New Purse for a New Season

I have a favorite purse pattern, The Potato Chip bag.  Ask for it at your local quilt shop.

I have made over a dozen of these cute and easy bags and since I am headed to my first show of the 2019 quilt season, I decided it was time to make myself a new bag.  I broke into my well-protected stash of Cotton and Steel fabrics, selected a few fat quarters, and set to work!

Isn't this the cutest bag you ever did see?

Look for it (and me!) at the American Quilt Society show in Lancaster PA this week.  I'll be in the Handi Quilter booth sharing Handi Quilter love with all of the quilters.

Did You Hear That?

That noise you heard was me squealing with excitement.

I.  Just.  Published. My.  First.  Online.  Class!!!!

I have filmed for Craftsy, Annie's, and Annie's Creative Studio, but this is the first time I've filmed a class by myself and am presenting it directly to you.

SQUEAL!!!!

I decided to start filming as I'm quilting my quilts and putting them together as inexpensive classes so you can learn at home.

The first class I chose to release is Arbor.

I am nervous.  And excited.  And nervous.  But really excited.

Check out the class HERE.

And now for something completely different

Between medical treatment recovery time, losing a month to "lung crud", and travel for work (and play!) I don't feel like I've had much fun quilting in 2019.  I've decided to incorporate more play into my quilting starting NOW.

I pulled out my set of Bloom Templates from the Bloom quilt that I never finished (I decided to hand applique it instead of following the directions and using the sewing machine and it is now just another one of my un-finished hand applique projects).  There are so many adorable shapes in there and I decided to play with them and make some nutty postcards.

The first thing that happened is out of this world:

I used template number A-16 to make great big alien eyes on a postcard.

The green and blue fabrics are 5"x6".

I use Steam a Seam 2 for my fusible applique.

When I machine applique, I use a tear-away stabilizer.

I use my Postcard Trimming Tool Kit for the stabilizer and accurate trimming tool. (shameless plug)

I tried something new with this postcard:  cardstock for the back instead of fabric.  I've been having trouble writing on fabric postcard backs and the cardstock is SO MUCH EASIER to write on!

I zig-zag stitched around the edge of the postcard as usual:

This postcard makes me stupidly happy.

Today is my 31st wedding anniversary and I'm giving this to my husband with a clever note on the back.  He already has me, so he already has everything and needs no gifts.  Right?

I have about 30 different ideas of odd things to make from the Bloom Templates that have nothing to do with Bloom.  Is this bizarre?  Or a creative exercise?

I don't really care much about the answer because I'm having loads of fun.

Stay tuned for more creative prompts thanks to my Bloom Templates.

New ACS Episode: Houston Quilt Market New Fabrics!

If you are a quilter and active on social media, you've seen the "Look at these new quilt fabrics just released at Quilt Market!" posts.  Every October/November, Quilt Market takes over Houston, Texas and the inspiration there is breath-taking!

I filmed an episode of Annie's Creative Studio featuring new fabric lines and interview with their designers!

Do you ooh and aah over all the gorgeous fabrics in your local quilt shop? Don’t miss this Products We Love episode as we tag along with quilting expert Debby Brown at the latest Houston Quilt Market. Join Debby as she discovers unique designs and beautiful colors from preeminent designers and several of the finest fabric companies in the world.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

•             Which new fabrics will be available in 2019.

•             About the inspirations behind many new fabric lines.

•             How to plan upcoming quilt projects based on new fabric arrivals.

Annie's Creative Studio is a subscription-based platform where members can watch an unlimited number of classes about quilting, knitting, crocheting and more.  If you aren't yet a member, sign up here for a free trial.

If you are already a member, sign in, search for the episode, and learn the stories behind your favorite fabrics!

New ACS Episode: Machine Quilting with your Walking Foot

Some find it weird that this "I've been a longarm machine quilter for 20 years" gal has fallen in love with her walking foot.  I'm late to develop this crush, but I've fallen hard for the walking foot.

I filmed a series of Annie's Creative Studio episodes featuring the walking foot and Machine Quilting with Debby Brown: Walking Foot episode 1 is now available:

Are you tired of the added cost of sending your quilts to be finished by someone else? We want to help you learn to quilt your own quilts on your sewing machine with expert Debby Brown!

In this Quilter's Skill Builders episode, you will practice several attractive quilting designs achieved with a walking foot or even-feed foot. Join Debby as she demonstrates how to quilt five styles of straight-line stitching, piano keys, plaid, cross-hatching, zigzag and squared spiral.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

•             Quilt unfinished quilt tops on your home sewing machine.

