Magpie Quilts

The fairies in my quilt guild made one of these for every member of the guild. Each is slightly different with a cute sewing/quilting quote. I LOVE mine! Thank you guild fairies! -Ann

I live about 2.5 hours from my mom and my sisters, but I know we share a love of spending time with family and crafting. Large room for crafting A few years ago, we tried to find a day to just get together, visit and craft on whatever we had going on. We've managed to do this 3 or 4 times, and then skipped a year and this year were able to get a day together. My mom crocheting an edge on a baby blanket My niece just moved into a lovely house that has a large walk-out basement with a gorgeous view and lots of light, so we planned to meet at her place. There was plenty of place for the kids to play, we each brought a little something for lunch and we came from near and far to have a great day. Hard at work? Or avoiding getting their photo taken? As you can see, we have reupholstery, sewing, crocheting, beading and just playing with the toys happening! Reupholstery and duplo Do you get together with your family to craft or sew? With neighbours? Friends? How far wo

This is what is on my design wall this week: Four memory quilts made from the shirts of a customer's father. There's a mix of dress shirts, casual shirts and T-shirts in these quilts. I still need to add some borders to make them to the size wanted and the backs are going to be super soft Minky. I love Minky on the backs, just not the extra work required to ensure the quilt doesn't pucker and stretch while it's being quilted. Memory Quilt 1/4  Memory Quilt 2/4 Memory Quilt 3/4 Memory Quilt 4/4  And a custom quilt made from Paris themed fabrics with disappearing 9-patch blocks randomly placed. This one will go to Marie from Blueberry Hill Quilts for quilting after it's pieced together. What's on your design wall this week?  --Ann

Rainbow Blazing Star This lovely quilt started as a kit found at a garage sale by my sister-in-law. The details are hazy due to the passage of time, but it somehow ended up in my closet as a UFO (Unfinished Object) or as I prefer, a PHD (project half done). It's been pulled out more than a few times, hung on the design wall and puzzled over how to best finish it. You see, the centre of this beauty was stretched all out of proportion and when the points of the star were pieced together, the middle of the quilt was quite poofy - in fact, a small animal could have lived in that puffy space. So I ripped carefully took out the seams, just at the centre, took in the seams and finally ended up with a centre that was workable, even though it still had some puffiness to it.  I then added the gray background and it makes this vintage 70's quilt top look incredibly like a modern quilt.  My long arm quilter, Marie at Blueberry Hill Quilts picked a great pattern to quilt on it a

A few years ago I made some stockings for a client in Edmonton ( blogged here ), and I had so much fun making them! When she received them, she had them custom embroidered with names on the cuff. Stocking Front Stocking Back And then she returned the following year to ask that I make some Christmas quilts for her children's beds and supplied me with fabric panels and adorable gold and red reindeer fabric to make both the quilts and the matching pillowcases ( blogged here ). Pillowcase Christmas Quilt This year, they added another little person to their family and I am so pleased that they asked me to make a stocking and bed quilt for this new person! Piecing the Christmas Stocking  I dug through my messy closet and found the cardboard template that I used for the original stockings and was so happy to see that I actually made some notes on what I did and how I put everything together. It made making a matching Christmas stocking much easier and when I went

Finished these two beauties for a friend last month! Although I haven't seen my friend for a number of years (I went to school with her sister), we have been out of touch for most of our adult lives and now that we are both empty nesters, it has been fun to catch up through Facebook and more recently, in person.  T-shirt Quilt Although I sometimes think that technology has way too strong a hold on me and my time, I do love the way it keeps me in touch with people that I would otherwise not cross paths with on a regular basis. T-shirt Quilt I have one more quilt to make for this family before Christmas, and I will be sharing it with you when it is complete. --Ann

Another chevron baby quilt made and sent to a very lucky baby in Pennsylvania!  Red, Black & White Chevron Baby Quilt This one is in red, black and white fabrics with a little pattern thrown in.  Red, Black & White Chevron Baby Quilt Although I wouldn't have first picked the black for a baby, it works great - gotta trust the customer - and I love how it turned out.  Red, Black & White Chevron Baby Quilt The black Minky feels like a luxurious fur coat and any baby would love it! Want your own custom baby quilt? Check out my baby quilts on Etsy here https://www.etsy.com/shop/MagpieQuilts?section_id=7680933 --Ann

From my very first sale (a mini quilt) only a week after I started: Mini windmill quilt to my first custom order - a wedding quilt for a bride in Boston. Wedding quilt to my favourite baby quilt - the scrappy 9-patch Pink Baby Quilt and a customer favourite in all sizes - the chevron! Yellow Gray Black Chevron Quilt I love this adventure I am on and the quilts will keep on coming out of the sewing room! --Ann

Wikipedia defines a   selvage  (US English) or  selvedge  (British English) as a  self-finished  edge of  fabric . Normally, these are cut off and discarded in the process of making a quilt (or any fabric article), but I've been saving mine for just this kind of project. Selvage mug rug A mug rug is a little mini-quilt, larger than a coaster, smaller than a placemat, that you can place your cup and a snack on without it taking up too much space. The beauty of these ones are that they are a great example of making something beautiful out of what otherwise would be trash.   Selvage mug rug in blue  First, you need to save your selvages. I cut mine with about 1/2" of the main fabric attached. You'll see why when we start sewing them onto the mug rug. This will give you about 1/4" of the main fabric showing after sewing, so if you want more or less fabric showing, cut your fabric selvages accordingly. Cutting your selvages  Next, cut a backing fabric and a