quiltersmuse.com Blog

Ever since purchasing the book, Paper Piecing the Seasons, by Stephen Seifert and Liz Schwartz, I have been a fan of their work. In April 2000, I began making a wall quilt that they call, “Country Roads Quilt.” I finished the quilt and gave it to my niece in California for her birthday in October 2000. I thought she’d enjoy the autumn scene in this quilt that I called, “Covered Bridge in Autumn.”

Design from the book, Paper Piecing the Seasons. Pieced by Patricia Cummings. (The photo shows this piece when it was still a quilt top, – and although you can’t tell from the photo, the quilt does have even borders).

I remember the fun I had making this quilt! Not as many landscape fabrics were available, compared to today. The hunt for the perfect fabric to represent tree colors, the stones, and other elements, was a joy!

Today, I discovered that the singular pattern for this quilt is still available at eQuiltPatterns.com, along with many other tempting designs for those who love paper piecing. To see a larger view, click here.

I have made only a few foundation pieced quilts but have always enjoyed them. This one was particularly fun as I made it with love and with the expectation and hope that it would be enjoyed by the recipient.

Whatever you do today, take joy in your work. We pass this way only once.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Claryville, NY. Frost Valley YMCA will host its 13th annual Quilting Weekend, designed for quilters of all ages and abilities, from Friday through Sunday, Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2009.

Close-up view of a quilt from a class taught at Frost Valley YMCA

Six renowned quilters: Katrina Litchman, Kris Driessen, Sherry Sega, Kathleen Davies, Anne Foland and Bob Silverman will present workshops. All of the instructors have taught classes at previous Frost Valley weekends.

Bob Silverman instructs a student in this file photo from 2008 at Frost Valley YMCA

Lead instructor Katrina Litchman will give a class titled, “Art Quilting.” Participants will enter into the world of free-form composition and learn the art of spontaneous quilting.

Kris Driessen’s workshop will be called the “St. James Star.” Class members will construct Flying Geese blocks using the Quilt-in-Day Ruler, and will then create star blocks and set them on point. The final product is a lap quilt. A perfect class for confident beginners looking to improve skills.

Quilted Jackets will be the focus in Sherry Sega’s workshop. All levels of quilters will enjoy transforming creating a unique quilted jacket from a sweatshirt.

A “Crazy Quilt Class” will be offered by Kathleen Davies. Class members will learn to use silks, satins and velvets to create pieces with a traditional appearance or gain more modern looks with cotton.

A participant in Frost Valley quilt classes in 2008

“All This for a Nickel” is the theme of Anne Foland’s workshop. This course will offer four patterns that can be sewn using only five-inch squares. The work will be structured toward participants’ ability levels.

In Bob Silverman’s “Scrap Basket Quilts” workshop, scraps that all quilters accumulate will be used to create a quilt using all squares, rectangles and half-square triangles with no triangles to sew. This class is perfect for the “confident beginner.”

A fall stream in Frost Valley

In addition to the expert instruction, Frost Valley’s Quilting Weekend, provides a special retreat in the Catskill Mountains. Lodging options include dorm-style, inn-style and hotel-style. The weekend retreat package includes lodging, meals and one weekend workshop. Day guests are also welcome for workshop instruction and lunch.

Check-in for the weekend begins at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, followed by an evening program.

Quilting vendors will have their booths open throughout the event, including goods from Woodstock Quilt Supply and Quilt Bug Quilt Shop.

A complete materials list will be sent to quilters prior to check-in. Participants at the Quilting Weekend will also have ample free time to explore the Frost Valley and enjoy its many season program offerings.

Frost Valley YMCA is located at 2000 Frost Valley Road, Claryville, NY 12725.

Celebrating its 51st year in the valley, Frost Valley YMCA Camp and Conference Center in the Catskill Mountain High Peaks is open every day through four seasons, welcoming school children, family, group and business retreats every week from September through June. The camp is just 2.5 hours drive from metro NY/NJ and about 1 hour from Kingston.

For additional information, please contact Carmel Dorn, Registrar, at (845) 985-2291, ext. 205, or e-mail: info@frostvalley.org.

This is a public service announcement brought to you by Quilter’s Muse Publications Photos were provided by a representative for Frost Valley YMCA.

