What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Good morning, and Happy Thursday!  I have been doing a pretty good job of squeezing in at least an hour or two at my long arm machine each day, so my Spirit Song quilting is progressing.  

Good morning, and happy Sunday!  I haven't mentioned my needle turned applique project in awhile, mostly because it's dragging on FOREVER and, since I'm making 9 identical blocks, it feels like treading water without ever actually making any progress.

For those of you who haven't been around that long, I started this project in March of 2014.  I'd just completed my first appliqué project, my Jingle quilt using Erin Russek's pattern and fabulous tutorials using the starch and press prepared edge method (nope, that one's not finished yet, either, but it's at ...

My concentration is still iffy but I have managed to get a few things done and a lot started!

One fun, little project I have been doing is making pillowcases. Knitters love making socks, weavers love making hand towels and quilters love making pillowcases. We have always used bolster pillows on our bed and when we were first married, I embroidered our initials on them. When I got over stitching our initials, I bought unusual cases. But it was the wonderful quiltmaker, Jane Sassaman who really inspired me. Scroll to the bottom of this blog to see the delightful cases ...

No fabric in this week. As the lockdown drags on I have a growing appreciation for my stash.
I used a quarter yard of fabric for masks. We’ve all seen enough mask pictures to last us a lifetime. I took a pass on posting pictures of mine.
I finished quilting around the bears and will move on to the sashing. I sketched out a quilting design, but something about it bothered me. Once I rethought the quilting and came up with another plan I got my motivation back.
Anyone else ever slog through a project because a design decision ...

In January I started cleaning my office and studio and weeded through the accumulation of supplies (fabric, more fabric, WIP’s, etc….) and I still am not quite as organized as I would like to be. I told myself that I wasn’t going to start any new projects until I finished cleaning, but then I did work on a few {small} English Paper Piecing Projects.

I bought this pattern from PaperPieces – I love heart patterns and this one was irresistible. I made three versions of Chrysanthemum Hearts .The first one was pink for Valentine’s Day…

…and the other ...

I’ve got a quick tip for you today on adjusting settings in your Electric Quilt 8 quilt worktable to help your design process go more smoothly!

Typically, the program opens up with a 4×4 quilt layout with a single border, and this is the layout you get each time you start a new quilt in your file as well. A lot of times, though, I’ve already got a quilt up in which I’ve adjusted the borders and layout to my liking, and it’s annoying when the new quilt reverts to 4×4. Fortunately, there’s ...

We are all worrying about a tiny virus that packs a wallop.  Many of us are self-isolating ourselves as much as possible.  Some of you will be extra busy with the kids at home.  Others will be at home with time on your hands.  Well, I no longer have kids at home, but I am always busy within the confines of my house and yard.  However, I miss being able to go to the library, I will go to the store only for dire necessities (like food), restaurants are closed, etc.  So, even if I should feel housebound and want ...

Mid week again … I am sure the weeks are getting shorter, but I like having a look at Log Cabin quilt designs on a regular basis, so I can live with that!

I love the first of today’s designs.

All four of the others could be made smaller by removing the outer row of blocks, though I think I would put a small light border before the two coloured borders.

I like the one above!

Interesting. I can see changes I should test … which happens most days, so I will never run out of designs to share!

That is ...

I am proud to be one of the Aurifil 2020 Designers of the Month for March 2020.  Each month, a DOM designer will publish a block pattern inspired by the colors of Italy!     This post describes how I designed the block.  It also includes a link to a video tutorial showing how I actually pieced [ ...Continue Reading ]

The post Aurifil DOM March 2020 Block appeared first on Carole Lyles Shaw.

This month’s EQ Spotlight Block is Two Little Flowers 2. If you’ve followed me at all, you’ll probably know that this is not at all my style of block. So this seemed like it was going to be quite the challenge! Since I had such good luck with the Kaleidoscope function the last couple of months, I thought I’d see what it could do with an appliqué block like this.

Things were not looking promising until I got to the very bottom and found a section of the block that included only the stems:

Now that ...

This month’s featured block is “Flower Weave.” The easiest way to find this block is by going into your block library, then selecting “Search by Notecard” at the bottom of the window and typing in “Flower Weave.”

Here’s the block in a simple quilt.

Anyone who was in my workshops or lectures at QuiltCon last week will know that this design definitely doesn’t have enough negative space for me! Time to remove stuff.

Now there’s negative space, rule of thirds, and visual motion!

Last month, though, I had so much fun with the Serendipity Kaleidoscope function ...

I’ve partnered with Electric Quilt to share about how I use EQ8 in my quilt design, and since designing with negative space is sort of my thing, I thought I’d share a tutorial on a few different ways to get your designs with negative space into EQ8. I’ll be showing you the techniques using the quilt design shown above, which is one of the simplest ways of adding negative space, but I’ve noted below what sort of other designs these techniques are good for.

Technique 1: Blank Blocks

The quickest way to get an idea of ...

Hi everyone! Thanks for joining us today. I've decided to start blogging (on a regular basis) again. I would like to share my knowledge and experiences for those of you who wish to learn, experiment and better your own quilts. Here is one of my first Quilt Editorials for 2020 - #queditorial.

I would like to share with you my approach to modern vs traditional quilt designing.

As you might already know, I actually design a little bit of both. Although I truly classify myself as a modern-traditionalist, some others see me as a modern quilter. Where's the difference ...

Michael Miller Fabrics is having a year-long batik quilt-along, and you’re invited! Each of the 2020 Brand Ambassadors (including yours truly) was sent the fabrics and invited to play. “My” block will be in October, but I made Miss January too, LOL! If you’d like information, go here to find more information, including free pdfs with yardage requirements.

If your local fabric shop doesn’t carry Michael Miller (ask them to!), you can order these exact fabrics from Fabrics.com. And let me tell you, MM Jet Black Cotton Couture fabric is famous for good reason…it isn ...

Hi everyone! Thank you for joining us today. I would like to welcome everyone into the new year 2020! May you all be safe, happy, healthy and prosper in your endeavours in the new year and the new decade.

We rounded off 2019 with a second sew along - The Enchanted Paper Doll Fall Sew Along. I hope you were able to follow along and soak in the beautiful angels, fairies and princesses made by all of the participants in our sew along on Instagram. A great big, wonderful thank you to all who did. I enjoy seeing your creations. Please ...

Over the past week to two weeks, I have been working on ….sit down and prepare yourselves for this… a **pieced** quilt. Yes, me. A very simple pieced quilt, but nonetheless.

Oh -- I see there are some great comments in the last couple of days. I'm a wee bit strapped for time this morning so I'll address them tomorrow.

This silly walking business has greatly cut into my time. But once I'm caught up (I'm less than 10 miles behind - I think I made up four miles this week), things will be better. Over 23,000 steps yesterday. Also, I had a lot of private classes this week - everyone wanting to get themselves organized at the beginning of the year.

I won't go into the detail ...