What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I’ve been reading the magazines I got at the bookshop at the show, and many of them are Quilting Arts. I signed up for their emails, and recently they had a reader challenge. It was called Into Nature. Here is the challenge “Create a small art quilt (6” x 9”, vertical orientation) that reflects your personal connection to the natural world. Explore nature-related themes—leaves, stems, roots, flowers, spores, seeds, or growth cycles—as inspiration for this challenge. Your ideas might come from a specific place, a fleeting moment outdoors, a beloved garden, or abstract responses to nature’s ...

My local quilt group is working on a BOM again this year, this one designed by our “fearless leader”. She’s a talented quilter/designer who has had some quilts published in a magazine, and she volunteered to do this one for us this year. She made the blocks 8″ square, with a separate tree block to […]

 Thank you for all of your very kind comments lately. I don't know what's going on but I stayed up late Thursday night and replied back to all of them individually and then I had a long influx of emails telling me they were undeliverable.

 Well, friends, it seems that I am saying hello once again after a long absence. For the few who still visit, all these years later, you know that much has happened in the past ten years. I spent time recently scrolling through old posts, and I cannot believe that this blog began in 2008. That's getting dangerously close to twenty years ago! What a different world it is today. Not only for me, but the blogging community. It is very different from when I began blogging, as a way to stay connected and talk about quilts and gardening while ...

 Good evening, friends. It's been a while. How are you? We are doing well here in the northern most part of Ohio. I have gardening and quilting on the brain, and so that's what I've been doing a lot of.

I am still working, but a little closer to home these days. Not that this has given me much more free time, I do have teenagers and small children after all. But it has made the drive home shorter and allowed me to sleep in just a little bit longer in the mornings. 

I have decided to ...

The gift gallery at the show was really spectacular with well over 1000 items to choose from. Isn’t shopping fun! But, I put in way too much, with over 100 items. Granted, 40 of them were fabric stars that were displayed on one mug rack and 30 were handmade cards in a basket, but I still had much too much left over. The small room had every wall covered plus three tables in the middle covered with items, along with several quilt racks, and more outside the door.

Some of what I made for the show were items any ...

Download this free beginner quilt pattern now and make this project in one day. Big blocks, easy technique, beautiful quilt!

Aromatherapy Quilt – click here to download the pattern

Are you ready for a fast project? I designed the Aromatherapy Quilt for Dear Stella’s Fall in Love collection. It measures 65″ x 65″ and can be used as a wall hanging for a bold decor statement or as a throw. Either way, it comes together quickly, so keep this pattern handy for those times when the occasion demands a handmade gift but time is short.

Dark and light prints added ...

So last week, I told about a quilt top I bought at the thrift store for 50 cents. If you missed the blog post, you can read it HERE. This is a reminder of what it looked like. I mentioned in the blog post that I was thinking about trying to find the background fabric …

The 50 Cent Quilt Top Read More »

Outdoors, the world is awakening; every thing from the biggest to the tiniest is changing now. I'm out tramping about three times a day so as not to miss anything. I almost missed the White Trilliums, Ontario's provincial flower. They are a little scarce here on our property and bloom far apart so was happy to spy this one. 

This past weekend was our Western North Carolina Quilters Guild’s biannual Garden of Quilts show, and what a show it was! The amount of work and volunteers it takes to put it on is staggering, but the inspiration is worth the effort. I don’t know how many quilts were on display, but it had to be over 150 in sizes from small wall hangings up to large bed quilts. There were traditional pieced quilts, modern art quilts, whimsical applique, and ones with intensive hand work. Then there were vendors with fabrics and notions, a used bookstore and a ...

When we left off last time, the front and back of the tote were complete and ready for assembly. If you missed the first part with the cutting directions and initial construction, click on Sew Pretty Tote.

Because I want to work on this while it is flat as long as possible, the first thing to do for assembly is to sew the front and back together on bottom seam. I use clips instead of pins for this due to the bulk.

Lay the piece out, and hard press the seam open. Then press from the top side to set ...

Fairy Boutique by White Owl Textiles for Lumin Fabrics is such a beautiful panel.

The entire Fairy Boutique collection is fabulous. Estimated Ship Date is July 2026.

I had so much fun cutting out my equilateral triangles and diamonds for my 10″ stars using my First Choice Rulers and Star 60 Tool by Studio 180 Design. I cut 3.25″ strips that yielded 5″ finished hexies. From the same 3.25″ strips I cut diamonds to make 10″ finished Stars using my Star 60 Tool.

It always amazes me how much creating a One Block Wonder with hexies from ...

I got around to the embroidery tote this past week, and made good progress. I had embroidered several things on a cream color tone on tone print including this sentiment, along with a couple of sewing machines. The Japanese print I loved only had a small amount. So I cut it into four equal pieces. I added more tone on tone white to the bottom of the embroidery to match that measurement. Then, the sides were sewn to the middle and this became the front of the bag. The width is 22 inches, limited by the size of the zipper ...

Download this star quilt pattern for beginners now! Turn half-square triangles into a beautiful heirloom for your home or as a gift!

Autumn Sky – purchase pattern here

Today, I am launching the Autumn Sky quilt pattern! The quilt measures 54″ x 66″ and the blocks finish at 12″. It is perfect for beginners as you will only be making half-square triangles.

For this sample, I used batiks from the Fur and Forest collection by Lumin Fabrics. I love the colors of fall, leaves, and forest creatures and animal prints featured in the collection! Of course, you know I also love ...

I had some unexpected time off from watching Anders, and I made the best of it. I debated for a bit on what project I could finish up quickly. I had shown you several options that I was thinking of finishing in a blog post last week. You can find it HERE. The funny thing …

What I’m Working On…May 11th, 2026 Read More »

The mountain laurel is in bloom now, and we have two large shrubs on our property. One is behind the house, the other on the edge of the meadow. I love these pink-tinged flowers with the red lines radiating from the center.

My bargain New Guinea impatiens have doubled in size and are blooming well. They seem to be very happy here. I really like the variegated coloring on the flowers.

My other bargain plant is a verbena. It also seems to be coming back well, getting larger and now sporting several blooms along with a bunch of buds for ...

I have a finished quilt to show you…It’s Twirl Around from Bonnie Hunter’s book Addicted to Scraps. You can find the book HERE. I did some modifications so if you’re interested in making one, I’ll tell you what I did. The coloring from my pictures isn’t quite true. The real color is this…They are MUCH …

Quilt Finish: Twirl Around Read More »

April 2026 was one long roadtrip!

I started out at the New England Quilt Expo in Manchester New Hampshire. I was invited there By Bits “N” Pieces Quilt Shop to be the keynote speaker and teach a One Block Wonder workshop. And what a great workshop it was. I can’t wait to see their finished OBW’s!

I was home a week and then off to teach at AQS Paducah. What an honor to be invited to teach there. I taught 4 classes and gave a trunk show! Studio 180 Design Certified Instructors have a tendency to run in ...