What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Well, if you can’t getaway, go to the library for a good book! The Utica, NY Public Library opened in 1904. I love the inside of this Library.

The upper floors of the Utica Library are made of thick glass. I used to love coming here as a child.

In every box of fabric we Island Batik Ambassador’s receive, there is a secret bundle of the newly released batiks. I was lucky enough to be ...

Last week I traveled down to Tehachapi for a visit to the Tehachapi Mountain Quilters. I met the program chairs from the group last April at the SCCQG Meet the Teachers event.

After a long drive, I rolled into town on Sunday evening, ready to join them Monday morning for their guild meeting. My new Island Batik scarf made it's debut since it was the perfect match the my top. I couldn't resist stopping for a quick photo of the beautiful mountain view on my way to the meeting.

I shared my My Quilting Journey lecture with a ...

My elderly grandparents liked to sit in a darkening kitchen and listen to the clock tick.
 I was always too shy to ask that a light be turned on so sat with my book in my lap and pretended it wasn't there for I didn't want them to feel badly they had neglected to turn on a light for me. It would seem to be a surprise to them that suddenly it was dark and we needed a light. I would have to say they had a high level of contentment just sitting like that with each other ...

Two packs of bright narrow strips (Windham Foundation) turned into lots of sewing fun. What a joy to work with such bright prints! I decided to work with columns of the strips and added a wider black and white piece every so often. No real plan here, just fun sewing. This wasn’t going to be very big and when I finished this much, I took a picture. Oh dear, much too busy. It was almost enough for me to put aside but I knew if I did that it might not see the light of day for a long ...

This is finally happening. Orca Bay is on the long arm. After all the piecework, it is good to see it stretched out on the frame and looking pretty straight. But, it is the end of the quilting, that the fat hits the fan, when all the wonkyness might show itself.

One of the things I received in a Christmas gift exchange was a pack of charm squares in these gorgeous greens, purples and tans.  With my current lack of inspiration, I thought perhaps I’d just do something simple, just to be able to put thread into fabric.  So, I laid out the squares, putting the prints into three rows, setting the solids aside.

I sewed the sets of three, pressing the seams opposite on adjoining rows.

In no time at all, the runner was assembled.

I began auditioning fabrics for a border.

Eliminating the very lightest, I tried several ...

It's once again time to reassess the project list. I have already finished three quilts this month and I'm excited to get working on some others. Q1 is full of Project QUILTING challenge plans, and I have some Planned Improv: All About Angles projects in progress, but I'm hoping to also get back to some of my older WIPs in the coming months. This quarter will also see me moving back into my newly renovated sewing room. Most excitingly, I have some awesome new lighting. :-) And in February and March I'll be making some updates to ...

I’ve just finished this quilt, called Dresden Neighborhood, but I think it should probably be called “Cursed”!

The first Hospice quilt of the year is done! It’s such a happy and bright quilt and the flannel is so warm and cozy. This was such an easy finish as the donated blocks had been quilted onto batting.  I squared the blocks, pieced them, backed and did simple quilting along the seam lines and then diagonally.

I’m thrilled to have a Hospice finish this early in the year. My gratitude to the donor for all the hours of work that were put into the blocks before they were sent to me. Our little quilting group meets this ...

This is the beginning of week two of a month of posts by Island Batik Ambassadors featuring all of the newest collections of fabric. Today I'm sharing what I made with my bundle of Fortune Teller fabric. Way back in July I was so excited to open this beautiful rainbow of fabric.

My quilt features all 20 fabrics from the collection and is 80" x 96"! I think that makes it one of the three largest quilts I've made. I optimized for using all I had of the twelve fabrics that make up the center of the quilt ...

Last Sunday was the beginning of season 10 of Project QUILTING, a series of one-week quilt challenges. I've participated for the past two years and this year I'm a sponsor. The theme for this week's challenge is Hope Springs Eternal. Well... I was out of town for the first 4 days of the one week challenge, and then I had to spend Thursday and Friday making serious progress on a quilt deadline that I'll be posting on my blog tonight. This means I didn't even have time to think too much about this challenge until ...

I am frustrated that I am not good at drawing yet that I have plenty of technology to “cheat” although that technology can be a puzzling minefield. I watched Youtube tutorials on how to create a spiral design with repeating motifs but it was for a PC version of Adobe Illustrator which I don’t have. There are so many things I think I could do with an iPad so I will see about going to the Apple Store for some training sessions.

My printer only works to a maximum of A4 so creating a larger design is tricky. I ...

Scraps, scraps and more scraps!  Every project means more and more, bits and pieces, and what is it about quilters that we cannot throw anything out?  Well, for a confirmed recycler like me, it is just not possible to send something to a landfill that I can use somehow.  But this is getting out of hand.  I have made dog beds before with the leftovers and batting scraps, but the shelter now won’t take them.  Seems that there is some new rule that says the beds mustn’t be anything that a dog could chew or choke on.  So ...