The Off-Kilter Quilt

Simply Amy/Simply Frances backing fabric:

Here's a list of new podcasts to check out! Nonnie's Quilting Dreams The History Quilter Katie's Quilting Corner Some Quilty Nonfiction: Loose Threads by Helen Kelley Quilting Lessons by Janet Berlo Quilty as Charged by Spike Gillespie Stuff I'm Reading: The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabelle Wilkerson The Sisters Antipodes by Jane Allison Cool Quilting Patterns--thanks to Debbie for sending me these links from Leah Day: Super spiral: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2009/11/day-98-super-spiral.html Spiral illusion: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-204-spiral-illusion.html

You wouldn't believe the progress I've made on Simply Amy/Simply Frances. Essentially, I have put aside all the other parts of my life in an effort to finish this quilt. Here's how the blocks looked laid out on the floor of my study:

And here's where we're at right this very second:

I'm definitely getting there! Congrats to Sue on getting picked by the random number generator--a copy of Rule Breaking Quilts will be heading your way this week! Thanks for listening!

A give-away! If you're interesting in winning a really close-to new copy of Kathryn Schmidt's Rule-Breaking Quilts, leave a comment and say so. The deadline is Monday, January 17th (MLK Day). Good luck! Let's send each other postcards! If you're interested in a postcard exchange, email me with your address (fdowell@mindspring.com) or leave your address in a comment. The book I talk about, sans title--the Alice Starmore sweater experience book--is called Sweater Quest: My Year of Knitting Dangerously by Adrienne Martini. The Barbara Brackman Civil War Block-a-Week site is right here. Have a great week!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and have recovered successfully enough to start some New Year's quilting. My Christmas fabrics: Anthology Fabrics: A Collection of Color Stories http://www.fatquartershop.com/store/stores_app/Browse_Item_Details.asp?Shopper_id=439112694414391&Store_id=499&page_id=23&Item_ID=51485&Parent_Ids= Three Sisters Park Avenue Layer Cake http://www.threesistersfabric.com/fabric-2/fabric-by-collection-1/park-avenue-by-3-sisters-moda-122/park-avenue-by-3-sisters-for-moda-layer-cake-1830.html Here's the picture of Simply Amy/Simply Frances taken (gulp!) last summer. I've made progress, but I've got miles to go.

More  entries in the quilt diary, but not a lot of quilt-making in and of itself. Sigh.

The quilt is stippled! Pictures next week, when I swear, swear, swear the whole thing will be done! Check out Nonnie's pictures of machine quilting!

I started to make a podcast last week, but didn't quite finish ... One day life will get back to normal, but not right this very second! Want to know more about the Transition Town movement? Go here: http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ And here's where you can find info on Mark Lipinski's Fabric Trends: http://www.fabrictrends.com/

Do you work on one quilt at a time, or do you like to have a quilt or two on the side? Learn about making mosaic fabrics with scraps: Simply Quilts Episode 1203 JayeL's mosaic fabric It's more than a store, it's a blog, too! Oh, Frannson! blog Go say congrats to Jennifer on the birth of baby Anthony at Patchwork and Pacifiers!

Quilty pictures! At last!

Quilt School 1 Quilt

Hand-quilted wallhanging.

Off-kilter crib quilt.

What do your quilts say about you? What will they say about you in a hundred years? I'm under the weather, but was prompted by Amy's first episode of The Quilter's Notebook to write something and read it. The Alliance for American Quilts The International Quilt Study Museum The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750-1950 Sandra Dallas's Amazon.com page