Wicked Weaver & My New Favorite Product
The October Java Batiks box from Cotton Cuts and the Midnight Bite Sew Along (#MidnightBiteSAL) from Lillyella Stitchery offered me a fun opportunity to go outside my comfort zone this month. The Midnight Bite pattern bundle has 3 sizes of each of two different patterns – a bat and a spider. I opted to make […]
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Finishing Spree – Take Wing, Foundation Piecing, & Mixing Quilting Methods
Foundation piecing (also called foundation paper piecing) is a great technique for achieving precise piecing and sharp points even with tiny pieces and fabric edges that are not on-grain. For this method, the pattern is printed (or traced) onto foundation paper. This paper acts as both a stabilizer and a stitching guide while the block […]
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Finishing Spree! Fireworks, Curvy Quilting & “Disappearing” Binding
I haven’t been posting much this summer, but I’ve certainly been sewing up a storm! I’m finding it good therapy. 🙂 Due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to enjoy our usual fireworks display downtown this year, but I was inspired by the July Java batiks box from Cotton Cuts to create some fireworks of […]
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Cotton Cuts and the Value of Value
“Color gets all the credit, but value does all the work.” I don’t know who first came up with that quote; but I’ve seen many, many versions of it – because it’s so true! Most quilt books have a section on how to choose colors for a quilt. Color theory can be very helpful, but […]
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Link Love – Sewing Face Masks to Help Fight the Coronavirus
When life seems particularly unpredictable and scary, I find it tremendously helpful when I can identify something productive to do – and doubly so when it will potentially benefit not only me and my family, but our community as well. Anyone watching the news lately will be aware of the shortage of face masks for […]
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Finishing Spree – Flange Binding by Machine
What is a flange binding? It’s a great no-hand-sewing option for finishing quilts with a sturdy double fold binding while adding a fun design element to the outer edges of your quilt. With only a few exceptions, I’ve always bound my quilts by sewing the binding to the front of the quilt by machine, and […]
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Finishing Spree – Quilting with Decorative Stitches
Now that I’m participating in at least four new sew-alongs over the next few months, my finishing-spree is more important that ever! This time, I’d like to share yet another machine quilting option – quilting with the decorative stitches that are built into your sewing machine. My observations & recommendations:
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Finishing Spree – Hoops vs. Gloves for Free-Motion Quilting
I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My husband and son couldn’t get away, but my daughter Connor and I had a fabulous road trip together to visit my family in Pennsylvania and New York. We had a wonderful time staying with my parents and then with my sister – including […]
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Finishing Spree – Quilt-As-You-Go
Sometimes projects take a turn or two (or more!) along the way and don’t turn out as originally envisioned. I like to reframe these as opportunities for new “design decisions”. 😉 Earlier this fall, I signed up to participate in the Modern Patchwork Quilt Along – Talk of the Town Quilt with Amy Ellis. Little […]
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Finishing Spree – Matchstick Quilting
Do you know what Matchstitck Quilting is? I didn’t until a few months ago when my friends Ruth and Michele told me about it. Yes, apparently I’ve been hiding under a rock… LOL I had difficulty wrapping my brain around it at first; quilting lines only the width of a matchstick apart? Why on earth […]
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