•             Maximize simple straight lines.

•             Accurately space quilting lines.

Annie's Creative Studio is a subscription-based platform where members can watch an unlimited number of classes about quilting, knitting, crocheting and more.  If you aren't yet a member, sign up here for a free trial.

If you are already a member, sign in, go to Quilters' Skill Builders, prepare some practice quilt sandwiches, and get stitching!

New ACS Episode: Piece-Full Days

I love teaching quilting and love all of my classes/episodes equally.  HOWEVER, I might have screamed with joy when offered the opportunity to film the class for Piece-Full Days:

This quilt jumps on my "I love scrap quilts!" button with both feet.  I pulled all of this fabric from my scrap bin and even though it's a rather large quilt (64"x78"), the scrap bin looks no emptier (although somewhat less blue/green/aqua)!

So here is my newest episode on Annie's Creative Studio:

If you have lots of scraps and leftover fabric strips, this is the perfect quilt project for you! The more variety in your fabrics, the better your quilt will look. In this Learn, Make, Create! episode, expert quilter Debby Brown demonstrates how to clean out your scrap basket and create this treasure at the same time.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

•             Choose a controlled or a super scrappy palette.

•             Sew accurate ¼” seams.

•             Piece tricky triangles.

Annie's Creative Studio is a subscription-based platform where members can watch an unlimited number of classes about quilting, knitting, crocheting and more.  If you aren't yet a member, sign up here for a free trial.

If you are already a member, sign in, go to Piece-Full Days, download the pattern, and get stitching!

By the way, if you noticed the fabric-twine rug in the top photo

and want to know how to make one of those, I have a free online class about making fabric twine trivets.  Sign up here.

Quilt Finish Friday

As I'm cleaning out my sewing room this year, I've been finding projects and kits I forgot that I had.  I turned an "I no longer love this idea" quilt kit into a "can I keep this?" quilt!

As this is a 70th birthday gift for a friend, the answer is "no," but I'm still tickled at how this turned out.

The original kit had over a hundred 2 1/2" strips in it, and I discovered that I could use them to make my Stepping Stones Cutie Quilt.  After adding some background and fun quilting, I have this quilt and another million (ok, maybe 80) 2 1/2" strips of lovely Fig Tree fabrics.

Should I make another quilt exactly like this?  Or should I see what else I can make from 2 1/2" strips.

Blog Hop by Studio 180 Design and Island Batik

Welcome to all of the Studio 180 Design blog hoppers!  I'm so tickled to machine quilt King's Pawn by Studio 180 Design featuring Twilight Chic fabrics.

This is such gorgeous fabric and it's been fun to add thread texture to this quilt.

Follow along to see some of my quilting ideas here:



Did you just love that fabric?  Want to win some for your very own?

Enter the raffle HERE.

If you are new to my site, be sure to sign up for my newsletter where you can learn about machine quilting and other crafty goodness, like my just released free class on making a fabric twine trivet.

To continue on the Studio 180 Design blog hop, check out the rest of the stops below:

Monday, February 4

• Gaggle of Geese Tuffet with Sharyn of The Tuffet Source, here on the Studio 180 Design Blog

Tuesday, February 5

• Jackie O'Brien, If These Threads Could Talk
• Gail Renna, Quilt Haven Threads

Wednesday, February 6

• Deb Tucker - Twilight Chic Projects

Thursday, February 7

• Jill Seitcheck, Binding Bound
• Bonny Peters, Cat Den Mountain Quilts

Friday, February 8

• Michelle Hiatt, Sew On The Go
• Debby Brown, Debby Brown Quilts

Saturday, February 9

• Karen Overton, the Quilt Rambler
• Tina Dillard, Quilting Affection Designs

It's a Beatiful Day in the Neighborhood -- Make Believe!

My grandchildren love to play dress-up and make-believe.  I added a Mail Man outfit to the dress-up chest this weekend.

I was worried that no one would know this was a mailman costume, but one of the cousins screamed it out immediately as the present was opened.

There were five children aged seven and under who all took turns delivering the mail.  We filled the bag with envelopes and blank index cards and it was quite the hit.

The vest is adapted from a free pattern I found online.  I found some postage stamp stickers on Amazon as well.

Hopefully they will continue to have fun with this as they retrieve postcards from their  non-make-believe mailbox each week!

