Learn the basics of improv piecing to create an abstract, modern wall hanging design that’s totally unique to you. This digital pattern by Nicholas Ball features in-depth instructions and full-colour step-by-step photos to help you piece your own improv mini quilt. PLEASE NOTE: Due to the nature of improv piecing, this pattern will help you to create your own interpretation of Nicholas’ design, so will not be an exact block-for-block pattern. The Jazz Solo pattern was first published in issue 123 of Love Patchwork & Quilting magazine and is now available as a digital pattern here in our Etsy store. The digital pattern includes: - Step-by-step instructions with full-colour photos to talk you through how to make the quilt (these are UK A4 size pages which you can print out at home). Finished size: Approx 30in square Download the pattern and start sewing your own Jazz Solo quilt at home. Share your finished project online with the hashtag #lovequiltingmag! Thank you for purchasing this project from Love Patchwork & Quilting. The copyright of the patterns in this magazine are owned by or licensed to Our Media Limited and are for readers’ personal use only. Please do not share them online (even for free) or copy them multiple times without our permission. Where selling crafts based on these patterns is permitted (usually only to raise funds for charity), we’ll say so on the page. Copyright law protects creative work and unauthorised copying is illegal. We appreciate your help.
Freezer paper piecing tutorial that saves time and doesn't require ripping out bits of paper for hours. Download a free guide to learn how.
Strictly speaking, these are not my customers. My lovely mother does a lot of custom quilting for other people and every now and again she quilts something so lovely I have to show it off here. To be honest, most of the quilts she does are lovely, but we often forget to photograph them. We didn’t forget to photograph this little beauty though. I don’t know the designer’s name, nor the name of the pattern. Sorry about that. If I understand correctly, this is one of the first quilts this customer has made. I think she’s done a sterling job. I am particularly impressed with her choice of colours. I think she’s been very smart at picking almost solids for the body of the animals, with the accent coming from the details. That way it doesn’t get too overpowering. And from a girl who’s made her share of overpowering quilts, this is really important. The less is more rule really applies to quilting, I’ve found. There is definitely one of these sort of quilts in my future. It’s so convenient that I have a whole bin of bright fabrics, just waiting for a use. Could you not just eat this little old lion up? Mr Giraffe is very sweet too. Who said rhinos were dangerous? I love this little zebra to bits. I love them all to bits. Somehow in taking my photos I missed the elephant. I think my mother has done an excellent job in the quilting. After I saw how lovely she had done this one, I let her do my monster quilt. I was going to quilt that one myself but I realised I’d never in a thousand years do as good a job as she did, so it’s quilted, bound and labelled. All I have to do is show it to you. Tomorrow, perhaps. Hope you loved this little quilt as much as me! Suzie
A simple DIY quilted play mat tutorial! Transform the Fishing Net quilt pattern into a toddler play mat for cars.
