What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It’s finally starting to feel a little cooler in the mornings around here, and I LOVE it! I feel alive with the Florida heat but some breezy cool Fall temps are amazing too!

Been keeping busy with a little bit of everything lately. I’m back to quilting, squeezing in a few days of pickleball each week, lots of cooking and cleaning and watching my Netflix novelas while I work. 

Between all that and everything else happening around here, there’s never a shortage of things to do!

Let me catch you up on what’s been going on ...

It’s been a while since I’ve joined a block-of-the-week quilt along. I do love making sampler quilts, especially when there are different blocks and techniques to try ...

A friend handed me two layer cakes and asked me to make two quilts.

Sure! Any excuse is a good excuse, right?!

The first step was to decide how to honor the pink but at the same time make quilts that were large enough. And maybe not JUST pink.

So, I added green. One quilt got light green (this picture doesn’t capture the color well).

VERY mini-tutorial: Cut the 10″ squares in half to create bars 5″x10″. Add 5″ squares. This idea would work with any layer cake. Uses 33 10″ squares. Finished at 59″x71″.

And one ...

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to find a cute Halloween panel with some additional pieces of fabric from the same line at a local quilt show. I knew immediately I wanted to use them for my high school classroom.

Halloween isn’t really celebrated as a family event here in the Netherlands, it is more of a teenager and adult party with lots of horror elements. I am not really a horror fan but I do like the vintage Halloween style with black cats, bats, a few ghosts and carved pumpkins.

The images on the panel are not ...

So, it’s been a while and I found myself getting inimidated on how much I needed to catch up on so I’m just gong to jump in and give you a highlights reel kind of post.

Quilting

I recently finished this top from one of the Project Quilting Challenges. The theme was, I think, about vacations? I remember that I couldn’t get the top quilted in order ot meet the deadline and ended up doing a pincushion. The signal flag blocks spell out “Let’s go” if you read them from top left to right and from ...

The design Cupid is a fun grid-based design. Within the triangles (or diamond) we place hearts in a continuous manner. The design can be stitched out as a single row or applied in repeat or even as an edge to edge.

There is thread buildup with this design, so consider the thickness and colour of your thread carefully!

The design can be quilted completely freehand after marking the diagonal lines. You could also choose to quilt the diagonal lines first with a walking foot or ruler and then add the hearts afterwards.

Take a look at this quick drawing video ...

I love Advent calendars! A little treat or gift as a surprise each day is a perfect way to celebrate the season.

The post Top Quilting Advent Calendars for 2026 appeared first on Always Expect Moore.

Maybe all of us fear leaving this world with loose ends left behind. I don’t think too much about my own loose ends, but I do seem to get the chance to help others rest maybe a little easier by tidying up some for them.

The several quilts I have finished for Susan Nixon are examples. Also the unfinished quilts by my Great Grandmother (SEE HERE and HERE).

Recently a neighbor contacted me about some fabric, batting and projects of her father’s deceased wife. Some of it wasn’t for me, but I knew people who could use ...

Time for a new round for the Many Hands Many Hearts block drive. This time I am sending 21 blocks.

They don’t have an official name yet, but I call them Friendship Bracelets. Cynthia does a great job with the tutorial, and it was fun sorting out both the low volume prints and bright scraps.

The video explains it all! One of the most ambitious art quilts I’ve ever created. From the first pieces of fabric to the final stitches, this textile wall hanging became a much bigger undertaking than I ever imagined. So many decisions, so many hours, so many stitches-and more than a few moments of wondering whether … … Continue reading →

While Joy’s directions are as helpful as ever, I was overtired or distracted or something, which meant that I had to pick out the first two blocks due to incorrect assembly…arrgh.

But, I am pleased with the outcome. Four more blocks. Looking forward to future blocks and starting to consider layout options.

This fun sunflower quilt block is a take on a Dresden fan pattern, without having to make a single Dresden! This block

The post Sunflower Quilt Block appeared first on Always Expect Moore.

Block Four in the Sampler Quilt by Joy is PINWHEEL BLOCK, a perennial favorite.

You really can’t go wrong with them. So glad I get to make four.

Block Five will come out soon. You could still join in…

The original block came in a hand me down bag. Awkward. Someone was, perhaps, experimenting? However it came to be, it wanted to be…something.

Blessed that the bag contained a small amount of the fabric used in the center of the block, I added corners.

And more scraps and borders from my own stash. Around and around…

Until it was…Ta-dah! A quilt.

Jennifer made it even better with the custom quilting. Someone will love it!

ps–Just because it didn’t turn out the way you wanted doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful.

I’ve been a little lost this year, well, probably the last 18 months. This week, in a artist development group we answered a few questions around our art practice and my answers left me questioning everything. The questions I really struggled with were:

What do you think you are talents & skills?
I struggled to answer. A: Having ideas/concepts to design to initial work.

What questions go through your mind while you work? This one as an over thinker was interesting…A: How do I grow? What’s next? How do I keep up? Why do I need to ...

I was watching a video lecture on CTPub.com by Paula Nadlestern. Wow she is amazing, a true quilt artist! She inspired me to try some something. I whipped out my Star 60 Tool …

I dug through my OBW stash and found this fabric by Laura Heine called A Bird in Hand. It had already been cut into 18″ repeats.

I cut my strips 3.25″ to yield 5″ finished hexies. I always use my First Choice ruler to cut my triangles.

I am constantly looking to see what else I can make from my 3.25″ strips that can ...

The quilt is simple–Half Square Triangle blocks alternating with Four Patch blocks.

It is the colors and the layout that make it special.

You can make the design with a couple of charm packs, or a combination of scraps cut into 5″ squares and 2-1/2″ squares (I cut them in pairs). The finished size is 36″.

It was a treasure hunt, searching for this scrap and that one to see what would really work. The finished quilt is in the donation pile for the children’s hospital.

Next Wednesday until Friday the Free Motion Quilting Summit will take place. This event takes place online, so everyone from all over the world can take part. You can participate for FREE!

The Summit is organised by Mary Davis of Mary Go Round Quilts. I am lucky to have been asked to teach for the third time in this awesome online event. There are over 20 different teachers taking part, talking about all kinds of different aspects of freemotion quilting.

From design tutorials to ruler work, from freemotion embroidery to gorgeous feathers, there is surely something in there for everybody ...

It makes a great leader-ender project. And is all scrappy.

I have 200 blocks complete. Not quite half-way, but hopefully soon. Though, as the summer draws to a close, and school start up, my sewing pace will slow. Times and seasons…

This started out as leftover partial blocks Cheri shared with me.

It was based on 2-1/2″ strips, so with a very little fiddling, the blocks came together very quickly. You will note that the long rectangular block pieces were able to be cut into the needed parts without using a seam ripper. Just slice and sew!

Each block is a 2-1/2″ square in the center. The frame is 2 2-1/2″ squares and 2 2-1/2″ x 6-1/2″ strips. Easy peasy!

Yes, it is an unexpected back, but it had been languishing in the stash for long ...