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Viewing entries posted in January 2013
January Flowers
January has come and gone for another year. There has been four Fridays in January this year so that means four flower blocks have been released. Let's take a look.
Machine Quilting Day 5
Would you have thought to use a tree, bush or plant as inspiration to find a quilting design? That is what I have used today. This shrub was ideal, I could see an obvious quilting design.
California Poppy Stitching
Usually throughout the year I recreate one of my existing patterns, either in different colors or to try out a new feature. This year I'm thinking about making the square version of California Poppies which the pattern gives instructions for. I haven't decided yet, I'm still thinking on it.
Academy of Quilting website
Over the weekend, I updated the Academy of Quilting website (www.academyofquilting.com). It needed doing badly and really it is easy with the content management system I have installed. It's no harder than writing a blog post to be honest. About here, I really should tell you what the Academy of Quilting is. It's an online facility where you can learn to quilt based on patterns published at Arbee Designs. You could call it our sister website.
Easy Patchwork Baby quilt
With postage on the rise, we are introducing more and more downloads to get our patterns out to quilters, yet we will likely always carry our main patterns in hardcopy format. We have put out several downloads already this year, the first was Fiesta (a bargello pattern) and my flower blocks and BOW program are also both downloads. Jennifer Houlden has also produced a download for us too called "Right Angles". This is a baby quilt made of squares and rectangles only, so very quick to put together and ideal for a gift.
Sometimes I make large quilts
Those who know me, know that the majority of quilts I make are wall hanging size. A couple, for example are Simply Sunflowers and Bargello Blues. But there are occasions when I make full sized bed quilts. Usually these are given for gifts. In fact, I don't actually have a quilt of my own design for my own bed - how bad is that?
Friday Flower - Sweet Pea
Friday is here again and I have another flower block ready for you. This week it is a Sweet Pea. Not only do I love the beautiful colors that sweet peas come in (mainly purples, pinks and reds) but I love the way they spread their tendrils grabbing onto whatever is available for them. They can grow over 6 feet high if they have suitable support.
Arizona Quilters
This week I had the pleasure of receiving a photo from a good friend in Arizona. Connie was the first Amercian quilter to be so gracious and welcome me into her home on my very first trip to the USA in 2003. Her and her friend Edna, also in the photo below, organized several teaching opportunities which allowed me to make that trip. What an experience and a whole lot of fun.
Machine Quilting Day 4
Another quilting from photo inspiration day again. Today my photo is of an outside chair back. It has a lattice effect.
Trellis effect for Blooming trellis
As I was taking a closer look at quilt pattern "Blooming Trellis" today, I realized that not everyone would like to make the background pieced trellis. The pattern is detailed with step by step instruction for the creation, but it does take a little time so I wanted to come up with another solution to create the same sort of effect.