Tag: quilting

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Hexie EPP Stocking Pattern

A group of hexagonal patterned socks in different colors.

The Hexie EPP Stocking Pattern is finally here! This is a perfect pattern for a quick finish, and it saves time and fabric by not having to fussy cut. I designed these stockings to have a similar look to the cute Buffalo Plaid that has a more clean and modern Christmas-y look, but with hexagons. The pattern details how to make the stocking using the 3-color solids, or for a more fun look, a 6-color solid multicolor stocking. Using solids eliminates the need to spend tons of extra time fussy cutting, and you can use the stack and cut method to cut multiple hexies out at once. I think the most I was able to cut at one time was 8 pieces.

This pattern includes:

  • Detailed instructions for solids: 3-colors or 6-colors or fussy cut your own pieces
  • Pattern includes Youtube tutorial sew along to assemble the stocking
  • finished stocking measures 6″ wide at top x 14″ tall X 11″ wide heel to toe, complete with hanging loop
  • Blank coloring sheet to design your own colorway or plan for fussy cutting
  • Fabric requirements for the 3 and 6 color stockings
  • Detailed cutting diagrams
  • Full color diagrams and step outs
  • Stocking template
  • Printed pattern version includes a full sheet of hexie papers for you to copy and cut out yourself, should you choose
  • PDF version includes a printable sheet of hexie papers

So many options!

Kits for the Hexie EPP Stockings:

Find the perfect kit for you! These solid stockings are curated in the perfect shades of Tula Pink solids by FreeSpirit. Grab the color that fits you, or make an entire fabulous rainbow gradient to fill your mantle!

If you aren’t a fan of fabric kits, you can also grab your own acrylic fussy cutting template and precut EPP papers to save you a little time. Or cut your own hexies with the papers that are included in the PDF or the printed pattern. Both options have a printed OR printable paper Hexie fussy cutting template.

Customizing your stocking

You can choose to quilt your stocking with fun hand quilting, easy domestic machine quilting with simple straight lines, or pick a fun pantograph and throw it on the longarm for a bit of punch! Alternatively, you don’t have to quilt the stocking at all and the inside is fully lined to protect all the seams. Pattern instructions include a hanging loop.

Orange Peel Quilting
Honeycomb Panto
Night Light panto
Simple free motion quilting
Rainbow hearts panto
Baptist fan panto
Bountiful Feathers panto

I’m so excited to finally share this pattern with you. I feel like I have been working on it for years and perfecting each version so it will bring you SO much joy when you make it. I hope you’ll share your makes with me using #HexieEPPStocking . Thanks for reading, friend, and happy sewing!!

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Edge to Edge Pantograph options

See below for the E2E pantographs I currently carry. Other options can be viewed here for an additional purchase fee. I also have more traditional patterns not shown here. Email me for pricing and shipping instructions. Most Edge to edge designs are 2.5 cents/sq. in. The designs I have are categorized below with headings. The “DENSE” category shows designs that start at 3.5 cents/square inch either because they are dense or take special care to line up correctly after each advance. Some of these designs are also cross categorized and have “Dense” in the caption after the design name. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Newly added designs

Guppy – dense
Jessica’s Barbed wire
Christmas Poinsettia
First star with pearls -dense
First star without pearls – dense
Gnomes party
Highlight – Dense
Origami – dense
star struck – rounded – dense
Bubble flower
cosmos – dense
hostess – dense
Hypnotic – dense
taffeta
basket weave – dense
basket weave with pearls – dense
crossbow
Darling Dot
Geometric tangent
Spooky
heart cloud
love charm – dense
boho
Chamomille
Cottonwood
First Feathers
Flirty feathers
Flower festival
Keryn’s Camellia
Lovelly Leaves
Pinwheel 4-72 degrees
Purple meadow – dense
Rippled flowers – dense
Soft rose
moulin rouge petite – dense
peacock feathers – dense
triplet
deja vu
fast feathers – dense
feather dream – dense
Baptist star fan – dense
Kristins pizzaz – dense
leishas on point – dense
paradoxical – dense
airplane in clouds
blast off
Here comes the sun – dense
Texas aggies – dense
Up up and away
red white and blue
Star struck sharp stars – dense
Pretty Posies

