January 2017

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Is there anybody else out there who quilts late at night? I generally don’t start after midnight, but there have been a few times when the session started earlier extends past the witching hour. Not generally a good idea for me because mistakes tend to multiply. Sometimes though,  a deadline is looming, or plain old insomnia prevails. Are you a fan of Angela Walters? Most of us think of her as a long armer extraordinaire, or as Tula Pink’s quilter. Angela does do much of her own piecing as well. She has a few classes over at Craftsy if that’s of interest to you. Angela also hosts a Youtube series of videos called The Midnight Quilting Show. She shows the construction of a quilt, from the cutting through the piecing and sometimes throws in some quilting tips too. Most of the patterns are free downloads. […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Before I became a quilter, I was a garment sewer. Pinking shears were a tool often used in finishing seams. I still like to use them when sewing things like wallets, purses, tote bags etc. They help to reduce bulk in seams, particularly seams on curves. You might not think that they would be of use to a quilter, but I like to use them whenever I have a curved seam to work with such as those in Drunkard’s Path blocks. If you have a pair of unused pinking shears that you inherited from your mom or grandma, watch this video for a few tips and tricks to maximize their usefulness. Click here.

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. We are having an issue with the notification process after I post a new blog entry. If you DID NOT receive an e-mail notification about the previous post (“quilting goals for 2017”) and you usually do, please let me know by commenting on this post. Also if you know of any other technical issues with this blog, please let us know those as well. Do you purchase pre-cut fabrics? Charm packs, jelly rolls, layer cakes or any of the many other variations? Or perhaps do you like the patterns out there for the pre-cut packs but you prefer to cut your own fabrics (scraps perhaps) to make up the pieces needed for the pattern. I am going to be doing a demo soon on cutting for pre-cut type patterns and am curious how many quilters will take the time to cut the variety of fabrics […]

Hello all, Mary Ellen here. Wow-It’s been much longer than I thought since I last posted here. I’m going to make a goal to post much more regularly this year. I won’t be specific as to how often or on what days because life gets in the way some times–I’m sure you all know how that is. Despite one’s best laid plans for quilting, there are some things/people in our lives who will always take precedence. Have you made any quilting goals for yourself for this upcoming year? I hesitate to call them resolutions. Somehow for me that means failure when they aren’t met. On the other hand any progress toward a goal, no matter how small, feels like a success to me. Each year I set a small goal for myself related to my quilting–a color to incorporate more often, a new technique to try and/or master, a pattern […]