Category: Reviews

Quilting a King on Your Home Machine – Video Workshop by Leah Day

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Leah Day’s blog, The Free Motion Quilting Project was one of the first blogs I began to follow when I found the wonderful community of online quilting back in 2012. Since then, we’ve gotten to know each other better and were able to meet up at spring quilt market earlier this year for some yummy food and great conversation about quilting!

leah_christaLeah Day is an amazing quilter and one heck of a business woman, too! This is us a quilt market.

Leah has wealth of knowledge about machine quilting on your home machine which she shares on her blog and through her online store with a vast array of machine quilting videos for you to explore and purchase. I love her “can-do” attitude, along with her spunky tell-it-like-it-is personality. 🙂

Today I want to tell you about one of Leah’s newest video series, Quilting a King on a Home Machine. It’s an in-depth workshop of 20 videos along with a complete pattern for Salsa Verde – a very stunning quilt! Leah’s class walks you step-by-step through the entire process of making a king size quilt.

salsa verdeSalsa Verde quilt design by Leah Day 108″ x 108″ – Isn’t it stunning?

Leah’s instructions and diagrams are very clear and easy to understand, and her videos are very well done. The pattern portion of the workshop shows you how to assemble the Salsa Verde quilt, and then the video portion takes you through the steps to get it all quilted. Along with the class, you also have access to Leah though her facebook group at Leah Day Quilting – so you can get 24/7 support whenever you need it!

The entire video series runs for approximately 3 hours, and it’s nicely divided into bite size chunks that you can watch at your convenience.

basting king sized quiltTip – baste your quilts well when you are getting ready to machine quilt.

Here’s a listing of the video topics, for Quilting a King on your Home Machine:

  1. Introduction
  2. Basting a King Sized Quilt
  3. Machine and Table Setup
  4. Walking Foot Basics
  5. Managing the Quilt Bulk
  6. Free Motion Quilting Basics
  7. Practice Free Motion Quilting
  8. How to Quilt Square Spiral
  9. How to Quilt Zig-Zag Path
  10. How to Quilt Polka Dot
  11. How to Quilt Wobbly Cosmos
  12. How to Quilt Echo Shell
  13. Marking the Quilt and Planning the Quilting Path
  14. Starting in the Center
  15. Quilting the Inner Spaces
  16. Marking the Inner Border
  17. Quilting Lines in the Inner Border
  18. Quilting Polka Dot Parade in the Inner Border
  19. Quilting the Pieced Border
  20. Quilting the Outer Border

As you can see from the list above, Leah really breaks the process down into manageable steps. You know what they say – how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. We can now change that to, how do you quilt a large quilt? One stitch at a time!

quilting a king home machineYes, you can, quilt a king sized quilt on your home sewing machine!

I think my favorite thing about this video series is that Leah shows you how to use both walking foot quilting and free motion quilting in the same quilt for excellent results. I also love the fact that she shows you how to quilt large quilts on your home machine. Here’s an introduction to the video series, from Leah herself:

I always, always, recommend taking courses from as many different quilting instructors as you can, even when they are teaching the same material. Although many of us instructors may overlap on similar subjects, we all have our own approach to teaching and present things in a different way. You never know when something someone says is really going to resonate with you. And the best part is, many of us are friends and love to support each others’ work. After all, the more people we can encourage to machine quilt on their own machines, the more vibrant the quilting industry will continue to be. 🙂

mqx_teacherproduct buttonLeah was recently awarded MQX Machine Quilting Teacher of the year, which just goes to show, she really knows her stuff!

I think Leah is super smart to take advantage of teaching online, and it allows her to reach a larger audience while still maintaining her young family.

Be sure to check out Leah’s class Quilting a King on a Home Machine. You’ll have access to the videos at any time and you can work on this beautiful quilt at your own pace. You’ll be glad you did!

 

 

Check out Irish Chain Quilts by Melissa Corry!

