Historical cemetery of the day

The state of Rhode Island has nearly 3000 historical cemeteries. If I counted correctly, Westerly has 97 if those.  Even many natives don't know this one, in Watch Hill, exists. Yet it's just a block away from the center of the village, a couple hundred yards past this lovely old yacht. 

Here's RI Historical Cemetery #31, 

containing approximately 100 graves with stones dating from 1740 to 1830. You can see headstones, many barely peeking up from the ground.

 Sadly, this lovely stone broke off its base. The carving is barely visible, it appears to be a setting sun. The name and date of the person interred below is no longer legible.

A lovely autumn morning...

and a good time to take advantage of the sunshine before the rainy weekend arrives. This happy fellow greets visitors to Smith's Flower & Farm here in town.  

Quilting Spooky- A freebie for you

Now that your Halloween quilt top is completed and is ready to be quilted (you DO have a Halloween quilt, don't you?), you need a quick and easy quilting design. If you have basic free motion quilting skills, you can do "Loopy Bats." 

Upcoming Events

October 3 I will be teaching "Take Four", a set of four placemats designed by Cary Flanagan of Something Sew Fine. The class will be held at Quilts & More, Mill Pond Plaza, Westerly, RI.

October 14 I will be doing a trunk show for members of the Clamshell Quilters at the Waterford Community Center, Waterford, CT; the next day I will be teaching my pattern "Earth, Air, Fire, Water", pictured above.

Oct. 23, 24, and 25 I will be vending at the Ninigret Quilters show (this is my local guild), at the Westerly Armory, Westerly, RI

And yet another pattern...

Totes for Two is my newest pattern, a pair of matching Mother/Daughter tote bags. It's a very simple pattern, using 1 yard each of two great fabrics for both totes. Every piece is individually lined, so by the time the tote is stitched together, all the lining is already there- no fussy finishing work left to do before you can enjoy your bags. Although it makes two items, it is not a Patty Piper pattern because each tote is individually cut and sewn. On the Patty Piper patterns, you cut, stitch, cut again, and create two quilts from the (already partially sewn) pieces.

Totes for Two, all the Patty Piper patterns, and more, will be available at the New England Quilt Designer's Cooperative booth at the Greater Hartford Quilt Guild show this weekend in New Britan, CT. Stop in to say hi. Mention this blog and get a free gift!

Who is Patty Piper...

and why does she piece in pairs? 

     Patty Piper is my alter ego. She's notoriously frugal with my stash, and tries to create quilts that make use of the scraps that would otherwise be tossed or, even worse, find a home in a dark corner of my sewing room where they could propagate like rabbits. She rears her quilty head from time to time.

    Patty Piper pieced pinwheels; painless pointless ones to be exact. And from those pinwheels she created two quilts. Not satisfied to end there, Patty Piper tackled circles next- twice! A remnant of Parrot home-dec fabric got Patty's creative juices going with Patty Piper Strikes Again (see photo in previous post). Knowing some quilters prefer smaller projects, Patty then pieced a pair of pretties for the dining room, Dinner with Patty Piper.

Sneak Peak

Here's an upcoming pattern hanging on my first clumsy attempt at assembling my gridwall display.