Passing on the Love of Sewing



Methinks it is a token of healthy and gentle characteristics, when women of high thoughts and accomplishments love to sew; especially as they are never more at home with their own hearts than while so occupied.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, 1859

 

Had the opportunity to participate in a Guild activity, working with Girls Scouts on their sewing patches. We had the tiniest Daisies to Juniors. It was so much fun to see the creativity and joy that some of the girls had in sewing.

 

 

Here I am (below) with a few Junior's who had never used a sewing machine before. But they took to it right away and enthusiastically stitched away.

 

 

There were more than a couple future sewers identified in the group, those not at all intimidated by the machine. <3 <3 <3

Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival XXVI

All my scattering moments are taken up with my needle.  ~Ellen Birdseye Wheaton, 1851

 

Time for the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival!

 

                                       

Got my volunteering out of the way selling raffle tickets for our Tidewater Quilter's Guild 2014 raffle quilt. It has a fanciful music motive and had lots of people stopping at our table!

 

 

 I was particularly drawn to quilts that had a lot of thread play going on...

 

I guess the nature scape had my eye too.

Love love love these pine trees made from stitching with green thread!

This simple crabby pattern made me smile...we are near the beach after all.

 

 This could have been a photo. What an amazing accomplishment!

The colors and the stitches attracted me to this one.

And this....

For my cat loving friends, this one made me chuckle....

Tiny tine triangles make this armadillo awesome!

I wish the picture did this one justice!

Cool color scheme...

And my new and fabulous Juki machine!

 Fun, fun, fun as usual. Eye candy and stash additions and meeting up with old friends made it a great day!

Things Change

 

Like Hazel Behling said, "Things change." And so they did. After many sew-a-thons and retreats and countless hours of fun, one local quilt shop closed its doors. A sense of sadness washed over me, reminding me of the moment I closed my own shop over 5 years ago.

 

I smiled again as I thought about what made the experience,  of owning the shop and attending quilting events, special.....the people.

 

So the location may change. We say goodbye to a way of being in one place and walk on to whatever is next. In this case a new location, a new way of being but with the constant of the people who are bonded together-

• over the love of cutting large swaths of fabric into small pieces and then sewing them back together again,
• over the love of color and pattern,
• over the excitement that a new project brings and the contentment of a finish,
• over the best food ever eaten over the course of three days both the old favorites and the brand new recipes,
• over the fellowship as life ebbs and flows, births and dies, laughs and cries.

 

So we had the January Sew-a-thon and marvelous things were created....

 

A Bonnie Hunter Celtic Solstice finish....



 



A wonderfully colorful scrappy block that turned this.....

 

Into this!



There were sea turtles....

 

And hearts and grandma's dresses sewed into memory quilts....

And a springtime braid that chased away the winter blues....

Snowflakes and birds and "possums"

And a little Merry Mayhem New Year's Day Mystery...

 

Shop samples...

 

Practice at machine quilting....

A famous quilter among us!!

 And fun fun fun!

 

Happy to have a new quilting home....

Snow Day!

Is there anything as pretty as freshly fallen snow on the trees?

 

 

Feeding the birds, coaxing the dogs outside for business and working from home while enjoying the scenery.

 

 

My mind is wandering to seed catalogs and planting and sweating to death wrestling weeds from the garden.

 

Sophie made quick work of being outside!

And then ran right into her crate and snuggled in a warm blanket!

January Barefoot Quilters Bee

 

I had a chance to get to the Barefoot Quilter's Bee tonight at the Dare County Library in Kill Devil Hills. I miss the day to day contact with my beach posse, and really look forward to when my schedule allows me to attend.

 

I get so inspired when I see what people are working on... this being Linus season down here there were some darling quilts for donation made from simple patterns and stash scraps that will keep a child warm and cheerful.

 

This one just reminds me of spring green erupting ....a nice thing to see with the predicted cold and precip predicted around here in the next few days.

 

 

This is a sweet little girl quilt with hearts and flowers and paper doll cut outs. It was made by a girl who just started quilting in the fall!

 

I think this one should be called "One World!" It just reminds me of something from Unicef ....hearts and kids, how could you go wrong??

 

 

Timely snowman quilts with sweet little snowflakes bonded and quilted into the wall-hangings. 

I wish the color on the camera did a better job with this picture...the colors on this table runner were crisp and gorgeous. !

 

Another sweet Linus quilt, almost an "I Spy" with all the little pieces of scraps. Cute, Cute, Cute!!

 

Not a Linus, a gorgeous Dresden Plate worked on a really pretty blue background and hand quilted.

 

Two little  challenge quilts completed with the orange center fabric. Many of us are working on them to be hung at the quilt show down here in March. Everyone is so creative with their fat quarter!

 

And finally a Linus made with a panel of Mary Engelbreit Mother Goose rhymes.

A nice time with friends. <3

Linus Quilters 2013

Here are the good works from the 2013 Linus group from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.