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I’m super excited to be a part of Melissa Corry’s blog hop for her fabulous new book, Irish Chain Quilts. Melissa is known over on her blog as Happy Quilting Melissa and I can’t think of a better pseudonym for such a truly fabulous gal!

B1297_Final_FB_Cover.inddImage Courtesy of Martingale Publishing, Fabulous Photographer Brent Kane

About Melissa Corry

I first got to know Melissa when my shop used to sponsor her blog and we immediately hit it off! I mean how could you not adore someone with such a friendly, bubbly personality that loves to help others and share her loving of quilting with as many people as possible? She’s truly someone I look up to as a positive example in the quilting industry, and I’m so glad to call her a friend. I’ve shared about her and some of her other quilts on my blog previously, too!

Christa Watson and Melissa CorryMelissa and I met in person for the first time on her way to quilt market in 2013. She flew out of Las Vegas that time which was awesome for me! We had lunch and chatted non-stop the whole time!

Ok, enough gushing and on to the book!!

The Book

Irish Chain Quilts includes 15 fabulous quilts all based on the classic Irish Chain block design. You know – that’s the design that forms an X in each block which creates a very striking chain effect when all blocks are placed side-by-side. Melissa created such stunning original designs and asked several of us to re-create a block inspired by one of the quilts in the book.

This is the design I chose to work with – Daisy Chain. I’m a sucker for applique with fun big pieces that I can easily stitch down by machine! I also love the photography in this book. Hanging all of the quilts on a clothesline with clothespins is sooo Melissa! 🙂

01-80_B1297_Finals.inddImage Courtesy of Martingale Publishing, Fabulous Photographer Brent Kane

My Take

Here’s my and funky colorful interpretation of Melissa’s block. I’m a sucker for orange, earthy tones!

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This block was super easy to make and very easy to resize. The book calls for larger blocks, but each of the blog hoppers is remaking a block in a smaller size that will be joined together to create a super fun and scrappy quilt from all of the blocks!

At the end of the hop, Melissa will share the big reveal of the quilt she’s assembled from all of the various blocks from the book. And, true to her generous nature, she will then be donating that quilt to charity. I can’t wait to see it!

Giveaway!!

Along with the Charity Quilt reveal, Melissa is hosting two grand prize giveaways where you can win one a copy of the book, a mini quilt made by Melissa, and a treasure trove of fabrics!

Grand Prizes

To enter the grand-prize giveaway, be sure to hop on over the intro post on Melissa’s blog and leave a comment!

Where to Buy

List of Blog Hop Stops

Be sure to hop around to all of these fabulous blogs below to see the rest of the quilts from the book, plus the reinterpreted quilt blocks. There’s inspiration galore!

Thanks for stopping by!

If you are new to my blog, be sure to sign up for Friendly Threads, my email newsletter!

My Book is Now Available for Pre-Order!!

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It’s real – it’s really real! My book is now available for pre-order on Amazon! So before I faint with excitement, please allow me to tell you a little something about it… 🙂

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My book is called Machine Quilting With Style: From Walking-Foot Wonders to Free-Motion Favorites. That’s quite a mouthful, but I couldn’t be more thrilled! As many others have said, it really is like birthing another child, complete with restlessness, anxiety and weight gain, LOL! 🙂 The “due” date is mid-September, about a month after my own birthday, so I really couldn’t ask for a better present.

It’s been a dream of mine to write a book since I began quilting many years ago, and the perfect opportunity came at just the right time. I had returned home from the first QuiltCon on fire with the desire to share my passion for quilting with a many people as possible. Coupled with my new-found love of the modern aesthetic, all the stars aligned in the best possible way to create this book.

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Promotional information by the incredibly talented marketing team at Martingale.

Machine Quilting With Style includes patterns for 12 quilts with step-by-step instructions on how to machine quilt them. It also includes a large section on setting yourself up for successful machine quilting, with plenty of motifs to practice. There are a total of 112 pages, and I’m so grateful to Martingale (aka That Patchwork Place) for believing in my vision and allowing me to write the book I was meant to write.

