Seeing the World with a Quilter's Eyes

Heard a rumor that you finished all of your quilting projects. True? Or just a belated April Fool's joke? Whether you really are at the finish line, or you're still struggling to finish that same-old-same-old, why not take a break and enjoy this week's photos.

No matter where you go, you're bound to run into an idea or two that remind you of quilting. Saturday morning was the First Presbyterian Church's Spring Fling and where I discovered a good new/old idea. See what I mean?


Adults helped students reuse and recycle much-loved quilts into artful creations to be sold at the spring event. It was a great idea for resurrecting old quilts and helped raise over $5,000 for local missions. Wahoo!

Maybe you have a tattered quilt or two sitting around. Use your pinking shears to cut out a simple shape, mount the shape on a fabric background, then place in a colorful frame. Presto! New/old art to grace your home, and a perpetual reminder of a quilt that was loved to pieces.

For those of you who love to piece, where do you get your best ideas? The next time you're struggling for inspiration you might try looking high...




and low...


during a visit to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

The Basilica contains a multitude of mosaics (created using over 41 million pieces of glass) throughout the domes and archways. Pair those designs with the amazing floor patterns and soon you'll be thinking . . .

. . . about vines and circles . .


. . . merging border designs . . .


. . . intricate piecing to complement a large motif . . .



. . . and before you know it, you'll be drafting a pattern for a six-pointed star with a tumbling block center.




Once your imagination takes wing, who knows what will happen?


Exchange feathers for something more musical? Or a continuing celebration of looking at the world through a quilter's eyes as you piece your way to simpler times.