Have you noticed all of the lovely red and white fabric collections in stores lately? I was itching to create a pattern that would use one. I was also inspired by the Scandinavian designs I have seen this winter. They are a bright spot for a cold winters day. They cheer you up when the […]
Quilters tend to be collectors and I am no exception. Not only do I collect fabric, but rulers, notiions, thread, etc. In fact, one of my resolutions is to unwrap some of these rulers that haven’t been used and put them to good use. As I was working on my Scandinavian Star quilt, I struggled […]
I have always wanted make a crazy quilt. In fact, I have been collecting fabric remnants, ribbon, beads, lace, and other bits and bobs for years. Many of these came from the clearance rack or estate sales. What I had been missing was inspiration. That inspiration came from Sharon Boggon’s PinTangle. She issued a challenge […]
Recently, I had to take a short break from my longarm quilting. Just like your car, it was only for a few hours, while my local Handiquilter technician, Joe, performed routine maintenance. Instead of every 3 months or 5,000 miles, my longarm needs maintenance every 24-months or 10,000,000 stitches. I put about two million stitches […]
For generations, quilting has been a group activity. Today, we may sit our sewing rooms and stitch by ourselves, but we still seek the comradery that comes with quilting. To achieve that, we join guilds that meet routinely, we take classes, and we join FaceBook groups. I belong to a guild, generally am enrolled in […]
Read words, faces, expressions, palms – sure! But reading color? What exactly is that? Over the holidays, I took advantage of some of the clearance sales and increased my stash – my husband may argue that it was completely unnecessary… Regardless, I had several boxes of assorted fabrics arrive on our front porch. Determined to […]
I am excited that I finished my quilt sampler on the Cutting Corners quilt from Jordan Fabrics. Some people think of samplers having different patchwork. They can also have different types of quilting. This quilting can be set apart by area, color or within larger quilted elements. For example, alternating two quilt designs in a […]
Do you remember this box of pieces I found last week? Well, I have made quite a bit of progress on it! I put the pieces together in less than a day and then was ready to assemble it. Unfortunately, I made a minor error when laying the pieces out for assembly. I used a […]
Most quilters have an element of quilting they don’t enjoy as much as others. For me, it is binding a quilt. It is a necessary evil in my mind. I have tried various methods to minimize the torture of this last step. That being said, if it has to be done by hand (like for […]
I have always been drawn to Scandanavian Redwork. I have used it in cross stitch for beautiful Christmas ornaments. It appears in sweaters and blankets. So why not in quilts? Star blocks can be a challenge – Y-seams and angle piecing. So how can this block be more appealing? Remove or minimize those challenges. My […]