Sharing Quilting (and other artistic) Sites Found Surfing the Web

December, 2015

This past fall I stopped in at the Topsfield Fair to see a demonstration of 'felting' wool ... and learned that the woman at the table is a neighbor!

Marjorie Talacko has an Etsy shop featuring her beautiful recreations of New England Birds.  And it's possible that this spring (2016) she may stop in here at Quilters' Quarters to do a workshop on how felting is done and what tools and materials are involved. Stay tuned to lessons and workshop page of the blog for information about her work!

July 2015
Here is a wonderful list of blog sites that are sharing their wisdom, tips, and beautiful photos via a "blog hop" shared with me by Patchwork Pearl! And with Row by Row 2015 in full  progression, what  a great time to include these shops in your quilt journey~ this tidy list was posted at For Quilts Sake:

Here's the full Blog Hop schedule:

July 13     OneQuiltingCircle.com
July 14     BejeweledQuilts.blogspot.com
July 15     TeachPany.blogspot.com
July 16     MadeInScraps.blogspot.com
July 17     MariaMichaelsDesigns.com/blog
July 18     Tamarinis.typepad.com
July 19     MooseStashQuilting.blogspot.com
July 20     KissedQuilts.blogspot.com
July 21     PurrfectSpots.blogspot.com
July 22     AdeleMogavero.com
July 23     ForQuiltsSake.blogspot.com
July 24     BeaQuilter.com
July 25     ConnieKresin.com
July 26     PamelaQuilts.blogspot.com
July 27     KauffmanDesigns.blogspot.com
July 28     LemonTreeSnippets.wordpress.com
July 29     FunThreads.blogspot.com

Thanks for sharing!

January, 2015
I've been very distracted
and haven't remembered to post sites here that I've found on the web ~ I apologize. I've been intrigued by the vintage sewing machine and the Featherweight pages at Facebook. Today I learned of a shop in Texas that services the oldies and goodies (well, they are all goodies.)

 Please visit Kimberly's site: 
http://www.junkandtrunks.com/sewing-machines.html


June 26 2014
Here's a link to a site that shares patterns for quilts, table runners and more.  

http://hummingbird-highway.com/

May 11, 2014

This is a great year to travel locally and find as many quilt shops in your part of the country that you can; I've just read about another new Massachusetts shop called The Dragonfly's Quilt Shop.  It's located far away from me, out in Bellingham, Massachusetts. But it is up and running, with classes, drop in sessions, lots of fabric and space and more to inspire me to make our shop the best that it can be.  Visit The Dragonfly's Quilt Shop online, and see if you can squeeze in a visit to their part of our beautiful state this summer! 

It's very easy to scope out quilt shops new and old as all that are participating in the Row by Row Experience are posted on a page specific to your state of residence (and nearby states, and states that you are likely to visit this summer.)  Check out the page at Row by Row to see where you might plan a visit. 

April 16, 2014
While searching the web for free quilt design software, I came across a blog that looks for similar things and then shares them with the rest of us.  Tilda's Twisted Life has years of shares to find! This link takes you to a 2012 entry where Tilda introduces us to a program called Quilt Assistant. It appears to be close to what I'm looking for, to help me plan drawings online and then share patterns for my 'invented as I go along' quilt designs.

And this link at Tilda's page takes you to a page that explains this image: 

I'll let you visit that to see why it appealed to me.  I'll be going back often to scroll through Tilda's many pages and find what she is sharing with all of us. Her last update was in December of 2013; praying she has not abandoned her blog more recently.  I'll try to reach her to let her know of this post, and my thanks.

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April 9, 2014

Exciting things will be happening all over New England and in other states this summer.  I am posting a link to a new summer quilter contest, and you will find links to participating local shops here as well.  Tune in for more, or tune in now for a head start in anticipation! Great way to plan summer road trips ~

The contest is called Row by Row Experience 2014, and I hear it was a great success last summer, and so has expanded to many more states and shops this year.  Quilters Quarters will be participating here, of course, and I want to introduce you to some of the shops I plan to visit this summer; here is one in Maine

called Threads Galore Quilt Shop . Here's a description of their shop ~ Threads Galore Quilt Shop & Quilt Inn Rangeley Retreat Center is located in two historic homes in the quaint village of Rangeley and is a popular destination for folks enjoying the lakes and mountains of western Maine. 

A full-service quilt shop, we offer notions, books and patterns, kits, precut strips and bundles, along with many top quality fabric collections.

I'm looking forward to meeting them in their shop this summer!

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April 6, 2014  Happy Birthday to my mum today!

You can shop at this site, too!

I found a new website titled "The Sisterhood of Quilters." Judy Houghton is the owner/operator of this site, and she offers a great many things to quilters. Judy has a passion for sharing freebies that consist of downloadable copies of what she publishes in the Country Register Newspaper. They are fun and witty pieces that you can turn into whatever your quilter heart desires! She also has some panel fabric featuring her zany characters for sale at reasonable prices. 

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March 29, 2014

another Manon Keeley "Quilts for Kids" quilt

I have a Facebook friendship with a prolific quilter; her name is Manon Keeley. She makes and donates quilts for children, quilts of valor, and more. Her Facebook page is full of beautiful photographs of her work. She also has a blog, a website, and a new long-arm quilt machine. I asked her a few days ago how it is that she can produce so many quilts. She is a 'go-getter' and likes to be busy.  She's  a talented, generous quilter, and I know you'll enjoy her work. 

