~Among Brenda's Quilts~

Lois writes, "I finally got these altogether...Megan looked happy when she receieved it from her aunt. Also wanted to tell you I had my 10 yr old grandaughter and her friend in one Sat to sew this particular quilt. I cut out the pieces and they sewed up the rest. They really enjoyed it. If you have other fairly easy suggestions for them, I might have another kid interested in sewing. They are catching on the machines and ironing quite well." Thanks, Lois, for sharing - and you are right, Raggy Baby is a wonderful quilt to get someone young interested in quilting. I'll have to come up with some more of these patterns to draw in that next generation of quilters!

Here is a picture of a group of quilters I taught at Newmarket this month. In the front is Sylvia, and then Left to Right you have Sandy, Trudy, me and Marg. Trudy writes, "I have taken at least 50 workshops and yours is the only one I have gone home with a finished product. It was a great day." She's right - it was fun, and with my emphasis on results, everyone went home with a bistro bag (except for Marg, who took careful notes and will make hers at home. She was a great help, pinning for others). Sandy made her bag for her grandaughter in London. Trudy was going into work at an industrial sewing factory on her next day off to show hers off...

...and Sylvia made hers in "tester" fabric - but it looks great! Here she is, showing off the outer pocket.

This is a picture of Letitia and her bistro bag, alongside yours truly. The endless variety of these bags continues to amaze me. Pretty soon I'll have to update the page that shows what so many others have done with the design. This continues to be one of the most popular of my designs, and it is still fun for me to make, too. Thanks, Letitia, for showing us your bistro bag! Anyone else like to share what they've done with this design - or any of my other ones? You don't have to wait for me to be in the picture too!

Here is Robina's Scrappy Sampler. The repeating block has fussy-cut butterflies, and the quilt's colours are gentle calming. A beautiful quilt, all of it hand-quilted. What an amazing, lovely, quilt, the final result of hours of sustained attention. This quilt is a meditation. Thanks, Robina, for sharing this picture. You have humbled me.

Just look at the vibrant colours in Ruby's 'Lightning Struck Twice Quilt'! What bold choices. I admit to a certain limitation when it comes to my own fabric colour selection - I may be a wee bit conservative in my own choices. But look at what you can end up with if you are as imaginative as Ruby. I love the final result! This should encourage anyone to 'go wild'. Thanks for sharing, Ruby!

Barb W. found an interesting marbled fabric for her bag-ette, and the flower is tastefully done, giving this handbag quite the classic look. Thanks for sharing the picture, Barb!