Featured Products Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Misty Mountains | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Harvest Star | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Latest from the blog Victory Lap! A quilt top celebratory stitch!You’ve stitched that final row on a quilt top together! Time to celebrate with a victory lap! A victory lap in quilting is when you stitch all the way around the perimeter of your quilt top. This keeps all of your seams from unraveling during the basting and quilting process. A victory lap is especially helpful for quilt tops with a lot of seams, since those are more likely to pull on each other and cause unraveling at the edges. A victory lap is also a good idea anytime you’re sending your quilt out to a longarmer. You’re ensuring everything is as good as it can be to send to your longarmer so they don’t have any issues. To perform one, stitch about 1/8″ away from the edge of your quilt top with a longer seam length (I like to use about 3.0). You’re essentially basting the edges of your quilt to prevent any unraveling. You want to keep your line of stitching about 1/8″ away from the edge of the quilt top so that your stitches will be hidden by the binding later on. You can also perform a victory lap once you’re done quilting your quilt. I like to do one before I trim the excess batting and backing off my quilt top. This helps keep all of my edges flat and makes stitching on binding a breeze. The same principle for a victory lap at this stage in quilting applies as above – make sure your line of stitching is about 1/8″ away from the edge of your quilt. This is so that when you stitch on the binding, your stitches will be hidden from your finished quilt. This is such an easy way to keep from having headaches and frustrations later on. It takes very little time to zip your sewing machine around your quilt top or quilt, and it does a great job of keeping everything in its place. You’ve worked so hard on this quilt, this is such a great way to make sure your efforts turn out just the way you want them to! Want to see this in action? Watch the video below! Love learning quilting tips? Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more! Watch the Victory Lap video: Love this quilt? Find Everglow in my shop! Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart You might also like: No related posts.... Read more...Dog Bed DIY & Floor PillowIf this Bear Path quilt looks familiar, that’s because it is! I used this quilt in my Hand Quilting 101 video! Once I had finished quilting it, I debated what I should turn it into. Ultimately, I decided a floor pillow/dog bed was the perfect use for this Bear Path quilt! Turns out, a dog bed DIY was the perfect weekend project! I made the Wall Hanging size of the Bear Path quilt, which finishes at 26″ square. The first step was sourcing a pillow insert for this quilt. I finally sourced an “oversize Euro” pillow at Kohl’s that measured 27″ square. I’ve learned over the years that you actually want your pillow insert to be larger than your pillow cover for a really nice, full look. To make this Dog Bed DIY, I followed my instructions on the Zippered Pillows Tutorial in 3 Sizes blog post to prep my pillow front and back and add in the zipper. I used a 24″ zipper for this floor pillow. I also used 1/4″ seams instead of the 1/2″ seams stated in the original tutorial. This is because Bear Path has HSTs on the corners and I didn’t want to lose those nice points! The tutorial walks you through how to add in a zipper, and as you can tell, it is adaptable to any size pillow! I like to quilt both the front and the back of my pillows. It makes them extra cozy! For the back I pieced together leftover scraps and chose a large diagonal grid quilting pattern. I varied the thread colors, using the same threads on fabrics as I did in the front. My favorite part is the intersections of fabrics/thread and how they seamlessly change from one to the other! It is so nice to love the back of your item as much as the front! I call this a floor pillow AND a dog bed because it really can be used for both! Riley is 15lbs and about 15″ tall at the shoulder (he’s very leggy) and he fit nicely on top of this pillow. If you were making a dog bed for a larger dog, I would first determine what you wanted the finished size to be. Then, search out a pattern that is similar in size to what you’re looking for. Baby and Crib sized quilts would be the perfect size for a larger dog! You can stuff your dog bed with whatever you wish – a pillow (like I did), multiple pillows sewn together or laid next to each other for a larger dog bed, batting and fabric scraps, or bean bag filling. If using bean bag filling, first make a pillowcase and stuff that with the bean bag pellets, then put it in your throw cover. You don’t want the zipper on the throw cover to accidentally come undone and have bean bag pellets all over your house. Not only is it a mess to clean up, but they can be harmful for the animals and small humans in your home. One thing that I have noticed with fabric scraps is that they are heavy! They lend to a very dense filling for pillows, poufs, and dog beds. Consider mixing fabric scraps with polyester fluff or adding a layer of foam before adding the scraps to add that desired squishiness factor. Riley made himself quite at home on this dog bed! One more thing to note, is