What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

In this episode of WIP Wednesday Vanessa is answering some of your questions about quilting basics!

It’s a new year and if you are ready to learn (or improve!) your quilting skills this episode is for you. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced quilter, there’s always more quilting tricks to learn!

Tune in LIVE and hear her tips on cutting and piecing more accurately so you start working on amazing quilts this year.

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How to start quilting

Life is a whirlwind of extremes. Happy times; hard times. Miracles and loss. But as our hearts are stretched in a thousand directions, they sure do grow! 

If you’re anything like me, you pour your emotions into your quilts. And this week’s quilt is bursting with love!

Watch Jenny stitch up the wildly popular Exploding Hearts quilt by Laura Piland for Slice of Pi Quilts. This stunning heart quilt is a triumph of triangles with half-square triangles, hourglass blocks, and quarter-square triangles, too. (We love Exploding Hearts SO MUCH, we created a kit with the pattern and beautiful ...

Do you remember discovering precuts for the very first time? Vanessa Goertzen sure does! 

It was 2010, and Vanessa had just learned that her new baby was going to be a girl. On the way home from the ultrasound, she stopped at a fabric shop to pick up something pink.

There, she laid eyes on a stack of precut 5 inch charms, and a creative fire was lit! (12 years later, Vanessa designs incredible precut patterns for her very own Lella Boutique!)  

This week, Jenny is stitching up one of Vanessa’s prettiest patterns. Chandelier is a quick and easy ...

On live TV in 1956, magician P.C. Sorcar began to “saw” his wife in half. Suddenly, the host signed off and the program went dark!

Viewers across the country assumed the worst. (Something went wrong! The poor woman was dead!) But the truth was much less gory: The live broadcast had simply run out of time. How’s that for an illusion falling flat!

This week, Jenny has a trick up her sleeve that’ll earn you big “oohs” and “ahhs” without a single hiccup!

“Wallah!” – or voilà – is a magical layer cake quilt pattern from Material Girlfriends. With ...

When you make the Serendipity Infinity quilt, you’ll end up with scraps. 

You can use those scraps to make a pretty table runner. But guess what? You’ll still have scraps. Make another table runner, and still, more scraps. Keep sewing!

When all is said and done, you’ll have a beautiful quilt + up to NINE table runners to use as gifts! Is it a Christmas miracle? Nope! It’s Serendipity Infinity!

Jenny Doan loves to quilt everywhere she goes: In the studio. On the couch. In waiting rooms and on long drives. (Can you relate?) Life is more fun with a needle and thread in tow!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Jenny has whipped up a quilt-as-you-go heart quilt using fat quarters and the fabulous Jewel Template. Best of all, these pretty hearts can be sewn by machine or by hand! 

Jewel Heart is a great project for long waits and nervous energy, and it makes such a sweet gift, too!

Mae Emma Plumb was a talented lady. 

She sewed and painted and baked excellent pies. She kept a lovely flower garden and volunteered countless hours crafting costumes and planning skits for the local Boy Scout troop. And, best of all, she made quilts. 

Years and years have passed – four generations, in fact – but by some magic, one of Mae’s quilts still exists. It belongs to Mae’s great-granddaughter Kate, our very own Missouri Star marketing manager.

Of course, when Jenny saw Grandma Mae’s antique quilt, she fell head-over-heels in love! She did a bit of research and found ...

The Periwinkle Template is a magical thing. (In fact, it has its very own playlist of projects!)

We’ve used it for spiderwebs, mug rugs, and butterflies. We’ve used it for modern quilts and old-fashioned classics.

But this week, I think we may have found its true calling.

Periwinkle Plates is a breathtaking applique pattern made with a layer cake, a charm pack, and our beloved template. It’s put together like a simplified Dresden Plate—with only 6 blades instead of 20! 

Jenny used Christmas fabric in her quilt, but – as always – your quilt will look beautiful in ...

