GOOD COOKIN' 19: MANGO SALSA

A couple of great recipes for mango salsa, a party plan for a quilting girls night out including the free pattern! Go HERE for all the goodies ...

TOO MUCH FUN

An annual event when we lived in Oregon was the trip to the county fair in early August ... such fun with our little quilting group checking out all the quilting entries, seeing ribbons won by friends, and, of course, snacking on a corn dog and sharing a funnel cake with a good friend.

 

The state fair trrip tradition always happened the last weekend in August ... Pam and I shopped our way through the commercial buildings while Norm and Mike checked out the barns ... all the farm entries for the year. Lunch once again ... you just can't beat state fair food ... scones with strawberry jam, brauts and sausage, curly fries, and the smooth creamy goodness of fresh homemade ice cream from the Oregon Dairy Association booth. (sigh)

 

But now we live in Massachusetts and there is no state fair. But there is THE BIG E ... a six state exposition started in 1917 originally known as Eastern States Exposition. There were differences but it was still a fair.

• Oregon has the county exhibits building ... the Big E has The Avenue of the States. (each state has a building with exhibits highlighting that which make each "special."
• Oregon has the Little Red School House ... the big E has Storrowton, a whole colonial village.

The commercial buildings were pretty much the same as what we had in Oregon; only one building called "farm-arama" rather than several different barns housing each kind of farm animal; and a midway, a 4-H building, and of course, lots of food vendors.   (I also skipped the chocolate covered bacon!)

 

It's hard to eat a funnel cake all by myself. I missed my friends during our annual trip to the fair this year.

A GOOD THING

0928: a good thing ... a fresh brewed cup of coffee with son barista

PATINA POCKET PLAY

Isn't this just the juiciest yummy paint play! I'm working with prompts and tutorials from Gypsy Diaries with Tangie Baxter.

 

My journal is a composition notebook - the price is just right for me to experiment and play with techniques, and the size is perfect for carrying here and there.

 

I glued about 3 pages together and then started folding with a surprise pocket happening that turns out to be just right for tags and journal cards. Yippee! An extra bonus always makes me smile.

 

I started with gesso and collaging bits of book pages to give the pocket the strength it needed to hold up under much "ins-and-outs" with tags and cards. Then I sparyed with Adirondack Color wash and added the Liquitex gold while the ink was still wet.

 

I keep looking at this beautiful color and thinking about fabric and a quilted wall-hanging. The Color Wash inks are a textile dye ... so, it's time to let your imagination run!

 

For a little more inspiration from the man himself, Tim Holtz ...

 

 

... so easy, so fun, so elegant ...

LOVE/HATE

0927: love/hate ... I love the way I feel after my morning walks but I sure HATE getting up that early to get them started.

BORDER THOUGHTS

0925: frame ... like ... borders on a quilt. Border decisions are always some of the hardest to make. Borders can serve a lot of different functions: read more HERE

JOURNAL PEEKS: 0927

... ink, stencils, and gesso ...

 

 

BEFORE BEDTIME

0923: before bedtime ... cool clear crisp nights with frost warnings ... time to start piling more quilts on the bed.

GOOD COOKIN; 18: APPLE SPICE BREAD

Apple Squeeze Weekend ... and annual affair in Lenox celebrating community with music, craft booths, hay rides, face painting, and all that is APPLES ...

• apple pie
• apple butter
• apple cider
• carmel apples
• cider donuts
• and the much anticipated bags of Honey Crisp Apples - a treat beyond all imagination that says "It's Fall" like no other

RECIPE NUMBER ONE: I'm always on the search for gluten free recipes - somthing that tastes good, works for a quick on-the-go breakfast, and satisfies Mike's tastes for sweet. Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring came to my rescue this last week with a wonderful recipe for CHUNKY APPLE MUFFINS. The verdict: yup, he likes them. This is a recipe that will become a definite Fall staple in the book of recpes.

Just click on the image to be linked to her site for the recipe.

