Happy Boxing Day to readers in the UK and Commonwealth countries. In the US it's just the day to exchange unwanted Christmas gifts. My gifts are delightful. No store hubbub for me. I'm not sewing this week but had a busy time this month finishing several gifts. In between, I worked on this class project. Since there are actually photos of the process (whoo-hoo) let's walk through my final changes to this quilt. At this point it seemed ready to sew the rows. You can see I'd sewn the first two rows but wandering through on my way to bed... {Remember the circuitous route our kids took on their way to bed? Mine is now similar as I check everything one last time.} it was simply too dark. The only color combination seemed to be pink and orange. All the others are "a color and a neutral." Not exactly pushing the color combination boundary. Where are the sample combinations I'd made in class? Dark Bars quilt ready to sew First I covered seven bright or dark sections with lighter sets of two colors. Exchanging some of the orange sets in this Bars quilt Next I moved two rows to the top so my favorite section is nearer the middle. A couple of the bright sections were uncovered. Moving rows in the Bars quilt Finally added a chambray and white section back on the right and swapped some dark and light sections to balance the top. Bars quilt top sewn For comparison, here's the final top with the starting layout. Comparing finished Bars quilt with dark Bars quilt These photos almost seem like a filter was added to brighten the colors rather than all that work. I guess my strips have their own rhythm of size and spacing. I want the lighter one today but the dark version intrigues me with it's foray into cheddar. When I looked at it in daylight, it was very attractive. Funny how different the colors appeared at night. Note to self: don't make changes after dark. This has been a exciting year for me and AHIQ has been part of that excitement. I've learned so much from Kaja and all of you who have linked projects and shared opinions. I've grown so much over the year and look forward to future work in this community. Enjoy the day, Ann InLinkz removed because it was hacked.

Stacked Bricks 80 blocks set 10 by 8, finishing 80 by 96 inches. My design, use at your pleasure. Block finishes 8 by 12 inches Cutti...

https://youtu.be/U3YQQo-PJVU Autumn is full of color, and I had to make a quilt to celebrate it before the season ends. I decided to work with simple blocks made from 2.5″ strips. While I knew I could look around and find a pattern to follow, I really wanted to just sew and see what happened. This Color Stack Quilt is the [...]

strip pieced quilt, c. 1960 Today I celebrate the release of Roderick Kiracofe's new book, Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000. One quilt from my collection is included in the book, and I'm eager to get my hands on a copy. As a tribute, here are some favorite unconventional, unexpected quilts from my collection. strip pieced medallion, c. 1970 pieced and appliquéd quilt, c. 1960-1970 appliquéd and embroidered bed cover, c. 1970 Double Wedding Ring, c. 1970 To find out which of my quilts was included in the book, order your copy today! Congratulations to Roderick Kiracofe on the successful release of Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts Below the Radar 1950-2000. Available now online - click here for details.

The joys of scrap quilting are many. There's a steady supply of materials. Plus happy memories abound as you create beautiful quilts.

OOPS! I think we forgot to pick a winner of Brett Bara's lovely new book Sewing in a Straight Line. So let's do that, shall we? This lovely new book features many simple and sophisticated

Maria Shell makes fabulously intricate quilts that look like she employs a clever selection of prints. But Maria works almost exclusively with solid fabric.

This quilt went together very quickly because many of the strips sets were already made (leftover from the Bars quilt top.) Quilting roughly parallel lines with a walking foot is a perfect utilitarian finish that only takes a couple of hours on a small quilt. Bars 2 baby quilt in pastel solid fabrics Although the quilt was small enough to fit on WOF, I used two pink fabrics to get enough length for the back. Most of the chevron was the back for this t-shirt quilt. Only a few narrow lengths remain. The binding is a remnant of the pink and green stripe originally used in the ribbon border of my Strippy Nine Patch. What a lucky find. It segues nicely between the solid front and printed back. I also used it on the recent Spiderweb quilt... and there's still a bit more. Perhaps enough to go around another quilt or two. Into the binding bin it goes. Back, binding, and quilting on Bars baby quilt Again I quilted simple unmarked parallel lines like Fifth Chinese Coins but these run across the Coins/Bars and are about an inch apart. It should keep the seams from pulling and still keep the quilt flexible and soft for a baby. Previous posts: Designing Bars 2. Bars 1 workshop. Sewing Bars 1 top. Quilt Details Size: 38" x 38" Design: Chinese Coin Batting: Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon 100% cotton Thread: pink Metler cotton 50/3 sewing weight Quilting: Straight lines with walking foot Enjoy the day, Ann

