Winter Quilting

Yesterday we lost the electricity from 5:30 pm until 10:30 pm. Luckily the flashlights were handy. Since it's so cold outside, the NL Power company decided to cut the power to different parts of the city for a few hours. Apparently there was a usage on the generators and they plan to do this until the weather warms up a bit. So far today, this part of town has been left alone (keeping fingers crossed). It's times like this that our quilts really do come in handy (not just as a decorative addition to a room).

In case you feel the need to make another quilt, I found some with a Winter theme. You will see lots of blue and white! Some of the patterns are for sale and some are free. I've included both for viewing as you never know what might spark an idea. There are also a couple of smaller pieces too.

• Snowflakes from Quilt and Sew Shop
• Winter Critters from Quiltmaker  (designed by Sonja Callahan - her blog is worth a look)
• Winter Moon by Kit Lang
• Winter Quilt from Lemon Tree Tales
• Winter Solstice by Diane McGregor at Craftsy
• Winter (freezer paper snowflake stencil) from Wee Folk Art
• Penguins on Ice from Lavender Rabbit
• Winter Home Mug Rug from Craftsy  (This won't keep you warm but will give you a chuckle)
• Fractured Season Bargellos from Arbee Designs
• Winter Galaxy: Sparkling Star Scrap Bed Quilt from McCall's Quick Quilts

The only large bed quilt I ever made was back in1999 for a quilt show in 2000. It was a Magic Tiles pattern by Kathleen Bissett. I called it Quiltenium Dreams. All the fabrics were from various trips taken across the country. The quilt found its way to Chicago with my daughter and her husband. It has a good home.

The Art of Appliqué

Appliqué is the art of sewing smaller pieces of fabric onto a larger surface. To find out more about appliqué and how it is done, visit TAS - The Appliqué Society. The Art of Applique on the TAS site, has several interesting articles to get you started.
There are several different appliqué methods:

• Stain Glass Appliqué
• Machine Appliqué   Also check out Tips for machine appliqué.
• Reverse Appliqué    How to reverse-applique a tote bag.  How to make a reverse applique on a T-Shirt by machine. Mending using this method!
• Hand Appliqué  Also check out this Back Basting Tutorial for Hand Applique. A close-up picture of hand applique. Hand Applique using freezer paper.

This should get you thinking about experimenting with this particular technique. I will follow up in a later post with sites that have free appliqué patterns.