Most Popular

Mid Mod Petals
Mid Mod Orange Peel – dense
Waves Dense
Sashiko Star – Dense
Simple Mid Mod Orange Peel
Knit 1 Purl 2
Rosemary
Heat Wave
Ginger snap
Alfalfa
Diagonal plaid – bias
A pattern of an orange and white design.
Athena
A pattern of swirls and leaves on a white background.
Ajoure petite
A pattern of swirls and circles on white paper.
Soho
A pattern of squares and lines on a white background.
Diagonal plaid
Ikat 4
Mint Julep
A pattern of spirals and squares in grey.
Swirly gig -dense
A pattern of wavy lines on a white background
malachite
A pattern of hearts and rainbows in the background.
Rainbow hearts
A pattern of wavy lines with an orange background.
Time warp
A pattern of swirls and circles on a white background.
Sefoam
A close up of the design for a quilt
marmalade
A close up of the pattern for a quilt
Bountiful Feathers
Triplet
First Feathers
Bubble Flower
Hostess – dense
Highlight – Dense

Animal Themed Designs

A black and white image of some stars, a moon and a dog.
Coyote moon
A drawing of an animal with its mouth open.
duckie
A group of sheep that are standing in the grass.
baa baa – dense
Chubby bunnies
Dave’s Dinosaurs
A bunch of cat paws that are in the shape of meow.
Meow
A drawing of a paw print with some tangled wires.
Cat Paw
Paws
A drawing of two lizards with long tails.
Ribbit
A bird flying in the sky with its wings spread.
Swallow Pair
A turtle is drawn in black and white.
Turtle
Bear and Moose
Guppy Dense
Jessica’s Barbed wire

Christmas, Winter

A bunch of cookie cutters are all in the shape of christmas trees
Christmas 2011 – dense
A black and white image of swirls, stars, and christmas decorations.
Christmas 2012 – dense
Christmas Cookies
A black and white picture of swirls with snowflakes.
Curls in the snow – dense
Deck The halls
Holiday Lights
A black and white image of holly leaves.
Holly simple
A group of circles that are connected to each other.
Jingle Bell Roll
A quilt block with swirls and stars on it.
Midnight Sparkle
Let it snow – dense
A drawing of leaves and swirls on paper
Holly berries
Frost
A pattern of leaves and swirls on a white background.
Bush Berries
A purple and white pattern with flowers.
Winter Wonderland – dense
Christmas Poinsettia
First Star with Pearls – Dense
First star without pearls – dense
Gnomes Party
Highlight Dense
Origami Dense
star struck rounded stars – dense – dense

Circles

A black and white image of circles on a wall.
bubbles big small
A group of circles that are in the shape of a circle.
Bubbles B2B
A group of circles that are in the shape of a square.
bubbles everywhere – dense
A pattern of swirls on a white background.
Bubbles
A black and white image of circles in the shape of spirals.
circle drama
A white background with orange and black circles.
Tahitian Pearl
A pattern of spirals and triangles on a white background.
Overlapping crop circles – dense
A group of spirals that are in the shape of clouds.
Raindrops on water – dense
A close up of the pattern for a quilt
Stacked Snailz
Bubble Flower
Cosmos – dense
Hostess – dense
Hypnotic – dense
Taffeta

Dense designs – start at 3.5 cents/sq. in.