teaginnydesigns.blogspot.com/2013/09/rugby-stripe-quilt.html available

When is a line, not a line? When thinking about what a ‘line’ is, most of us think of straight ones. Once we take a moment to really think about the possibilities a line presents it becomes quite clear that a line can be so much more and is more ambiguous than simply the shortest distance between point A and point B. A

I have a finish. New Finish Glimpses of Blue Rolled Up But first the back story. This was the second year that I was the Block of the Month (BOM) coordinator for my quilt guild. The concept of the BOM is simple. I share a tutorial for a quilt block (from the internet, a classic block or something that I whip up). Two strips 2.5" by WOF Stitched along the length Open Seams Cut in half Sew again, press seams open Cut in half again Cut each half into half Rearrange and sew Folks make that block. Every block gets them one entry in the BOM raffle One person wins all the blocks. Two blocks finish at 8" by 10" This was the BOM for February 2019. I so enjoyed making these two blocks that I made a whole quilt. Playing with Strips On the Design wall Quilting Zig Zag Quilting - Walking Foot (always) Binding in process And here it is - meet Oasis!!! Oasis Oasis finished at about 64" by 70", which is the right size for a Mercyful Quilt. Blues on Green Sewing up 2.5" strips is fast and fun. After all the strips were sewn and all the blocks were cut, they were arranged on the design wall and I began playing with the layout. I arranged them in such a way that the lighter ones were at the top, medium hues in the middle going to the navy and dark blocks at the bottom. This created a sort of ombre effect. Ombre Effect Now if I had decided on the ombre effect BEFORE I made the blocks, the result would have been much more striking. Ah well, may be next time. For now, I will settle for this gentle suggestion of Ombre Effect. What do you think? Paul: What happened to the hot pink and yellow block? Me: That was for the guild. The winner took it. Paul: And what happens to this quilt? Me: It is going to Bernie. Paul: Who is Bernie? Me: My quilting, blogging buddy on the west coast who is friends with Patty Paul: Who is Patty? Me: Patty works at the Mercy hospital and she needs quilts Paul: For? Me: To comfort the terminally ill patients Paul: Oh Me: The family will keep the quilt in memory of the person Paul : That is sweet of you Me: Well, thank you, Paul. Paul: Do you need me to hold it? Me: Nope. Rekha already modeled it for me Paul: Who is Rekha? Me: She is my co-worker/quilt model. Paul: And what am I? Me: You are a holder-upper :-p Paul: That sounds menial Me: Since Rekha is leaving, I can promote you to a quilt model Paul: Ooh a quilt model. Do I get any benefits or perks? Me: Maybe after your 6-quilt probation period. Paul: BRAT!!! Rekha the model Rekha has found another job and she will no longer be able to model for me. At least not on regular basis. I am sure we will get together every now and then at weekends. So we took a few extra pictures. And had a farewell picnic with more pictures. She will be missed We wish her well The card Saying good bye to Rekha was not easy. But it is so much harder to say good bye to a dear family member who is leaving for their final journey, as is the case with the recipients of Mercyful quilts. Celebrating the time spent together and reliving the memories can be an oasis of comfort in the desert of loss. Hence the name - Oasis. Pieced Backing The backing is a big irregular four-patch, using last of the giant tulips fabrics that came to me from Mary. So generous of her. I am happy just being one small part of the giving universe. Labelled All the Blues - Singing Together Here are a few more pictures. I need to drink in these blues a bit longer before I say good-bye to Oasis and send her westwards to Bernie. I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar. As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Your comments are my oasis too :-)

