Day in Downtown Arts & Crafts Festival Oct 26

If you are going to be in the Fuquay-Varina, NC area, stop by the "Day in Downtown" An Arts & Crafts Festival on Main Street

My quilts and other items will be for sale at Torrey Hill Inc, Handmade Arts & Crafts at 216 S Main Street.

Here are a few of my items you may see there.

Day in Downtown

Saturday, October 26th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Main Street in Historic Downtown Fuquay, NC.  

If you can't come to the festival, please visit my Etsy shop!

Mary

Getting out the Christmas - in September?

It seems so early, it's not even Halloween yet, but I'm getting my holiday items listed in my new Etsy store. This is my first year, so I'm a little nervous about how it's going to go!

Today I thought I'd show off my bed runners. For people who don't want to buy a large quilt, a bed runner is fun, decorative and festive!  Each bed runner is big enough to fit any size bed up to a king size.

Holiday Gifts has patchwork "gifts" with appliqued bows.  I quilted it in an allover holly pattern.

Holiday Squares has pretty green and red squares, quilted in feather designs and motifs.

Modern Stripes has offset stripes.  This was quilted in an allover spiral "ornament" design.

For more details, come visit me at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaryMansonQuilts

Mary

Beach Scene Housewarming Gift

My daughter has bought her first home, and I wanted to make her a house warming gift. She enjoys visiting and going to the beach in North Carolina, and so I made this wall hanging for her...

I based the design on an adaptation of Karen Eckmeier's technique that I saw on an episode of The Quilt Show, and some pictures I saw online.  

I layered the fabrics and cut each seam, then sewed the pieces together rather than top stitch them as Karen does (that worked better for me).  Then I quilted, added embroidery embellishments, fabric painted more blue in the sky and some pelicans, and added the shells.  

I loved the wall hanging so much, I made another one for me!  It's a little larger, but was done in the same way.  I also took some yarn apart and used it for "foam" at the edge of the waves.

The wall hangings went pretty fast, but I have realized I'm not a "random" person, I agonized over which fabrics to use and where to put them!

I'm thinking about doing another one with a night sky and moon.

Mary

The Year in Review

It's been a busy year! December 31 seems like a great day to look back on the quilts I made this year.

(If you click on the pictures, it will take you to my Gallery of Quilts.)

 

I've made custom quilts, purses and decorative items for some wonderful customers and friends. This was my year to start making tee shirt quilts and remembrance quilts (out of children's clothes and Grandma's fabric). As you'll see at the bottom of my pictures, I also "branched out" and made purses, coffee cozies, coasters, and lots of other goodies. For the holidays, place mats, a table topper, coasters, window coverings, and on and on :)

This fall, I also started my web site MaryMansonQuilts.com and my Blog. What an adventure, learning the ins and outs of posting and blogging!

Holmes Fine Gifts invited me to be their Guest Artist at the November 4th Friday - Dicken's Holiday in downtown Fayetteville, NC. This was such a great opportunity for me to showcase my quilts, and offer my holiday items for sale.

 

This has been a wonderful year, and I'm looking forward to 2013!

Happy New Years!

Mary

 

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Earbud Pouch - Tutorial

These earbud holders are a great last minute Christmas gift!  I made a couple, they are very simple to make. Here's the link to the tutorial Earbud Pouch Tutorial by Erin Erickson.

Still busy making good stuff!

Between making several quilts for customers, and getting ready for the 4th Friday Dickens Holiday Celebration in downtown Fayetteville on November 23, I've been busy!

During the Dickens Holiday Celebration, I have been asked to be the featured guest aritst at Holmes Fine Gifts (Holmes Electric), where I will be displaying and talking about my quilts.  Quilts in different sizes and styles will be available for purchase, as well as decorative items and accessories.

Here are a few examples of the things I've been making.  Less than 2 weeks!

This bag is nice and large, with several outside & inside pockets.  It's quilted and reversible, using pretty Christmas fabrics. I'll also have other purses in different sizes and fabrics.

Coffee cup "cozies" and cosmetic bags are always useful and make great gifts.

Insulated curling iron/flat iron travel cases (some with matching cosmetic bags) will also be available.

These place mats with coordinating napkins are so pretty.  I quilted a holly pattern on the "ribbon" area, if you look closely you can see it in the photo.   Several sets in different fabrics.

I also have made a few Christmas bed runners,   They are about 30" wide, and fit almost any size bed.  Each bed runner is a different, unique design.

Back to the sewing machine!!