What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

I unlocked the door and stepped into the room. The full moonlight shone through the window, illuminating a small table with a beautiful blooming bouquet of flowers.  I saw the vase reflected on the French doors.  I stepped onto the balcony and looked to my right and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up above the rooftops.

I always try to find the story the fabric is telling me. The Blooming Bouquet panel designed by Suzanne Allard and QT Fabrics transported me to Paris.

The colors were so vibrant I didn’t want to distract from them. I added Star 60 ...

I can’t wait for Spring. This video is the unboxing of the Blooming Bouquet line designed by Suzanne Allard for QT Fabrics. The Blooming Bouquet line will be in your local quilt shops Spring 2025.

@QTFabrics @Studio180Design #QTFabrics #BloomingBouquet #Star60Tool

The Spirited panel was designed by Elise Genest for Northcott Fabrics. The panel measures 24″ x 44″.

I cut my strips 2.75” which yields 4” finished hexies. There were 210 hexies.  I let the design tell me what it needs to tell a good story.  After cutting my strips I had about 2.25” strip left.  This allowed me to cut diamonds and make 11 kaleidoscope Star 60 units. I added 4” finished Hollow Cube 60’s and a 12” hollow Cube with 4” cubes inside it to represent the stables. 

Spirit was left in the corral far too ...

I have been traveling and teaching. I picked up my friend and fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor Barb Wiseman, we left Pennsylvania and went west to Lexington, KY and met up with another fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor Toni Raynolds. Barb and Toni assisted me while teaching One Block Wonder and a Hollow Cube 60 classes at Thomas Sewing Center. What a fabulous time we had! Thank you Toni for taking such good care of Barb & I.

Thank you to Thomas Sewing Center owner Alysson Rife and everyone who attended. I had a great time.

After Thomas Sewing ...

Does anyone remember an old song from the 40’s called “I got the Sun in the Morning “? It was written by Irving Berlin in 1946 for a musical called “Annie Get Your Gun”.

I’ve been humming that tune while working on this great panel designed by the Morris Group for QT Fabrics. The panel measures 36″ x 43″. Bohemian Sunrise will be available in early 2025.

I was at a quilt retreat last weekend with my friends the Turtle Crew. I took off the borders which left me with a width of 28″ for the panel. I cut ...

Check out my unboxing video of new QT Fabrics coming out early 2025.

@QTFabric #Bohemian Sunrise #Autumn Smiles #TuckerTrimmer1 #Star60

If you follow me you know I love my Chihuahua Tucker.

But, These cat panels by Rubin Design Studio, exclusively from eQuilter are just fabulous!

Mysterious Kitty panel measures 43.5″ x 29.5″. I decided to cut my strips 3.25″ yielding 168 – 5″ finished hexies.

I decided to start my design at the top of the panel, choosing the upper right corner to start, and placing 8 hexies across the top before going down to start the left side.

Above is the design I settled on. The edges of the panel range from black to dark blue. I ...

I get asked all the time where am I teaching. Below is my schedule so far:

• 9/17:  North Country Trunk Show, NY
• 10/5: Zoom OBW Trunk Show, Arizona State Guild
• 11/9: Zoom OBW 1, Arizona State Guild
• 11/11-13: Thomas Sewing Center,  Lexington KY, OBW Workshop
• 11/14: 11/17: Fantastic Quilters OBW Trunk Show & Workshop, Fairfield Glade TN
• 12/7: Zoom OBW 2 , Arizona State Guild
• 2025
• 1/10:  Zoom OBW Trunk Show, Quilt Inc., Delmar, NY
• 1/18: 60 degree Log Cabin, Thread Bears Quilt Guild, Oneida NY
• 1/20: Sew Busy, Gloversville, NY, OBW ...

I saw this panel depicting the 4 Seasons of the Ukraine and loved the soft colors. These Ukrainian figures, costumed in traditional dress, collect Easter baskets in spring, dancing in summer and autumn, and keeping warm by candlelight in winter.

Digitally printed, 29″ panel, includes four 14″ x 21″ frames, 4 Seasons of Ukraine by the Rubin Design Studio, designed exclusively for eQuilter.

I prefer one large panel, so I cut apart the four scenes and stitched them together starting with Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn.

I cut my strips 3.25″ to yield 5″ finished hexies. This panel yielded ...

    I think I have only bought 4 kits in my whole quilting career. I like to make my own choices and tweaks. Two of the kits I remade differently. One I changed from raw edge applique to set in strips. And then I saw this Floragraphix V Jason Yenter border fabric with pattern at the Quilted Twins and bought the fabric. I read the instructions many times until I understood how the borders were cut and layered. I made  kaleidoscope quilts before that were cut from the full fabric (Maxine Rosenthal book), so this was different plus they are much ...