Now that the hurdle of writing and editing is over, I get to engage in the fun part: promoting the book, talking to shop owners about it, creating classes around it, and getting to share it with as many people as possible. I’m pretty sure I enjoy the “social” aspect of quilting just as much as the actual making. 🙂

book-editingThis is what book editing looks like!

Machine Quilting With Style is available for pre-order on Amazon at a discount off the cover price, which is always nice. You can also purchase it from your local quilt shop or favorite bookstore later this summer, or ask them to preorder you a copy when they attend quilt market this spring.

If you’d like to pre-order a signed copy directly from me, it’s just a few dollars more, and I’ll ship mid-September as soon as they come in.

Ok – I’d best get started on the next one, now! (Kidding-not-kidding!)

Contain It! Blog Hop and Book Giveaway

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It is with great pleasure that I get to share a new book I just came across. It’s called Contain It! English Paper Pieced Accessories by mother & daughter team Linda and Laura Chaney from Prairie Sewn Studios. First I’ll tell you about it, and then give you a chance to win your own copy!

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Now, usually I don’t make 3-D items, but several containers in this fascinating book definitely have me tempted to make one! In reality, I will probably choose one or two and have my mom make them for me – she loves this type of sewing and there are some really great containers in here!

cubesPage from the book showing a gallery of cube containers.

The projects are arranged in order of difficulty including: flatwork practice projects like mug rugs and table mats, cube containers, concave & convex containers, scalloped bowls, heart containers & boxes, star containers and boxes.

starsPage from the book showing a gallery of star containers.

Linda and Laura are very thorough in their directions and each of the projects includes full sized templates. There’s also a great section in the front of the book that goes over suggested fabrics and needed supplies to successfully make the containers in the book. The containers can be sewn by hand or machine and layout/assembly diagrams (called an “octopus”) are given for each project.

Be sure to check out each of the blogs on the hop this week for more perspectives on Contain It!

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The Giveaway

For your chance to win a copy of Contain It!, leave a comment below letting me know if you’ve ever made a quilted container before. Entries are open to US residents through this Saturday, April 18th at 6 PM Pacific Time. I’ll email the winner and update this blog post with the winner’s name.

My Newsletter

If you are new to my blog, don’t forget to sign up for Friendly Threads, my weekly email newsletter! I go a little more indepth and behind the scenes there, and it’s a great way to keep in touch. 🙂

Craftsy Class Review: Free-Motion Quilting with Lines, Curves and Loops

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I have a confession to make: one of the perks of being a Craftsy writer is getting to view some of their top classes so I can review them and tell others what I enjoy. I think I need a sign that says “will work for quilting classes!” 🙂

It’s even more exciting when I get to take my friend’s classes, too! I first met the fabulous Debby Brown when I took a feather quilting class from her at Road to California in 2014. Let me tell you – she can rock a feather like no other! I was immediately drawn to her warm, friendly teaching style and this gal really knows her stuff. So without further ado, let me tell you all about Free-Motion Quilting with Lines, Curves and Loops.

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Class Overview

The class is broken down into 7 different video lessons, each under 1/2 hour so they are presented in easily digestible chunks of information. And the best part is – you can watch them in any order! (Tip – I like to watch a session before I begin my day’s sewing to really get me in the mood!)

Debby includes great tips like setting up your home sewing machine and how to control the tension. She even shows starting and stopping in detail plus how to easily create temporary guidelines to help balance the motifs.

fireworks

Debby’s fireworks sample – this would look fantastic on a modern quilt!

Debby then goes onto show you how incorporating simple letter shapes can make for better free-motion quilting. I use a lot of e’s and o’s to create circles in my personal work, but I never really though about i’s (lines), c’s (curves), j’s (curls) and s’s (swirls)!! Yes, she really does walk you through how to turn letters your brain already recognizes into useable (and pretty) free-motion quilting textures! Within each of these basic shapes, Debby includes several easy-to-quilt free-motion textures to try.

