Little quilt, big impact…

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I want to share Maria Finegan’s quilt with you. Isn’t it lovely! I love the color and the way she quilted it…

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Here is what Maria wrote: “I have long admired your beautiful quilts and gorgeous applique. I have most of your books, but felt a little overwhelmed to attempt a whole quilt of applique. I was once again looking through Amish Inspired Quilts and  fell in love with your version of this quilt. I thought the single area of applique would be a reasonable starting point and if it didn’t work out I would not have invested a large amount of time and money. As it turned out, I loved the applique process. It was more relaxing than I would have guessed. And because of my small success, I am now going back through your books to select my next project. My thanks to you and Linda for sharing your great designs and techniques.”

First I must say thank you to Maria for her kind words and for sharing the photo of her quilt. She is right… a little project is a great introduction to applique!

Tidbits from the internet…

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It’s amazing what you can learn by clicking around the internet! I didn’t even click much to learn this stuff. Today’s tidbits came to my email inbox via NextDraft and a TED newsletter.

Here is a link to a short article that explains why one nostril can get stuffed up while the other one does not. If nothing else, I now know that it’s not exactly my fault.

Next is a TED talk titled “How I beat stage fright.” by Joe Kowan. I remember when I first had to speak in front of a guild. I was president and I was scared stiff. No, I was scared ‘nauseous’, which was worse than being stiff. I wish I had been able to watch this then. As it is, even though I am not usually nervous in front of a crowd now, I did pick up some useful tips.

 

A winner, and another chance to win!

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Lisa Boyer is the lucky winner of the box of crumbs. She was chosen by my very favorite random number generator—my mom. Once I explained to mom why she had just picked a number, she was very excited. Mom loves this sort of thing :-). Lisa, if you didn’t get my email, contact me at becky@pieceocake.com. I need your shipping address.

I have one more item on my desk that needs a home. This is an almost-finished small quilt. I made this quilt to illustrate a point, but it didn’t really do what I needed. I was in a rush and thought that maybe I could make it work but when I got around to quilting it, I had to admit that it just wasn’t going to work in the book. Luckily I had time to make a different quilt. But what to do with this quilt?

Hopscotch--02

I call it Hopscotch. It’s simple and graphic, and about 32″ square. I started quilting it in a variegated rose/red King Tut cotton thread. My intention was to unify the dark and white areas of the quilt. I think with more quilting, it would do that. Or, it could be quilted differently. The lucky winner is free to rip out the quilting I have done in favor of something else.

Hopscotch-Detail

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to finish this quilt. I do not want to add it to my (small) pile of UFOs. I’m hoping that one of you would love to have it.

Included with the layered, partially quilted quilt is most of a cone of the King Tut quilting thread that I started with, fabric cut for the sleeve, and black and white bias binding, ready to attach. Here’s Belle, keeping watch over the folded quilt (with the back showing), the sleeve, thread, and binding.

BelleAndQuilt

As before, leave a comment and mom will choose a number, this time on Wednesday.

It’s a crumb-y giveaway!

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Welcome to my new blog home! If you have followed my blog before, and you want to still, please do click the ‘Follow Piece O Cake Blog’ button on the right, above my picture. (FYI: I switched to wordpress because it is easier to manage.)

So, about the crumbs in the post title… I subscribe to Ami Simms’ newsletter and a little while ago she wrote about a student, Megan Null, who was making ‘crumb quilts’. Megan let Ami film her, and her video says it all:

(Link to video here.)

I googled crumb quilts and, who knew! There are pages of crumb quilts! It looks to me like crumb quilts started with Bonnie Hunter and have now taken on a life of their own. I have been too busy writing the color book to have noticed crumb quilts. Sigh.

Anyway, back to Ami. She has issued a 2014 Crumb Quilt Challenge! I generated a lot of lovely, colorful scraps when I was sewing for the color book and for a few days I thought I would start my own crumb quilt(s). I looked at the pile lovingly… and then I admitted to myself that this is not something I am going to do. My pile of crumbs could become your very own crumb quilt!

BoxOfCrumbs

Everything in the box is pre-washed cotton—except for one piece of a silky polyester that is obviously not cotton. I was going to throw it away but thought maybe the winner would love it. There are little pieces and bigger pieces, strips, triangles, and other shapes.

If you would like a chance to win, leave a comment. I will have my random number generator (my mom) pick a number Sunday. I think I’ll be able to contact the winner from your comment but sometimes there isn’t a way to do that, so check back on Monday, mid-morning. I’ll post the winner. It could be you!

She’s a star!

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ElanorProfilePicSmall

My 11-year-old granddaughter, Elanor, is seriously into rainbow loom bracelets. If you are not related to, or friends with, a pre-teen girl you have no idea what I'm talking about. These are bracelets made with small, colorful rubber bands on a loom. They are so much better than the potholders I made in my youth :-).

Elanor wanted to make a how-to video. She tried to do it with her phone but the results did not make her happy so she asked me to help. I am the Nana with video equipment, after all. 

I provided the equipment and the space. I zoomed in and out and did my best to shine light where it was needed. The rest is all Elanor. She practiced what she wanted to say and how to say it best. I am so very proud of her! I know how hard it is to give precise instructions and she did it perfectly, all on her own :-). 

She watched me edit the film in iMovie and it won't be long at all before she is doing that herself. That's good, because she isn't done making videos yet! so, please do share the links to her video. She will be so happy to see that people are watching it!