RECIPE NUMBER TWO: This next recipe has been a favorite for several years ... unfortunately, not gluten free but it is bread machine friendly. When we lived in Oregon I taught a "Dinner Quilt" class on Friday nights. The gals would pack their car up with everything they needed for class that night before they went to work Friday morning and come straight to the quilt shop right after work for some wonderful "girl time" while quilting and being treated to a wonderful dinner. I fixed dinner, designed the pattern, and taught the class. It was time for them to be treated and pampered like the wonderful strong creative women we all are.
A Fall favorite in the dinner class line-up was PUMPKIN SOUP & APPLE SPPICE BREAD. Today we have the recipe for the Apple Spice Bread which can be made in a bread machine, and you can find the pattern for the quilt HERE. It is available as a regular pattern to be shipped (wholesale inquiries welcome) and is also available as an electronic download pattern ... an e-pattern. MQS 123E PUMPKIN SOUP

APPLE SPICE BREAD

(For a 2-pound loaf)

1 ½ cups water 3 tablespoons butter 4 cups flour ½ cup cut-up dried apple 3 tablespoons dry milk 3 tablespoons sugar 1 ½ tablespoons salt 3 teaspoons apple pie spice 1 ½ teaspoons bread machine yeast

Add ingredients as directed for your bread machine. Use the Basic/White cycle with a medium crust setting. Remove baked bread from the pan and cool on wire rack when finished.

UP UP LOOK UP

0921: up ... fun times in the bouncey house at the community celebration A TASTE OF LEE. More fun today in Lenox with APPLE SQUEEZE WEEKEND :)

PINSPIRATION 01

0921: sometimes ... I spend way way too much time at Pinterest. I try to limit the time I spend by only looking at or visiting the boards over my morning coffee. I have found the boards a fun way to connect with my daughter and my friends with who I share a common interest. If I can't think of what to fix for dinner I know one quick visit to DeeDee's boards and problem will be solved. She finds and pins the best interesting recipes.

Most of the time I am inspired by all the beautiful work shared by everyone and I wanted to share some of the cool blue and white quilts I've found recently ...

... like this scrappy blue and white winding ways from Rose Prairie Quilts ...

source

... love the way these blue and white traditional quilts are grouped & displayed ...

source

... another favorite of mine from my dear friends at

HOLLY HILL QUILT SHOPPE in West Linn OR ...

source

... on my bucket list of quilts to make ...

... a New York Beauty and this 1950's NY Beauty ...

... from Willy Wonky Quilts is surely shared to inspire ...

source

... and from Jenny's Doodling Needle ...

... I love the way the greens are worked in with all the blues ...

source

Is there a blue and white quilt in your future?

Some patterns to help you along the way ...

MQS 104 BOREALIS	MQS 116 SPRING FLOWER	MQS 118 PEEK-A-BOO

THE BEST KEPT SECRET ...

0919: underneath ... the longarm. As far as I'm concerned the possibilities for storage in the studio under the longarm machine are highly under-rated. I find this space is one of the best spaces where I can really pack away a lot of stuff. I don't know about you, but if I don't see it, I tend to forget about it. So, if I keep these tubs right in plain sight I've increased the chances of my opening them and dealing with the contents.
The original intention - the way the machine was designed - was to use this space for a continuous feed of batting which really doesn't suit my needs the way I find most of my work needing to be done.

Most people either bring in their own batting with the quilt top and backing or they buy from the stock I carry. I find myself cutting each length of batting as needed from the nifty batting pole storage system my carpenter set up for me. The rolls of batting are set up on a pipe system that allows me to either simply slide the roll off the inner pipe or I can swing the pipe around and pull batting off the roll for measuring and cutting right on the table.

Another nifty idea Jamie came up with is the addition of baby gates to the ends of my machine. Miso, my Sheba Inu sweetie dog was just an insatiable chewer when she was a puppy. I was in a constant state of fear she was going to chew through the cables hanging from the back of the machine. Not to worry now. The machine is rolled close enough to the studio wall so the baby gates when extended serve as a great fence for keeping Miso out of places where she should go. Also works great for grandkids. :)

Just a few tricks of the trade that make life a little bit easier in the studio.

