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If you have lots of leftover scraps, throw them onto the back to add a creative touch to your quilt. That’s what I did for my Americana version. I do what’s called the “Puzzle Method” where I put the top on my design wall and then cover it up with leftover chunks of fabric until it’s enough.

If I have smaller pieces of fabric, I’ll sew those together into larger segments first, and then make sure they aren’t around the edges since that will get trimmed off the most. If you are just finding this ...

Welcome back to the Dancing Stars quilt along! This week it’s time to cut our fabrics. If you are one of those people who loves a pretty pile of freshly cut fabric, this is your week. If you’d rather skip ahead to sewing, hang in there – a little organization now will make the star blocks much easier to sew next week!

Remember, this is a quilt along, not a race. If you don’t get everything cut this week, no worries. These posts will stay up indefinitely, so you can work at whatever pace makes you happy.

• Click ...

Welcome to Dancing Stars quilt along! We will take it nice and easy this week. Jut gather up the fabrics you plan to use and do whatever prep you normally do (prewash, starch etc. if so desired.) The quilt pattern includes 3 sizes and it calls for fat quarters, but this patten works very well with scraps, or fewer colors, too.

• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Digital PDF
• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Printed Hardcopy

Colorway Ideas for Dancing Stars

When choosing colors, think about complementary pairs of fabrics that will work ...

I”m so excited to introduce my latest and greatest quilt pattern, called Mosaic Knots. It can be made either from fat quarters or precut strips and includes 4 sizes to choose from.

Click here to get the Mosaic Knots quilt pattern – PDF download.

I’ve been on a roll, regularly releasing new patterns featuring Riley Blake Designs Confetti Cotton Solids. I chose to make this quilt in the throw size from neutral fabrics, but it looks fabulous in bright colors and prints, too!

In all of my patterns I love to include machine quilting suggestions so that you can ...

Are you excited to join me for another quilt along? Below you’ll find the supply list and schedule to make Dancing Stars, one of my newest and most versatile quilt patterns. I’ve already made it twice, and it’s one of those fun patterns that looks great in any fabrics you choose!

• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Digital PDF
• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Printed Hardcopy

Dancing Stars Quilt Along Schedule

• Week of Sept 4 – Gather Your Supplies
• Week of Sept 11 – Cutting the Fabrics
• Week of Sept 18 – Sewing ...

It’s quilt along season and I’m excited to share one of my newest patterns with you! This fall beginning in September we’re going to make my Dancing Stars quilt. This is a fat quarter friendly design that’s easy to customize and make it your own!

• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Digital PDF
• Click here to get the Dancing Stars Quilt Pattern – Printed Hardcopy

In additional to including three size options and colorways in the pattern above, I’ve already made two versions of this eye catching quilt. The first one was made ...

I recently finished two patriotic quilts that I’m excited to share as I say, “Happy Birthday, America!”

This first one is called Positive Vibes and is a remake of a pattern I first had published in a magazine nearly 10 years ago. That was before I became a fabric designer and I always knew I wanted to remake using red, white and blue scraps of my own fabrics.

I quilted it with Red, Aqua, Navy and Gold Metallic threads. In each of the aqua, red and navy rows of plus blocks, I quilted straight lines to represent stars. In ...

We are nearly to my favorite part of any quilt – the machine quilting! But first we need to prep our quilts by making sure the backing is big enough, and then basting. I love making pieced backs from leftovers or other coordinating fabrics because that makes the quilt twice as nice!!

Because I had too many pictures of this process to share, I thought it would be much easier to put them all together into a super short video and talk over the process. You can watch that by clicking play below:

Once the quilt is basted, you are ready ...

In case you missed it, here’s a super short recap of all of the free domestic machine quilting tutorials I shared over the past year. Click play below for a quick peek of all 99 designs. Credit to my son Ryan for composing the original music to go along with it!

If you’d like to catch up on any of them that you’ve missed, I’ve created a playlist of all 99 Machine Quilting Designs. These come straight from my best-selling book of the same name. The playlist spans a total of 56 videos plus an in-depth ...

How are your Daisy Chain blocks coming along? If you are just starting, be sure to grab a copy of the Daisy Chain quilt pattern and join the fun. We are currently working through pages 12-13 of the pattern. But the tips I’m sharing below can apply to any quilt in your UFO pile!!

Click here to see how I made my design wall.

The first thing I like to do whenever sewing a quilt top together is to get all of my blocks up on the design wall and spread out the color. Then I’ll take time ...

Follow along in the Daisy Chain quilt pattern pages 8-11 as you work on this week’s quilty “homework.” Start by chain piecing your strips that create the small 4-patch units. I’ve given step-by-step diagrams to follow in the pattern so it shouldn’t feel so daunting. Just remember to take it one section at a time!

