Who Doesn't Love Fabric?

In Portland, OR in May, I had the chance to interview several fabric designers at Quilt Market to hear the behind-the-scenes stories of their fabrics.

I know you will hear their passion and catch their vision for how to use these just-released fabrics!

Annie's Creative Studio is a subscription-based platform that hosts quilting classes as well as knitting, crocheting, and other crafts.

If you aren't yet a subscriber, sign up for a free trial and watch my latest Products We Love episode FREE!

What Started As Sick Day Sewing

Three months a year, I go through medical treatments for a rare autoimmune disease and during the month-long recovery, I give myself permission to engage in happy sewing.  I drag out whatever fabric I've been hoarding and make something delightful.  Last month I pulled out Kimberly Einmo's Solidish fabrics from Timeless Treasures.  I selected sixteen fabrics in the green/blue/purple spectrum for a fun project:

Very happily, I cut up the fabric and started to stitch it back together:

I added black sashing:

and my happy top was complete:

I just had a chance to machine quilt it last night:

I loaded up my Handi Quilter Forte, grabbed some FabuLux Blue Heaven thread, my 4" Offset Circle Stencil, and a good audiobook and quickly turned this quilt top into a pretty and fluffy and warm and lovely quilt.

I hope you like "autumn in the woods in New York" backdrops for photographs, because that's my default.  And I need to get out there and finish splitting that humungous pile of wood soon!

While there is no ribbon candy stitched anywhere on this quilt and I feel kind of empty inside because of that, the ribbons of flowers and leaves lightly dancing on this quilt top make me oh So HAPPY!

I teach this techniques in one of my Craftsy classes and often in my in-person classes as well.  Sign up for my mailing list to see where I'll be teaching.

Do you engage in happy sewing when you are feeling icky?  It's my favorite medicine because the quilting helps the icky times pass more quickly and then I have a pretty quilt at the end to give away to someone else who is feeling icky.

Quilts > Icky.

New Squared Away Kit!

I've been making time to quilt all of the tops I pieced in September, and I just finished this one:

The bright colors of this Squared Away Cutie Quilt shone on the dreary autumn day.  I live in upstate New York and I will put our autumn colors against anywhere in the world, but dreary days are dull everywhere.

The ribbon candy quilting makes this quilt.  If you aren't a ribbon candy expert, try using a stencil.  This quilt uses the 1 1/2" ribbon candy stencil.

Happy Fall, Y'all!

New Cutie Pattern: X Stitch!

I love Cuties
Yes, I do
I love Cuties
How 'bout you???

I admit that I am hopelessly in love with Cuties and Cutie Patterns.

Here's my latest pattern, X Stitch:

I usually grab my "bright" Cuties to make my first copy of a new pattern and they look great in this pattern!  I have my eyes on a stack of red/white fabrics, neutrals, blue/yellows, and black/white/neon pink.

Stay tuned!

New Article

Do you subscribe to Quilter's World Magazine?  I write a machine quilting column in each issue.

The Winter 2018 issue is ready and my article "The Inside Scoop: Edge-to-Edge Quilting" is on pages 82-84 (for your convenience).

Have you ever wondered the stitching order for an all-over pattern on a quilt on your home machine?

Wonder no longer.

Let me know if you have any quilting questions that I can address in future columns.

To Market, To Market...

In May, I attended Quilt Market in Portland Oregon.  While I was there, I made mischief with Teri Lucas, ate Salt and  Ice Cream, and filmed an episode for Annie's Creative Studio featuring New Tools!

Sign up for your Annie's Creative Studio Free Trial and check it out!

Doubly Sweet

I finished one of the quilt tops I pieced during my month of recovery from medical treatments.

I pieced a Sweet Tooth Cutie quilt using my black, brown, and yellow 1 1/2" scrap strips and this was the result:

I quilted ribbon candy, the world's sweetest machine quilting pattern, in the cream background strips:

Did you know that I have stencils that can help you stitch accurate 1" ribbon candy?

I used Quilter's Dream Wool batting and it really makes the unquilted strips POP!

I give away most of my quilts, and this Storm Trooper agrees that this quilt is perfect for a man.  Maybe I'll bring it to a Coffee with a Cop day and show a local officer my appreciation.  (One of my closest female friends was a police officer, but in my town male officers FAR outnumber female officers.)