Blue Squared Away Cutie Quilt with Pumpkin Seeds -- Tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns

I think I've warned you of my current obsession with pumpkin seed quilting.  I've used recently it on a few quilt borders (here and here) and wanted to see if I could easily stitch it all over a quilt.

I'm also currently crushing on my Squared Away Cutie Quilt pattern so I quickly stitched one up in various blue fabrics similar to these, basted up my quilt, and sat down to machine quilt.

When I needed to mark, I used a 1 1/2" grid stencil and pounce powder and happily quilted this up!

Doesn't the texture look great on here?

Imperfectly done, but still perfect, right?

This quilt now belons to my new grandson's one-year-old cousin.

Watch the full video tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns, my collection of exclusive subscriber videos.

July Color Blocks Quilt -- "Either / Or" Machine Quilting Tutorial

I've been hiding in my air-conditioned sewing room this summer with plenty of time to machine quilt. I haven't asked myself, "How can I finish this quilt quickly?" lately since I have nothing but time to quilt.  This month's Color Block quilt, Either / Or, is custom quilted and used a lot of thread.  I enjoy the process and love the finished quilt!

I used white thread for all of the quilting and it looks great on both the orange and the blue blocks.

I quilted the four-patch blocks with ribbon candy, continuous curve, and swirls.

I quilted the Color Blocks quilts with continuous points (?) and ribbon candy.

I love the little stars in each block!

Join my FREE Color Blocks 2025 class to download the pattern and watch the machine quilting tutorial.

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Materials:

• Batt Scooters
• White 50-weight Konfetti cotton thread
• White 80-weight DecoBob polyester thread
• Ribbon Candy Stencil

Bowl of Cherries Cutie Quilt -- Custom Quilting Video

 I pulled more fabrics from my Garden Gatherings Fat Quarter Tower to piece this Bowl of Cherries Cutie Quilt.

This quilt turned out to be everything I wanted it to be and so much more!!!

Any quilting edge-to-edge quilting design would be sufficient to hold the layers of this quilt together, but I was in the mood for custom quilting.  

I started off by quilting curves using a machine quilting ruler.  I filmed a class for Annie's Attic that will teach you everything you need to know to start quilting with rulers on your home sewing machine.

I quilted ribbon candy between the curves and then stitched some feathers to fill each block.  I teach these feathers step-by-step in my Machine Quilted Feathers online class. 

I quilted the borders with more ribbon candy and more feathers!  

I show all of this quilting plus a trick for spacing feathers in a border in my latest YouTube video.  

Watch it now!

These are the first two Cutie Quilts I've made from the Garden Gatherings Fat Quarter Tower.

 

I still have more fabric left and will make more Cutie Quilts soon!

July Color Blocks Quilt -- Either / Or FREE PATTERN

 Got Scraps?  Sign up for my FREE 2025 Color Blocks Scrap Quilt Along for a year of scrappy baby quilt patterns and machine quilting tutorials.

July's quilt is a two-block quilt called Either / Or.  It takes very little fabric from stash and uses a lot of scrap 2 1/2" squares.  If you've been quilting along for any part of the last five years (can it really be five years!?!?!?), you have processed your scrap fabrics into 2 1/2" squares and can easily stitch this quilt together!

While I love all of my Color Block Quilts equally, I really Really REALLY love this one!  

What two colors will you choose for your quilt?  Go to the Color Blocks class, download the pattern and planning page, and get stitching!

5 Simple Steps to Stitching with Pro-Stitcher Premium™

Most of my online quilting content is free-motion quilting on a home machine, with some stationary longarm and longarm content thrown in. But did you know that I also teach quilters how to use Pro-Stitcher Premium, a computerized quilting system that works with Handi Quilter and other brands of longarms? My husband laughs every time he thinks of me teaching anything related to computers. Me (calling hubby at work): "Jeff, the printer isn't working." Him: "Is it plugged in?" Me: "Shut up." Click.

Let's just say I'm not a natural with computers. I've tried and cried and dug in and got confused and cried some more and finally figured out what is essential to know to use this program.

My in-person students leave class with confidence and have been asking for videos they can refer to from home, so I filmed one. 'Cuz I'm nice like that. Head on over to YouTube to watch the video

Download this Infographic HERE.

I plan to film more of these.  I take suggestions!

Squared Away Cutie Quilt featuring Pat Sloan's Bird Song fabric

Do you have a quilt pattern or machine quilting pattern that is just like a hug?  Squared Away is my comfort quilt pattern and ribbon candy is my comfort machine quilting pattern.

Squared Away is the very first Cutie Pattern I designed, and I've made over 20 of these.  Since it uses 16 fat eighth cuts of fabric, I get to enjoy so many fabrics in each quilt!  I could make this quilt every day and not get bored.  

I could also machine quilt this quilt every day with ribbon candy and never get bored.

Pat Sloan's Bird Song fabric from Benartex was gorgeous to work with.  

As I was making this quilt, it told me who it would belong to and the quilt is winging its way to the new owner.

ABC Graphic Circle Stencil -- Tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns

 When I designed the ABC Stencils, I intended for them to be used lined up in borders in a "mix and match" fashion.  After using them for a while, I'm discovering they are super-flexible and can be used for much more than borders.

I used my ABC Graphic Circle Stencil on a quilt as an edge-to-edge design and I had to make it fit the natural markings of my quilt.  It was simple and the quilting turned out great!

I started this quilt but set it aside because I was angry with it.  I finished it, angrily, at a quilt retreat last September.  Fortunately, the machine quilting didn't make me angry and I now love this quilt!

I filmed a quilting tutorial for this quilt and it is now uploaded into As The Bobbin Turns, my collection of subscriber-only videos.  You can subscribe monthly or annually and get an over-the-shoulder look at my machine-quilting decisions.

Have you ever put a quilt in time out because it was misbehaving?  How did you change your feelings toward that quilt?

Watch the full video tutorial in As the Bobbin Turns, my collection of exclusive subscriber videos.

Handi Quilter Educator Challenge Quilt -- First Things First

I just finished quilting the panel that Handi Quilter sent to their educators as a challenge.

Since I was going to quilt it on my Handi Quilter Stationary Longarm, affectionally named Daniel Craig, I basted the layers using 505 spray, Quilter's Dream cotton batting, and Quilter's Dream wool batting.

I threaded my machine with white DecoBob 80-weight polyester thread in the needle and the bobbin and stitched it all in the ditch.  The Handi Quilter Mini Scallop Ruler is my favorite tool for stitch in the ditch.  Any time I use a ruler on a stationary longarm or home machine, I make sure to have a lot of Handi Grip on the ruler!

I used one of my Top Ten Favorite Threads, beige 50-weight cotton Konfetti in the needle and soft tan 80-weight polyester DecoBob in the bobbin to stitch ribbon candy in the strips of colors.  That one color matched all of the printed colors well.  My Handi Quilter Sweet Spots were on the job helping me to grip my quilt while quilting.

I chose to stitch asterisks/stars in the diamonds because continuous curve was the obvious choice and this was a challenge quilt.

I rethreaded my machine with the white DecoBob to stitch feathers.  Due to time constraints, I didn't measure out the spines but just "winged it."  I'm happy with my feathers, but if I were to stitch this again, I'd have more precise spines.  I'm very proud of my online class teaching Free-Motion Feathers and suggest that you enroll to learn how to make many types of feathers, including these Flexible Feathers.

The finished quilt is on its way to Handi Quilter Academy where it will be displayed with all of the other challenge quilts.  I wish I were there to see it, but I have no regrets for taking no work in June so I'd be available for my daughter and her new sweet baby.