Hi there! Welcome to Mini Quilt Mania! We are kicking off our month long series today! We have a full schedule of mini quilt tutorials from...

Another project crossed off my To Do List! Mini Mini quilts! For your refrigerator or note board! Unfortunately, these were not my idea! I wish I was the brains behind this project! I was inspired …

Kawandi Style Quilt Project

I'm excited to show you how I make my design boards that I told you about in my last post! I made 6 of them that measure 10" x 10" to use when making my 6" blocks... of course you can make as many as you want and in any size according to the projects that you are currently working on. I have several sizes that I use all the time... including ones that are as large as the foam board that I use to make them with. You can get foam core board at any office supply store and usually most department, grocery and drug stores sell them too. They are with the poster board. I got these at Walmart....Elmers brand...2 in a package that each measure 20" x 30". They are about 1/4" thick which is great for the mini boards. I can get six 10" x 10" mini boards out of one foam board....10 x 10 is the perfect size for the 6" blocks used in the Farmers Wife quilt. I use my rotary cutter and ruler to cut them to size....but this is the important part so listen up!... I use my OLD DULL BLADE that I have saved just for this reason. I would suggest that you never use a new rotary blade because it will certainly be an old one by the time you finish!...LOL I simply measure and cut just like I do with a piece of fabric...but then I turn it over and make a cut on the other side in the same place as well. After cutting from both sides...it easily snaps apart:) Continue cutting your board into the sizes desired. I use my paper scissors to trim off any foam that sticks out from the edge. This is also a good way to use up small pieces of leftover batting. I use thin batting made of 100% cotton or a blend of 80% cotton/20% poly. Either would work for this project. Lay your foam board down on your batting to use as a guide and cut your batting about 1" bigger than your board all the way around. Using a hot glue gun, begin on one side and place a line of glue on the board ... and glue the batting down. The extra batting should hang over the edge. Place your glue close to the edge but not right on it so that when you press the batting down... the hot glue doesn't run down the sides:) Glue all the way to the corners of one side...and then glue the batting down on the opposite side, pulling the batting as you go to make sure it fits smoothly. It will look like this with 2 sides glued down. Now continue and glue the batting to the remaining edges of the foam board. I only glue batting on one side of the foam board. The other side remains as is:) After all four edges are glued down and the glue is completely cool...I use my Gingars and trim the batting even with the edges. Easy-peasy don't ya think?!...I think a design board is a very useful tool besides being inexpensive and sew simple to make:)....I love them! You can use the design boards just like this or you can make them fun and cute by covering the edges with fabric. My motto is...if it's worth making...it's worth making it cute!! Tomorrow I will show you how to cover the edges....so get your boards finished today so that you will be ready to roll! Just so you know...you will need a 2 1/2" x Width of Fabric strip for each 10 x 10 mini design board. You can see how I finish my design board edges with the fabric strip by clicking HERE. So I'll type at ya tomorrow....in the meantime...have fun making your boards and be careful not to burn your fingers! xx Lori

Create a unique and stylish mini quilt with the Fenrir pattern from Wax & Wane Studio. With high quality materials and simple instructions, make a mini quilt that is sure to be a standout piece! Try the Bestla pattern today!

The Modern Fans quilt pattern is incredibly versatile. By rearranging the unique quilt blocks you can make lots of different layouts and designs.

Tutorials featuring Sunnyside Ave and Gingham Girls fabrics including Meet the Makers quilt block tutorial #4, mini quilt charms and bottle cap pincushions.

Foundation paper pieced mini quilt. The mountain quilt blocks are so cute!

All About Quilt Runes Welcome to the first post of my blog series about Quilt Runes . Quilt Runes is a term I made up to name the collection of mini quilts I’ve been working on since 2020. The quilt patterns of the collection are inspired by Nordic Runes. It all started as a project of self-explo

The Street Series The October Series

My Sewing Box What is in your Sewing Box? I have been obsessed with hand quilting lately. I thought that it would take to long to hand quilt a small doll quilt, I could do it much faster on the machine, right? Well it turns out it does not take much longer and I like the results so much better. So hand quilting it is. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Just a little note about my sewing box. My handy husband made this for me out of an old cigar box my daughter found at a garage sale. I love it and I am sure many of you will too. I am afraid this is a one of a kind. If you have a handy husband or friend maybe they will make one for you. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Just another little note. There will be more information on the quilts tucked under my sewing box later this week. 

The day began before dawn—a lovely sight for our drive. It had been several years since I (Teri) had attended AQS QuiltWeek in Lancaster, PA. This year, I was able to make it, though only for a day—and I can assure you, it was a day jam-packed with beauty and inspiration! I had been remiss in renewing my AQS membership, so that was my first stop. While I was filling out my card, I was chatting with the lady behind the counter, explaining that I write a blog and would be including photos of the show and wanted to be sure I was staying within the guidelines that I had read about on their website. She responded with a lovely surprise: I was given a Press Pass, as well as a personal tour through the entire exhibit with the Marketing Director, Katherine Rupp. I felt so official! As Katherine walked me through the exhibit—which spanned three floors—and pointed out various ribbon-winning quilts, I was struck by how difficult it must be to chose "winners" from amongst such a vast pool of talent. In my mind, they were all winners! She noted that the AQS was the largest membership quilting organization in the world, and the exhibit itself represented quilt work from countries across the globe. (In fact, among the ribbon-winning quilts, I counted nine winners from six foreign countries, as well as 13 American states.) While transitioning from one floor to the next, Katherine stated that at such a quilt exhibit, "there's a peek into the quilter of every quilt, and you can't help but be inspired." Wow, that really struck a chord with me! If you have read many of our blog posts, I'm sure you can guess why. I was so grateful for the time Katherine spent walking me through the show. After the tour, I returned to the first floor to study the quilts at a slower pace. I found myself looking for that "peek into the quilter," wondering what she was thinking when she made her quilt. Was the quilt her story, or was the story of the quilt in the actual stitches she lovingly placed in the quilt? I pondered whether what I was seeing was her intended message, or one that the quilt placed in my own mind, making the quilt special, and in some way, unique to me. In a sense, I suppose that each quilt has the opportunity to "speak" individual stories to whoever sees it, as we all bring our own thoughts and experiences to the quilt before us. Enough of the philosophical mind-wanderings. We have quilts to see! Best Hand Workmanship Award MY SWEET HOUSE WITH KIRARA, Ayako Kawakami; Funabashi, Chiba, Japan Detail shots of My Sweet House With Kirara, by Ayako Kawakami I love everything about this masterpiece: the color, the skill, the town, the garden stitched in the blocks, and the combination of patchwork, appliqué, and embroidery. Best of Show Award AZTEC SUNSET, Linda Roy, Knoxville, TN Detail of Aztec Sunset by Linda Roy Stunning use of color, movement, and quilting! Best Stationary Machine Workmanship Award COUNTRY ROADS, Joanne Baeth, Bonanza, OR Detail of Country Roads by Joanne Baeth Talk about a quilt with a story! Best Movable Machine Workmanship Award INTO THE WESTWARD SUN, Bethanne Nemesh, Allentown, PA Kara and I saw Into the Westward Sun at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival; it was no less impressive here! The quilting itself is full of stories. As I studied more of the exhibit, I was impressed by the variety of quilt styles on display, and quite pleased to see so much appliqué and embroidery! Here were a few of my favorites. (It really is just a sampling, though it seems like a lot; it's so hard to narrow it down!) Decadent Victorian Darlings, Hattie Williams; Boswell, PA Detail of Decadent Victorian Darlings, Hattie Williams The lovely lady above reminds me of the Colonial Ladies in the quilt my mother-in-law gave me—you can read about it by clicking here. And of course, the quilting lady, below, is a favorite! The fabulous quilting adds so much to this quilt. Detail of Decadent Victorian Darlings, Hattie Williams Flower Boxes, Christine Wickert; Penfield, NY Detail of Flower Boxes by Christine Wickert Red December, Gail H. Smith and Angela McCorkle; North Barrington, IL Phebe, Christine Sudberry; Tampa, FL Detail: center medallion of Phebe, by Christine Sudberry Detail: Center medallion border of Phebe, by Christine Sudberry Old Glory Under His Wings, Julee Prose; Ottumwa, IA Details of Old Glory Under His Wings, by Julee Prose First Place: Hand Quilted Quilts Baby Blues, Antonia Hering; Hoorn, Noord-Holland, Netherlands Civil War Bride, Nechama Cox; Baltimore, MD Detail of Civil War Bride, by Nechama Cox Second Place: Hand Quilted Quilts Crazy Birds, Donna Douglass; Apollo Beach, FL Bouquets for a New Day, Karen Boe and Barb Simons; Langdon, ND Hugs & Kisses, Kathryn Brigham; Colleyville, TX Royal Garden, Eliane Bailey; Dallas, TX Detail of Royal Garden, by Eliane Bailey Ewe Are My Sunshine, Janet Stone; Overland Park, KS Detail of Ewe Are My Sunshine, by Janet Stone Iznik Garden, Tamsin Harvey and Angela Perry; Bowral, New South Wales, Australia Detail of Iznik Garden, by Tamsin Harvey and Angela Perry Victory, Colette Dumont; Saint-Romain, Quebec, Canada Family Tree, Peggy Garwood; Crossville, TN Blessings of God, Elaine Merritt; Highland, NY This is but a taste of the inspiring quilts I saw on the first floor alone. It's probably not too difficult to make the observation that I am drawn to appliqué, and particularly, album-style quilts. To be honest, I didn't even realize that most of the photos I took were this genre, until I had them all posted and thought, "Well, I am consistent!" I guess we like what we like. 😀 There really WAS a great variety! And I must have been missing Kara—I noticed that at least seven of the quilts I included here had "put a bird on it!" Did I miss any birds? (I'm quite certain there were many in the show I didn't photograph.) One special exhibit on the first floor, The Gala of the Unexpected from The National Quilt Museum, included creative works of quilted art made of such unusual materials as duct tape or sugar packets. Not joking! Alas, photography was not permitted, so you'll have to reeeallllly use your imagination for those! I wandered through about half of the vendors' booths before my stomach began screaming for food. I got my ring cleaned by Something New Jewelry Cleaner, bought some legs for my portable Cheryl Ann's Design Wall, and some Auriful 80wt cotton thread from Follow That Thread for my appliqué. There was so much left to see! I met "the sisters," and we had lunch—we needed to fortify ourselves for the afternoon: two more floors of quilts and the rest of the vendors. But enough for now. You'll have to wait to see what beauty lies upstairs! (Not to mention the laughter and fun I shared with my adopted sisters!) Stay tuned . . .