My favorite tip that Debby shares is one that I teach my own students: draw first, then quilt! That helps your brain recognize the stitching path and makes it much easier to know where to move when it’s time to quilt. She also includes a few bonus tips and tricks like using free-motion quilting to mimic the look of machine applique, plus trapunto techniques and bobbin work.

Debby rounds out the class by teaching you how to combine motifs to create amazing custom textures. I love it! Complete supply lists are included in the class materials and you can ask questions for Debby at any time via the Craftsy platform.

My Favorites

My all-time favorite motif I learned from Debby is how to quilt swirly feathers. I’m really not much of a feathers gal, but I love this one! It’s so funky and fun and actually pretty easy to stitch.

Swirling Feathers

 My practice sample when I took Debby’s class last year.

I also really like her in-depth section on quilting linear motifs with free-motion. When you know how to do that, the sky really is the limit when it comes to fun free-motion quilting.

Of course, the best part about this class is that you can watch it anytime, on your schedule. Debby is such an amazingly talented instructor that she can’t possibly give enough in-person classes for everyone who wants to learn from her. So I’m extremely grateful that I can watch her class at my convenience, day or nite! In fact, for several of the motifs I found myself using the Craftsy 30-second repeat option so I could watch her form the stitches over and over again.

On Sale Now!

As I was watching and reviewing Free-Motion Quilting with Lines, Curves and Loops, I got the heads up that it is on sale now, along with dozens of other courses, this weekend only. So be sure to sign up while you are thinking about it!

In fact, be sure to click here for all Craftsy classes on sale. Then be a good student and engage with your fellow classmates and share pictures of your work!

 

Why I Love Electric Quilt

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First things first, my friends at Electric Quilt did not sponsor this post in any way. 🙂 However, they recently featured me in an ad campaign for a couple of magazines (McCall’s Quilting May/June and American Patchwork & Quilting June issue) so I thought I would share a little bit more about why I enjoy using their software, plus show a few designs that are a blast from my past. I’ve come a long way!

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I bought the first version of the program way back when it was EQ4. Back in the days when I was teaching a lot locally (before I discovered modern quilting and realized people would buy my patterns), I used EQ to draw diagrams which I would use as handouts for my classes. The user functionality was somewhat limited and I printed everything in black in white,  but I was able to do pretty much whatever I needed to for my class presentations.

20150320_eqsketch1An early EQ5 sketch where I took a commercial pattern, redrafted and resized it.

I have to admit that I’ve never used the calculate fabric function, because I prefer to do my own math. But, I use most of the other functionality and especially love to be able to import swatches of fabrics and print off full color images of my designs. I also save images of the quilt and individual blocks in photoshop, and then manipulate them to use when writing my patterns.

Over the years I’ve upgraded to EQ5, then EQ6, tried it for awhile on a Mac using parallels, upgraded to EQ7 on a regular PC, and am finally using the EQ7 Mac version natively and I love it. Although it’s still written for windows, there is no difference in functionality between the standard version and the Mac version that I can tell.

20150320_eqsketch2An EQ6 design I made for my oldest son once I learned how to import fabric swatches directly into the program. He sketched the space shuttle and I turned it into a quilt with wonky stars.

I have to tell you I am by no means an expert EQ user. However, I did force myself to sit down and go through the manual, page by page and try out all the tutorials. I’m a learn-as-needed sort of person, so now whenever I need to learn how a particular function works, I just go through their help system, and check out the tutorials and lessons on the EQ site. When all else fails, I google what I’m looking for and will usually run across someone’s step-by-step blog tutorial.

I also really like how many other EQ users will share some of their project download files for free to other users. I’ve also shared quite a few, and you can find my free downloads here.

20150320_eqsketchtempleOne of my early EQ7 experiments where I redrew a paper pieced block to f it inside of a larger frame and added applique lettering. This was a gift for a dear friend & church leader.