Quilt Finish Friday

It's February and (so far) I'm keeping my resolution to finish my quilts as I start them.  Here's a recent finish:

My husband calls this color "orange" but quilters call it CHEDDAR!

I dove into my string bin as I was recovering from medical treatment earlier this month and I haven't sewn my way out yet!

I got the idea for this quilt from the Mod Quilt pattern in Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play.  I used strings instead of crumbs and I made the blocks a different size, but that pattern was my inspiration.

I have more string quilts in process, so stay tuned!

Have you made a string quilt yet?

My Personal War on Scraps -- Fabric Twine Trivet!

I'm serious about sorting and using my scraps this year.  As I'm going through my sewing room bin  by bin and bag by bag I'm find leftover fabric bits stashed EVERYWHERE!  I've been talking about this all month and many people ask me what I'm doing with the leftovers.  Here's my system:

Yardage -- Anything 1 yard or over gets put together in a bucket of yardage.  I pull from there when I need larger pieces (background, borders, backing, etc.) for a new project.

Half yards -- I keep a drawer full of half yard cuts

Fat Quarters -- I keep a drawer full of fat quarter cuts, either purchased or leftover from larger projects.

Fat Eighths -- I design Cutie Quilts which use 16 fat eighths (9"x22") for each quilt.  I cut my leftover fabric into fat eighths.  When I'm designing a new quilt and need to test the pattern, I often pull 16 "cuties" from my drawer to make the sample.  Sometimes they aren't very pretty, and sometimes they work together beautifully!

5" squares -- I'm a sucker for charm squares.  I love the Nickel Quilts books and find 5" squares incredibly useful in many projects.  I have a few patterns in the works that use charm squares, so stay tuned!  When I cut through my scraps, I cut 5" squares from the larger scrap pieces.  I have a humungous bucket of squares that I hope to deal with later this year.

2 1/2" strips -- I cut a lot of 2 1/2" strips from my leftovers.  I have made so many quilts from them because of all of the Jelly Roll patterns available.  I also use them in patterns whenever a 2 1/2" cut is required.  I have a HUGE bucket of 2 1/2" strips that I also hope to deal with later this year.

2 1/2" squares -- I cut 2 1/2" squares and store them together.  I make simple 4-patches, 9-patches, or use them in patterns requiring that size.  I don't have tons of them, so I keep them inside the 2 1/2" strip bucket.

1 1/2" strips -- This is probably my favorite bucket.  I have SO MANY 1 1/2" strips and each new project I finish has leftovers this size.  My absolutely favorite thing to do with 1 1/2" strips is make my Sweet Tooth Cutie pattern.  I have made about 5-6 of them in the last six months and have enough strips for another few already.  Why is this my favorite strip size and quilt?  Because I get to quilt ribbon candy in all of the strips!

Strings -- long pieces thinner than 1 1/2" go into a string bucket.  I just started making string quilts and I'm totally addicted.  Check out Bonnie Hunter's string quilt books.  She is the queen of strings!

Mini-strings -- I don't know what to call these, but they are strings that are too skinny to sew

I just started twisting them together to make fabric twine:

This is totally addictive.  Once I had a sizable ball of twine, I decided to sew it into a trivet

Here it is finished:

How large is it?  I didn't measure it, but I quit when it was the size of a mailing envelope.

I send my mom a package every week and thought ahead enough to make this easy to mail!  I plan to make more of trivets and also coasters.  I'm not sure that I'll ever make a rug, but it would work the same way.

Any piece of fabric that doesn't fit into the categories I already mentioned gets thrown into a dog bed for stuffing.  I have a friend who works with animal rescue and I deliver a dog bed or three to her every few months.  Hopefully they are bringing comfort to animals when they are most in need of love.

Do you have a system for scraps?  Are there sizes you cut and keep that are different than what I do?  Do you cut with projects in mind?  Or just stash leftovers (like I have done for the last 17 years)?

Butterfly Garden Wall Hanging

Are you a member of Annie's Creative Studio?  I have a new episode there showing how to make this adorable Butterfly Garden Wall Hanging (pattern included).

Annie's Creative Studio is a subscription-based platform so if you are a member, you can watch an unlimited number of classes about quilting, knitting, crocheting and more for free; if you aren't yet a member, you can sign up for a free trial to watch this full episode and more!