I’ve had so many requests to explain how I mount my small art quilts on painted black canvas that I decided it was time to write a tutorial! There is a step-by-step description of my process …

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for a scrappy sawtooth star quilt block. This is the perfect block for using scraps, lots of colors and prints.

Block Count - Thirty Six + + + + + + + Just a friendly reminder to get your weekly One Block Wednesday blocks done. + + + + + + + Need to get caught up all the details can be found here.

Today let’s sew together a Braced Star quilt block! It finishes at 12″ and goes together on a diagonal grid. I also have several layout ideas toward the end of the post to help spark your inspiration. Let’s get started!

I love modern quilts and have since I was a little girl. I especially love quilts with a lot of white space – not surprising!...

Tutorial: use the quilt blocks from "Fairy Sisters" and "Fairy Boy" in a combined project - how sweet is this fairies with heart mini quilt?!

Learn Something New from This Popular Designer! Master quilter Kim Diehl’s quilts are immensely popular, and for good reason. She has impeccable color sense, her designs are inspired and her quilts are incredibly warm and inviting. Whether you’ve made one of her designs or have simply admired them, there’s much you can learn by studying …

Cathedral Windows Quilt Cathedral windows is a stunning pattern, that really looks great with all sorts of a variety of scraps. It is done entirely by hand, so it does take a certain amount of patienc

How do you use the Fibonacci sequence in quilts? This article gives examples showing the different ways of using Fibonacci in quilting.

Fa-la-la-la-la. Fun party! Thanks for dropping by. Keep coming back because we have a few more days left. Don't forget to go to the follo...

This week I've been working on something completely different. After that huge push to finish my la passacaglia top, I really needed a change of scenery. The la passacaglia is not totally finished yet, but I'm waiting for more border fabric to arrive from USA. So I packed it all up and pulled the long neglected My Small World. I was really excited to make this quilt when I started it back in May 2015. I made Part 1 and some of Part 2 and wrote a blog post them here. Then I got a bit disillusioned with it, and put it away. I had two major issues with it. I wasn't 100% convinced about the fabrics I was using, and I was having a lot of difficulties with the accuracy of my piecing. A lot has changed in the last six months, and I'm trying again, because I do still love the design and really want one hanging on my wall. I've sorted out the fabric dilemma by collecting more scraps, buying a bundle of small pieces from Amitie, and increasing my colour confidence by working on my la passacaglia. I've also learnt to restrict my fabric selections for a project, and not dig out every bit of fabric I've ever owned. I put out a reasonable selection and make myself choose from those fabrics only. It sort of looks like this: I've sorted out the accuracy of the piecing by: 1. getting the FREE paper piecing templates from Sarah Bailey of Sew What Sherlock here 2. buying some BlocLoc rulers for Half Square Triangles 3. doing the bulk of the piecing in the daylight, and getting a new Bernina with much better lighting than my 25 year old machine had. Foundation paper piecing has never really been my thing, but I couldn't have made this quilt with out it. I'm even getting quite good at it now, and hardly have to unpick at all. I'm now really happy with how my quilt is coming along. I've made great progress over the past 4 days, and now we have a 3 day long weekend. I hope to get all of the bottom half done over the weekend. The sky should be easier because it's just all low volume white, cream and light blue. If you're working on this quilt and want some additional inspiration and advice, I'd recommend two Australian bloggers I follow: Susan Snooks of PatchworknPlay Di from Snippets 'n' Scraps They've both made beautiful versions of this quilt and inspired me to give it another go. I need to pack it all up on Monday night and think about my fabrics for my Kaffe Fassett class on Saturday - exciting!!

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Since I own a drawer full of UFO Quilt Blocks.... I have decided that it was high time to get them to move on out of my Sewing Cottage. They have lived here long enough and they are old enough to find their own way into a new-- useful-- finished project. These blocks have been from trades, swaps, good ideas, bad ideas, mixups, wrong size, wrong placements, wrong everything, leftovers, good ideas never completed, itty bits, and scraps.

