What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

The spring has been good to us. We got some very lovely quilts in that I know you are going to love. I wish I could show them all to you, but that would make for a very long post. We got in a number of modern quilts as well as a Dresden plate and a simple, but not simple, block quilt. You’ll understand what I mean in a minute. I think you’ll also see why April renters bring May admirers. Because I know I am an admirer!

Chemical Formula for Beauty

This blue beauty is from Anna ...

Spring is finally upon us and it is time to enjoy bright colors and warm weather again… eventually… we hope. We can at least enjoy a little March Renter Quilting Madness with some bright colors in our quilts. So I have a lovely selection on some of the quilts that have come to us this last month. We’ve got some very bright creations and some very creative creations. I am always so inspired by what I see here in the shop. There are a couple of these that are now in my quilting bucket list.

Shelley made a Solid ...

Can you believe that another month has passed us by? Where is the year going so fast? It is time for a renter retrospective. We got to see a lot of lovely quilts this month. I love the creativity of our renters. They always surprise me with what they bring in. There are so many great patterns out there, and then there are an infinite number of fabric combinations to do with them. It never gets old.

Art Deco Rulerwork

Carolyn’s daughter-in-law wanted a quilt that was Art Deco. So Carolyn got online and found this fabric. It is ...

The first month of the year is over and I’m wondering where it went. Sometimes it feels like it will never end and then you turn around and it’s gone. Here is our long arm renter January review. We saw a lot of very pretty quilts this month! We’ve been posting them on our Instagram and Facebook pages, so for those who follow us on those apps, these may seem familiar. But they were so pretty, I thought those who haven’t seen them would enjoy them, and those that have would like seeing them again!

Another year has passed, we’re all another year older, and its time for another Renter Round Up.  It hasn’t been the year that we were hoping for, but it wasn’t all bad either. One of the things I am grateful for is having renters here in the shop.  We see such a wide selection of quilt tops.  All different difficulty levels and colors coming from lots of different people at many different stages in their journey as quilters. 

Here is a renter round up of some of the beautiful quilts that we saw this year. If you ...

We love our renters. They bring in such lovely quilts. The one downfall for me is after seeing all these lovely quilts I now have a long list of quilts that I have to make now. I don’t know if it’s the colors or the piecing that draws my eyes more. You can tell me exactly what makes them so pretty. This is a renter roundup of some of my favorites over the last couple of months.

First up in the renter roundup: A Bright 16 Patch

This is a fun quilt by Leann. The bold gray lines ...

Many people shy away from complicated quilts. I can’t blame them. Tiny pieces or curved pieces, maybe even Y-seams would scare anyone. But sometimes you can get the same Wow-factor from simple piecing with just amazing color placement. These cases are when a design wall matters to spread the quilt out and see them laid out the way you want them. Not all of us have that luxury, but for those that do… what beauties they can make! The concept for the following quilts from Quilted Joy’s longarm machine renters are simple, half square triangles and simple blocks ...

Many of us associate warm happy feelings with the holidays for good reason. Christmas is a time for gathering with family and friends for good food, gifts, and fun. Wouldn’t it be great to enjoy some of those things all year long? Besides, as quilters and all craft makers, Christmas needs to start a bit earlier than you might think because it takes time to complete these beautiful creations in time to give them on the 25th of December. So although we think of snow and chilly weather when we think of Christmas, we are celebrating a sweltering Christmas ...

These longarm renters at Quilted Joy have gone wild with their quilts using nature as an inspiration. As artists we can receive inspiration from many different sources, one of which is obviously nature. What we do with that inspiration is what makes us artists. Sometimes inspiration can take us into the wild. A couple of the following quilts were made with patterns, but each needed the creative input of an inspired artist to complete.

“Cora” a Laura Heine pattern

A popular collage artist that people are following these days is Laura Heine. Her quilts have gone wild and because of ...

There are a lot of very colorful quilts out in the world. Who doesn’t love bright colorful quilts? But there is also beauty in simplicity. Now you can simplify with your piecing or your quilting. But you can also simplify the numbers of colors in your quilt and keep the complicated piecing or fancy quilting. Check out these tricolored quilts that our longarm renters have finished. 

Blue, Black, and White

This is Karen’s tricolored longarm rental certification quilt. She pieced it overnight using only five fabrics. Isn’t it fun? Besides the simplicity of the color palette, I ...

