What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I didn’t take near the amount of photos as I normally do at a show as Jessica and I were talking the whole time – Melanie had to cancel at the last moment so I drove up by myself.  It didn’t rain all day in fact the storms waited until I got home to happen […]

Betty B
March 2024

My very first blog post over ten years ago included Aunt Betty’s 9 Patch quilt that had been started by my Great Aunt Betty, many, many years ago. I inherited this as a “flimsy” sometime in the last millennia (wow, that’s fun to say), and, based on the fabric, I would guess that she had made it sometime in the 1940’s. It was twin size, and unfortunately, wasn’t very well sewn. At that time, I disassembled down to the block level, selected the best of the 9 patch blocks and reassembled into ...

I belong to the most wonderful Modern Quilting Guild, BrisbaneMQG and on sew days I get to marvel at all the talented quilters projects. Justine, a new member, had a pile of colourful 25 patch blocks with 1″ finished black and white sashing. I was immediately taken by their beauty and started making my own for my modern Bee quilt. Digging through my extensive and embarrassing fabric stash I started to gather 2.5″ squares and make blocks. I have caught the bug and it’s great sewing therapy in between other projects. Fussy cutting the black on white fabrics ...

 Good afternoon, my friends. It's a quiet day here at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch. I've done a couple of loads of laundry. Mainly, we're resting up. We'll be meeting some friends at a winery to the north tomorrow, and we'll stop off at the produce stand to get more avocados on our way back. We have dinner with friends next week, and my friend, Debi, and I will be visiting a San Diego quilt shop the next day. So, there's plenty on the agenda to keep us busy for the rest of our ...

 Good afternoon, my friends. It's a quiet day here at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch. I've done a couple of loads of laundry. Mainly, we're resting up. We'll be meeting some friends at a winery to the north tomorrow, and we'll stop off at the produce stand to get more avocados on our way back. We have dinner with friends next week, and my friend, Debi, and I will be visiting a San Diego quilt shop the next day. So, there's plenty on the agenda to keep us busy for the rest of our ...

Oh my goodness!! Pinch me because I think I am dreaming!! It’s another pattern release day here at Brown Bird Designs and this one has been a long time coming. I came close to picking this design to release instead of Garden Star 2 when I worked with Citrus and Mint’s playful collection many years ago. Instead, I put this design back in my pocket and have been waiting for the perfect time and perfect line to bring it into the world. This is Inflorescence Quilt, and isn’t she lovely?? Grab yourself a cup of coffee and ...

Deb Tucker is introducing her newest fabric collection from Island Batik – Squiggles and Dots. I decided to make a small quilt using Deb Tucker’s “Curved Log Cabin Technique Sheet“.

A Curved Log Cabin Block is really an optical illusion. The block is made up of one center square with a series of narrow and wide logs sewn around the center square. It sounds easy, but if you’ve ever tried to make them, you know that it is tough to get them to come out the way you want them – nice and square. Studio 180 Design’s technique has ...

Good morning, my friends. We had a fabulous day yesterday. The weather was dry and relatively warm. We even had some sun breaks for our day at the outskirts of San Francisco. The lighthouse didn't open until 12:30 pm, and so we had a leisurely morning. I started some chili in the slow cooker, and then I baked this scaled-down recipe of Debi's Skillet Cornbread to make it a "for two" recipe. It worked out great.

Good morning, my friends. We had a fabulous day yesterday. The weather was dry and relatively warm. We even had some sun breaks for our day at the outskirts of San Francisco. The lighthouse didn't open until 12:30 pm, and so we had a leisurely morning. I started some chili in the slow cooker, and then I baked this scaled-down recipe of Debi's Skillet Cornbread to make it a "for two" recipe. It worked out great.

I am an admirer of Kim Diehl and her designs–geometric, creative, small scale, lots of pieces.

But, sometimes I want to make a big quilt, and most of her designs are mini or small quilts. I get it. That is a lot of pieces.

But, I am making a Big Diehl. The Windspinner pattern it is based on is in the book Simple Whatnots III, which contains several others that are on my “someday” list.

