What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

This quilt started as an experiment with fat quarters. I had seen a few similar quilts and wanted to give it a try.

This version uses 9 fat quarters. Three prints and 6 solids. The quilt finishes at 40″ x 48″. Each block has a center cut at 4-1/2″ x 4-1/2″, some plain squares, and some created as hourglass blocks made of two squares starting at 5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″. The outside of the blocks is two rectangles 2-1/2″ x 4-1/2″ and two rectangles 2-1/2″ x 8-1/2″.

It went together quickly and is ...

Tomorrow is Worldwide Quilting Day, and our local guild is having an exhibit for the day. If you are local, please stop by the Blue Ridge Mall in Hendersonville, NC on Saturday, March 16, 10 am to 3 pm to see the 34 challenge quilts and cast a vote for your top three favorites. The challenge was to take page 42 from a non-quilting magazine as the inspiration for a wall hanging size quilt. Page 42 is for our 42nd year as a guild. Viewer’s choice winners get some great prizes, and our local quilt shop, Beginnings, will be ...

I do not.

I know, I know. For every quilter who doesn’t prewash, there are two who do because they had a quilt bleed on them.

I did too, after my husband decided it was a good idea to wash one of my quilts in hot water because the cat threw up on it. It was a lovely, perfect red and white quilt that I hadn’t prewashed or even tested because I was rushing to meet a deadline. Because it was made with two different highly saturated reds and the purest of whites, I decided to be careful ...

Hugs and Kisses, X’s and O’s just another reason to start a quilt. What is it about Valentine’s Day that makes me want to start another quilt? Duh, as I type this I realize what a silly question that is. I always want to start anther quilt regardless of the day.I am knee deep in Quilt-Alongs, Moda Blockhead’s, samples for work and a few overdue baby gifts but I stumbled on my block from the Blockheads 3 series and remembered I had always wanted to make this as an overall quilt.

I was going to ...

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 ...

There were around 200 4-patch blocks, most alternating background/print, and some, what I would call, mixed patches. All came together in a box.

They had issues–mostly inconsistent seam allowance. And some people might have considered them dated.

But there was something interesting about them. So, first things first–Square Up. I chose 3-1/2″.

Alone they weren’t enough to make a sizable quilt, so I explored a number of different options for the alternating squares–too light, too dark, too dull, too print-y. None were quite right. Then, I remembered, when struggling with colors, there are a ...

FINALLY…Today is the day! I am doing the long-promised tutorial to make the 4″ square in a square block. This all started some time ago when a blog reader sent me a bag of scraps with the word “smores” in the package. There really wasn’t a lot there…a half dozen or so finished blocks…that many …

The Square in a Square Tutorial Read More »

This modern quilt pattern for home decor looks complex, but it’s easy! Beginner blocks and contrasting colors combine for a stunning effect!

Candyboard by Pieced Brain

This is Candyboard, my latest quilt pattern available at my Etsy Store. It measures 64″ x 76″ with blocks that finish at 12″. I designed it for the Tonga Honeycomb batik collection by Timeless Treasures. You know how much I love batiks, right? If you would like to make it using the same collection, I know that Hancock’s of Paducah is selling the kits with all the fabrics and the pattern!

I ...

WordPress has recently changed the look of the comment boxes, and there are apparently some new changes to the way email addresses are used in relation to facebook. WordPress blogs have a plugin called Jetpack that keeps track of comments left on the blog, and your email so I can respond to you. It filters out spam, and keeps anonymous comments off the blog. It is an integral part of the WordPress platform, and not changeable.

Sometimes when you comment, you may see a popup from Jetpack. This is actually facebook, not my blog!!! See the arrow below and the ...

So FINALLY we get to the Sheep in Sweaters Tote!  When I started the previous post, I discovered I’d never blogged about the turquoise tote, which is the forerunner and partner of this one!  I will say now that I have finished this post (Part 2), it is LONG–but I wanted to be sure you got ALL the good info. If you’re here for just the totebag part, skim the embroidery bits! Thanks for reading!

Those of you who get my newsletter (sign up in right sidebar on this blog or the bottom of all the other ...

Confession:  I love boxes, bags, baskets….   the more, the merrier.  I still wonder what happened to that plaid and a little bit of leather bag I had when I was six!  And I love having my bags work for me, offering the perfect combination of color, print and cloth, and function.

Over the years I have learned that I HATE rummaging around in the pitch dark bottom of a deep bag.  I think of those as North-South bags, taller than they are wide.  I vastly prefer East-West–where I can actually FIND stuff inside.  It also means black and other ...

September is National Sewing Month, and it seemed a good time to do a round up of the sewing projects I have on the blog. I’ve been so busy with the fair that it has taken until now to get to it. I can’t show you what I am sewing right now, but you’ll see those projects next month during Autumn Jubilee. In the meantime, let’s talk about sewing for a bit. I still sew practical items for household and travel use, and along the way I am still making some of my clothes. When I ...

 Time to share the last steps -- adding borders and some quilting ideas!  

I added three borders to my finished top -- first border is the background fabric and cut 2" wide to finish at 1 1/2".    Second border used up all my leftovers from the layer cake (plus a couple add-ins because it was pretty tight) -- it's cut 3" wide to finish at 2 1/2".  The third border is the background fabric and cut 4" wide to finish at 3 1/2" wide.

The layer cake leftovers could be pieced together with straight seams but for the fun ...

Carole, of From My Carolina Home, has shared a local guild project: Cradle Quilts. You can LEARN MORE about it here.

As soon as I saw her post, I thought about some particular stacks of possibilities in the sewing room. Ah, yes, finally I have the right idea.

I may have gone a little berserk, but I was having a really good time. Really, you can put together an 18″ quilt in nearly no time at all. It is a great way to use up various leftover bits.

NOTE: I do not have process pictures for all, but am happy ...