faulker094

There are still a few daffodils blooming outside here in NW Alabama, and a two blooming indoors.  Daffodils are my husband's favorite flower.  They started appearing here at the end of January.  In Michigan, we weren't graced by their blossoms until very late March/early April, and that was after they had fought their way through snow, ice, and frozen mulch. Spring seems like such a struggle up north and just happens like "plop" here. This is "Daffodil Delight" and is now available in my LITTLE TREASURES - Flowers (2) pattern bundle at my web store, either by digital download or snail mail, click here . All the blocks finish 6-inches, but there is an enlargement recipe in the pattern bundle to adjust them to a 9- or 12-inch finished size. Freshly picked and freshly stitched!  This is "Festival Pineapple" from my LITTLE TREASURES - Fruit and Veg (1) pattern bundle.  It is weird, but I actually had the taste of pineapple in my mouth as I stitche...

Introducing "LITTLE TREASURES" bundles of little quilt block patterns!   There are now five bundles of patterns (containing 9 blocks each) available at www.fabrictherapyonline.com .  They are available as digital downloads or you can get them the old-fashioned way...through the US mail. (When figuring postage on the store site, each "bundle" is considered a "pattern.") The thumbnails of ANIMALS (1) are pictured above.  Each bundle contains nine patterns and a thumbnail/instruction page.  The patterns can be used "as is" to make 6-inch blocks, or you can follow the enlargement directions to make 9- or 12-inch blocks. Here are the thumbnails displaying the contents of the FLOWERS (1) bundle. I got so carried away drawing flowers that there is a second bundle of flower blocks.  Here's FLOWERS (2) ... There is a bundle of fruits and vegetable related blocks, FRUIT-VEG (1) ... The MISC (1) bundle contains a range of blocks including two that c...

Baltimore Rhapsody has joined the digital age!   The blocks are now available as digital downloads on my webstore .  That means instant gratification and NO SHIPPING CHARGES! The journey continues with this quilt project.  It started with me unsuccessfully looking for music patterns to make, which forced me into quilt designing.  That, in turn, forced me into pattern self-publishing and a whole painful world of desk-top computer work, LOL!. The quilt won first place in the  Bed Quilt-Applique-Hand Quilted  category and Best of Show Bed Quilt at Sauder Village in Norhwest Ohio the week I lost my parents.  (Thanks Mary for taking pictures and picking up my quilts after the show...) Next, it traveled to AQS Grand Rapids and won Viewer's Choice. Then it traveled to AQS Chattanooga and won Viewer's Choice ...again! Then, it went to Shipshewana, Indiana. Then it went to AQS Paducah... Then off to Houston for the IQA International Quilt Festival...thank you...

The block finishing frenzy continues!  Here are four more little 6-inch hand appliqued blocks for my Repro Madness swap quilt ...and the "LITTLE TREASURES" patterns I will be offering soon on my web store.  The horse delivering love is called "Special Delivery" and was inspired by my daughter and her love of horses. I am continuing to struggle along with my fabric choices from the repro fabric tubs for this swap project. The short range of brighter fabrics available in these muted tones makes shading and perspective really difficult. This block is called "Twining Tulips."    I made the frog block ("Ola's Bog Buddy") from my last post thinking about my BFF friend Ola and buddy Mary is crazy for cows and inspired "Mary's Moo Moo."  Now I want to do a block with two pink flamingos, as I remember going to my friend Judy's home to stitch and visit...and maybe a cute little white dog as I remember Julie and the good times we shar...

I have been trying to catch up with the hand stitching of prepped blocks!  As I put these pattern bundles on my store site next week, I want to have a finished color picture of each pattern in my store picture gallery. This is Ola's Bog Buddy... This spiky little fellow is Hedgehog With Melon... This is Primrose Garland... And Wisp of Fuchsia... And Blueberry Season... Iris Cluster... And, A Pair of Pears... I speak tomorrow night at the Quilt Guild in Athens, Alabama.  I have not taught a class or given a quilt talk in two years, so I feel a little rusty and nervous.  I'm sure it will come back to me like riding a bike and then they will have to "use the hook" to get me to shut up!  It will be nice to be around some quilters! Oh my, and Ola sent me some more blocks for our Repro Madness swap project.  They are embroidered and just perfect with all the other applique and pieced blocks!  Aren't they awesome?!?  They will finish 6 inches. I have got to g...

I have been trying (like a donkey!) to make my applique prepping and stitching reality catch up with my drawing and computer reality! I guess I was hungry when I drew the hamburger-fries-pickle plate, and the poor little squirrel has been crammed in my sewing box, patiently awaiting finishing stitches for a while. And now, there are 16 more prepped blocks waiting for applique stitches and embroidery embellishment.  Pardon the pictures...we have had so many rainy, stormy days this week and the house was really dark and gloomy.   I will make better pictures of each block when they are stitched, soaked and freshly pressed. I have to admit that restricting myself to reproduction fabrics for these blocks is not working for me!  Even with an extensive stash of these beauties from which to choose, there just aren't enough nice yellows, purples, oranges, and pinks to please me.  I wish those fabric designers would put out a line with nothing but THOSE colors...how many more...

Do you hear that enormous sucking sound?!?  A black hole has been discovered in my bedroom, on my desk!  It is my computer! It takes me no time at all to draw a new applique quilt block, but takes me FOREVER to turn those drawings into actual patterns. I have now finished scanning all 19 currently available "Baltimore Rhapsody" music block pattern "quarters" (that is 76 individual scans/pages).  And all the pattern "quarters" fit together like nice musical puzzles when printed out.   I have also finished the computer work on 52 of 63 "Little Treasure" block pattern sheets. Now I am desperately trying to get all these new little 6-inch blocks prepped and stitched so that I have a color, actual picture for each to put in the photo gallery on my little pattern store site. But all computer work and no sewing makes one cross-eyed and cranky, so I am taking a break from the tap-tap-tapping to prep and stitch. I have come up with a cheeky way to do e...