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I recently finished making a fun yet chaotic quilt backing from leftovers of my colorful fabrics. I’m calling the quilt Colorful Chaos and it was a fun experiment in learning to piece inset circles. You can see the image of the front pinned to the design wall next to the backing.

This is my 3rd post in a series about making this quilt. It’s been wonderful to sew on between other “work” projects, without a strict deadline. Click below to read about parts 1 and 2, written before I finally designed on a name for this quilt:

Part ...

Sometimes you may get tired of quilting smooth curving lines and you want to opt for something different, and maybe a little bit edgy. Well, this week’s video tutorial is the perfect fit! These are some of my go to designs for edge to edge quilting, and they always look great! Take a look below to watch:

Whenever I teach machine quilting workshops in person, I always remind my students that it’s important to practice stitching angular designs as well as curvy ones. You may find that one type is easier than the other so that’s useful ...

I’m usually pretty good about making a new project from start to finish, but every now and then one of my quilts takes a little longer to finish. My Interlinked quilt was sitting for 2 years just waiting for me to put the binding on – can you believe it??

• Click here to get the Interlinked Quilt Pattern – Printed Version
• Click here to get the Interlinked Quilt Pattern – PDF Version

But I finally finished it on a recent beach vacation so I was able to get some fun “on location” photos of it. Fun fact – we took a photo of ...

In a heartfelt journey of transformation, we embraced change, moving closer to our grandchildren, and creating a new dream studio. Through meticulous design and cherished memories, I built a space brimming with intention, comfort, and inspiration. Blessed with love, light, and creativity, it reflects a life dedicated to passion and purpose. Continue reading →

The meandering curves and bumps of free-motion stipple quilting help you master creating a smooth, fluid movement. That’s why I wanted to share this short and sweet tutorial early on in my series of 99 Machine Quilting Designs. Take a look at my new machine quilting video below and let me know what you think!

Now I know what you are thinking, “but how do I do that on a real quilt?” In my bonus video below, I show you how to quilt stipple on a real quilt, demonstrating this versatile design on my Modern Logs pattern. This video ...

Because every family that raises chickens needs a chicken quilt! It was such fun pulling fabrics for this one! These chickens were inspired by a chicken block from Sewinspired.  Each block was a joy filled 15 minutes of daily play … Continue reading →

For many Christmas’s, my five siblings, and I, rotated through our names and each made a hand crafted gift for another. I almost always make a quilt. I had previously made three (sadly no photo of the first…) for this … Continue reading →

I am hopeful that 2025 is a year of discovery, fun, family and friend gatherings...but mostly, quilting!

Hey, it is what it is! I spent the bulk of my first month of retirement just relaxing, and that was good for me. Very little happened in the way of quilting other than tearing off the foundation paper from the Tattoo Quilt and adding sashing to the blocks. In the crafting area, I played with my ScanNCut and cut out names from vinyl for each of our granddogs and grandcats (and our own Jolene and Jedi) and adhered them to bandanas ...

I’m excited to announce I got the shipping date for my newest collection (#10) – Dazzle Dots 2 from Benartex. It will be shipping late February to early March, so I can now open up pre-orders for this colorful group!

Click here to reserve your Dazzle Dots 2 fabric.

Just like my previous collections, I’ve put together custom bundles and kits, in addition to the standard precuts (strips, squares and fat quarter stacks). I’m also filming videos for each quilt I make from this fabric, and I can’t wait to share those with you, once the fabric ...

Merry Christmas from the Watsons! This time of year I’m so very thankful for your support of our small family business. Jason and I have been full time entrepreneurs since 2006 and it’s been quite the journey! We’ve raised our kids to understand the value of hard work and know that (hopefully) they can achieve their dreams, even if they experience bumps along the way.

As empty nesters, it’s wonderful when all of the adult kids are home at once!

To Celebrate the end of this year and the start of the new one, I invite ...

This is the second time I’ve made this Freewheeling Single Girl quilt. The first time was for our oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in 2017. Both times I resized the rings so you got more rings per quilt. To make … Continue reading →

I recently had the opportunity to be a guest on Annie Unrein’s Live YouTube show. We talked about how you can apply machine quilting designs to her cute bag projects and patterns. We discussed things to think about when using her fabulous product called Soft and Stable. The most fun part was getting to show off a cute project that my mom (Also Annie) had made using the fabric I had quilted the previous time I was on Live with Annie. (Click the images if you don’t see the play buttons below.)

Recent Episode 44 from Season 4 ...

When I saw this design I knew I needed it in my life!!! And then I decided I needed to make it for all three of our children as Christmas quilt. I have made each of them many quilts over … Continue reading →

Our oldest daughter’s former college roommate asked me to make a memory quilt from her mother’s tee shirt collection. Of course, I agreed. How could I not, she is like another daughter to us. I didn’t want the typical memory … Continue reading →

18 months ago we moved into our newly renovated house and had a lot more space.  We had spent all of our money on the renovation so we were not in the market for buying furniture.  Some people set aside money for doing that but we just don't do that.  So I kept my eye our on freecycle for furniture.  We had only been back in the house for 6 weeks when an advert came up for two two seater sofas, and they were only about 2 miles away.  I asked for them immediately.  It wasn't that surprising ...

Join us for this episode where Vanessa will go over what fabrics and sewing supplies she will have for sale this Black Friday! The sale may even start a little sooner so you don’t want to miss out because everything will be whiles supplies last!

The sale will include fabric, thread, sewing courses, rulers and even discounted club memberships! You don’t want to miss it!

• Shop the SALE here: https://craftygemini.com/product-category/featured/

Sign up for the Crafty Gemini Newsletter to receive reminders about future sales: https://craftygemini.com/newsletter/

The post WIP Wednesday #155: Black Friday ...

I’ve been working on a remake of my popular Color Weave quilt. I realized that I don’t create a ton of new patterns each year and I really like remaking some of my classics! It’s been super fun to create it from my current fabric collection, Dazzle Dots (#9 if you are counting). Originally I made this quilt using my Abstract Garden fabric line (#3) which is shown on the pattern cover below. Don’t they look similar?

I spray baste all of my quilts, so I took the opportunity of creating a step-by-step video tutorial showing ...

Does anyone remember an old song from the 40’s called “I got the Sun in the Morning “? It was written by Irving Berlin in 1946 for a musical called “Annie Get Your Gun”.

I’ve been humming that tune while working on this great panel designed by the Morris Group for QT Fabrics. The panel measures 36″ x 43″. Bohemian Sunrise will be available in early 2025.

I was at a quilt retreat last weekend with my friends the Turtle Crew. I took off the borders which left me with a width of 28″ for the panel. I cut ...