Variegated thread for Easter

IMG_3927, a photo by janellcl on Flickr.

Lovely purple and magenta make me think of Easter eggs and Easter bright things! This are the borders on a bright log cabin quilt I made for my granddaughter, Breannen. She will get it on her 12th birthday in June. So far, it is a surprise. The machine quilting with fantastic variegated thread was done by Jenny Patterson of Cattails Machine Quilting. I think it looks perfect. You'll see more when I get the binding on it.

We hope everyone has a great Easter weekend spent with family and friends-whatever holiday you celebrate-we hope Spring brings you hope and joy!

Things pattern pillow

Things pattern pillow, a photo by janellcl on Flickr.

Ellie Werner sent us this great story about making our Things pattern: They are all for birthday gifts for friends and family who have sisters including my two sIsters birthdays both in June. I've already mailed 3 for gifts to my sister-in-law and two nieces. They loved them and they are just so much fun to sew and it's a project I can get started and finished in a week or two instead of the weeks and months the time it usually takes for me to sew a quilt together start to finish.Thank you so much for the interest in my finished pillows it is myfirst attempt at something other than quilting which I've been doing for about the past 14 years. I usually work in my sewing room during the afternoons on my quilts and then I enjoy hand sewing in the evenings while watching TV with my husband and cats and dogs. Usually I am sewing a quilt top together so it's a nice change to sew a rework square. I used fusible webbing on the back of the completed redwork square and then used batting and muslimfor the next two layers just like the three layers used for quilting a blanket. Then I quilted around the rework square, cut the backing and sewed around the sides leaving an opening for stuffing it and then used a quick whip stitch to close the opening. (check our web site for the pattern!)

Japan trip 2006

Japantrip 068, a photo by janellcl on Flickr.

Watching the natural disaster in Japan keeps me looking back at photos taken during our fantastic Japanese adventure in 2006. We were invited to teach redwork embroidery at the Intl. Hobby Association convention. Clover Mfg. was our main sponsor-what a treat to meet some of the executives and their great staff. We were treated like royalty. But, more important, had the wonderful experience of sharing our love of embroidery with others just like us! We were also given lessons in some of the Japanese stitching techniques by our students. Our prayers continue to go out to Japan.