With St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, coming up, we begin to see information about quilts and fabric art relating to things Irish.
At Penny Halgren’s How to Quilt web site, we discover directions for an Irish Chain Quilt.  Penny says this is a perfect project for a beginner, at least with her instructions.  She also gives you ideas for using colors other than the traditional greens.
(Amazon image)

Happy Valentine’s Day!
 
May this be a special day for you. 
We have been enjoying Valentine’s Day flowers, cards and candy.  This was a fun day at school yesterday with the Valentine parties.  Today the children in our household are enjoying it, too.
Have you been busy making any quilting and patchwork decorations for Valentine’s Day celebrations?

If you’re thinking of a Valentine’s Day Tea, do you have everything planned, even the floral decorations?  Take a look at my Tea Time Notes blog for some ideas on party planning.
Flowers for Valentine Teas
What Are You Planning for Valentine’s Day?
Perhaps your quilting group is getting together and will exchange quilting/fabric art ideas.  Have you made some quilted Valentine’s Day decorations (hearts and flowers) to share?
My daughter and her fiber art friends planned their gathering last week and organized their latest Round Robin venture.  Each year they partipate in something different.  (I’ll tell you more about this in another post.)

 I was substitute teaching the other day and involved in a Valentine’s Day writing activity about a valentine’s journey.  I’ve mentioned a variation of this idea, for a writing prompt called A Valentine’s Journey,  at my One Book Two Book blog.
Why not create a fabric postcard or piece of fabric art that depicts a valentiine’s journey from you to a recipient?  It could incorporate many aspects of the day or the actual trip made by the card as it travels by land and/or by air.
What kind of valentine fabric art projects do you create? 
(Century Novelty image at Amazon)

Valentine’s Day was a fun family day when I was a youngster because Mother made it so.  Do you celebrate with your family in a special way?  Do you make special goodies, as well as quilted gifts?
Mother had been a school teacher and held parties for her students.  Even though she was no longer taught after we four children were born (school districts were very reluctant to hire married teachers, particularly ones with children, in those days), she introduced us to many of the activities she’d enjoyed with her students.  She also cooked special foods for Valentine’s Day, midst her busy day of mom and …read more

Happy New Year!
 
May 2009 be a wonderful year for you. 
It’s cold (3 degrees F.) and windy here in New Hampshire where I live. 
But we’re looking forward to a grand 2009.
Have you set any quilting goals for the coming year?

Becoming involved in new projects
Workshops you’d like to attend
Workshops you’d like to teach
Trying an online workshop for the first time
Venturing into a new type of fabric art
Traveling to visit a quilting museum or quilt show
Starting a quilting blog (if you don’t have one)
Set up a store at Etsy for selling your work

Do you have anything in mind that I haven’t mentioned?
(PartyCheap.com image)

Quilting with Kids
What activities are you involved in with the youngsters of your life during the holiday vacation from school?  Yes, if you live in snow country, you may be skiing, snowboarding, sledding or ice skating.
However, when you come indoors, or live in snow free climes, you might sit and quilt, as I did with my grandmother, or my daughter and granddaughter do.  My daughter often sat beside me as I sewed quilts for customers and would practice stitching her pieces together.  (Now she’s become an expert fabric artist and designer.)
What projects might you undertake?

Potholders
Patchwork toys
Yo-yo designs
Mixed media or fabric …read more

 Handmade Gifts
  My daughter just read an article reporting that more people are purchasing craft supplies and making gifts or buying them this year for Christmas.  The Etsy online site has been doing a phenomenol business in some areas.  This reminds me of days ago.
For I grew up in the era of handmade or homemade gifts.  Sometimes this was because we and our relatives didn’t have the money to purchase many from the store or mail order catalog.  Often it simply was because we liked to make something special and the recipients enjoyed these gifts.
 In later years, when I had a family, we made …read more

My daughter continues to experiment with the felted balls I mentioned in a previous post.  She made some of various materials today, also of different sizes, even some that resemble tiny beads.  It’s fascinating…all the possibilities with this technique.
You may want to check them out at:
Felting
Felt Beads, Caramel Corn and a Christmas Tree
(Incidentally, we have a larger than usual Christmas tree this year, but it fits well in our living room with cathedral ceiling and looks lovely.)

Felting has become a very popular procedure in the fabric art world.  The latest items my daughter has tried are Christmas ornaments, round balls made from wool roving.
Check these interesting items out at Beth’s Meandering Threads blog.  There she gives links to tutorials on other blogs.  Right now, the balls she shows on her blog are unadorned, but in lovely colors.  However, you can add all kinds of embellishments on them.
If you’ve tried this technique, let us know what you’ve made.