Erin Underwood Quilts

Someone told me you can re-purpose those plastic grocery bags – and not just by using them as liners for your smaller cans… If you are a knitter or crochet guru, you can actually make bags and more out of those pesky plastic grocery bags. I do neither but am thoroughly impressed just the same!

Check out this video – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRFxhIHd8Q&NR=1#watch-main-area

Come and check out the new addition to  my workshops and gallery pages!  I have uploaded better pictures of those tiny purses (renamed Pocket Purses).  I blogged about in December and have since finished quite a few. They are just adorable as well as functional! I just  love them!  And happily, I will be teaching them at Bear’s Paw in Towson in March.

I needed quick Christmas gifts and came up with this! I think they’ve turned out so well, I may have to keep making them after the holidays are over. The back of the bag and the front pocket are crazy-patch piecing. Then I used my machine embroidery stitches and a bit of hand-sewn beads and baubles to embellish.  A cell phone and glasses will fit nicely in the front – perfect for festivals, quilt shows and shopping trips where you don’t want to haul around a shoulder-breaking handbag.

Ok – Who has gotten their holiday quilts out yet? Its about that time! I am slowly bringing them out – but I hesitate to decorate too much – mainly because I’ve got to pack it all away again later.  Hence the first quilt out is always the most useful – the one I can snuggle under while watching TV. This quilt  was made from several Flying Geese Quilt Guild Christmas block exchanges over the years.

The second quilt was also a block exchange from a mini-group. It is versatile enough to stay out til February or March. Love the embellishing on the snowmen!

Just uploaded a quilt I finished last month on a trip to NC,  October Trees –  the end result of a long block exchange project. There were so many trees exchanged that I couldn’t use them all in this quilt.  I just loved making this quilt so much. It was the inspiration for my new Tessellating Trees Table Topper.  Check out my gallery to see better pictures.

As I was trekking around Beaufort, NC this weekend, I found one of the two nearby quilt shops and discovered this book. It is very similar to my Diamond Star pattern but is a  much more complicated pattern. The finished star is 6-sided, not 8 like mine, and the samples were breathtaking. Check out this link to see the book.  http://www.softexpressions.com/software/books/4I30505.php

Then the woman staying in the room next to me was a quilter and as she was toting her luggage, including sewing machine, out – I spied this terrific book in a pocket of her suitcase.  She generously allowed me to peruse it. Wow – a pineapple diamond block. Check it out! I was blown away. http://www.softexpressions.com/software/books/PineapStars.php