And, you're right, sad to say, the tubs underneath the longarm are UFO's

... sigh ... someday ...

JUST THE RIGHT PRICE

0918: price ... and it was just right. I don't know what I will be doing with this amazing vintage typewriter. Did you ever take TYPING in high school? The thing I remember the most is the sound ... the rhythm of the tapping of the keys and the ding signaling "return carriage." To this day, I can still see my mom sitting at the kitchen table with her typewriter recording and transfering family recipes to her stack of index cards. I attributed my success in typing class to hours and hours of playing the piano and the internalization of the rhythm and sound of what typing should be. Hmmm ... that sucess hasn't transferred very well to texting ...
 

I don't know if my "new" typewriter works. So far all I've used it for is as a photo prop but I did a google search and found an amazing list of sources for replacement ribbons as well as youtube videos demonstrating how to replace the ribbons. Good to know since I'm sure over the many years, I've forgotten that little detail.
 

Another price that is just right ... the discount coupon code for the ENTIRE store here at Mountaintop Quilting.

the code: daisydaysbright_05

good until: midnight September 30th

works on: EVERYTHING

Want to leave a comment? Let everyone else know so they can be sure to add it to their library, too.

What's your favorite pattern here at Mountaintop Quilting?

ORGANIZED: TO BE OR NOT TO BE

0917: in my fridge ... A place for everything; everything in it's place. (bfranklin) Words to live by. One can dream and aspire to acheive but occassionally there is the proverbial REALITY CHECK ie: don't look too closely at those shelves in my fridge. LOL

Staying organized on a consistent basis just don't fit in with my predominately right-brained functioning self. And so I'm inclined to embrace my inner self with abandon and celebrate small daily triumphs in the daily battle to maintain ...

• a cleared desk at the end of the day
• an up-to-date calendar and task list (with things actually checked complete - oh were we supposed to do that, too!)
• fabric sorted (by color, by project, by __________ - you fill in the blank
• notes on scraps and odd bits of paper duely recorded and round-filed
• books ordered by author ... or were they supposed to be ordered by technique ??? now I'm confused
• thread sorted by color, by tex number/weight ... but some are varigated ... HELP!!!!

I like to think each one of us has our own personal organizational style. My style may not make any sense at all to anyone else, but usually, I can find IT, I know where IT is ... just give me a minute. If I've touched IT or seen IT in the last few weeks I can put my hands on IT without too much trouble. However, let me just clarify ... packing up and moving your studio can tend to disrupt things a bit and it may take me a bit to get things back into some semblance of Kay's Ordered Chaos.

I do like gathering unusal containers for organizing things in my studio ... vintage boxes, jars, crates, buckets, and bins are a favorite; I can never have too many tubs and snap bins, and rollie carts and drawer stacks really help when keeping like-items together but sorted. I love including family heirlooms ... Mike's grandmother's sewing kit along with her now-vintage button collection. Books, notebooks, and file folders help me keep projects corralled and prioritized.

But, a thought ... back to the initial photo-a-day prompt ... in my fridge: as I got ready to take that photo I thought to myself, "The design of refridgerators is all wrong. They should be wider and more shallow. Who knows what is hidden way back at the back of that shelf, and even worse yet, how long has it been there!" Personally, I think the shelves should fit the length of my medium size baking dish. That would be just right.

Don't even get me started on the art supply chaos!

GOOD COOKIN' 17: BEAN CAKES

A favorite for Eryn and me ... a recipe we continue to tweak, switch up, and and enjoy every time we make a batch. The bean mash is versitle ... serve it up

• in salad
• in a wrap ... kale, greens, tortillas ...
• in cake ... bake or fry
• in soup ... add broth or add to a basic soup to make it more hearty

THE RECIPE:

Go HERE for more Good Cookin' recipes.

INSPIRATION BOARD 01

0916: strange ... you just never know when something is going to catch your eye. Sharpen your discerning and visual perception; be open to looking at things with new and different eyes; and practice, practice, practice. Oh, AND always have your camera at the ready to capture that thought. You may not be able to sort, categorize, or make sense of at the time but ideas will begin to flow later as you sit with a cuppa and review your day.

