A Fat Quarter Giveaway!!

Hello Everyone,Did you know that today is Friday the 13th?? Well it is YOUR lucky day!!  I am having a giveaway.  This one is unique… I am giving away 8 fat quarters of Shweshwe fabric from Coral Tree.  Never heard of it?? Well, CVQW carries them… they are 100% cotton and from Africa.  This color range are different prints in purples and pinks, but we also have indigo and black and white!!  Never tried them?? Here is your chance...My good friend, Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric is hosting my giveaway and I am super excited!!If you haven't ever been to her...

Channeling Wanda

Hello Everyone,Yesterday, my friend Wanda had posted this post on her blog.  She and I have very similar tastes in fabric.  We both love Kaffe, batiks, and African fabrics.  I have been following Wanda's blog since I started blogging in 2007.  She has some of the best color and design sense that I have ever seen.  Wanda continually amazes me.  Anyway, when I saw her blog post yesterday, I just had to play.Since I had been playing with my African fabrics about a month ago they were still sitting near my sewing machine and were at the ready for playing.Using...

Random Fun

Hello Everyone,In my studio this weekend, I was also inspired by color too!  Here are some of the photos I took to share with you.Just into the shop... lots of brand new African fabrics.  Some are already loaded into the online shop and I am working on getting the rest in as you are reading this.  You can find them here.New Kaffe Fassett ribbons... just delicious... they can be found here.  Speaking of Kaffe...I worked on my friend Justine's Kaffe quilt that she began working on eons ago and then had given to me eons ago... finally we both have...

What Are You Working On Today?

Hello Everyone,This past week I have been unable to stop my urge to create with African Fabrics!!  I dug in to my bin and just started cutting and cutting and cutting.Glorious bright and bold colors and designs.  Scrap HEAVEN!Then I started sewing and sewing and sewing... but I can't show you just yet, I am still sewing.So what have you had the urge to work on lately???P.S.  If you are in Rhode Island... please visit me!  I will be doing a workshop and lecture tomorrow at the Narragansett Bay Quilters in East Greenwich!  I would love to see you.Until Next...

Loving the Lemoyne Star in Two Ways

Hello Everyone,Yesterday, I played BIG time!! I just had the urge to make a TON of Lemoyne Star blocks.  I had started some a while ago and I sooooo needed to make some more.I love this technique in making them.  This is NOT paper pieced.  You can do it by paper piecing, but you don't have to if you don't want.This technique is all strip pieced! Yes, no cutting of diamonds.  I am doing them in two different fabrics... Kaffe Fassett fabrics and African fabrics... you will see them further down in the post.  The Kaffe fabrics that I am...

Fabulous Fabric Giveaway!

Hello Everyone,Have you ever seen these beautiful fabrics?  If not, you need to and you can find them in my shop!  There aren't that many shops you can find them in... what makes them so special? They are African fabrics, yes African!  Not what you expected, huh?They are from Coral Tree and are called Shweshwe.  They also come in navy blues and whites as well as black and whites!  They are all 100% cotton too... great for quilting.Now I have peaked your interest.You can win this lovely little bundle to give them a try.  All you need to to is to visit...

Serengeti Serenade Revisited

Hello Everyone,It has been a long time since I spoke of this quilt.  The last post I did was in November, you can click here to read it.  There is a bit of a backstory about the quilt.  Since November, I quilted, bound, and gifted it to my hubby for Christmas.  So it is time to show you the finished quilt.It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so I took it outside for a photo shoot.  But not until after I de-furred it from the cats laying all over it... black fabric and cat fur don't really mix well.A close...

Serengeti Serenade... The Story Behind The Quilt

Hello Everyone,Many of you have seen this little preview of the quilt that I made on my recent retreat.  So I thought I would give you a little background.  This is truly an African quilt from my heart.  Let's start from the beginning.  In January, 2005 my husband, my brother and three friends went to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.  It was a dream of his and a once in a lifetime opportunity.Here they are at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  My husband is on the far right in the black.  My brother is holding the American flag.  He fulfilled...

On The Fourth Day...

Hello Everyone,Here it is, I finished my African Quilt on fourth day!!And I love it!! Maria is getting close to finishing her Christmas Tree Skirt.Carol came with a top already complete.  I think that might qualify as cheating?Shirley, our massage therapist who is also a quilter, finished this quilt top!Sue gave a demo on creating snowflake ornaments. Justine is getting closer to finishing her forest!Sharon and Betsy are working on their Strip Tease Quilts.Poppy is making this fabulous sampler.Betsy's strip tease quilt... Although that is Joan helping make the arrangement.Kathy finished this fabulous snowman... as tall as her.Tons more photos here on...

Progress All Around

Hello Everyone,Back for Day 2 of our quilt retreat.  We were treated to having a quilt appraiser stop by for the day and several of the ladies took advantage of her services.  She also spoke to us for a little while and we really learned quite a bit.This quilt was definitely one of the ones I wanted to show you.  This quilt has won multiple ribbons, most recently at the Vermont Quilt Festival.  So the quilter really wanted it appraised.  Not sure what the value was, but I am sure it was fabulous!This little quilt was made by Robin.  It...

Cool Caribbean Color

Hello Everyone,I am not sure what it is, all the snow, the cold icy roads, the icicles hanging off of our roof, but I have been thinking warmth. Sometimes when I think warmth, my mind wanders to the beautiful waters found in the Caribbean. Right now a trip to the Caribbean is very appealing!!But since I know that is not happening, I decided when I was at Victoria's this past weekend to buy more silks (surprise, surprise), but in a Caribbean water palette. Maybe by making a quilt with these colors, it will take me there in my minds eye.So...

Africa

Hello Everyone,I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Last year, I mentioned that I have quite and extensive collection of African fabrics. You can read about it in this post, this post, and this post.I actually have much more than that, but I just never took photos of them. I am hoping to do that soon. But in the meantime, I wanted to tell you about these...these fabrics are authentic African fabrics, straight from West Africa. Bold and bright prints. Because, I love African fabrics so much, I wanted to be able to share these with you. That...

New African Stash

Hello Everyone,As promised, I have some more African stash. But this is brandie new to me courtesy of Evelyn. Evelyn saw my post about the African fabric that I picked up in Lancaster and she sent me an e-mail asking if I would like this wonderful little bundle of African Fabric goodness.Of course, I said yes!! She was really speedy too. I received it just 2 days later. Thank you, Evelyn!!Aren't they gorgeous? All different prints, different sizes, and wonderful color!They will be put to good use in the project that I am planning for my husband. You can see...

This is What Started it All

Hello Everyone,So the other day I did a post about the loot that I picked up at the AQS show and that really sparked some wonderful comments and e-mails. I decided it really deserved some more attention.As you are all now aware, I have a "secret" collection/stash of authentic African fabrics. I totally and utterly blame my husband for this. You see in 2005 he took a trip to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with my brother and some friends. He was gone for two weeks, and knowing my love for fabric, he purchased the fabrics in the picture below...

AQS Review and Loot

Hello Everyone,Sorry this has taken so long. I got back on Sunday and just uploaded the pictures last night. But as many of you may have read already, AQS will not allow anyone to post pictures of the quilts without express consent from them or the owner of the quilt. So luckily, I knew someone who owned two of the quilts. I got consent from her to post them. Some of you may already know my friend Karen Eckmeier, she is a national quilt teacher, designer, and author. Not to mention an accomplished quilter. She entered 2 quilts into the...