Sometimes, I like to post things that may not pertain to quilting but are extremely interesting. Such is the case today. On a recent trip to visit our daughter in Durango, Colorado, we took a day trip to Silverton. What an awesome place! I ran across the coolest bank in the Wild West. I felt like I had stepped back into the 1800’s.
I am so excited about today’s blog post! My childhood friend and schoolmate is involved in an “epic Quilts of Valor” project. The mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation (QOVF) is to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor.
Sandra Behne completes the first of thirty-five quilts.
A lot of folks think of Memorial Day as a good time for a cookout or to enjoy having the day off, but in reality there is more to the history of Memorial Day. According to the US Departments of Veteran’s Affairs and the Memorial Day History, three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR)—established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. To read more history, click here.
I personally wish to express my appreciation to all of the veterans and our activity military men and women out there. It is because of you that we Americans have our freedom today and for that I am truly grateful.
Sandra Behne lives in Ballinger, Texas. What started out as a simple gesture to make two or three quilts has snowballed into a blessed avalanche. She asked one of the administrators of her “Just Us Quilters” Facebook Group, if she could host a block contribution to gather nine patch blocks—that she would transform into Disappearing Nine Patch star quilts for QOV. She had no idea how great the response would be. In just over a month she has collected 812 blocks! These blocks were stitched by female and male quilters from all over the United States as well as Canada and Australia. Continue reading
Every since I was a teenager my dad has sported a handlebar moustache. He shaved it when my daughter was about two and she was not happy. She could not talk much but she did manage to wrinkle her little eyebrows and crinkle her nose and say, “Papa, no shave ’stache!”
Is it just me? Are handlebar moustaches gaining popularity? I’m sure that I notice them more than most people since Dad has one but they seem to be popping up all over the place.
Handlebar moustache fabric.
Handlebar moustache bandana.
Handlebar moustache beads.
Covered book with handlebar moustache.
And yes, handlebar moustache drawer and cabinet pulls!
I’m curious to know Continue reading
If you have ever looked through the patterns page on my website (www.cameliaelliott.com) or my Facebook page (Camelia’s Unique Creations) you may have ran across my quilted couch.
After finishing this epic project I wanted to publish a quilt pattern with the same block in a wallhanging size as well as all bed sizes.
When placing the “couch quilt” (created with blues and yellows) next to the wallhanging (created with country French fabrics in primary colors) I was amazed at the difference.
One difference was the layout. In the quilted couch, the starbursts are outside of the center kaleidoscope. In the wallhanging, the starburst is in the center.
Both projects are created with the same simple quilt block. Isn’t the difference amazing?
A good lesson to be learned—layout your quilt in various ways to see which option you like the best.
Happy Mother’s Day to all those awesome mothers’ out there! I’m not much of a flower gardener, but my beautiful flower creations come through photograph, quilting and blacksmithing. 
I hope you enjoy the kaleidoscope flower arrangement I have created from photos I took of pansies. Someday, I hope to carry a line of fabric with the various kaleidoscope flower arrangements I’ve created with azaleas, wild azaleas, tulips, dogwoods and pansies.
The Recovering Perfectionist 