Hello and happy Monday! I've been doing a little of this and a little of that this weekend in my sewing room, so I have kind of an eclectic mix of things to share this morning! One of my weekend must-makes was the latest Splendid Sampler block, block 57 by Lissa Alexander.  Lissa's block

Hello and Happy Friday! I really can't believe it is the end of August already...just a few more days and it will be September. I had this crazy thought the other day that maybe if I made a fall quilt it might feel a little cooler around here (we'll see about that cooler part, but at least I'll have

Happy Tuesday! Over the weekend I had fun making some half-square triangles for a project using Desert Bloom fabrics. I love making half-square triangles and have written several times about different ways to make them. These half-square triangles needed to measure 2 1/8" x 2 1/8", so I used

Hello and happy Monday! This is the last official week of summer vacation here, so I hope to be busy checking off a lot of things from my to-do list over the next few days! I've spent most of my time working on quite a few behind the scenes type of projects, but I do have some weekend quilting to

Hello and happy Friday! I'm super excited today to share my latest pattern--a mini version of my Mahalo quilt. I've wanted to make a mini version of this quilt for quite a while, but it took a little while before I finally settled on which fabrics to use. Since I'm going to hang this mini in my

Hello! Thanks so much for stopping by for my day on the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along sponsored by Angie of Gnome Angel, Fat Quarter Shop, and Marti Michell! I'm happy to share my thoughts on making Block 54, Magnolia. I have to say, this block is one of my favorites so far; it ended up being super

Hello! Happy Tuesday (even if it is a bit later in the day)!  Today I'm going to talk a little bit about the half-rectangle triangle; this is a shape that has intrigued me for a bit, and I could hardly wait to have a little play time to work with it. While working up my tutorial for my day

Hello and happy Monday! Today is Crossroads Quilt Along day, and I'm happy to report that I've been able to put my blocks together with the sashing and post sections. I always get the best feeling when a collection of blocks becomes a quilt center! And I'm just in love with the chain

Hello and Happy Saturday! I've been cleaning and organizing and re-arranging...and I've decided to have a little sale to make room for some of the new quilts I get to make this fall! I have an inventory of quilts I use, quilts I use for teaching and for trunk shows, and quilts for samples of my

Hello! Today's favorites post is about some lovely new fabrics that have arrived in my mailbox recently. I can't wait to share them with you! I love every single collection designed by Denyse Schmidt, and was looking forward to the arrival of her new Stonington collection. The Stonington fabrics

Happy Wednesday! Wow...I can't believe it's the middle of the week already! I'm happy to announce that I finally got to gift a quilt I've been saving for a little while.  You see, this sweet baby quilt was included in my first book, A Quilting Life: Creating a Handmade Home, and I've been

Hello! Did you know that the 50th Splendid Sampler block was released on August 4th? That means we are half-way through the 100 blocks! To celebrate the release of block 50 some of the Splendid Sampler designers are participating in a blog tour this week...and I was delighted to join in! I

Hello and happy Friday! I hope your week has been a good one and that you have something quilty planned for the weekend! Because summer has been going by so quickly, I've really made an effort lately to catch up with everything (and maybe even get a little ahead on some things).  The

Hello! Today I'm excited to share a super fast and easy free Layer Cake quilt pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop! I think most quilters love to give quilts as much as they like to make them, and this pattern is perfect for gifting...so fast and fun! All you need to get started is two layer cakes

Hello and happy Tuesday! Today I'm happy to share our Minis and More Christmas in July parade along with a few other ideas for your Christmas sewing! My red and green Fig Tree sampler quilt didn't get finished up until after Christmas last year, so this year will be the first year I get to use it!