So far EQ7 has served me well, and I now use it to design every quilt I make. I will have to disappoint some of you though, and let you know I’ve decided not to pursue teaching classes on how to use it. I did think about this for awhile, but honestly, my time is limited and I’d rather spend it teaching piecing and quilting classes rather than software classes. But the good news is that there are tons of online classes at EQ University that you can check out.

Yes, purchasing EQ software is an investment in both money and time, but for me it was totally worth the cost!

Paper Pieced Modern Book Tour & Giveaway!

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You know, one of the things I love most about the online quilting community is getting to know amazing quilters. When one of my virtual quilting friends writes a book, of course I want to tell you about it. 🙂

Blog Hop copyMeet Amy Garro, the brilliant designer behind the book Paper Pieced Modern. (Remember, Amy was also the one who started the Quilty Little Secrets blog meme which made its rounds in blog-land awhile back).

Although all 13 designs from the book are fabulous, today I get to focus on one specific quilt, Apple Stars. Isn’t it stunning?

Apple Stars Flat Shot 2Apple Stars Quilt 50″ x 50″ by Amy Garro. Photography by C&T Publishing.

The blocks are a generous 14″ x 14″ and I love how they float on the background. That’s a great design aesthetic because you don’t have to stress about chopping off your points when piecing!

Here’s what Amy had to say about this specific design:

“I had been looking through Nani Iro’s fabrics and when I saw this spotted one, I just knew I had to use it for this project! It’s a double gauze, which I’ve never worked with before. I found it very tricky & shifty. I starched the heck out of it and really benefited from the paper foundations – they stabilized the blocks as I was sewing.”

Apple Stars Flat Shot 1Image courtesy of C&T

Amy continues,

“The other challenge I ran into with this fabric was the fact that the dots were very sparse along the outer edges of the print. I had to use modified cutting instructions and order extra yardage. I absolutely love how it turned out, but what you probably wouldn’t guess by looking at this quilt is that I spent $100 on just the dotted fabric alone! Crazy!”

Isn’t the quilting scrumptious? It was quilted by Emily Session of Emerson Quilting.

Apple Stars 3Image courtesy of Amy Garro.

 I for one think her efforts were worth it. I love the effect of the white fabric among the dots. Can you just imagine it in other colors? I did, so I jumped on the computer and quickly re-sketched the block in EQ using scrappy Sunprints from Alison Glass.

Apple Stars Alison GlasszWouldn’t this be a great way to use up your colorful scraps?

Be sure to check out the schedule below to see the rest of the quilts from the book. I know Amy is going to QuiltCon (and Apple Stars will be there, too!) so I can’t wait to hunt her down and chat in person. 🙂

And Now for the Giveaway!

paperpiecedmodern

One of my readers will win a copy of Paper Pieced Modern by Amy Garro (hard copy for US addresses, E-copy for international folks). To enter, simply jump through each of the stops on the hop to see of all the quilts from the book.

Then, come back here to tell me which one of the quilts is your favorite! Of course, they haven’t all been revealed at the time of this blog post, so if you want to come back and leave a comment later after you’ve seen them all, that’s great, too!

The giveaway on my blog will remain open through midnight on Monday, February 16th. I’ll draw a winner’s name at random on Tuesday morning.

Good luck and happy hopping!

Have You Heard of Make Modern Magazine?

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Hey guys, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a review but I wanted to tell you about this cool new digital magazine that just recently launched. It’s called Make Modern Magazine and is the brainchild of three super creative gals from Australia – Jane Kelly, Kristy Lea, and Lara Motta.

Make Modern Issue Three CollageMake Modern – Issue 3

I’ve known Kristy online for a couple of years. She’s an amazing pattern designer with a penchant for paper-piecing (say that 3 times fast) and I love everything she does! I do have to mention that I’m a little biased towards this magazine because I’ve been invited to share a pattern in a future issue (more details as that gets closer).

