What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

This picture reminds me of my father–a hard-working man who loves the Lord. As a young man he gave himself to God, and he hasn’t turned back.  His example has made all the difference in my life.

Friday morning found me at the local quilt shop where I rent longarm time by the hour.

Four hours.  Four small quilts.

I was tired, but felt very successful.  More quilting time scheduled next week to attack the Halfway Quilt.

Watch for binding and finishes coming soon.

When the door bell rings, and the guy in brown leaves a box, quickly turning, dashing down the sidewalk before reaching the door, let alone getting it open. Boxes bring stuff, often quilterly stuff. Unless of course, you are my Sweetie then those boxes bring other stuff, not quilt related stuff. While the excitement builds… Continue reading You Rule!

Do you ever have enough time to quilt? Lisa shares tricks for getting more done in whatever time you have available.

The post Getting More Done: Quilt Like a Manufacturer appeared first on Quilter's Thread.

I am very proud to announce that I will be teaching modern quilting workshops at the American Quilter’s Society QuiltWeek in Daytona Beach, FL from February 27–March 2, 2019.  Signups will be up this fall.  And, be sure to check out the contests for their shows–they welcome modern quilts.  By the way, visit my Teaching Calendar to see when I might be in your area.

I’ll be teaching these workshops:

MidCentury Modern Curve Workshop. Improv curves–no pinning or templates! You will learn several techniques for making complex looking blocks that are easy to piece.

Fractured ...

Sunday was my day to clean out the garage.  I’ve been picking up lot of auction find with the idea of reselling but I haven’t gotten to reselling them.  Long ago we sold a lot of things of Facebook groups and Marketplace but that had slowed way down so we kind of quit doing it.

Then on Sunday I decided to give it another try.  I wasn’t looking to make big money but did want to sell things at a reasonable price.  The main goal was to get this under control and to make me a pricing ...

About a month ago I finished this quilt for a dear friend who is moving away. During that month it got harder and harder to think about letting the quilt go….because I love it.

But not as much as I love my friend, and she needs this quilt so she remembers we love her.

I used the Little Ruby jelly roll that I’ve been hoarding for some time. So long, that it was QUITE CHALLENGING finding yardage for the borders! Pretty much it was “I’ll take what I can get.” But I absolutely love love this quilt ...

Once you get the hang of it, sewing and quilting is very relaxing and enjoyable. But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to speed up the process. After all, how are you going to make all the quilts that you are dreaming of in your head if each one takes forever to piece?

That is where chain piecing comes in and I show you how to do it in today’s video. With chain piecing, you sew like pieces together all at once without breaking your thread. This method saves time, because instead of sewing each block individually ...

I got a note not from a blog reader after I reviewed the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  The note from Susan Earle said:  “Hi Jo — Just read your post and thought I would mention another like book of interest. Ginny Moon is a recent publication by first time author Benjamin Ludwig. It’s the story of a young girl with autism and her struggles to find her “forever home”. The author has a daughter with autism. I chose it for my Book Club and it was well received.”

Well I loved ...

A post from Kelli–

A while back, you might recall, mom and I went to a sign painting class.  Actually, we’ve both been to 2.

As it turns out, the same company was hosting one closer to me this time in West Union, which is only about a 15 minute or so drive.  I have a bunch of ladies I get together with here and there and we do a craft, have some food, and usually a few drinks.  We call out little bunch Artsy Fartsy.  We take turns hosting and coming up with the craft.  Sometimes they have ...

Tracee and Bill David of Kendall, NY are the artists behind these beautiful treasures. Each piece is original and hand crafted with care. They keep many different designs and styles available in stock, samples shown below, but they also accept special custom orders.

Great gift for you or someone you love!

These items make great gifts, but hey make even better additions to your own home – have them customize something to match your décor! They’ll incorporate your favorite flower, animal, sports team, food/beverage, a monument, a person, or even a brand! They use liquor bottles also, and occasionally ...

  Quilt Basket, Wappingers Falls NY https://www.instagram.com/quiltbasketny/ – Saturday July 16th And Now What?! Doodle Your way to Better Quilting. <———- direct link to sign up for the class. This all day class will have us doodling, and quilting, quilting and doodling. I’m so excited to teach in the new classroom at the Quilt Basket. Florabunda… Continue reading Join me, let’s have some fun

One day recently I was stopped at a railroad bridge and started thinking about what we learned as kids about crossing the train tracks. Stop, look, and listen. Do you remember that?

The next morning I looked at the mountain of work on my desk – as well as those bright, shiny objects across the room – and wondered where I should start. I picked up the task on the top and started to work.

Shortly I became distracted and found myself on the way to the kitchen for another cup of tea.

Back to my desk. What was I working on ...

Sorting all that scrap had a side effect–unearthing potential projects.  Potential projects are groups of fabric that “play well” together.  I have set them aside over time with the intent of getting to them “someday.”

Well, as some of you know, this is the year of SOMEDAY and those projects are not going to just keep sitting there.

Why should they?  They are appealing and even partially started (isn’t choosing fabric often the most time-consuming part?).

OK–there are quite a few of them–right at 30.  It will take a while, but I am getting started right ...

I’ve been working super hard to try to get caught up around here.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a spring where I was so far behind.  (what am I talking about…we fast forwarded into summer)  I told you earlier that I don’t have more than the tomatoes and the lettuce in the garden…that’s still true.  Now we’ve been getting rain off and on…high humidity and not a lot of sun.  I don’t want to complain but in those conditions, it’s not good to spray the weeds and we ...

There is still room to book a spot on the trip to AQS Quilt Week

Grand Rapids Michigan

August 21 – 25, 2018

AQS Quilt Week

Click the link for the Maple Leaf Tours website, for more information, or to book your place on this great trip.
Having attended other AQS Quilt Week locations, I know you’ll have a wonderful quilty time!

Scraps are the best.  And, sometimes, the worst.  They can be overwhelming and get entirely out of control.  Mine were.  I had them stuffed in large boxes and in small bins and in grocery bags.

It is unfortunate that I didn’t take “before” pictures.

But here is a sort-of-after picture.

Scraps sorted.  Into clear plastic shoebox size bins.  By color.

I feel so much better.

Next step will be to further prepare the fabric in each box–sort, iron, fold and replace.

I can feel the creative energy flowing, uninhibited by the cluttered piles of hard-to-use scraps.

On Sunday I told you about my day away….I went to the thrift stores…I did my errands..and I stopped at an auction.  I had told you that the auction was packed with people.  I had told you that there were coins, comic books and copious amounts of Christmas decor to sell.  Then I told you that I stopped at a little vintage shop in town.

Well from there…I went back to the auction.  I was hoping they had made some progress, but from what I had seen…VERY LITTLE progress had been made.  I decided to ...

It’s here! And, I have to admit, sometimes I look at myself like this

When I wonder what I was thinking signing up for anything during the same week as this

Yes, our youngest one graduated yesterday and for the first time in more than 20 years, we have no kids in school. It is just weird.

Now, flowers…I love flowers… these are just a few recent pictures on my phone

I’ve been meaning to make some flower coasters for my mom who is in town for graduation.

Aren’t they so cute?

Anyway, I decided to ...