So what can I say about such a long absence, but that life happens. I’ve had a challenging few years – health issues, tech issues,to say nothing of the general course of aging! As a designer who is a ‘one woman show’ I found it difficult to lean into more designing, especially as I kept finding so many projects, patterns and fabrics that had been around for a long time (some for years!) and were calling for me to spend sometime trying to complete a few of those. I’m fairly sure many of you gals are finding the same desires as you age. And then when health changes, one finds that these projects don’t get done as fast as they once did! I’m not complaining…just explaining!
So as I dig up my old blogging skills and attempt to deal with my computer which is seriously outdated, I ask for your patience. Back, hip and achillies heel issues will likely dictate that I won’t be posting terribly frequently. Plus I have done no new designs since 2024. You’ll see those photos posted here and can find the patterns on my website DesignAndBeMary.com. I am proud of these last designs. You will see that I am challenging stitchers to consider the use of various materials such as cork, beads and other embelllishments. Who knows if I will feel so inspired once again down the road. It’s not that I have no ideas – HA!! I have been an artist most of my life and have NEVER run out of ideas. Meanwhile I have enjoyed tackling so many projects and will include photos of those here as well.
The photos below show a few of the other projects I managed to finish – some had been started several years earlier! Actually, I had gotten these patterns in order to make a piece for my brother at his northern ‘cabin’ – unfortunately he spent 10 years with Parkinsons and Lewy Body and after he passed I couldn’t face the patterns till some time had passed. The two embroidered wall quilts took a fair amount of time and of course I had to ‘make it mine’ by adding coloring with fabric pastels – which I decided added a lot of interest in the embroidered squares. One of these has been gifted to my nephew and his wife for their northern abode.
Somehwere in the fall of 2024, I had come into some orange wool and couldn’t resist trying to make a few pumpkins. Was very fun and used up a lot of left over quilt batting, although it was interesting to find the dried stems…who would have thought?? Anyway, I had a relaxing time with some wool and passed several of these on to friends.
These next photos below are some projects that I completed using pre cuts – not something I normally do. I just purely liked working with prints/colors that I might not have worked with before. I also used these quilts to ‘practice’ quilting with my George. The orange and blue quilt was donated to a womens shelter. The soft brown/green quilt was also made of precuts – and each square was the product of the ‘add an inch slice’ (OK – that’s my terminology…you lay a 1″ strip across the square, stitch a quarter inch seam on each side and the square will remain the same size!) This quilt was also gifted to my nephew and his wife. The third quilt is a hand applique/quilted Hawaiian quilt that I did for myself. It was designed by a Hawaiian designer Poakalani whose family has designed Hawaiian quilts for several generations. This is from his series of quilts for every state…of course it is the Showy Lady Slipper that represents Minnesota. I have done other Hawaiian quilts but this was the first time I used a color for the motifs. I enjoyed the process and the finished quilt.
The last photo below here is a very special quilt to me. First you must know that I am a very sentimental person. I had a box of hankerchiefs that I had kept for years. Some had been given to me by my aunts, etc. on special occasions, as few my mother had given me or bought for me, and a few were my mothers and I brought them home after she passed. For you younger stitchers, hankerchiefs were very much part of a ladies accessories! (And my kids – now adults – just wrinkled their noses at the idea of ‘carrying around your snot’!! lol!!) As I ran across them in my drawer, I wondered just what would happen to them when I passed. Seredipity happened and I found an article on how to fold a hankerchief into a dress – NO cutting!! So I started folding….and then I wondered what to do with the folded dresses. I thought about my mother’s generation that mostly wore ‘house dresses’ – and hung them on the line to dry. Thus began this applique quilt I titled ‘My Mother’s Clothesline’ I had fun filling out the lines with other period accessories such as brassieres, undies, slips, etc. all the while having fond memories of our clothesline out back of our home. The outside border of 9 patches were made with another box of scraps fabrics given to me by my aunt (my mother’s sister) who lived on the family homestead – I had these for years! Now was their time. While it was not so fun to deal with older fabrics and having to cut all the 1″ squares by hand, I did have fun wondering which one of my mother’s sisters had chosen to use each fabric! (Sadly they are all passed on) I added a scallop border which seemed to match the time period of the dresses and other fabrics. I chose a ‘vintage looking’ backing fabric in one of my mother’s favorite colors. It was hand quilted. The fun news is that it won a major award for hand quilting at the Minnesota State Fair in Fall 2025- as shown in this photo. However, it went on to win one of the top ‘big’ awards at the Minnesota Quilters Show in 2025 – exemplary hand quilting. I truly was humbled…If only my mother had been there to see it!!
Last but not least I am posting a number of photos of the project that has consumed most of the last year. I did not expect to finish it in that time frame, but since my health had me chair bound more than I appreciated, I did get more stitching done. This is a quilt that I made based on an ‘old’ pattern called ‘Woodland Creatures’ by a Rosemary Mahkon, a Canadian artist. She passed in 2014. I ran across the pattern in a quilt shop in Chamberlain, South Dakota several years ago. I understand that the pattern was offered as a block of the month for the 9 18″square center animals…the borders were purchased separately. The pattern was written for typical cotton applique. I decided to challenge myself to make an entirely wool quilt based on her designs. I do have to say that her directions tended to be pretty minimal and so I really just used the basic designs and figured out the layering, etc. myself. I used some prized Pendleton lightweight wool yardage that I had picked up several years ago as background and backing. I figured I had saved it long enough! (To really amaze you, I believed I paid about $9.00 a yard for it!) Anyway, it was lots of preparation, prepping the pattern pieces, picking appropriate wools many of which are hand dyed, prepping backgrounds, getting all the (Valdani sz. 12) threads picked out, and then figuring out all the stitches and ways to create textures, etc. Once all the top was completely appliqued, etc. I hand quilted it. I also made the decision to paint the pebble quilting in the borders with oil based ‘Paint Stiks’ – not for the faint of heart!! That took considerable time doing as well as letting it ‘cure’ and become permanent. I am however very happy with the results. Oh…one more thing …this IS a heavy quilt (80″X 101″). LOL! My ‘almost daughter in law’ has her eyes on this quilt – she likes weighted blankets! Before I will be surrendering it, I will be entering this in the Minnesota State Fair this year…and hopefully entering it in the Minnesota Quilters show next summer. Enjoy the photos!
Well I am off to fix supper…..no small task these days as my DH had a major heart surgery 6 months ago and we are now trying to eat low sodium. It’s been a challenge to set aside a life time of my go-to recipes and relearn how to make them a new way, much less get used to the lower salt taste! Then again – if you ever look at the amount of salt in the most surprising things – it certainly explains why there is more heart disease.
It’s nice to connect again. Stay well and enjoy some stitching!
