Magpie Quilts

Santa with yoyo's Cross stitch windsock. Folded Star Christmas ball

I am finally decorating the house for Christmas - and along with my regular ornaments, Santas and snowmen, I pulled out my Christmas quilts. I have more than I thought, so I'll take a couple posts to share them with you.  Here's my tree skirt. When we lived in Beaumont, Alberta (not Texas!) I was part of a wonderful group of women who quilted together. The blocks in the tree skirt were 6" blocks exchanged by that group. I don't have a pattern for this - its just made up as I went, but I think of my friends every time it comes out for the holidays!  I love that there are so many good happy memories with this little quilt! -Ann

There are many ways of sewing a quilt together. Some quilts are meant to be sewn together piece by piece by carefully hand stitching. Those are reserved for very special people and occasions. Other quilts are pieced together with methods that are quicker and I'm going to show you my favourite way to sew blocks together while keeping their layout intact. Continuous piecing is just sewing blocks together, one after another without a break or having to cut any threads between (or minimizing the cuts!) It's also called chain piecing and you'll be able to see why when you've tried it out. Start by laying your blocks out in the desired pattern or order.  This is a basic, simple 9-patch block, but the technique works with much larger quilts as well. There is nothing directional in these squares, but if you are working with blocks for a large quilt top, you'll want to keep track of which end is up on your blocks. I do this with a scrap of paper pinned to the top of e...

When I think about the roots of quilting in North America, it is usually connected with making quilts from found cloth gathered from used clothing and gently worn fabric. Quilting today is farther from those roots than ever as many quilters buy fabric only for quilting and often in coordinating pre-packaged kits. So, it was a surprise to me that I said yes to a friend to make some quilts from the clothing from her husband. And so I found myself with a pile of shirts and no plan of action to turn these into a quilt (or 3). I did a little online research and found a variety of memory quilts, some that I liked and some that I didn't. The first step was to cut the shirts apart so I could cut quilt pieces from them. I used Bonnie Hunter's method that she describes here . Don't you just love the quilts she's made from thrift store shirts? This was a great activity for in front of the TV and in a couple evenings I had the shirts cut up. I did realize after I had the shi...

There are so many quilts I want to make, but not enough time to make every single one, so here's my bucket list of quilts that I would like to make. Double Wedding Ring Quilt - I already have one of these that I made by hand when I first started quilting (I may have to take a photo or two and share how it turned out with you!), but I'd like to try this again with a little more knowledge and skill and see how it turns out. Double Wedding Ring - photo from McCall's Quilting Hawaiian Quilt - I love the bright colors of these quilts and the soft curves of the applique. This seems to me to be such a soothing project to be done completely by hand if possible. Stack of Hawaiian Quilts - photo from Flickr Landscape Quilt - Art quilts are something I've admired for a very long time, but haven't quite got up the courage to try. I love Gloria Loughman 's landscapes and it will probably be something inspired by her that I try when I have the courage. Windmil...

Tins have been passed around furiously in our guild and I think some are way ahead of schedule and some are behind. I have 3 on my sewing table to work on before the guild meeting on Thursday, but I think I forgot to show you the 2 that I completed last month.  This tin had a beautiful, rich, earthy toned orange and brown batik fabric and a pattern. Because oranges and browns are not very well represented in my fabric stash, I used it as an excuse to go visit my favourite quilting stores to go shopping. The next tin featured some great Asian fabric and some varied, unique blocks.  I didn't think I had much for Asian fabrics in my scraps, but I found a few that were left from another project and used the featured fabric as the main square in a modified log cabin block. I hope you're enjoying the peeks at our guild's tinner exchange and I'll try to remember to share the next ones a little sooner! --Ann

I spent the past weekend in the foothills of the Alberta Rocky Mountains with my sister and a lovely bunch of women. I can't show you what I was working on, but this is the quilt my sister finished.  And this is the quilt top she was madly sewing on until the last minute. It's completely out of scraps - isn't it lovely? This weekend was also the first snowfall of the season and I stood quietly under the trees and listened to the snow falling and the smell of the forest. And it took me back to a memory of our family spending time at my father-in-law's trapping cabin for New Years. The smell of smoke from a wood stove, the silence of being so far from civilization that you could hear the snow fall - and being able to fully be with the people I was with - no electronics to distract.  What's your fav place to retreat to? -Ann

This heart block is perfect for putting into a scrap quilt or to use as a label on the back of your quilt. You will need the following: One 4" square heart fabric Two 3.5" squares heart fabric One 4" square background fabric Four 1.5" squares background fabric Take your 4" squares and layer them together right sides together. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner. Sew 1/4" seam on both sides of the line you drew. Cut apart on the drawn line.  Press one of these pieces towards the heart fabric and the other towards the background. This makes the final assembly of the block easier as the seams will butt up against each other nice and easy and less bulk at the seams.  Trim to 3.5" as shown.  Take your four 1.5" squares and draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner on each. Line them up at the top of your 3.5" squares as shown.  Sew right on the drawn line this time. You can trim the pieces or leave them o...