Karen is a writer, designer, and quilter. All of her talents have come together to create a very special quilt and story book.

Quilters will thoroughly enjoy meeting quilt maker Abby and her family, and reading how the pattern for the first log cabin quilt may well have come about.

This book is a must-have for all log cabin lovers. Quilters who have never made one will definitely want to! After looking through the book and reading the story don't be surprised to find your feet heading straight to your sewing room to get started.

Karen has included 10 striking new log cabin patterns with attractive colour photos set in a lovely log cabin home, actual sized patterns, and complete directions for each as well as a section on General Instructions. I would like to make every one of them and have especially fallen in love with her Lone Star Log Cabin! It is gorgeous!

Every page of the book includes diagrams, illustrations, or photos, all in beautiful colour. The story pages are all framed with quilts and delightful line drawings by Kris Lammers who is Karen's talented sister.

Look for Karen's book, published by Martingale & Company, at your local quilt shop. If it is not there, ask them to order it for you or visit Karen's site.

The subtitle of this book says it all: "Delightful quilts and projects to make for kids!"

Quilting parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends will enjoy making the great gift ideas in Christine and Nellie's book.

Choose from one or more of the 3 comfy, soft,colourful rag quilts, or from 3 other quilts: Angels in Disguise for little boys, Sugar and Spice for little girls, or a Memory Quilt for either or both. I am blessed to have both a grandson and a granddaughter and plan to make them one each.

Make a raggy pillow to go with a quilt, book bag, nursery change caddy, appliquéd T-shirt, music lesson bag, cute baby doorknob hanger, or a little helper's apron. They are all pictured in colour on the inside and outside of the front and back covers. Patterns and alphabets are all full-sized. Illustrations, diagrams, and complete directions are included for all patterns.

A very special addition to this book are Nellie's and Christine's warm, delightful vignettes of precious moments with their children.

Their book is published by their very own Upper Canada Quiltworks Publishing Company. Ask for it at your local quilt shop or order it from their newly redesigned website.

Does the quilter exist who does not love buying, collecting, winning,
or swapping fat quarters?

Are you looking for projects for your growing collection of fat quarters?

Susan and Daphne's book has 16 + 1 projects for you to choose from. Gardeners are sure to appreciate Snails In My Garden and Spring Trellis; tea lovers will enjoy the whimsy of Green Tea; star lovers can choose from among 4 star patterns or make all of them; scrappy quilt lovers will be delighted with Empress Tiles; everyone can demonstrate their appreciation of family with Family Tree. There are table toppers and table runners to quilt as well.

The book includes two delightful bonuses. Quilters will find an extra pattern which uses the cut away fabrics from their Moon Rings pattern! What a great find in a quilt book! Quilt teachers will find a set of lesson plans for all 16 quilts at the back of the book!

Fat Quarter Frenzy is a colourful book, with full-sized patterns, complete directions for all projects, and good diagrams and illustrations. It tells us what we need to know about fat quarters: shopping for them, selecting fabrics, substituting yardage (very useful!) storing fat quarters, having fun with them, and more.

It is published by the American Quilter's Society and is available in local quilt shops and through Susan and Daphne's design company, Patchwork Studios. Visit their site and see pictures of 8 of the projects in the book.

Quilt Tools - The Angler 2™ by Pam Bono

The Angler 2™ is a very handy tool for making half square triangles (HSTs) snowball and flying geese blocks. It saves time by eliminating the need to draw or press in seam lines. It fits all sewing machines.

As you can see from these two photos of my Angler 2™, to prepare it for use you cut out the plastic Key section at the top and keep it. Then you punch a needle hole in it where indicated.

To use it, you place the Key on the sewing machine under the presser foot, positioning it so that the needle can be lowered down through the hole. With the needle down, you slide the rest of the Angler 2™ up around it lining up the horizontal lines. Then you take masking tape to fasten the Angler 2™ in place. Once that is done, you lift the sewing machine needle and remove the Key. (Don't forget to put it in a safe place!)

To sew an HST, for example, you place two fabric squares right sides together, then place them on the Angler 2™ so that it lines up with a 45° line. As you stitch, you keep the fabric aligned with the diagonal lines on the right until the bottom of the Angler 2™ is visible and you keep the tip of the squares following that line. Turn the square and stitch your second seam, then cut between them and you have two perfect HSTs. Visit Pam Bono's site to learn more about how to use the
Angler 2™.

My favourite tool for making HSTs, and three and four part squares is Deb Hopkins and Alice Walter's Wondercut Ruler
which was featured in our March Newsletter, but when I am making HSTs from very small scraps, I find the Angler 2™ a handy tool.

Questions and Answers

Questions are answered by our quilting team of Edna, Elaine, Hancey, and Maria. We sometimes call on other well-known experts as well.

Q: I am looking for a Poodle Dog appliqué block. A friend of mine has 2 giant Poodles, one black & one white.  I would like to make her a lap quilt. Need the pattern. If you have one, please let me know. - Donna

A: I asked other quilt designers and here are the replies I received:

Free Pattern Winners!

April's winner is: LOBO@.....................

July's winner is: eabisca@.................

August's winner is : mary_garvey2003@.....................

Congratulations! You have each won our Prisms Block pattern in PDF format.

Please email me to verify your email address and claim your free pattern. Patterns can be claimed up to the time the next issue is published.

*Please note: Winners will need the free download of Adobe Acrobat Reader - version 5 or higher - to print their patterns.

Humour

The following are all said to be answers written by children taking exams:

- When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire.

- H3O is hot water, and CO3 is cold water.

- To collect fumes of sulphur, hold a deacon over a flame in a test tube.

- When you smell an odorless gas, it is probably carbon monoxide.

- Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes and caterpillars.

- Blood flows down one leg and up the other.

- Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration and then expectoration.

- The moon is a planet just like the earth, only it is even deader.

- Dew is formed on leaves when the sun shines down on them and makes them perspire.

- A super-saturated solution is one that holds more than it can hold.

- Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

- The pistol of a flower is its only protections against insects.

- The alimentary canal is located in the northern part of Indiana.

- A permanent set of teeth consists of eight canines, eight cuspids, two molars, and eight cuspidors.

- The tides are a fight between the Earth and moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

- A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more extinct it is.

- Equator: A menagerie lion running around the Earth through Africa.

- Liter: A nest of young puppies.

- Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat.

- Momentum: What you give a person when they are going away.

- Planet: A body of Earth surrounded by sky.

- Rhubarb: A kind of celery gone bloodshot.

- Vacuum: A large, empty space where the pope lives.

- Before giving a blood transfusion, find out if the blood is affirmative or negative.

- To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.

- For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower then the body until the heart stops.

- For head cold: use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops in your throat.

- To keep milk from turning sour keep it in the cow.

Thoughts

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

- George Washington Carver

Newsletter Archives
This is a partial list of past newsletters. If you have missed them, click on the links to read about other featured quilters, book reviews, tools, and more.

Errors?

Your questions, suggestions, wishes, and recommendations are welcomed. Please email them to us.