Why Big Diehl? Because I plan to make the block 25 times, using the suggested border as sashing to join them. I have four ...

Lemon, lime, oranges or mandarin oranges.

I adore the scent of citrus! Cleaning products, candles, bath products, you name it! I love a wedge of lemon in my coke and add in all the ice cubes!

Do you have a scent or flavor that you adore?

The design Lemon Slices is based on an orange peel grid, and it creates a lovely texture which keeps your quilt nice and cuddly. The design can be stitched out with a quilting ruler if you want to. It depends on how smooth your curves turn out and what size grid you are using ...

I had to write the date a couple of times today and it felt a bit different. Only another 4 years before I can do it again.

And Happy Birthday to all those Leap Year babies!!!

I have strayed from my blue quilts to make a collection of donation quilts – baby size.

I realised I have several sets of these panels and was able to make a start on some quilts.

The first one was easy. Just cut out the 4 panels, add sashing and a border.

With the next one, I started with the single panel, which is a ...

Good morning, my friends. We're on whatever counts as the opposite of the home stretch. Home stretch usually means the time before reaching the end. How does one turn that around and make it a stretch toward the beginning? Just now I checked in with The Google. The Google tells me I can substitute "opening chapter." Okay, so opening chapter it is. We're not quite to the first page, though. Think of this as the dedication.

We've had to reroute our trip already. As it turns out, it's going to snow like mad at the Siskiyou ...

Good morning, my friends. We're on whatever counts as the opposite of the home stretch. Home stretch usually means the time before reaching the end. How does one turn that around and make it a stretch toward the beginning? Just now I checked in with The Google. The Google tells me I can substitute "opening chapter." Okay, so opening chapter it is. We're not quite to the first page, though. Think of this as the dedication.

We've had to reroute our trip already. As it turns out, it's going to snow like mad at the Siskiyou ...

Good morning, my friends. I have a few things to tell you, and then I'm back into spasmodic blogging at least until we get down the road some. We've been watching the weather very carefully. We had what we like to refer to as a "false spring" here in the Pacific Northwest. We had three lovely days of sunshine and warmth, but we're promised the return of cold and wet this week. It's still dry so far, but we could see more freezing temperatures before we leave. It makes it hard to prepare because we can ...

Good morning, my friends. I have a few things to tell you, and then I'm back into spasmodic blogging at least until we get down the road some. We've been watching the weather very carefully. We had what we like to refer to as a "false spring" here in the Pacific Northwest. We had three lovely days of sunshine and warmth, but we're promised the return of cold and wet this week. It's still dry so far, but we could see more freezing temperatures before we leave. It makes it hard to prepare because we can ...

This Orange Peel Stars design has several stitch paths to choose from. The first one is based on one of my tutorials from 2017.

Stitch path 1:

Stitch out an orange peel design first to stabilise your fabric. Best results are achieved by using a ruler, but I am known to free hand them if the shapes are small (blue lines in drawing below).

Once you have filled your block with Orange Peels, enter the space inside of the Orange Peel, starting from the left. Echo around that space in an inward spiral (green lines in the drawing below). Once ...

You would think with all the red/neutral quilts that I have made over the years, that I would have experienced bleed out problems with the reds .... but no .... I've been lucky and I will share what I do to omit that issue.  This is my method and it works for me.

All my fabrics are washed once they get home from the fabric store, quilt guild, thrift shops.  They are washed in cold water using Tide soap.  I cut up a colour catcher sheet in strips and spread them out in the washing machine (I prefer a top ...

Good morning, my friends. It was a day for finishing yesterday. The only thing that wasn't finished was the day's Tiny Heart. The instructions for stitching the rest of this one will be posted today.

That was Block 11 for the Joyful Journey quilt. Here are the 11 blocks I have for this quilt so far. Just one to go before I can sew it into a quilt top. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking I should figure out ...

Good morning, my friends. It was a day for finishing yesterday. The only thing that wasn't finished was the day's Tiny Heart. The instructions for stitching the rest of this one will be posted today.

That was Block 11 for the Joyful Journey quilt. Here are the 11 blocks I have for this quilt so far. Just one to go before I can sew it into a quilt top. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking I should figure out ...