QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
 We quilt for many reasons and each quilter/fabric artist has something that propels this activity.  I’ll mention 10 reasons here.  Let me know if yours is included.  Do you have something else that keeps you stitching?

Relaxation
Make gifts
Create something unique
Enter contests/challenges
Leave a legacy
Tell family stories
Earn an income
Gain recognition
Inspire others
Justify buying fabric        

Share your reason here.  It may be one of the above you’d like to expand upon.  Or it may be something completely different.  Perhaps you have more than one.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
I’ve heard of several quilters recently who have been recycling men’s shirts into quilts. 
*These might be shirts from a family member and thus evoke memories.
*They could be shirts you’ve acquired at a second hand store and thought would make a colorful quilt.
*You might have some colorful shirts with Hawaiian prints that would be very striking in a quilt.
*They may be shirts you were going to get rid of and then had an “Ah! Ha!” moment when you decided they’d make good fabric for a quilt.
Lauren Smith and Derek Fagerstrom at Design*Sponge created an interesting quilt from some of Derek’s shirts and …read more

 QuiltingAndPatchwork.com
Valentine’s Day already! 
Yes, and if you make patchwork and quilting to sell, you must be thinking about this occasion now.  Actually you must do more than think….you must have the products and promotions in place. 
If you make gifts for Valentine’s Day, this is the time to get started if you haven’t already.
If you wait till the week before the event to start letting people know you’re ready for them to do their Valentine’s Day shopping with you, many sales will pass you by.  Or you won’t have those special gifts ready for people you have in mind.
What have you been doing for …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com 
As I opened the blinds this morning to let in the welcome sunshine (we’ve had numerous cloudy, snowy days here in New Hampshire), I had to step over some gauze spread out on a plastic bag in front of the large windows.  It was very attractive with streaks of green, blue and aqua.
“Ah, Beth has been painting fabric again,” I realized. 
My daughter had the day off yesterday and worked at some of her fabric painting experiments.  Now I wonder what she’s planning to do with this piece of fabric.  I’m sure if I look around, I’ll find some other pieces of fabric from yesterday …read more

  Sharing family memories and creating legacies seem to have been popular posts throughout 2007.  Whenever I’ve written on this topic and shared stories about my quiltmaking, my mom’s, my daughter’s and granddaughter’s, I’ve received responses from quilters and fabric artists who wanted to share with me.
I hope I’ve encouraged you with your quiltmaking and fabric art this year, have brought you  information and insight, have gotten you to look at some of your work with new insight and to explore different techniques.
Here are some 2007 posts you might want to check out:
Memories of Quilting and Tea with Grandma
My Mother, the Country Grocer, Inspired …read more

 “I won!  I won!”  I heard my daughter exclaim. 
  “What did you win?”
  “A journal,” Beth explained.
  She had entered a drawing at Sue Bleiweiss’s blog        and received this journal.  Check out    Beth’s Meandering Threads blog for more details and photos of the journal.  You’ll also find on Sue’s blog descriptions for making these, too.
  I’m sure you’ll be enchanted by these lovely journals.

I discovered J’s Quilting Blog, an interesting one with projects you might enjoy.  Perhaps they’ll inspire you with your quilting and fabric art.
Warming Up consists of quilting with words!  Joyce Marden added a little house midst a collection of winter words in a piece she has referred to as Winter Words. 
I couldn’t keep on with such a cold quilt so I added a nice cosy house to get warm in, explained Joyce.  She also added a few more words to the winter collage type work. 
This blog entry, Winter Words, shows Joyce’s quilt before adding the little house.  I do like it better with …read more

                                 Have you ever purchased a fabric that’s perfect for your project(s), then found you didn’t have enough?  Or you wanted more for a similar project?  However, when you went to purchase more fabric, the store was out and couldn’t get any more. 
That design had been discontinued!
*I discovered this when I was making appliqued quilted vests for children.  A store would order a number of vests, then later want more of a specific design.  If I didn’t have enough fabric, I’d order more, often finding it had been discontinued in a relatively short time.  A customer might purchase a vest from …read more

Yo-yo ornaments are making the rounds again this year as quilters and fabric artists  use them in many ways to create interesting decorative objects.  I used to attach loops and hang them from the tree.  Sometimes I stitched them together to make a chain.
Chloe, at Tangled Thread, has created a unique Christmas tree yo-yo, actually five threaded together with a gold loop at the top.  Check this out and learn what you can do, too.

Cyndi’s art quilts continue to entrall me.  (I must take time in my busy days to try some of her techniques with my scraps.)  Over at Layers Upon Layers, Cyndi has two posts you’ll want to check out. 
Making an Art Quilt compares techniques used in two similar quilts.  A technique she used in the beige colored piece consisted of staining with coffee.  (My daughter has used tea to dye some of her fabrics, lace, and other accessories.  I don’t think she’s tried it with coffee.)
Making a Monochromatic Art Quilt with the coffee stained pieces results in a lovely antique type …read more