Just published last month, Winter Lights is Anna's second in a series of poetry books illustrated with photographs of her beautiful handmade quilts.

This book is a real treasure for both adults and children. I find myself losing all sense of time as I marvel at the colour and design of her quilts. The rich colours are wonderful and satisfy my soul. I delight in reading the poems to my little granddaughter as she listens and thoroughly examines each beautiful page.

The fifteen quilts in Winter Lights are miniature marvels. It took Anna almost two and a half years to make them. Two of the quilts have 8450 small triangles in each! Anna also includes three illustrated pages on the making of these quilts.

I cannot think of a nicer way to introduce children to poetry, quilting, and the celebration of this special season of the year.

Kay has produced yet another great appliqué design book and I am very pleased to review it just on time for the holiday season!

It includes 26 charming, captivating, full-sized, appliqué patterns like the ones shown on the cover, plus colour photos of 8 projects and 5 blocks.

Kay's projects are there to inspire you to come up with design projects of your own by mixing and matching blocks. She has designed them in 2 inch increments so they will all go together very nicely indeed.

Her book includes a very handy bonus - a chart for resizing the patterns! You will know at a glance what percentage you need to use to enlarge or reduce every one of the different block sizes. Her hand appliqué tips are also included, You can, of course, use your favourite appliqué method.

If you start now, you will have enough time to make special and loving gifts for the loved ones on your list and to decorate your home for Christmas. Make a quilt, a wall hanging, a mantel cover, a table runner, a table topper, or a fabric book for a child, for example.

Visit Kay's Quilt Puppy site to see photographs of some of the quilts in the book and to order it.

With Nellie and Christine's book, lovers of rag quilts can enjoy using this special technique in many other projects. If you have never made a rag quilt and always wanted to, these projects are a great way to learn the technique and to start.

You are sure to have fun with one or more of the quick to make 12 projects in this book. Choose among: Shopper's Rag Bag, Quilter's Rag Tote, Raggy Needle Case, Raggy Cosmetic Bag, Small Rag Purse (which includes directions for a Cell Phone, Eyeglass, or Rotary Cutter Case) Large Raggy Purse, Traveller's Bag, Baby's Rag Bag (which converts into a change pad as well) Drawstring Tote, Wine Gift Bag, Log Cabin Rag Bag.

The colour photos for all of these projects can be found on the outside and inside of the front and back covers. Inside those covers are complete directions with illustrations and full-sized templates.

What a wealth of fast, quick, and easy Christmas gift ideas!

Ask for this book at your local quilt shop or order it from Christine and Nellie's website, Upper Canada Quiltworks.

The Quilter's Review Guide to
Picking a Sewing Machine You'll Love - by Sharon Darling

Most of you are already familiar with Sharon through her interesting and valuable, weekly Quilter's Review newsletter. If you are not, click on the link, sign up for it, and prepare to be very pleased that you did.

Sharon has written a comprehensive 58-page book with all of the information you will need to help you to choose either your first machine or an upgrade. I think one of the most important aspects of her book is that she does not tell you which machine to buy; she guides you to pick the machine that is right for you.

Learn to identify your sewing machine needs, the features to consider (all of which are listed and described) how to finance or pay for it, how to test sewing machines (you will be able to test with confidence) how to ask informed questions of your dealer, how to choose a dealer, advice on making your purchase and getting the best value, what to do with your old machine, and much more. The book is loaded with valuable information and good tips.

This is a must-have for those of you and your friends who are in the market for a new sewing machine. Be sure to let them know about it, too!

One of the exciting things about Picking a Sewing Machine You'll Love, is that it is available as an instantly downloadable eBook! There is no need to wait to receive it in the mail. If you prefer, it is also availabe as a CD-ROM.

Visit Sharon's site to view some of the pages from her book and to order either the eBook or the CD-ROM.

Quilt Tools - Circle Template

You can likely tell from this photo that my template has been around for a long while. Indeed, my husband and I both used it during our teaching years and I now use it in my quilting.

This one is very handy for drawing perfect circles in a variety of sizes with the largest having a 1 1/2" diameter.

Quilt Site

Five Bucks A Yard - This is a brand new site! It was begun by two mothers who love sewing and crafting. They had a wish to make quilt fabric more affordable for quilters. Their fabric is advertised as being first quality, 100% quilt fabrics from current lines, discontinued lines, and closeouts. Fabrics are from well known manufacturers such as Moda, RJR, P & B Textiles, Robert Kaufman, and more. All fabric is $5 per yard!

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 brand new to sewing. What do selvage, bias, lengthwise grain and crosswise grain mean?

A: Selvages are the finished edges of the fabric. They often have the manufacturer's name printed on them and also the colours used in the quilt. Those colours are good guides for helping you to match solids and prints to the particular fabric.

A: It is a style of quilting which runs parallel to the edges of a patchwork or appliqué piece or 'echoes' or mimics/copies its outer shape. Often several quilting lines are used to echo an appliqué - usually enough to fill in a block.

Q: What is a freedom quilt?

A: It is a quilt made in the 19th century, usually made by a young man's female relatives and given to him on his 21st birthday. Often, each person would make a different block and sign it. The young man would keep this for his future marriage.

September's winner is : grampysr@.....................

October's winner is : recmwiens1967@.....................

November's winner is: DGL8@.................

Congratulations! September's and October's winners will receive our new Boo Bags pattern in PDF format. (It comes in three sizes.) November's winner will receive our new Santa Stocking pattern, also 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

Some Real Groaners:

A bicycle can't stand alone because it is two-tired.
What's the definition of a will? It's a dead giveaway.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count hat votes.
She had a boyfriend with a wooden leg, but broke it off.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist you get repossessed.
With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat minor.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia — the LAN down under.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted. 'Taint yours and 'taint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
A plateau is a high form of flattery.
The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture is a jab well done.
Marathon runners with bad footwear suffer the agony of defeat.

- Author Unknown

Thoughts

CHOICES:

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural  motivator.  If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the  situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!  You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have  two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood. I  choose to be in a good mood."

"Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to  learn from it."

"Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of  life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your  mood."

"You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I  reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved  in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications  tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any  better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to  see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied.  "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to  live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I  asked.

He continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read  'He's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John.  "She asked if  I was allergic to anything. 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

Over  their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to  the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I  learned from him that every day we have the choice to live  fully.

Attitude, after all, is  everything.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew  6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about  yesterday.

God Bless, and smile, it could be  contagious.

- Author Unknown

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.

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