Make Modern is chock full of great article as well as patterns. I don’t know about you, but I really like “reading” quilting magazines, not just looking at all the pretty pictures, though it includes many of those as well. Some of my favorite issues have included tips on free-motion quilting (of course!), working with half-square triangles, and profiles of many of my favorite makers. Because I love being part of the online community, it’s especially fun to see well-known blogging friends contributing to the magazine.

MM Issue Two CollageMake Modern – Issue 2

You can purchase single issues of the magazine as well as 3 issue (6 month) or 6 issue (yearly) digital subscriptions. I myself ordered the yearly subscription to get the best discount and I get an email with a link to the PDF download as each issue is published.

One of my favorite things about this being a digital magazine is that it includes tons of embedded links that take you right to the pattern designer’s blog to get to know more about them. How cool is that? Each issue also includes some pretty generous giveaways just for their readers.

MM Issue One Collage

I invite you to check it out – I think you’ll really like it! And if you are an aspiring designer like me, I know they are always looking for submissions.

By the way, if you want to listen to Jane & Kristy’s awesome accents, be sure to catch their recent interview on the Modern Sewciety podcast!

Some Craftsy Love and an Awesome Quilting Resource

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In addition to sharing tips and tricks here on my own blog (and the occasional 15 second video tutorial on instagram), I’m also a freelance writer for the Craftsy blog. The cool thing about that is that I can reach a wider audience and participate in roundups of fun topics.

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Recently on the Craftsy blog, one of the other authors has put together an incredible quilting resource: 135 Trick, Tips and Tutorials for quilting. It includes many of my tutorials as well as plenty of other bloggers and instructors you’ll recognize. Pretty much anything you want to know is in this resource and it’s almost like having an entire book’s worth of content at your fingertips, so check it out when you get the chance.

In other Craftsy news, they’ve announced their second Craftsy Blogger Awards, so that should be fun to follow. You can nominate your favorite blogs in 15 different categories, including of course quilting and sewing.

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For whatever reason, they skipped doing it in 2014, but in 2013 my blog was one of the four finalists chosen for quilting tutorials so that was pretty fun.

Check out details and nominate your favorite blogs here.

Finally, since I’m spreading the Craftsy love, I thought I’d share with you two of my current recommendations for classes. These are courses on my agenda to watch in my spare time. There’s nothing more motivating than be inspired by these fabulous teachers:

Start Foundation Paper Piecing With Elizabeth Dackson

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This is Elizabeth’s latest class which I just signed up for. I enjoyed her teaching style from her previous class Start Free-Motion Quilting so I’m excited to see more of the same thorough instruction with a different topic.

The Secrets of Free-Motion Quilting With Christina Cameli

20150110_fmq_secretsNo matter how much I teach machine quilting, it’s always fun to see how other instructors present the material, and I know I’ll pick up a new tip or two! I really enjoyed Christina’s first book, and I know I’ll enjoy her class just as much!

What’s on your quilty agenda?

Check out Me Being Crafty Podcast and Listen to My Interview

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Hey guys, have you heard of this great new creative podcast? It’s called Me Being Crafty and it’s hosted by Tsoniki Crazy Bull. When Tsoniki reached out to me and invited me to be on the show, I immediately listened to all the past episodes to get a feel for her audience and presentation style. After just a few minutes of listening, I quickly said yes!

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Tsoniki encourages you to find your creativity every day, no matter what you do. She interviews fun people like quilters, sewists, lifestyle bloggers, and all sorts of creative folks. On the podcast, Tsoniki shares her passion for creativity along with snippets of her life as a mom and military wife currently living in France, along with a touch of her Native American culture.

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Click here to listen to my interview. There’s a player at the top of the page. Just click play to listen on your computer.

You can also subscribe to the podcast via Itunes or Stitcher.

Me Being CraftyTsoniki and I chatted about modern quilting, the importance of quality tools, why I love teaching, and a little bit about my journey as a quilter.

She publishes podcasts twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with one guest per episode. Each podcast runs about 20-30 minutes. They are fun to listen to while sewing!

Click here for my publicity page to check out my other interviews and features. 🙂