What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

For those of you who follow my QuiltFabrication Instagram feed, you've probably seen some of the blocks I'm working on for a new scrap project.

DH came home last week with a request. Another co-worker is expecting a baby boy. Just what I need to work on in the evenings.

While at the Dallas Quilt show I purchased a fat quarter of this amusing print - perfect for a budding scientist.

Here's the center, four hourglass blocks that finish about 19-inches. Working with scale. Finally.

Science baby quilt center

 I seem to be running around these days. It was sale day at The Hobby Horse yesterday (and again today - 30% off the fabric on the bolt) and I helped out for the day. I used to work in the store, but it's been a long, long time since I cut fabric all day. It was loads of fun and got to see a lot of familiar faces. BUT I was exhausted when I got home. I don't think I even got a chance to open my book before I was out!

Today, I'm teaching a class ...

We probably all have those days or weeks when our quilting inspiration, motivation and energy just disappears.  It could be burnout (too much deadline sewing) or we might have lost our confidence (no one wants my quilts and, anyway, my quilts aren’t good, perfect or pretty  enough).  We have the time, we have the fabric, we have a pattern—-what we are missing is the energy to get in our sewing space and make something. What we need are easy ways for finding our SewJo. When our energy and motivation are back to healthy levels, we can tackle our ...

Happy Needle and Thread Thursday, y'all!  I've finished up my latest Take Flight quilt (the last one for awhile), and I'm so pleased with it.  To be clear, I love the original version as well, but practice does indeed make perfect, and I'm happier with the feathers on this one.

When I teach classes, I stress that I'm not a perfectionist quilter.  Constantly ripping out seams is demoralizing, and can stop quilt progress in its tracks.  I firmly believe that to improve a skill, it's best just to gain experience and practice by forging ahead to get the project finished.  So, I rarely rip out seams, unless I truly can't help it.

Last week I started hand quilting my Picnic Quilt.  I've decided to call it a Picnic Quilt because it reminds me of mum's quilt that we sat on at picnics when I was growing up in the 1970's.

Mum made most of our clothes, and many of the scraps were included in the picnic quilt. I remember sitting on that quilt and identifying all the fabrics I liked in the quilt.

It's grown bigger than this now

It’s the last challenge of the year (“Scraptastic”) for season 9 of Project Quilting, and if you’ve been following along you know I’ve entered every challenge this year so far. However, for this one I’m really in a time crunch. I think my real challenge will be to finish it in time! The entire quilted item must be started and completely finished (yup, quilted & bound) within one short week.

I’ve got bins and bins full of leftover fabric from years of sewing. Some are so old, I think they might be considered “vintage “…maybe you ...

Scrappy Happy Rainbow Quilt - #SHRQuilt I've had this idea for a scrap quilt, playing around in the back of my mind for quite a while. With so many scrap fabrics and the inability to get rid of them, this could be a wonderful way to use up a whole bunch of them. How is your "scrap situation" going?  Do you even have a "scrap situation"? The idea for this quilt is to separate the scrap

Work in Progress

Time for our next step in the Square Dance, this month we Come Down the Middle.  This step is easy, and will go really fast, so you can catch up your Do-Si-Do step if you still have some to do.  Also, just a reminder, please do not pin these steps to Pinterest, they will be taken down later in the year after the mystery is done.

Pair up your 3×7-1/2-inch Fabric A rectangles with the same size scraps, and sew along the long side (come down the middle).  Be careful to sew a straight 1/4-inch seam. Important ...

Ok, so Pi Day is tomorrow - 3/14 - but I couldn't wait.

I've been wanting to make a Wagon Wheel or Ferris Wheel block for several years, simply haven't gotten around to it. The joy and bane of rotary tools is that they make straight cutting so easy.

The 10-degree wedge ruler was a find at a quilt show... about three years ago. {It had to age on my bookshelf, you know.} When I was finally ready to start, I considered using bright fabrics but have a collection of oddly colored green, beige, red, and white fabrics ...

The third spiderweb quilt, the one with the blue stars finished quickly once I decided on the spiral quilting design.

Spiderweb quilt with blue stars

Starting the spiral quilting