The quilt for my baby boy is complete! This quilt was made with a lot of love and is my first project using free-motion quilting. I love it! I used the Stacked Coins pattern - very easy and very quick! I highly recommend it. Most all of the fabric is from the Arcadia line, with the exception of the polka dots, which are cut from a crib sheet (we have another matching sheet for the crib to complete the bedding "set"). The green/brown damask print (on the middle right in this next photo) was also an add-in. I'm not sure of the designer on it, I picked it up at the quilt show last month. On the brown fabric, you can really see my free-motion quilting. Love it! The back is the blue leaf fabric, also from the Arcadia line. I *love* the leaf prints! I had originally intended to bind the quilt with the same blue leaf print as the back, but at the last minute changed my mind and wanted to use the brown instead. I'm so happy with my choice (although I was less-than-patient while waiting for the order to arrive in the mail). All in all, I LOVE this quilt. I was very picky in selecting the fabrics and began browsing for ideas just about 6 months ago - very soon after I found out I was pregnant, I started planning this quilt. I put a lot of thought into every piece of fabric - waaaay more thought than I normally do. I love that this will be the blanket our son sleeps under. I can't wait to see his sweet little face - just 8 weeks until my due date! Coming soon: the completed bird mobile (using scrap fabrics from the quilt)...

Fat quarters are fun to collect and even more fun to use! Browse our free quilt patterns for one that will make it easy for you to put your fat quarters to good use.

As promised, here is one of my summer(ish) sewing projects. A friend of mine asked for a baby quilt to gift to her friend's baby girl. I knew that I wanted to do a scrappy quilt and it didn't take me long to decide on which pattern to execute. I modeled it after this quilt from my earlier days of sewing. I mixed it up a bit by cutting each of the 10" lengths of patchwork bars in half and alternating them when I pieced the quilt together. I'm really happy with the result! This style lends itself nicely to the scrappy look I was going for but because there are two rows identical to one another it looks cohesive and purposeful (at least I think so). You may have noticed that I no longer have that nice siding (as in my blog header) to photograph my quilts on. Yes, I am sad about that...I moved and I no longer have a sun porch that offers so much natural light. I'll be busy brainstorming new places to photograph my work... until then... go make something!

Cassandra Ellis

Traditionally, quilting is a craft born of hardship, when people made warm covers out of whatever scraps they could find. But artist and former urban plann