A coloring page of a flower and some bubbles.
Abalone
Ada
A pattern of swirls and circles in orange.
Azteca
A pattern of circles with an orange line on them.
Baptist Fan 1
A pattern of gray and blue circles with pink lines.
Baptist Fan 2
A white background with blue circles on it.
Beaded orange peel
A purple and white pattern with a black line in the middle.
Crystal ball dark
A black and white picture of an abstract design.
Geo tile 1
A bunch of flowers that are in the grass
Gerber Daisy
A purple and white pattern with leaves on it.
Graffiti quilting 9
A white background with brown swirls and a black heart.
Mike’s Swoosh
A coloring page of a floral pattern with the name jetty.
Jetty
A pattern of green circles with one black circle.
KP Cherub WIndow
A white and blue pattern with some black lines
KP Double Vortex
A white and black picture of some type of pattern
KP Fractures Lite
A purple and white pattern with an image of a wave.
KP Go with the flow
A pattern of gold and white flowers on a white background.
KP Interlocked Orange Peel
A yellow and white pattern with a black circle in the center.
KP Optical Illusion Orange Peels
A pattern of green and black flowers on white.
KP Twinkle Toes
A picture of some green and white shapes.
KP Parallax
A purple and white pattern with black lines.
KP Starlight
A pattern of stars in the shape of a star dust.
KP Star dust
A yellow and white pattern with the letter s.
KP WHiimsy
A white background with swirls of different sizes.
Swirls r us
A pattern of spirals and squares in grey.
Swirly gig
A pattern of swirls and lines on a white background.
Thumbprints
A line drawing of a wave pattern.
Modern Curves
A pattern of spirals and triangles on a white background.
Overlapping crop circles – dense
A group of spirals that are in the shape of clouds.
Raindrops on water – dense
A pattern of pink and white lines with an arrow.
Modern maze 2
A white background with black lines and purple lines.
Troubled seas
Feathered Spirals
Large Orange Peel
Mid Mod Orange Peel
Quartz
Valentine Feathers
Waves
Wild Curls
Sashiko Stars
Spring break – dense
Baptist star fan – dense
basket weave no pearls – dense
basket weave with pearls – dense
Cosmos – dense
feather dream – dense
fast feathers – dense
First Star with Pearls – Dense
First star without pearls – dense
Guppy Dense
Here comes the sun – dense
Highlight – Dense
Hostess – dense
Hypnotic – dense
Kristins pizzaz – dense
Leishas on point – dense
Love charm – dense
Moulin Rouge petite – dense
Origami Dense
Paradoxical – dense
Peacock feathers – dense
Purple meadow – dense
Rippled flowers – dense
star struck 2 sharp stars – dense
star struck 1 rounded stars – dense
Texas Aggies – dense

Geometric

A close up of an orange and gray pattern
Modern twist
A pattern of black and white squares on a white background.
Cool beans
A pattern of an orange and white design.
Athena
A white background with many lines drawn in it
calm water
Darlene’s Greek Key
A pattern of squares and lines on a white background.
Diagonal plaid
Diagonal plaid – bias
Fish net
Ginger snap
A white and orange hexagonal pattern with gray lines.
Hexies 1
A white background with orange and grey swirls.
Honeycomb
Ikat 4
A picture of some different types of quilting designs.
Jennifer’s cables
A black and white picture of an orange line.
Jessicas prism
A chain link fence with an orange line on it.
Chicken wire – dense
Knitterly
A triangle with two circles on it and one circle on the other.
KP Ornate Chevron
A pattern of curly lines on a white background.
Meander
A pattern of pink and white lines with an arrow.
Modern maze 2 dense
A pattern of stars with orange lines on the bottom.
Orion
A pattern of swirls and circles on white paper.
Soho
A close up of the pattern for a quilt
Stacked Snailz
A set of four different lines that are drawn on paper.
Tracks
D20 Border
Heat wave
Large Orange Peel – Dense
Mid Mod Petals
Waves dense
Simple Mid Mod Orange Peel
basket weave no pearls – dense
basket weave with pearls – dense
Crossbow
Darling Dot
Geometric Tangent

Halloween, Fall

A pattern of bats and stars on white.
Bats and stars
A pattern of spiders and webs on a white background.
Spiderweb with spider
Cobwebs
English Ivy
Fright Nite
Indian Summer 1
Mint Julep
Pumpkin and loops
A pattern of leaves and pumpkins on a white background.
Pumpkin Fest
A black and white picture of a spider web.
Spiderweb
Spooky

Hearts, Valentines

Dear heart
A black and white image of two hearts.
flaming hearts
A drawing of two spirals on top of each other.
Hearts and spirals
A bunch of flowers and hearts are drawn on paper
Hearts N Flowers
A pattern of hearts and rainbows in the background.
Rainbow hearts
A pattern of swirls and hearts on a white background.
Smitten
Adorable
Valentine Feathers – Dense
Love charm – dense
Heart cloud

