What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

As you may have read on the Aurifil blog, the Colour Builders program for 2021 has been announced, and sign-ups are now being accepted.  The Colour Builders program is a no-fuss monthly subscription service hosted by your favorite Aurifil thread dealer – that's me! – whereby you receive a curated selection of threads each month, paper-piecing and embroidery patterns using the theme and colours, AND help  out a worthy cause while building your thread stash.  It’s a win all around!

Christmas gifting is as much about the present-ation as it is the present, and with this quick and easy scrap-busting project, you get both.  Who doesn't need a mug rug, especially when they come as sweetly packaged as these?! You can turn your mug rugs into lollipops...

This week I've been hand quilting my Neptune and the Mermaid quilt.  I usually use a hera marker to mark my quilting lines, but this time I've used a blue washout pen because it was hard to see the marked lines on the highly patterned fabrics. 

I always use a hoop when I hand quilt, but I must have taken it off before I took the photo above.  Here it is on another section of the quilt.  

Aurifil 12wt is my favourite thread for hand quilting

I like to experiment with my quilting, so I'm going to ...

neighbour X work in progress X cross stitch X Aurifloss

My current cross stitch project for the year is coming along well, there's been a little bit of unpicking but that is most often the result of late night stitching. The pattern is Love Thy Neighbour by Modern Folk Embroidery and I started stitching it as part of Jacob's Summer Stitch A Long. Summer may be nearly over but I am in no rush to finish. The original pattern is stitched in one colour but like my last finished cross stitch I enjoy making it my own and ...

Introducing my new pattern – The Pink Quilt. Well, it’s not really new but I always wanted to make my Crashing waves quilt in solids, especially pink grunge. Crashing waves was designed in 2015 and made into a kit for Frances Newcombe and my first collection, Manderley with Moda United Notions. I love this pattern...

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 I am happy to say that the commissioned banner has been delivered to its forever home, (pictures to follow) so new projects can now be begun.

Everything is black and gold 

Black and gold tonight;

Yellow pumpkins, yellow moon, 

Yellow candle-light. 

Jet-black cat with golden eyes, 

Did you see him blink? 

Black bats flying overhead 

Shadows black as ink. 

Black and gold, black and gold, 

Nothing in between, 

When the world turns black and gold, 

Then it’s Hallowe’en. 

Are you caught up and ready for the next row?  This week for #AutumnJubilee2020 we do some leaves.  Note that the leaves are not the same size as either of the other rows.  I have deliberately made some variations in size for added interest in the rows.

The leaves row has five blocks with two spacers.  The blocks will finish at 9-inches.

Cutting instructions
Focus Leaf Fabric (cut five sets)
4-inch squares – 2
3-1/2-inch squares – 3
Strip 1-inch x 5-inches – 1
Background total for all five blocks
4-inch squares – 15
3-1/2-inch squares – 5
Sashing strips 9-1/2 x ...

My Glitter quilt is finished! And it won a prize in our guild's exhibition. 

Yes, I won Best Hand Pieced and I was thrilled. Glitter is designed by Jen Kingwell from Australia.  I started my Glitter quilt in a hand piecing class with Jen Kingwell at the Christchurch Symposium in October 2017.  I did promise Jen that it would be finished by October 2019, and the top was finished by then, but I didn't start hand quilting it until January 2020.

Now it's finished, and it will look just right on our bed. I chose the greens ...

Greetings fellow quilters, I hope this post finds you safe and well.

I'm pretty excited to be sharing an Aurifil Thread Matters blog post today.  In these crazy stressful times I'm finding solace in nature...

This months' Amalfi Color Builders threads inspired me to stitch out a native wildflower.

While you're there -- share the post, leave a feedback comment and be sure to come back here and let me know you did. 

Finger Lakes Sunset... a view from #ourkeukahomestead

One ...

What a thrill it was to see my quilt hanging in our guild's exhibition last weekend.  It really glowed in the dark exhibition space. And the rosette on it matched the colours in my quilt perfectly!

I'm just writing this very brief blog post to let you know that won some awards at the Capital Quilters show this weekend.

Next is my "We Built This City" quilt and it won a Merit in the Build It Up challenge, and also the Joanne Johnson Colour Award.  This quilt was ...

Wow, it is the fifth year for Autumn Jubilee, and this is going to be the best yet! I never thought when I did this for the first time in 2016 that it would grow the way it has. But, I should have known that I am not the only one that loves Autumn!  Cooler temperatures, rich fall colors inside on quilts and tables, wearing favorite sweaters, and drives on the parkway to see the explosion of color in the trees are just a few of the delights of this season. This year, new vendors join favorite regular sponsors for ...

It was a great pleasure to see that there was the making of a bag on this semester’s schedule. We love a lot the bag making in Greece. And I love especially Annie’s Unrein patterns. When I was asked about the pattern I wanted to make, I chose this bag that actually is not a bag, but a whole suitcase. I had made this bag in the past several times, but I wanted to see the most of the materials that Annie has in her shop. Therefore I asked for this pattern, that proved to be very wise ...

It was a great pleasure to see that there was the making of a bag on this semester’s schedule. We love a lot the bag making in Greece. And I love especially Annie’s Unrein patterns. When I was asked about the pattern I wanted to make, I chose this bag that actually is not a bag, but a whole suitcase. I had made this bag in the past several times, but I wanted to see the most of the materials that Annie has in her shop. Therefore I asked for this pattern, that proved to be very wise ...

Hello, my lovelies!  My one and only weekly goal last week was to START -- just to start, not to finish, mind you! -- piecing my Modern Baby Clam Shells quilt.  I created the design in my EQ8 software in December of 2018, with a specific baby in mind whose due date was several weeks away...  Then it took me awhile to find the 9.5" acrylic clam shell templates I wanted to use (from an Australian Etsy seller who has since closed her shop).  Then I hemmed and hawed about the best way to cut out completely accurate 9.5" diameter ...

 These past few months I have had two mandates in my sewing life:  use up stash, and experiment with different weights of Aurifil thread to see what each can do.  One thread in particular I've enjoyed is 28 weight, so when I decided to dig into my scraps to make a rag rug, it was my first choice to use.  My mat is not yet complete (the end is tucked under for the picture) as I am still unsure how large I'd like it to be, but I've got a good handle on the process now.