This graphic, bold, and exciting quilt pattern is perfect for creating an eye-catching visual impact. In this tutorial, textile designer and modern quilter Annabel Wrigley demonstrates how to make …

I'm pleased as punch to finally announce the arrival of 80 pages and 18 projects in KT's new book, Loose Change. We've featured precuts - Layer Cake 10" squares (dimes), Charm 5" squares (nickels) and NEW Mini Charm 2 1/2" squares (pennies) - in our layered patchwork technique to create fast, fun quilts with loads of dimension and personality. Inspired by our popular Five & Dime quilt, many of the projects utilize the Five & Dime or Spare Change mini ruler for centering and cutting the blocks. This is how our layered patchwork technique makes your life (and making quilts) easier - simply center a charm square on a Layer Cake square, stitch close to the pinked edges, cut into fourths, and sew 4 different squares together. It's that easy! Loose Change shows you how to layer, slice & stitch precuts more than a dozen different ways for Christmas, fall, everyday, 4th of July, kids and more! Loose Change is available now at your local quilt shop or at ktquilts.com. This week, comment by Sunday night on your favorite precut for a chance to win one of 2 signed copies of Loose Change. I'd love to see what you choose to make!

Description: A free-pieced fan-style quilt, minus the curved piecing. Colors: Sunrise colors….reds, oranges, yellows, pinks and a...

Lots of news about Bonnie Hunter's Celtic Solstice Mystery including the Link Up tomorrow! We are loving Bonnie's mystery!

Here at last, the Lego Tutorial. I love playing with bitty pieces, fitting them together like a puzzle and that is reflected in my write-up. This is just one way of many that you could go about doing a quilt like this. First off, here is the amazing antique quilt that provided the inspiration, courtesy of Lucy of Quilting with the Past: Go check out her post with all the details and close-up photos. I have studied this quilt over and over again, I truly love it. The strip widths in this are small (only 5/8" finished), as are the blocks (6.5" finished). It's very color-coordinated with lots of cream, brown, navy, red and pink with a few hints of gold and lavender. I wanted to use every fabric that came my way, no matter the color, and most of my fabrics are far far busier, so I increased the strip and block size. Let's get started. Cut strips and scraps 1.5" wide. Cut randomly to lengths measuring between 1.5" (aka a square) and 10.5". My quilt is super scrappy and I quickly discovered I did not need many pieces of any one fabric. I strongly recommend that you include solids, near solids, and blenders, especially if you are going to be using lots of busy/novelty fabric. Include lots of different sizes and kinds of patterns. Include dull fabrics AND bright ones. The more of a mix you have, the better. I didn't use more than one strip (42") of a fabric. For an eye-catching fabric, cut three or more pieces. Ugly fabric or something you just can't stand? Cut short pieces. Not that you necessarily need it, but I give you permission to fussy-cut the heck out of your fabric. I bought this fabric because it was Elvis and never use it cuz it is ugly. Instead of cutting a 1.5" strip off, I cut a wider chunk and then selectively cut it up to get pieces I liked (the name and face). Okay, more waste that way, but it's getting used! If there are boring or strange bits of the right width, they get thrown in too. The little snowman face is a lot cuter than just his hat would have been To avoid a murky quilt, include light lights - I used white-on-whites and several fabrics with a lot of white background. and dark darks. I used black but a good navy, for example, would be excellent. Start joining the pieces up. I divide my fabric into light, medium and dark piles and pick randomly. (I might pick it, but that doesn't mean I have to use it). I chain a whole big bunch at one time and then iron after every join. And yes I said iron. Forget delicate pressing, I'm ironing the heck out of this, with STEAM. Rows that are long enough get cut to size. Theoretically that should be 10.5" since I'm making 10.5" unfinished blocks, but it's less stress to cut them a tad bit longer (I add an 1/8" but a quarter or half inch would work too). And yay, leftover bits longer than or equal to a square get thrown back in to the piles o' legos. I don't know how ya'all piece, but I can't sew a straight row. Some come out even curvier than others: Occasionally I use my rotary cutter and slice off bits that are sticking out (I'm especially eager to do it when it's a fabric I hate) otherwise I leave them as is - no seam ripping. Oh, and I'm sure these things would lay flatter etc if I pressed the seams open. But I don't. It takes too long and I burn my fingers. Plus that would probably make it less wonky, which is not a goal. I make a few rows that are only two pieces. The longer the piece, the more attention it will draw to itself. Here are a few rows made with three legos. I initially had a much bigger piece of the bright blue with red dots and discovered that it was waaaay too dominating. Might not have been bad if I had lots of that fabric to use all over the quilt, but I've only got a bit of it. Even more rows that are four. And five: And a few with six: I really enjoy the process of making the rows. I can play with adding a dull fabric next to a neon to see if that will tone it down (it usually does). Do I like this color combination? It's easy to divide a fabric if it isn't working. Notice that each row is a bit different. I think of it as morse code: dots and dashes. Some rows are dot dash dot dash and others are dot dot daaaaash dot, etc. I do occasionally throw in a single fabric but geeze it draws so much more attention, even when it's a quiet nondescript fabric. How easily can you spot the one here? So where were we? Rows. I keep them together and definitely do NOT sort them by how many pieces are in each. I grab the first two off the pile and audition. I find two rows that look good together and then another two. I'm not working on bigger blocks, just concentrating on two rows at a time. There are always a few rows that don't play well together and get set aside for the moment. I pin before I sew the rows together. Probably completely unnecessary, but I do it anyway. I make sets of 4 and a few with 3. Three? I know, I know. Using 1.5" strips to make a block that finishes at 10" I should only need 10 rows. Don't ask me, but my first block was too small, so I decided not to stress and just sew on that extra 11th row. That gives me more room to slice here and there making some rows thinner. But usually my blocks come out a bit big. I just cut them down to size. ***Use a steam iron or mist with a spray bottle first and iron (or press) the block flat before trimming *** I love using a big square ruler although it would be better if it was the exact size of my unfinished block. This is a Creative Grids ruler and it is awesome. Only once did my block come up too small even with the 11 rows. I trimmed a wee bit and threw in a shim of solid fabric. It's narrow and pretty unnoticeable (it's the 7th row down). I love how wonky the legos are in that area. This is a section from the border. One of the wonderful things about this project is that I've learned that some fabrics work sooo wonderfully with just about anything. That gray with the orange polka dots? fabulous. And some styles are atrocious such as busy prints that mimic patchwork - the cherries mixed with black and white dots and houndstooth for instance (2nd row from the bottom). *shudder* Really busy stripes are horrible too. The bright yellow with red flowers 70's print is an eye-catcher. I think the other fabrics with red, yellow and orange help to balance it out. The blocks in the middle of the quilt are set with one block's rows going up and down and the next block's rows side to side (think Rail Fence). The top and bottom borders rows all run up and down. The side borders go side to side. My quilt isn't finished yet, but this is how a quilt would look set 7 x 7. I still can't decide if I'm going to go for it and make it king-sized or go for a more manageable (and washable!) smaller size. I said there are other ways to go about it. Chawne makes a big long strip instead of separate rows. She explains her method here. And hey, I just found the wonderful Scrapbuster Random Railfence Tutorial Riel wrote up months ago. She's uses 2.5" wide pieces and makes one big strip too. I love how she used these blocks to make this wonderful scrappy quilt with a unifying sashing. Lily says, have fun and get to work! Any questions? Just ask.

Do you ever get an idea in your head, and even though you have a million other things you should/need to be doing instead, you just can...

Click on the image to download a PDF pattern. Most of the patterns are free – a few at the bottom are available for purchase in my Etsy shop, Piecemeal Quilts. Copyright: This is pretty commo…

Hi there! I am here to share Block 29 of the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle! This block was designed by: French General Block ...

