What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

      Jordan Fabrics always has great ideas and they change up the fabric in patterns. Always gets me thinking. The videos are pretty succinct and well done also. They have lots of free patterns.
     I got sucked in on a Kaffe layer cake deal by MSQC recently and the Jordan pattern, Rolling Stone, caught my attention. This definitely one to cut out and sew. In time, not now.

Jenny Doan’s family tree is stitched with needle and thread. 

Look back two generations, and you’ll find a pair of great aunts, master seamstresses who traveled from Sweden to work for the acclaimed New York artist, George Inness. 

They stitched and saved to pay passage to America for the entire family–including Jenny’s grandmother, who was just seven years old at the time. 

Jenny says, “When I see these spools, I am reminded that sewing is part of my genetic makeup; it changed our family forever!” 

This week, Jenny is stitching up a beautiful Big Spools quilt ...

Meet Amy Barickman, founder of Indygo Junction and author of Vintage Notions: An Inspirational Guide to Needlework, Cooking, Sewing, Fashion & FUN! Through her YouTube videos, blog, website, and e-newsletter, Amy inspires fabric arts enthusiasts to learn from the past and experiment with new products and techniques for creating in vintage made modern style. Now you have the opportunity to learn more about Amy and her work! Join us on Missouri Star LIVE March 8th, 2022 at 11:00 am cst for a special segment with Amy herself – but in the meantime, get to know her little more with this exclusive ...

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 ...

Meet Marla Arna Jackson, self-taught fiber artist, painter, doll maker, indigo dyer, shibori dyer, portrait artist, seamstress, and author. Marla is the Founder and Executive Director of Marla Quilts Inc. African American Quilt Museum and Textile Academy, whose goal is to be “an impetus for developing artistic skills, enhancing individual and communal expression, and furthering intellectual awareness.” We had the honor to get to know her a little more as an artist and as a person – and we loved her so much that she’ll be taking over the Missouri Star Instagram on February 23rd, 2022 to share a little ...

It doesn’t get easier than this classic quilt block! Using Layer Cakes cut into half-square triangles, the chevron quilt block is the perfect project for a new beginner quilter! Even if you’ve been stitching up quilts for awhile now, this simple pattern offers a unique opportunity to quilt in a hurry (not like any of us would EVER wait until the last minute to make a handmade gift).

To make this into a full quilt, all you’ll need is a solid layer cake and a printed layer cake – but the good news is you can truly make ...

The smallest origami crane ever made was just .1 mm square (that’s 1/25 of an inch!) The all-time largest measured a whopping 256 feet. And this week we’re working on the world’s coziest origami! 

The Big T Origami quilt is based on an antique favorite. It’s sometimes called Folded Corners, and it comes together quickly with flying geese and half square triangles. 

In this tutorial, Jenny shares the secret to perfectly sharp flying geese points, and she uses her trusty squaring tool and bias seam tape to keep everything as neat and tidy as true ...

Valentine’s day is right around the corner and if you’re looking for a treaty for your sweetie (or treat yourself, we won’t judge!) then the Red Heart Fancy Zipper Bag is an easy and quick project that is simply bursting with love! Nothing says love like a handmade project, so treat someone special in your life to a fantastic new bag to show your love!

Supplies Needed:

Two 1/3 Yard Cuts of Contrasting Fabric

One Missouri Star 14″ Fancy Zips

Bosal In-R-Form Double-Sided Fusible Plus

Even if you’ve never worked with Bosal In-R-Form before, have ...

Every year when the weather turns cold, the peacock butterfly finds a cozy bed inside a hollow tree. There she naps for months at a time, with her wings wrapped around her body like a quilt. 

At the first sign of spring she emerges, wonderfully refreshed and ready to flutter!  (Add a tiny sewing machine and a stack of pretty precuts, and I’d call that the perfect winter!)

This week Jenny is stitching up a new butterfly quilt using a border print and layer cake from the beautiful Elysian collection by Jason Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics. 

She ...

Have you ever heard of a Colorado block? Many quilters know this quilt classic by another name, the Dutch Windmill. Using layer cakes, this traditional half-square triangle quilt block comes together in a flash creating a unique and vintage design that has been loved for many years. How many years to be exact? While Jenny couldn’t find much information on the original of the name Dutch Windmill, the Colorado quilt block can be traced back to 1941 where it was published in the Kansas City Star!

To stitch up this classic you’ll need two layers cakes, one of ...

Looking for love this Valentine’s Day? Keep an eye on the birds! 

Spot a dove, and you’re destined for a happy, peaceful marriage. Spot a crossbill, and your future spouse is sure to be a grouch.

A sparrow means you’ll marry a pauper, and a goldfinch signals wealth. And if an owl shows up? That’s it! You’ll be single for life! 

All things considered, it may be wiser to stay inside and quilt! This week Jenny is using precut charms to stitch up a super-sweet Valentine heart quilt. These half-square triangle hearts are so simple ...

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 ...

Get organized this January as part of you New Year’s Sewing Resolution with this incredibly simple Sewing Caddy and Mat! Having a handy location to put all your notions and quilting accessories allows you to quilt on with confidence and never waste time trying to find your most used templates and tools. All you’ll need is two half yard cuts of contrasting fabric, a half yard of batting and a little Steam a Seam for quick binding!

Supplies Needed

Two 1/2 Yard Cuts of Contrasting Fabric

Scrap Batting

Steam-a-Seam Double Stick Fusible Web

First and foremost, you ...

A Round Robin quilt is the sweetest of group projects. It is passed among friends, each adding blocks or borders of their own.

And when it is finished, that quilt represents the talent and creativity of everyone involved. (I get all tingly and sentimental just thinking about it!) 

For this month’s Triple Play tutorial, Jenny and the girls stitched up one big Round Robin quilt. They named it Sparkling Stars, and it sure is a beauty! 

Jenny built the center with 9-patches and half-square triangle lemoyne stars, Misty added pretty sawtooth star blocks and quarter-square triangles, and Natalie finished ...

The Hourglass quilt block is one of the more simple traditional blocks and comes together with ease using 10″ squares of precut quilting fabric. All you need to do is chop up your layer cake corner to corner, recreate a square using two different fabrics and stitch them back together – and just like that you’ve put together a gorgeous and traditional quilt block!

This block in it’s own is an absolute favorite amongst quilters, but why stop the fun with just the basic hourglass! This block can be used in a wide variety of quilting patterns that all ...

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 ...

The holidays are here and it’s time to deck the halls and welcome in the festive season! A Christmas Tree Skirt is the perfect holiday project to stitch up on those cold December nights because not only does it make an excellent gift, but it can be kept and displayed almost immediately! Grab your favorite holiday charm packs (or some from your stash that you’ve been looking for a reason to use) and get stitching!

Supplies Needed

2 Packages of 5″ Print Squares (Charm Packs)

3/4 Yard Border ...

The ancient peoples of the earth knew a lot about stars. 

Egyptians watched for Sirius’ predawn appearance to signal the annual flooding of the Nile. Polynesian navigators traversed the vast Pacific Ocean with nothing but the stars to guide them.  And the Maya used the movement of the heavens to create the most accurate calendar in the world. 

I, on the other hand, struggle to spot the Big Dipper. (But I sure can stitch up a pretty star quilt!)

This week, Jenny has created a celestial wonder of her own with jelly roll strips and a bit of yardage. The ...

Amy Latta is passionate about inspiring her online community by sharing honest inspiration for everyday life. On her award-winning blog amylattacreations.com, you’ll find easy-to-follow hand lettering tutorials, along with all kinds of craft and DIY projects anyone can create. Amy recently stopped by to teach us some hand lettering, show off some new fabric markers, and design some beautiful quilt labels that you can DIY for your next project! Before the tutorial comes out, let’s learn more about Amy – from her creative journey and process to her inspiration and more!

How did you become ...

Talk about a classic! Not only is the Nine Patch a quintessential quilter’s block, but this is one of the very first tutorials that Jenny Doan ever filmed! This incredibly simple but versatile block comes together in a stitch using 2.5″ strips of precut quilting fabric (Jelly Rolls) and some basic strip piecing. Using alternating color ways from your available strips, you’ll create a “strip set” using three strips of fabric. All that’s required after that is to cut the long strip sets into 2.5″ strips and stitch the fabrics back together to form nine ...