NATIONAL QUILTING DAY

This Saturday quilters will be celebrating National Quilting Day. To commemorate this day several of my Quiltsy Team had a challenge called the Nature of Quilting. Here are the beautiful and talented creations that my team members have created.

Flying Carpet Wallhangin from the shope of AnotherGhostQuilts.etsy.comThis is called Doree the Dragon Fly and comes from the shop of Planetpollyanna.etsy.comBotanical Gardens from the shop MoranArtandQuilts.etsy.comTrapunto Tulip from the shop of Quiltfinger.etsy.comPastoral Nature Scene by Bungalowquilts.etsy.comDresden Plate table runner by Clubaloha.etsy.comHand quilted whole cloth pillow cover by Serenstitches.etsy.comMountain Landscape Quilted Fabric Postcard by Sew Upscale.etsy.com Mini wallhanging by DebiDesigns.etsy.com

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Today we celebrate St. Patrick's and on Saturday March 20 we celebrate National Quilt Day. so I came across this gorgeous Celtic Wallhanging which not only represents Irish Celebrations, but shows just how quilting is another form of art.
This gorgeous piece comes from the shop of PennyFabricArt.etsy.com. Penny created this by using foundation piecing methodology. The peacock's head and body is a vibrant blue dupioni silk apkique with blue and silver beads, silvery embroidery thread and blue/white stone beads.

This is truely a work of art.

Saving Selvages

We have all heard the expression "You'r never to old to learn" well this phrase fits me

Now I love to create so this was right up my alley and I have decided to share this with some of you.

Selvages are the finished end of you material. They usual have the designers name, collections name and maybe a color key code to help with coordinating you fabric. All sewers will cut them off before they begin using their fabric and for me I always thru them away. Not anymore.

The first one I want to show is from the shop of Whimbrella.etsy.com.
She has created a chic eyeglass case. She made this from selvages of some of the most popular fabrics and lined it with tiny orange bird print form Moda. She also states that this would make a great case for carryingperfectly.

Recently a few of my Quiltsy Team members have taught me something new, to save the selvages after I cut my material and to create some wonderful and very useful items.
your rotary cutter to class.

My next feature is from the the shop of Bonbonsandmore.etsy.com.
She has created a hotpad or trivet from selvage ends and bound them together with a dark red binding. Every kitchen needs hotpads and this one will go with any motif you might have.


This adorable little skirt was created by Kimbuktu.etsy.com. She made this
for her granddaughter and I must say I think this is one of the most
creative items I have seen made with the selvage ends.

I searching for my ideas I also came across a great blog by Karen Griska, selvageblog.blogspot.com. She has also written a book with all kinds of ideas for using selvage ends. The book is called Quilt from the Selvage ends. I recommend checking out her blog.


So from now on I am saving all my selvages and hope to soon add my own creations to this selection.

BLOG WINNER

The winner of the February Blog Giveaway is Ann Woods of Quilting Frenzy.

Congratulations Ann, I have you bookmark in the mail for you

My Puzzle Quilt

A few weeks ago I post about the quilt I was making for my grandson and I referred to it as a puzzle. Well I finished the puzzle and here are my results. I must say I think that it turned out quite well. Since I called it a puzzle I also decided to quilt in a random motion with a pattern similar to a puzzle. I used a variegated black and gray thread.

When I started the idea of making a quilt for him skulls was not my first thought I thought of sports, he was the one that asked for the skulls. I started with the fabric and then found the blocks and from there I laid them out until I found the design I wanted.

I gave this to Riley yesterday and he was thrilled with it. When we left he was getting ready to curl up with it and watch his movies.

February Give Away

I find it difficult at times to keep up with interesting things for my blog. So to shake things up a little bit I have decided to do a February Giveaway. My goal is to get 100 followers on my blog or Facebook Fans.

This give away is designed with my quilting friends in mind, but anyone can enter. I have made two bookmarks with sewing charms attached to the end. One bookmark, the larger, has a thimble charm attached to the end, and the smaller one has a sewing machine charm on the end. Both bookmarks are silver plated and have swarovski crystal. Either one will make a great bookmark for you quilting or sewing books or magazines.

Now to win one of the bookmarks all you need to do is one or more of the following. The more you do the more you are entered.

1. Leave a comment about which of the two you like or would prefer.

2. Leave a comment and become one of my followers. ( promise to start having some
interesting post)

3. Leave a comment, become a follower and a fan of my Facebook Page artist.to/creationsbynoramarie

4. Leave a comment, become a follower, become a fan on Facebook and leave a comment on
my facebook fan page.

You have 4 chances to win and I will randomly choose a winner and the winner will receive the bookmark of their choice.

Etsy Front Page Keyword/Themes January 11th – January 19th

Etsy Front Page Keyword/Themes January 11th – January 19th

Quilts and Puzzles

I'm currently making a quilt for my Grandson. As I was starting to assemble the quilt I realized that putting together a quilt is much like working a puzzle. At least it is for me.

The block I chose for the quilt is called Woodland Patch. After I determined how many blocks in the quilt (24 for this one) I then had to calculate the amount of smaller blocks or triangles were needed to complete the quilt. Well here comes the fun part and the part I consider to be t putting the puzzle together. From the two piles you see here of black and white triangles I sew one black to one white until I completed a total 96 .

From these 96 blocks I had to attach the remaining black and white triangles in various directions

From here I had to lay them out and then sew those together until I formed the center strips.
This is why I call it a puzzle, because each piece had to fit a certain way to form the center strip

Now for the final step I then attached to larger triangle on each side of the center strip until I formed a block and continued on until I made 24 blocks.

Now from here you may wonder where I will go next. Well I do have pattern formed on how I will finish this quilt, but have decided to stop here and make it a little mystery for you. This I hope will have you coming back for more.

I will post the finishing of this quilt within the next couple of weeks. Like every other quilter I have more than one project going and alternate between them.

Stay tuned for part 2

Exchange Quilt

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the mini quilt exchange I am in with the Quilting Gallery.

Well I received a very nice package in the mail the other day. It was my quilt and I wanted to share it with all of you.

My quilt came from Jeane who lives in Piedmont. Mo. I just love all the colors that she used to design the quilt. She did not leave me her email so I will have to send her a little note, but she give me a note stating that she is a beginning quilt and wasn't very sure how well she did. In my opinion she is more than just a beginner and her skills get an A in my book.

She also include an adorable and very well crafted ornament which I will cherish and hang on next years tree.

Unofficial UFO

Many of my fellow quilters are compiling there UFO's and making a resolution to try and finish them in 2010. You notice I did say try, basically we all have good intentions but life just seems to get in the way, Work, Family, errands and of course custom orders.

Well I really don't have UFO's but what I do have are projects that I have completed but have never listed in my Etsy shop. So I have decided to make a resolution to take new pictures and to list all the items that I can in my shop.

For today I have listed to purses that for some reason or another I forgot about.

The first is a small accessory purse. Great for cosmetics or keeping those coupons organized in you purse.

The second is an embroidered pouch I made and at first I was going to keep for my self, but have decided to post to the shop. A large pocket on the outside is great for keys or you cell phone, one small inside pocket again can be used for you cell phone or keys.

You can both of these items listed in my Etsy shop creationsbynoramarie.etsy.com