Wow - the International Quilters Association (IQA) quilt show in Houston, Texas will all be history by tomorrow, but what a wild and fun event it was! This month I will be showing you some pictures from my trip to Baltimore on the Prairie, and to the Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. I'll also show you some great quilts that I've seen this past month or two... and some that I've been working on... and some that many other quilters have made and wanted to show me. You all are amazing! I have so many quilts to show you that I can't even begin to start showing the hundreds of quilts that I saw at the Houston quilt show. I had the pleasure of meeting many of you there - and I hope next year, I'll get to meet a lot more of you if you choose to come to Houston in October 2016. And before I forget... to those of you who made comments or sent me private emails, THANK YOU so much! I may not respond to every single note, but I read every single one and appreciate your time and your insights and your thoughts. They often help me understand what you want to see in my blog... and also that you actually LIKE my blog. That makes it all worth while. So let's get started! I thought I'd start by showing you some pictures that I didn't post when I went and took a workshop out at the Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. In general, you don't see me post non-quilt pictures, but I'm making an exception this time because if you ever decide to go there, there is much not to be missed in the locale! First of all, the setting for these workshops is along the coast. You can get up each morning and walk from the workshop out to the sea. How relaxing is this?!! But I suggest that you arrive a day or two earlier and rent a car. You can fly into one of three nearby airports and take a drive into San Francisco, where you can see the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge. It's worth your time and the extra expense. Just across the Golden Gate is one of my favorite places - the John Muir Woods, filled with the spectacular redwoods. It is definitely a bucket list trip, and only a short hop up the highway. On the way back to San Francisco, you can stop in trendy boutique-filled Sausalito, home of many water-loving house-boaters, for lunch. While in San Francisco, don't fail to miss China Town. It is wonderful and fun. And then, there are the seals of Pier 39... And the chocolate of Ghiradelli Square... (hint: you can see all these things by getting a one-day ticket on the tour buses that run through town!). And then... you head on down the highway to Pacific Grove. Empty Spools Seminars are all in glorious classrooms set amidst the coastal woods. Everyone gets their own table. Does it get any better than this? Oh yes it does - they serve locally grown/raised foods that are healthy and delicious! I took a class from Sandra Leichner. I have always admired her work, and I wanted to learn how she so adeptly incorporates embroidery into her work. Here's an example of one of her blocks. And another. Can you see why I chose to take this class? Her embroidery work is phenomenal (not to mention her designwork, applique, embellishment, etc. - plus she's really a cool person!). One day during the seminars, Empty Spools has a "walk-about" where everyone gets to go and see what everyone has been working on in the myriad of workshops that are offered during each session. I fell head-over-heels in love with Cindy Needham's machine quilting and embellishment. I want to take a workshop from her!!! Take a look at what she did, in the photo below. She finds old linens, sets them on a piece of background fabric, and then begins to applique and embellish in an incredible fashion. Here is another example of Cindy's work. It is just stunning! * * * * * * * Okay, so now I can tell you that if you REALLY want to go check out the Empty Spools Seminars, you can take a full immersion five-day workshop from me! Here's the link - I'm teaching in Session IV next year, April 10-15, 2016. The workshop will have you making The Album block below, from my quilt, Friends of Baltimore. In the workshop, you'll learn all the details of needle-turn applique, reverse applique, precision applique, off-unit applique, layering, pleated flowers, stuffed round circles, embellishment, inking, and more! If you just want to take the class and bring a different block (of mine) to work on, I'd be happy to have you in the class. We're going to have FUN! My favorite workshops are ones like this, where all of the students have time to accomplish a lot of work, and get to put into practice all the tips I pass along. Join us; just click here to go to the Empty Spools website: http://emptyspoolsseminars.com/index.html. * * * * * * * But let's just say that you don't think you can make it out to California - or perhaps those dates don't work for you. Here's another option. I'm teaching two two-day, back-to-back workshops at Applique Away on Galveston Bay. I've been invited to teach two different workshops, both of which incorporate fairly simple techniques, but still give me a chance to teach some very specific skills and techniques. One workshop is for my Red Twirly Balls quilt, below. In that workshop, you'll learn the secrets for deconstructing blocks and making complex blocks so easy to make! This twirly ball block is entirely appliqued. The other workshop that I'm teaching is a Love Birds block. This block is one that is included in my Baltimore Glory quilt, as shown below. I made this quilt earlier this year because I had always had a hankering for an on-point Baltimore quilt. Here is a close-up of the block I will be teaching. Again, this is not a particularly difficult block to make, but there are still plenty of lessons and tips and techniques to be shared in the workshop. You can find out the details and register for the Applique Away on Galveston Bay workshops here: http://www.appliqueawayongalvestonbay.com/. * * * * * * * Now, I'm going to show you some pictures from the Baltimore on the Prairie seminar up in Nebraska. I taught non-stop for seven days in very full classes, but that just energizes me. So does seeing Tresa Jones, the administrator of the conference. She is such a delight!  This year, Tresa arranged for the conference to be at the Lied Lodge - a wonderful setting amidst the apple farms of Mr. Morton, of Morton Salt (and Arbor Day!) fame. While at the conference, we had plenty of long lunch breaks, where I took the opportunity to go and see the Arbor Lodge, the historic home of one of the elder Mortons. When I go to places like this, I can't help but look around and see quilt designs. Below, you can see a nice design idea in the art deco wallpaper in the home. And a ventilation grate in the floor set similar design thoughts spinning in my head. Many of the beds in the bedrooms of the home had quilts on them, but this one caught my eye; it was a "Roman Coin" design for a Victorian crazy quilt. The Roman coin design just has strips set side by side with sashing between them. I had never seen this layout used for a crazy quilt, though - what a wonderful way to use up my dupioni silks and other special fabrics! See the quilt below (notice the wallpaper behind the bed, too...). I have always wanted to make a crazy quilt but gnashed my teeth at the thought of having to do a bunch of little "drawings" to insert in the quilt. With this layout... I only need to do stitching. Hooray! I think I know what I'm going to do now! Below is a close-up of the quilt above. The workshop rooms at Baltimore on the Prairie were wonderful - I hung quilts on the back wall... and waited for students to arrive. And arrive, they did! They all worked very hard on their renditions of the Album Block, shown below. I snapped a couple of pictures of the students' work - I love when they all choose different colors and fabrics. Wow! Here's one... And another... And another... And another. What a great set of students I had in all my classes; if any of you are reading this, here's my shout out to you: hooray! I had such a great time with all of you! Another teacher at Baltimore on the Prairie was dear, sweet Nancy Kerns. She taught two workshops, too - and it was a joy to see her there. She brought along her Classic Nutcrackers, made using my pattern. I loved her rendition of the quilt! Here are some close-ups of Nancy's blocks. Each of the little nutcracker patterns in the set tells the story behind the nutcrackers. Herr Drosselmeyer, above right, is the star of The Nutcracker ballet. I had to ask Nancy how she came up with the timepiece hanging on Herr Drosselmeyer's waist. She said it was just a button she'd been saving for the quilt... but then I had to ask how she did the chain - was it a real chain? And the answer was no - it was just an embroidered chain stitch, using Silk Sparkle thread. Nancy assures me that this is the best thread in the world for achieving a metallic look. Nancy is wonderful in that she is willing to share her knowledge so openly. She even gave me some of this magical thread! Here are some more of her nutcrackers. The one below is a gardener nutcracker; Nancy cleverly chose to use some camouflage fabric for his outfit. What a perfect choice! I've included an enlargement of the gardener nutcracker so you can see the fabric. Such fun! Here's another star of The Nutcracker ballet - the mouse king - along with the Santa nutcracker. And a nutcracker quilt would not be complete without the classic Nutcracker Soldier! Nancy did a great job embroidering his uniform. And notice how she made the face - it's so perfect! Below are the other nutcrackers. Each is delightful in its own way. Nancy also made all of the pieced blocks that form a border around the quilt. I love making quilts that have multiple pieced blocks bordering them. They add so much visual interest to a quilt. The other workshop that I taught at Baltimore on the Prairie was an eagle block. Below is the one made by Sharon Meyer. The fabric that she chose to use for her eagle was phenomenal. Do you notice the tassels on the flag rope? In a future blog post, I'll do a tutorial on how to make them. They are really easy to make. Sharon also brought along a couple other blocks she has been working on. Below is a ship block (these are from my Friends of Baltimore pattern)... And here is her woven basket block. I can't wait to see Sharon's whole quilt when she finishes it. * * * * * * * One of the very special events that Tresa Jones lined up for everyone to see was a presentation by Pat Kuhns (pronounced "coons"). She is a wonderful, energetic, sprite of a woman, who absolutely loves miniature quilts. It's not that she just loves miniature quilts; she loves miniature quilts that fit on miniature beds! We all had the joy of seeing her share that love with us for an hour. Take a look! Pat hunts down miniature beds in antique shops and adds the quilts - and the linens - for a complete look. So how big is this quilt and bed? Can you take a guess? Here's the same bed with my hand in the picture so you can see the approximate size of the bed. Here's