Michele Muska
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Circle of Friendship Splendid Sampler #59

9/3/2016

13 Comments

 
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When Pat and Jane asked me to be a part of the Splendid Sampler I immediately decided to use the Dresden wedge. 
The Dresden has always been my favorite shape and so versatile!
​My color palette is usually very different but when I received my fabrics I thought my little block needed to be more traditional. Once again I have completely fallen in love with hand stitching so I decided to quilt my block by hand.
​Its been so exciting to watch all the creative and beautiful blocks and quilts emerge from all over the world through the Splendid Sampler project. You ladies are really amazing!
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I used the EZ Quilting mini Dresden ruler by my friend Darlene Zimmerman. They are made to work with jelly rolls as well so super easy to use and cut out.
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At first I played around with the shapes to decide what I wanted to do but of course the circle won out! Hence the name of the quilt block "Circle of Friendship" just seemed right.
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Also got to play with my favorite iron from my friends at Oliso! I actually love raw edges so I was very tempted to leave it as is. Please don't look too closely at a few of my wonky seams.... I did take them out and redo but forgot to take a new photo! Really!!!
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Aurifil sent along some beautiful thread for me to work with!
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Playing with the seam allowance will give you an open circle in the middle of your plate. I like to often use that trick to make different size circles with the same size wedges. Next I just folded under the raw edges and pinned to the background strips.
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My stitches are not always perfect but I'm ok with that. I find hand stitching so relaxing so I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I's been hard to find a thimble that I really like so if any of you have a suggestion I would be so happy to hear it. You will occasionally see me with a bunch of band aids on my finger tips!
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I hope you try my little block! It's super easy and so much fun!!! Come back to visit my blog so you can see what other fabrics I am going to use or look for me on Instagram under Michele Muska. Please request to follow me if you like.
​So happy I could share my block with you all!
​Michele
13 Comments

"Quilting the New Classic" 20 Inspired Quilt Projects Traditional to Modern Designs

10/20/2014

69 Comments

 
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So excited that you could join me to celebrate my new book "Quilting the New Classics". Over the next 2 weeks as you follow along our blog hop you will get to see how many of the quilts were made or what inspired these amazing designers.

please leave me a comment before Nov. 3rd and you may be the winner of a copy of "Quilting the New Classics"
or you may purchase here:

http://www.amazon.com/Quilting-New-Classics-Inspired-Traditional/dp/1936096803/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413753154&sr=1-1&keywords=michele+muska


  All quilters draw inspiration from the past. But how do today's artisans put their personal stamp on classic patterns? Twenty influential quilters from across the stylistic spectrum present their unique creative vision of timeless designs. Each pattern, Double Wedding Ring, Crazy Quilt, Dresden Plate, Bear Paw, Log Cabin, Nine Patch, Hexagon, Yo-Yo, Flying Geese, and Rail Fence, comes with step-by-step instructions for two adaptations, one traditional, the other modern.

The book also includes a history of each pattern, images of heirloom or museum-quality quilts for inspiration, easy-to-use templates and essential quilting techniques.
Forwards by Meg cox and Janneken Smucker.
   

Oct. 20th Michele Muska
http://www.lolarae.com/blog.html

Oct.21stLeslieJenison  http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com

Oct. 22nd Janneken Smucker
  http://www.janneken.org/category/blog/

Oct. 23rd Valerie Bothell 
http://pinkbunnykansas.blogspot.com

Oct. 24th Kaari Meng
www.frenchgeneral.blogspot.com

Oct. 25th Elisa Sims Albury 
www.stitchoutsidetheditch.com

Oct. 26th Heather Jones www.oliveandollie.com

Oct.27th Victoria Findlay Wolfe
http://www.bumblebeansinc.blogspot.com

Oct. 28th Amy Smart http://www.diaryofaquilter.com

Oct. 29th Jackie Kunkel http://cvquiltworks.com/blogs/blog\

Oct. 30th Pat Sloan http://blog.patsloan.com/

Oct. 31st Shelly Pagliai
 
http://prairiemoonquilts.com/?page_id=62

Nov. 1st Allie Aller
www.alliesinstitches.blogspot.com

Nov. 2nd Kristin Omdahl
www.styledbykristin.com

Nov.3rd Jaquie Gering
http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/

Nov 3rd Pat Sloan Radio Show 4:00 eastern time
http://toginet.com/shows/americanpatchworkandquiltingradio

“The Voice of Quilting” American Patchwork and Quilting radio show 

 also:
We will be hearing some great inspiration and ideas from some of our contributors newsletters and social media platforms so keep your eye out for them too! 
 Meg Cox with Quilt Journalist Tells All
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs174/1104232497756/archive/1118360019211.html

New York times Best Selling Author Marie Bostwick:
http://www.mariebostwick.com/
and the fabulous...
Megan Frock's www.downtownhousewife.com/
 Marci Elmer Warren, Linda Pumphrey, Bonnie Bus and Darlene Zimmerman's Feedsacklady.com

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Here is my traditional yo yo quilt "Childs Play" being made. 27 Kona solids on a simple quilted grey background. I decided to applique the yo yo's directly to the background to ensure longevity of the quilt's life. Many quilters in the 30's and 40's laid their yo yo quilts on solid backgrounds to show off their handiwork. My son, Logan cut the 300 plus circles for me and all were sewn by hand in the traditional manner. I think its one of those quilts that looks more impressive in person... the colors are so rich and beautiful. It sends me back to my college painting days  working with color theory. It was a joy to make. I think that the quilting looks very simple but Shelly Pagliai mentioned that it really was much harder than it looks!!! Thanks Shelly for such a lovely job on the quilting.

