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My annual Christmas quilt design for the blog! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! XXX Annika Continue reading →

When I saw this design I knew I needed it in my life!!! And then I decided I needed to make it for all three of our children as Christmas quilt. I have made each of them many quilts over … Continue reading →

 It's been a quiet week so far.  Perhaps I'm simmering down after the disappointment of the election results, resigned to the announcements about the change in government and all the analyses of what happened.   

 S had dentist appointments Monday and Tuesday which went well (whew).  Last evening my P.E.O. chapter met by Zoom.  The program was given by a church choir director (a chapter sister is in that choir) who is also a middle school music teacher. She talked about requiems, the funeral masses set to music.   I had no idea there was so much to ...

This Nativity pattern is 27″ wide x by 33″ high and uses 3 reds, 5 blues, 5 browns and one near-white. The Paypal link lets you use any charge card for payment. You’ll immediately be given a download link for files to store on your computer. Ideally print the pattern pages (which are already mirrored) on sheets of freezer paper to be taped together. There are general instructions, specific sequence instructions, a color chart, and some single sheets ...

 As most Sue Spargo projects are, this one took quite a while. I've been working on this for about four years. The hand quilting alone took a little over two years, but I really only got to work on it on Thursdays during the hand sewing group at my shop.

I included lots of close up shots of the finished quilt below. 

The pattern is called Crimson Tweed by Sue Spargo. The pattern book is discontinued and I have already sold my personal copy of the pattern to a customer who wanted it. An internet search might turn up ...

I have two new quilts to share.

Austin was published in Make Modern #60.

Good Tidings was published in Annie's Christmas Pattern Book.

Good Tidings

Both quilts were made using Island Batik Fabrics collection Peppermint Sprinkles. 

Peppermint Sprinkles is a beautiful collection - perfect for Holiday sewing. I love that it has elements of the season such as reindeer and snowflakes but it isn't so Christmassy that the quilt/decor becomes outdated by January 1.  It has year round appeal.

That was my thought process as I designed Good Tidings in EQ8.  A fellow quilter/blogger once said that ...

The library is the starting point for the Illinois Dunesland Garden Club annual tour. 

This year's sites included the Garden of Faith at Memorial UMC (our church).  People can rent raised garden plots -- 20 this year with room to develop more -- for vegetables and flowers.  

Other gardens on view were in Winthrop Harbor, Carol Beach, and Pleasant Prairie.  

We've had good rainfall this season and the wildflowers are abundant. 

Illinois Beach/Hosah Park (89 degrees on Sunday). Clockwise from left: chokecherry, mullein, nodding onion ...

It's a wildflower wonderland here in northeasternmost Illinois.  We went to Ethel's Woods and Pine Dunes.

Compass plant, false white indigo, monada/bee balm, mountain mint. butterfly weed, show tick trefoil, rattlesnake master, pickerelweed, Culver's root.

Bumblebee on a purple coneflower and a flock of little yellow butterflies.

  The Lake County Symphony Orchestra performed on Thursday evening.   The tuba solo (Strauss's Happy Farmer) was fun. 

  Though we missed the fireworks at the park in Zion the neighborhood was a-poppin' with firecrackers until nearly midnight.  The smell of the powder was heavy the next morning.  

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I finished my Trip Around the World quilt just in time to enter it into Capital Quilters recent exhibition.  

I've called it Last Christmas because I've always loved Wham, and each December I pump this song out  regularly.

Happy New Year everyone. 

No sooner had I dropped my mum and dad at the airport on 27 December than I started getting inspired on Instagram.  Often I will start a Christmas themed cross stitch between Christmas and New Year, but this year I started a Christmas quilt and I had the whole top pieced in just seven days.  

But I used the brighter colours from this Christmas gift bag:

The photo I liked was by Edyta Sitar so I used her Laundry Basket Quilts PDF pattern for a Trip Around the ...

My list was smallish for this week

 What better way to end the year than with a new Christmas quilt for my bed.  The 364 half square triangles are the hardest part of this quilt so might as well make them first.

Nothing better than a new Christmas magazine arriving in October, This gives me plenty of time to drool over the designs and actually get one made before the holidays. I think I am going to tackle the cover quilt from Lisa Bongean and Alysha Haran. The quilt is made using 2 1/2″ jelly roll strips so it should be fast to jump on in. Fingers crossed.

the 3 images shown here are Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine.
©2023 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved.

The magazine has lots of great quilts/projects including projects from Wendy ...

Yes, it's true - I've escaped New Zealand and like many other Kiwis and Aussies I'm travelling in Europe right now.  In fact by the time you read this I think I'll be in Amsterdam.  You can follow my travels on Instagram - @wendysquiltsandmore  or Facebook - Wendy Welsh - if you're interested.  

But I know a lot of you look forward to reading a blog post from me each week, and linking up to or following the Peacock Party links, so I've prepared five weeks of blog posts to keep you covered while I'm away.  Each ...

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We had two good excursions, to Grant Woods Forest Preserve on Saturday and Chain O' Lakes State Park on Sunday.  (Left photo:  Fox River is on the horizon at Chain O' Lakes.) 

Wildflower medley:  spiderwort, yarrow, sorrel.  Cinquefoil, bird's foot ...

I am still clearing out the basket of old UFOs and now I am two projects closer to finishing. Right now it is hard to find time to quilt, so it is nice to finish a couple of things and feel somewhat productive. 

The newer (haha!) project is another from the weird Blitzen fabric line by Basic Grey. This fabric came out in 2012 so it has celebrated a few birthdays. I hope I don’t come across any more UFOs with this fabric. I probably had a fat quarter bundle and should have separated the fabrics into a whimsical ...

Did you have a wonderful holiday? We had a lovely day, with a prime rib dinner. This year I made fresh Brussels Sprouts for the first time. I looked online for the best method to decrease the bitterness, and found that cutting them in half and charring the cut side would do that. So, I prepared the sprouts by cutting off the bottoms, removing the outer leaves, then cutting them in half.

Toss with a bit of oil (I used a garlic oil that My Sweet Babboo gave me for Christmas) and put cut-side down in a pan. Cook on ...

I am not a big seasonal decorator, but I do love Christmas. And for a while I had considered a Christmas quilt.

When I saw the Fall 2022 Scrappy Mystery at QuiltingGail, it was the answer. I made mine a little larger, but the idea remains the same.

And I added a smaller complementary quilt for the back of my husband’s comfy chair.

It is based on this tutorial.

Both were built entirely with fabric on hand. The last stitches were put in the binding about 3pm Christmas Eve. Still plenty of time to enjoy them this year before ...

Merry Christmas! I have 3 Inklingoable Christmas quilt designs for you, with 5-pointed stars, Ribbon Flowers and Dresden Plates. XXX Annika Continue reading →

 Day 23 of my Christmas Countdown and it's my "Oh! Christmas Tree" quilt designed by Wendy Williams.  

I loved choosing all the bright colours for this quilt, and then ...