another bed. I believe that this pattern was made based on a pattern designed by Primitive Gatherings. How small is it now, though? A bit longer than my hand. Notice the little pillow and sheet. Pat makes these using old napkins, lace, christening gowns, etc. - a wonderful re-purposing of assorted vintage linens. This bed has not only a bed cover, but also a rug and pillow covers. Oh my! This sashed squares quilt is perfect for this tiny little bed. Notice that the bed and quilt above had a sheet and a pillow on it. Pat put old linens to use on them. They add a nice touch and stay within the period of the bed and quilt design. Would you like to make a log cabin quilt using 1/16th inch logs? Pat has no trouble at all. She is an inveterate paper-piecer, which makes it "easy." Take a look at this bed and quilt. People have often thought that I was crazy for making quilts with 1/2-inch squares in them. But those nine-patches with 1/2-inch squares are NOTHING compared to what Pat has created. Remember... these are LITTLE beds with LITTLER quilts on them. Let you forget what "little" means, here's my hand again, to put things into perspective. And Pat's show just kept going on. Again, you can see the size of the bed and quilt when referencing my hand in the picture. Sometimes the bed was the showcase in the combination of a bed, a quilt, and the linens. This old miniature bed had a wonderful carved headboard and footboard. Again, my hand is here for reference sake. Making feathered stars is not for the sissies amongst us. But making teeny little feathered stars? Really? REALLY!!! Here is a close-up of the quilt above. Note that Pat has machine quilted this quilt... and added a bit of miniature piping in the border! Here is a picture of an old magazine that is, sadly, no longer in print. Do you see that eagle toward the bottom left-center? It's Pat's. She brought the eagle quilt with her - it was amazing! And LITTLE! See my fingertip at the bottom of this picture... And here is another log cabin quilt. Oh my! See my finger for reference as to the size of the logs. Pat has to use miniature prints in her quilts when she makes them. She not only does miniature piecing; she does miniature applique. I am tempted to say she is nuts but really, if I had time, I might do a couple of these, too. Here's another little quilt - with baskets. I'll stop complaining about making little pieces anymore, after seeing these quilts (well... maybe I won't... whining seems to make problems not seem so big, doesn't it?). I doubt that there is any quilt layout that Pat would not conquer. But what about a mariner's compass? Not a problem. Here, she'd made one and showed the size of her flying geese paper foundations. Ouch! Do you see the picture in the top right corner, below, with the mariner's compasses in them? Pat finished the quilt but did not bring it along. It was hanging in the Houston IQA quilt show this week - with a second place ribbon on it. Congrats, Pat!!! You can see how tiny the compasses are by looking at the straight pins in the mockups she prepared. And yet another incredible quilt with complex piecing in it. Pat hand-quilts some of her quilts; check out the one below. Again, now you can see the relative size of the blocks and the quilt. Yikes! And a lone star? Easy-peasy, right? Not for most of us. And certainly not at this size with a perfectly straight floater and piping in the binding! Pat has made more than one lone star quilt, though. Here's one with Lemoyne stars in the corners and side-setting triangles. Those are challenging to make when they are "regular-sized." By the way - Pat manages to consider color when she makes all of these miniature quilts. Look how this one is just luminous. Here's yet another lone star quilt. It's sweet on this sweet little bed, too. But what if you make a lone star and surround it with a ring of pieced diamonds (making it a broken star design), and then you insert Lemoyne Stars in the setting squares, applique moons in the side-setting triangles, and then add a border of half-diamonds and even more. Goodness gracious; Pat seems to take on one challenge after another! Pat says she has a couple hundred beds and mini-quilts in her house. She stores them on shelves and in boxes and just about everywhere. Do you see the little violin-playing frog on the right side of the sheet below? Pat found a cute, cute little linen with that motif in the corner and turned it into a bed sheet. Awesome! But there is more to tell about the quilt above. Pat gets a bit tickled when she says this quilt is a cheater-cloth quilt. Say what??! Yes, she used the cheater cloth, below, for the fabric in the quilt above. Take a look at the fabric above and then look at the close-up of the quilt below. Can you find the same fabrics in the cheater cloth fabric above, inserted into the quilt below? The most obvious one (to me) was the one to the right of my fingertip, below, Go find it in the cheater cloth, above! Below, she "miniaturized" a Lori Smith pattern. Wow. There were just so many beds and quilts. Look at the lovely sheet top on this four-poster bed. Honestly, the beds and the quilts just kept coming. We were not bored in the least and just kept ooh-ing and aah-ing with each new quilt and bed that came out. Here's some more. Some of the beds were quite primitive but still very functional. I love the linens on this bed. The pillowcase on the bed below came from the sleeve of a christening gown. I love the quilt on this bed. Pat doesn't really do "medallion quilts" (at least I didn't see any), but she often inserts a single central block. But there's something else that is delightful about this quilt and the linens it shares. Look at the sheet. Pat found a little handkerchief that had those two little motifs on it - they were perfect for the sheet! Some of the linens were even more unique; here you can see the mattress-cover sheet. And before we all knew it, Pat was packing her little beds and quilts back into boxes, leaving us in awe of her inventiveness, her skills, her joyful expression of creativity. If you are interested in going to Baltimore on the Prairie in 2016, you can find all the details here: http://botpapplique.wix.com/botp#! Tresa Jones has lined up some brand new teachers for 2016: Barbara Burnham, Jeanna Kimball, and Nancy Amidon. I love Nancy Amidon's teaching skills -- she teaches prepared-edge applique and leaves no one disappointed with what they have learned when the class is over. Even old needle-turn applique aficionados, like me, need to know how to do prepared-edge applique, so I put in a hearty recommendation for her workshop; I had her come teach workshops at my guild last year and she was nothing short of fantastic! * * * * * * * And now it's time to show you quilts from Becky Stephenson. Becky has a big heart made out of Texas gold, as you'll see. She has made several Relay for Life quilts as fund raisers for breast cancer research and support. The quilt below was one of them. the quilt was auctioned off, but Becky managed to have it given back to her. She had raised funds by selling opportunities: if you donated, you could have the name of someone who died of cancer inscribed on the quilt (in memory of...) - or if they were living with cancer, that person's name could be inscribed (in honor of...). Becky was at my house earlier last month with the quilt. It was gorgeous and so full of heart and meaning.  Here's a close-up of the layout - and the beautiful quilting in it. There's a block in it for my sister, who died of breast cancer after it metastasized six years after she had beat it. Sometimes life is just not fair. And then there is Jack, who has been living with cancer for several years now. Here is a better look at the simple but perfectly chosen quilting on this quilt. Becky also made this quilt, along with her two sisters, Jerrianne and Gayle. Becky and Jerrianne call this "the cemetery quilt" because it was donated to the North Elm Cemetary Association in Milam County, Texas, as a fund raiser for them. The gals had one rule: pull the fabric out of a bag without any consideration for color, value, print, or anything else. And stitch it in place. Here's a close-up of the blocks. And you can see from these two photos... the fabric choices did not suffer from thoughtful placement! Becky also brought along another quilt - a funny Lone Star quilt. It was probably about 5 feet square. We had the biggest laugh over this quilt! It was made by an elderly woman several years ago. So what's so funny about this quilt? It is perfectly pieced. It actually lies flat and there is no "volcano" in the middle of it. The choice of fabrics? Well... there's more to the story. Here is a close-up of the center of this quilt. We were all laughing because all of these fabrics are double-knit polyester fabrics!! Becky bought this quilt at her guild for $5.00. She just couldn't let the quilt be thrown away, though nobody else seemed to want it. We laughed because I said, "Well, I guess this is what you do with all those old polyester double-knit pant suits from the 70s, right? As for the lime green setting pieces, my guess is that the maker didn't have any polyester pant suits large enough to cut up, so she went to the nearest Wal-mart and bought some cheap double-knit. It turned out to be lime green. Go figure! In truth, quilts of this age are experiencing renewed interest and increasing value. Some of the diamond pieces in the quilt were even pieced - note the center blue/cream/orange diamond. But... oh my... the quilt maker may not have chosen the most wonderful fabrics by today's standards, but her piecing skills were excellent - particularly considering she hand-pieced all of this double-knit! Take a look at the back of this quilt. Holy cow! Because I had a bunch of gals at the house for a bee, we put this monstrous quilt on my coffee table, awaiting everyone's arrival. It was hysterical! * * * * * * * And now I get to show you some of my favorite things that happen each month: quilts and photos of quilts that cross my path as time flies by. First of all, here is a quilt that was pieced and quilted by LeeAnn Lively. She is a great quiltmaker and a superb quilter. This was made as a wedding quilt for someone.  