Here is an image of a postcard quilt sent to me by my friend, Tamara Shpolyanska, a certified Master Quilter and quilt teacher from Ukraine. She sent this to me, in two pieces that I needed to assemble to have a finished project. I just got “a round tuit,” and completed it this week.

She has sent me four other postcard quilts, one of which needs an edge binding. I see I have my work cut out for me. Perhaps a skinny piece of left over binding would do just fine. Yes, very skinny!

I love Tamara’s artistic vision. Her quilts, large and small, are all wonderful! I am blessed to have some very special friends and she is certainly one of them. Here is the scan of the postcard. The back of the quilt features her personal stamp/ and her name in Ukrainian, as well as a personal message to me, her signature, and the date.

This small piece features a pansy and fancy fibers. It looks very elegant, in person! She sent it as a gift for St. Patrick’s Day, in 2006.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

My mother was a “saver.” She saved pieces of paper that were blank so that she could write notes to herself, or jot down something she heard on TV or radio that she thought was funny, or write down a useful tip about cooking. She saved clothes … forever … whether they fit or did not fit. Anything that came into the house rarely left again. The consequence is that we lived in a house full of clutter. She had lived through the Great Depression and knew what it was like to go without. She lived through WWII and understood the feeling of hunger in the pit of her stomach, a result of food rationing. Consequently, she “saved” everything. The word “hoard” might better apply. She even saved cartons that eggs came in, just in case a neighbor who raised chickens might need them. She saved pieces of aluminum foil, re-used plastic utensils, and used paper plates more than once, if the plate was not too “bad.”

As I look around my house, I see a similar problem happening. I keep promising myself that I will “get organized,” but that really is a standing joke. My bookcases are full, and at the moment, I even have piles of books stacked on the floor in front of them. Having subscribed to many quilt titles since becoming a quilter in 1984, you can only imagine the number of magazines I have accumulated. Every time I look through any of them, I’ll spot a reason why I can’t part with it – a great article, a story about someone I admire, a terrific design … and so it goes back into the pile.

I have loose ephemera crammed into file cabinets that are so overloaded, they are busting at the seams! Yet, all of the paperwork is important to me, for one reason or another. What I really need to do is to remove the most important pieces of ephemera and store them separately.

Finally, fabric! I guess I have not known when to quit when it came to “building a stash.” In addition, people give me fabrics, and it would be rude, after all, not to take them, wouldn’t it? Some of these supplies would be great for making Quilts for the Homeless as they are various weights and would generate warmth. I have yet to connect with such a group that makes that kind of quilt, in my local area, that needs fabrics and leftover pieces of batting. I would gladly part with same.

My overflowing scrap bag tells me that it is time to make a scrap quilt! I love the old-fashioned Spider Web quilt design and have made a total of five quilts in that style, from small ones to queen size. The scrappy star design is another favorite, a block of which is shown in my latest Sampler quilt that was featured here a short time ago.

Right now, I am overwhelmed by the number of books, pieces of paper, fabrics and fabric scraps in my possession. In fact, they are stifling my creativity. I have no place to work in my studio, without moving something else. You are my witness. I need to downsize! As I get to it, I think I’ll post some used books for sale on amazon. Perhaps, Goodwill might take some of the excess fabrics I’ve accumulated. I just can’t continue to live in clutter!

Has this happened to anyone else, or am I a lone voice, crying in the wilderness? I look wistfully at the photos of my studio, that we created in 1994, as published in a magazine, and I want my “space” back again. Wish me luck!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Charlotte Croft of Vermont wrote the following note after viewing some recent blog posts:

Hi Pat, I was just browsing in your blog, seeing the scrap quilt question. I decided to send this photo of the quilt I made for my niece Linda Rose who was married June 27th. I think I’m addicted to this method of using up scraps. They’re not the prettiest quilts ever made but such a satisfying feeling to know all those tiny bits were put to use. I have two twin tops ready to tie and about 40 more blocks in various sizes waiting to be completed. I enjoyed seeing “Yum Yum,” but couldn’t help thinking of the cat in the Cat Who series. I read two or three of those this summer. All for now. Charlotte

This is a scrap quilt in the style designed by Carol Coski of Westminster, Vermont. Carol owns a quilt shop there.

We had heard of “Mile-a-Minute” quilts but this is the first time we had seen one. Thanks, Charlotte. We always appreciate the photos you send.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications