I had seen Misty Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co. demo a pillow made from a charm pack and I just happened to have a cat-themed charm pack - Purrfect Day by My Minds Eye for Riley Blake - that was purrfect for a little gift for my cat-obsessed niece. The Missouri Star "Charm Pillow"  tutorial  is for a simple pillow made from 36 squares with the pillow seams sewn using a neat trick that turns the finished blocks on point.   I thought it would be nice to snazz it up with some quilting so I created a six-by-six row pillow-top from the charm pack, and sandwiched the pillow-top with scrap batting that I patched together with this nifty batting tape , and a plain back. Then, I added some machine quilting before following the tutorial instructions for sewing the pillow, and stuffing it with fiber fill . I thought my niece's gi...