This week, we welcome Nicholas Ball as the featured Playful Color artist inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. (Members, log in here to watch our chat.) Not a member yet? Well, get yourself on the waitlist, and we’ll let you know when membership opens again. Meet Nicholas Ball! I know Nicholas for his amazing improv ... Read More about Meet Nicholas Ball
Bye-Bye Bloglovin' If you are reading this blog post, thank you! Today (Thursday, February 27) I made the decision to REMOVE my blog from Bloglovin' and close my account with Bloglovin'. I'm sorry to have done that if you use Bloglovin as your blog-reader. But after figuring out that in ONE week, 11 of my "new followers" were using fake names (often, "Bloglover") and promoting sex sites, I was fed up. Bloglovin' does not provide any way of blocking perverts, and I've put up with it for years. Enough is enough. Thank you for being here on your own! To QuiltCon and Back So... I was away from home for less than a week, but it felt like so much longer! On the other hand, the days passed in a blink! I traveled by car to QuiltCon in Austin, Texas, where I stayed four nights in a time-share arranged by a friend. Five of us stayed in the Railyard Condos, directly across the street from the Austin Convention Center. It was a handy location! I could see the convention center doors from my loft window, and was a quick run across the street when it rained! Pictures make the place look charming, but it had plenty of "honey-dos" that needed doing. We were on the third floor. No elevators. We climbed a lot of stairs. Hauling a suitcase up/down that spiral staircase wasn't easy. But we agreed that the convenience was a nice trade-off. So close to the show. And lectures. And classes. Even a quick run to the condo for an apple and power bar was nice. This is the Best of Show quilt called "Starring You" by Peter Byrnes of Toronto Canada. I had a chance to visit with him about his quilt and he told me that he domestic machine quilted it on a Janome machine, and tracked 200 hours of quilting. At one point he said he threw the whole quilt on the floor of the closet because he was sick of it. It pays to persevere, right? I am telling myself that after how many hours of quilting my temperature quilt?! This is Peter with another of his award-winning quilts called "Cityscape." It won Best Machine Quilting: Frameless. This is Marla Varner of @pennylanequilts who I also had a chance to visit with. Her quilt, "For the Love of Squircles" won Quilting Excellent Award and is entirely hand-appliqued and big stitch hand quilted. This is Marla's quilt from the back. I took my beloved Canon S100 camera with me to QuiltCon (QC), and only managed to take two pictures before the camera stopped working. I was glad to have my iPhone as back-up even though the picture quality isn't as good as the Canon. I'm not exaggerating when I say I took more than 300 pictures at QuiltCon! Therefore, I'm finding it difficult to pick and choose the quilts I want to share. This quilt really attracted my attention. "Triangle Color Study III" was made by Nicholas Ball @quiltsfromtheattic of the UK. About a week before QC, he started an Instagram #improvtrianglesewalong. Some gorgeous quilt tops are appearing! I'd love to give this improv design a try. Here's a detail photo. Tiny matchstick quilting was in abundance at QC. Another favorite is "Let's Get Loud" by Kathryn Upitis @kupitis, a doctor who lives in Canada. Love the quilt name and that she received a third place award in improv. Our Central Florida MQG participated in the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge, and managed a meet-up to get a group picture in front of our quilt. You can read more about our quilt here. Lots of other MQG chapters made quilts too. Quilts could be only black/gray/white (no color), include words, and be made in designated dimensions. Hands down, the best quilt in the display was made by the Tulsa (Oklahoma) MQG. It's "A Day in the Life of a Quilter" and is meant to be "read" beginning at the upper left-hand corner. I read the quilt several times, giggling more each time. It's just clever! The lightening bolt and wink at the end... 😂 I saw a lot of "old" friends, who I'd met at previous QCs, and new quilters I "know" through Instagram... and forgot to take pictures of most of them! I was so caught up in conversations that taking a photo never occurred to me. Thankfully, my California friend Elizabeth, who blogs at www.opquilt.com, suggested a picture together. Our chat time was way too brief, Elizabeth! When I met up with @mtweedel, another Instagramer who's from Texas, we chatted our way through the quilts, and suggested taking a picture of me with my quilt. Thank you, Melissa! What a coincidence that I dressed like my quilt that day! I'm now very grateful to have this picture because... my quilt was purchased! Yes! Entrants can indicate whether a quilt is NFS (not for sale), or put a price on it. "L Cabin" was bought by an Australian! I'm tickled that someone liked it enough to buy it, and the money will cover the cost of my new Canon SX620 camera! Isn't