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March 27, 2014

I'm  going to offer one blog a day now: today's recommendation is Curlicue Creations with Jennifer Schifano Thomas. Jennifer is a friend I met at  myquiltplace.com where quilters come together to share Q & A, tips and tricks and general conversations about our passion, quilts. 

At Curlicue Creations you'll find tutorials of free block patterns (currently featuring star blocks of the month) fabric ideas and links to many more sites. Jennifer also has an Etsy site where she sells items. Visit her blog and let her know you were there ~ all bloggers like to know that their work is being seen and appreciated!

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March 25, 2014

I had two of the bloggers I linked to this page yesterday contact me to say hello. So I decided to take another look around the internet and find more quilters who share our passion. 

Well, one blog led to another, and then to another, and then to a wonderful list of still more!  Here are four for today ... 

Book two of her series

Karen DeWitt is both an author and a quilter, so you know why I chose to visit her blog after finding it in Starwood Quilter's list of favorite blogs.  I'm going to order her first book tonight from Amazon; here's  THE LINK, in case others are as intrigued as I am about books that feature quilters as main characters.

Karen has lovely photos of her quilts at her site. What impresses me about several of these women is that they work on their quilts on antique sewing machines! Another interest we share.  Although I haven't done that yet, I do have one of our three treadles working and could ... change that ... and will one day.

As Starwood Quilter's blog led me to Karen's, Karen's in turn led me to Cheryl's Teapots 2 Quilting.  Now I know you know why that blog's title called to me! If there were water connections to our barn we would have both a quilt shop AND a tea shop there.  At least when I sew my tea cozies, I have a legitimate reason to have so many tea pots out there to model them. 

Cheryl is another quilter who is not afraid to tackle the dirt and grime that some old machines arrive with, and her photography of quilts is enhanced by the background pictures of antique treadles - turned - handcrank machines. As she says at her blog, her collection of toy sewing machines (another thing on my wish list) appears in her photographs at quilt shows where she has a vendor booth.  So many kindred spirits across this country, and beyond. When you visit Cheryl's long line of quilt photographs, be sure not to miss the bottom one, titled "The Quilter."

Cheryl's blog led me to another Karen-quilter's blog,  Quilts and Me and the first thing I read there was that she sews for four hours a day "during the school year."  Now, whether that means she's a teacher, or a mother with her kids off to school for the day, I don't know, because it's getting late and I wanted to get these blogs posted here so that you could find them and enjoy the wonderful quilts shown at each one.  

It looks as though Karen is starting up a new website and so I'll post that link here, too. Most of the pictures, though, are still at her original blog.  Beautiful work, and again, something drew me to her page. And what did I find as I scrolled down the page admiring her quilts ... a lamp on her desk.  And I knew I was meant to be there on her page, admiring it with her!

And my last stop for tonight was at Dolly's Home, where she was just getting ready to turn in for the night herself. Her post opens with an inspirational, reassuring prayer, followed by her warm words and again, old sewing machine photographs and beautiful quilts. 

 Dolly quilts with her old electrified machine named Ernestine, and has her ironing board set up at  her left elbow, much as I do when working on a full size quilt.  Pictures of some of her work are dancing around in the header of her blog, 'like visions of sugarplums...'  Time for me, too, to close this for the night.

Happy roaming, and keep quilting, all. 
~Terry

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March 24, 2014
I'm going to open this page by linking you to a website that I found first on Facebook and then via Pinterest ~ I guess that qualifies for surfing the web?

andie johnson sews is a great page on which the author shares many tutorials with quilting tips.  The one that attracted my attention starts as a four patch which evolves into a nine patch variation ... very smooth and subtle with basically a few straight cuts and seams. It's a great way to add variety to a simple design. (Like ee cummings, andie johnson doesn't use upper case letters in her name.)

Another page that offers free block patterns and tips is called Starwood Quilter. I signed up for her newsletter and have been following her creativity through the month of March, with lots of green fabrics. But my favorite pages in her blog are the ones in which she talks about her grandmother's journal.  Click here to see the quilt she made to honor her grandmother's work.  This blog also hosts a virtual book club, in which readers share commentary about the book and design and share a block that goes along with the story. I'm following her for daily updates, too.

www.quiltville.com

Bonnie Hunter's Facebook page tells of her travels all over this country, visiting quilt guilds and shows and sharing her quilting talents along the way. She also has a web page and posts (and hosts) videos of quilt tips and some of her many restored sewing machines she keeps running. Bonnie's web site and blog offer many free patterns and a generous policy allowing you to use them for yourself and for your classes, with only the request that you add her name as the designer to your quilt label. Seems reasonable enough!

The fourth page that I'll share here tonight will be the last for now, but I promise to keep looking and keep listing them at this page of the blog. Victoriana Quilters home page lists an impressive amount of free patterns, free prints and much more. She offers some free to the public, and offers a great deal more for members who join her site ("for about the cost of a magazine subscription" as she writes.)

Link here to learn to crochet snowflakes!

As we're still in winter weather, despite what the calendar tells us, make a pot of tea, put your slippers on, stitch a while, then stretch out to relax and surf a few of these pages.  They are inspiring!
Be warm, and be well ~ Terry