What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

There is something about the whimsy of a holiday that gives me the itch to create themed gifts. What started as making some valentine throw pillow covers quickly turned into button mirrors, engraving, and embroidery too. I always have a little something lying around that works for my crafts. When my sew day plans went bust last weekend, I just started making! Now I have a table full of love to share with my friends (and with you!).

One of my favorite pieces is the red quilt block key chains made from some of my leftover red acrylic from my ...

After finishing piecing a row of quilt blocks I checked the stitch count on the BERNINA 560 and it’s just over 1.5 million stitches since the last service. That was just over five years ago. That’s not a lot of stitches when 3 million per year is average expected. I clearly have not been doing… Continue reading Welcome to 2026

Happy August Peeps! Way back in May (where has the time gone?) I participated in Mastering Color Confidence on C&T Publishing’s CreativeSpark Online Learning platform. Christine Barnes, Joen Wolfrom and I were hosted by the fabulous Amy Barret-Daffin to talk about the new book and also talk about one of our favorite subjects: color. This… Continue reading Let Your Quilts Sing

Let’s Begin Do you know how you know something in your life is missing and you can’t quite put your finger on it and then when you discover what it is and then you discover why it is then what you needed is right there and WOW!!!Color Play is it! (Links are affiliate) And then… Continue reading Color Play – Joen Wolfrom

Hey Quilters!Join me Thursday in October for two great classes through John C Campbell Folk School on LessonFace: Foundations in Free-Motion Quilting Foundations in Free-Motion includes piecing where cutting, thread and moderate speed on the machine guide us into good stitching and prepare us for the free-motion we’ll do over the next few weeks.Color Theory… Continue reading Upcoming Events

Are you ready for a Free-Motion Quilting Class? Well, friends, wait no longer! Join me at Upper Blanco Textile Studio Friday May 16, 2025forFree-Motion Quilting An Introduction 10 AM to 4 PM Bring your lunch or visit Uptown Blanco Restaurant for some really amazing food! Free-Motion Quilting: An Introduction covers all the important things like… Continue reading Upper Blanco Textile Studio: Free-Motion Quilting – An Introduction

Yesterday was a snow day here in Central Texas, and the day was full. Tonight we record the next episode of Quilter Rule the World and after changing laundry over in a bit I’m going to go get one of my free-motion quilting feet so I can do some free-motion this afternoon. I’m teaching the… Continue reading Happy Wednesday

It's a beautiful time of year right now, there's color everywhere. . .and the quilt blocks under the needle in the sewing room are no exception! I'm still plugging away on the Barn Star Sampler, playing catch up for time missed.I'm back at it again today, stitching blocks. It's hard, though, when I'm distracted by the wonderful world of color that surrounds me just outside the door. What

It's a beautiful time of year right now, there's color everywhere. . .and the quilt blocks under the needle in the sewing room are no exception! I'm still plugging away on the Barn Star Sampler, playing catch up for time missed.I'm back at it again today, stitching blocks. It's hard, though, when I'm distracted by the wonderful world of color that surrounds me just outside the door. What

In about a week a new issue of The Book Report will release on YouTube with Lee Monroe of May Chappell Designs. It’s about COLOR and I ask her the very important question, “what’s the difference between the CMYK and standard RBG color wheels. I loved her answer! Summer Sale on E-books! C&T Publishing is… Continue reading The Book Report, A Summer Sale, & me

Confession:  I love boxes, bags, baskets….   the more, the merrier.  I still wonder what happened to that plaid and a little bit of leather bag I had when I was six!  And I love having my bags work for me, offering the perfect combination of color, print and cloth, and function.

Over the years I have learned that I HATE rummaging around in the pitch dark bottom of a deep bag.  I think of those as North-South bags, taller than they are wide.  I vastly prefer East-West–where I can actually FIND stuff inside.  It also means black and other ...

 My day job is selling clothing.  Today, as I sold my 13th coral almond shirt, it had me asking - Why coral almond?  I'm not overly fond of the color, but my customers are eating it up (well not literally).  I long for the days of lime green which I love...but nope it's all about coral this year.  WHY?

Welllll....apparently..... there is a handful of companies whose job it is to decide what are the "In" colors are this year.  How?  Through a lot of research in cultural and psychological trends.  The crazy thing is that it ...

Finishes are so rewarding! The blocks were all completed at two different retreats. It’s sewing that doesn’t require much concentration, leaving me available to socialize and have fun. Having completed the needed number of blocks at the second retreat, I brought them home to add to the blocks already put together from the first retreat.

It is 7 x 8 blocks 8″ finished. I added 2 inch borders making it an acceptable size to be sent to Snuggled in Hope Quilts where it will be quilted. The binding will also be sent along with the quilt top.

What ...

Good morning Good friends! It is a quilting day for sure! I hosted an impromptu Instagram Live that I’m sharing here with you. Below this I’m also adding the information for the Quilters Color Mixer on Creative Spark. The Quilters Color Mixer is Thursday March 30 beginning at 9 am Pacific, 10 Mountain, 11 Central,… Continue reading Invitation

There is a bin of yardage in my studio that is for donation quilts. Why not a big scrap scrappy?! I saw a picture of this quilt online and decided it was perfect. Unlike my usual crazy haphazard just cut and sew, I drew the quilt out – the center strips had to be going in particular directions. The triangles were cut, the green strips cut, then the sewing began. This step took a while.

A group of us are meeting twice a month at a nearby church and I’ve designated those days for donation quilts. Quilting with friends and ...

The Carnival of Color quilt pattern free from Free Spirit Fabrics has long been on my bucket list. The pattern shows the quilt made with Kaffe fabrics. Although I have enough of those and love them, I wanted to make this quilt with something different. One day while standing in front of my fabric closet, staring, I had one of those Ah Ha! moments. I pulled all my Anna Maria Horner fabrics and the few Jane Sasamon fabrics from the shelves. The black and while border around the focus blocks and the binding is an Amy Butler fabric. How ...

So it was a good day and a bad day! GRR! 

It drives me crazy when I can't find something. I become obsessed with finding it, and when I can't, it throws my day for a curve! That was yesterday. I'm missing TWO things -- I wanted to take a picture of part of a UFO project. Can I find it? Nope -- and I've looked everywhere. But obviously, not everywhere! I'll try later today. 

However, the good news is that I already have a picture of the piece (I remembered that later in the day) and ...

I am not sure why but I was so apprehensive making a second Rails quilt. A few years ago now I created Rails for RjR Fabrics with Fat Quarter bundle they supplied. The quilt was made with 1-1.5″ strips and I bent them into shapes as I sewed to make it represent the railroad junctions. There was little planning and the whole quilt took a couple of days (I procrastinated so much with the idea in my head to the point that I had no choice but to make it quickly so I wouldn’t miss the deadline).

I ...