Maria Michaels Designs

October Newsletter

Note: I am in the process of searching for our earliest newsletters and copying them into our archives. Not all of the images survived so you will find several missing. This will be remedied as soon as possible. My apologies for the inconvenience. Maria

October is an exciting month. On this side of the world, thoughts turn to Autumn. In Canada we look forward to Thanksgiving Day and in the U.S. our neighbours to the south celebrate Columbus Day. Then there is the excitement of Halloween which busies many mothers and grandmothers with the sewing of costumes for their children and grandchildren.

Here's wishing you a happy, healthy October!

News

We are very pleased, excited, and honoured to be the September and October Spotlight on the

Future Heirlooms site. Click on the link to see many beautiful quilt block designs and while you are there, sign up for their newsletter. As an added incentive, you will also find a photo of Maria and Michael has been included. (Say I with a very big grin!)

In appreciation, starting this month, subscribers who send in Hints, Tips, How-To's or Questions which are published in our newsletter or added to our website, will receive a 10% discount on a pattern of their choice. Past questions which have not appeared can be resubmitted.

Apology

Last week, while cleaning up my mailbox, I was dismayed to find that I had sent a thank you message to one of our subscribers with a typo in it. I accidentally left the "o" out of the greeting "Hello." It must have seemed strange indeed - to say the least! I sent an apology and wish to send one to everyone else who may have received such an error. My hope is that it was an isolated mistake, not a repeated one.

Book Review

Create Your Own Quilt Labels - by Kim Churbuck

Let everyone know you made that beautiful quilt. Learn step-by-step how to design, colour, shade, and add borders to your labels. Included are more than 65 ready-to-trace patterns. You'll find hearts, flowers, sewing notions, and garden motifs among them.

Cross Stitch Greetings Cards - by several authors

This book includes designs from Sam Hawkins, Helen Phillips, Sue Cook, Julie Cook, Maria Diaz, Susan Penny, Mari Richards, Ann E. Wilson, Lesley Teare, and Claire Compton.

It is a charming collection of over 130 original designs for every occasion - weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, baby welcomes, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and more.

Needleworker's Companion - by Shay Pendray

This book is one you'll turn to for quick answers to your needleworking questions. It includes a glossary of techniques, instructions, illustrations for stitches, and more. It is the perfect size to carry in your bag or tote.

*Remember to support your local library and quilt shop.

Our Monthly Draw

Every month subscribers to our newsletter have an opportunity to win a free pattern. This month's winner has several choices: our needlepoint pattern Evergreen or the first or second pattern grouping in our Santa's Visit Blocks of the Month (The pattern for the second grouping will be ready to mail out next week.) or our newest pattern, Not Mushroom.

Evergreen

Waiting!	Coming!	G-o-i-n-g!	Gone!

Here!	Filled!	Going!

Not Mushroom

Our winner for the month of October is jcdone@...................

Congratulations! Please send us your name, mailing address, and pattern choice, and your pattern will be sent on its way.

Winners have a month to claim their prize. This month's must be claimed before the November newsletter is announced.

[Please note that names, email addresses, and postal addresses will be kept strictly private. They will not be shared. They are only used for our newsletters, announcements, and mailing of prizes.]

Questions and Answers

Q: I love lighthouses, and I would like to make a wall hanging of 4 or 6 paper-pieced lighthouses (not too complicated). However, I haven't been able to find any
patterns for this. Any hints? - Angie

A: I asked quilt designers if they knew of any patterns for Angie. They recommended three sites with paper-pieced patterns, some appliqué, and some that used templates. These are the links:

http://www.quiltwoman.com/b_show_dtl.cfm?r=359 - paper pieced

Denise McKenna sent a photo of her paper pieced pattern of two sailboats and a lighthouse.

To order, email her at meadowlb@mountaincable.net .

www.netonecom.net/~elf/ - These can can be freezer paper pieced, or foundation pieced.

http://mandldesigns.com/page17.html & http://mandldesigns.com/page20.html - templates

I'm not sure of the techniques used, but there are also some nice patterns at these sites:
http://www.quiltbus.com/lighthouse.htm
http://www.quiltzine.com/printblocks36a.asp
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/KQShopping/partslookup.asp?querytype=desc - where there are two.

http://quilterswarehouse.com/acatalog/Warehouse_Catalog__October__365.html

Interesting Sites

Everyone who enjoys chocolate is going to love The Shopping Place! It's a great way for chocolate lovers to find online retail shops, information, and answers to chocolate questions. Coffee is an added feature. You will find a complete range of chocolate and coffee sites, publications, references, resources, recipes, and much more. You can even ask the experts all of your chocolate and coffee questions. Yum!

Quilting Sites

Wood Quilt Pins is a site with a free colour sheet quilt sampler. Look to see if one of your favourite patterns is among the 12 offered. It's a good way to try different colour ideas. On the left side of the page, click on the free colour sheet link, then click on the sampler.JPG. Press print.

Quiltshops.com has some "cool tools" and those are the words you click on to find Design Walls and a Fabric Calculator which will come in handy when you are planning your next quilt.

"And Waved to Me" is a web page with a free, American, patriotic flag pattern which has appeared in the Coldwater Creek catalogue.

Quilting Tools

Angela Madden's Circle Slice Ruler

There's a little missing off the right side of the photo. It didn't quite fit into my scanner. - The circles you see behind the ruler are what was left after I used up all my fabric grippers on other rulers. It grips well, too.

I first saw this ruler used when Angela Madden was a guest on Nancy Zieman's PBS show, "Sewing with Nancy." It is a simplified protractor which is quite useful for both designing and patchwork. It makes designs based on circle divisions quite easy to do. It takes the inaccuracy out of drafting precise angles. It is used to draft patterns in Angela's books, "Magic Celtic" and "Slice Up a Circle" and can also be used with her book, "Paradise Flowers."

Computer Tips

If you don't have antivirus software, you should have. Your computer needs protection from viruses, hackers and junk mail - all of which can be had for free.

The free antivirus program called AVG can be found at www.grisoft.com . It comes highly recommended. One expert states that it is an excellent program, one which has saved his computer three times in the last few months. It is updateable.

An excellent free firewall called ZoneAlarm can be found at www.zonealarm.com . It stops both inbound and outbound adware and spyware.

Humour

A New Twist on Some Old Sayings.

1. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
2. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.
3. A day without sunshine is like... night.
4. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
6. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
7. Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.
9. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
10. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted then used against you.
11. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
12. Honk if you love peace and quiet.
13. Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?
14. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
15. It is hard to understand how a cemetery raised its burial cost and blamed it on the cost of
living.
17. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
18. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try and pass them.
19. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
20. Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world's population.
21. The things that come to those who wait are usually the things left by those who got there first.
22. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
23. It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
24. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
- author unknown

Thoughts and Inspiration

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
- Albert Einstein

Please feel free to share this newsletter with your friends by sending them this link - http://mariamichaelsdesigns.com/newsletteroct.htm. However, only subscribers are eligible to win free patterns. Your questions, suggestions, wishes, and recommendations are welcomed.

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