What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Here we are, folks! We have made it to the final lesson in Mini Masterpieces! It has certainly been a long(er than expected) journey… thanks 2020, but we made it. A huge thanks to everyone who has stuck around this long, and also to those who have dipped in and out to make what they love and learn what they need to. I’m so grateful for all your support!

BUY THE BOOK

If you’re wanting to get your hands on a copy of Mini Masterpieces for yourself, I have signed copies of Mini Masterpieces available in store ...

We are at the penultimate month of the Mini Masterpieces quilt along! This month, we’re branching out into some hand sewing with English Paper Piecing. English paper piecing, also known as EPP, is the method of temporarily basting fabric to a small paper shape, and hand sewing the shapes together to create a larger design. Sometimes it’s making little blocks and appliqueing it to a background fabric, and sometimes it’s creating a whole panel or quilt! Both methods are demonstrated in this chapter of Mini Masterpieces.

BUY THE BOOK

If you’re wanting to get your hands ...

Happy new year, lovely quilters! We made it through 2020… Let’s kick 2021’s booty, hey?! This month also marks the start of the final section of Mini Masterpieces – Piecing. We’ll be conquering applique, English paper piecing, and foundation paper piecing. We got this!

BUY THE BOOK

I have currently sold out of signed copies of Mini Masterpieces, but you can still find it in many stores.

And if you’re planning on joining in on the English paper piecing next month, then heads up – order your Carpenter’s Diamond paper piecing kit from me ASAP to get ...

Ho ho ho…w is it December?! This has been the longest year of my life, but here we are, preparing for the festivities, and praying that 2021 is a heckuva lot better than it’s predecessor.

BUY THE BOOK

If you’re wanting to get your hands on a copy of Mini Masterpieces for yourself, I have signed copies of Mini Masterpieces available in store.

DECEMBER – IMPROV CURVES

Guess what? I still laugh when I think of how I have a section on improv in my book. Me?! Improv?! Laughable only just a couple of years ago! I liked ...

The curve-alicious month continues today! Last week, I shared some tips on how to accurately cut curves for quilting, so now it’s time to move onto how to sew curves, and my 3-pin method.

Yes, I sew most of my curves with just three pins. This method works for whatever type of curve you are sewing, whether it’s drunkards path like the Simple Curves chapter in Mini Masterpieces, or different types of curves like in the Complex Curves chapter. To demonstrate just how I do it, I have made a video tutorial to show you! Click on the ...

And we are back with the Mini Masterpieces quilt along, folks! Thank you so much for understanding about needing to take a break from work, including this quilt along. I won’t lie – my book’s first year has not gone at all to plan, which has been quite hard to deal with at times. But here I am, dusting off the disappointment and pushing on nevertheless, because I still love my book and it still deserves its time to shine despite 2020!

BOOK SALE!

If you’re wanting to get your hands on a copy of Mini Masterpieces for ...

And now it is July… I saw a meme that said perhaps the person who said that “Hindsight is 20/20” was actually a time traveller referring to this year. Certainly makes sense! For those who haven’t seen the news elsewhere, we have recently found out that we need to move, and so my life is now a chaotic mess of boxes and tubs and bits and pieces everywhere. Oh, and did I mention it’s also school holidays here? And my city, Melbourne, is experiencing a second wave of the virus. So yes, 2020 just keeps on with ...

Welcome to June – congratulations folks, we are nearly halfway through this year… never did I think I would find such solace in creating and stitching this year. How about you? The desire to simply stitch, and forget about the world for an hour or two…

BACK IN STOCK

If you’re wanting to get your hands on a copy of Mini Masterpieces for yourself, I have signed copies of Mini Masterpieces available in store.

JUNE – HALF-RECTANGLE TRIANGLES

This month is our final look at triangles! This month, it’s time to practise your half-rectangle triangles.

Just as the name suggests ...

Well, life is continuing on, and we’re muddling on… here in my state, we’re remote learning this term – which means potentially as long as to the end of June. So yes, onwards we go! Keeping expectations low and keeping calmer because of it, and once again, focusing on just getting the quilt top done for Tropical Sunset. I went with a scrappy background using leftovers from this quilt, and Anna Maria Horner Loominous for the prints. You can kinda see that the red, yellow and and white prints have a metallic gold thread running through them!

You can ...

Wow, that was the longest month of my life… and I’m thinking April is going to be a competing for that title! This global pandemic biz has had a bit of an impact on the Mini Masterpieces QAL, but we shall continue on! The first impact has been a few concerned messages and comments that some people are unable to finish their Abacus quilts during March due to the inability to access finishing supplies, and/or the time and space to sew due to the sudden stay home measures in place around the world and the resulting influx of ...