that if I was making this for a larger dog, I would probably opt for machine quilting. Those dog nails can get in between the hand quilting and pull/rip threads! Riley isn’t destructive (he’s a very gentle dog) so I felt safe going with hand quilting on this. Supplies used for this dog bed DIY: Riley Blake Designs Confetti CottonsAurifil threadFind all my favorite hand quilting supplies including hera markers, chalk pencils, milliner’s needles, and more in my Amazon storefront Buy Bear Path Quilt Pattern: Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart You might also like: Zippered Throw Pillows in 3 Sizes| A Tutorial Holiday Throw Pillows | A Finished Project Woven Hearts Pillow Rollakan Bear Path Quilt | A Finished Project... Read more...A Quilting Chat (with my mom!)I asked my mom to sit down with me and get on camera to chat about quilting! I made my first quilt when I was 12 in 4-H during a spring break day camp (yup, I was THAT cool, guys!). I made three quilts that year and I really liked them, but I didn’t see how to use quilting and continue with it. At the time, there wasn’t a ton of “cool” fabric for tweens/teens and I got much more interesting in sewing my own clothes. However, when I picked quilting back up in 2016, I instantly fell back in love with the process. Modern fabrics were now available too, which were mind-blowing for me. I saw modern quilt patterns and knew this is what I wanted to do. And, I convinced my mom to learn to quilt too! I had her over to make a quilt together, and after that first quilt, she fell in love with it too! While most people were taught how to quilt by their moms, I taught my mom how to quilt. Isn’t that fun? Find out more about our conversation by watching the video below! Watch our quilting chat! You might also like: No related posts.... Read more...Simple Drawstring Bag | A TutorialI created this tutorial right before the holidays and posted it to my YouTube channel but unfortunately it didn’t make it to the blog! Although this simple drawstring bag is a great way to wrap Christmas gifts in an eco-friendly way, it’s uses go way beyond the holidays. You can make some for birthday parties, other holidays, or simply to store stuff around the house! Each bag takes 1/2 yard of fabric and requires minimal sewing, making it perfect for beginners! This simple drawstring bag finishes at 17.5″ W x 21″ H, a nice BIG size able to hold lots and lots! You can always adapt the instructions to make a smaller sized bag (or bigger too!) It utilizes the selvage edge of your fabric to encase the ribbon, meaning less fuss and a clean finish! Supplies: 1/2 yard of fabric (18″ x 42″) keep the selvage on your fabric! 48″ of ribbon, 1/2″ to 3/4″ wideSewing machine, scissors, thread View the Simple Drawstring Bag Tutorial: Want more great content? Check out all my video tutorials on YouTubeCheck out all my blog tutorials on the Freebies page You might also like: No related posts.... Read more...Big Stitch Binding VariationsSo, since you’ve watched the Big Stitch Binding video and tutorial, you’re now a pro and you’re looking to do more? Well, look no further, as today I’m bringing you two big stitch binding variations in video tutorial! Watch below to learn how to do the modified blanket stitch and the big x’s binding variations. There’s also a photo tutorial for the modified blanket stitch on the blog here. New to big stitch hand binding? Be sure to watch the original video and tutorial for all the supplies and how-to! Big stitch hand binding adds such a lovely finished touch to your quilts. You can combine these two variations along with the original one to create a fun and unique binding on your quilt! In my example, you’ll see how I used both the modified blanket stitch and the x’s to mimic the stars and stripes on the front of this placemat. You can also sprinkle these variations within a binding where you’re doing mostly original big stitch binding. Supplies: Here’s my favorite source for Aurifil threadFind all my favorite hand quilting supplies including hera markers, chalk pencils, milliner’s needles, and more in my Amazon storefront Big Stitch Binding Variations: Want more hand quilting/binding? Find them all here or check out some popular posts below: Hand Quilt ClamshellsHand Quilt Baptist FansHand Quilt Orange PeelsHand Quilting 1013 Hand Quilting Myths Debunked! You might also like: Sashiko Zipper Pouch | A Tutorial Hand Quilting 101 Hand Quilting Clamshells Baptist Fans Hand Quilting Video!... Read more...Woven Hearts PillowI made this pillow using my new Woven Hearts quilt pattern! The great thing about this pillow is that you only make one block from the quilt. So, it is a great way to test out a quilt pattern and see if you’d want to make an entire quilt without ending up with a ton of orphan blocks. Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart For this Woven Hearts pillow, I used a variety of Riley Blake Designs basics. The heart is made up of Blossom in Fuchsia and Kisses in Peony. The background is Confetti Cotton Solids in Riley White. For the back, I used the Shades basic. The great thing about Riley Blake Designs basics is that there’s SO MANY of them, and they are so fun to mix and match. All the basics go so well together and add a really nice texture to the finished product. Something you just can’t get with solids. If you ever wonder how my photoshoots with Riley go, well, they go a little something like this. I sometimes wonder if this is what people with kids go through when they try to take pictures of their kids. “Okay, look like you’re having fun” “Give me a smile!” “Look over here!” I added a zipper to my Woven Hearts pillow, and because I didn’t have enough yardage in my backing to add a zipper to the bottom of the pillow (the way I teach here) I ended up adding the zipper to the center back of the pillow with a flap to cover it. I actually really love how this looks, so there may be a tutorial for this technique in the future! As with all my pillows, I quilted both the front and the back of this Woven Hearts pillow for extra luxuriousness. I used Aurifil 50 weight thread for both piecing and quilting since I wanted the heart to be the star of the show. If you want to make your own, you can find Woven Hearts in my shop! Buy the pattern: Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart More Woven Hearts: Woven Hearts Cover QuiltWoven Hearts Mock-upsQuilted Sweater | Woven Hearts You might also like: Holiday Throw Pillows | A Finished Project Zippered Throw Pillows in 3 Sizes| A Tutorial Quilt Sweater | Woven Hearts Woven Hearts Cover Quilt... Read more...Magnetic Thread StorageThere’s a wall in my sewing room that’s pretty much “dead space”. It is right when you walk into the room, and it is too narrow to put an actual shelving unit, and yet, as someone who needs to maximize every inch of her sewing space, I brainstormed what I could do to make it usable. I especially was looking for more thread storage with my growing collection of hand quilting thread. I wanted something with a really thin profile so that it would sit flush with the wall. The wheels started spinning when we found some metal trays that just happen to fit thread spools perfectly! Jason and I brainstormed peg boards, but the trays weren’t the right width to fit a traditional peg board. Then, we came up with this solution – a magnetic wall! The metal is very thin, so it sits flush with the wall and doesn’t add any bulk. We found some magnetic hooks to hold up the trays and they do the job well. I added some additional hooks for my quilting gloves, rotary cutter, and scissors so that they are always in reach. I also added some hooks for my small rulers, the ones that I (ahem) lose every other week. Hopefully this way they’ll stay put and always be right where I need them. I love that everything is moveable. I could decide to move the thread up and supplies below and it would be so easy and fast to do! These trays hold all of my Aurifil 12 weight threads, the ones I use for hand quilting and big stitch binding. I have some empty trays on the bottom for future thread colors ;). My thread is in full view, which I love, because I can come by here with my quilt in hand and find the perfect color. I also love that all of this thread storage sits flush against the wall so I have never bumped into it. That would annoy me! The trays not only hold the thread perfectly, but they keep the thread ends from hanging loose all over the place, which is my biggest pet peeve with traditional thread storage. We made the magnetic wall using joist panning sheets from our local home improvement store. I cut the folded part carefully with tin snips while wearing leather gloves. The gloves are VERY important, as the cut end will be sharp! We then sanded the cut edge lightly so it wouldn’t be as sharp. Each sheet, once cut, was 16″ x 29″, so we mounted three on top of each other to create this wall. The sheets run about $3, a cheap pair of tin snips is $15 (we bought ours at Harbor Freight for a different project) and then you need washers and screws to mount it to the wall. Overall, an inexpensive project which provided MUCH needed storage to my sewing room! You might also like: No related posts.... Read more...Woven Hearts Quilt Mock-UpsWith Woven Hearts out into the world (WOOHOO!!) I wanted to share with all of you some of my future quilts with this pattern! I’m so excited about all of these and hope you will be too! I usually make quilt mock-ups before starting a new project. It allows me to see if an idea in my head will actually work as well as I hope it will. Unfortunately, it also means I usually get super excited about a quilt and want to make it immediately! We won’t talk about the number of quilt mock-ups currently stored on my computer… Woven Hearts Two-Color: Woven Hearts pattern comes with instructions for scrappy hearts and two-color hearts. I’m making my two color one with PBS Painter’s Palette solids in Bronze, Gold, and Linen. Woven Hearts RSS Stay Gold: This Ruby Star Society collection will hit shops soon! I’ve got a Woven Hearts quilt planned with the Stay Gold collection, using one of the RSS basics for the background. Woven Hearts Sending Love: I love this collection, Sending Love by Riley Blake Designs and I’m excited to incorporate it into a quilt. I’ve already made one quilt block and turned it into a quilted sweater, and soon I’ll have a quilt to match! Woven Hearts Skin Tones: I love the skin tones bundle offered by Emma Noelle Designs and thought it would make such a cool Woven Hearts quilt. For this version you can get away with 1 fat quarter bundle but it will be tight (you’ll need 17.5″ of usable width). I also added PBS solid “Midnight” to finish the final heart on the bottom right. Woven Hearts Rifle Paper Co. Basics: I fell in love