Magpie Quilts

Today was rainy and wet! And we still haven't dried out from the rain we had last week! Oh, well, that means my sewing machine will get used and my garden will have to wait! I planted some of my seeds yesterday morning - before the afternoon showers started. I had some help from my grandsons - the 3 year old was very good at placing the pea seeds into the row and keeping some space between them. The 2 year old was quite funny - he would grab some seeds and then throw them into the garden, not caring where they went! I'm sure there will be pea plants everywhere!! But back in the sewing room today, I had my friends here for our weekly sewing day. And I had a little show 'n' tell as I received a quilt in the mail from a swap on Flickr. The theme for this mini-quilt swap was flowers or birds and the quilt I received had such a lush bouquet of blooms! I loved every bit of this quilt and will be finding a place for it where I can look at it every day! And I'm n...

Maple Leaf Seasons Mini Quilt Summer leaf details Here's the finish on the Season's Mini Quilt that I posted about earlier this month. The maple leaf block is one I've used many times, but this time I didn't piece the stem. Instead, I machine stitched the veins in the leaves and the stem with a variegated green thread and then did a close stippling on the sky blue background. I'm still waiting patiently for the quilt my partner made for me and will post it here as soon as I get it! --Ann 

This is what's on my sewing table this week: Dr. Seuss fabrics  One of the most viewed items on my blog and in my Etsy shop has been my Dr. Seuss quilt. I made two late last fall and both were sold quickly. I love piecing these baby quilts as I think about the Dr. Seuss stories that I read to my kids when they were little. Some of my favourite times with them were reading stories and now I get to read to my grandkids! Cutting up Thing One and Thing Two! I've cut up enough fabric to make two more along with a couple other projects. This is what the finished baby quilt will look like: 2011 version of Dr. Seuss baby quilt  After cutting up Dr. Seuss, I took a quick trip to the mail box at the end of the road and found all kinds of quilting goodies!  I've been waiting since the beginning of February for this special fabric to make my mini quilt for my swap partner. The theme for Feb/Mar swap of the MiniQT group on Flickr was movies. Sneak peeks are just beginn...

Here's the latest quilt block finished for the s crapbusters bee group swap on Flickr . The block requested was a 15" flying geese quilt block, so I had a pile of orange scraps left over and thought I would use them here. What a bright, cheery color combination for a cold winter's day. And to challenge my traditional quilting roots, I opted for a non-lineal arrangement and ended up with this: I hope that Lollydo likes her block! I had fun making it and used up a few scraps in the process. What do you do with your fabric scraps? --Ann