I found this cool collection in the metal scrap bin at the back of my friend's auto shop ... saw it after we finished our walk of the morning. What caught my eye ...

• the repetitive shapes
• the juxtaposition of the linear and curved lines
• the balance and mystery of light and dark
• cool textures to work in with free motion quilting
• a color palette that rarely shows up in my quilts ... more likely to see it in my art

... definitely pin this one to the inspiration board ...

FIRST THING I SEE ...

0915: first thing I see ... when I wake up in the morning is Miso snuggled in with her rabbit - the only toy that never leaves the bed. She snuggles in with that rabbit and nibbles just like little kids snuggle in with their favorite blankie. It calms her down and keeps her from chewing on the quilts, the pillows, or my sleeve.

But I also wanted to chat a little today about "the first thing I see ... and quilting." (It's a funny thing following the daily prompts from the Photo a Day list and making a connection to quilting. I love the mental challenge.)

The patchwork or the quilting ... like most beginning piecers when we first start out we see the fabrics and the blocks and possible secondary designs that help our eyes move across the top of the quilt. But it didn't take long after getting my longarm for my eyes to go immediately to the quilting design. Now my eyes will go back and forth noticing the interplay between the patchwork and the quilting.

My patchwork points ... do you find yourself being overly critical of your technical piecing skills? I have the worst time not shredding the fabric from using the seam ripper at times in my attempts to have PERFECT points, PERFECTly matched seam intersections, PERFECTly square blocks. It is important to do your best but it is also important to enjoy the process AND to have a finished project. LOL

Value differences with fabrics ... my eyes have gotten much better a discerning value differences - the lights, the mediums, and the darks, and all the subtle value differences across the scale. I love seeing a wide range of values used on a quilt top accentuating the patchwork pattern to it's fullest. It's kind of like finger painting when we were kids. At first we stayed within in the lines and used specific colors. Then we started mixing and found out how to make mud. After more practice and experimenting we learned how to use color and value as a tool to communicate with the viewer, to assign emotions to a piece or to help direct the viewers eyes engaging them on a deeper level while enjoying our quilting work.

Thanks for stopping by; leave a comment or thought about the first thing you see when you look at a quilt at a quilt show or when you look at your own quilting work.

FALL FAVS & MUST-HAVES

0914: favorite ... fresh flowers, life favs, and some favorites from the studio ... we all have our favorites: coffee cup, flowers, dessert, people and puppies but then there are also those "work" favorites, those go-to patterns and collections that keep our studio running smoothly. I wanted to highlight some of the gotta-have patterns for me that you may have overlooked. Now when there is such a great sale going on in the studio might be a good time to think about checking these and adding them to your pattern library.

 

My all-time favorite collection: 1008 SUN COMPASS+ A complete collection packed with all the patterns you need for completing a wholecloth quilt including two large medallion-sized blocks which make designing and stitching quick and easy. (Thankyou Dani Fisk for sending me the photo I used in the collage.)

 

Let's face it, edge-to-edge quilting is the bread and butter of our longarm business and if you're like me you can on occassion find yourself using the same patterns over and over. Let's spice it up a little by looking as some different files you might like to offer your customers (or piecers reading this blog might like to request of their longarm quilter.)

 

1465 FEATHER SURPRISE E2E 1485 RIBBONS AND LEAVES E2E 1147 PUPPY LOVE E2E

1435 IQ FEATHER SURPRISE E2E 1485 IQ RIBBONS & LEAVES 1147 IQ PUPPY LOVE E2E

1435 CQ FEATHER SURPRISE E2E 1485 CQ RIBBONS & LEAVES 1147 CQ PUPPY LOVE E2E

 

REMEMBER: the discount code for the sale this month ... daisydaysbright_05 ... and the lower prices will show up when you check out after entering the code.

Thanks for stopping by ... leave a comment or two about your pattern favorites.

PURPLE PIXIE POUCHES & FAIRY DUST

0912: together ...

