What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Happy Day!

My friend Cindy Grisdela’s new book with C&T is out and it is guaranteed to satisfy all of your improv quilting needs!

Cindy and I met many years ago when she offered to give me a ride from Philadelphia, PA to Lewes, Delaware. We have been meeting for coffee, drinks, and dinner ever since. This is a photo of Cindy and I when our first books came out. Cindy had the tenacity to write another one!

Cindy is a kind and thoughtful friend and teacher. This book exemplifies those aspects of her character. It breaks down ...

Happy Day!

My friend Cindy Grisdela’s new book with C&T is out and it is guaranteed to satisfy all of your improv quilting needs!

Cindy and I met many years ago when she offered to give me a ride from Philadelphia, PA to Lewes, Delaware. We have been meeting for coffee, drinks, and dinner ever since. This is a photo of Cindy and I when our first books came out. Cindy had the tenacity to write another one!

Cindy is a kind and thoughtful friend and teacher. This book exemplifies those aspects of her character. It breaks down ...

It seems a bit incredible, but I am going to Madeline Island, Wisconsin to teach Making Prints from September 27-October 1, 2021. Yes. That is right. In one week, I will be here at the Madeline Island School for the Arts.

Making Prints is my foundation course–all other courses I teach grow from this one. If you have enjoyed studying with me virtually and have been waiting for the right moment to take an in person class. This is that moment.

It is the only week long workshop in person workshop that I will be teaching in 2021. The ...

It seems a bit incredible, but I am going to Madeline Island, Wisconsin to teach Making Prints from September 27-October 1, 2021. Yes. That is right. In one week, I will be here at the Madeline Island School for the Arts.

Making Prints is my foundation course–all other courses I teach grow from this one. If you have enjoyed studying with me virtually and have been waiting for the right moment to take an in person class. This is that moment.

It is the only week long workshop in person workshop that I will be teaching in 2021. The ...

I am super excited to share with you folks my newest workshop. 

Here are the details.

Stitching Towards Discovery—Finding Your Voice ($675)

Join me for a six month long exploration of quilt making as an artform. We will be meeting once a month for an approximately three hour long session. That’s 18 hours of live instruction that will be recorded and made available for your future use.

We will meet on the fourth Tuesday of every month from 2PM – 5PM Alaska Time.

January 25, 2022
February 22, 2022
March 22, 2022
April 26, 2022
May 24, 2022
June ...

I hope everyone is having a great summer. I have been enjoying getting outside as much as I can. Alaskan summers are always short and often cool and rainy. Every day of sunshine is a gift.

But I doubt that is why you are reading this. I think, I hope, you might just want to sign up for one of my Virtual Indie Quilt Workshops.

While you check your calendars, know that every session is recorded and available for you to view for approximately 30 days after the last session.

I also hope you will drool ...

On Thursday, July 15, 2021, I will be starting a new virtual workshop called Complex Pattern in Contemporary Patchwork. I am super excited about this. You can sign up here. 

When it comes down to it, pattern is the one of the fundamental aspects of what I do as a quilt maker. There is always color and there is always patterning. Sometimes there are structures related to quilt making, such as traditional blocks, and sometimes I use other sources for the foundational lines of my compositions. Whatever the structure or the inspiration it is always expressed through patterning ...

Last night, we finished the first ever indie version of Three Points—A Triangle Workshop. It was a virtual roller coaster ride–full of points and degrees

Students came at the triangle from all angles—from avant garde deconstructed triangles to traditional quilt block patterns, to modern and contemporary designs. 

It was very rewarding to see everyone’s ideas.

If seeing all of these cool triangle quilts makes you think want to take a workshop with me—you can!

Under the Influence–How to take Inspiration and Make it Your ...

I am pleased to share with you the new book Modern Fabric Art Bowls by my friend Kirsten Fisher. Not only do I get to tell you all about this fabulous book, but Kirsten has graciously offered to give one of my lucky readers a free copy!

Let’s start by admiring the cover of this book. Look at those bowls! Each is an individually hand crafted bowl of beauty.

And now for a bit of backstory. Kirsten and I met at a Nancy Crow workshop in 2015. Kirsten had signed up for an advanced workshop with little knowledge of ...

I think we can all agree that Covid has taught us things about ourselves. Some of those things we never really wanted to learn.

For example, I see now that no matter what is happening in the world, I will find a way to over-extend myself. The first six months of Covid, I was unemployed, and I must say that it was lovely.  I caught up on tasks. Life slowed down and balance became a thing. It was good.

And then, I was asked to teach online. The switch flipped, and my life was ...

We are zooming right into February in more ways than one. 