Leaves, Flowers, Feathers

A pattern of swirls and curves in black and white.
3 leaf clover
A pattern of swirls and leaves on a white background.
Ajoure petite
Alfalfa
A pattern of swirls and leaves on a white background.
Amethyst
A drawing of leaves that are drawn in black and white.
bamboo swirls
A close up of leaves and swirls on a white background
Batik
A pattern of palm leaves in grey and peach.
Bluegrass
English Ivy
A black and white image of a leaf pattern.
New vine
A close up of the design for a quilt
Floret
A picture of some type of flower that is drawn.
flower power
A drawing of three flowers with spirals on them.
Flowers and spirals
A drawing of three flowers with leaves on them.
Gaiety
A group of flowers that are in the shape of a circle.
G daisy
A bunch of flowers that are in the grass
Gerber Daisy – dense
A black and white image of holly leaves.
Holly simple
Indian Summer 1
A black and white image of leaves on the ground.
Keukenhof
A bunch of leaves are drawn on paper
Leaf Pano 2
A close up of the pattern for an apple quilt.
Loose leaf
A pattern of leaves on a white background
Lots of leaves
A pattern of leaves and swirls on a white background.
Bush Berries
A drawing of leaves and swirls on paper
Holly berries
Mint Julep
A drawing of leaves and stems in black and white.
Monstera
A drawing of leaves and branches with one leaf missing.
Morning Glory
A close up of the flower pattern on the quilt
Moxie – dense
A line drawing of flowers and bees.
Nectar
A bunch of flowers are drawn in black and white
Patty’s Petals -dense
A close up of a flower pattern
Plumeria
A pattern of swirling leaves and curls.
Scrolling vine
Pretty Posies
A drawing of two leaves with swirls on them.
Starburst
A drawing of leaves that are drawn in black and white.
Strawberry Fields
A drawing of leaves and flowers in black and white.
Sunflower
A drawing of some leaves and a flower.
Wild Cherries
A black and white image of a quilt pattern.
Abundant feathers – dense
Ada – dense
A close up of the pattern for a quilt
Bountiful Feathers
A black and white image of swirls on a quilt.
Swirls & Feathers 3 – dense
A black and white image of a butterfly on a leaf.
SCF Feather Butterfly – dense
Feathered Spirals -Dense
Knit 1 Purl 2
Mid Mod Petals
Rosemary
Valentine Feathers – Dense
Lovely Leaves
Cottonwood
Boho
Bubble Flower
Chamomile
Darling Dot
Deja Vu
fast feathers – dense
feather dream – dense
Flirty Feathers
First Feathers
Flower festival
Highlight – Dense
Hostess – dense
Soft rose
Keryns Camellia
Moulin Rouge petite – dense
Peacock feathers – dense
Pinweel – 4 – 72 degrees
Purple meadow – dense
Rippled flowers – dense
Triplet

Modern, Geometric

A coloring page of a flower and some bubbles.
Abalone – dense
A green and white pattern of arrows with one arrow in the middle.
arrow- a – go- go
A pattern of swirls and circles in orange.
Azteca – dense
A white background with blue circles on it.
Beaded orange peel – dense
A green and white pattern with an odd shape in the middle.
Crystal ball
A purple and white pattern with a black line in the middle.
Crystal ball dark – dense
A close up of an image with swirls
Day tripper
A pattern of wavy lines with an orange background.
Fusion
A black and white picture of an abstract design.
Geo tile 1
A purple and white pattern with leaves on it.
Graffiti quilting 9 – dense
Illusion
A white background with brown swirls and a black heart.
Mike’s Swoosh – dense
A coloring page of a floral pattern with the name jetty.
Jetty – dense
A pattern of circles with the words blood orange peel.
KP Blood Orange Peel – dense
A pattern of green circles with one black circle.
KP Cherub WIndow – dense
A white and blue pattern with some black lines
KP Double Vortex -dense
A pink and white pattern with wavy lines.
KP Finger waves
A pattern of blue and white with a black star.
KP Fire Cracker
A white and black picture of some type of pattern
KP Fractures Lite
A pattern of pink and black flowers on white.
KP Garden Trellis
A white background with gold geometric pattern.
KP Gemma 3
A purple and white pattern with an image of a wave.
KP Go with the flow
A pattern of gold and white flowers on a white background.
KP Interlocked Orange Peel -dense
A pattern of green and white flowers with black lines.
KP Mexican Tile 6
A close up of the pattern on a map
KP Mirage
A yellow and white pattern with a black circle in the center.
KP Optical Illusion Orange Peels – dense
A white and gold pattern with the words pineapple skin.
KP Pineapple Skin
A pattern of golden rings with the word sparkier underneath.
KP Sparkler
A pattern of pink and white circles with one black circle.
KP Swivel Circle 2
A pattern of pink and black leaves on white.
KP Treasure Trove
A pattern of green and black flowers on white.
KP Twinkle Toes – dense
A white background with blue and black diamond pattern.
KP Vortex
A white and blue pattern with a line drawing of an ocean.
KP Macaroni
A pattern of wavy lines on a white background
malachite
A white background with swirls of different sizes.
Swirls r us – dense
A pattern of spirals and squares in grey.
Swirly gig -dense
A pattern of swirls and lines on a white background.
Thumbprints – dense
A line drawing of a wave pattern.
Modern Curves
A pattern of spirals and triangles on a white background.
Overlapping crop circles – dense
A picture of some green and white shapes.
KP Parallax – dense
A group of spirals that are in the shape of clouds.
Raindrops on water – dense
A white background with black and red lines on it.
serpentine_1
A purple and white pattern with black lines.
KP Starlight – dense
A pattern of wavy lines with an orange background.
Time warp
A pattern of pink and white lines with an arrow.
Modern maze 2 dense
A white background with black lines and purple lines.
Troubled seas
A yellow and white pattern with the letter s.
KP WHimsy – dense
A pattern of blue waves on white background.
KP Wiggles 2
KP Geometric Border 9
KP Karlees Border 7
D20 Border
Knit 1 Purl 2
Quartz – Dense
Baptist star fan – dense
Bubble Flower
Cosmos – dense
Highlight – Dense
Kristins pizzaz – dense
Leishas on point – dense
Origami Dense
Paradoxical – dense
Peacock feathers – dense
Pinweel – 4 – 72 degrees