Take a look at LeeAnn's quilting. She has a computerized longarm that makes me envious. And another close-up... and another.... And a beautifully quilted border. Ann Miley shared a beautiful quilt she had made using French General fabrics. You rock, Ann! Debbie Williams made a quilt based on my Ruffled Roses pattern - it won first place in the Claremore quilt show. She made it but changed the center block, using ribbon work. It's a stunner, for sure! Diane Lacombe sent me pictures of her Twirly Balls and Pinwheels, made using my pattern. Wow - it's outstanding! I love her choice of fabrics - and you can see that her piecing and applique are perfect. Martha Fry sent me two pictures - both of them used Lady of the Lake blocks. The one below is called "Churchville" because Martha grew up near the Churchville, Pennsylvania reservoir. But I got a kick out of why Martha sent me the pictures. After all, these are not my patterns. She said she read my blog last month and got a chuckle. Last month's blog was filled with quilts that used (Halloween/Fall) cheddar/orange fabrics. She sent me the pictures because of my influence in past blogs -- I LOVE cheddar in my quilts! I thought that was really cute and sweet. So here is her second Lady of the Lake quilt, filled with lots of lovely fabrics including a bunch of cheddar fabrics. Martha called this quilt "Autumnal Churchville" because the trees around the reservoir are beautiful this time of year. She said, "the fabrics are all Civil War reproductions and I am surprised at how bright it looks. It must be the cheddar:)" It's great, Martha! Rachel Phipps shared a photo of her Ruffled Roses quilt. Lucky Rachel; she finished the quilt earlier this year and got it back from the quilter in time to enter it in a local quilt show where it won First Place in the judged competition and First Place in the Viewers' Choice. Here is what I loved about her quilt: she wanted to make the quilt a bit larger, but still keep it symmetric, so she added the rosebud blocks inside the outer pieced swag border, saying, "I just love how it turned out!" Me, too, Rachel! Sue Balch invested four years into making her Friends of Baltimore quilt -- taking the final stitch on October 17. It is entirely needle-turn appliqued and hand-quilted. Let's hope that she enters it in some local, regional, and even national quilt shows - I think it will inspire others to make challenging quilts. Sue had a lot of personal and family challenges to deal with during the making of this quilt; let's hope that the quilt was part of the healing therapy. I'm going to post some of the block pictures that Sue sent me (thanks, Sue!), for you all to see. . And now I have one more block to share with all of you. It was made by Sandy Kristoferson. She and her guild decided to make my Baltimore Glory as their raffle quilt. Oh my - now that is a true challenge, but hopefully they will sell a TON of tickets for their effort. What a wonderful quilt to make, though! Sandy did a beautiful job on her quilt block. I can't wait to see the rest of the blocks and the finished quilt. Send pictures, please! * * * * * * * And now... just one quick picture of a few rows of the IQA Quilt Show in Houston. There are 28 vendor aisles, each ten feet wide with a 10-foot deep both on each side of the aisles. This photo gives you an idea of how large this show is; it is overwhelming and unbelievable. In addition to the vendor booths, there is still MORE square footage devoted to the quilt exhibits. Can you imagine how your step-counters would be going crazy at the end of each day? My joints were about as stiff and sore as they've ever been and to be honest, I only made it through 18 aisles and about 60 percent of the quilt exhibits. I'm rarely out of energy at these shows and make it through the whole set of vendor booths in 8 hours and then all of the quilt exhibits in another 8 hours. I was at the show for a total of 36 hours this time. Somehow, I missed an awful lot of things. I would have gone back to see them all, but the Houston weather was SO bad that I didn't want to risk driving in again. Sigh... but I still have plenty of pictures to show you in future posts.  I stay downtown for the first two days of the show so that I don't have to commute and also so I have a place to put all the "stuff" I gather. The show opens Wednesday at 5:00 pm and continues all day for the next four days. On Thursday night, a group of friends all gather in one of the upstairs hotel "sitting areas" and do a "show-and-tell" of the things we've purchased. That way, if there are any really cool things, we can go back on Friday and pick them up. We invite whomever we know to join us for our show-and-tell. This year, we were blessed when Cathy Woodson was passing by us on her way to take some quilts to her car. She asked what we were doing and then we asked what she was doing... and so we asked her to share her goodies with us. We were in for such a wonderful surprise! Below is an incredible quilt made in the 1830s. That's Cathy on the right - and JoAnne on the left, who I had met when I went out to southern California to teach. Then Cathy asked who I was and when I told her, she exclaimed that she had taken a workshop from me a couple months ago and showed me photos of her New York Beauty. This is such a small world! Back to the quilt below. It's a true treasure and we were lucky to have Cathy sort of "accidentally" join us. Here's a better picture of the quilt - aren't the colors vibrant?! And the zig-zag border and outer square-in-square border and the broderie perse... wow! Here is a close-up of the zig-zag border. I love those colors! And here is a close-up of the broderie perse. Look at those colors and the design. Such beauty! This is a very well-preserved quilt. I loved the square-in-square border on this quilt - and the quilt maker's use of a stripe in those triangles. Cathy pointed out one of the identifying marks indicating the age of this quilt - and probably where it came from. It is bound with what is called "Trenton Tape;" on this quilt, it is the narrow applied binding woven with longitudinal stripes in three different shades of brown. I did a little research to find that Trenton Tape is a woven binding found on quilts that originate in the Delaware River Valley area of New Jersey and sometimes in nearby Pennsylvania. The tape has also been seen in quilts in a wider area. In any case, it is considered a rare edge treatment in use between the 1830s and the 1860s. Next, Cathy showed us an interesting broken dishes quilt. Check out the border... and the area in the middle, which identifies the date of the quilt. Can't quite see it? Wait... Look at the broken dishes blocks. They are separated by four-patches. And the center of the quilt has an add-on label: GRANDMOTHER 1905. So we know it's old, for sure! Here is another quilt that Cathy shared - a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Cathy liked it because the "path" between the flowers was different than the usual full hexagon path. It was a band of narrow diamonds. Lovely! Cathy - thank you! Sharon Meyer showed her special buy - a quilt of pinwheels in and between stars. Here is a close-up of the blocks. I love the use of crazy prints! And the maker hand-pieced the entire quilt. Most of today's quilt makers would not have the patience for hand-piecing a quilt like this. Sharon also purchased a quilt top from Jane Lury of Labors of Love. The brightness of the reds made it sparkle! So what did I purchase? Two quilt tops that I have yet to photograph (you'll see them in another post)... and one finished quilt. Cindy Rennels' booth is always one of my favorite stops - and this year did not disappoint me. When she opened up this quilt and showed it to me, I just could not stop smiling at it. Did you know that there are certain quilts that, when you look at them, you can't help but smile? This was true for me when Cindy showed me this quilt. My friend Sharon and I started calling it "the smile quilt." It is so quirky and unusual! The circles aren't exactly circular. Who cares? And there's a blue one. Huh? Who cares?! The undulating borders are unique - they are part of what make me smile. I mean... who makes a quilt with somewhere around 1700 circles in it? That is a VERY rough estimate -- I am not about to count them! And when that undulating line of circles came to a corner... so what if it didn't wrap nicely onto the next side of the quilt. Why not just throw in another ring of circles as the intersection solution?!! It cracked me up! And that's why I bought this quilt. It made me smile. Really big. * * * * * * * So... if I loved a quilt with 1700 circles in it (give or take a couple hundred), why not love a quilt with 1,620 circles in it? My friend Jerrianne had sent me a couple of different photos of two different quilts, each with lots of grape vines. She said she really wanted to make that quilt. So what did I do? I sat down and drew up the block. The 28-inch block.  And then I drew up the borders and the corner block. And now, 1,620 circles of grapes later... I've made the stems for my grape vines. I'm ready to join in the fray with 5 other gals in my sewing group, to make an 84-inch square quilt with a ton of circles on it. I've already done a lot of the preparation work on my blocks. I can't wait to finish the quilt... but I also know that suddenly I've got a ton of life-interferences popping up that will put this on the back-burner for a while. Waaaahhhhh.... I hate when that happens, but life goes on, one day at a time. I'll get it done. One circle at a time! And you will all get to see it grow and appear in due time. But in the meantime, some of my girlfriends and I started a piecing bee. It's a smaller group, but we recognized that our regular bees do not afford us the luxury of power sewing using our machines. Bees seem to spend half their time doing show-and-tell and eating, leaving not enough time to bother bringing a machine for stitching. This piecing bee that meets for two solid days, all day, through dinner and into the evening. We meet quarterly. And we stitch like crazy without the interruption of housework, phones, computers, emails, family, etc. (not that those aren't important, of course!). We met this past month and I started on a new quilt that I'm calling Blue Heaven (unless a better name comes along before I finish it!). I saw this quilt in the offices of Quilts, Inc. in Houston a couple years ago. It knocked my socks off! I had seen the same quilt on a photo that someone sent me a while back. And so when the piecing bee met at my house... I started cutting and stitching like a mad woman. I had gathered 16 different navy/white fabrics. I pressed them and sliced them into narrow strips. Then I started stitching them together and pressing them neatly... AAnd slicing the strips into sub-strips. I have sewn and cut dozens and dozens of units. And I've done some wide sets of strips, too. And when I put them all together, I've got the start of my new Blue Heaven quilt! It's looking good, I think! In this picture, you can kind of see how it will all look, if you compare what I've sewn with the picture of the antique quilt at the end of the table. Whee! So this quilt is on the priority list - but I have not had time to touch it since the bee met a few weeks ago. Time flies, doesn't it? Alright - it is now the evening of November 1 and if I'm going to get this post online on the first of the month before you all go to bed, I suppose it is time to close. I have enjoyed reading all of your comments - and thank you for your time! If you get a chance between now and December 1 when I post again, go and visit my website. I updated the Gallery and have posted a lot more pictures of my quilts at www.comequilt.com. Enjoy a view of many more quilts there, once you are finished here. Happy quilting to all - Thanks for indulging my passion by reading this! Sue (c) 2015 Susan H. Garman

