I made this 26" pillow for my daughter. I used Elizabeth Hartman's Spectacular Savanna pattern. I really like how she sets up her patterns, it's very easy to just pick and choose a few of the elements from the pattern. Here are all 3 during piecing, and you can probably guess I added background to the zebra and the giraffe to build them up to the size I wanted for the pillow. I did have a photo of the pieced backs--cannot find it now, but I find pressing the seams open on Elizabeth Hartman designs gives me best results. I was very proud of myself when marking the diamond stencil on the giraffe, that it was the first time I felt very successful at lining up the stencil repeats ....and then I realized it wasn't square with the giraffe piecing....oh well, it's a rounded pillow--I left the stencil markings and proceeded to quilt. I had fun with the quilting...very geometric on the giraffe, freeflowing on the zebra background, and a blend of a marked grid work and freeflowing on the elephant. I was passing through Camrose, stopped at Quilting from the Heart, and picked up all the fabrics there. I also got to say hello to Ardelle, and have a peek at Roger's design wall, so that was nice.

I made this 26" pillow for my daughter. I used Elizabeth Hartman's Spectacular Savanna pattern. I really like how she sets up her patterns, it's very easy to just pick and choose a few of the elements from the pattern. Here are all 3 during piecing, and you can probably guess I added background to the zebra and the giraffe to build them up to the size I wanted for the pillow. I did have a photo of the pieced backs--cannot find it now, but I find pressing the seams open on Elizabeth Hartman designs gives me best results. I was very proud of myself when marking the diamond stencil on the giraffe, that it was the first time I felt very successful at lining up the stencil repeats ....and then I realized it wasn't square with the giraffe piecing....oh well, it's a rounded pillow--I left the stencil markings and proceeded to quilt. I had fun with the quilting...very geometric on the giraffe, freeflowing on the zebra background, and a blend of a marked grid work and freeflowing on the elephant. I was passing through Camrose, stopped at Quilting from the Heart, and picked up all the fabrics there. I also got to say hello to Ardelle, and have a peek at Roger's design wall, so that was nice.

Piece a spectacular sampler quilt featuring iconic savanna animals including an elephant, lion, rhino, gazelle, wildebeest, hippo, giraffe, and zebra. All blocks are sewn using conventional patchwork techniques. One piece (the rhino’s horn) uses a cutting guide a shortcut method to make this shape without the bother of paper piecing or matching points. The pattern book includes complete instructions for making a 64” x 84” sampler quilt, plus bonus quilt and pillow projects using the individual blocks. This pattern uses fat quarters and fat eighths and is perfect for a block of the month program.

The Quiltmas Spectacular 2022 is here and Day 7 brings you the Refracted Star quilt block for all your joyful stitching needs!

The modern quilt craze has hit Japan ! Here are some spectacular results from Japanese quilt artists. When the Sunset Crowns Mt. Fuji in ...

I made this 26" pillow for my daughter. I used Elizabeth Hartman's Spectacular Savanna pattern. I really like how she sets up her patterns, it's very easy to just pick and choose a few of the elements from the pattern. Here are all 3 during piecing, and you can probably guess I added background to the zebra and the giraffe to build them up to the size I wanted for the pillow. I did have a photo of the pieced backs--cannot find it now, but I find pressing the seams open on Elizabeth Hartman designs gives me best results. I was very proud of myself when marking the diamond stencil on the giraffe, that it was the first time I felt very successful at lining up the stencil repeats ....and then I realized it wasn't square with the giraffe piecing....oh well, it's a rounded pillow--I left the stencil markings and proceeded to quilt. I had fun with the quilting...very geometric on the giraffe, freeflowing on the zebra background, and a blend of a marked grid work and freeflowing on the elephant. I was passing through Camrose, stopped at Quilting from the Heart, and picked up all the fabrics there. I also got to say hello to Ardelle, and have a peek at Roger's design wall, so that was nice.

