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As always, the end of the year seems to come around faster and faster. Here we all are in the midst of preparing for Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and other very special days! Michael and I started the year with a precious new granddaughter's birth and are ending it with the wonderful news of another grandchild's arrival in 6 months! The economy is on everyone's mind and those of us who quilt, sew, knit, crochet and do all kinds of handwork have an advantage in being able to make our gifts for one another. Many quilters talk about using up their stashes before buying new fabric but many of us will still need a special colour or print to go with whatever project we are working on so we will still be visiting and supporting our local and online quilt shops. You may recall that my plan was to send the last newsletter in small sections which I began doing with the September issue. However, some health problems prevented me from following up on that. This issue is larger than Septembers, but still only a partial newsletter. |
Wishing you all very Happy Holidays and Holy Days and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year! - Maria |
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Unfortunately, dreadfully, and irritatingly, our two websites - Maria Michaels Designs and Quilts for Sale - have both been targeted by spammers who have copied our email addresses. Many of them contain little boxes with an X in them to click on and/or other links. Clicking on these is sure to invite virus downloads and/or enable computer hacking/identity theft.
Please be very careful if you happen to be the recipients of email messages that look to come from us. Watch out for these subject lines (and variations) on them:
Your Order
Delivery Status Notification
Doctor Crystal (and/or other names)
Re: Order Status
September 79% Off (and/or other months & percentages)
Discount ID_8345 (or other numbers)
Important Information
RE: kd.MedHelp 3416157 (letters and numbers will vary)
Message 95352 (or other numbers)
Dr. Jarrod or Salvador or . . . .
Save an extra 20% (or something similar)
File Not Found
Your neighbor sent us your video
I found your private info in my mailbox
Plus . . . . pornographic subjects, viagra,
political innuendoes, etc., etc., etc.
These are the email addresses they've been copying:
maria.michaels.designs@. . . . .
info@mariamichaelsdesigns. . . .
newsletter@mariamichaelsdesigns . . . .
maria.h@. . . .
info@quiltsforsale. . . .
webmaster@mariamichaelsdesigns. . . .
From Maria Michaels Designs, I only send you messages to announce that another newsletter is ready to view and to announce that new patterns have been developed - and those come to you from Yaho so I think it will be easy enough for you to spot my real email from the frauds. The subject lines and the contents will always give you the necessary clues. The same applies to my messages from Quilts for Sale.
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Early this year I was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation to enter a juried quilt show celebrating the100th year of the Anne of Green Gables stories by Lucy Maude Montgomery. There were two categories - 100 Years of Anne, and Kindred Spaces. For the Kindred Spaces category, quilts had to depict a scene from one of the Anne books. I chose one from the start of the book when Matthew goes to the train station to bring the orphan "boy" home to help with the farm work. Instead, he finds Anne waiting for him. This is the paragraph I illustrated: | ||||
The “Avenue,” so called by the Newbridge people, was a stretch of road four or five hundred yards long, completely arched over with huge, wide-spreading apple trees, planted years ago by an eccentric old farmer. Overhead was one long canopy of snowy fragrant bloom. Below the boughs, the air was full of a purple twilight and far ahead a glimpse of painted sunset sky shone like a great rose window at the end of a cathedral aisle.
. . . . But they shouldn’t call that lovely place the Avenue. There is no meaning in a name like that. They should call it, – let me see – the White Way of Delight. |
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This is another in a series of beautifully done books by Kay!
Not only can you make this fun, cozy, homey, 38" x 48" quilt, you can use the great appliqués in other projects as well - a treasure times two!
Kay's books are always a feast for the eyes as well as inspirational! The colour photos and images on the front and back covers are bright and attractive. The appliqué patterns are full-sized - which saves quilters lots of time - plus, you can use your favourite appliqué method. Kay's directions for making the quilt are clear, easily understood, and complete from start to finish.
This quilt is sure to become a family favourite!
You can purchase it from Kay's website or through Amazon.
Pages: 16 ISBN: 978-0-9725852-7-9 |
Cover: Soft Publisher: Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs |
Long time readers will remember my feature on Betty Cotton and review of her book, Cotton Theory® Quilting. New readers can find it here in our archives. Everything I wrote about the first book applies to this second one as well so long time readers may want to look it up again, too.
To quote my first review:: “With Betty's book and her Cotton Theory® Quilting technique, quilters no longer need fear struggling to make large quilts. Now they can not only look forward to them, they can take great pleasure in making them and have fun, too!”
Betty has now published Cotton Theory® Quilting 2! This one includes complete instructions for 14 attractive quilt projects. Her Quilt First-Then Assemble™ techniques enable us to machine quilt our layered blocks individually and then assemble them to complete our quilts. The lovely thing is that this quilt as we go method means we do not have to struggle with large bed quilts using our small, home sewing machines. We never have to squish up our quilts and manipulate them to machine quilt their centers. We are always working on the edge of the quilt with the complete bulk to the left! What a relief that is! In fact, before reading Betty's books I had given up on making large, bed-sized quilts. Now I have no qualms about planning them at all!
Kelly's Green Garden
This pattern appeared in a book I
owned many years ago. Unfortunately,
I no longer have it and cannot recall
the two designers' names. If you
happen to know them or the book
title, please email me.
My favourite thing about this book is that we can make traditional blocks using the Cotton Theory® Quilting method and most especially that we can use this method to complete our UFOs. In fact, I used it to finish my quilt on the left, Kelly's Green Garden - a quilt that might otherwise been made into four smaller projects. I can't tell you how delighted I was to learn Betty's methods and be able to complete this quilt especially as it was intended my niece, Kelly. When I saw the quilt's name, I knew it had to be made for her! It is shown here spread over our sofa because it was too large for me to hang anywhere inside.
Before reading Betty's book, I had the top completed in four sections. Having recently struggled with two large 80 x 80 inch quilts, I did not want to battle another so those four sections - another 80 x 80 inch quilt - sat for years waiting to be made. Thanks to Betty, it went together very easily and quickly and I was delighted to finally have it done and presented. Now I look forward to making large quilts again! I highly recommend this book to all quilters experiencing the same issues!
You can buy the book from Betty's website or order it from Amazon.
Pages:168 ISBN: 978-0-9772611-1-6 |
Cover: Soft Publisher: Cotton Theory LLC |
- by Anna Faustino
Do you remember cutting and weaving strips of coloured construction paper together to make designs or little baskets and such when you were in elementary school? Anna has very cleverly and imaginatively taken that idea and transferred it to fabric. She uses her method in two ways - to create complete or partial backgrounds and to create wonderful geometric designs. Her quilts are absolutely stunning! Be sure to visit her website to see her work.
Anna's book includes step by step directions accompanied by colour photos and illustrations. With her woven backgrounds, there is no worrying about matching seams, corners or points. There are photos and cutting diagrams for making 26 quilts and an attached, full-sized, pattern page. You can make some or all of them and then go on to make your own creations. Anna's book will create a whole new world of quilting for you!
Simply Stunning Woven Quilts can be purchased through Amazon where you can take a peek inside the book.
Pages:72 ISBN: 978-1571204523 |
Cover: Soft Publisher: C&T Publishing |
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