What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

embroidery hoops, Saturday prep

hand stitches, process

When I saw the Challenge from Project Quilting for this week “Inside Out” the first thing I thought of was a rag quilt, or a quilt with raw seam edges showing on the right side. NOPE. (Everyone will be doing that.)

So next I looked up the phrase online. Besides the title of a new cartoon Disney movie, most posts were about how to “birth” a quilt by sewing the top & backing/batting right sides together & leaving a seam open to turn right side out to finish it instead if binding. NOPE.

Nothing else I saw or read inspired me ...

stitching papers, a video

When I saw that the Chinese New Year would be the Year of the Dragon, I just had to get my little dragon out and put him center stage on a table. I got this little guy for our MINIs on the Dragon event a few years ago.I got a long blonde wig and had him on my shoulder like Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones while I worked registration. Since then, he has been used for not only those events, but he was also a photo scavenger hunt item on a picnic event last year. I put him ...

Learn how to sew a heart for any project – quilting, hand warmers, applique and more. It doesn’t take that much time and you can customize your heart template depending on what you are sewing.

Sewing a heart from a template is a delightful and straightforward sewing project, perfect for creating handmade decorations, gifts, or embellishments.

Making a heart doesn’t have to be complicated.  It’s a simple shape that can be used for pillows, pincushions, hand warmers, applique and more. Here’s how you can simply make the shape of a heart and explore the options of projects ...

Inside: You’ll see the mini Oliso iron in action. It’s a great iron, hot and the perfect size for travel or getting into those tricky point areas with that tip! Full video walk through!

This mini iron is full of fun! If you can have fun with your iron.

M3Pro – I am updating this post to share a NEW Mini Oliso iron. If you have loved the first version – you are going to fall in love with this one!

Hello! Meet the new oliso M3Pro Project Iron – tailor-made for sewing, quilting, and crafting, with the performance of a ...

gingham pockets for artist books

just a few stitches, a video.

How many hearts would you like on your quilt?

Double up on your hearts-quota with this weeks design which would work really well on any Valentine’s Day quilt.

If your border or sashing in your quilt is a bit higher, you have enough space to add an extra heart inside of your Ribbon Candy Hearts. Your design will spread out bit more because the design needs to be wider for the extra hearts to have enough room. The lines might not touch each other anymore. Try to keep an equal distance to your previous line by looking at the ...

Today, after a very long time, I clicked on a bookmark link on my web browser that’s been patiently waiting for me to give it some attention since early 2019.

That link, dear friends, was to you, here on my ever-faithful little sewing blog.

A few years have gone by with a few quilts made here and a few quilts made there. Some of them life-time favourites and others I can happily forget. (Although, I don’t think there are many of these!) Other projects have been started and then instantly dumped in the ‘I’ll finish this later ...

This week’s challenge was to sky colors but not less than 10% sky blue. I had a million ideas but was very short on time. (I’ve got a t-shirt quilt that’s way overdue.) I had an idea I would have loved to do based on the title “Purp”le Rain” but it would have required a ton of time.

Instead, I used inspireation from our recent ice storm. While we were frozen in place, we were treated to some lovely sunsets over the ice so I tried to capture that in raw edge applique.

You can’t ...

hand embroidered pouches

Learn how to use your long arm frame for an ironing station. It’s simple and you can customize it to your needs.

The first time I got a long arm – years and years ago, I found that it took up a lot of space.

I have the 10 foot frame, and it takes up a bit of space. There wasn’t much area in my sewing room at the time and using every bit of space was important.

Every quilter needs space for ironing, cutting and sewing. So, while I was looking at the arrangement and how I could ...

I had bought some panels last year to make some reusable kitchen towels and some make up remover pads with the idea to gift some for Christmas. Well, that never happened as I didn't get around to do anything with the panels. 

What can you make with a fat quarter – pretty much any small project or even quilt can be made using the precut fat quarter. They are the perfect size for grabbing, cutting and making a project.

You’ll be able to get a fat quarter cut at the counter from the fabric shop or they sometimes come pre-cut and ready to go. You simply need to pick it up.

Bundle a bunch of fat quarters together and you have a fat quarter bundle. These are great for sewing larger projects and even quilts with.

The bundles typically come in a ...

It has been bitterly cold this past week, and the birds are stuffing their beaks to get enough energy to keep warm. Of course, this means the feeder empties out quickly on some days. We have a pair of hairy woodpeckers that live here year round. Here the female hangs off the bottom of the feeder, while a goldfinch sits on the left keeping a close eye.

The goldfinch flew off, and a bluebird stopped by to take its place. More goldfinches were visiting and taking turns.

A titmouse landed on the empty suet feeder looking for more sustenance on ...

embroidery on paper

In this episode of WIP Wednesday Vanessa is answering your presubmitted questions on:

• Stitch length for sewing flannel

• Seam allowance settings on a sewing machine

• Sew-in interfacing tips

• A new heat press review for crafters

Tune in LIVE and hear Vanessa’s tips and answers to your questions!

• ASK YOUR QUESTIONS: Submit your own question to be answered on a future WIP Wednesday here: https://forms.gle/D2qMCVJxfAgJHvWb7

What we’re covering:

0:24 – Welcome to WIP Wednesday

1:50 – What is WIP Wednesday?

3:02 – What stitch length to use when sewing flannel?

9:13 – My go-to sewing machine ...

Pincushions are a must for quilters, sewers as well as those who love embroidery.  Picking what to put inside the pincushion is pretty important so I thought I’d go over what you can use for the inside of the pincushion.

I am a lover of the pin cushion and don’t think that you really could have too many.   After you pick out the pattern thought the next big decision is what’s going inside the pin cushion!

There are a few products that I use all the time.   Polyfil is usually the one that hits the top of ...