Purple fairy dresses, purple pixie dust pouches, and now a purple fairy quilt. Those are the number one things in Luci's world other than snuggles and cuddles with Mama.

 

The purple fair quilt is almost ready for going on the machine. As soon as the backing is pieced the loading will begin. The quilt top is made using a fairy print panel by Michael Miller using illustrations from the book by Cicely Mary Barker called The Complete Book of The Flower Fairies. A new quilt and a new book ... what a perfect combination for a little girl, and a perfect combination of fun fabrics for the grandma to play with piecing a special quilt.

FIRST: I fussy cut the illustrations of the flower fairies from the panel a quarter of an inch larger than the dark blue trim line that surrounds each of the pictures. I then measured a sampling of the blocks to determine the size of the alternate blocks.

 

SECOND: I subtacted 1.5" from the finished size of the fairy panel blocks for the periwinkle fairy frost sashing I used to surround the fairy print fabric blocks.

 

THIRD: I pieced the sashing strip set and crosscut the strips to add to the alternating fairy print blocks.

 

FOURTH: assemble the bocks into rows.

 

FIFTH: add borders; piece the backing and binding; and it's time for quilting!

1550 FAIRY FLUTTERINGS seems like it might be the best choice for a quilting pattern. The quilting won't show up much on the front of the quilt, but the backing fabric is a tone on tone so Luci will have fun tracing over the fairy quilting pattern with her finger on the backside of the quilt.

You can find the files for 1550 FAIRY FLUTTERINGS by clicking on the links for your machine or file type needed.

• STATLER: QLI: 1550 FAIRY FLUTTERINGS E2E ... click HERE.
• INTELLIQUILTER: IQP: 1550 FAIRY FLUTTERINGS E2E ... click HERE.
• COMPUQUILTER: CQP: 1550 FAIRY FLUTTERINGS E2E ... click HERE.

Now would be a good time to add this file to your pattern library taking advantage of the 35% discounted price by using the coupon code: daisydaysbright_05.

HEROES & SHEROES

0911: hero ... and a quote from Mary McCarthy worth pondering today: We are the hero of our own story.

Rapunzel and her Knight, Sir Colin. Rapunzel does a very good job taking care of herself most of the time, but it's always good when someone has your back. It's good to be rescued by a white knight in shining armour, but it's also good to have those times when you rescue yourself.

The movie Tangled was a popular one at our house this summer with daily viewing included in the schedule. What a classic model for all of us to follow in becoming the he/she-roes we were meant to be.

 

Think about these characteristics of classic he/she-roes and how they interact "out in the world" as they slay dragons and demons, as they chase down the bad guys, as they vanquish the evil in the world. And then I would ask you to think about these characteristics on a more personal internal note.

1. Be courageous.
2. Be bold.
3. Believe in yourself.
4. Be loyal.
5. Be honest.
6. Be positive - refresh, reframe, renew.
7. Recognizing when to sacrifice and give help to those who need and when to ask for and being willing to receive the help being offered. Another words, being and having a buddy when the going gets rough.

I don't know about you, but I can get pretty good as ignoring my own dragons and demons because I'm so busy slaying dragons and demons for those I love. NOT GOOD!!!

And so ... I developed a plan. Recognizing this fact (my tendancy toward total disregard of all the things I do or should be doing to take care of me)

• before the beginning of summer,
• before the wonderful exhilerating (and sometimes exhausting) visitations of numerous house guests began,
• before the schedule of rehearsals and concerts took over our calendar

I made a promise to myself that I would keep up with my regular walking schedule with my buddy Jan. Having a buddy to help keep me on track was a key ingredient in being successful with this goal

 

I developed a "company menu plan" that was easy to fix and required little or no thinking on my part in terms of shopping, preparation, and serving making sure to include plenty of fresh, healthy, snack choices.

 

I enlisted the help of a neighbor-friend with household chores when guest turn-over times became tight.

 

I enrolled in a watercolor painting class at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens to give me time to breathe and renew.

 

I cleared my work schedule keeping commitments to a minimum.

