What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

The first time I bought a car that locked with a keychain remote, I felt pretty special. That is, until that newfangled remote stopped working.

But after an accidental trip through the washer and dryer, my key fob came back to life, locking and unlocking the car doors again and again. Lock. Unlock. Lock. Unlock. Finally, I was forced to remove the batteries.

I learned a lesson that day. Sometimes simple is best. Who needs a fancy remote when an old-fashioned key and keyhole will get the job done right every time?

The Keyhole Quilt is as simple as it ...

Have you been on your Pinterest lately? I really haven't in the last few days, but I discovered a nice little surprise waiting for me.




This is what my home page looks like, or maybe it's the header page. It's the one that shows up first when I go to Pinterest. But yes, surprised! Apparently Pinterest takes pins from your most popular board and throws them into these bricks or blocks. That's all I can tell you, but I like it. 

Other changes: the next thing I see when I scroll down is a continuous loop ...

I posted this tutorial several years ago but wanted to revisit it because I think it is so important for getting beautiful results with your foundation piecing. This tutorial is a cutting technique for foundation paper piecing that will give you accurately cut fabric pieces, saving you time and precious fabric. This method is especially great for when you have multiple blocks to make. With

The time has come! I started a new video sew along using Butterick 6214. I chose this pattern because it has a simple loose-fitting silhouette, no closures, very few pattern pieces and can be sewn up in both a woven and a stretch knit fabric.  All that combined seemed to fit the bill of what I was looking for to teach as a beginner friendly project!

If you have struggled with choosing the right size sewing pattern from a commercial envelope this sew along is just for you! In this new FREE series of videos I’ll be walking you ...

This is my Tuffet Pin Cushion tutorial. Are these the cutest, or what? I can’t get enough pin cushions, and judging by Pinterest, neither can anyone else (wink.)

These adorable little pin cushions remind of the “tuffets” that were going around the internet a couple of years ago. I got this idea because I’ve been saving up those little tiny dog food cans (when you have a little tiny dog, you accumulate a lot of those!) I hated to throw them away, and early on I got the idea that they’d be just the right size for ...

How patriotic are you? Do you plant your petunias in bold stripes of red, white, and blue? Does your doorbell chime to the tune of Yankee Doodle? Is your station wagon decked out like a 4th of July parade float all year long?

This week we’re paying tribute to Old Glory with a beautiful patriotic quilt. Stars and Stripes is a quick strip project that was inspired by the beautiful “United” Tonga Batiks by Timeless Treasures. Click HERE to watch the tutorial!

I’m starting today’s Friday Finds with a Find I’ve already made!    I found this great Yoga Mat Shoulder Tote Tutorial over at sew4home HERE.   It’s an easy make and it’s so useful.   I will say that I added a few things but I’m one to always add a pocket to a bag.  What use if a bag with no pockets, even a yoga bag?

See mine in the picture on the front of the blog.   It’s a handy bag and I added the two pockets right between the straps on the front of ...

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 ...

Last weekend we celebrated the first anniversary of our brick and mortar shop in Rock Island, IL, with a big Demo Day! We packed the day with free demos every hour and we filmed four of them for you to watch at home.

Scroll down to see FREE videos on paper piecing, ruler work on the longarm, cutting and sewing with 60 degree triangles and diamonds and how to make four different types of triangles al from squares.

It was a really fun day at the shop and I hope you all enjoy watching the videos at home too!

In ...