An oldie but goodie . . .

This year I have been spending a lot of time working on the pattern for the Block of the Month at Shaffer's Countryside Quilting in Sharpsville, PA. When we discussed doing the Block of the Month at the end of last year, I said that I'd like to do an applique block of the month, but I wasn't sure how many people would be interested in committing to doing a year's worth of applique. Consquently I offered to do two block of the month quilts--one that combines piecing and applique, and one that is all piecing. This pattern will be available for sale after the first of the year (2010!) either as a single pattern or for stores to do their own block of the month.

Here's a teaser--these are two of the blocks that customers have picked up this year, although not in these fabrics. I've started to sew some of the rows together and I'm really excited about how it is turning out!

Family Challenge

This summer my mom, Aunt Bonnie, Grandma Margie and I decided that we would have a family craft challenge. Our challenge was to do some embroidery and make something with the piece that we embroidered by Labor Day of this year. The pattern we used was available as a free download some time ago from pattern bee at http://www.patternbee.com/ (also check out her great blog at http://turkeyfeathers.typepad.com/ ).

Last Sunday the four of us got together for tea and to show each other our projects. Check them out--

Here's my mom's project--she embroidered a corner of a napkin that has a crocheted edge:

Here's Aunt Bonnie--she embroidered hers in colors to match her living room and is going to put her piece under the glass in her coffee table.

Here's Grandma Margie with her embroidery.

Here is my embroidery--I made mine into a pillow.

It was so much fun to get together and share our projects with each other. I was suprised by some of our choices--3 of us stitched a yellow ribbon, and two of us stitched blue birds!

We are going to have another family challenge--but first we have to decide on a new project, which is a challenge of its own because there are so many nice project ideas to choose from.

After much time spent imagining my own blog, I am finally writing my first post!! In the next few days I will continue to add more information and pictures to my blog, and will be posting frequently. I hope you will check back often to see the projects I am working on.

We had a busy Labor Day weekend--yesterday we spent the day at Lake Erie, today we had lunch with my grandparents, and tonight I finished writing a new pattern, "Honey Time"--pictured to the right! "Honey Time" is a wallhanging, 34" square, and a great way to use up some of the little scraps you have in your sewing room that you just can't bear to throw away (the buds, leaves, bees can each be made from a 2 1/2" square!).

Tomorrow (Tuesday, September 8) this pattern will be hot off the presses and available for purchase at Shopowner's Night in New Wilmington, hosted by the Where the Corners Meet Quilt Guild. If you are in the area, this is always a nice event to attend. The guild members and shopowners that attend are terrific ladies, there's always good food to eat, and lots of fabric and patterns to buy!

"Honey Time" will be on sale at the Shaffer's Countryside Quilting table. After this event, you can contact Judy at Shaffer's Countryside Quilting (724-962-9394) to order "Honey Time".