with these Rifle Paper Co. basics and knew they would make an amazingly soft, subtle Woven Hearts quilt! Phew! Hopefully that inspires you and shows you how many amazing quilts you can make with Woven Hearts! Find the pattern in my shop! Buy the pattern: Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart You might also like: Quilt Sweater | Woven Hearts Woven Hearts Cover Quilt... Read more...Decorative Stitches for QuiltingGetting bored of quilting straight lines? Want to quilt something else, but also don’t want it to be too complicated or difficult? Well, let me introduce you to decorative stitches! In this post I’ll cover three different decorative stitches I use on my Janome machine that add such a fun quilted touch! I’ll show you the stitch length I use so that you can replicate the results. If you don’t have a Janome, check your sewing machine manual for a comparable stitch. Scroll down to the end of the post to watch the video demo of these stitches in action! Tips for all three stitches: Make a practice sandwich to practice the stitches and see what your machine can doGo slowly, set a speed regulator on your machine if you have one and find yourself trying to go too fastDon’t try to force the machine, let it do the work and gently guide the quilt straight throughIf creating guide lines for your stitching, use those for the edge of your foot, don’t try to follow them with your needle. Plan accordingly as your lines will need to be 1/4″ to 1/2″ away from where you want your actual stitching to be (depending on the width of your walking foot)Use a walking foot! The Three Step Zig-Zag Stitch: Stitch: 011Stitch Width: 7.0Stitch Length: 2.5 Vary the stitch length if you prefer a wider zig-zag stitch. This will produce angular texture to your quilt and amazing quilt crinkles when washed. Quilts pictured below: Woven HeartsZippy The Serpentine Stitch: Stitch: 096Stitch Width: 9.0Stitch Length: 3.0 Produces a nice wavy line of quilting. Vary the stitch width if you prefer a wider serpentine or narrower one. Great for overall texture, can also mimic gentle ocean waves. Quilt pictured below: Summer Glow (free pattern!)Sailor Girl (free pattern!) The Scallop Stitch: Stitch: 111Stitch Width: 9.0Stitch Length: 2.5 Produces a scalloped effect. You can create the scallops right side up, which look like waves or lace, or upside-down to mimic clouds. Quilt pictured below: Etoile Watch the Demo! I hope you enjoy trying these fun decorative stitches on your own quilt! They are a great way of mixing it up! You might also like: WALK Quilting Book | Product Review... Read more...Woven Hearts Cover QuiltSay hello to Woven Hearts! This fun, modern heart pattern boasts big blocks and strip piecing for a faster finish! Buy Woven Hearts: Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts is an intermediate pattern and is great if you’ve made some quilts already. For my cover quilt, I used Moda Bella solids and was going for a candy conversation hearts color palette. You know, the terrible tasting ones with words like “U R Cute” printed on them. Colors are: PeachOchreButtercupSaffronLilacVioletAmelia OrangeClementineSummer SkyBright SkyTranquil AquaBright TurquoiseAquaJadeBerryliciousPeonyGreen AppleDill Background was Ivory, and binding was in Peony. Because I know that Moda Bella solids can be harder to find than Kona cottons, I went ahead and found comparable colors in Kona for you. There’s a few shops that stock all Kona colors (FabricBubb and Hancock’s of Paducah spring to mind) so it should be doable to find all of these! CarrotGoldfishCorn YellowBananaPeachMangoAruba OR PondBluegrassLagoonBreezeMalibuPrairie SkyThistleGumdropValentineCandy PinkJungleSpring I quilted this quilt with a multi-stitch zig zag stitch on my Janome machine. I’m working on a tutorial for you guys about different decorative stitches you can use for quilting! This is a really fun way to quilt because if you’re a little crooked it doesn’t show like straight lines would and it makes quilting super fast! Plus, it gives the best quilt crinkles once you pop it into the wash. I bound this quilt using my favorite method – big stitch binding! If your goal this year is to learn big stitch binding, you’re in luck. I have a blog AND video tutorial on how to do it! Plus, the video covers three different ways you can finish the corners on your binding! Woven Hearts comes in FOUR quilt sizes: PillowBabyLapThrow And TWO color options, scrappy, as this cover quilt is, or two-color. I’m currently working on the two-color one! Buy the pattern: Everglow | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Everglow | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Everglow | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PDF Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart Woven Hearts | Set of 5 $30.00 Add to cart Woven Hearts | PAPER Sale Product on sale $12.00 $9.60 Add to cart You might also like: Misty Mountains Baby Quilt | Finished Project Concrete Jungle | Nautical Edition Etoile Quilt | Baby Version Quilt Sweater | Woven Hearts... Read more... Follow us on Instagram Thank you for all your love on Everglow yesterday! Everglow is now available!It amazes me that thi I love these big beautiful blocks! Everglow releas Everglow releases THURSDAY!! . #everglowq Do you perform a victory lap after finishing your Load More... 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