My Quilt Zone

I was shocked and saddened to learn today that Nancy Zieman ( Sewing With Nancy ) had passed away after a long, courageous battle with cancer.  I feel like I have lost a close, personal friend.  Nancy was a wonderful sewing teacher who will be greatly missed by thousands of loyal fans who watched her TV show, Sewing With Nancy, since 1982.   Thankfully, you can still see episodes on PBS stations and on YouTube.  Nancy was an inspiration to us all and will be greatly missed. To read her personal goodbye retirement message, go to this link: http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quilting-2/a-personal-note-from-nancy/

For my donation this year to the 2017 SAQA Benefit Auction, I wanted to try doing a series and expand on the theme of moonlight.  I call this little art quilt, Moonlight in Vermont .  It's 12" x 12" per the required size for submission.  I made it for two reasons; (1) I was born in Vermont and (2) It's the title of one of my favorite songs.  I used the same background fabric as in my previous quilt.  I used silver tissue lamé  for the moon again and silver metallic thread for the quilting design and for highlighting the mountain tops.   This time, however,  I used a silver permanent marker to add more highlights to show the moon's shadow on the mountains.  (It sold for $100)

I made this small (12"x12") art quilt for the 2016 SAQA Benefit Auction .  It's called, "Full Moon Over Stonehenge." I used a navy-blue speckled fabric for the night sky background.  I bought some Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott that I used for the vertical sarsen stones and the horizontal lintel stone.  The moon is a piece of very thin, silver lamé fabric, which I bonded to the background with Mistyfuse.  Within the radiating quilting lines, I added some Swarovski crystals for stars.  (It sold for $150.)

I made this Bluebird of Happiness quilt in remembrance of my husband, David, who died in 1986 at the age of 44.   The pattern I used for the bluebird was taken from a coloring book drawing by Florence Sarah Winship.   The background fabric was hand-dyed by Carol R. Eaton  formerly of Shelton, CT.   The song, “ The Bluebird of Happiness ” made famous in 1945 by the opera tenor, Jan Peerce, had special significance for my husband because his father used to sing this song to him when he was a little boy.  Sadly, his father died in 1950 when my husband was only 8 years old. In late 1976, when we had begun dating, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he asked for a copy of this song.    Well, in 1976, the Internet (as we know it today) didn’t exist - and because of that, I spent many weeks of frantic searching, lots of praying and then by a small miracle - I found a vintage record shop (over 50 miles away) in Hartford, CT   that had  the exact song he wante

I made this art quilt to donate to the 2015 SAQA Benefit Auction.  All quilts submitted to the auction must be 12" x 12" in size.  My donation quilt,  Birch Tree   (Genus: Betula),  sold for $100. c. 2015 - Birch Tree (Genus Betula) - V. Millington

By chance, I found this vintage four-drawer silverware cabinet (in like-new condition) in an antiques  warehouse near where I live.  I thought that it could be re-purposed as a sewing thread cabinet so I bought it.  I really love it!  I didn't realize how many spools of thread I had until I started to organize them into one place.  Not only can I see how many and what colors I have, I can see what colors I still need to add to my thread collection.  So far, I have almost filled three of the four drawers. (My little treadle sewing machine music box is sitting on top of a small art quilt made by the late Karen Loprete.) My Thread Cabinet