 

AND, I made a promise to myself to re-instate the more involved self-care practices in September after the dust settled behind the car as the last guest left for the season.

 

Being the hero in my own story through the summer season meant that I was courageous in develooping a plan of success; I was honest with myself in keeping expectations real and seeking help when needed; I was loyal to myself in paring down but holding tight to my non-negotiable practices; and I believed in myself and was bold in putting my plan into action.

 

For more about becoming the hero of your own story take a minute to read this excellent blog post by Stephanie Wetzel written for Live Bold & Bloom.

SCRAPPY: PLANNED OR RANDOM

0910: black and white ... and a little bit of red ...

Structured piano lessons are starting for Colin andLuci this month; no more free exploring (random pounding - oh, did KK say that LOL) No more free explorationsounds a little harsh, doesn't it. We all need time to be adventerous stepping out on our own and exploring. Maybe the concept should be rephrased to directed, more purposeful and thoughtful exploring ??? This I know for sure: Everyone needs time to play.

 

That's what you will notice with several of the quilts in these pictures. Taking time to play with scrappiness. I like to choose a theme or color palette to work with when I do scrappy quilts. You would probably call mine more planned scrappy than true scrappy.

 

On occassion, I have pieced some quilts where I used the common trick of dropping all the patches in a paper back and pulling the next patch to be added to the block at random. I don't know about you, but I find it more difficult to go totally random with my scrappiness. Does that me I have control issues? LOL

 

I love the drama of black and white with a splash of red and have the quilts and fabric in my stash to satisfy that visual hunger. One of the most favorite quilts in booth displays at market was pieced with black and white with a splash of red ... especially appealing to the guys.

 

Some notes about the patterns featured here in the collage:

* a hand pieced red and white quilt top I found at a tag sale. I have always loved this pattern. It's a tricky one to keep all those bias edges square and straight. I will have to do some squaring and easing of fullness with this one before I can begin to think about how I would like to quilt it. I also need to decide if I want to try to find a coordinating fabric to finish out the borders or not. In the meantime, it's lovely to look at on the quilt rack just like it is.

* the quilt on the left is a pattern I developed for our anual December mystery quilt party using the stack and slash technique. The blocks and quilt were sized just to the right dimensions so the extra blocks could be used in the outer border.

 

* the quilt on the right is one made from a popular pattern/techniqe that we've seen lots of places in shops, classes and workshops, and across the internet ... STRIPS AND CURVES by Louisa Smith. I gathered my fabrics to fit my black and white color theme, added in the fussy-cut piano keyboard fabric here and there, and used a range of reds to round out the strip strata ... what a great way to play with color and practice piecing those curved edges.

And finally, the pattern for the quilt that was so popular in booth displays at market and quilt shows around the country ... MQS 126 QUEEN ANNES' LACE. This pattern was original included in the collection of designs in my book that is now out of print called Blocks That connect.

The book was written to be used as a manual for my beginning patchwork piecing classes and is chock-full of all kinds of tips and tricks to help you be a more successful quilter while having fun developing your skills and honing your craft.

 

I am in the process of re-releasing the patterns individually as e-patterns readily available for immediate download.

 

Queen Anne's Lace is designed to give a beginners quilt a more advanced look with the pieced border (which included secret fudge-factor tips making everything fit together perfectly.

 

Another feature is the optical illusion of the center appearing to be set on-point. But the best part: the patches used in the border are actually left-over scraps from piecing the blocks used in the center of the quilt.

 

Thanks for stopping by... be brave and play scrappy today - well, at least, take time to play!

GOOD COOKIN' 16: MAPLE MUSTARD CHICKEN

0909: something I do most weekends ... cook for the week ahead ...

I've been trying to incorporate more chicken into our diet as well as keeping the flavor fresh and savory. The recipe needs to be easy ... easy to remember, easy to fix, easy on the eyes (must look tasty!) and best of all, it needs to tast yummy enough for everyone to beg me to fix it again and again.