it funny how some things just work out? Win-win. I attended several wonderful lectures presented by: Heather Black @quiltachusetts; Steph Skardal @stephskardal; Maritza Soto; Victoria Findlay Wolfe @victoriafindlaywolfe; Teresa Duryea Wong; and Mary Fons @yomaryfons and her mother, Marianne. For a couple years, I worked for Marianne and Liz Porter, when they were publishing Love of Quilting magazine in Winterset, Iowa. It was especially interesting to listen to this mother-daughter team talk through the changes in quiltmaking. Their lecture was: 50 Years of Quilting in America. (Yes, that's an open wine bottle and wine glasses on the table between them.) As I was leaving the lecture hall, who should I see but Liz Porter (on the left). Apparently she lives in Austin, and was hosting a mutual Des Moines friend, Lynn W. They were rushing out for a dinner reservation, so we didn't have any chat time, but Lynn suggested taking a picture. I haven't seen either of these women for at least 17 years! This is another of the reasons I adore QC... unexpected meet-ups. If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that in 2018 I made an improv quilt based on then-eight year-old grandson Austin's artwork. I entered "Owl Always Love You" into QC in 2019 and 2020, and the quilt was rejected both times. This visit to Austin was the perfect time to finally deliver the quilt to Austin who is 10 years old now. He was thrilled about getting it. and asked questions about how it was made. I read the quilt label to him. He agree to let me keep the artwork that inspired the quilt. (This pic was taken in 2018.) He wanted to sleep under it as soon as I gave it to him. Thinking about this, I'm just warm and fuzzy all over. I'll soon write another blog post about my impressions of QC quilts... like that so many of the quilts included big stitch quilting. In the meantime, go here to see pictures of all the award-winning quilts. I think you'll agree that they're wonderful! Linda
Want a quilt pattern that will highlight your fabric more? Look no more and see this collection of walk-about quilt patterns you can try next time.
I recently received an email from a reader, asking me about the details of my Jolly Old St. Nicholas quilt. Her simple request pointed up a problem all of us blog writers face: how to find things …
To the Point has a slightly midcentury modern vibe (one of my favorites), and uses my guided improv technique in a fresh, fun way. The project uses one background and (20) 2 1/2" strips - what could be easier? Intermediate level. Not hard - but definitely complex. Quilt measures 60" x 70". Pattern by Tamarinis. Purchase is for download pattern only. Note: A kit is available for the Kismet version (second image) on my website at https://www.tamarinis.com. Contact me at info [!at] tamarinis.com to order a kit. Please note the purchase is for a downloadable pattern (instructions) to make the quilt, and not the finished product. Please note that all sales are final. I appreciate your purchase! I invite you to sign up for my newsletter (https://www.tamarinis.com/newsletter-sign-up.htm). It would be AMAZING if you follow me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/tamarinis) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tamarinis/). I look forward to seeing you there! Did you know I lecture and teach? I'd love to visit your quilt group, guild or shop! Contact me at info [!at] tamarinis.com for more information. Happy stitching!
This week, we welcome Nicholas Ball as the featured Playful Color artist inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. (Members, log in here to watch our chat.) Not a member yet? Well, get yourself on the waitlist, and we’ll let you know when membership opens again. Meet Nicholas Ball! I know Nicholas for his amazing improv ... Read More about Meet Nicholas Ball
This week, we welcome Nicholas Ball as the featured Playful Color artist inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. (Members, log in here to watch our chat.) Not a member yet? Well, get yourself on the waitlist, and we’ll let you know when membership opens again. Meet Nicholas Ball! I know Nicholas for his amazing improv ... Read More about Meet Nicholas Ball
Met the man behind the improv quilting movement, Nicholas Ball. Discover his beautiful quilts, techniques and tips on finding inspiration.
Looking for a creative way for your Pre-K, K, and Grade 1 students to practice identifying and completing patterns? Look no further! With this worksheet, students find and complete the unfinished pattern of fabrics on each row of a quilt by cutting and pasting the final fabric square into the correc...
I’m Designer, Author, and your host for this program, Pat Sloan. This year we challenged each designer to create a block inspired by the Aurifil Color Builders. We assigne…
6 Easy quilt patterns for beginners or an experienced quilter looking for a quilt pattern to easily finish in a weekend. Includes 3 yard quilts and fat quarters
Opting for black and white quilt patterns is an excellent choice for those looking for a striking quilt. See some patterns here.
