Here’s the fall mini quilt I sent to my partner Chris in Alabama.

The fabrics: a gorgeous leaf print, that was in my stash, sadly without selvedge so I’m not sure where it came from. The three coordinating fabrics are from Ricky Tims’ Rhapsodie Colorée III line.

The 1/2 square triangles finished at 1.5″. They were pieced using Brenda Henning’s Triangulations CD. I love this CD, makes 1/2 square and 1/4 square triangles in various sizes… so accurate!

I quilted in the ditch around each seam and echoed straight lines in the outer border.

Here’s the gorgeous mini quilt I received from Rebecca in Australia.

A close up of the swirls, which I love:

Here’s a mini magic tiles quilt with batiks that will be used as an angel quilt. Magic tiles is a pattern by Kathleen Bissett. To complete the pattern correctly you would start with 12 fabrics and end up with 12 blocks. I did this one as a test, to see if 9 fabrics would work too (it didn’t, but I still like it). My starting blocks were 6″ square.

Congratulations to Yvonne of Belgium for winning last week’s weekly themed quilt contest, Two-Coloured Quilts, with her very unique I and Y challenge quilt.

Thanks to Jojo’s Quilt and Gift Shoppe for their donation of a Metro Market fabric bundle. Thanks also to the 758 voters that cast their ballot over the weekend. It was an exciting contest.

This week’s theme is Snow, Ice, Cold… quilts that make us go Brrrrrrr! To enter, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo. Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

This week’s contest is sponsored by my good friend Geta Grama from Romania. Many of you will already be familiar with her as she’s had several of her free tutorials featured here. I am also the very lucky owner of one of her shadow trapunto quilts.

Last year, Geta published her first Shadow Trapunto e-book, which is fabulous by the way. Now, she’s released a new set of patterns, called Pockets with Love. The pockets are made using origami (the traditional Japanese art of paper folding ). She adapted the technique to fabrics and instead of a single piece of paper, you use two (or three) pieces of fabric. They are super cute and super easy to make. These are perfect for Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas as you could hide little treats in the pockets.

The winner of this week’s contest will receive one set of Geta’s Pockets with Love patterns, including the bonus Jolly Bag pattern. Check out the fabulous bags she’s made.

Here’s Geta’s latest free tutorial from her blog, a gorgeous portfolio. Perfect for any little girl. I do believe this would make a great present for my almost 4 year old niece’s birthday later this month. Of course, you can change the fabrics for the artistic little boy in your life too.

If you want to be a sponsor, contact me.

Blog It

You may use the code below to add the logo to your own blog. Thanks for helping to spread the word. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests.

Thanks to all that entered their quilts in the Weekly Themed Quilt Contest. This week’s theme is Two-Coloured Quilts.

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourite!! The lucky winner with the most votes will receive a fat quarter bundle of Metro Market donated by Jojo’s Quilt and Gift Shoppe.

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11 p.m.
• One vote per IP address (NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for your favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!

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P.S. Next week’s theme is Snow, Ice, Cold. Get your cameras out. Hoping to see lots of quilts that say Brrrrrrrr!!

Hi – I am Mary Anne Ciccotelli and I live in Pelham New York (20 miles north of New York City). I was born and raised in a small Idaho farming community. I became a "true" quilter in 2000. At that time when people would ask me how long I had been quilting I would get really nervous and not know exactly how to answer this question. Then I realized that I could not remember when I started quilting because I cannot remember when quilting had not been a part of my life. In fact, this past summer we celebrate my 50 1/2 Birthday by hanging a lot of my quilts and while preparing for this big event I discovered that I had made at least one quilt in each of the decades of my life.

I am privileged to have six generations of quilts in my home. I love sharing my quilting legacy story. Check here for a brochure. [PDF file]

Here is a little about the quilters in my quilting legacy:

1st Generation – My Grandma

The oldest quilt or piece of a quilt I have is this framed piece of a Double Wedding Ring quilt made by my great-grandmother for my mother as a wedding gift. My mother was storing her quilt on the top shelf of her closet. The closet had a ceiling light and the quilt got pushed up against the bulb and started to burn and turned into a swiss cheese double wedding quilt. When my niece was a teenager, she took what was left of this quilt and had pieces of it framed for each of my family members. I am kind of glad that this happened, because I am the youngest of three girls and I would have never been in line to inherit this quilt.

2nd Generation – My Grandma

Each granddaughter had a quilt in her trousseau made by my Grandma. This is the quilt that she made for me. What I really remember about my Grandma is the stale cookies that she always had in her cookie jar. I am so thankful that I have this quilt as a tangible memory of her and her workmanship.

Continue reading »

Learning how to embroider can be a great idea for quilt makers. Mastering some simple embroidery stitches can open up exciting new possibilities. Incorporating embroidery designs into quilts has become very popular and there are many wonderful quilt designs on the market that showcase both hand embroidery and quilting skills. Because I personally enjoy hand work, hand embroidery is often featured in many of my quilt designs. You can take a peek at some of them here.

Knowing where to start, however, can seem very daunting, especially if you have not picked up a needle and thread in a long time. But don’t worry, help is here. Learning how to embroider does not have to be difficult or frustrating. In fact learning can be easy when you watch over the shoulder of an expert. Over the next few weeks I hope to share some light on hand embroidery. Michele and I have some exciting ideas in the pipeline that you are sure to enjoy.

So let’s get started with learning some hand embroidery basics. And to make learning easy, I have a video to share with you. Here’s what you’ll discover:

• Which size of embroidery hoop is best
• How to separate embroidery thread/floss
• Which needle is best for hand embroidery
• How to attach an embroidery hoop
• How to work Back stitch
• How to finish off your threads at the back.

Discover the tips and secrets that will enable you to tackle your next embroidery project with ease.

Play the “how to embroider” video below to find out the basics to hand embroidery.

Did you find this video helpful?

For more videos and information about learning how to embroider click here.

Chat again soon.

Warmly Lenna
www.stitchingcow.com