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In this episode Vanessa will walk you through how she decides what to freehand quilt on her quilts. She needs to finish a Halloween wallhanging and will you bring you along for the ride today! 

If you are in the market for a longarm setup this is a great way to visually see how the throat space of the machine will affect your design capabilities. 

Vanessa will discuss the thread, stitch length and machine settings she uses to compfrtably free hand her quilting designs. 

• Handi Quilter Moxie setup (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4dV4BfH

• Handi Quilter Ruler Base (affiliate link ...

Happy Wednesday! We’re doing things a tiny bit differently around here today. We are not quite back to normal around here after Hurricane Helene came through last week. Enjoy this pre-recorded BONUS video lesson from one of our Quilt Clubs on how to piece a quilt top using the spider web method.

We plan to be back next week with our regularly scheduled live show!

In this video Vanessa shares a fast way to piece your quilt tops! This technique is often called the spider web method and makes piecing a quilt top so much more enjoyable and faster ...

In this show Vanessa shares a fast way to piece your quilt blocks or quilt tops! This technique is often called the spider web method and makes piecing a quilt top so much more enjoyable and faster than the traditional method of grabbing one block at a time!

Vanessa will demo the technique on a smaller scale with 2.5” squares so it’s easier to understand! Once you get it you will never piece your quilt tops using any other method! It’s a game changer, for sure!

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• Essentials Tote ...

Welcome to WIP Wednesday! In this show Vanessa has lots to share including:

• 2 super quick and easy, no waste quilt blocks to make with her 10” Slicer ruler.

• Progress on her latest Ranunuculus sweater (Pattern here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ranunculus-3)

Sign up for the Crafty Gemini Newsletter to receive reminders about next week’s episode: https://craftygemini.com/newsletter/

What we’re covering:

0:23 – Welcome to WIP Wednesday #146

1:18 – Ranunuculus sweater update

4:06 – Stripology quilt blocks + fabric bundles

5:27 – 10” Slicer Ruler demo intro

7:38 – Cutting precuts with the Crafty ...

In this episode of WIP Wednesday Vanessa is answering some of your questions about quilting basics!

It’s a new year and if you are ready to learn (or improve!) your quilting skills this episode is for you. Whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced quilter, there’s always more quilting tricks to learn!

Tune in LIVE and hear her tips on cutting and piecing more accurately so you start working on amazing quilts this year.

• ASK YOUR QUESTIONS: Submit your own question to be answered on a future WIP Wednesday here: https://forms.gle/D2qMCVJxfAgJHvWb7

What we ...

How to start quilting

Life is a whirlwind of extremes. Happy times; hard times. Miracles and loss. But as our hearts are stretched in a thousand directions, they sure do grow! 

If you’re anything like me, you pour your emotions into your quilts. And this week’s quilt is bursting with love!

Watch Jenny stitch up the wildly popular Exploding Hearts quilt by Laura Piland for Slice of Pi Quilts. This stunning heart quilt is a triumph of triangles with half-square triangles, hourglass blocks, and quarter-square triangles, too. (We love Exploding Hearts SO MUCH, we created a kit with the pattern and beautiful ...

Do you remember discovering precuts for the very first time? Vanessa Goertzen sure does! 

It was 2010, and Vanessa had just learned that her new baby was going to be a girl. On the way home from the ultrasound, she stopped at a fabric shop to pick up something pink.

There, she laid eyes on a stack of precut 5 inch charms, and a creative fire was lit! (12 years later, Vanessa designs incredible precut patterns for her very own Lella Boutique!)  

This week, Jenny is stitching up one of Vanessa’s prettiest patterns. Chandelier is a quick and easy ...

On live TV in 1956, magician P.C. Sorcar began to “saw” his wife in half. Suddenly, the host signed off and the program went dark!

Viewers across the country assumed the worst. (Something went wrong! The poor woman was dead!) But the truth was much less gory: The live broadcast had simply run out of time. How’s that for an illusion falling flat!

This week, Jenny has a trick up her sleeve that’ll earn you big “oohs” and “ahhs” without a single hiccup!

“Wallah!” – or voilà – is a magical layer cake quilt pattern from Material Girlfriends. With ...

When you make the Serendipity Infinity quilt, you’ll end up with scraps. 