I thought I would participate in the Best of 2020 linky party hosted by Cheryl @Meadow Mist Designs. She has asked that a new blog post be written highlighting the 5 best of my blog post from 2020. Cheryl has left it up to us to determine which post are 'the best'! The first 'best' up for me is my post from October 31st when I posted about my finish of my Look on the Bright Side quilt. This quilt was made from my participation in the Quiet Play Pattern Club from 2019. All the blocks are paper pieced and designed by Kristy Lea. I really enjoyed sewing the paper pieced blocks in rainbow colors and the text blocks! I picked this post because although this quilt took me longer than usual to finish, I kept working on it and finally finished it~~~no UFO here! Second 'best' is from my blog post on August 30th. This post showed the finish of my I Spy quilt featuring by grandson. He still loves to take out the quilt and 'spy' all the things on the quilt! There are over 100 things to search for! My third 'best' is Manifest, a quilt I featured in my May 13th blog post. I designed this quilt for my daughter. She loves very simple designs and sent me some ideas to work with. This quilt also feature some of my natural dyed fabrics! The fourth 'best' is my Breaking the Rules quilt featured in my March 19th blog post. This quilt was created as part of the #improvtrianglesewalong by Nicholas Ball. I really loved learning this technique and how this quilt turned out! It now hangs in my quilt room. I quilted it using a dense straight line/matchstick type quilting...much denser than I usually quilt! Finally, my fifth 'best' is my Orphism quilt. It is based on the Cubism Art movement which is known for it's abstraction and bright colors. This was featured in my May 6th blog post. I really like this quilt that is made with 2 different sizes of HST. The pop of yellow really makes the quilt stand out. Well, that is my 5 best! It was hard to pick only 5 out of 20 quilts that I made during 2020, however it was fun to look back through the past year. Hope you enjoyed it! I'm linking to the Best of 2020 @Meadow Mist Designs.
This week, we welcome Nicholas Ball as the featured Playful Color artist inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. (Members, log in here to watch our chat.) Not a member yet? Well, get yourself on the waitlist, and we’ll let you know when membership opens again. Meet Nicholas Ball! I know Nicholas for his amazing improv ... Read More about Meet Nicholas Ball
Nicholas Ball is an improv quilter inspired by landscape and nature. His use of bright and bold colors stands him apart.
Visit the post for more.
Bye-Bye Bloglovin' If you are reading this blog post, thank you! Today (Thursday, February 27) I made the decision to REMOVE my blog from Bloglovin' and close my account with Bloglovin'. I'm sorry to have done that if you use Bloglovin as your blog-reader. But after figuring out that in ONE week, 11 of my "new followers" were using fake names (often, "Bloglover") and promoting sex sites, I was fed up. Bloglovin' does not provide any way of blocking perverts, and I've put up with it for years. Enough is enough. Thank you for being here on your own! To QuiltCon and Back So... I was away from home for less than a week, but it felt like so much longer! On the other hand, the days passed in a blink! I traveled by car to QuiltCon in Austin, Texas, where I stayed four nights in a time-share arranged by a friend. Five of us stayed in the Railyard Condos, directly across the street from the Austin Convention Center. It was a handy location! I could see the convention center doors from my loft window, and was a quick run across the street when it rained! Pictures make the place look charming, but it had plenty of "honey-dos" that needed doing. We were on the third floor. No elevators. We climbed a lot of stairs. Hauling a suitcase up/down that spiral staircase wasn't easy. But we agreed that the convenience was a nice trade-off. So close to the show. And lectures. And classes. Even a quick run to the condo for an apple and power bar was nice. This is the Best of Show quilt called "Starring You" by Peter Byrnes of Toronto Canada. I had a chance to visit with him about his quilt and he told me that he domestic machine quilted it on a Janome machine, and tracked 200 hours of quilting. At one point he said he threw the whole