QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
Here is where my daughter and I find inspiration in our snow-filled New Hampshire world.  This is looking from the deck down the driveway after one of the many snow storms that we experience in winter.

This is one of Beth’s photos, but we both take them for memories, fabric art inspiration and for cards and note paper.  When you look at these photos, expecially in summer, you forget about the snowblowing and shoveling.
How would this inspire your quilting or fabric art?
*A white background with green splashed across it as trees or simply slashes of cloth. 
*Perhaps you put green fabric under …read more

 ”Life happens,” someone has said.  No matter how hard we try, there are “down” times.  These may not be full fledged bouts of depression, simply what we used to call “the blues,” when it was difficult to be enthusiastic, even about quilting.
I’ve frequently noticed that Anna at Widow’s Quest hosts a Carnival of Positive Thinking with links to numerous posts that may help you.
The way we turn our lives around is to inspire ourselves to look to the future – never forgetting the past but learning to cope with the pain. Enjoy these articles, Anna says.
There should be something here that …read more

Everyone, at some time, encounters losses and disappointments in life, in their hobbies, their business, their personal life and other endeavors.  Sometimes you even feel like giving up on a project or dream. 
However, generally we “get ourselves up, brush ourselves off, and start all over again!”  No matter what the struggle.
Celine, at Pimp Your Work, has 5 great tips for facing a loss or disappointment.  She focuses on working with a team.  However, individuals can take her suggestions, too,  and use them for dealing with others or simply yourself.
One comment of Celine’s that I particularly like is, “With each loss is a lesson.”   How …read more

“Fabrics are a great source of inspiration,” mentions Lyn Briggs at her blog, Moore Patchwork & Quilting.  (Scroll down to the section labeled “Inspiration.”)
This got me thinking of the ways quilters and fabric artists enjoy fabrics and create lovely works of art from them.  Quilters can’t resist buying fabrics.  They collect colorful stashes, and find many ways to use them.
*Fabrics brighten our lives…like a ray of sunshine peeping through clouds.
*They bring back memories…like the feed sack fabrics reminiscent of those my grandmother used in quilts she made for her grandchildren.
*We share them and exchange them with quilting friends.
*Creating wearable art is …read more

For years, I’ve told the students in my writing classes or audience at book signings,“I have to write just as I have to breathe”.  Then I discovered author Isaac Asimov had the same sentiment.  So I wonder if most writers feel the same way.
My thoughts turned to quilters.  Do they “have to quilt like they have to breathe?” 
Quilting is something that gets into your life and becomes a way of life.  You become involved in your projects, learn about new types of fabric art, attend shows, enter your work into contests and become consumed by this life giving activity.  Quilting becomes like …read more

I recently registered for the free e-mail newsletter at How to Quilt and received 10 free Halloween Patterns.  Often you’ll receive bonuses when you register for newsletters.  These is the current gift at the How to Quilt web site.
I enjoy receiving newsletters from online quilt and fabric shops, as well as from quilters and quilting bloggers.  They always have something new I can learn and to inspire me.
To check out the How to Quilt newsletter and site, visit: http://www.how-to-quilt.com .
There’s also a How to Quilt blog at http://howtoquilt.blogspot.com .

As I travel around the Internet, I discover many interesting quilting sites.  The most recent one is the World Wide Quilting Page at www.quilt.com.  It’s described as “serving the World’s Quilters since May 4, 1994.
Within its pages, you’ll find many things of interest for the quilter including:
*How to’s
*Glossary of terms
*Quilt Blocks with free patterns
*Mystery Quilts
*Beginning Guide to Quilting
Browse around and you’ll find a treasure trove of quilting information.

Quilters find ideas for their quilts and fiber art from many sources…books, quilting groups, art, and the world around them, to name a few.  My daughter does quite a bit with scenery and texture in her fiber art, so has begun taking photos wherever she goes.  Her digital camera is usually with her.
I visited her blog last night (http://meanderingthreads.blogspot.com ) and was enthralled with some recent photos, “Fields and a Shed,” she’d taken of an old barn and our vivid New Hampshire autumn scenery.  I was away on a business trip when she snapped them so hadn’t seen these photos before.
They might not be the type of photos you …read more