Welcome to the quilt gallery pages for my Scrap-A-Palooza scrap series. You will find helpful pictures and links to all the projects should you want to sew up some of your own scraps. There is a button to grab on the right margin if you want to share with your readers what you are up to. Why Scrap-A-Palooza? Because Quilting is more fun than Housework! Here are some general posts for working with scraps. Working with Scraps Leaders and Enders Scrap Storage Ideas Sorting Scraps ***Note: With each quilt, you will find the quilt stats on my quilts in the "Finish" link (usually Part 4). This will give you information on the size of my quilts and the materials that went into it. *** Quilts from Orphan Blocks (January 2017) Quilt #1 Medallion Style Quilt #2 Improv Style Quilt #3 Sewing Blocks into Row Orphan Block Link Up Ideas for using your leftover orphan blocks. One Block Quilts (July 2016) Part One: Fabrics and Rulers Part Two: Layouts and Quilt Top Part Three: Some Finished Quilts One block quilts are perfect for colorwash quilts and leftover fabrics Improv Triangles (February 2016) Part One: Fabrics Part Two: Making the Block Part Three: Layout Options Part Four: A Finished Quilt The perfect project for odd shaped scraps. Scrappy Sampler (December 2015) Part One: Fabric Pull and First Block Part Two: Chain Blocks Two thru Five Part Three: Blocks Six Thru Nine Part Four: Eight More Chain Blocks Part Five: Blocks Eighteen Thru Twenty One Part Six: Last Four Blocks and Quilt Top Finish Part Seven: Sharing my Quilt Finish A fun way to use up scraps and play with color! Crazy Color Block (August 2015) Part One: Fabric Pull Part Two: Making all the Blocks Part Three: Layout and Top Finish Part Four: Sharing my Quilt Finish This quilt worked great for using up some odd solids and chunks of black and white fabric. Definitely a unique quilt! Offset Log Cabin Blocks (July 2015) Part One: Fabric and Block Tutorial Part Two: Making all the Blocks Part Three: Layout Options and Top Finish Part Four: Sharing my Quilt Finish There are lots of layout options with these curved blocks. This one is also great for using up those low volume scraps. Rainbow 9 Patch (May 2015) Part One: Inspiration and Pulling the Scraps Part Two: Cutting and Sewing the Blocks Part Three: Layout Options and Top Finish Part Four: Sharing my Quilt Finish Simple piecing with big impact. This one goes together really quickly! Simple Patchwork (March 2015) Part One: Pulling and Cutting the squares Part Two: Laying out a design Part Three: Sharing my Finish By simply adding HSTs or changing the scale on some of the blocks, each quilt layout can be unique. Improv Blocks with Two Color Backing (January 2015) Part One: Pulling the Scraps Part Two: Sewing the Improv Blocks Part Three: Sewing up the Quilt Top Part Four: Sharing my Finish This one is a great way to sew up scraps and play with block layouts. Scrappy Stacked Coin (December 2014) Part One: Choosing the Fabrics Part Two: Determining the Layout Part Three: Sewing up the Quilt Top Part Four: Sharing my Finish Don't be afraid to use large florals rather than solids for the vertical bars in a stacked coin quilt. Easy Improv Quilt (November 2014) Part One: Choosing the Fabrics Part Two: Sewing the Blocks Part Three: Laying out the Blocks Part Four: Sharing my Finish An easy technique for making improv blocks that easily fit together. Great for scraps from fabric collections. Vertical Pieced Strip Quilt (October 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Sewing the Strips Part Two: Adding the Background and Sewing the Top Part Three: Sharing my Finish Other Quilts made using this Pattern A lot of cutting to this one but great for those smaller scrap pieces. 16 Patch Quilt (September 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Making the Blocks Part Three: Sewing the Top and Layout Ideas Part Three: Sharing my Finish A great project for using those 2.5" binding leftovers. String Quilt (August 2014) Part One: Choose a colorway and pull scraps Part Two: Sewing the blocks together Part Three: Layout and Finishing the Top Part Four: Sharing my Finish A Scrap-A-Palooza Mash-Up More String Finishes This project uses those colorful strings in your scrap bin. You can choose any colorway. Gradation Color Block Quilt (July 2014) Part One: Choose a colorway and design Part Two: Sewing the blocks together Part Three: Layout, Sashing and Finishing the Top Part Four: Sharing my Finish This project uses those colorful strings in your scrap bin. You can choose any colorway. Brick Quilt (June 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Sewing the Top and Quilting Ideas Part Three: Sharing my Finish A great project for using those finished quilt leftovers. Zig Zag Quilt (May 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Sewing Blocks and Determining Layout Part Three: Sewing the Top and Quilting Ideas Part Four: Sharing my Finish More Finishes and Layout Options Charity Quilts made using this Pattern Uses 2.5" squares and yardage fabric. Great way to use up those fabrics that need to go. Two Color Woven Quilt Quilt (April 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Layout, Sewing the Top Part Three: Sharing Finishes Uses two colors of fabric and a single background. Great use for scrappy chunks of fabric or left over charm squares Color Block String Quilt (March 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Determining Layout Part Three: Sewing the Top and Quilting Ideas Part Four: Sharing Finishes A Finish by Emily Kat's Scrappy Strings Uses strings and very little background fabric. Can be done as color blocks or scrappy. Scrappy Ripple Quilt (February 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Determining Layout Part Three: Sewing the Top and Quilting Ideas Part Four: Sharing Finishes Quilt Show of Finishes A Scrap-A-Palooza Mash-Up Uses chunk size scraps and very little background fabric. This is a great quilt to use up leftovers from a previous project. Horizontal Bar Scrappy Quilt (January 2014) Part One: Fabrics and Cutting Part Two: Sewing Bars Part Three: Sashing and Quilting Ideas Part Four: Sharing Finishes Quilt Show of Finishes Even More Finishes Uses chunk size scraps and very little background fabric. This is a great quilt to use up leftovers from a previous project. This scrap quilt is also a great leaders and enders quilt. There will be lots more information to come as we continue to party with our scrap bins. Hope you stay tuned! ***Note: Many of these scraps quilts end up in my Etsy Shop. You can usually pick them up a t a great price!***