69 Comments

Devon's birthday quilt

10/19/2014

3 Comments

 
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Devon's 29th Brithday quilt!!! He was a bit emotional when he read the label on the back. It was a big accomplishment for me to get it finished in time. Now to make one for Logan!!!
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Laying out in the sun to dry! Used color catchers for the first time... pinned a ton on and held my breath. Worked out pretty well... only a few spots that I don't think anyone but me noticed. I was so excited to give this to him
3 Comments

Make a Fall Stuffed Pumpkin

10/17/2014

1 Comment

 
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My favorite fall recipe is Stuffed Pumpkin!
My Mom made this while I was growing up and my whole family loved it. Now my family loves it too!!!

The first one of the season always tastes the best.

Ingredients:
One small to medium sugar pumpkin
3 organic chicken-herb sausages (out of casings)
1 lb grass fed ground beef
One large Vidalia onion, chopped
Small package of mushrooms, sliced
3 cups cooked rice (I use Trader Joes rice medley)
3 to 4 tlb of butter
salt, pepper, garlic, parsley

Directions: 350 degrees
1. Wash off pumpkin and place in a shallow pan with water
cook for 30 minutes or until its starts getting tender to the touch
(this makes cutting the top and cleaning the pumpkin so much easier)
2. Let cool for 20 minutes
3. Cut out top like you are craving a Jack o Lantern
4. Clean out all seeds and pulp
5. Sauté  onions and mushrooms till they begin to soften
6. Add herbs and spices and mix in cooked rice (rice must be cooked prior to adding to meat mixture)
7. Spoon rice and meat mixture into cleaned out and partially cook pumpkin
8. Replace top and return to oven
9. Bake for another 30 to 40 minutes in shallow baking dish with a small amount of water
10. Scoop out pumpkin and meat mixture.... mash together and add butter!






1 Comment

July 25th, 2013

7/25/2013

2 Comments

 
Now I am going to start sewing my DWR block together.
This quilt pattern has lots of curves and I've been told that lots of pinning is in order! I only wish I knew that before I sewed this piece together..... next time.
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I sewed the 2 black squares onto each end of the arc

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Here is how it looks from the front.

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next, the melon is sewn in place. Here is where lots of pinning comes n handy.

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The two arcs are joined together.

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Next, sew the completed melon to one side of the center piece.

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Sew on the 2nd melon.

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Continue with the 3rd melon

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Complete your ring with the fourth melon and your single ring is complete.

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Lay ring on top of a piece of batting slightly larger then your circle.

2 Comments

DWR Challenge

7/15/2013

0 Comments

 
The New York City Metro Modern Quilt Guild is having a Double Wedding Ring Challenge! I've never made a DWR quilt before and I was feeling a bit intimidated to say the least. But I have had a bit of help with all of the posts from the blog hop and with Darlene Zimmerman's EZ Quilting DWR template available at: www.simplicity.com
see the details and list of prizes here:
http://www.nycmetromodquilters.com/dwr-challenge-2/

So I picked out some fabric and got out my templates. Why don't you do the same and we will start together.
Come visit me weekly while I sew together my first ring!

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I am thinking about using some of these!!!
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Here is the EZ DWR template... go ahead don't be afraid!
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First I cut out the center
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Next I laid out the single arc template and cut out 8 pieces.
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Now its time to cut out 4 melon shapes.
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8 black squares, now that wasn't so bad was it?
Ok. that's enough for one day. I will let you know when I start sewing all the pieces together. It was so much fun so far.... I might have to make more than one. Never say never!
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Playing with how the pieces look together! Not Bad. I think I like it.
0 Comments

20th Anniversary Quilt for The Quilt Alliance auction

4/28/2013

3 Comments

 
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My contribution to the auction. A simple 20 inch square with large stitch thread work and Dresden Plate with Lotta Jonsdotter fabric I purchased at Quiltcon.
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I frist cut out 20 wedges from Darlene Zimmermans EZ Dresden tool. 20 wedges made a circle!
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Sewing the wedges together.
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Completed Dresden Plate
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Sewed the Dresden Plate onto the Rockland white muslin background
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20 orange handstitiched circles with yellow, teal, white and grey thread work
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Using my fav... Oliso iron to smooth every thing out
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Sewed white bias tape around the Dresden plate
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Fitting the center circle
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Orange stitching and pinning onto center
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Some additional yellow thread work in the center
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Adding the binding
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Learned how to mitre the corners from my friend Victoria Findlay Wolfe!
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Pretty much finished!!!
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Close up on thread work... really had fun doing this portion of the quilt
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Nice and crisp iron
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Some additional thread work on the white bias tape
3 Comments

Sat, Apr 13, 2013

4/13/2013

1 Comment

 

Mushroom Barley Soup

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1 Comment

Sat, Apr 13, 2013

4/13/2013

2 Comments

 

Mushroom Barley Soup

I have been making this soup for years and love it. However, i am now searching for a yummy organic pre made broth or cube to use in it.

Recipe:
2 lbs of mushrooms of your choice (like baby bellas or a mixture)
sliced
1 large sweet onion chopped
6 to 8 carrots chopped
garlic powder, parlsey. fresh ground blk pepper, pinch of salt and bay leaf
8 cups water with veggie cube or broth
1 cup barley
sauteed everything except barley and broth till tender
add broth and cook on med low for an hour
bring to boil and add barley
reduce to simmer and cook another half hour

enjoy with some great bread, I'm serving it with a rustic cheese and blk pepper one today
bread like bacon... everying is better with it.







2 Comments

Fri, Apr 12, 2013

4/11/2013

2 Comments

 
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Working on my quilt "20" for The Quilt Alliance auction. It's our 20th anniversary.
20 wedges = a circle
20 orange stitched rings.
Will see what else I can add in that 20.
2 Comments

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