What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Piecing a Scrappy Back for the Hope’s Path Quilt

Sometimes quilting projects don’t go as planned—like when I completely forgot to order backing for the Hope’s Path Quilt. This is a quilt that is so is special to me. I share the rights with Quilts for a Cause. An organization that raises money to combat cancer by selling quilts. I was working under a tight, self imposed deadline. While it might sound stressful, it turned into an unexpected creative opportunity!

Why? Well, I decided to piece together a Snazzy Stripy Quilt Back made solely from my ...

Last Tuesday, I shared my newest pattern, the Sugar Skull quilt block. I tested the pattern using the Good Spirits fabric by Ruby Star Society. It’s their Halloween line, which hit stores a few months ago. If you follow me on Instagram, you’d know that I used this fabric for a quilt-along with the Fat Quarter Shop. A couple of months back, I made a door hanging with this fun fabric line.

Since I didn’t have any plans for the quilt block and still had some leftover fabric, I decided to turn it into something. I settled ...

I don’t know about you, but my first opinion of a Y-seam was disbelief. I saw it. Broke it down in my mind and moved on. I didn’t want to do it and I didn’t think I could do it. It wasn’t until I entered the Modern Quilt Guild color challenge back in 2018 that I decided that I would attempt the technique. I was surprised by what I found and grew to love them. Let’s explore a few patterns that use them and debunk the myth that Y-seams are hard.

What is a Y-seam ...

A Journey into Deep Colors, Scrappy Quilts and Wonky Hexagons

Welcome quilting friends! A few weeks back I shared with you my newest pattern, the Inflorescences Quilt. Today, I’m excited to take you on a whimsical journey as we unveil the back of that quilt. A creation that boasts deep, dark colors reminiscent of a starry night and mysterious galaxies, made with fabric scraps. How is this scrappy quilt possible you might ask? With a Wonky Half Hexagon template.

Let’s break the quilt down into three different half hexagons and talk about using templates ...

This month’s new fat quarter friendly pattern is inspired by this month’s featured fabric, Wishwell Prairie Song by Leslie Tucker Jenison for Robert Kaufman Fabrics.

This is the third time we’ve featured a Wishwell collection for Stashin’ with Stephanie, and it has sold out every time. The bold, digital prints in a graffiti-like texture and rich colors are always a stunning combination.

I developed Sound Waves to highlight this stunning modern fabric. The pattern uses an entire fat quarter with no waste, so it’s great for quilters who don‘t like leftovers at the end of ...

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 ...

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 ...

It doesn’t get easier than this classic quilt block! Using Layer Cakes cut into half-square triangles, the chevron quilt block is the perfect project for a new beginner quilter! Even if you’ve been stitching up quilts for awhile now, this simple pattern offers a unique opportunity to quilt in a hurry (not like any of us would EVER wait until the last minute to make a handmade gift).

To make this into a full quilt, all you’ll need is a solid layer cake and a printed layer cake – but the good news is you can truly make ...

Every year when the weather turns cold, the peacock butterfly finds a cozy bed inside a hollow tree. There she naps for months at a time, with her wings wrapped around her body like a quilt. 

At the first sign of spring she emerges, wonderfully refreshed and ready to flutter!  (Add a tiny sewing machine and a stack of pretty precuts, and I’d call that the perfect winter!)

This week Jenny is stitching up a new butterfly quilt using a border print and layer cake from the beautiful Elysian collection by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics. 

She ...

#SHORTS

DIY cording is the easiest way to class-up your handmade throw pillows and it’s not hard. Watch how we create enough custom piping for two pillows from one fat quarter.

Check out the full tutorial, grab a kit and the pattern on our website!

Get the kit: https://shop.quiltaddictsanonymous.com/product/patchwork-pillow-kits/
Get the pattern: https://shop.quiltaddictsanonymous.com/product/siy-patchwork-pillow-pdf-download/

#SHORTS

I know, buttons & buttonholes are VERY intimidating. But once you know how to use the specialty feet for your sewing machine, they’re super easy because your machine does all the work.

Check out the full tutorial, grab a kit and the pattern on our website!

Get the kit: https://shop.quiltaddictsanonymous.com/product/patchwork-pillow-kits/
Get the pattern: https://shop.quiltaddictsanonymous.com/product/siy-patchwork-pillow-pdf-download/

Have you ever heard of a Colorado block? Many quilters know this quilt classic by another name, the Dutch Windmill. Using layer cakes, this traditional half-square triangle quilt block comes together in a flash creating a unique and vintage design that has been loved for many years. How many years to be exact? While Jenny couldn’t find much information on the original of the name Dutch Windmill, the Colorado quilt block can be traced back to 1941 where it was published in the Kansas City Star!

To stitch up this classic you’ll need two layers cakes, one of ...

Looking for love this Valentine’s Day? Keep an eye on the birds! 

Spot a dove, and you’re destined for a happy, peaceful marriage. Spot a crossbill, and your future spouse is sure to be a grouch.

A sparrow means you’ll marry a pauper, and a goldfinch signals wealth. And if an owl shows up? That’s it! You’ll be single for life! 

All things considered, it may be wiser to stay inside and quilt! This week Jenny is using precut charms to stitch up a super-sweet Valentine heart quilt. These half-square triangle hearts are so simple ...

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 ...

I love the Swirls & Curls stencil from Full Line Stencil. The design is really versatile, making it great for lots of quilts, but on holiday quilts it looks like swirling snow!

This stitch is great for someone who has done some free motion quilting, and is ready to try something a little more challenging. There is a tiny bit of backstitching as you travel from swirl to swirl, but if you aren’t perfectly on the original stitching line, just call it a design choice and enjoy your quilt!

If you’ve never used Full Line Stencils before, they’re ...

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 ...

I started quilting a few years before 2000 — it’s been a long and winding path. The first three quilts I made for myself I hand quilted. One of those first three quilts still isn’t done yet. I ended up binding it because it’s been moved so many times that it’s lived in multiple cities.

I have tried stitching in the ditch, but that makes me crazy because I see each and every stitch that isn’t in the ditch. Lucky for me, my sister bought a long arm and lets me use it. Thanks to that ...

Talk about a classic! Not only is the Nine Patch a quintessential quilter’s block, but this is one of the very first tutorials that Jenny Doan ever filmed! This incredibly simple but versatile block comes together in a stitch using 2.5″ strips of precut quilting fabric (Jelly Rolls) and some basic strip piecing. Using alternating color ways from your available strips, you’ll create a “strip set” using three strips of fabric. All that’s required after that is to cut the long strip sets into 2.5″ strips and stitch the fabrics back together to form nine ...

If you wish upon a star, your dreams might come true…but be ready for a wait!

The closest star is 26 trillion miles away. That starlight magic won’t reach the earth for 4+ years! (If my calculations are correct, wishes from 2017 are just starting to arrive!)

Of course, if you’re short on time, you can whip up your own lucky stars in a jiffy! 

The Brightly star quilt was designed by Allison Harris for Cluck Cluck Sew. It’s a stunning layer cake pattern that is timeless and modern all at once.

(Watch to the end ...

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!