quilt on the floor of the closet because he was sick of it. It pays to persevere, right? I am telling myself that after how many hours of quilting my temperature quilt?! This is Peter with another of his award-winning quilts called "Cityscape." It won Best Machine Quilting: Frameless. This is Marla Varner of @pennylanequilts who I also had a chance to visit with. Her quilt, "For the Love of Squircles" won Quilting Excellent Award and is entirely hand-appliqued and big stitch hand quilted. This is Marla's quilt from the back. I took my beloved Canon S100 camera with me to QuiltCon (QC), and only managed to take two pictures before the camera stopped working. I was glad to have my iPhone as back-up even though the picture quality isn't as good as the Canon. I'm not exaggerating when I say I took more than 300 pictures at QuiltCon! Therefore, I'm finding it difficult to pick and choose the quilts I want to share. This quilt really attracted my attention. "Triangle Color Study III" was made by Nicholas Ball @quiltsfromtheattic of the UK. About a week before QC, he started an Instagram #improvtrianglesewalong. Some gorgeous quilt tops are appearing! I'd love to give this improv design a try. Here's a detail photo. Tiny matchstick quilting was in abundance at QC. Another favorite is "Let's Get Loud" by Kathryn Upitis @kupitis, a doctor who lives in Canada. Love the quilt name and that she received a third place award in improv. Our Central Florida MQG participated in the QuiltCon Charity Quilt Challenge, and managed a meet-up to get a group picture in front of our quilt. You can read more about our quilt here. Lots of other MQG chapters made quilts too. Quilts could be only black/gray/white (no color), include words, and be made in designated dimensions. Hands down, the best quilt in the display was made by the Tulsa (Oklahoma) MQG. It's "A Day in the Life of a Quilter" and is meant to be "read" beginning at the upper left-hand corner. I read the quilt several times, giggling more each time. It's just clever! The lightening bolt and wink at the end... 😂 I saw a lot of "old" friends, who I'd met at previous QCs, and new quilters I "know" through Instagram... and forgot to take pictures of most of them! I was so caught up in conversations that taking a photo never occurred to me. Thankfully, my California friend Elizabeth, who blogs at www.opquilt.com, suggested a picture together. Our chat time was way too brief, Elizabeth! When I met up with @mtweedel, another Instagramer who's from Texas, we chatted our way through the quilts, and suggested taking a picture of me with my quilt. Thank you, Melissa! What a coincidence that I dressed like my quilt that day! I'm now very grateful to have this picture because... my quilt was purchased! Yes! Entrants can indicate whether a quilt is NFS (not for sale), or put a price on it. "L Cabin" was bought by an Australian! I'm tickled that someone liked it enough to buy it, and the money will cover the cost of my new Canon SX620 camera! Isn't it funny how some things just work out? Win-win. I attended several wonderful lectures presented by: Heather Black @quiltachusetts; Steph Skardal @stephskardal; Maritza Soto; Victoria Findlay Wolfe @victoriafindlaywolfe; Teresa Duryea Wong; and Mary Fons @yomaryfons and her mother, Marianne. For a couple years, I worked for Marianne and Liz Porter, when they were publishing Love of Quilting magazine in Winterset, Iowa. It was especially interesting to listen to this mother-daughter team talk through the changes in quiltmaking. Their lecture was: 50 Years of Quilting in America. (Yes, that's an open wine bottle and wine glasses on the table between them.) As I was leaving the lecture hall, who should I see but Liz Porter (on the left). Apparently she lives in Austin, and was hosting a mutual Des Moines friend, Lynn W. They were rushing out for a dinner reservation, so we didn't have any chat time, but Lynn suggested taking a picture. I haven't seen either of these women for at least 17 years! This is another of the reasons I adore QC... unexpected meet-ups. If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that in 2018 I made an improv quilt based on then-eight year-old grandson Austin's artwork. I entered "Owl Always Love You" into QC in 2019 and 2020, and the quilt was rejected both times. This visit to Austin was the perfect time to finally deliver the quilt to Austin who is 10 years old now. He was thrilled about getting it. and asked questions about how it was made. I read the quilt label to him. He agree to let me keep the artwork that inspired the quilt. (This pic was taken in 2018.) He wanted to sleep under it as soon as I gave it to him. Thinking about this, I'm just warm and fuzzy all over. I'll soon write another blog post about my impressions of QC quilts... like that so many of the quilts included big stitch quilting. In the meantime, go here to see pictures of all the award-winning quilts. I think you'll agree that they're wonderful! Linda