You can use those scraps to make a pretty table runner. But guess what? You’ll still have scraps. Make another table runner, and still, more scraps. Keep sewing!

When all is said and done, you’ll have a beautiful quilt + up to NINE table runners to use as gifts! Is it a Christmas miracle? Nope! It’s Serendipity Infinity!

Jenny Doan loves to quilt everywhere she goes: In the studio. On the couch. In waiting rooms and on long drives. (Can you relate?) Life is more fun with a needle and thread in tow!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Jenny has whipped up a quilt-as-you-go heart quilt using fat quarters and the fabulous Jewel Template. Best of all, these pretty hearts can be sewn by machine or by hand! 

Jewel Heart is a great project for long waits and nervous energy, and it makes such a sweet gift, too!

Mae Emma Plumb was a talented lady. 

She sewed and painted and baked excellent pies. She kept a lovely flower garden and volunteered countless hours crafting costumes and planning skits for the local Boy Scout troop. And, best of all, she made quilts. 

Years and years have passed – four generations, in fact – but by some magic, one of Mae’s quilts still exists. It belongs to Mae’s great-granddaughter Kate, our very own Missouri Star marketing manager.

Of course, when Jenny saw Grandma Mae’s antique quilt, she fell head-over-heels in love! She did a bit of research and found ...

The Periwinkle Template is a magical thing. (In fact, it has its very own playlist of projects!)

We’ve used it for spiderwebs, mug rugs, and butterflies. We’ve used it for modern quilts and old-fashioned classics.

But this week, I think we may have found its true calling.

Periwinkle Plates is a breathtaking applique pattern made with a layer cake, a charm pack, and our beloved template. It’s put together like a simplified Dresden Plate—with only 6 blades instead of 20! 

Jenny used Christmas fabric in her quilt, but – as always – your quilt will look beautiful in ...

A butterfly is the pickiest of guests. 
Invite her for brunch, and she won’t eat a bite—unless you serve her favorite food. (Milkweed for monarchs; white cedar for hairstreaks.)

On evening strolls, the weather must be perfect. If it’s too chilly, your fluttery friend will simply stop, drop, and nap. 

And no matter how lovely the guest room, it won’t tempt Miss Butterfly. Oh, she may request a posh butterfly house. But rest assured she’ll never step inside.

This week Jenny is stitching up a layer cake butterfly quilt fit for a queen. She’s ...

There are so many steps to making a quilt, from choosing the pattern and fabric, through to the last binding stitch (by hand or by machine!). And it often feels like piecing the quilt top and the actual quilting step are two very, very different tasks. Because they are! Sewing some long seams to piece the quilt top together is a whole other ball game compared to shoving a quilt sandwich (top, batting, backing) through your sewing machine.

So here are some tips and tricks to consider when deciding how to quilt on a domestic sewing machine, especially when it ...

Hold onto your Santa hat, folks!

We’re celebrating Christmas in July with 3 festive quilts + 3 bonus projects made with our brand new Wing Template!

Christmas Tree Farm

Of course, these pretty new layer cake patterns would shine in any season, but we’ve added a sprinkling of Christmas magic with holiday fabric and machine quilting stitch patterns featuring snowflakes, jingle bells, and Christmas lights!

Layered Diamonds

Best of all, each of these quilts ...

In 1899, an unknown quilter began stitching fabric scraps on a paper foundation. Alas, the quilt was never finished. (It happens to us all!) The incomplete top is on display at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the paper is still intact.

Candy Lane

Can you guess what that paper foundation is made of? Old letters! I’d sure love to inspect those tiny bits of history!

Skyward

The first time Jenny Doan made a self-binding baby quilt, her husband was skeptical. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to work, dear…”

Undaunted, Jenny replied, “Just you watch!” And guess what? It did work, and it was fab-u-lous!

Over the years, Jenny’s Self-Binding Baby Blanket tutorial has been watched millions of times. (Imagine all the babies who have been wrapped in those sweet little quilts ...

People often find quilting in times of need to help them through difficult situations – that’s how The Quilting Marine first discovered his love for quilting. After serving 20 years in the United States Marine Corps, The Quilting Marine found quilting as his therapy for PTSD related issues. Now, he has a new goal and his YouTube channel says it best, “I taught myself to quilt and would like to help you make quilts that you can admire for years to come.”

What is your favorite part of the quilting process?

My favorite part is piecing the ...