I shared this finish with you last week, but I took pictures while making the facing as I thought some of you might be interested in learning how I did it. First I cut 2 1/2 inch strips and pressed…

I needed a quilt as a gift for a co-worker’s new baby boy. Not knowing the mother’s taste preferences, I opted to go for classic. This quilt went together rather quickly with pieced stripes and…

Stead has been quilting for about seven years. "In the beginning I was hung up on trying to make something that was completely unique and it took some time to let that go," she says.

Riddle me this: A woman is in a completely bricked-in room. On one wall, there is a large mirror, but there is no door. There's a bench in the middle of the room. She's a clever one though and she got out. How did she get out? Answer at the bottom. Hint: Think math. I started this quilt a few weeks ago using the Fibonacci sequence up to 13. I worried that it felt too simple. You assured me that it wasn't. Thank you! I took your advice and stayed simple with the quilting too -- lines every 1/2" -- but for each stripe I quilted the addends (I looked up the term) from the sequence in the opposite colour. Eg. for the red stripe that is 5" wide, I quilted 2 white lines along one side and 3 white lines on the other. I filled in the rest of the stripe with matching red lines. I also decided to learn how to piece the binding to match the stripes. Yay! Lessons learned -- use the quilted top measurements not the original unquilted top measurements. I had to redo a number of seams because the stripes were smaller once quilted. Seems obvious now, I know. LOL! The back is just a simple white backing. I won't talk too much about the name, except to say that the colour choices were deliberate and reflect the name for me. The optimist in me can't leave it at that though so while the red was chosen for its negative meanings, it was also chosen because it means courage. And the reciprocal nature of the design means that the red flows back to the white too. Same idea with the name. :) Finished size: 41" by 65" Fabric: Kona White and Kona Wine Batting: Hobbs Heirloom - 80/20 Thread: Aurifil 2021 and Aurifil 2460 Linking up to TGIFF!, which is over with Leanne at Devoted Quilter. Answer: She broke the bench in half because two halves make a whole (hole). ;) Happy Friday!

Let's make a Strata Quilt! Cut strips 1.25" wide from interesting fabrics in your stash. Sew the ends together so you have 55" lengths. Then sew these strips together. Make a block about 6" x 55." Enter your name in the drawing once for each block entered. Helpful tip: After sewing a long seam, press before opening. This "sets the seam" and makes it easy to keep the seam straight when you press it open. Otherwise it can get a little curvy. This quilt was made by readers of the Selvage Blog from all over the world. I finished the quilt, and it now resides in Florida in the home of the drawing winner: the Quilting Violinist. Remember to bring your Bow Tie blocks from February too!

I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Grifka of Esch House Quilts at Quilt Market in Houston last fall. She has a very bold graphic design sense which is reflected in her quilt patterns. One of my favo

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Fresh, modern quilt designs and beginner-friendly explanations of improvisational quilting. Follow my everyday sewing and quilting adventures.

When I set out to research Amish patchwork traditions for this installment of the blog, I had a lot of preconceived notions of what I’d find. Any quilt anthology worth its salt features one o…

My first finish of February! This is a twin size (about 60"x90"). These fabrics are sooooo soft! Why can't they make more like this? Now listed in my etsy shop. UPDATE: Sold! I'm sad to see this one go. :(

Energy is contagious. We all have the power to make a situation better, or worse. Recently, we have seen how small words can become big words and how big words can become dangerous words. Because of this, it is important to be mindful of how we feed our energy and then how we use that energy to influence others. Autho

This is the fifth block in a series of 6. The blocks will be used to make a quilted bedhead (or wall hanging). See improv / free form quilt block number 1 improv / free form quilt block number 2 im…