Fine art to funky traditional: life and quilting
Summer seems to slipping by ever-so-gently. I’ve enjoyed these days of summer with my family, not doing anything particular, just being together. So much has happened, I’ll need to catch you up:
my birthday gift of two parakeets. I named them Boo and Scout, taken from To Kill a Mockingbird
we adopted an adorable 7-week-old Lab mix [...]
I guess that’s an unanswerable question, isn’t it? How can you put a price on what each of us deems beautiful?
Since we’re quilters, our stash is a beautiful thing, one we would loathe to put a price on. Those quilts are works of love going to cherished family members, people in need, and our own [...]
Now that it’s official, I can announce Color Mastery is a Benjamin Franklin award winner for Best Craft Book of 2009. The Independent Book Publishers Association developed the awards to honor excellence in book publishing by independent presses. David and I flew to NYC, attended the awards, and celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in Little [...]
Welcome to the June Color-of-the-Month slideshow, offering tips on using blue in your quilt palette. Blue is a perennial favorite with quilters, and this month’s slideshow shows you how to take blue to an entirely new level! This month I host Marcus Fabrics, Yolanda Fundora, Barbara Campbell, and Edyta Sitar, sharing fabric designs [...]
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Stars & Stripes, the June pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.
June’s featured color is blue, a perennial favorite with quilters of all styles. Stars & Stripes shows you how to coordinate different blues while avoiding an over-matched appearance. Discover how to coordinate varying color intensities, [...]
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Sunflower Summer, the May pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.
May’s featured color is yellow, which so many quilters find to be challenging and avoid using. No more! Sunflower Summer shows you how to make yellow play well with others, giving yellow a chance to mingle and [...]
What a week we’ll be having: Judith won last week’s Color Mastery Goes Viral contest, I’ve announced a new social media scavenger hunt contest this week over at Color Mastery (the quilting industry’s first ever!), and tomorrow debuts the May color-of-the-month! Wow – I think I need to sit down and prop up my feet. [...]
I did promise prizes didn’t I? Contests too. I deliver on my word: Over at my Color Mastery blog I announced the first of four weekly contests I’ll be holding to celebrate Color Mastery being a Best Craft Book of 2009 Finalist. What’s up for grabs? That gorgeous Wildflower jelly roll, a Love Apple table [...]
The Spring Tulips table runner uses a lot of half-square triangles (HSTs) in the pieced tulips blocks. In fact, every table runner I’ve designed so far uses them. For much of my early years as a quilter, cutting and piecing accurate HSTs was a mystery to me. I followed all of the instructions, tried the [...]
Welcome to the April Color-of-the-Month slideshow, offering tips on using green in your quilt palette and featuring stunning color palettes that celebrate spring. This month I host Susan Branch, Jan Patek, Franchelle Contreras, and Pat Sloan, sharing fabric designs and gorgeous quilts. Get inspired to create a fabulous spring project and remember to support the [...]
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Spring Tulips, the April pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.
I’m celebrating spring’s arrival with a picnic on the new Spring Tulips table runner. I’m so excited to see spring’s explosion of color after such a harsh winter that was spare in its color landscape. My favorite part [...]
Maeve Binder! Congratulations! A kit of Kennesaw Mountain’s reproduction fabrics are on their way to your mailbox. Thank you to everyone who forwarded my newsletter on to their friends, guild newsletter editors, program chairpersons, Pres. Obama’s press secretary, Geronimo Stilton, Matt Lauer, and ooops! Found myself getting carried away.
If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter, [...]
A newsletter, please. March issue, with the recipe for Varsity chili dogs on the side. That’s right – my March newsletter is out and I’m including all kinds of exciting news, another giveaway, and my own recipe for Varsity-style chili dogs. Did you know the actual recipe for Varsity Chili dogs chili actually appeared in [...]
Sherry Hogan! Congratulations Sherry on winning Kay’s precious book, Dolls & Dresses to Applique. I’m also excited to announce Kay Mackenzie will be my special guest on the Color-of-the-Month forum in April, so if you haven’t joined as a subscriber, now is the time. Kay will be sharing her applique wisdom and answering questions during [...]
My buddy and applique guru Kay Mackenzie (Easy Appliqué Blocks) has a brand new book out called Dolls & Dress to Appliqué and it’s just perfect for the mom, grandmom, or woman wanting to play with fabric paper dolls! Here’s my exclusive interview with Kay about her newest offering:
Q: What was your inspiration for [...]
Creative Quilters, I’d like to introduce you to Kennesaw Mountain, the March pattern update to our year-long color-of-the-month series.
Inspired by the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War in 2011, this table runner gets its name from a battlefield near my home in north Georgia. The red-violet, mustard-yellow, and yellow-green reproduction fabrics [...]
February is almost over, and I’ll miss our look at everything pink this month. Being the only woman in a household of boys and men, it was delightful to play with pink fabrics, thread, pomegranates, baskets, and paints. I don’t want to say adieu, but March calls.
A couple more peeks at pink. I’ve shared this [...]
I’m thrilled to announce I’m offering kits to go along with each monthly table runner in the Color of the Month series. The Winter Bird and Love Apple kits are available in the online store, and they contain the same fabrics I used in my own quilt, with a few substitutions. No worries, though, as [...]
Congratulations to Sandra Davidson for winning the exceedingly tall FQ bundle from Robert Kaufman! Over 20(!) FQs will be arriving in your mailbox soon as a thank you for subscribing to my blog. Isn’t a big bundle of pink fabrics a lovely surprise to find in your mailbox during February’s cold days? We missed the [...]
You did it! 150 subscribers to the Quilts & Creativity blog. I’m so proud that my corner of creativity is reaching so many around the world. Thanks for the blog love and I’m giving everyone the weekend to subscribe and enter the drawing for the big FQ bundle. If you’ve never subscribed to blog before, [...]
In the month of hearts, roses, and valentines, pink is a natural for February. Being the only woman in my home, I enjoy touches of pink here and there, so I had a blast putting together this month’s show. Nine terrific designers and fabric companies offer their tips for using pink in a [...]
Creative Quilters, I’d like you to meet Love Apple, the February update to my new Color-of-the-Month pattern series:
Learn by Doing
This month’s color lesson is all about value, and you’ll learn how to work within a single color palette and still get enough lights, mediums, and darks to make your baskets and pomegranates stand out. Then [...]
The cupcakes were baked, decorated, and ready to be nibbled on in a ladylike manner. My studio was sparkling, ready for the Mom & Me Quilter’s Tea guests to take a tour. Their parents won the experience at a silent auction for my son’s school. Books autographed, check. Camera, check. All done a day before.
My [...]
The January issue of my newsletter is out and it’s filled with promise for the new year. While some resolutions are drudgery (losing weight and going to bed earlier), I personally like to cloak mine with fun opportunities. Like exploring a new aspect of my creativity. My latest newsletter helps me and [...]
Look what the post man delivered today to my mailbox! My Top Ten Habits article is on the cover of the Feb/Mar Quilter’s Newsletter magazine above the masthead. Woo-hoo. I’m thrilled, proud, and humbled all at the same time. My husband and I are going out to dinner tonight to celebrate. In the [...]
Welcome to award-winning publisher, author, and quilt artist Maria Peagler's online studio and classroom. Relax, have some fun, and take a look around. You'll find quilts, free lessons and ebooks, all in an uncluttered, ad-free environment. Keep checking back, I've always got something new. Better yet, subscribe to my blog!
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