After all your hard work of making your gorgeous quilt top, make your quilt backing just as spectacular using one of these options

Inspired by antique quilts, Jan’s latest book is a must-have for anyone who admires the timeless beauty of hand embroidery. Jan walks you step-by-step through all you need to know including patchwork block templates, supplies and techniques, each of the 16 basic stitches, and small practice projects. ~Spectacular quilt projects clearly show how embroidery enhances appliqué and complements curved and straight-edged piecing.

Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorites from the show. Most were from the Modern Quilt Challenge. Enjoy!

Decorate a tote bag with the spectacular stitches built into the PFAFF quilt expression 720. Use the sequence program to stitch out words in combination with other stitches. Get creative! free pattern

I played with the arrangement and the colour flow off and on yesterday – I’m stopping with this layout: I worked at changing the block placement from linear on the diagonal to a more pa…

Tilkkutöitä

When I saw the Bordered Diamonds quilt in Kaffe Fassett's book, Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts, I knew immediately that it would be a perfect quilt for a thank you gift for my aunt. Never mind that my stash did not contain many large floral prints. My first thought was that I would just buy a kit, and Glorious Color has fabric kits to make two different versions of the quilt. This is their version from the book. And this is their version from the June/July 2010 Quilt Magazine. I carefully analyzed each kit trying to decide which would be best. Then I started thinking about how I liked each version--except for this or that fabric, and how I wanted to use some of my own fabrics, and how I am pretty persnickety about fabric choices, and I finally just gave up and started collecting florals...surely that wouldn't add too much to my stash? Here's a view of the cut diamonds and border strips and of my lovely white board which has been replaced: And since the directions call for dark diamonds to have light strips, and light diamonds to have dark strips, and the rows to alternate, I photographed them, then changed them to black and white to determine the values, as shown here by the strips (although these are the mediums to darks primarily): But after trying to lay them out as directed, I decided to do my own thing when the light/dark thing didn't work, and just evenly separated the colors. And now, a couple of months later, the blocks of the quilt are all sewn together. Hooray! I needed the quilt to be larger than designed, so it's now waiting for the border fabric to be added. This is what I am planning on using: And, having easily spent twice as much as I would have on a kit (what's an extra 1/2 yard here or there?), I now have a very large bin of floral fabrics. My stash, like my waistline, only seems to grow in one direction....

Over the past few months anything that I sew or quilt that includes my True Colors fabrics jumps right up to the top of my personal favorites list. Like of all time personal favorites. True Colors has proven to be my little dream come true fabric haul. I can barely plan anything that doesn't include a bit or a lot of it. Which is just exactly what I hoped for when designing it. Anyhoo. Here is the quilt that I have been asked about a whole lot. Color Dive. The Color Dive Quilt was inspired by my True Colors collection and is my newest video class on CreativeBug. I am also working on a PDF version of the pattern that we should have listed in the shop for sale soon, and I'll be sure to letchya know about that. When it's published, we'll have some kits ready for you too. We're like that. Here's the preview for the Color Dive class: The quilt uses every print in my Dowry collection + every print in my True Colors collection + a handful of solids. In case you'd like a chance to land an extra little pile of fabrics on your sewing table, you should follow along with the True Colors blog tour that is starting Monday at Sew4Home. There will be plenty of chances to win fabric + thread prizes and get loads of sewing inspiration along the way. Here's a scheduled list of the talented folks that are sharing their True Colors projects using my group (highlighted in pink) as well as Heather's, Joel's and Jenean's. Enjoy! xoxoAnnaMaria 1/20 Sew4Home 1/21 Stitchery Dickory Dock 1/22 I'm A Ginger Monkey 1/23 The Sewing Loft 1/24 Ellison Lane 1/27 Diary of a Quilter 1/28 Material Obsession 1/29 Craftsanity 1/30 Stitched in Color 1/31 Craft Buds 2/1 Jay Bird Quilts And here's a little video of us color people talking about such:

Welcome to the weekly hand stitching party! It has been a spectacular fall here in Southern Ontario with a display of colour like I can't ever remember. I have taken many photos to enjoy over the winter to remember these beautiful sunny days. Last weekend I took a class with Sujata Shah of The Root Connection. My Kawandi quilt was inspired by the beautiful fall colours. It was my first online quilting class and I really enjoyed it. This kind of quilt making is all by hand and I loved that about it! I didn't have the right needle, but I made it work for the class. You can see that my first row of stitches (which goes through many layers of fabrics) was much bigger than my second row. Here is the corner of the quilt with the "fula". The Siddi quilt is considered naked without them, so there's my version of a fula. You can see that my stitches are starting to look a little less like they were made by a drunken sailor! It made me feel like my old (pre-2020) self again seeing beautiful quilts, learning something new, hearing about Siddi quilt makers, and doing some hand stitches together with other women around the world. Leave a comment and/or link up your blog post and share what you are hand stitching today. Then make yourself a cup of tea or coffee to enjoy while visiting the blog links and being inspired by what other people are creating with their own two hands. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter

Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts by Kaffe Fassett. I have this book Pre-cordered and I can't wait to get it, it looks amazing.

Edited Mon., 2/15--I didn't get to link up for Stash Report Sunday yesterday, so this is going to be my Design Wall Monday post instead. Have you heard about the 365 Challenge, The Ultimate Sampler? It is a sampler quilt that is made by constructing one block every day. The project is headed up by Kathryn Kerr of Australia, and she posts the instructions for a new block every single day. Most of the blocks finish at either 3" or 6". At the end of the year, there will be 365 blocks, making a 90" square quilt. Here's the general layout planned for the quilt. Amazing, right? I first heard about this challenge right around the beginning of the year, which is when the first blocks were posted. I was very tempted to join in, but managed to resist for a whole month, partly because I couldn't come up with a color scheme I wanted to use. Then it was February and I could resist no longer. I decided to go with blue and orange/rust/gold. Yesterday I finished making all of the blocks from January. These blocks all finish at 3". I'm not used to working in such a small scale as these blocks use. Several of them include pieces that finish at only 1/2"! This will be a good test of my piecing accuracy. Here is one block with 1/2" squares in it. Those are some seriously small pieces! I used approximately 5/8 yard of fabric on my sampler blocks for January. This week I also used 1/2 yard for a set of blocks for the RSC 2016 Sampler Quilt. You can see those blocks in yesterday's post. No additions to my stash this week. STASH TOTALS: Used this week: 1.125 yards Used year to date: 13.375 yards Stashed this week: 0 yards Stashed year to date: 10.25 yards Net year to date: 3.125 yards used I am joining Kate at Life in Pieces in tracking the number of days each week that I spend at least 15 minutes quilting. The more days I quilt, the more quilts I can get done and the more fabric used. 15 Minute Challenge: February 7 - 13 6 for 7 days February total 11 for 13 days 350 Block Challenge at Prairie Moon Quilts: This week's block total: 24 Check out more design walls at Patchwork Times. Julie in GA

Finished the campfire piece today. Actually, I thought I had it finished yesterday. It looked like this: I don't know if you can see what I changed. The bottom foreground wasn't quite working for me. Those rocks around the fire looked too tight and somehow unnatural. And the ground itself wasn't "grounding." I added a couple more rocks and some deep shadow, which seem like an improvement to me. And then I added more sparks. Seemed like it needed those. This piece will be submitted for our next High Fiber Diet show, "The Elements." If I can get them done in time, I hope to complete all four elements to submit. I started with "fire" because it seemed the most challenging, but now I am having a hard time coming up with any ideas for earth, air and water! The size of this is 15" x 35". I kind of wish I had made it larger.

We attended the 'Sol y Sombra' (Sun and Shade) quilt show last weekend, and had a fantastic time. The show is an annual production of the A...