Maryland Quilter moves to her very own website!

Hi all-- just wanted to let you know that Maryland Quilter blog has moved.  My wonderful daughter set up a website and blog and a pattern store all together right here:
http://www.marylandquilter.com/

Please come by and see the new posts published and thanks for being a friend :)

swim free by Michael Miller

I love Michael Miller fabrics, especially his kid's lines. My new favorite is Swim Free. It is so much fun and there is lots of action in the pattern. I'm also crazy about the nautical themes popping up all over lately. That's probably because I haven't been to the beach in a couple of years and I'm going through major withdrawals.

My newest quilt and pattern combines Michael Miller and the ocean breeze. It's called "Anchors Away" and is very easy to make. So if you have a special little someone on the way,  try out this pattern:

granny's tie quilt

My grandmother was a farmer's daughter. She grew up sewing clothes and quilts because that's how you got clothes to wear and blankets to stay warm. It was a way of life she took for granted.

 A couple of generations later and I see her work as art. In the era of mass produced factory imports, it's time to appreciate the beauty in a hand crafted quilt made for one person by one person. In the spirit of my granny's quilting style, I made a traditional folk tie quilt. It's for sale in my shop for that special one person.

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone-- I hope you all had a great holiday season. I was so busy learning new things. I made my first scarf over the holidays and then made one for everyone on my list. I used a biased tape maker for the first time and it really worked! And I made my first American Girl outfit which my daughter loved but was a little bit wonky.

Now I'm back to my real love, quilts!

Here is my newest, just made in 2013 quilt and pattern:

It's called "Little Handstand Bear" because the bear is doing a handstand. My 7 year old said "Mommy, you made a mistake, the bear is upside down". I said it was supposed to be like that. She said I should let everyone know , so that's where the name comes from.

modern quilting means less cut and piece

Ok, maybe most of you will disagree with me on this, but sometimes it is a waste to cut up a big beautiful piece of fabric just to sew it back together again. I know back in the day pioneer women cut up old clothes and grain sacks and used the best pieces for quilts. I think that's still a great way to reuse your scraps and worn clothes. But what about the new yard and half you couldn't resist from the quilt shop? Why not make it into a whole cloth quilt blanket?

Here are 2 of my "couldn't bear to cut up the fabric" quilts:

 The flying geese and the trees have such a wide open field feel to them, who would want to interrupt their flight?

 This fabric from Alexander Henry reminds me of a Mexican horse blanket. It had to stay in one piece!

These are simple 3 layer whole cloth quilts with embroidery floss ties keeping the quilt together. It is so enjoyable to make these quilts. Peaceful, too.

my very first quilt kit is for sale!

When I started making quilt patterns, the idea to sell kits was not far behind. I've been waiting for the perfect quilt to sell as a kit and here it is:

The first picture is the kit with all the parts, the second photo is the kit all bundled up to mail. The green flower in the center is a coaster, one of the little gifts I like to add to surprise the customers. ( I usually include a bookmark, but of course, being me, I got tired of making them and switched to coasters. The only problem with coasters is I'm not sure if it is obvious what they are so maybe I need to include a tag that says "coaster"?)

Back to the topic, my first quilt kit, is the star fish quilt. So now I have the quilt, the pattern, and the kit available. I hope someone besides me likes them...
Here's how I described the kit deciding process:

love this quilt! It was such fun to design and make, I thought someone else might want to try it. Then I thought, it might be a hard for someone to gather all the little pieces for the star fish. Then came the great idea to assemble it all in a kit. I had enough fabric left over except the mermaid one, which was easy to order from my new favorite Etsy fabric store, Baileygirlsfabric.

I knew if I were buying a kit I would want everything to complete the project, including the batting layer and the back. So everything is here, except for the thread and the sewing machine. The kit is available, of course, in the shop for $42.00.

mermaids and star fish quilt from Sarah Jane

I love Sarah Jane fabrics for kids. The designs say childhood antics, old fashioned fun and lots of imagination. Her newest design set is called Out to Sea. I've already made some quilts from her ship fabric and map fabric, now it's time to take on the mermaids and octopuses.

I've had the mermaid fabric around the sewing a room awhile. I wasn't sure how to make it into a quilt. There's a lot of motion in the pattern with a red haired mermaid swimming and playing. There is also lots of open ocean, so to speak, or open space with just some tiny fish and water bubbles.

My last few kid's quilts have had large appliques to the side with most of the quilt left to show off the main fabric design. With the mermaid fabric, it seemed that the print wasn't telling the story by itself, it needed more. The problem then was that my mind needed to get out of the groove of single large appliques into something else. Finally it came to me.


The mermaid is holding a star fish, so I thought, why not add some more star fish to the quilt? Now the ocean spaces have bright star fish in them:)

The finished quilt and the pattern are available at Maryland Quilter. http://www.etsy.com/shop/marylandquilter?ref=si_shop