eye candy – Page 4 – Amherst Quilters Guild

lovely photos that will inspire you

February 13, 2013

goin’ crazy

Hi, Mary Ellen here. I enjoy redwork even if it’s done in a different color-like blue or black. I used to do quite a bit of embroidery, crewel was my favorite in my college days. Gave kind of a refined hippy (is there such a thing?) look to ones bell bottom jeans. I also remember embellishing my nieces’ dresses and jumpers when they were tiny. I have an appreciation for the skill of embroiderers, even if I no longer do much of it. Have you ever gone to one of the shows the Buffalo chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America has had at the Kenan Center in Lockport? Knock your socks off pieces of all kinds. I believe it’s held every other year, opposite our quilt show years. Definitely worth the trip-what a perfect venue for showing their handiwork. Now crazy quilting–there is a combination of my love for […]

January 20, 2013

getting craftsy

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Have you visited the Craftsy site? You really ought to. Although it is free to join, you don’t have to be a member to visit much of the site. There are all sorts of goodies to explore. As a crafting addict I have supplies for more crafts than I’ll ever be able to complete in several life times. I’ve tried so many things. I think I can name the crafts I have NOT tried in a shorter list–stained glass making, pen and ink drawing, sculpting, glass blowing … Right now at Craftsy I am taking an online class taught by Anita Grossman Solomon, who was our national seminar teacher last fall. I was only able to take one class of hers during seminar and I really enjoyed it. Haven’t finished the project of course. The block I made in seminar, the pineapple block, is one […]

January 13, 2013

color of the year for 2013

Hello again, Mary Ellen back. As quilters we are surely in tune with the newest fabric colors each year. Even if we don’t buy a lot of new yardage, we enjoy going into the shops and looking at the latest fabrics. Here’s the color of the year for 2013: Emerald. “Lively. Radiant. Lush… A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony.” Whether you’ll see emerald in our stores soon probably depends on the store’s buyers and their inclination to jump in before the public reaction can be gauged. Those of you who frequently travel to the “big city”, like Toronto or NYC, have perhaps already seen Pantone’s influence. You might enjoy the slideshow at the Pantone site, which will show you all kinds of consumer goods in this new shade. If you visit other parts of their site, you will see how much […]

July 19, 2012

must see?

Hello ladies, Mary Ellen here. I will admit I’m not much of a movie goer. That said, this clip from the “HeyQuilty blog” caught my attention. “And I don’t mean to be crude, but if you think he looks good with a suit on, I’m telling you: Joe Manganiello NOT in a suit, sitting at a sewing machine? It’s good, folks. It’s real, real good.”( a plug for the movie “Magic Mike”) There’s Joe, in the photo below. What a cutie. So maybe I’ll be going to the movies soon.

June 24, 2012

catching up

Hello everyone, Mary Ellen back again. Well this week kind of got away from me–haven’t posted in a while. I’m sure you all have had weeks like that too. Didn’t have much time to sit over my coffee and mull all the world’s problems, coming up with my solutions. “If I ruled the world,…” So what’s new everyone? I’ve been playing with my 60 degree triangle rulers this week. I have had the 8 1/2″ one for a long time–you know the one that makes that popular runner from a striped fabric. I have the larger one now also–it’s 12 1/2″ tall– and am exploring what it can do. Of course one could just repeat the tricks the smaller ruler will do, but I’m trying to find some others as well. I’m doing demos on this ruler this week and want to have some new things to share. Have you […]

June 20, 2012

antique quilt patterns

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. I have admired antique quilts for years. Our family has a few, and I own two. One was made for me before I was born, and sadly I must admit that is enough to make it antique. It’s a very simple polka dot quilt. My great-grandmother had set herself a goal to make a quilt for each of her great-grandchildren. Mine is the last one she finished. The second is an Iris applique quilt that the same great-grandmother made for my mom to celebrate her 16th birthday. In our family quilts were used, not saved. Sadly this iris quilt is in bad shape. The edges are so tattered that there is no saving them-and there are irises appliqued all along the edges. The center of the quilt is a large iris medallion. I have been searching for the pattern and designer of this quilt for […]

June 19, 2012

sew and tell Friday

Hello all, ME back again. A while ago I shared how Marija and I have decided to make sure that posts go up regularly by giving ourselves assignments. My assigned day is Friday and I was looking for a catchy name for it. Came across this name (above) at another blogger’s site. This morning I listened to another podcast from Pat Sloan. (If you haven’t tried them yet, I still encourage you to give it a whirl. They’re free and can be listened to on your phone or mp3 whenever you wish, or via your computer. Gotta be better than listening to regular talk radio!) When the dog and I returned home from our walk, I went to her website to see what she had up for today. It’s an interview with a quilter I had never heard of–and will be going back to visit again and again. Here’s a […]

June 18, 2012

bits and bobbles

Hello all, Mary Ellen back again. Hope you had a great weekend. Fathers’ Day was super for all of you? Another excuse, if you need one, for getting together with all the family. Perhaps not quite as fussy a day as the celebrations in May for moms. Dads are more BBQ, boats and beer than cake, curls and champagne–at least mine anyway. Wrote last week about Liberty cottons coming out with quilting weight fabrics-to be released here in the US in the fall. Lets nominate a local shop and all start lobbying for the shop to carry Liberty. What do you think? I found the Liberty boards at Pinterest this morning. Some gorgeous projects to be found there, and inspiration for all fabrics, not just Liberty. The various fabric flower uses of Liberty are very pretty, I think. Do you own a dresden plate template? Maybe you purchased the Darlene […]

June 15, 2012

rainbow ripple

Hello all, ME here. Kind of sounds like an ice cream flavor, doesn’t it? It’s actually a great bright quilt. Shows how the humble half square triangle and solid fabrics can be made into a wowser of a quilt. I’m always looking for more ways to quilt with my walking foot and I appreciated the close up of the quilting. I get so many questions from quilters at the shop about ways to quilt other than free motioning. (Is that a word?) I keep a collection of quilting designs that could be done with a walking foot-some photos, some sketches, some my own ideas, some CASED* from magazines and quilt shows. There certainly are so many that one needn’t stay in the ditch-that’s actually harder to do accurately anyway. Does anyone know of a quilt shop in the area that has a nice selection of solids like the ones used […]

June 12, 2012

never ever again

Hello everybody, Mary Ellen here. Ran across this blog post about a quilt the blogger will never ever make again. I give her tons of credit for starting, sticking it out through all the paper piecing, and completing the assembly. Now she has the task of removing all of that paper from the back! OMG! I think I like her version better than the one she shows on the pattern cover, but God bless her little pea-picking heart, she has WAY MORE patience and determination than I do. Have you ever made a quilt (finished one or even started one) that you will never ever do again? I have an unfinished top that I started a while ago. It has paper pieced spring flowers around a pieced center, and it should have a border of pieced triangles. The trouble is that the directions have been inaccurate the whole way through. […]