This is a lot easier than it looks. The finished quilt measures 54″ x 68″. I used 40 Moda Jelly Roll strips to make this patchwork top (without the borders). I’ve seen pictures of this…
This week, we welcome Nicholas Ball as the featured Playful Color artist inside the Playful Color Quilt Guild. (Members, log in here to watch our chat.) Not a member yet? Well, get yourself on the waitlist, and we’ll let you know when membership opens again. Meet Nicholas Ball! I know Nicholas for his amazing improv ... Read More about Meet Nicholas Ball
Over 30 beautiful baby boy quilt patterns including free patterns. Make a handmade gift for a new baby boy in your life.
I finally finished my son’s Minecraft Quilt that I made with the Minecraft Quilt Pattern published in Seriously, I Think it Need Stitches… This was my first quilt! it took me a while to learn quilting basic skills, Kelli’s patterns were … Read More
Speculaas, St. Nicholas cookies, Windmill cookies — call them what you may, you MUST call them good. They're a spiced, shortbread biscuit. A...
Most of us love precuts and fat quarters. They make life so much easier when quilting, enabling us to have to cut and measure a little less. Fat quarters usually come in pre-selected color co…
Please note the PDF file will only download on your desktop computer, or if you sign in to Etsy from your smart device browser. This pattern will not download directly to your smart device from the Etsy app. Quilting pattern for an approximately 41 x 31 inch quilt top. Can be used as a lap quilt or a wall handing. Strips of complimenting blue fabrics are cut and sewn together to create the sky and sea at dusk. The sun is pieced together from three strips of fabrics and then appliqued on the quilt top. The setting sun reflections are raw edged appliqued on, as are the accents to the sun. This quilt pattern is a 9 page long pdf file. The first five pages include the materials needed, cutting and assembly guide. Applique instructions are included, but prior applique knowledge will not be a hindrance. The last four pages are the applique patterns. Backing, quilting and binding instructions are not provided in this pattern, so basic knowledge of these is needed to finish the quilt. YouTube is a great resource for those :) Fabrics needed for this quilt: ½ yard EACH of dark blue and blue fabric ¼ yard EACH lighter blue and purple or black fabric ¼ yard EACH of red, orange and yellow fabric 1 ½ yards for backing ½ yard for binding ½ yard fusible web Batting: Approximately 46 x 35 inches This quilt was designed and patterned by me, in my home studio. Thank you for visiting my shop! Here you will find truly handmade items including art quilts, table runners and original paintings. Back to shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChickenBootz Due to the PDF instant download nature of this pattern, it is not refundable once purchased. If you have issues or questions with the pattern, please feel free to contact me via my Etsy shop, or via my email that is listed on the bottom of page five of this pattern. I hope you enjoy sewing this as much as I enjoyed designing this quilt.
Twin sized bed quilt for my 13 year old son based on his favourite computer game: Minecraft! Made from Kona cotton solids. Ikea sheet for backing. Completed September 2011. My son had the idea to stitch three buttons, red, yellow and green, on the upper left corner of the grey binding (which he asked me to make wider at the top) to resemble a window on his Mac computer. I will do that soon! And label the quilt, too.
HST (or Half Square Triangle) quilt blocks can be one of the most versatile block designs we have as quilters. With a simple turn of the block, or change of color, your block can go from look…
