Design Wall Monday – Arabesque #3 Grows
Arabesque #3 is growing. The center medallion is sewn (and resewn and resewn again) and I have cut many of the pieces for the edges. Still to decide where to cut it off. The beauty of geometric designs is that they could go on forever.
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#TBT – Journal Quilt Week 28
Journal Quilt #28 has a satin-stitched door that opens to reveal a photo of my studio. This weekend is the Monterey Makers Studio Tour in Monterey, MA. This year’s event is being held at the library on Saturday, rather than being a studio tour. But, when I participated in 2011, …
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Happy Thanksgiving
TBT will return next week. This week, I want to take the time to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that in the midst of this busy weekend, you’ll find a few moments for quilting. I am incredibly thankful for the journey that I have been on …
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History of Quilting in America – Crazy Quilts, 1890 – 1920
Crazy Quilts, 1890-1920 The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876 and interest in Japanese art sparked the Crazy Quilt. It was fashionable for genteel upper-class ladies to use needlework as a proper use of leisure time. They had servants to do the mundane work. In the rapid changes in the world, …
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#TBT – Journal Quilt Week 27
This journal quilt is my favorite from the year. in 2011, we flew to visit my sister in Denver for Thanksgiving and then made an ill-advised 7 hour drive to Durango to ride the Polar Express Train. It was a lot of time spent in a minivan driving over mountains …
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Design Wall Monday – Arabesque #3
Here’s what the design wall looks like today: Unfortunately, I haven’t made a lot of progress since this morning because it’s one of those days when I am taking out more seams that I put in, but c’est la vie. I did make one big change over the weekend …
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#TBT – Journal Quilt Week 26
I was halfway into my journal quilting project year at this point in 2011. To mark the occasion, I sewed thumbnail pictures of some of my favorite quilts onto a timeline and left a few blank spots for the quilts to come.
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Arabesque #3 In Process
After some great help from Arlington Swifty Printing on Friday to enlarge the design for Arabesque #3, work is now underway. So far, so good!
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History of Quilting in America – Westward Expansion, 1840s – 1860s
Westward Expansion, 1840s – 1860s In the mid-1800s, Americans turned their eyes west. The first wagon trains left Missouri for the territories in 1843, and hundreds of thousands of settlers followed over the next few decades, bringing their quilts with them. Family and friends of settlers sent their loved ones …
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Arabesque #3 Design
I have been wrestling with the design for Arabesque #3 for weeks now. I kept trying to talk myself out of doing it. The inspiration for the design is from the Alcazar Palace in Seville, Spain (Broug, Eric. Islamic Geometric Design, pg. 27) and it is complicated. It’s a 12-point …
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