Thursday, June 18, 2026

Under my needle

 I have 7 quilts to longarm this week/weekend.  This is the one on my frame today!  It's a lovely Jelly Roll quilt and I'm stitching a design on it called Seamless.


Edit: Saturday, June 20th.  This is the first one on the frame this morning!



Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Sunday, June 14, 2026

Double Aster Barn Quilt

 I've always wanted to paint a barn quilt.  When we replaced the siding on our house I decided to put a cheater barn quilt above my front door, only because I didn't have the time to paint a barn quilt.  My plan was to replace the cheater when I was able to paint one of my own.  That day came yesterday!  Cary Quilting Company held a class for painting a barn quilt and I signed up right away.


It was a one-day class and the teachers, Deanna and Georgia, were outstanding!  Deanna's Delightful Barn Quilt Designs is the company that taught the class. They are located out of Clarkton, NC.  They travel to locations all over the eastern USA and if you have the chance to take a class I highly recommend them.



Monday, June 8, 2026

Brandyvine Tote Bag

 I started a new project over the weekend.  I'm making a Brandyvine Tote Bag from a book by Vicki Bellino called Bloom Creek Quilts. 


If you make this tote bag, you will want to use a scant 1/4" when sewing the 10 strips together.  The directions don't say to do this but it should have.  The strip sets came out 1/2" too short width-wise.  

I made one addition to the pattern because I wanted a sturdier bag that would stand up and not flop over.  After step 7, I quilted the outside pieces to Soft-n-Stable foam stabilizer.  After that I continued on to step 8.

Here's my version of the Brandyvine Tote Bag.  I'm happy with the addition of the Soft-n-Stable.



Saturday, June 6, 2026

Nantucket Mini-Charm Bag

 It's a great weekend for sewing and quilting!  I made another mini-charm bag today.  They go together quickly!  While the fabric collection used in the photo is most likely gone now, you can use any number of mini-charm packs to make this bag.  I recommend this pattern...


There are 3 versions of the bag to choose from in the pattern. 
I chose the scrappy version.

I did make one change as I put the mini-charms together.  I used a product called Bosal 2.5" Watercolor Grid to assemble them.  It is a lightweight fusible that has a grid on it outlining where to place each square. It is a wonderful way to assemble the top for this bag.  Place the squares and you can see at a glance which squares to move for a more pleasing layout.  Then iron them in place.  You will want to lay a piece of cloth on top as you iron to keep the fusible off your iron.  One plus for making the grid this way is all your intersections will match. The package has complete directions for sewing the squares together.  
There is enough in the package to make 4 bags!


Here's the finished bag!