Meet our August Desire to Inspire Challenger - Miriam Saye
The collection she used is called Chills and Thrills by Shelly Comiskey. This collection is in quilt shops now!
After my morning yoga practice, I
head for my sewing room. It has large
windows and views of my humming bird and bird feeders as well as one of our
ponds and pasture. Sometimes I’m
rewarded with deer wandering through to get a drink or an occasional coyote
bounding across the prairie. We also
attract various ducks and Canadian geese throughout the year. My husband and I along with our three
rescue dogs (a/k/a The Hooligans) feel like we have our corner of paradise on
our farm. Between us, we have his three
sons, my daughter and their various spouses, 9 grandkids (some with spouses),
and grand- and great grand-dogs.
My quilting inspiration comes from
my mom, who at 99, is still making quilts and also sewed our clothes and is a
tailoring whiz. Her mother, my grandma,
also quilted and sewed. Some of my
favorite dresses were made by her from her chicken feed sacks. Various aunts and great aunts also were
quilters.
My Henry Glass fabrics are
beautiful! I love the quality feel and
the fact that the panel is printed perfectly with the grain—no steaming and
tugging with this! My piecing is
accomplished on my Featherweight, and I’m learning free-motion quilting on my
Pfaff 4.0 that I purchased pre-owned through the mail from Prairie Quilt in
Hennessey, Oklahoma. My favorite quilt
shop is The Quilters Patch in Edna, Kansas.
The girls there are all friendly and helpful. Their shop is an oasis for quilters in this
area. The Quilters Patch is my “local”
quilt shop—a 60 mile round trip. All I
have to say is “Road trip!” and the Hooligans ride along in my little red truck
and wait patiently under a big shade tree while I shop for my fabrics.
At The Quilters Patch I purchased
the charcoal with black polka dots fabric.
It’s made by Blank Fabrics, sister company to Henry Glass—both under the
Jaftex Company umbrella.
The VW van pillow is Coastal
Cruiser, a free pattern by Tula Pink.
It’s for my daughter who loves all things VW.
The table topper with 12 hexagons around the perimeter is Merry-Go-Round by Atkinson Designs and one of my favorite patterns.
The star table toppers are
based on my recollection of a workshop I attended about 18 years ago with
Billie Lauder. To the best of my
knowledge, the rest of the projects are my own designs.
I thought the selvedge design was worthy of
leaving intact on the tea towel.
I had fun with the hexagon candle mats and throw.
The treat bags will be full of chocolate chip cookies and caramel corn that I make the day before Halloween. Unlike when I lived in town and had several hundred trick-or-treat seekers, out here we have only a few little ones who really want to come see us at the end of a dead-end road and up our lane.
Because their parents make the effort to bring them here, I like to give them fun treats. I know they will love their glow-in-the-dark bags!
I use mainly Aurifil thread, although the neon thread is from American and Efird (neon yellow). It’s black light sensitive, and I thought it was a fun compliment for the Halloween fabrics. I purchased it on a whim; this was a great time to use it!Sewing these fabrics has been so
much fun! I’m appreciative that although
I don’t have a blog that I was chosen to inspire. The lovely fabrics made it easy to desire to
create, and I hope I’ve done justice to the Chills ‘n Thrills collection. I haven’t run out of ideas—just time. I’ll be making several additional pieces
before moving to Christmas sewing.
Meanwhile, I have to address the envelopes for our grandson’s wedding
invitations in my calligraphy handwriting.
Our granddaughter helped me with
the photography. I think she did an
awesome job! She also had fun with the
glow-in-the-dark and black lights.
Since Henry Glass has a Christmas
collection featuring an antique red pick up truck, I felt it was only
appropriate to feature our ’50 Chevy in Allis Chalmers orange—perfect match for
Chills & Thrills! I hope next year
to see a Henry Glass Halloween or Thanksgiving collection featuring our orange
truck!
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| 1950 Chevy in Allis Chalmers orange—perfect match for Chills & Thrills! |
Again, thank you to Vanessa and
Karen at Henry Glass for selecting me to participate in desire to inspire this
month! I’ve had a blast and would love
to be chosen again.
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| Pumpkin Patch and Goodie Bags that glow in the dark. |
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A ride with Chills and Thrills!
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