Nature, Water

A white background with many lines drawn in it
calm water
A pattern of clouds with an orange outline.
CUMULUS
A drawing of an anchor with a cross on it.
Anchors Away
A drawing of a heart with three hearts on it.
Splash
Ripples quilting line art
LQ-Ripples-2
A group of spirals that are in the shape of clouds.
Raindrops on water – dense
A drawing of two swirls on top of each other.
Raindrops
A pattern of swirls and dots on a white background.
SEAFOAM
A drawing of an ocean wave in black and white.
Waves
A close up of the swirls on a quilt
Harbour wave
Bear and Moose
Heat wave
Rosemary
Waves – Dense
Wild Curls – Dense
Windswept
Guppy Dense

Novelty, Themed

A close up of the outline of graffiti on paper
FIGHTER-JETS
A coloring page of grapes and leaves with a pink border.
Grapes – dense
A guitar and some musical notes are drawn together.
Guitar – dense
A couple of hot air balloons are drawn in black and white
Hot air balloon
A drawing of musical notes on the side of a wall.
Music Notes
A nurse hat and swirls coloring page
Nursing -dense
A drawing of two lips with one lip missing.
Lips
A puzzle piece is shown in black and white.
Puzzle
A bunch of crosses are all in the shape of a heart
Simply Crosses
Texas Star
Weird Science
Up up and away
Airplane in the clouds
Guppy Dense
Gnomes Party
Here comes the sun – dense
Jessica’s Barbed wire
Texas Aggies – dense
Blast off

Patriotic

A bunch of flowers are drawn on the wall
Pinwheel Meander
A black and white image of stars in the sky.
Star Spangled Banner
A pattern of stars in the shape of a star dust.
KP Star dust – dense
A bunch of stars are drawn on the wall
ST-009 Bright Stars
A pattern of stars and swirls on a white background.
STARLETS
A pattern of blue and white with a black star.
KP Fire Cracker
A pattern of golden rings with the word sparkier underneath.
KP Sparkler
Texas Star
Waves – dense
First star without pearls – dense
First Star with Pearls – Dense
Red white and blue
star struck 2 sharp stars – dense
star struck 1 rounded stars – dense
Texas Aggies – dense

Stars

A black and white drawing of stars and the moon.
baby stars and moon
A pattern of stars in the shape of a star dust.
KP Star dust – dense
Night light
A quilt block with swirls and stars on it.
Midnight Sparkle
A bunch of stars are drawn on the wall
ST-009 Bright Stars
A pattern of stars and swirls on a white background.
STARLETS
Sashiko Star – Dense
Texas Star
First star without pearls – dense
Red white and blue
star struck 1 rounded stars – dense
star struck 2 sharp stars – dense
First Star with Pearls – Dense
Texas Aggies – dense
Origami Dense
Baptist star fan – dense

