What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Did you play with marbles as a child?

I love collecting them but also really enjoyed beating my classmates in a game. We made a little hole in the ground and took turns getting our marble into that hole in the least amount of turns. Some negotiation took place before the games started to make sure the marbles were of the same ‘level’ or value. The big galaxy-type marbles were prized possessions.

I really loved stitching with this 12W Accent thread by Wonderfil. I put a larger needle in my domestic machine and stitched way slower than I normally do ...

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The last three FMQ design that I shared were inspired by nature and the today’s one is as well.

Pick any three different types of leaves and stitch them out along a pre-marked line. Alternate left and right and keep stitching them in the same order.

Select three different types of leaves: thin, curvy, smooth or with a serrated edge. The leaves can vary a bit in size and direction which makes them a bit more realistic. Curve them up or down. Play with it! See me do that in the YouTube video.

If the contrast in the video ...

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Precuts are often a struggle for me. I like the concept, and I know there are a lot of patterns out there, but opening them up and getting started is the hardest step.

Until I find the right idea: Road Home Snuggle Quilt.

If you have a layer cake looking for an idea, here it is.

This is a make-in-a-day quilt, and a nice size (54″ x 63″), and a fun look.

The minkee on the back just makes it even more of a snuggle. I am so pleased with how it turned out. And I have another layer cake ...

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Fall is in full swing here. The trees are turning colors, the wind and rain have picked up and the temperature is calling for sweaters. I adore all the colors, but all of the rest not so much.

Is Fall your favorite season?

Looking out the window from my sewing studio (attic) I can only see grey clouds in the sky. The windows are sprinkled with raindrops. We need to cheer it all up a bit with pink clouds, right?!

The pink clouds are stitched out on a pre-marked clamshell grid. In the photo below you can see I used ...

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Let's make some napkins! These are quick, easy and inexpensive, finish beautifully and they will look lovely on your table. Suitable for gift giving, tucked into a basket with some additional small gifts or even just tied with a pretty ribbon and gifted on their own! Wonderful for a housewarming, bridal shower, birthday, picnic in the woods, you can think of a million ways to enjoy them and gift

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Spiral-shaped spider webs are on many Halloween quilts, and they for sure are on mine! I really like quilting these little wonders of nature.

I made a little fun animation where I ‘quilted’ and ‘unquilted’ a quilt block in my wall hanging that I talked about in my previous blog post. You can view the short animation here on Instagram.

Even though Halloween is now technically over, I still have a Halloween-inspired pattern for you today. Remember the tv-show Project Runway where Tim Gunn instructed the participants to ‘Make it work”?! Well the spider web pattern is just such a ...

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What did you call these seedlings from the maple tree a child?

We called them helicopters, but technically they are called samaras. The maple tree produces this type of dry fruit that has two paper-like wings that helps the seeds to disperse.

The Free Motion Quilting pattern resembles a maple seed, but it is not an exact copy. There should actually be a pair of seeds per set of wings. But for the ease and speed of quilting I decided on just one circle at the centre of the design. The wings of the seeds are more teardrop shaped and ...

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This blogpost is a love letter to the Ribbon Candy pattern!

I just adore the curves of the design, the possibilities of adding design elements and the timeless look.

The fascination runs deep, so deep that I have been creating a large course to show you all the possibilities that the Ribbon Candy pattern holds. But, it is not the moment to talk this course right now. I will share more about it at a later moment.

Let’s look at the Ribbon Candy variation that may be my favorite! Hairpin!!!

Does it look like bobby pins that you use ...

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Have you made one of those Halloween quilts that has jars or flasks of poison on it? And you don’t know what to quilt inside of those jars and bottles? Well I have the perfect idea for you!

Fill the jars with a string of eyes!

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I have been doing a little halloween decor shopping and some of the things I ordered will be delivered today. I can’t wait to see what the items look like in my house. I have never actually decorated my house for Halloween so I am actually starting from scratch here. What have been your most favorite and treasured Halloween decorations? Please tell!

So this Halloween is a whole series of first for me. First time buying Halloween decor, first time looking for Halloween recipes, first time trying to get my hands on some special Halloween candy here in the ...

