The other night I had the wonderful opportunity to do a little pattern testing for my friend Camille. You can imagine how excited I was to see this pattern come to my inbox. I gathered my scrap box, set to cutting, and had a test block made within a short time. By the next morning I had the

 Happy first day of spring! It's my grandmother's birthday today...the one who taught me to quilt, and so I'm looking forward to chatting with her a bit and of course quilting. But since I've been working on quite a few things that I can't share just yet...I thought maybe some pictures of

Last summer while in Wisconsin for a quilting retreat I was able to visit the Country Sampler Quilt Shop in Spring Green. Not only was the shop incredibly beautiful with gorgeous displays, samples, and fabrics, but there was also a wonderful classroom area in the back of the shop. A class was going

Happy National Quilting Day! I hope you get to spend some quality time working on a project you love today! I recently finished my "Spell it with Fabric" quilt from the Moda quilt along. Well, it's almost finished...all that I have left to do is hand-stitch my binding.  This quilt has been

Happy Friday! I just had to share the new mini quilt I made this week. It's a Mini Round & Round by my friend Camille. I actually quilted this little quilt 3 times--I did two separate free-motion quilting designs that I just wasn't happy with...unpicked all of the quilting both times, and

Happy Wednesday! Today I've been waiting not so patiently for the Fed Ex man to deliver my new books! If you've pre-ordered from me they will ship tomorrow! In the meantime I've been working on my new spring pattern releases, and I have the first one ready! Meet "County Fair!"  This quilt is

Happy Tuesday! Today is Simply Small day here at  A Quilting Life! I have a fun parade of projects from last month's pattern. First, though, I'd like to share the project for next month--a Scrappy Churn Dash Table Runner!  I'd been wanting to make a churn dash project for quite some

Hello and happy Monday! I've been working on a few more alphabet blocks from Moda's "Spell it with Fabric" blog tour. In fact, I've finished up my alphabet! I have my sashings and borders all ready to go and can't wait to get this one together! I also made 4 filler blocks. I was glad I

Hello and happy Friday! I'm happy to announce a giveaway from Jodie of Fort Worth Fabric Studio! She is offering a $50 gift certificate to one of my lucky blog readers! There are wonderful things in her shop right now, too. A few of my favorites right now are: The lovely Country Girls

 I was able to pick up my blue and white sampler quilt from my quilter (thanks, Val!) this week, and I am so very happy with it! This quilt is a full-sized quilt, and I used the blocks and setting from Monique Dillard's Blogger Girl's Block of the Month in 2013. There are actually just six

 I just can't stop making those "Spell it with Moda" alphabet blocks. They go together so quickly, and I'm making them all from my scrap bin! I'm supposed to be finishing up some things with deadlines, so I've been using these blocks as my "reward" sewing.  Every fabric in my blocks

 Hello, and welcome to my stop on the Quilty Fun Sew Along and Blog Tour! If this is your first time here, I hope you'll linger a little to see a little of my Quilting Life! I love fabric and quilting and have been sharing my quilting life on this blog since 2008. I was lucky to be able to

If you are looking for the Blogger Girl's Block of the Month Block 3 post, please go here...otherwise...hello again!  Happy March 1st, and welcome to the "Free Choice" Schnibbles quilt parade! This month we have a  variety of Schnibbles patterns made with beautiful fabrics. We'll

 Hello, and welcome to the third month of the Blogger Girl's Block of the Month featuring designs put together by my friend Monique! I absolutely love every quilt-along Monique does, and this one has been especially fun since I'm making my very first red and green quilt using Fig Tree fabrics

 Although I was trying to resist another quilt along--it was futile. You can't make just one of those adorable alphabet quilt blocks from the Spell it with Moda Blog Tour!  So last night when I needed a bit of happy sewing I decided to make an "A," "B," and a "C." I'm using happy

This weekend I got a chance to finish up a little wall hanging using some scrap blocks left over from this fall when I pieced the "Canned Pears" quilt sample for  market (pattern by Fig Tree & Company). I had three left over blocks from piecing the quilt, and I had other bits and pieces of

 I know I've shared this pattern before, but it's just such a good one that I had to share again. The Divided Basket pattern by Anna of Noodlehead is perfect for your sewing room or for wherever you need a beautiful fabric storage bin.  This is the fourth one I've made--and the second

   It's always a good day when a block of the month kit arrives--I usually try to piece my block right away so I don't get behind. Block 9 of the Fat Quarter Shop Mystery Designer Block of the Month was in my mailbox Saturday morning, and by Saturday afternoon I had pieced this adorable

I'm finished with my American Patchwork & Quilting Quilt Along Quilt...the "Tone it Down" quilt designed by Lissa Alexander.  I'm absolutely in love with this quilt...it's one of my favorites ever. Not only is the pattern amazing...but because of the great design I was able to pull