A butterfly is the pickiest of guests. 
Invite her for brunch, and she won’t eat a bite—unless you serve her favorite food. (Milkweed for monarchs; white cedar for hairstreaks.)

On evening strolls, the weather must be perfect. If it’s too chilly, your fluttery friend will simply stop, drop, and nap. 

And no matter how lovely the guest room, it won’t tempt Miss Butterfly. Oh, she may request a posh butterfly house. But rest assured she’ll never step inside.

This week Jenny is stitching up a layer cake butterfly quilt fit for a queen. She’s ...

There are so many steps to making a quilt, from choosing the pattern and fabric, through to the last binding stitch (by hand or by machine!). And it often feels like piecing the quilt top and the actual quilting step are two very, very different tasks. Because they are! Sewing some long seams to piece the quilt top together is a whole other ball game compared to shoving a quilt sandwich (top, batting, backing) through your sewing machine.

So here are some tips and tricks to consider when deciding how to quilt on a domestic sewing machine, especially when it ...

Hold onto your Santa hat, folks!

We’re celebrating Christmas in July with 3 festive quilts + 3 bonus projects made with our brand new Wing Template!

Christmas Tree Farm

Of course, these pretty new layer cake patterns would shine in any season, but we’ve added a sprinkling of Christmas magic with holiday fabric and machine quilting stitch patterns featuring snowflakes, jingle bells, and Christmas lights!

Layered Diamonds

Best of all, each of these quilts ...

In 1899, an unknown quilter began stitching fabric scraps on a paper foundation. Alas, the quilt was never finished. (It happens to us all!) The incomplete top is on display at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the paper is still intact.

Candy Lane

Can you guess what that paper foundation is made of? Old letters! I’d sure love to inspect those tiny bits of history!

Skyward

The first time Jenny Doan made a self-binding baby quilt, her husband was skeptical. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to work, dear…”

Undaunted, Jenny replied, “Just you watch!” And guess what? It did work, and it was fab-u-lous!

Over the years, Jenny’s Self-Binding Baby Blanket tutorial has been watched millions of times. (Imagine all the babies who have been wrapped in those sweet little quilts ...

People often find quilting in times of need to help them through difficult situations – that’s how The Quilting Marine first discovered his love for quilting. After serving 20 years in the United States Marine Corps, The Quilting Marine found quilting as his therapy for PTSD related issues. Now, he has a new goal and his YouTube channel says it best, “I taught myself to quilt and would like to help you make quilts that you can admire for years to come.”

What is your favorite part of the quilting process?

My favorite part is piecing the ...

In the olden days, tumbler quilts were often made with scraps gathered from friends and neighbors. A bit of paisley from Aunt Maude. A stripe or two from Granny.  A pretty toile from Jane next door.

Four Patch Tumbler

These quilts represented community and the magic of sisterhood. It’s little wonder they came to be called “charm quilts!”

Patchwork Tumbler

For this month’s Triple ...

There’s a beautiful, old Goose Tracks quilt at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. 

It was made 150 years ago by Mrs. Ellen Parsons of Shelbyville, Tennessee. A hand-written note explains: “Mrs. Parsons planted and grew the cotton in her garden. She picked the cotton and spun it into thread. She wove the threads into cloth to make the lining for the quilt. She pieced and quilted it by hand.” Phew! That’s a lot of work!

This week, Jenny is whipping up a quick and easy version of the Goose Tracks pattern using precut charm packs. 

She ...

Quilters on the American frontier were inspired by the world around them. They stitched up log cabins, rail fences, bear paws, and flying geese. And, of course, they stitched up windmills. 

You see, windmills dotted the Great Plains, pumping water from deep underground. When dry spells left the earth parched, a windmill could pump enough water to cook, bathe, wash, and water crops. Now that’s a quilt-worthy feat!

This week Jenny is whipping up a simple Breezy Windmills quilt using precut 2.5 inch strips. It’s a pretty jelly ...