Swirls

A black and white image of swirls on the side of a wall.
filigree
A close up of the swirls on a quilt
Harbour wave
A coloring page of a floral pattern with the name jetty.
Jetty – dense
A drawing of two curves and one is curved.
Lyrical
A close up of the design for a quilt
marmalade
A white background with swirls of different sizes.
Swirls r us – dense
A pattern of spirals and triangles on a white background.
Overlapping crop circles – dense
A pink and white swirly background with two different designs.
Threadz
A group of spirals that are in the shape of clouds.
Raindrops on water – dense
A white background with swirls of different sizes.
Surf
A black and white image of swirls on a quilt.
Swirls & Feathers 3 – dense
A yellow and white pattern with the letter s.
KP WHimsy – dense
Feathered Spirals – Dense
Knit 1 Purl 2
Wild Curls – Dense
Cosmos – dense
Taffeta
Hypnotic – dense
Rippled flowers – dense

Traditional

A black and white image of a quilt pattern.
Abundant feathers – dense
Ada – dense
A drawing of some lines that are in the shape of an ear.
baptist fan imitator
A pattern of circles with an orange line on them.
Baptist Fan 1 – dense
A pattern of gray and blue circles with pink lines.
Baptist Fan 2 – dense
A white background with blue circles on it.
Beaded orange peel – dense
A pattern of clams in the shape of a heart.
Clam glam victoria
A drawing of an abstract design with a circle and a drop.
Clamshell Thorn
A pattern of green circles with one black circle.
KP Cherub WIndow – dense
A white and yellow pattern with a black star.
KP Sticky Orange Peel – dense
A pattern of circles with the words blood orange peel.
KP Blood Orange Peel – dense
A white background with blue circles on it.
Sweet orange peel – dense
A close up of the pattern for a quilt
Bountiful Feathers
A black and white image of a butterfly on a leaf.
SCF Feather Butterfly – dense
A black and white image of swirls on a quilt.
Swirls & Feathers 3 – dense
A pink and white swirly background with two different designs.
Threadz
Large Orange Peel – Dense
Mid Mod Orange peel – Dense
Mod Petals
Sashiko Star – Dense
Simple Mid Mod Orange Peel
Baptist star fan – dense
basket weave no pearls – dense
basket weave with pearls – dense
Boho
Chamomile
Cottonwood
Deja Vu
fast feathers – dense
feather dream – dense
First Feathers
Flirty Feathers
Flower festival
Keryns Camellia
Leishas on point – dense
Lovely Leaves
Moulin Rouge petite – dense
Soft rose
Triplet
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A little more FMQ


I love the understated look of Superior Threads’ So fine thread for busier quilts.  There’s just enough substance there to make the quilting do its job, but not so much that the quilt is overwhelmed.  


This isn’t a super involved post–I just wanted to share a quilt that some of the ladies in the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild put together for our past president who moved out of state.  This quilt was designed by Emily Robbins using some of the modern quilt block guides put out by Love Patchwork and Quilting this year.  Cotton + Steel prints were used in combination with various shades of grey.  It’s pretty difficult to see the quilting, but the real star is the quilt design and the fabrics.  

This was the finished quilt prior to the binding being put on.  Love the design, and I think Emily did a great job!

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Spooky Spiderweb Trick Or Treat bag tutorial


If you’d like to make the perfect project for your special little trick-or-treater, I teamed up with Janome to bring you the perfect tutorial for a reusable treat bag!  Visit Janome’s website for the full tutorial and a quick and easy sew!  

 This is a great project with a little pop of color on the reverse side of the drawstring bag–you can use a contrasting fabric to really make it pop (or even glow in the dark fabric!)


And learn to quilt some really fun spiderwebs!  Enjoy!

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Finding time to give back #quiltsforpulse


 In the midst of tragedy, I am relieved that I belong to a group of people that goes out of their way to show love for others.  The group I’m talking about is the Modern Quilt Guild.  And even  more specifically, the San Antonio chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.  The Orlando MQG organized collections to accept in progress quilts and completed quilts to show support and love for some of the people affected by the Pulse night club shooting.  I hate that I’m even writing a post about this, because it’s so disturbing the amount of violence we hear about on a daily basis on the news…but I want to focus on giving back and showing support for our fellow human beings.  



The SAMQG members are SO giving and generous with their fabric and time, that we’ve had a plethora of blocks constructed (most using the Heart pattern tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew).  A few charity sew-ins, and we’ve finished (I think) 5 quilts!  



