What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

A “Disappearing 4-Patch” may look intricate and complicated, but it’s really very easy. If you can sew a simple 4-patch, you can sew this quilt.

There are many great how-to tutorials out there. I chose these two YouTube videos as my favorites—

Jenny at the Missouri Star Quilt Company and

Laura Ann Cioa at Sew Very Easy.

After watching both, I decided to “merge” their info together to make my own Disappearing 4-Patch. Here’s how…

Jenny (MSQC) has you use a charm pack in her version, while Laura (Sew Very Easy) has you cut larger squares from fat ...

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 ...

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 ...

If you wish upon a star, your dreams might come true…but be ready for a wait!

The closest star is 26 trillion miles away. That starlight magic won’t reach the earth for 4+ years! (If my calculations are correct, wishes from 2017 are just starting to arrive!)

Of course, if you’re short on time, you can whip up your own lucky stars in a jiffy! 

The Brightly star quilt was designed by Allison Harris for Cluck Cluck Sew. It’s a stunning layer cake pattern that is timeless and modern all at once.

(Watch to the end ...

When you make the Serendipity Infinity quilt, you’ll end up with scraps. 

You can use those scraps to make a pretty table runner. But guess what? You’ll still have scraps. Make another table runner, and still, more scraps. Keep sewing!

When all is said and done, you’ll have a beautiful quilt + up to NINE table runners to use as gifts! Is it a Christmas miracle? Nope! It’s Serendipity Infinity!

The year my friend Margaret hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner, everything seemed to go wrong. 

The cat left paw prints on the freshly-baked pie, the oven stopped working mid-turkey, and the little cousins ruined a white couch with a box of sidewalk chalk. (But the mashed potatoes were excellent, and so was the company!) 

Thanksgiving dinner is no small feat, but Jenny’s new Thanksgiving quilt is easy as pumpkin pie—minus the paw prints!

This pretty harvest quilt combines applique Dresden turkey blocks with a variation of the Irish Chain called Irish Change. It’s simple, quick, and “sew ...

Quilters love a classic and there are few blocks more classic than a Disappearing Nine Patch! In this incredibly simple Vintage Jenny tutorial, Jenny Doan demonstrates how to stitch up this easy block using Charm Packs. First you’ll use your 5″ squares of precut quilting fabric to create a giant nine patch (which is just as simple as sewing nine squares together) and after that, you’ll use your ruler and rotary cutter to quarter your middle square. Flip those squares around and just like that, you’ve created a Disappearing Nine Patch!

Needing some more inspiration to create ...

If you catch an Autumn leaf as it falls to the ground, good things are in store! 

Jenny’s Design: Fall Festival I & II

According to British superstition, you’ll avoid head colds all winter long. Even better, each leaf caught brings a full month of luck in the year to come! (If you spot me chasing leaves in the park, don’t be alarmed! I need all the luck I can get!) 

Misty’s Design: Happy Harvest

In this month’s Triple Play tutorial, the Doan gals are stitching up cozy Autumn quilts based on the Lovely Leaves quilt ...

There once was a mischievous fellow named Stingy Jack, or so says the old Irish myth. 

The Devil – who had been tricked by Jack one too many times – didn’t want him, and heaven wouldn’t take him. So when he died, Jack was consigned to roam the earth forever with a lantern carved out of a turnip. Over time, he became known as Jack of the Lantern or, Jack O’Lantern. 

For hundreds of years, Irish folk carved spooky faces on turnips and potatoes to repel the ghost of Stingy Jack. Later, when Irish immigrants arrived in America, they ...

Jenny Doan loves to quilt everywhere she goes: In the studio. On the couch. In waiting rooms and on long drives. (Can you relate?) Life is more fun with a needle and thread in tow!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Jenny has whipped up a quilt-as-you-go heart quilt using fat quarters and the fabulous Jewel Template. Best of all, these pretty hearts can be sewn by machine or by hand! 

Jewel Heart is a great project for long waits and nervous energy, and it makes such a sweet gift, too!

It’s simple geometry:

When the 3 Doan gals whip up 3 new quilts using the Equilateral 60 Degree Triangle Ruler, the result is infinite fabulosity!

Natalie’s Design: Mountain Magic

First, Natalie fussy-cuts fabric panels to create a modern masterpiece featuring mountains, trees, and woodland creatures on every block.

Jenny’s Design: Hexi Stacks

Next, Jenny pieces intricate, overlapping hexis using holiday jelly roll strip sets—with enough left over for TWO bonus table runners.

Misty’s Design: Grandma Etta’s Stars

Finally, Misty uses a beautiful floral layer cake to recreate an heirloom triangle star quilt made by ...

Mae Emma Plumb was a talented lady. 

She sewed and painted and baked excellent pies. She kept a lovely flower garden and volunteered countless hours crafting costumes and planning skits for the local Boy Scout troop. And, best of all, she made quilts. 

Years and years have passed – four generations, in fact – but by some magic, one of Mae’s quilts still exists. It belongs to Mae’s great-granddaughter Kate, our very own Missouri Star marketing manager.

Of course, when Jenny saw Grandma Mae’s antique quilt, she fell head-over-heels in love! She did a bit of research and found ...

A butterfly is the pickiest of guests. 
Invite her for brunch, and she won’t eat a bite—unless you serve her favorite food. (Milkweed for monarchs; white cedar for hairstreaks.)

On evening strolls, the weather must be perfect. If it’s too chilly, your fluttery friend will simply stop, drop, and nap. 

And no matter how lovely the guest room, it won’t tempt Miss Butterfly. Oh, she may request a posh butterfly house. But rest assured she’ll never step inside.

This week Jenny is stitching up a layer cake butterfly quilt fit for a queen. She’s ...

Have you noticed? Gnomes have taken the world by storm, and we couldn’t be more pleased! 

The BIGGEST gnome in the world stands 26 feet tall in Saanich, Canada. (His hat is the size of a family tent!)

The largest COLLECTION of gnomes resides in Devon, UK. (Human visitors to the woodland reserve wear pointy hats to blend in with the 2000+ gnomes. True story!) 

And the most ADORABLE gnomes are found right HERE in Jenny’s new quilt tutorial! 

We’re using Hello Melly’s “You Gnome I Love You” quilt pattern to whip up little layer cake ...

This is the third Welcome Home top finished for donation.

They are quick and each–all 2-1/2″ strips and only 48 blocks. You can get all the details HERE: TUTORIAL: Welcome Home Quilt Block – Wedding Dress Blue (wordpress.com)

I like the scrappy happy look, but it is easy to see a more controlled color scheme could be used for wedding quilts, quilts of valor or just about any occasion.

Pushing towards a finish soon.

In 1899, an unknown quilter began stitching fabric scraps on a paper foundation. Alas, the quilt was never finished. (It happens to us all!) The incomplete top is on display at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the paper is still intact.

Candy Lane

Can you guess what that paper foundation is made of? Old letters! I’d sure love to inspect those tiny bits of history!

Skyward

The first time Jenny Doan made a self-binding baby quilt, her husband was skeptical. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to work, dear…”

Undaunted, Jenny replied, “Just you watch!” And guess what? It did work, and it was fab-u-lous!

Over the years, Jenny’s Self-Binding Baby Blanket tutorial has been watched millions of times. (Imagine all the babies who have been wrapped in those sweet little quilts ...