Hello and welcome to the February edition of Simply Small Sewing...I have some quilts to share and a new project to feature!  First, I have to share a sneak peek of the next project...but more on this at the end of the post...here are some quilts from last month's project! The

 On Wednesday of last week I traveled to Bryce Canyon Utah to attend and teach at the yearly retreat at Ruby's Inn. I had a wonderful time and was busy teaching 3 classes and enjoying the lectures and trunk shows. The scenery on the way up and back is always stunning--there is just nothing like

While I was traveling last week I was able to get my American Patchwork & Quilting quilt along quilt back from Abby. I didn't get to see her in person to tell her how happy I am with it...so thank you Abby!!!  Abby and I decided on a lovely clam shell design which adds a lot of

  Hello and welcome to a fantastic small quilts parade of the Schnibble pattern "Jersey Girl" by Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's Quilt Company. First up is this gorgeous version made by Barb! I am in love with her quilt! Next up is this beautiful version by Carol (no

I just returned home this afternoon from an incredibly amazing and inspiring quilt retreat in the mountains at the Utah County Modern Quilt Group retreat--Quilt Bliss!  The event was held at the spectacular Timber Moose Lodge near Heber City, Utah. The lodge is over 26,000 square feet, sleeps

 I always have so much fun with Monique's Blogger Girls Block of the Month quilts! It's always so fun to see two quilt blocks turn our so differently due to fabric placement. I love the whimsical appeal of both of this months blocks, and I'm loving the Fig Tree reds and greens. I can't believe

House blocks have always been one of my favorite blocks. So when my Fat Quarter Shop 2013 Designer Mystery Block arrived last Saturday I had to make it. This block was so much fun--it was probably the most simple and fun block yet! I loved last month's house block too. One more and I'll have

 Today I have some gorgeous "red and white" quilt eye candy to share, and I'm also helping to get the word out about a charity event sponsored by my friend Joanna Figueroa and benefiting the George Mark Children's House in San Leandro, California. First I'll present some information about these

 On Friday night...with a whole list of things to do including new quilts to make and patterns to write...I finally sat down and worked on a pattern I've been wanting to make for over a month! Actually, I made two of them!  I used scraps from Ruby, Vintage Modern, Scrumptious, Happy

 My advance copy of  Fresh Family Traditions arrived yesterday via FedEx! I think the FedEx guy might have thought I was a little crazy...it was hard not to contain my excitement as I signed for the package!  While I'd seen the cover image months ago...I had no idea about the

 “Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.” The next issue (April 2014) of American Patchwork & Quilting is about to hit newsstands (subscribers may start receiving copies this week), and I have something fun

When I recently posted about half-square triangle options I received a few e-mails asking me for some more details about my construction method. Since I had to make some half-square triangles for this months Bee blocks, I took a few pictures along the way. Half-square triangles are so much fun to

I've finished piecing my American Patchwork & Quilting quilt along quilt! And I think I've found the perfect backing, too! After auditioning all of the available backing fabrics in my backing "stash" I decided on this Scrumptious floral by Bonnie & Camille. It just seemed to echo the vintage

 Today I'm participating in a blog tour for the recently released book Vintage Quilt Revival: 22 Modern Designs from Classic Blocks. I was able to attend the Schoolhouse presentation on this book at International Quilt Market in Houston this fall and thought you might want to see some of the

 Happy Saturday! And welcome to the first Simply Small Sewing post of the new year! I was supposed to have this ready yesterday, but a not-so-fun head cold really had me sidelined the last couple of days. Anyway, I'm feeling much better now and ready to kick off this year's program. While I was

What are your thoughts on half-square triangles? Do you love them...or are they just a necessity in creating some of your favorite blocks? I happen to actually love them...and try to stitch them up with scraps whenever I can You can probably imagine how excited I was the other day when I

 I'm still quilting along with the #APQquiltalong! I really intended to get the quilt top together by New Years, but I got distracted taking down the Christmas decorations. It just seemed like I couldn't let another day go by without putting everything away and feeling like the house was clean

Hello...I didn't mean to stay away so long; I meant to get this post written before leaving on a little New Year's getaway to visit family. But there just wasn't time to get everything finished up before I left, and so here I am about 5 days later writing what I've been thinking about for a week

One of my favorite quilts from 2013 was my Blogger Girl's Block of the Month quilt designed by Monique Dillard. The block patterns were all free as were the setting instructions. Well, guess what? Monique is again offering a free 6-month block of the month program! So, of course I wanted to join

 Hello! As I usually do at the end of each year, I'm posting some of my finishes for the past 12 months. Each year I resolve to be better organized and save my monthly finishes in a folder; however, that wasn't the case this year--maybe next year I'll have it more together. So here are most of