Hi all, February already? What happened to January? Wow, that month went fast!!
Hope all’s well at your place. Weather wise it sucks, pretty much for lots of Bellaonline quilters around the globe at the present time. The USA is about to be blanketed in the biggest storm seen in years.

In my home state of Queensland in Australia, we’ve just had floods through our capital city, and now the mother of all cyclones (ever seen in Oz I mean), Yasi, is bearing down on our tropical north and is currently rated at the top of the scale with the most destructive potential. Sitting here in my study writing this newsletter, makes me feel a little sick in the stomach, thinking of the people in the north who have opted to stay with their homes and just how they are bracing for this almighty blow. Again, another nudge from good old Mother Nature reminding us that she’s in charge.

I’ve received some emails from readers this week, letting me know that some of the off-site links on the quilting articles are dead. This is a perennial problem for website editors. We source and link to interesting sites, but unfortunately at any given time the link can be disconnected, and we don’t get the heads up. So at any given time, we can be offering links that are not functioning.

I appreciate my readers letting me know because that prompts me to go back over the lists and update them as regularly as I can. So this week it was all about cats!! I’m currently sorting that list out and will be bringing a new updated set of links shortly. Don’t hesitate to let me know of any dead links that I’m offering you. I appreciate your help.

Last Sunday I posted an article with lots of links on Memory and Signature Quilts after a request from a reader. Here’s the link: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art5037.asp I’ve included a (not very good) photo of a memory quilt I made for my darling on his 50th Birthday. He was really chuffed and it hangs on our bedroom wall.

I had seven photos copied onto fabric (this was 10 years ago, when printing on fabric was very new), and made an attic window quilt. He had a jewellery box full of badges and stuff that he’d collected over the years (including his National Service Army badges, prefect badges, TAA junior flyer badge etc). So I got them out of the box, cleaned them up and pinned them to the hanging. It is a great way to show off these precious things, and I’ve received some lovely comments about it.

So onto my goodies for this week. If I could bring you good weather I would!!

http://www.craftown.com/Dishtowel-Scarecrow.html cute little item to make

http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/2009/06/my-new-sewing-box.html a sweet sewing box

http://www.warehousefabricsinc.com/blog/diaper-bag-with-a-divider/ for the new mom

http://twelvecraftstillchristmas.blogspot.com/2010/07/pillow-buddy-tutorial-part-1.html a pillow buddy tutorial

http://stringthingchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/12/its-string-thing-quilt-tutorial.html another very good tutorial for making string quilts

http://www.clevernesting.com/2010/05/tea-bag-seed-packets-tutorial/ got nothing to do with quilting, but a super idea and incredibly green!!

http://nv-craftenvy.blogspot.com/search/label/bags This is a good idea for a quickie present

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5543310/space_saving_crafts_make_your_own_ironing.html?image=1170392&cat=24 an Ironing Pad to take to workshops

http://www.bustleandsew.com/uploads/scotty_pdf.pdf I have a friend who is a “westie” fan.

That’s all from me this week. My thoughts are with you, where ever you live, whatever your circumstances. (Group Hug). Take care and if possible, try to get some calming quilting done through the week. Will pop in next Wednesday.

Cheerio for now


Judie Bellingham, Quilting Editor
http://Quilting.bellaonline.com

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