I had the great opportunity to quilt a few of these, and wanted to discuss charity work in this industry.  I’ve done a little bit of charity sewing in the past, but not really donated much of my time or resources prior to getting my longarm.  And once I started donating my quilting, I kind of just rushed through the process, doing a stipple or some quick meandering design to get that top off my frame as quickly as I could.  But one night, I started thinking about the recipients of these rushed through pieces I had worked on.  Was I proud of the work I was doing on them?  No.  Absolutely not.  I was just FINISHING THEM.  There was nothing special or generous about what I was doing to add to the quilt.  And maybe those recipients don’t even look at the quilting.  But it really got to me that I was doing about 2% of my best work on something that was supposed to be making someone happier.  I decided to start doing my best work on every quilt top.  Whether it was a paying customer or not.  If I’m going to commit to working on something, why would I give anything less than my best?  And besides, if you want to look at it from a really selfish angle, it’s great practice and helps develop your skills even further.  


I really love the graffiti quilting style, and chose to do that on this quilt.  These blocks were pieced together by so many different people, with such love and compassion in their hearts.  It really does give me a little bit of hope for humanity.

Anyway, my two cents for the day is to think about where your heart is when you decide to do charity work.  If it’s in your heart, put your best foot forward and really give all you have.  Otherwise, what are you wasting your time for?  

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Couching tutorial


Decorative stitches with a 3-way cording foot 

I had absolutely no idea what couching was when I first heard of it.  I saw a demonstration of couching on a longarm quilting machine, and then very quickly wrote it off (since I didn’t have a longarm at the time), thinking I would never have the means or opportunity to try couching.  You can use couching to emphasize a print on fabric, outline applique, doodle with it, and you can even quilt with it.  

Couching can add a little flair to regular fabric


Well, there are some ways that you can couch without buying a super expensive longarm quilting machine, and then also buying a super expensive couching attachment for said longarm.  You can actually couch by hand–but it takes a while.  And you can certainly try couching by using a domestic sewing machine.  You don’t even have to buy a special foot for it if you don’t want to.  As long as you have a free motion quilting foot that has some sort of round part that the needle goes through, you’re good!  I will say, that if the hole for the free motion foot is really big, you can easily modify it yourself by taking a small piece of scotch tape and covering a portion of the hole (not a portion the needle will travel through).  The smaller the hole on the free motion (or couching) foot, the easier it will be for the yarn to travel where you want it to go.

Make an art piece using couching techniques if that floats your boat!

I wrote a super easy to follow couching tutorial for Janome’s website that can be accessed HERE
So click it and check out how easy couching is!  There are seriously so many things you can do with couching to spice up existing projects.  

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Insert Harry Potter theme song here…



So…It pretty much seems like everyone I know is either pregnant or just had a baby here lately.  I am in that season of my life where the wedding invitations have stopped and the baby shower invitations are lining my mailbox!  That being said, I get a LOT of joy making things for people’s new babes.  While I work on it, I wonder if they’ll be curled up on the couch with it, playing outside and dragging it through the mud, becoming a couch fort in the living room…I love it!

 This was the appliqued fabric before I started quilting it.  


I had a close friend from college ask me to make a Harry Potter themed baby quilt for her brother’s first child.  She pretty much gave me free reign to come up with whatever (which is AWESOME!!!), so I thought I would applique the deathly hallows symbol, followed by “lways†so that it kind of looked like “alwaysâ€-just google it, I’m sure there are examples!  I made a fun template out of poster board and traced it onto the fabric I wanted, used some Wonder Under and fused that bad boy to my background fabric to get ready to applique! 
I was really excited about the quilting process and wanted my free motion quilting to LOOK like MAGIC would look.  
Just pulled from the longarm frame!

I’m not really sure what that means, but I tried my best to quilt what I thought magic looked like in thread form.  And I loved the outcome. 

I used the Harry Potter-y chevron fabric that I think was really meant to be college colors for the backing and really love how it turned out.  I’m not usually a huge applique person, but I definitely will be trying it with more projects in the future!  And I really hope and pray that this kiddo is a Harry Potter fan!

Roughly crib sized finished baby quilt!

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Free tutorial: Using chalk pounce and stencils to make gorgeous quilted pillow shams


Check out my newest tutorial for Janome on the AQS blog this week!  The tutoiral is for Quilted pillow shams that will really step up your bedroom decor and give an extra special touch.


Follow this LINK to see the full tutorial and add some new tools to your quilting toolbox!

