Wednesday, November 6, 2019

On a Break...

I'm on a creative and blogging break, probably until the new year. Just dealing with household things and re-calibrating my brain! Happy Holidays to everyone, when they arrive.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Once Upon a Story Show and Tell Day AND Witch Stitchy Blog Hop

I'm participating in TWO blog hops today, so I decided to put them into one post. First up...

It's Show & Tell Day:
Just Let Me Quilt

I wanted to share two projects with you. If you haven't read the original post about my row, you can read it here.

For my first project, I started with my Aesop's Fable Row...
(Once again, here's the link to the free row PATTERN. )

...and turned it into a wall hanging by adding more stars to the top and bottom:
I did some very simple quilting in the ditch around the blocks, and some around each star. Then, instead of binding it, I finished it off using this very easy facing technique.

One other interesting note about my project, I sewed the entire piece by hand. I hand-appliqued each block, hand-pieced the blocks together, hand-quilted it, and then hand-sewed the facing. I really enjoy other forms of hand work, and found this whole process very enjoyable as well!
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For my second project, I took my Crow & Pitcher Block from the row pattern, and turned it into a WoolFelt pincushion. I thought the prim look of it would translate nicely into a pincushion...I hope you agree:

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I love to read your comments, and will reply to them all via email unless you are a No Reply Blogger.
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Be sure to enter today's giveaways!



a Rafflecopter giveaway
You can enter all these giveaways in the one Rafflecopter, as shown in this image:


Also...

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Next....


A big thanks to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt, for bringing us this great hop!

Here are today's participants:
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For my project, I designed a 16" WoolFelt table mat/penny rug simply titled "Skulls." It would be a perfect addition to any Halloween table or decor.


It only requires two colors of WoolFelt, and two colors of DMC embroidery floss, and sews up fairly quickly.


It's spooky enough for Halloween, but not too scary with some friendly flowers in the center!


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https://www.etsy.com/listing/738912091/skulls-penny-rug
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Please leave a comment. I will reply to all of them via email, unless you are a No Reply Blogger.
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Be sure to visit all the other participants in this hop. Here's the complete schedule:

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Once Upon a Story Row Along


A big thanks to Marian for bringing us another great Row Along! Here's a list of today's participants:

Thursday, 9/19/2019

Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs (you are here)
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This year's theme is "Once Upon a Story," and for my row I decided to represent several of Aesop's Fables. For those of you not familiar with these stories, here's a brief history (courtesy of Wikipedia):

"Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE...The fables originally belonged to the oral tradition and were not collected for some three centuries after Aesop's death. By that time a variety of other stories, jokes and proverbs were being ascribed to him, although some of that material was from sources earlier than him or came from beyond the Greek cultural sphere...Initially the fables were addressed to adults and covered religious, social and political themes. They were also put to use as ethical guides and from the Renaissance onwards were particularly used for the education of children. Their ethical dimension was reinforced in the adult world through depiction in sculpture, painting and other illustrative means, as well as adaptation to drama and song. In addition, there have been reinterpretations of the meaning of fables and changes in emphasis over time."

You'd be surprised how many morals, or lessons, from Aesop's Fables that you are familiar with. Here are some of them:

A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
Beauty is only skin deep.
Birds of a feather flock together.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Once bitten, twice shy.
One good turn deserves another.

I've included five fables in my row. Each block is raw-edge appliqued. For each block, I will post an illustration and quote the moral of each fable, which also links to the entire (short) story if you wish to read them.
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The Rose & the Butterfly


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The Crow & the Pitcher


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The Hare & the Tortoise



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The Astrologer

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The blocks come together to form a 12.5” x 30.5” row (including outside seam allowance):


My pattern also gives instructions for an optional 18.5” x 18.5” row (including outside seam allowance):


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And here's a photo of my finished row sewn with Northcott's Canvas fabrics (everything but the beige and black fabrics are from that line). Thank you Northcott!:



On the Show & Tell day (Oct. 8th), I will show you the two projects I made from my pattern.
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I love to read your comments, and will reply to them all via email unless you are a No Reply Blogger.
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Be sure to enter today's giveaways!

Worldwide Shipping / Shipping Via Aurifil Italy or USA.
Value $50.00
Starts September 19, 2019 / Ends September 26, 2019



Value $239.95
Starts September 03, 2019 / Ends October 08, 2019

a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Also, Electric Quilt is offering a 20% off discount to anyone who’d like to purchase their products during the Row Along.
ROWALONG20
This is an awesome discount if you’re considering purchasing the upgrade or the full version, even just add-ons. The only things you cannot purchase are their EQ Classes. The coupon expires October 8, 2019.
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Here's the complete list of participants of the hop. Be sure to visit them all!

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

My Favorite Quilt Block Blog Hop


I'm happy to be participating in another fun hop organized by Carla of Creatin' in the Sticks!

Here's the list of today's participants:

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I haven't done enough quilting to have that much experience with different quilt blocks. But there are blocks that I've seen that I wanted to try. One of them was a free block offered by the site formerly known as Craftsy (now Blueprint). I had downloaded the pattern sometime in 2018 I think, but never did anything with it. I thought it would be perfect for this hop.

The block is called "May Flowers" and here's the link to the pattern. And here's a picture of my sewn block:


The final block size is 8.5", so I decided to turn mine into a 8.5" x 12" mug rug.


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Thanks for stopping by! I love reading your comments and will reply via email unless you are a No Reply Blogger.

Be sure to visit everyone else in this great hop: