Magpie Quilts

Although it feels like I've been spending more time outside the sewing room than inside, I am getting a few things done. Because summer is a difficult time for me to get motivated to sew, I am trying to pre-cut a few projects so that when I have an hour or two, I can just get right down to sewing. Alphabet 9-patch Alphabet 9-patch Someone had gifted me with an alphabet panel and an assortment of scraps of the same panel. I carefully cut out each letter, found a green print to go with it and some off-white squares to finish the 9-patch blocks and set aside the pieces I cut for sewing on another day. Scrappy purple squares I have lots of scraps and they are stored in a large Rubbermaid tub. (Any quilter should have shares in Rubbermaid!) These are destined to end up in scrap quilts and occasionally, I will take some out and do some sorting. If the pieces are bigger than 5x5, I'll just fold them neatly and store with similar colors along with the fat quarters of t

I love these little mini-quilts that can be used as coasters under your beverage of choice. But it seems that they are a phenomenon only known to quilters! I thought they would go over well at the last few craft sales I did, but people were saying "Mug rug? What's that?"  Owl Mug Rug  Our quilt guild had their year end potluck last week and a few of us exchanged mug rugs with matching mugs.  I found a cute mug with an owl on it at the local Home Sense store. (I love shopping there!) After sketching out the owl, I used fusible web to applique the pieces in place on the mug rug. Blanket Stitching Cute owl!  Then it was off to my sewing machine where I used the blanket stitch to stitch around all the pieces. The beak and black dots on the eyes are just permanent marker. Tulip Mug Rug This is the mug rug I received in the swap - a pretty tulip mug from Great Britain with a tulip mug rug! So cute! --Ann

I love taking photos of the plants that are blooming in my yard - when I focus in on the beauty of a flower, I can forget that the rest of my yard is looking rather messy as it's been too wet to do much gardening at all! So enjoy! Lily of the Valley Wild Crab Apple Blossoms Lady's Slippers --Ann

Spring has sprung and the flowers are blooming! At least the lilacs are finally coming out! I love the colours found in nature and this colour combo of lilac, green and blue is going to show up soon in a quilt! Last quilt guild meeting, I got my next tins to work on. It is supposed to work out that we each get one tin per month, but with a few guild meetings cancelled due to weather and quilters being away for one reason or another, I have 3 more to work on! This tin had a strip of red print fabric and a pattern for these beautiful hearts! This one below is my block - there were some leftover pieces left that I used for the bottom of my heart, I used the fabric provided for the top left and my own fabric for the top right and the little triangles at the top. Fast and easy! Red Heart Quilt Block - Tinner's challenge! All 6 blocks so far!  The next tin had a piece of wild green, orange and blue stripe and a theme of jungle! No patterns included this time! I have some zebr