January went in a flash. I got a year older and hardly noticed. The pattern and repetition of our lives at this juncture is maddening and soothing and like a gosh darn mouse spinner. Okay, I think the proper term is hamster wheel, but you get the idea.

Life is on repeat mode right now. Of course with the occasional major political upheaval here and there. But we will not get into that.

So, what to do? 

TEACH, I think.

I am not doing this ...

One of the first sort of quasi-original things I did in my quilting life was create the Artful Oven Mitt.

Years ago, I used to make holiday gifts for all of my loved ones. Basically, I worked myself up into a stitching frenzy—all because I had to make those gifts. I see now it was a faux deadline and really just an excuse to abandon all other obligations.

I can’t cook dinner. I have to make 30 oven mitts in the next ten days. Don’t you get it? Find someone else to change your diaper. I’ve ...

A couple of times a day I get an email asking what workshops am I currently teaching. 

To answer that question properly, I am writing this blog post AND posting all of this information on my website under the heading Events & Happenings.

I have neglected my website and almost exclusively posted workshop information here and on my instagram feed. Let this be the moment I change that.

I am teaching in three different types of virtual venues. Below, I explain the differences between each virtual venue and your method for signing up.

Independent Workshops 
Independent Workshops are taught directly by ...

Making Prints is the very first workshop I ever taught. Back then, students were subjected to a volcanic eruption of information as I attempted to teach them EVERYTHING in a one day workshop. Heads exploded. Chaos ensued. I learned. 

Now, I disperse this information over a series of classes. Here is the basic progression of those workshops. 

Follow the links to sign up for the workshops that I am currently teaching.

Making Prints—Strips & Stripes
Circle & Curve Sampler
Three Points—A Triangle Workshop (Quiltcon Together)
Kitchen Sink Quilting—the ART of Making  Do
Linear ...

Happy Holidays and Cheers to a NEW YEAR! If there is one thing that we all need right now, it is a NEW YEAR.

For those of you committed to improving your quilting skills in the next few months, I have just the thing for you—Virtual Quilt Workshops!. Here is the upcoming schedule of teaching events that I am offering to the general public.

Aztecian 36” x 36” Private Collection

Everything I am teaching directly (without a guild or festival) will always be listed on my blog at this link, but you may have to scroll down to see ...

I know we are all maxed out on screen time. Yet, it is what we’ve got right now. We are either on the screen, or we are watching the screen. We are either scrolling, or we are trolling.

We crave human contact, but we are tired of doing it digitally. Touch your screen– that is as close as you are going to get.

That said.

Over the course of the past five months, I have been a part of several recorded virtual events that I think are worth sharing. Not so much so you watch me, but because you ...

A lot has happened since I started teaching virtually on September 9, 2020. Basically, I am learning to ZOOM for a living. The traditional limits of me traveling to a guild, shop, or festival and teaching no longer exist. Additionally, no matter where you are in the world you can join me. How cool is that?

In this blog post, I would like to share with you the THREE workshops that I will be offering directly to you this fall.

These three workshops are a comprehensive exploration of the concepts and techniques I use in my work ...

I arrived in Los Angles on Friday, March 13 to teach for the LA Modern Quilt Guild. By the time I left, life as we know it was being shut down across the world. Since then, historical events continue to explode on our personal, political, and emotional time lines. If life were a game, we would be playing at the VERY DIFFICULT level.

I checked out. I took up biking and sock knitting and berry picking. 

I spent two months in McCarthy, Alaska where we have an off-the-grid cabin. 

Meanwhile, many of my peers were traveling via the internet– teaching ...

This spring, Lisa Ruble, editor of Benartex’s e-zine Modern by the Yard, invited me to participate in her Modern with a Twist column.

This column features modern quilter’s interpretations of traditional quilt blocks. As most of you know, I love manipulating traditional quilt blocks.

The fabulous Pinwheel is featured in Issue #14 which came out today. Can you spot my block?

Coincidentally, I had been thinking about the pinwheel block. I wanted to combine some of my favorite things-

Solid fabrics—My pinwheel block features some of solids from the Benartex’s Superior Solids Collection.

Stripes—My pinwheel ...

I have struggled to figure out what I should be saying on social media. It all seems absolutely (kind-of-sort-of) irrelevant. What could I possible have to say to a world suffering from a pandemic?

Still, I think of writing my blog as part of my job as an artist and quiltmaker. So, I am going to just show up, and be present, and see what happens next.

Earlier this month, just as the US was moving from life as we know it, to shelter in place, I went to Los Angeles to teach for the LA Modern Quilt Guild. My ...