A BIG Thank You to Amy of Amy’s Quilt Room in Uniontown, PA. I’m just now home from teaching a One Block Wonder (OBW) workshop or as Amy would call “Quiltpalooza”! It was fabulous! I had so much fun. The Hilton Garden Inn at Uniontown PA was the perfect venue. We had a great space and were very well cared by the staff.

This group of ladies did such a great job. They learned all about OBW’s and how to make Hollow Cube 60’s & Star 60 units. We delve into how to design and enhance our ...

Just for fun I thought I would share how the Quilt Ninja came about.

It all started in 2008. I went to the Virginia Consortium of Quilters Celabration at Smith Mountian Lake and participated in an Apron contest and won 1st place.

I covered the apron vest in pockets. I placed a pocket on my back to hold a ruler and placed a rotary cutter in a front pocket.

I would whip out the ruler and rotary cutter at the same time, stating loudly “Quilt Ninja”! It was pretty funny. Needless to say, the Quilt Ninja became my alter ego ...

I wanted to share two OBW workshops/retreats coming up. The first one is in Reliance TN at Quilters Getaway, 898 Childers Creek Road Reliance, TN 37369 – November 11 – 13, 2024. Hosted by Toni Raynolds of Pieced Perfection. Join me for a creative journey in the world of 60 degree kaleidoscopes.

• Identifying and cutting your repeats.
• Aligning repeats including difficult fabrics.
• Choosing a ruler and understanding the difference between pointed & blunt tip rulers.
• Deciding what strip widths to cut
• And of course, cutting all your equilateral triangles.
• Designing with the hexagons,
• Integrating stars & cubes
• Designing around a panel

Make your ...

I’ve been playing among the stars, literally! In August I will be going to Amy’s Quilt Room in Union Town, PA to teach a One Block Wonder (OBW) Workshop. I want to show them how to design aound a panel and how to add hexies/stars of different sizes.

The panel is Salt Water Dreaming by Spirit of the Bush, it measures 41.5″ x 27″. I decided to cut my strips 3.25″ to yield 5″ finished hexies. When you want to add hexies/stars/cubes of different sizes, they must be divisible by the original size ...

I’m playing around with a panel by Spirit of the Bush, Saltwater Dreaming. I want to see how many intricate hexagons I can make. They seem like they would represent tidal pools to me. The large hexagon on the bottom of the panel is 15″ finished. Can you tell what Deb Tucker techniques I used to make it?

@studio180design @debtucker #star60

      Working on an octagon One Block Wonder (OBW). I sew them when I only have a few minutes because the pieces are small and be put aside easily. Sometimes I sew them as leader/enders. I like the octagon ones better than the hexagons because they sew together as whole blocks, not half hexies. More complicated, more repeats needed, but hey, looks terrific when done.

Probably only have half the octagons sewn, but they are so lovely, every one different

While I was teaching a OBW workshop at the Strong House Inn in April, I figured out how to put a hexie inside of a hollow cube. I couldn’t wait to get home and start playing.

I had 6 yards of this fabric from the Astral Voyage line by Josephine Wall and 3 Wishes Fabrics. It only had an 8″ repeat, but the design elements were large. I cut my strips 3 3/4″ for 6″ finished hexies. I make my hollow cubes using Deb Tucker’s Hollow Cube 60 Technique Sheet and the Star 60 Tool. I can ...

When I started cutting the hexies from Queen Bee strips, I knew it was going to be a beautiful OBW! The Queen Bee panel is by by QT Fabrics. It measures 36″ x 44″. The Queen Bee line will be in stores June 2024.

I cut my strips for the hexies 3.25″ for 5″ finished hexies. I cut off the borders. The inner border containing flowers measured 3.25″ so I was able to use them for more hexies. I had a total of 106 hexies to design with.

I used QT Fabrics blender line Rapture to create Hollow ...

I fell in love with this panel the first time I saw it. The colors are just fabulous. Resplendent is by QT Fabrics. The panel measured 36″ x 44″. Resplendent will be in stores June 2024.

I removed the borders and saved them to use as a outer border and binding for the finished quilt. I cut my strips 3.25″ for 5″ finished hexies. I had a total of 105 hexies to design with.

I created Star 60 stars and surrounded the peacock with half hexies using QT Fabrics blender line Rapture. The colors Ocean and Amethyst blended beautifully ...

When I saw this panel by Rubin Design Studio “Intricate Illustrated Kitty” of EQuilter, my heart skipped a beat. I just love the colors, the curves and the movement in this panel.

The panel measured 29″ x 43.5″. I could have cut 3.75″ strips for 6″ finished hexies and trimmed the panel to 42″. But, I decided to cut 3.25″ strips for 5″ finished hexies using my Star 60 Ruler. I would need to trim more of the panel, but I felt a smaller strip would make more interesting hexies. There is some stretching with bias ...