Making Circles and Berries

I'm working on a new quilt design, and today I began the "making circles" phase of the appliqué preparation for the quilt.

I'm making two different sizes of cream circles, some which will be berries, others circles. The blue will be an eye for a bird. Using a stencil makes quick work of the marking. The running stitch around each circle takes some time, but I don't mind. I can turn on a good movie, and relax. Tonight I have in mind watching more episodes of Season 4 of Turn, which was just added to Netflix. I was so excited to hear George Washington speak the name Colonel Sheldon in the first episode - the very colonel my great great great great grandfather Paul McKinstry served under in the Revolutionary War (if you have my book, Betsy's Scrapbag, you've read all about it!)!

If you'd like to know more about how I make these circles, I have a short how-to video on the Henry Glass You Tube channel - the link is on the side bar, or click Here. In addition to the video, I included a handy dandy chart in my book, Be Merry, with all of the sizes for everything needed! 

The first time I used this method, was to make berries for my quilt, Summer Rentals:

Detail - Summer Rentals

For that quilt, I made 300. Since then, as I mention in the video, I've made dozens more (I haven't counted). Here are a few more on my quilt, "Sweet Bouquet", from Vintage Christmas:

Detail - Sweet Bouquet

 

 

 

 

 

 

For my new quilt, I have 134 of one size to make, and dozen of another size. I'll be taking a trip soon, so I'll have a little airplane time, and hotel time to make a few. At least, that's the plan!

Until next time!

Martha

 

Quilter's Station Trunk Show

Flag Day was just a few days ago, and in addition to hanging the stars and stripes on our flagpole outside, I have a year round Flag Day reminder hanging inside - my Flag Day wool applique hanging.

FLAG DAY

Flag Day is one of the wool applique projects found in my new book Betsy's Scrapbag. I used Aurifil Lana wool threads for the simple whipstitched applique and the embroidered tassels strings. I decided to bind this hanging as I would a quilt, with single fold cotton binding.

If you will happen to be in the Kansas City area on Saturday, June 25th, I will be doing a trunk show at Quilter's Station quilt shop in Lee's Summit, Missouri. I'll be showing all of the projects from Betsy's Scrapbag, as well as all of the projects from Annie's Scrapbag, and a selection of projects from my two Christmas themed books, Vintage Christmas and Be Merry: Quilts and Projects for Your Holiday Home.

Here are a few of the details:

You can also go to their website http://www.quiltersstation.com/ to find a map and other details on the Shop News page. I hope to see you there! 

After my Kansas City trip I'll be heading to Virginia to see my first grandson, who was born just yesterday! It will be a great trip, and hopefully I will have pictures to share!

Until next time,

Martha

Pinterest

My friend Ingrid was over yesterday, giving me some feedback on a new fabric line I'm working on. She asked me if I was on Pinterest, and I told her I had opened an account, but had never done anything more. I didn't really know how it all worked, or how to get started. 

Well, she spent the next 2 hours helping me get set up, and showed me a lot about how it all worked. And I'm pretty sure I spent another 2 hours adding even more stuff. I'm still a little unsure of myself, but I was able to get a few boards started. All thanks to my Pinterest guru, Ingrid. She also said that now I have to get followers. Oh no, how do I do that? So, if you're reading this, Please help! I would love to have you follow my Pinterest boards!  https://www.pinterest.com/w9639/

I also figured out I need a few more things to pin, so I thought I would post a few photos of quilts I haven't posted here on my blog before.

So... here we go. This is one of my favorite quilts, "Celebrate Christmas", from Be Merry:

Celebrate Christmas

And here is a close up of Candy Cane Nine Patch, from Vintage Christmas:

detail, Candy Cane Nine Patch