Welcome to March, and month three of the Mini Masterpieces QAL! Thanks for your patience at the small delay of officially starting this month. I have been so touched with the support at the loss of Susanne Woods, the founder of my publisher, Lucky Spool. I can assure you that Mini Masterpieces (and all other Lucky Spool books) will continue to be sold around the world, and I am expecting more stock early next month after the Australian distributor had sold out of their first shipment (yay!).

So, February and strip piecing! You can find out the block and quilt ...

Each month this year for the Mini Masterpieces QAL, I am remaking each mini quilt from my book in one range of fabric. The quilts in Mini Masterpieces are all scrappy, so I’m enjoying the opportunity to grab a bundle of fun fabric and go… and to show off my friends’ fabrics too!

For February’s quilt, I used Paradigm and the brand new Paradigm SHIFT by Sarah Thomas from Sariditty. The new Paradigm SHIFT includes a range of low-volume coordinates to her first line, Paradigm. As I wanted to show off more as many prints as I could ...

High on my list of things to do once my book, Mini Masterpieces, was out in the world was to host a book release party. Why should all that fun be just for fiction books?! And now that the holidays are done and the kids are back to school, it’s time to party! *cue the confetti*

UPDATE – I had previously advertised that preorders of my book were available to collect on the day, but unfortunately (well, fortunately?!) the distributor is out of stock and as such, there won’t be any copies of Mini Masterpieces available on the day ...

Welcome to February, and month two of the Mini Masterpieces QAL! I have been blown away by the amazing blocks and minis that you creative folk made last month for the Simple Squares lesson. You can find out the winners here, but here’s a quick snapshot of just some of the gorgeous makes shared on Instagram using #MiniMasterpiecesQAL:

You can find more in the Facebook group and also see the Playground version of the Building Blocks quilt I made here.

FEBRUARY – STRIP PIECING

This month is all about the quilting technique of strip piecing – a method where you piece ...

Each month this year for the Mini Masterpieces QAL, I am remaking each mini quilt from my book in one range of fabric. The quilts in Mini Masterpieces are all scrappy, so I’m enjoying the opportunity to grab a bundle of fun fabric and go… and to show off my friends’ fabrics too!

For the Simple Squares mini quilt, Building Blocks, I used Playground by Dylan M for Windham Fabrics. I previously used her first range, Mazy, for a baby Double Dash quilt for my nephew, and fell in love with her retro style and colours. Getting to play ...

Well folks, it’s 2020! Happy New Year! I am so excited about this year, and the Mini Masterpieces quilt along. I don’t know about you, but I am so ready to dig in and play and grow and cultivate my creativity through quilting. Are you ready too?!

First up this month is the Simple Squares lesson. If you are newer to quilting, this is the perfect chapter to focus in on the basics of quilting – cutting and sewing accurately.

If you’re already a confident, experienced quilter, don’t write this chapter off! This is the chapter to ...

The final section of Mini Masterpieces is all about curves – simple, complex, and improv. Are you ready to get your curves on?!

Preorder Mini Masterpieces from these stockists

Applique

Applique is an easy way to add some literal dimension to your quilts! Mini Masterpieces covers two different methods of machine applique. The sampler quilt block uses interfacing to create a needle-turn look… no hand-sewing needed!

Sedef from Down Grapevine Lane was an automatic applique artisan to ask to join in for this technique! And I love how she pieced the background fabric to create an inverse version of the block ...

The third section of Mini Masterpieces is all about curves – simple, complex, and improv. Are you ready to get your curves on?!

Preorder Mini Masterpieces from these stockists

Simple Curves

What are simple curves? Where two pieces become one… square unit/block.  Like a Drunkards Path unit.

Jane for Ava & Neve made four of the sampler quilt block and turned it into a mini quilt – how beautiful are those colours?

Nicole from Modern Handcraft was the first person to come to mind to ask to join in the book hop for Simple Curves. Nicole and drunkards path blocks are synonymous ...

Fun fact: Did you know that Mini Masterpieces was originally going to be released in April of this year? It’s true! But because of the QAL-able nature of the book, Lucky Spool and I decided that a Fall 2019 release would be better so that 2020 could be the Year Of Mini Masterpieces… And today is that day!

Today is the release day for Mini Masterpieces, and I am using this momentous occasion to talk about the quilt along for next year. In case you haven’t heard me talk about this already, Mini Masterpieces features 12 quilting techniques ...

The second section of Mini Masterpieces is all about triangles – half-square triangles, flying geese, and half-rectangle triangles. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of triangles and what they add to a quilt design with the dynamic angles they create!

Preorder Mini Masterpieces from these stockists

Half-Square Triangles 

It’s no secret that I love half-square triangles! *coughModernHSTsamplercough* I also love any excuse to pop in a little fussy cut to make a quilt block extra special.

And Caitlin concurs! Having made her sampler block in greys and yellows, with the cutest little fussy cut ...