Aren’t these units so cute??

Keep all similar colors together so it’s easier to create each chain block or border unit. I’m pressing all of my seams open and sewing with a shorter stitch length so my small pieces ...

It’s bittersweet as we come to the end of my 99 Machine Quilting Designs video series. The last design is basically the grand finale. What happens when you take ALLLL the designs and mash them together? That’s what I’ve done with a fun technique I’ve called free-motion improv. Take a look below and give it a try!

Featured Quilts from this Video

I shared two quilts where I used Improv Quilting as a dense filler in the background. The first one is called Spools from my book Piece and Quilt with Precuts:

The second one was ...

Whenever I’m sewing quilt blocks that have lots of pieces, I find it much easier to sew the smaller units of each block into larger units, then chain piece everything for speed and efficiency. Follow along in the Daisy Chain quilt pattern on page 6-7s for the images and tips shown below. I’m making two of these at the same time in 2 different colorways: Autumn & Purple Vibrations.

Making Stitch-N-Flip Units

So the first thing we are doing is sewing all of the stitch-n-flip units which will make the petals of each daisy flower block. You can either ...

One of my favorite free-motion quilting techniques to do is combining two different designs for a unique stitch combination. That’s what I did in this week’s video. Combine spirals and pebbles to make Swirls & Pearls! Watch the video on my YouTube channel by clicking the image below:

Make My Block Chain Quilt

This week’s featured quilt is called Block Chain. I’ve made it twice over the years and it’s the perfect pattern to showcase a set of charm packs. Pair them up with light and dark accent fabrics for a quick make! You can grab ...

Welcome to Week 1 of Daisy Chain quilt along! We will dive right into cutting all of our pieces to make this quilt. I’m making 2 versions of the quilt in the throw size, but you can make any size you wish!

If you are just joining in, be sure to ask for the Daisy Chain quilt pattern from your favorite local quilt shop! (Shops can order it through Riley Blake, Checker, or EE Schenck.)

Stay Organized!

We will be working through the cutting charts on pages 2-6 of the quilt pattern. There is a LOT of cutting for ...

Check out my latest video from my 99 Machine Quilting Designs Series – Episode 54 – for 6 fun variations. Watch and learn below:

This week’s featured quilt is one of my free patterns called Beaded Lanterns. It’s another one I’ve made several times because it’s just so darn fun to stitch! 

Click here download any of my free quilt patterns.

While supplies last you can check out my kits to make Beaded Lanterns as well as many other fun designs made from my fabrics!

Click here to view all in-stock quilt kits.

Just Getting Started Free-Motion Quilting ...

Level up your walking foot quilting with another fun decorative stitched design: Geometric Spirals. Watch and learn below:

Make This Quilt

This week’s featured quilt is called Blooming Wallflowers and I’ve made it more than once! See two different versions below:

• Click here to grab the PDF versions of my quilt patterns.
• Click here to grab the printed versions of my quilt patterns.

I hope you are enjoying these video tutorials and inspiring quilts to make. I’m excited to be your cheerleader for domestic machine quilting!

Ready to practice your modern machine quilting? Try these 2 fabulous free-motion fills and see how you can tweak them to make them your own. Click the video below to watch:

Featured Quilt – Surplus Strips

I turned the bumps from clamshells into a floral swirl design by combining them with a basic swirl technique. Then I quilted it edge to edge on the white version below Grab the Surplus Strips quilt pattern to make one for yourself!

Bonus Video – Quilting Surplus Strips 2 Ways

See how I quilted both of the quilts below using 2 different free-motion motifs. You can ...

Learn to quilt two innovative designs with your walking foot: decorative-stitch wonky squares and decorative-stitch spiral maze. Watch & learn below:

This week’s featured quilt comes from my book, The Ultimate Guide to Machine Quilting that I co-authored with Angela Walters. You can grab the PDF download to see how I quilted Fractured Squares using only walking foot motifs.

Bonus Walking Foot Quilting Video

In case you missed it, check out the pre-cursor video showing how to quilt the exact same designs using regular straight-line quilting, below:

Please let me know how you are liking these videos – I only have ...

This week’s machine quilting tutorial takes the traditional paisley design and modernizes it by adding filler motifs inside the design! It’s a fun way to change things up. Click the image below to watch on my YouTube channel:

Make This Quilt!

Throughout this series, I’ve loved showing how I quilted these designs on actual, real quilts. The quilt shown in the video behind me is called Star Struck and it’s fun to see how different it looks depending on the fabrics that are chosen. Complete, start to finish instructions for this pattern are included in my ...