Lori Kennedy Archives - Gray Barn Designs

Cindy here! It’s January and very snowy in Ohio. I decided to design a Snowflake Mini Quilt just for fun. What do you think?

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I used two metallic prints from Hoffman Fabrics Sparkle and Fade Line. These fabrics have shimmery metallic details and reminded me of how fresh snow glistens on a sunny day.

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I used two different shades of gray paint to stencil the word “SNOW”. Then I machine quilted around each letter.

When I added the circles to the block, I used a few dots of fabric glue to tack them down, but fusible web or hand applique would work too! The circles were a challenge to quilt because I had to keep lifting my presser foot and rotating every few stitches.

I am still practicing machine quilting with my walking foot and straight lines. I decided to use Lori Kennedy’s advice about alternating areas of dense stitching with areas of minimal stitching. I like the contrast — especially for smaller projects like this.

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Like the pattern? Give it a try and send us a picture!

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You can download the FREE Snowflake Pattern from the link below:

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Old Faithful lives in my sewing room! This is the machine Sandy and I learned to sew on, isn’t it beautiful?

Old Faithful has been with us throughout our lives. She helped make Kindergarten smocks when we didn’t even know how to sew. She acted as our quilting mentor and helped us learn how to sew a straight stitch. She mended jeans, helped complete Home Economics projects, made prom dresses, hemmed mini skirts, repaired blanket bindings and the list goes on!

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Old Faithful was made in 1956 and has a nice sewing cabinet to live in. The cabinet is being refinished well, I mean, at least I started to refinish it! So Old Faithful sits on a counter overlooking Inspiration Point (aka my sewing room) until she is back home in her original sewing cabinet.

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Old Faithful has all metal parts and attachments. The attachments still work, even the one that makes ruffles! I remember when ruffles were the fashion rage (whew, glad that fashion statement rests in the past!) and I made a long dress with a big ruffle. I thought I was such a seamstress using the ruffle attachment with yards and yards of fabric! I just hummed along letting Old Faithful do all the gathering work.

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Mom has always been good about saving manuals and original boxes. The manual below contained all the information about how to use Old Faithful and her attachments. We didn’t need the Internet, we had a hard copy manual!

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Since Old Faithful has been so good to us, I decided to make a quilted cover for her until I get the cabinet refinished. I’ve been playing with pinwheel designs and here is what I started.

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