What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Having a sew day to work on projects is always nice, but when it comes with a group of friends to chat with on Virtual Retreat, it is even better. Last Friday, we had a bunch of ladies, some coming for the whole day, others popping in and out as they needed to. My project for the day was to do something with the Japanese fabrics. So, I have a layer cake and a jelly roll in this gorgeous line called Kyoto. I want to do a wall hanging with the black background ones, but the sashing is not coming ...

Last week, during Virtual Retreat Holiday Edition, I worked on the Quilt of Valor top. I needed to get this done so I could move on to the quilting. When we left off, I had the basic idea for the design, fabric choices made and most of the stripe blocks made.

I made the rest of the stripe blocks, then sewed together the ones that would be placed below the panel. I needed to sew a border onto the panel to make it large enough for the blocks below to fit. Then I added the blocks to the left side ...

Our guild recently held a retreat for 11 members at Febuary Hill in Jonesborough, Tennessee, run by the owner of Tennessee Quilts. We booked several days to sew, and chat, and eat, and shop. Some of us met for lunch before the retreat began, and we drove up at the same time. Arriving in the afternoon, I set up my sewing space.

Before I went there, I had to do something fun for the group. I got out some white paper bags and my stamping stuff. I used the roller to put a swirly design on the bags on the ...

It snowed this week!! Years ago, it seemed like we got a snowfall every year. The kids would get the day off of school and it was a treat for all of us. With climate change, we rarely see snow. But this week we got about two inches and it was wonderful. Prior to this we got rain, a lot of rain. Living with drought and fires like we do, nothing is better than rain. Anyway, we are enjoying this wintry weather up here in Northern California.

Hey there, friends!  I am so happy that today I get to give you a little overview of the final sections of my new book, Scrappy Improv Quilting.  The third section of the book is titled Seasonal Sensations and contains six adorable little seasonal quilts.

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, friends!  I'm almost finished with the Halloween Spiderweb quilt I shared last week.  I just need to finish up the binding and get some great photos, but today, I have bigger news!  The official release of my new book, Scrappy Improv Quilting, happened on Monday.  YAY!

The official blog hop to celebrate the book release begins next week, but today I want to give you a quick overview of everything the book has to offer.  Scrappy Improv Quilting is the perfect way to dip your toes into improv if it's new to you ...

I (almost) cannot believe that I am doing this.

I am (really) going to take on another timed project commitment.

Well (as my followers know) my concept of time is my own. 

If I miss a day or get side tracked I am not going to stress about it.

I sew for fun and this looks like fun.

 Broadcloth Studio

I received an invitation in my email because I have purchased their patterns

 in the past and am subscribed to their newsletter. 

There is an information post  for this Improv QAL on the

Broadcloth ...

In my last post I stated that less of my future work would actually be sewn, and I am making good on that. The piece I’m now quilting is made of fabric fused to felt, with edges left raw. I … Continue reading →

I'm a huge fan of Karlee Porter, who is known for her unique and awe-inspiring graffiti quilting. Although I own all her books, I wasn't quite able to understand the concepts well enough, until I finally took a Graffiti Quilting Master Class with her awhile ago.

It was a busy week last week, with some unexpected outings and a quick day trip to Greenville, SC, but I did manage to finish off the purple improv quilt. When we left off, I had some half square triangles and some four patches done. I had pinned them up on the design wall at the retreat to experiment with how to put them together.

I liked this setting, with all the lines running on the same diagonal.

An added benefit is that the blocks could be chain sewn.

So, I chain sewed sets of two, then into blocks of ...

I'll just say it - if you're a quilter, the San Francisco Bay Area is the place to be.  This area is blessed with great museums, great fabric stores and an even greater quilting and sewing community.  Just in the next month, there are two great quilt shows!  This weekend, March 19 & 20, the East Bay Heritage Quilt Guild will be hosting their bi-annual quilt show at the beautiful Craneway Pavilion.  Every member has a chance to show a quilt of their choice and the range of different types of quilting is really fun to see.  There will also ...