A new recipe I tried a few weeks ago ... with just 3 main ingredients this one fills the bill in all the EASY CATEGORIES I listed above and yes, it was a summertime favorite this season. it is super simple and easy to remember ...

FIRST YOU NEED:
•chicken (I used a package of drumsticks and a package of thights)
•1/2 c dijon mustard
•1/4 c maple syrup
•1 T rice vinegar
•sprigs of fresh rosemary - snipped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and then ...

1. place the chicken in a baking dish after misting lightly with olive oil

2. stir together mustard, maple syrup, and vinegar

3. pour mixture over chicken

4. bake at 450 for 40 minutes; baste chicken pieces about half way through the baking time.

5. place chicken on a serving platter and garnish with the snipped fresh rosemary

Now how easy can that be. Easy-peasie cooking means more time for quilting (or playing with grandkids)

I served my saucy chicken on a pretty platter with brown rice and fresh steamed broccoli, and another time I fixed roasted baby red potatoes in the oven at the same time as the chicken was roasting.

EDGE-TO-EDGE OR CUSTOM

0908: at night ... nothing better than snuggles with puppies and quilts

The top is pieced and now it's time for making decisions as to how to quilt this project. Many longarm quilters will have several questions that might help in the decision-making process but, bottom line ... everything can be boiled down to two basic questions:
•who is the quilt for
•how will it be used

When thinking about who will be using the quilt personal taste and design style general influence pattern choice, but the biggest contributing factor in choosing a quilting pattern is the second ... how will it be used.

You can see how I've used quilts in one of my guest rooms which is decrated around a forest theme. I have quilts on the bed, on the walls and hanging on the quilt ladder. I also have a quilt hanging over the back of the futon that is exposed to light from the window. This poses another risk to shortening the expected life of a quilt and so I'm careful to keep the blinds closed on that particular window limiting potential light damage to my Diamonds on the Double quilt.

If we take time to look at ourselves honestly in the mirror (or at the quilt projects we've finished) we are

1. very proud of our work
2. recognize finishing usually took quite a long time
3. aware of (but usually keeping the final figure quiet LOL) how much money has gone into the quilt to date

... but let's face it ... the cold honest hard truth is that most of us will probably only finish less than five heirloom quality quilts in our lifetime. We make quilts that are to be used, loved, washed several times in the washer, drug around behind toddlers and puppies, used to make the roof/walls of a fort, snuggled under during movie night with buttery popcorn or for picnics in the park on a sunny summer afternoon. Probably about the only stipulation or requirement we may have when giving a quilt to someone is that we don't want to see it later on the garage floor serving as padding for the "guy of the house" while he's changing the oil in his rig! :)

Quilts that take the kind of wear and tear I've listed above need to be filled with sturdy stitching that is continuous across the quilt top. Freequent stops and starts or thread knots are more likely to work themselves loose over time and become a potential weak spot in the overall quilting design. And that is why you will find most of us steering your decision-making process in the direction of choosing an overall or edge-to-edge design. These are the designs that provide more wearability to a quilt and thus allowing for a more extended or longer expected lifetime of the quilt.

These are three favorite edge-to-edge designs that provide texture avoiding the distraction of a repeating motif that can compete with the patchwork design and each design provides a nice alternative from the old tired much used "just stipple it" while keeping a traditional feel as the eye travels over the quilt.

     

The first picture on the left: 1283 CHERRIOS E2E: provides a more open quilt design which works well as you can see when used with a flannel quilt.

The second picture in the center: 1312 BAPTIST FAN E2E: this pattern gives the feel of baptist fan quilting without all the hours and hours of ruler work and time-consuming setup ... an affordable traditional fan look.

The third pattern on the right: 1557 BASKETWEAVE E2E: a brand new pattern following the lines of the traditionally hand-quilted design. You'll want to think it through as you set up after each roll keeping the stitching lines lined up but you'll find the end result is well worth the little bit of extra time.

Check through your pattern library. You'll not want to miss out adding these fresh alternatives for textural edge-to-edge quilting to you design library especially when there is such an amazing discount on the price this month. Remember to enter the coupon code: daisydaysbright_05 before you check out.