Welcome to my day on the Romance Garden Blog Tour. The fabric featured is a signature line for Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting. This was the perfect bright batik fabrics to sew with over the gray days of winter. Take a look at the beautiful prints! My pattern I'm featuring has small half square triangles. These four bright green and bold pink have medium scale images and work great as a dominant part of the design. There are four different squares in the quilt top and I went with these 4 smaller scale prints. The rich purples are so beautiful. There are two large half squar ..read more

 Welcome to March and a blog hop. This one features a new signature line for Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting called Romance Garden. You can head to Sherry's blog for the kick off post - Kick Off Post and Giveaway I will be having a turn on the blog tour so be sure to come back for that! In the meantime please visit these other blogging designers to see how they have used this beautiful bright batik collection: March 1 - Sherry at www.poweredbyquilting.com and Leanne at  Devoted Quilter  March 2 - Kate at https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog March 3 - J ..read more

  The first sew day of the year is here! Last time I went I forgot a few things so I made myself a list. See if you would pack what I pack :) Of course you need a a few nice bags to put things in. I made this one wide mouth bag that fits my 6 1/2 " ruler perfectly. Things to go in the bag: 6 1/2" ruler (Creative Grid) bloc loc rulers ( 2 1/2" and 4 1/2") pencil sewing pins in pincushion inside scrap cutting bag quilting pins Clover seam ripper rotary cutter embroidery scissors machine power cord Things to go in bigger bag: cutting mat (this time 12 x 18) ruler ..read more

 I could have also called this post - First Squirrel of 2024! LOL I made a change in my sewing room - I moved my cutting table in front of the patio doors and now I can stand at my design wall! It feels wonderful. I watched Pat Sloan's video today and it is her 10th anniversary of her group on Facebook. Yay Pat! I met a great group of quilters that I still chat with on her previous Quilt Mashup forum. And Pat being Pat, she designed a quilt block to celebrate.  And me being me, I jumped right in! I decided to challenge myself using my little stack of Alison Glass fabrics fo ..read more

  This last weekend of 2023 I have spent getting my sew day quilt ready. This project I only work on at my guild's monthly sew days - unless I have a big part to do! I am trying to be ready to just sit and sew when we meet again. I have been working on this quilt since 2020 - I bring other things to work on too, but this one has been only pieced then. For instance, I know from my notes that I didn't work on it from July 2022 until July 2023. This project was a weekly challenge from Darlene D'eon in 2020. I absolutely love these scrappy bear paw blocks which are the center of the quilt ..read more

  Sometimes I fall behind on a project that I really want to finish. Then another quilt comes along that I want to start and it propels me to the finish line. Especially when I know the next quilt will look great in the same fabrics! That's what happened with my Tantalizing Table Topper sampler quilt that Pat Sloan hosted. It featured using a block from each pattern in her book of the same name to create a quilt. I loved the idea! Pat  e featured the fabric line Frankie in a previous project and I had to buy it. I used it to create my sampler quilt.  Of course another qu ..read more

  A quilt idea from 2015 is finally a completed quilt top! It's a wonderful fall scrap quilt with rich autumn colors and pumpkins. Bright orange and brown for the border and leftover black and tan nine patches. This quilt has the feel of the scrappy polyester quilts my great grandmother made for us. It has the darker colors like my brother's quilt - here's a post showing mine (I slept under this for many years and I think the colors inspired the quilter I am today!) The pumpkin patch block featured in the middle of this quilt is available for free in my online shop - follow this link ..read more

 This month quilters are celebrating all things sewing. September is full of change and new beginnings - my favorite new beginning is a new quilt! And it's even better with new fabric :) This post is part of my contribution to sharing the release of Swan Amity Sheridan 's newest line by Kathy Engle of Island Batik. It's called Buds and Blooms and is bursting with color! You can see the whole line of fabrics on the Island Batik page here - Buds and Blooms. New Pattern - Dropping In 2 I incorporated all these beautiful fabrics into a new version of my Dropping In pattern to showcase e ..read more

 It's here! The ultimate quilt for curling fans. Easy pieced blocks repeat with clever sashing make this quilt rock. Use your favorite solids or add some team spirit by incorporating novelty prints. I have made the wall hanging size and used tone on tone fabrics. I have a hard time using just solids but this quilt is a good candidate! I used two different reds and think the hearts could be done in a team color - or in quirky novelty print like some curling teams are known for. I used a white print that has black marks in it to look like ice - you could use a swirling tone on tone or ..read more

I'm pleased to be helping a fellow quilt pattern designer release her new book. Katherine Curtsinger, of It's Only Fabric and Thread, has a new book full of projects to make with your scraps.The book is called Fun with Scraps. From Katherine, " It is specifically written for use with scraps. Most of the quilts are block based and have sizing for baby up to bed size. The book also includes a sampler that uses blocks from each of the patterns and includes some other suggested quilt projects using blocks from the book. I really hope it inspires you to create using what you have!" Sew ..read more