I’ve always loved quilting, and was a little skeptical at the stencils.  Especially before I knew about the chalk pads.  I tried them when I first tried my hand at quilting, and used a water soluble pen to trace each stencil line.  And let me tell you…that will be a wonderful deterrent for anyone to never try stencils again.  Time consuming, inefficient, etc.  Then one of my friends had some of the chalk pounce and pads and so I thought I might just go ahead and try it again.  WAY better than tracing each line by hand.  What originally to hours literally changed to minutes.  So if you haven’t loved stencils, maybe try this and you’ll change your mind!

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Blue December Pillow tutorial


I had the awesome opportunity to team up with Janome and AQS to offer a free pillow tutorial!  You can find the complete instructions and supply list here: Blue December Quilted Pillow Tutorial


This is such a fun and easy project to do to add to the ambiance of the season, and I love the blue and white colors, as opposed to the more traditional red and green.  So if you have some spare time, get sewing and whip up this sweet pillow!

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A new-ish reverse applique


One of my guilty pleasures is Instagram.  One of the people I follow on Instagram, @orchidowlquilts, posted a photo of some awesome quilting and an astounding mini quilt.  It inspired me to try the technique as well.  If you’d like to give it a try, here are the steps you need to follow:

Supplies you’ll need:
Small (super sharp) embroidery scissors
seam ripper
pins
mini quilt (backing, batting, 2-3 layers of top fabric)
Quilting thread
Fray check

Tips and tricks:
-If you cut too closely to the quilting thread, your top fabric may come loose from the quilting.  Try to stay about 1/16″ away from the quilting thread.  You may need to go back and quilt again if you clip too closely.  
-Be careful not to slice the final layer of top fabric!!!  If you do, the batting will be exposed (sad panda).  
-I wouldn’t recommend this technique if you plan to wash the finished quilt, but it’s perfect for a mini quilt that will be a wall hanging or a display piece that won’t be handled much.
-There were a couple times that I sliced through the wrong fabric, but fray check is your friend, and you’ll be amazed at how well you can hide your mistakes with it!


1.  Choose two or three fabrics (solids work well for this).
2.  Make a quilt sandwich.  For my first time, I made a mini as well.  I think it’s good to try this out on a small quilt so you don’t get discouraged by the time involved…
3.  You will lay your backing fabric wrong side up, batting on top of that, then one of your solid fabrics on top of the batting (right side facing up).  Smooth to get all the wrinkles out.  
4.  Now you’re going to layer another solid fabric on top of the one you just smoothed.  This could be your final piece of fabric, or you could choose to layer one more on top of this.  I would keep it to three fabrics for the top for your first attempt.
5.  Smooth all the top fabric layers to remove wrinkles and baste in place.
6.  Mark the top fabric for quilting if you need to mark, or if you like to wing it like me, get ready to quilt!
7.  Quilt your mini quilt.  I would recommend not quilting too heavily or small for this.  It will make cutting the fabric much easier if the space between your quilting lines is at least an inch.

8.  You can do smaller quilting (like in the picture above), but plan on not cutting those teeny tiny pieces–to keep your sanity.
9.  Once you finish quilting, you should decide which areas you want to cut.  I marked the areas to be cut with a small marking pen that irons away so I wouldn’t get confused after the fact.  
10.  You’ll need a small pair of embroidery scissors and a seam ripper before you get down and dirty with this!
11.  In the photos, the gray is my top fabric, the green is the middle top fabric, and the blue is the last top fabric.  When you see the green, I am only cutting through the gray fabric.  When you see the blue, I am cutting away both the gray and the green fabric.  
12.  Use a pin or a seam ripper to pull the top layer of fabric away from the next layer of fabric (without grabbing the layer of fabric you want to leave alone.  I use a seam ripper to pull it away and make a small slice so I can get my embroidery scissors in to do the cutting.  You can see in the picture below that some of the gray fabric has been sliced with a seam ripper already.  
13.  Once you have a large enough space to get your embroidery scissors, start clipping the top fabric away.  
14.  Put on your favorite Netflix shows and clip, clip, clip.  Then clip some more!  




15.  When you finish clipping fabric away, go back with fray check and outline all the cuts you made with it to keep the fraying in check!  Allow to dry completely, then you’re ready to put your binding on and call it a day (or week)!

I really love how mine turned out, but I would definitely make the quilting spaces a little larger and less dense on the next go-round.  This is not your typical reverse applique, but it is a fun spin on an oldie.  Give it a try and see what you can do!