What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

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 ...

 A friend of ours and his wife had their first baby a few months ago. He is an avid hunter and was our Safari Club chapter president for a few years. He's also the service manager at the Ford dealership and I laughed when we took our truck in last month for a recall issue and DH and he poured over maps of an area where DH drew a tag for an Orex in January before they even checked in the

I had an enjoyably busy week working on customer quilts and also making a sampler with some fun OESD e2e designs. One of the quilts only just fitted on the frame but I got through it in the end:)

I long promised you a free pattern. I finally got it done. You can find the pattern HERE. This is the quilt that I wrote the pattern for… It was very popular on the blog when I showed off my finished quilt. I want to point out a few things to you. The quilt is …

16 Patch Star Free Pattern Read More »

Pollinators by Robin Pickens for Moda Fabrics is absolutely beautiful and will be in shops in December 2026.

I cut my strips 3.25″ yielding a 5″ finished hexie. I love my Studio180 Design First Choice Rulers for cutting the equilateral triangles, it is fast and accurate. I cut diamonds for 5″ Star 60 units that make 10″ stars to add to my garden.

The bees are a buzzing in the garden created for them! I added 5″ and 10″ Hollow Cube 60’s made with my Star 60 Tool and Hollow Cube 60 Technique Sheet. I think they look ...

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.

I made all sorts of different things this week, not all of them easy or useful. At work I have made some ruffled samples to prepare for a forthcoming class. People seem to have mixed feelings about whether ruffles are IN or OUT;)

I tested out the new 790 Ultra to see if it did all that it claims to. It performed very well but I think if I had several thousand pounds to spend I would still opt for the top of the range 990 which has a camera and can do pretty much anything.

I gave 2 new ...

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 ...

I know, I can't believe it either!

I started the quilt in 2016; I think it became a flimsy in 2016 and it went on my longarm in 2017. Two moves and 10 years later, it's finally finished.

Tada!

The flimsy in 2017

Everything I could tell you about it was disclosed in previous blog posts; just search for Girl Gang and they should come up for you. I smile every time I see it and the song immediately pops in my head--it's a happy song and it is now the name of the quilt: Let Me ...

Well, that was fast! After I wrote a few hours ago that I was trying to figure out how to get a photo of the Exploding Heart quilt I’d recently  made, it hit me that someone at my local quilt shop might be able to help! Sure enough, one of the taller women who works […]

Last fall I went to the Houston Quilt Festival and saw a new-to-me paper piecing company called LegitKits. They had show-special prices, and I was lucky enough to win a further discount, so I bought one of their kits, called Little Hummer. The pattern comes with all of the necessary fabrics and, of course, the […]

We’re banishing all of our blues with a precious recolor of a shining Jelly Roll-friendly quilt! Be prepared to have all of your quilt wishes come true with our new recolor of the Star Bloom Quilt Pattern by BasicGrey in the Breathtaking Blues collection by 3 Sisters for Moda Fabrics in the Prussian Blue Quilt Kit! Keep reading to explore this breathtaking recolor and watch a video tutorial walking you through this impressive yet approachable block.

Prussian Blue Quilt Kit

The Prussian Blue Quilt Kit includes all the fabric you need to complete the 60″ x 60″ quilt ...

I was feeling a little sad that I haven’t finished many quilts lately. Then I decided I would sit down at the computer and pull up my quilt finishes for the year to hopefully motivate me or redeem myself. I wasn’t sure what it would do. I usually do an update mid-year here on the …

UFO Update: Mid Year Look-see! Read More »

And heading soon to a friend. Happy Monday, y'all!

Folks, I'm on a roll, but only because Katrina helped me out by quilting this quilt and the Girl Gang DIY Sampler. I'm absolutely giddy. But more about the quilt:

I made this for my friend, Kevin. He and I have been friends since the 10th grade and we have been in and out of each other's lives due to distance and time (just like so many others). When we reconnected shortly after the Hubs and I moved into the Home at the Top of the Ridge ...

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 ...

The last remaining dinosaurs have been chilling out with me in the sewing room.   There was just a limited amount of fabric left, enough for a toddler quilt I decided.   And I liked the idea of using yellow as accents, the RSC colour for August.

I couldn't match up the dinosaurs, so cut the fabric into four, and added sashing in the middle.  Then yellow and grey borders with nine patch corners.  That's the  top done, it doesn't look too bad, does it.

Dinosaurs roam again

And I always like to ...

I have a stash of LayerCakes (42 10″ squares) that I am trying to turn into projects.

While I have made Two By Four quilt blocks before, the sew-and-trim technique shared in THIS VIDEO by Aunt Em’s Quilts sped up the process for me. It might help you, too.

Part way through, I (gasp!) MISCUT a strip. ARRGH! But, it turned out to be a good thing. I decided that, rather than have just one block different, I would fill in with some leftover jelly roll strips that were a believable match and make the quilt a bit larger ...

 In June 2022, the only UFOs I had were at the quilter's and I was ready to start something new.  I had been on a mission to sew up my collection of jelly rolls. This is a different type of fabric than I usually gravitate towards, but I'd noticed it in a few quilt shops back when it came out and I was drawn to the quilts made with it. I never bought any and by the time I decided to, I

I think I’m in my Chatty Cathy phase. But to spare you, I have whittled this down from what I originally wrote to save you from eye rolls and thinking, “What is wrong with this girl?”

The last couple of weeks have been busy. A good part of that time was spent with friends, and two of those times were spent at quilt shops and fabric stores. At one of those quilt shops, I ran into a favorite customer of the quilt shop I used to co-own, and had a wonderful time catching up with her. But I have ...