Information from a quilt historian About quilt fabric past and present

A blog about fabric, quilting, patchwork, sewing, embroidery, quilt shows

Baskets are among the most popular themes in quilting! Made with colorful prints, or filled with flowers or fruit, basket quilts are perfect...

Blind Stitching the Binding: With your thread coming up through the fold of the binding, insert the needle at the same point in the backing. You only need to catch a few threads, not more than 1/8" or a few mm. Working parallel to the binding, bring the needle up and through the first layer of the binding. Again just catch no more than 1/8" of the binding, and bring the needle up through the fold of the binding seam allowance. When you get to the corners take a stitch or two in the same fashion up the mitered corner and back. Repeat, repeat, repeat! With a little practice you should be able to have a beautifully finished binding with invisible stitches!

I’m so excited to bring you this pillow tutorial! I can’t get enough of these Good Folks fabrics. And the

When Kitty first e-mailed me to ask if I would like to participate in a mini mini quilt swap, I sat there for a bit having an inward discussion with myself: Would it be fun to join a swap? Do I have the time? Will I commit to this and end up having another WIP just lying around waiting to be finished? Can I really sew something that mini mini? After much debate, I decided to just do it! I knew that in order to be able to sew something so teeny, tiny, I would have to paper piece. I have noticed that the smaller my fabric bits get, the more crooked my seams become. Once I started sewing on my paper pieced Facing East quilt, I've never looked back and have become a total fan! I thought that it might be fun to get more people in on the mini mini quilt craze and share my free "Mini Mini Sunburst Pattern" to tempt others to hop on board. WARNING: Use with caution. Making mini mini quilts is extremely addictive. Even just one mini mini project could lead to additional and frequent use. Mind wondering may occur and finishing current WIP's may become increasingly difficult. Picking colors was not hard for me since Kitty and I share the same passion for color and all things Alison Glass. But when I was working on additional mini's I decided that I really wanted to push my limits and work with colors that are not in my usual palette of colors. I've been sitting on a fat quarter pack of Cotton & Steel fabrics from Sarah Watts for a long time. The designs are fantastic, and I really like the colors, but I have a tendency to mix softer shades with fairly bold colors because I prefer a stronger contrast. It was a challenge to think muted, soft, and delicate... basically the complete opposite of every one of my other projects! I am always amazed at how designer's like Carolyn Friedlander can take the most quiet and understated fabrics and turn them into WOW - it really is an art all of it's own. What pushes you or is challenging when it comes to working with colors? Do you have your "standard color palette" and stick to it, or do you force yourself to step outside that comfort zone? Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social.