Put your scraps or leftover 21/2” strips to good use by quilting butterfly wall art! In this Learn, Make, Create! episode, quilting expert Debby Brown will demonstrate piecing tricks for triangles and rows that will amaze you. Join her for a fun, small project that will boost your confidence as a quilter.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to:

·               Take the trickiness out of piecing triangles.

·               Piece squares together in a row.

·               Complete a small wall hanging to display or gift.

Watch the trailer for the episode HERE.

The War on Scraps

As I'm cleaning out my sewing room, I'm finding UFOs, fabric, dust, and SCRAPS!  Where did all of these scraps come from?  And why didn't I deal with them when I first made them?

My new goal for this year is to put an end to all of the stashes of scraps I find in my sewing room.  My plan is to watch movies in the evenings with my husband and cut my scraps into sizes that I can easily use in my quilts.

I set up some tray tables, a small cutting station, and a small pressing station:

 I gathered my basked of scraps:

and then gathered all of the other stashes of scraps into a giant IKEA bag that I can barely lift:

And I haven't even found all of the scraps yet!!! I think I can cut scraps while watching three movies every night for the rest of the year and still have scraps left!

Every time I mutter about these scraps, I know that I can throw them into my dog beds and be done with them, but this "grew up in Pittsburgh with 70% unemployment" frugal gal can't bring herself to get rid of these knowing that they still have useful pieces left.

Do you have a stash of scraps that needs to be dealt with?  Do you dispose of them, stash them, or deal with them?

Share your best tips!

Does This Spark Joy?

I'm hard at work in my sewing room this month and unearthing all kinds of buried treasures.  Some I'm thrilled to restart and look forward to finishing.  Others... notsomuch.

I found this 10 year old purchase:

It's a pattern for a flower wallhanging with a FQ of printed Psalm passages.

I know that I don't want to make this quilt, but I wonder about the fabric.  What do you think of me using these as quilt labels for appropriate recipients if I add my name and year to each block?

Are you working on clearing out your sewing space?  What's your favorite buried treasure you've unearthed thus far?

Quilt Finish Friday

Earlier this month, I finished several quilt tops at my quilt retreat.  Since I'm trying to reduce the number of UFOs, I'm trying to quilt my tops shortly after they are finished.

This quilt was from a scrap quilt Sunday at the Quilt Basket waaaay back in 2000 or thereabouts.  I pulled out some dotty fat quarters and set the blocks with newly purchased black and white dots with a newly purchased purple dotted border.  I had enough to make two quilt tops, and this first one is going to a friend's granddaughter in Pittsburgh:

Gotta start them young, right?

I quilted this quilt with a simple swirl to keep it fluffy and cuddly:

Welcome to the world, little one!

Did You Know?

Did you know that I love ribbon candy quilting?  It's not exactly a secret for I routinely wax poetic about it to anyone unfortunate enough to be within hearing distance.

Did you know that I wrote an article in Quilter's World Magazine about my love of ribbon candy quilting?

Did you notice this part of the cover?

If you can't read it on your phone screen, here's a close up:

Did you see that?  I'm a "Must-Read"!!!  And I'm technically a "cover girl"!!!

Look for this issue at your local quilt shop or subscribe HERE.

Happy, Healthy Sewing Room -- Does this Spark Joy?

I've mentioned Marie Kondo on this blog before.  Tidying seems to be taking the world by storm right now, and also overwhelming donation sites.  I don't have the energy to do a full-tilt cleanout like she suggests, but I am gradually sifting my possessions asking "Does this spark joy?"  I'm finished with my clothes, books, and linens, but … the sewing room.

I'm trying to clean out the sewing room in 2019 to make it my Happy Place.  I'm not sure what it will look like when it's finished, but I no longer want to see fabric and UFOs and kits that make me feel guilty.  I want everything in here to make me deliriously happy!

Working through my infusion recovery (feeling icky but wired from steroids) in my sewing room last week, I found a kit from 2006 and realized that it completely did NOT spark joy:

I simply adore Fig Tree fabrics.  I hoard them and ration them and pet them.  However, this pleated quilt doesn't spark ANY joy for me.  It requires no machine quilting and... I have no words to express how this machine quilter feels about quilts which require no quilting.

The fabric, however:

I'm petting and playing and deciding what to make of these gorgeous fabrics. What are your favorite jelly roll quilt patterns?  

What do you do when you find a quilt kit or UFO in the sewing stash that sparks absolutely no joy?  Do you feel that you have to finish it as started?  Or do you find ways to re-purpose the quilt/fabric into something that you love?