Color Mood - December Design Wall

I'm not sure how it is with you, but I often find with me that things have a tendency to flow from one project into the next, taking the influences and hints from the previous train of thought... especially with colors. I don't necessarily think that this is something that I intentionally do, but something that I notice only after the fact. Some time ago, I realized that I seem to work in color clusters, and that one inspiration color that I'm feeling at the time gets carried over. For instance, there's my "jewel-colors phase"... it all started with "Jeweled Kaleidoscope", which influenced the fabric selection for my bee block quilt, which spilled over into a mini quilt that came to being...

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Remodeling Project

Usually when I plan to take a long break from blogging or social media, I normally give a little heads up. I wish my re-entry could boast a "big" reveal that has been under wraps, but perhaps I should simply start with that my distraction has been of the non-quilty kind. About two months ago my husband asked me if I could help him with a "little" re-modeling project at work. What started out as a small remodel of a dining room in a elderly, coma & therapy center, turned into a whole house renovation. So, should I share a little more?... We started on the elderly care unit, which have a few common dining and sitting areas. The facility is one of several remodeled buildings on a family farm...

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Folk Flower Blocks

Last week was an absolute flurry of things to do. At some point in preparing for my starch applique class with Patch Yard, I realized that the only thing that I was missing was a sample to deomonstrate the reverse applique technique. A simple circle is perfectly acceptable, but would have needlessly been tossed into the orphan block bin... and who wants that?!? Recently I decided to try out a few classes on Creativebug, and was excited to see that the Anna Maria Horner "Folk Flower" block was among the classes. The block itself is simple enough to figure out on your own, but it's always interesting to see the thousand ways that you can ultimately end up at the same end goal. Sewing...

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Stars, Sprigs, and New Video

The last of my blocks from my bee members have finally come in, which means that now it's my part to finish up and add the rest of applique blocks. I realize that usually you ask your bee members to make something other than a simple star block, but I wanted concentrate on the applique part of this quilt, and let the others take care of the piecing. My original intent was to do a two color quilt, i.e. yellow and white. But I think the subtleness of the transition between the yellow and chartreuse tones, are enough to give a little contrast, while still leaving the feeling of a two color quilt. To my surprise, I keep grabbing for this soft grey these days in my projects, and I love that...

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Cascade Quilt Top

If you are even just a tiny bit involved in the quilting scene, then like me, you wait for the "big" quilting events like Quilt Market and Quiltcon to come around. During the event you scour the internet like a hungry lion for little sneak peeks and glimpses, and think to yourself... "oh, how I wish I was there." It was more than a year ago that I started planning that I wanted to go to Quiltcon 2019... it fit perfectly - my cousin is in Nashville, and my family on the East Coast! But when the time to register came around, I was half way around the world on vacation, and missed my window of opportunity. So I did what any good quilter would do... indulged myself in a consolation prize....

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Taking Time

Applique takes time, and sometimes the pressure of the social media world of "I must post daily inspiration", never takes into consideration that slow stitching is supposed to be just that... slow.   Block 463 When you see me pull my Chuck Nohara blocks out, then you know that it is vacation time, or I am at least at a point I am slowing down. Since I was away from my sewing machine for the whole summer, I had to at least have a little something around for my itching fingers.  Block 620 The last time I posted any real progress on my Summer Garden project was last year... and let me just say that this is not a project that I plan to finish any time soon. My aunt, who...

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Spühstärke-Applikations Kurs in Hamburg

Are you in the Hamburg area and would like to learn more about the starch applique method? Then, mark your calendar because I will be teaching a two day class (in German, of course) at Patch-Yard, September 29th & 30th!  We'll start out with a couple basic shapes to make a simple applique block. Simple shapes are often the foundation for creating more complex blocks. ... and it wouldn't be a starch applique class unless I shared my Top 10 Tips. There's so much more to share than what I can pack into one blog post.  All my patterns will be available in print, including my mini Home Sweet Home applique sets... You can find out more details, and register...

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Connecting It All

Do you sometimes struggle after you have all your quilt blocks finished to find a way to connect it all? Well, I have three projects in the works right now where that just happens to be the case. Sashing is the most obvious answer, and with good reason... it's simple and doesn't overwhelm a project. But then sometimes a project needs a little more than just simple. I was over the moon excited when I stumbled on @janemichelquilts post and saw how she put her Brimfield blocks together. Just a step above simple, yet obvious enough to be annoyed with yourself that you didn't think of it first.  It was pure brilliance to take the small houses block, add a simple center, and then it...

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