Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Going for Gold

It's seems appropriate during this Olympic season here in BC to show you some of the yummy gold fabrics I've just added to my website. If you like working with fabric that looks aged or grungy, these are the best! Check them out on page 6 of the Fabrics section of my website, http://www.countryquilts.ca/.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sneak Peek at my new book, Country Comforts

I'm so excited! I just went to my publisher's website and saw the cover of my book for the first time!
Check it out at this link:

Country Comforts - Martingale & Company

And if you click on the gallery arrows underneath the cover, you'll see photos of the other quilts in the book!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

A Crafting Trip down Memory Lane

I found this Spring/Summer 1959 issue of McCall's Needlework & Crafts at an antique shop last weekend and realized that crafters were doing pretty much the same things 50 years ago as we are today.
We were making cute things to sell.

And hooking rugs for our homes.

And of course, we were quilting!

Wouldn't your son love a knitted swimsuit?
Although I'm not sure how we survived if our mothers followed hints like this!
Happy crafting everyone!



Thursday, February 11, 2010

Signs of Spring and other nice Surprises

What a crazy winter it's been! For us on Canada's west coast, we've had the warmest winter on record--temperatures above freezing since mid-December and no snow. Not good news for the Winter Olympics which open here tomorrow. I'm sure they'd love to have some of the white stuff that the midwest and east coast are "enjoying". I saw these crocuses poking their heads up last weekend--a sure sign that spring is on its way!
Another nice surprise--last week I answered my doorbell to find two Korean women who had seen my "Country Quilts" sign on the front porch. They are in Canada while their children attend school here. Though they spoke little English and I speak no Korean, they wanted to learn about quilting so I invited them in and showed them around. There's something about quilting that transcends all language barriers! One of the ladies, Olivia (shown below with me), wants to learn how to quilt so we had our first lesson yesterday.
This is the quilt pattern I'm teaching her (To Everything There is a Season). She's used to cutting with scissors and sewing by hand so it was fun to show her how to use a rotary cutter and sew by machine. I prefer designing to teaching but she was so enthusiastic and eager, it was a great experience. We worked on the Spring block together and she'll work on the other season blocks at home and then come back for Lesson #2.