Magpie Quilts

I did a lot of custom quilt making in 2021 and one of the most challenging was to make a queen size quilt from a collection of Crown Royal bags.  The assortment of bags had a variety of purple, black and specialty bags. I bought some solid cotton fabric in a rich purple and a gold color to make the star blocks.  Bags were cut apart and then cut into squares that included the Crown Royal words plus some of the gold stitching that held the bags together. These were pressed carefully and with a cooler iron than I would use for an all cotton quilt as the thread on some (not all) would melt at the touch of a hot iron. (Experience points here!) Because of the shear number of bags I was given to work with, I not only had enough for the centres of the star blocks, but also enough to make a border all around from the Crown Royal bags. Some of the specialty bags were made from a suede like fabric and still others from a satin fabric that frayed easily. From an ease of construction point...

After almost a year of being an absent blogger, I thought maybe I should introduce myself and start again! LOL! My name is Ann and I have been in love with quilting for most of my life, but an actual quilter since my kids were born over 30 years ago. My first quilt was a hand embroidered baby quilt that didn't make it past the 2nd baby and I haven't got a single photo of it to share. My second quilt was a bit more ambitious. It was a double wedding ring quilt that was one of the feature quilts in a McCalls quilting magazine. I painstakingly traced and cut out each piece by hand, hoping to sew it all together by machine, but quickly realized that wasn't going to work.  So, I carefully pieced it all together with hand stitching in all the stolen moments between caring for small humans. I'm so proud that I actually finished it even if it took me all of TEN years! I've taken a few classes, but prefer to learn on my own. The internet and its endless resources have been s...