Friday, March 23, 2012

Vintage Market--Save the Date!!

Besides quilting, one of my other favourite pastimes is searching for primitive treasures for my home.  So I was very excited when I got an email from Leah and Barb at The Olde Farmhouse to be an exhibitor at their first ever Vintage Market!
I'll be selling stuff I've made and collected over the years and I'm sure there'll be lots of other treasures for you.
If you're in the neighbourhood, please drop by and say hi!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

New Book Preview

After the cold and snow of the past few days, I needed something to lift my spirits.  When I opened my email this morning there was a message from Mary Flynn, an amazingly talented woman who quilted most of the projects in my upcoming book, At Home with Country Quilts.  She told me she'd found the book posted at Martingale's website and now you can see it too!  I'm so excited!  Please check it out and tell me what you think!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Ever-blooming Daffodils--a tutorial

Spring certainly can't come soon enough for me!
If you feel the same way, you can speed up its arrival in your home by making a bunch of these fabric daffodils.
Cut a 4 1/2" square of muslin.
Fold in half and sew the long edges together with a 1/4" seam.
Turn the piece right side out until the raw edges meet at the bottom, forming a little tube.
Copy this template onto graph paper and cut out.
Pin the template to a double layer of muslin and sew all the way around it.
Trim the muslin 1/4" outside of the stitching.
Square off the points and clip into the curves.
Separate the muslin layers and carefully make a tiny cross incision through one of the layers.
Turn the shape right side out through this opening.
I used a pointy chopstick to get into the points.
Make gathering stitches about 1/4" from the raw edges of the tube.
Gather tightly and knot off.
Insert the gathered edge of the tube into the little hole in the daffodil.
Turn the edges of the hole to the inside and stitch the tube to the folded edges.
Thin some antique gold paint with a little water and paint the entire daffodil, starting with inside the tube.
When dry, sand gently with fine sandpaper.
Separate the layers of fabric and carefully cut a tiny horizontal slit into just the back layer.
Drip some hot glue into the hole.
Immediately insert a stick into the hole and up into the petal.
And that's it!
Enjoy your ever-blooming spring daffodils!