I have finally finished all of my new patterns that I designed using "Millie's Closet" So I thought I would do some showing and a little telling of 3 of them for you today! "Millie's Dresses" 60" x 80" by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet (rotary cut and machine pieced along with 3 buttons on each dress) "Spoolin' Around" 72" x 88" by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet (rotary cut and machine pieced along with 6 appliquéd hearts and daisies) "Sew Day" 58" x 66" by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet (rotary cut and machine pieced along with embroidered needles) I've had sew much fun playing with Millie:) I've really enjoyed pairing up my prints with solids... they make designing even more enjoyable! I hope you like my new patterns...all are available for purchase here. I'll be showing all 9 patterns this week and I'll be back tomorrow with a fun little tutorial using Millie's as well! xx Lori

In my first Sawtooth Star post, I mentioned I'd do a tutorial to help you work out measurements for flying geese units, but then I decided to ditch the math lesson and provide a quick and easy cheat sheet for various sizes instead. Ah! The flying geese block is just a little slice of heaven, isn't it? - so simple, so versatile and so easy to sew. They're used in lots of gorgeous blocks like the Sawtooth Star, they look fantastic in borders, and rows of flying geese set into a quilt is simply stunning. There are a few methods for sewing flying geese blocks (and I'll link a couple of fantastic tutorials at the end of the post), but I prefer sewing them one at a time, left triangle first and then the right, before trimming them to size. It may be more time consuming than other methods, but I enjoy the slow rhythm of chain piecing a bunch of these blocks. I do cut my smaller triangles slightly larger than required because they're cut diagonally from a square, and no matter how carefully we cut it can still result in wonky units. This little extra ensures you don't lose any points or 1/4" seams. Once the sewing is done you will need to trim them to size, but there's minimal waste and a perfect flying geese block every time. Flying Geese Bloc Loc Square Up Rulers makes trimming accurate and easy and a rotating mat makes the whole process fast and painless, but of course you can trim them carefully without any fancy tools. My cheat sheet includes the cutting requirements for eleven sizes which should make it a great reference to have for all your future projects. To download my cheat sheet simply click on the link or right click on the photo below and save it to your computer. For each flying geese unit you require one large print triangle (four are cut from one square) and two small background triangles, and then simply follow the diagrams below to construct your block: There are other methods for sewing flying geese blocks which are possibly quicker, and I've found some great tutorials for you to try as well. Karen at Connecting Threads has two methods - a sew and flip corner tutorial using rectangles and squares, and a sew two at once tutorial using only squares. You can follow both tutorials HERE. Karen also has a tutorial for using the flying geese ruler method which you can follow HERE. Scrapish.com has a tutorial for sewing four flying geese units at once using squares, and there's a cheat sheet included to make it easier for you. You can follow the tutorial HERE. And for paper piecing lovers Triangles on a Roll make it super easy and accurate. There's also a tutorial you can follow HERE. And there you have it - lots of ways to make sewing your next batch of flying geese units quick, easy, accurate and fun! Enjoy! Happy sewing :)

We normally have our local guild meetings every second Thursday evening of each month during the school year from September through June, as we meet in a nearby elementary school cafeteria. However, sometimes we have to move the date due to something going on at the school … like this month! Our first meeting is this Thursday…and it just dawned on me that I had not done anything with our summer challenge fat quarter! At the same time, I received an invite to a dear friend’s daughter’s house warming…sooooo, this little project turned out to be a “Twofer”. I love Twofers, don’t you?? I used some batik charm squares along with the purple batik fat quarter given for the summer challenge, to make a table runner that I can show at the guild meeting in two days… and then it will be a gift, along with a matching candleholder and autumn candle, for the housewarming gift!! YAY!! A Twofer!! Then, after making the table runner yesterday and going out this morning to find the candle holder and candle, I got home to remember that I wanted to make a new guild name tag. The one I had was made in 2000 and is beyond grody!!! Yucko!! Time for a new one!!! So, I spent this afternoon making a new one!! I saw this one on Pinterest and thought it was so cute! (http://megsmonkeybeans.blogspot.com/2012/02/petite-piecing.html) So that gave me the idea to make my nametag with a sewing machine on it! I snagged this logo off the Bernina newsletter to use as my inspiration!! I used graph paper to plan out my little sewing machine block. Then went through my stash scraps to find the perfect fabrics in fun colors. I knew I wanted to attach it to this cute sewing themed pin, which would make it easy to put on! It was really fun to create…and not a hard as I thought it would be with such tiny pieces. I am pleased with how it turned out and will be ready on Thursday now for our guild meeting!! Sooooo, whatcha working on???

Hi! This is Wendi, and I am the project manager for our Q2 community outreach quilt. Once again we've agreed to make a quilt for Fisher House of the Emerald Coast supporting their silent auction and gala, a major fundraising event which benefits military and military families during times of medical need. The vision for 2017's quilt is a bed of roses - literally! The blocks are improvisationally pieced roses inspired by Corey Yoder's Newtown Auction Pillow. Corey used a Quilt As You Go (QAYG) method, but our roses are going to remain unquilted until the top is put together. Using the method below, you may create roses any size between 6" and 18". As you can see, these blocks are not square, so you will have estimate their size. They can be any color that you might see actual roses growing in a garden, although you might wish to stay away from white, since our background is going to be low volume on white. The blocks are super scrappy, but try to stay within one general color family - reds, oranges, pinks, yellows, etc. It's ok if your fabrics have other colors in them, but the fabrics should "read" your primary color. So get out your scrap bag and let's get started. Choose a small scrap of yellow or orange for your center. Since my block is going to be orange, I chose yellow. If your block is square, cut some of the corners off so that it is NOT square. I like to start out with 5 sides. Choose the fabric for your first strip. It should be between 1" and 2-1/2" wide and slightly longer than the side of the center you intend to attach it to. You may use solids mixed in with your prints, but please do not use all solids. I generally start with narrower pieces and gradually add wider strips. Remember that you will be trimming the width frequently, so try not to begin with extremely narrow pieces. Tip 1: Since the pieces in my scrap box tend to be very wrinkled, I find it helpful to press each piece before I sew them together. You may use starch, but I find that a light sprinkling of water or steam works well. Tip 2: Since some of your edges will be on the bias, be careful not to stretch too much when you stitch and press. Tip 3: Be sure to use a 1/4" seam. Seams that are too narrow tend to fray and pull apart, and we want our quilts to have quality construction. Sew the two fabrics together. Press the seam away from the center. Trim off the excess. Trim the other side. Try to avoid 90-degree angles. Repeat the process on another center edge. Stitch. Press. Trim. Trim the other side. Repeat, building your rose "log-cabin style", adding a new strip to the next side in order, although it doesn't matter if you build to the left or to the right each time. Stitch. Press. Trim. Here, I trimmed off the 2nd strip so that it was at an angle. Be sure to leave more than 1/4" all along your strip for your seam allowance. Trim the other side and cut your strips at different angles each time to give interest to your "rose." Repeat the entire process - Stitch. Press. Trim.... working your way around and around your "rose." Trim off odd corners and try to avoid 90-degree angles and straight strips. If you notice that you have a "corner" approaching 90-degrees, cut it off. As your "rose" grows, this will create a number of new "sides" to your flower. Keep adding rows... Pressing... Trimming... Avoiding straight strips and 90-degree corners... And "grow" or "build" your flower... Around and around until you are satisfied with its size... Give it one last trim.... Until it makes you happy. I try to balance the colors to avoid all the darker fabrics being on one side, but honestly, no matter how you put them together, these "roses" are pretty. If you have any questions, give me a shout!