Happy Monday and hello August! Welcome back to the next post in my Building a Fabric Stash series. Today I'll be talking about novelty, holiday, and seasonal fabrics. I have a lot of favorites in these categories, and I'm excited to share some of my thoughts on purchasing, storing, and using these

Hello and happy Friday! I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that the weekend is here...it's been a long, hot week, and there are chances for rain this weekend--yay!!! I have an especially fun Friday Favorites post today...I hope you enjoy it! First up I had to share some fabric I've

Happy Wednesday! It's works in progress day! I finished up another Splendid Sampler block this week. I really need to work on some of the applique' blocks that I haven't yet finished up, but it is easy for me to keep up with the pieced ones. This block is Block 47 by Sarah Maxwell, Twirl Time! I

Hello and happy Tuesday! Today I'm back with the next post in my series of building your fabric stash. I'll be posting on this topic every Tuesday for a few weeks, and then when I'm finished I'll link up all of the posts on one page to make it easy to refer to. Last weeks post covered background

Hello and happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was a good one! Today I'm excited to share a little bit about a quilt I made awhile ago for a book featuring quilts with one of my favorite blocks, the 9-patch! This book features 16 different quilts from the 9-patch...so much

Hello and happy Thursday! I just returned home this week from a busy couple of weeks of traveling. It's always good to be home, but I had the most wonderful time getting to meet with many quilters from different parts of the country. My first trip was to Orange County, California where I was

Hello! Today I'm starting a multi-part series on building, organizing, and using your fabric stash. I've been writing a lot this year about using your stash and making quilts from scraps; however, I know many new quilters are unsure about the best ways to collect a stash of fabrics to use for scrap

Hello and happy Monday! Today I'm happy to share a tutorial for how I make my favorite scrappy log cabin blocks! My directions are for my favorite size...an 8" finished (8 1/2" unfinished) block. I like this size because it utilizes small pieces of fabric, it goes together quickly, and it's a

Happy Saturday! How do you feel about mini quilts? I know they have been a favorite of mine since I began quilting about 24 years ago...  They work wonderfully as pillow tops, wall hangings, and table toppers, and since they are quick to finish you also get a real sense of accomplishment

Hello! Today I'm posting my progress on the Crossroads Quilt Along sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop! I have to say I was a little worried about how much time this month's blocks would take since there are 18 of them to make... but I was pleasantly surprised in that they actually sewed up pretty

Hello and happy Thursday! If you've been reading my blog for a little while you've probably read a little about my grandmother and her grandmothers who were wonderful quilters. I'm grateful every day for my quilting heritage and for the family members who have made it possible for me to know about

Happy Wednesday! Slowly but surely I've been keeping on with some of my works in progress.  I've mentioned before that I love having ongoing projects...and my Splendid Sampler project is definitely a favorite right now! I just have one new block to share this week, but one block is

Hello! Today is the big reveal day for the Little Ruby Quilt Along sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop. And I'm excited to show you my finished project! I really loved learning to use new to me rulers in making these blocks (the  Creative Grids Hexagon Trim Tool and the Creative Grids Double

Hello! Happy Friday! This summer I've really been trying to sew with scraps, use my stash, and finish up some some works in progress.  One of my oldest works in progress is my scrappy Bonnie & Camille half-square triangle project. I've shared my progress on these fun blocks several

Happy Saturday! Hope your weekend will be a good one! First I want to say thank you for all of the lovely comments I got on my blog anniversary yesterday. I tried to reply to every one, but for some there is no email...please know I read every comment and appreciate the time everyone took to

Happy Friday! Happy July (can you believe it's July already?)! And happy blogiversary! Yes, exactly eight years ago I started A Quilting Life as a way to journal my sewing  and quilting projects. I hadn't been able to do a very good job of keeping track of things up to that point, and I

Hello and happy Wednesday! I've slowly but surely been making these fun pinwheel hexagons for the Fat Quarter Shop Little Ruby Sew Along. The blocks are really a lot of fun to make! I've been using scraps from the Sundrops collection by Corey Yoder for Moda, and I decided to use the fun

Hello! I've been working on a scrappy quilt that I'll be sharing a free tutorial for soon. I'll be sharing directions on the blog and will have a PDF available with material requirements and cutting instructions for two different sizes of this fun quilt. It's perfect for scraps or for left over

Hi! I'm just popping in to remind you that I'll be appearing on Pat Sloan's radio show today!  Pat and I had a fun chat a few weeks ago...she is always so much fun to talk to, and of course we talked about quilts! You can listen at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  You can also find a

Happy Friday! I hope you've had a wonderful week and are looking forward to a relaxing weekend with quilting! For today's Friday Favorites post I thought I'd start out with one of my favorite quilts from my book C&T Publishing Fresh Family Traditions: 18 Heirloom Quilts for a New Generation.