What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Have you ever gone rogue with your quilting? Like challenging yourself to do things a little differently? Well, if not, today is that day. We’re encouraging you to go on an adventure in your sewing room, and there’s only one thing you need to pack – a Charm Pack!

How cute is having little collections of your favorite designs? Charm Packs are collections of 5″ squares that usually come in stacks of about 42 different fabrics. (They’re known by other names depending on the manufacturer).

A more affordable option than some other precuts, Charm Packs are beloved for ...

Jenny Doan’s family tree is stitched with needle and thread. 

Look back two generations, and you’ll find a pair of great aunts, master seamstresses who traveled from Sweden to work for the acclaimed New York artist, George Inness. 

They stitched and saved to pay passage to America for the entire family–including Jenny’s grandmother, who was just seven years old at the time. 

Jenny says, “When I see these spools, I am reminded that sewing is part of my genetic makeup; it changed our family forever!” 

This week, Jenny is stitching up a beautiful Big Spools quilt ...

Belle Quilt Pattern

Download this Free quilt pattern using 2.5″ fabric strips and whip up this beauty in no time at all! Precut strips are perfect for this project!

Latticework for Timeless Treasures

This quilt is called Latticework, which I designed for the Sapphire fabric collection by Timeless Treasures. It measures 65″ x 76″ with 10″ blocks. The size is perfect as a throw quilt and would make a beautiful gift. This collection features deep blues, softer ones, and blacks with metallic touches bringing out the florals, paisleys, and scrolls in every print. They are so beautiful! Sapphire is shipping NOW so ...

In 1820 – for the very first time – thread was sold on spools. (Before that, it was skeins or hanks. Can you imagine the tangles?!)

The spools were made by a local woodturner, and the thread was wound by hand at the Clark Brothers’ factory in Paisley, Scotland. Like old fashioned soda bottles, these wooden spools came with an extra half-penny charge that was refunded when the empty spool was returned to the shop. My, how times have changed!

This week, Jenny is whipping up a homage to the magnificent spool with a brand new jelly roll quilt.

Spool Stars and ...

Picture this: You are relaxing next to a desert campfire. Rocky cliffs and towering saguaros are silhouetted by a fire-red sunset. The scent of sagebrush floats in the cool, evening air. You wrap a quilt around your shoulders and listen for the call of a distant coyote.

Of course, such an idyllic moment demands a carefully chosen quilt—and we’ve got just the thing!

Boho Blooms is a beautiful Southwestern quilt pattern inspired by the classic Squash Blossom. It comes together quickly with layer cake squares and snowballed corners. Best of all, Jenny turns the scraps into a pretty ...

Precut Friendly Quilt Pattern

I’ve never met a sunset I didn’t love. 

Big-city sunsets always impress, with skyscrapers silhouetted against a golden sky. Winter sunsets transform freshly-fallen snow into acres of pink cotton candy. 

But nothing compares to sunset on the lake. Those colors dance on rippling water, creating a light show like nothing on earth! 

This week Jenny is whipping up a Lakeview Terrace jelly roll quilt with colorful bargello chevrons that remind us of sunset-tipped waves. What a dream! 

Click HERE to watch the tutorial! 

Signature quilts – or friendship quilts – first became popular in the 1840s. Sometimes they were used as sentimental wedding gifts. Sometimes they honored a beloved teacher or minister. And sometimes, they were carried across the plains by pioneer women as a reminder of dear friends left behind. 

These quilts were so cherished, many have survived the generations and can be found in hope chests and museums even today.

This week, Jenny is making her own family signature quilt. It’s adorned with hand-written names of all the Doan kids and grandkids, and I have a feeling this pretty quilt will become ...

Quilters find inspiration everywhere we look. 

We see quilts in old tile floors. We see quilts in stained glass windows. We even see quilts in patchwork fields of wheat and corn.

This week, Jenny is stitching up a new layer cake quilt inspired by childhood memories of the California Coast. 

You see, when Jenny was a little girl, her family loved to visit the beach at Santa Cruz. Even now she can picture that beautiful boardwalk stretched across the sand like long, pieced strips.

Click HERE to learn how to whip up this show-stopping strip quilt with quick and easy ...

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 ...

Gather some precuts to make these two fat quarter quilt patterns I love: a modern quilt and one with machine applique flowers to welcome Spring.

“Spring Dance” was just published in the Late Spring 2021 issue of Quilter’s World magazine, and also in the Fat-Quarter Friendly Quilts publication. These colors are so beautiful! They are from the Balboa collection by Sherri & Chelsi for Moda Fabrics.

It measures 54″ x 70″ and the blocks finish at 12″ and 4″. It comes together super fast so it is a fun weekend project. If you are a beginner quilter, this pattern is ...

Precut fabric revolutionized the quilting world. The quilting skill was historically passed down through teaching – one would learn the intricate and mathematical approach of measuring and cutting fabric by hand from the generation that came before. Anyone who has pieced a quilt knows it’s difficult work! Before you could even consider your project or layout, all the fabrics must be cut from bolts or repurposed from used materials. The margin for error was extraordinary, a single miscalculation could jeopardize an entire quilting project.

Quilting is now easier and more ...

The last couple of Sundays I've been using fabric precuts to inspire you, so this Sunday we'll keep going with layer cakes. You can find the SQI post on charm squares here and the SQI on jelly rolls here. 

Jelly Rolls, or 2½" fabric strips, are great inspiration for quilts. They are pre-cut, color-coordinated, easy to sew strips that make for super-fast sewing. 

One look at its namesake and it's easy to see the naming inspiration. Here's a recipe for Lemon Jelly Rolls from The PKP Way  that I happen to really enjoy. Notice that I've given you only a part of the recipe. Please visit their site for the full recipe. 

So Jelly Rolls in the world of quilting....

yummy, soft, pretty strips of fun!

And what, you ask, can a quilter make with these ...

I've been adding pins to my "heart, quilts" board. In fact, I've added a whole new section for precuts. There's a link at the bottom of the post so you can find it easily. (Because you know I put it in alpha order.) Already I have over 50 pins. I guess Sunday's SQI inspired me, too.

Today is my stop on the Benartex Precut Project Hop and I have a load of fun ideas for you! I’ve rounded up a collection of precut-friendly quilts I’ve made from my 5 Benartex fabric collections, including a mix of free patterns, paid patterns, and remakes from my books. I hope this will inspire you to put those precuts to use!

The Freebies

Click here to download any of these free patterns shown below.

Rainbow Taffy Made from Charm Packs

By using 4 Modern Marks Charm packs +  white background I was able to really show off the rainbow ...