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Octopuses are amazingly intelligent creatures! Not only are they super clever, but they are also mesmerizing to look at. Graceful, colorful, fast, able to shapeshift, great at hiding, but also flamboyant when they want to be, outwitting their prey, able to leave their natural environment, and even being super social for some of the species. Wow, that is a great line up!

All of the octopuses in this free motion quilting pattern have a set of 8 tentacles of course. Those tentacles move in all the areas that need to be filled. It is a bit of wiggle actually! The ...

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Trick or treat! I can't believe we are already entering October. The year flew by so quickly and it has been a bit chilly where I live. I wanted to share a quick, useful and fun Halloween project using my Sashiko machine. Of course you could make this project with your regular sewing machine, but I wanted to showcase Sashiko stitches with this project. Are you ready?

*You will need

A fabric to cut side fabrics
A fabric to cut bottom and handles
A fabric to make lining 12"x 20"
Muslin for backing 12"x 20"
(sorry, it ...

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Last week I shared a pattern that looked like people doing the wave, and this week second pattern depicts wild and crazy ocean waves. Strong currents, wild winds and smashing waves were the inspiration for this dense pattern. After all it is Maritime Day today!

This pattern is great as a background filler and that is why I chose a thread that blended with the fabric more. I don’t want to thread to stand out much with a filler, it is supposed to flatten the background so other elements stand out more. The wave design also adds a lot ...

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How do you like your coffee? Strong or with a lot of milk, with an extra added flavor or just plain?

I am not much of a coffee drinker myself, but most of my family members LOVE their coffee in the morning. Shiny appliances with lots of buttons on the counter tops, speciality roasted beans and unique cups to drink it from. Making coffee is turned into an art form!

Can you add a specialty flavor to your quilting?

Yes you can! Add some more depth to your design bij using a slightly darker thread. Some areas of the Coffee ...

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One arm up, two arms up… WOOHOO!

Tomorrow our high school students will visit an amusement park. I will not join them this time as a chaperone, but I can imagine their cheerful screams in the many rollercoasters. Some of them even dare to hold their arms up into the air while riding the coaster. Personally I don’t mind the speed of that type of ride, but the height is an issue… and let’s not even talk about the vertigo it causes me. So I normally will admire their joy from the ground.

This week’s pattern is ...

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Do you have exotic plants in your garden? 

In my street a lot of neighbors have lovely Japanse maple trees and bushes in their gardens. The maples really stand out beautifully against the white painted modern houses. There are even a few neighbors who have a type of bamboo that doesn’t spread. 

Today, September 18th, bamboo is celebrated on a global level to spread awareness on its conservation. Let’s enjoy this gorgeous plant in our weird and wonderful quilting corner of the internet too.

This Bamboo pattern is pretty easy to stitch out. The bamboo design can be ...

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Hot tip: read all the way to the end!

How do you like your chocolate? As a chocolate bar that you can share (or not), as a hot cocoa with whipped creme on top or a as brownie that you can nibble on?

My personal favorite ways to eat chocolate is as sprinkles on icecream, as a chocolate bar with nuts, or like my fellow Dutchies as hagelslag on a peanut butter sandwich.

This week’s free motion quilting design is called Chocolate, as you have guessed already. This pattern is a grid-based design. I stitched it out on a ...

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This September you can create your own quilting retreat at home, for FREE!

Two exciting online quilting events are taking place back to back. You can spend a whole week creating projects and then learning how to quilt them. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

Yes, yes, yes, the classes in these events are all FREE! You will have free access for a certain time period, and you could even buy the classes if you want to keep them for longer.

I was asked to create free motion quilting classes for both these events and I have been sitting on this ...

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Have you ever heard of a Kelp forest? It is the name of an underwater area that is densely populated by kelp. It covers most of our oceans’ coastlines. Mysterious, beautiful and also very important for the Earth’s ecosystem.

And kelp makes a great inspiration for Free Motion Quilting designs. Flowy and bendy so you can cover an entire area, soft and curvy for fabulous texture, and just two different design elements to worry about.

Start with a curvy (gentle serpentine) vertical line. That line curves back down with a series of feather / teardrop shapes. The next piece of ...

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