Pantographs and design boards are wonderful and beautiful ways to put a professional design onto your quilt without being a professional yourself.  We sell several paper pantographs that work great with many longarm machines. (Sorry, machine quilters at home. These don’t work so well on a domestic machine.) But sometimes you just want to be free to do whatever you want. Free motion quilting can be intricate and intentional, but it can also be very free flowing and a little wild. These are some quilts with renters who decided to free-motion.

Meandering with Trina

Doing a meander on a ...

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first person to say we should not rush the seasons and I don’t believe that it is appropriate to put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. Christmas is a beautiful and wonderful time of year, but that doesn’t mean I want four plus months of it. But those of us who are in a crafting lifestyle know that the season does need to start a little earlier in our sewing rooms if we want to be done in time to enjoy our creations during the season. So in ...

Have you ever noticed that your mood can actually change based on the colors you look at? There is actually a field of study called Color Psychology that looks into this exact thing. With all the gloom and craziness that this year has been, let’s look at some high energy, happy and colorful quilts to take us into fall. You’ll probably notice that no one is wearing a mask, even though we are all wearing masks. Don’t worry, these ladies came in to quilt before Covid.

Kaffe Fabric with Kathy

This is a great quilt to start ...

Quilts with bright beautiful colors are very common. If you are going to go through the trouble of making a quilt, why wouldn’t you chose some incredible colors to do it with? But the shapes you are sewing can be lost if every fabric in the quilt is equally bright and beautiful. It would be lovely to look at, but difficult to see. When your colorful fabrics are filling a plain background, they can really stand out. Check out what our longarm renters (from before the pandemic) did with bright and beautiful colors and simple white backgrounds.

Big Blocks ...

Patriotic quilts have been a part of our common history since the country began. And there is no slowing down now. With the fourth of July just around the corner, it is not a bad time to plan a quilt for it. The Star-Spangled Banner is only one of the twenty-nine flags in the world that is made of red, white, and blue. Even more of them have stars. But when you are in the USA, anything that has red, white, and blue automatically feels patriotic regardless of the shape it is in. These longarm machine renters are ready for ...

These quilters all brought in quilts with soft and bright pastel colors in their fabrics. Some of the quilts are simple and some are intricate and complex. But all are sweet in pinks, sky blues, yellows and greens. I think these are loads of fun.

Oh how we miss our renters! We have not been able to have anyone or their beautiful quilts come into the shop for a month and we miss them so. But at least we still have some pictures from when they were able to come in.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice ...

Art often uses motifs from nature. What we see all around us can often be very inspiring. Many of our longarm machine renters will bring in quilts featuring leaves, flowers, and other plant life. But animals should not be forgotten in this scenario, especially our beloved pets. You can even theme a quilt to your favorite book or television show. The possibilities are endless. The following renters have brought in some beautiful quilts, with themes such as Cats and Frogs and the Wizard of Oz!

Cheri’s Cats

First off are the cats. Cheri made this cute cat quilt for ...

When I decide to make a quilt I always start with a little inspiration. Sometimes that involves checking out my favorite blogs, or websites to see what everyone else is making. Often though, it means walking around my favorite local quilt shops looking for that signature fabric that just speaks to me. You know what I mean. That piece that has all the right colors or a design that makes me laugh. Something that I want to own and work with for a little while. The following quilters know what I mean. They found that fun fabric to make a ...

There are many beautiful colors. In fact all colors are beautiful in my opinion. Who am I kidding, black and white quilts are beautiful as are gray quilts. But one of my favorite colors is purple. There is something so bold and soft at the same time as that luscious combination of red and blue. There is a good reason it is the color of royalty. Mainly because the dye was so expensive to obtain, but no matter. It is regal and glorious and should be loved by all. Here are a couple of gorgeous purple quilts from our longarm ...

Gray is often a color that gets a bad reputation. Gray skies are seen as depressing or signaling an impending storm. When someone is referred to as “gray”, they mean they are old or infirm. But gray can be a truly beautiful color. A neutral color, it can be mixed with just about anything to mute and subdue the overall palette. Alone, it can take on the color of silver and coolness. When quilting a top that is a riot of color, it’s a great thread color that will blend with everything and not stand out. Our longarm machine ...