What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

My sweet customer Julie suggested I design some paper pieced Camping/Glamping blocks. I’m not so clear on the “glamping”, but the “camping” suggestion was spot on, especially with summer just starting.

I decided that 9 blocks would be the best. Nine is enough for a quilt, but customers could also just purchase 1 or 2 blocks for smaller projects. The 9 designs are CAMP TENT, CAMP FIRE, PICNIC TABLE, VINTAGE CAMPER, CANOE, OUT HOUSE, BEAR FISHING, HOWLING WOLF, and FIRE UP THE GRILL.

Back in the day, we all played Tetris. It was a simple game but challenging at the same time. My dad ruled the school when he played Tetris. So he needed a Tetris themed quilt. I’d found a jelly roll and the perfect pattern, Keyhole, by MSQC.

I didn’t use all of the black strips, Dad just doesn’t like black (or green or brown). The quilt isn’t very large but that’s ok, it’s not like he doesn’t have others around.

I free motion quilted it with a box pattern. It’s probably called ...

The struggle not to start a new project is very difficult right now. So far I have (kind of successfully resisted – but maybe not really. What does that mean? Let me explain. Right now there are two quilt alongs … Continue reading →

I have gotten a few things completed over the past week. After thinking about whether to assemble the Sew in Love quilt or move on to Enchanted Garden blocks, Sew in Love won. I have three of the rows made … Continue reading →

Giving back to one’s community, to me, is the most important things you can do for your community. There are lots of was to give back to your community and it does not always involve money.

Last year, North Carolina went through a couple of terrible hurricanes that left areas devastated. Some folks are still without homes and belongings. As this is in my backyard I felt compelled to contribute in some way. I have donated several clothes, kitchenware and bedding already. My favorite contributions though, that I recently finished, are  two quilts that were donated to Carolina Hurricane ...

Handi Quilter introduced two fantastic new tools that we can use to finish more quilts! I love how Handi Quilter is always innovating and coming up with ways to make our quilting faster, easier, more fun and better.

If you are a Little Foot frame quilter you’re going to love this:

HQ Little Buddy

The Little Buddy includes special brackets and poles which allow the quilt to be rolled and advanced to simplify quilting small quilts on your space-saving Little Foot Frame. You can quilt up to 48 inch wide quilts using the Little Buddy and you can still ...

Handi Quilter introduced two fantastic new tools that we can use to finish more quilts! I love how Handi Quilter is always innovating and coming up with ways to make our quilting faster, easier, more fun and better.

If you are a Little Foot frame quilter you’re going to love this:

HQ Little Buddy

The Little Buddy includes special brackets and poles which allow the quilt to be rolled and advanced to simplify quilting small quilts on your space-saving Little Foot Frame. You can quilt up to 48 inch wide quilts using the Little Buddy and you can still ...

Ever since Kramer passed away, I’ve been so bummed.  They had sent the last PET scan results in his online patient record but I never really got a chance to read them before he passed away.  I kept thinking I’d do it but our last days were so packed…so packed that it was a bounce from one thing to another to another.  With all the kids and family here I never got a chance to read it before he passed.  I wanted to understand what was taking Kramer away from me.  That was okay…I figured there ...

Shout out to those looking for a fun, fiber filled Saturday in Kansas City.  Saturday, June 15, is the last day of the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival.

2019 Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival Info

I was able to break away and visit on Thursday and Friday late afternoon / evening.  The quilts, both in the juried and guild showcases are fantastic and sure to give you ideas of technique and style.   I think there are 18 guilds and over 100 sponsors / vendors participating this year!  It is really a showcase of talent, skill and beauty.

Participating guilds are there with ...

It’s garage sale days here at my house.  Kalissa grabbed her goodies.  Karl helped me pull out all of mine and the sale is on!!

The sale started yesterday and we’ve had LOTS go already.  I’m thrilled with the amount that has gone out.  We’re selling again today and Saturday morning.  We’ll be making deals on Saturday…anything left will likely be half price.  Whatever is left is getting pitched or donated.  Kalissa and I are both ready to be done with this chapter in our lives.  We’ll do some minor junking but nothing ...

I made it!! I met the deadline! It began with an idea, hand painted fabrics and hand drawn flowers and leaves. It finished with domestic free motion quilting and a facing. Whew!!

I suck at caricatures, but when Graham Linehan (Glinner on Twitter) asked me to draw him a new avatar, I did my best. Graham is a true ally to feminists, and although my depiction is hyperbolic, it’s also sincere.

I limit my social media use to 15 minutes total daily, so I seldom post on twitter or fecebook. I’d reconsider if they stopped banning people, especially people I most want to hear from, especially women. Graham himself wrote a nice Medium article in May on why he was leaving Twitter — then Medium banned him. Twitter hasn’t banned ...

A post from Kelli–

A few weeks ago, before Dad passed away, I heard about a tagless garage sale that a group was going to sponsor in the next town over.  The parents of the middle school students had gotten together and decided to put on a tagless garage sale and vendor show as a fundraiser for the student’s trip to Washington D.C and I was thrilled to contribute.  They had tons of vendors with clothing, jewelry, and all kinds of goodies.  But me?  I was going for the tagless garage sale.

I found a few clothing items ...

Here in central Maryland, we’re experiencing a couple of beautiful days in between rain storms. I went out for my second walk this week yesterday. Boy, am I out of shape. I really need to do something about that.

May 30 was sweatshop for Ladies of the Sea with Polly at Spring Water Designs. Polly is ahead of me, as usual. I pressed and trimmed the blocks that have the inking completed, decided on the sashing and the sawtooth border accent color. Still had two blocks to wash before inking and trimming.  I eventually did that but both have ...

These little Tuesday classes I’ve been teaching have been sew much fun!  And my friends are catching on so quickly!  Nearly everyone has the center of their quilt done.  Jennifer has borders and already pieced piano keys!

Kathie opted not to use random scraps but cut a whole bunch of her favorite Halloween fabrics to make her adorable quilt!  Quilts are going to be any size from baby to large throw by the time we’re done.  There’s plenty of “cat scanning” going on and supervision by furry friends just makes it more fun, right?

There something so ...

This day happened before Kramer passed away:  I stopped at the thrift store on my way to pick him up from the hospital on the rare time I went home for a two overnights and left him there.  I wrote this then but am posting it now.

You all know I love thrift stores.  You also know I have the best thrift store close to me…seriously, the VERY best.  I will forever credit that thrift store for some of the success our family has had.  It has allowed us to save money and have money for other things.  It ...

Learn how to make Herringbone, from my first book, “Simple Quilts for the Modern Home.”

Herringbone is one of my favorite quilts in the book because it is a very easy quilt pattern but it looks a lot more complicated than it actually is. The top is made almost entirely by strip piecing, so it also goes really fast.

In this video I show you how to cut corners out of your strips so you can piece them in an offset way to maximize the use of your fabric. We also talk about how to sew the offset strip sets ...