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January 14, 2023
Temperature Quilt from Essie's Quilts

I made a temperature quilt for 2022. Have you heard of them? Just Google temperature quilts and you’ll find lots of examples!

 

Making a Temperature Quilt

The idea is to record the high and low temperature for each day. Assign a fabric (color) to temperature ranges and use the fabric associated with the high and low temps each day to make a block. Sew all the blocks together in chronological order and you’ll end up with a visual representation of the year’s weather. It can be pretty darn beautiful!

Choose your block

You can choose whatever block ...

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January 7, 2023
The Finish – Christmas Countdown Quilt-A-Long with Helen Godden from Gwen's Quilts

At the start of December 2022 our friend, Helen Godden, started her annual Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long. Helen is our Handi Quilter Ambassador who lives in Australia. She’s an accomplished artist and a superb stationary machine quilter. I decided to join in the quilt-a-long and take you all along with me. So today I will share my journey, some things I learned along the way, and the finish.

In the last post about this topic I showed you how I prepared my fabric with Helen’s design by tracing her pattern. I made a few changes (thanks Helen for understanding ...

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The Finish – Christmas Countdown Quilt-A-Long with Helen Godden from Essie's Quilts

At the start of December 2022 our friend, Helen Godden, started her annual Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long. Helen is our Handi Quilter Ambassador who lives in Australia. She’s an accomplished artist and a superb stationary machine quilter. I decided to join in the quilt-a-long and take you all along with me. So today I will share my journey, some things I learned along the way, and the finish.

In the last post about this topic I showed you how I prepared my fabric with Helen’s design by tracing her pattern. I made a few changes (thanks Helen for understanding ...

read more
December 10, 2022
Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long with Helen Godden from Gwen's Quilts

Have you seen the Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long for 2022 from our friend, Helen Godden? This is the 7th year that Helen is doing her quilt-a-long. It’s tons of fun and you just might learn a few new quilting techniques along the way. Helen is our Handi Quilter Ambassador who lives in Australia. She’s an accomplished artist and a superb stationary machine quilter.

Where to join

Go here and download Helen’s free pattern. Print it and tape the 6 pages together. Then transfer the design to muslin or fabric. You can prepare the piece for quilting any way ...

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Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long with Helen Godden from Essie's Quilts

Have you seen the Christmas Countdown Quilt-a-long for 2022 from our friend, Helen Godden? This is the 7th year that Helen is doing her quilt-a-long. It’s tons of fun and you just might learn a few new quilting techniques along the way. Helen is our Handi Quilter Ambassador who lives in Australia. She’s an accomplished artist and a superb stationary machine quilter.

Where to join

Go here and download Helen’s free pattern. Print it and tape the 6 pages together. Then transfer the design to muslin or fabric. You can prepare the piece for quilting any way ...

read more
November 26, 2022
Winning Quilts from International Quilt Festival 2022 from Gwen's Quilts

International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX for 2022 is in the books. Festival, as it is affectionately known, is the big show each year in Houston. It is held at the end of October / beginning of November. Quilters from all over the globe come together to celebrate the art of quilting. They enjoy classes, quilt displays, vendors, lectures, and a judged contest. It is a real treat to see the winning quilts.

Handi Quilter is proud to sponsor the Best of Show award for the judged contest. Along with Best of Show, the show presents 5 Master Awards, and 1st ...

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Winning Quilts from International Quilt Festival 2022 from Essie's Quilts

International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX for 2022 is in the books. Festival, as it is affectionately known, is the big show each year in Houston. It is held at the end of October / beginning of November. Quilters from all over the globe come together to celebrate the art of quilting. They enjoy classes, quilt displays, vendors, lectures, and a judged contest. It is a real treat to see the winning quilts.

Handi Quilter is proud to sponsor the Best of Show award for the judged contest. Along with Best of Show, the show presents 5 Master Awards, and 1st ...

read more
October 29, 2022
New Quilts from an Old Favorite – Wheel of Fortune from Essie's Quilts

The new quilts from an old favorite exhibition for the 2022 Quilt Week shows features the Wheel of Fortune block. The exhibition was created by the National Quilt Museum to pay tribute to our quilt making heritage, while celebrating the innovation, creativity and excellence of today’s quilter. The contest challenges quilt artists to interpret a single traditional quilt block in a work if their original design.

Wheel of Fortune block

There seems to be a few variations of blocks named wheel of fortune.

One looks a bit like a pinwheel, another a star and one looks like a wheel ...

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New Quilts from an Old Favorite – Wheel of Fortune from Gwen's Quilts

The new quilts from an old favorite exhibition for the 2022 Quilt Week shows features the Wheel of Fortune block. The exhibition was created by the National Quilt Museum to pay tribute to our quilt making heritage, while celebrating the innovation, creativity and excellence of today’s quilter. The contest challenges quilt artists to interpret a single traditional quilt block in a work if their original design.

Wheel of Fortune block

There seems to be a few variations of blocks named wheel of fortune.

One looks a bit like a pinwheel, another a star and one looks like a wheel ...

read more
October 22, 2022
Ribbon Candy Variations from Gwen's Quilts

Last week we decided that ribbon candy and wishbone are pretty popular designs. And according to the votes, they are about equally popular!  So lets have some fun with ribbon candy this week and explore some ribbon candy variations.

Handi Quilter Ambassador, Jane Hauprich, has an excellent video on her YouTube channel with 10 ways to change up your ribbon candy. Jane shows the quilting path by drawing on a white board and then she actually stitches the designs.

I’ll show you some screen shots of the designs here, so you’ll know what’s in store when you ...

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Ribbon Candy Variations from Essie's Quilts

Last week we decided that ribbon candy and wishbone are pretty popular designs. And according to the votes, they are about equally popular!  So lets have some fun with ribbon candy this week and explore some ribbon candy variations.

Handi Quilter Ambassador, Jane Hauprich, has an excellent video on her YouTube channel with 10 ways to change up your ribbon candy. Jane shows the quilting path by drawing on a white board and then she actually stitches the designs.

I’ll show you some screen shots of the designs here, so you’ll know what’s in store when you ...

read more
October 15, 2022
Ribbon Candy vs Wishbone – cast your vote from Gwen's Quilts

It’s a great debate. Which is a better quilting design? Ribbon Candy vs Wishbone? I personally think both designs have merit. They are both versatile and both are classic. But when it comes to fun of quilting, I think the wishbone wins.

I’ll describe how to quilt each one and then you can try them on for size and decide for yourself. Let us know in the comments which one you vote for.

 

Ribbon Candy

Ribbon Candy is the signature design for a certain Handi Quilter educator from New York, whose name rhymes with chocolate cake. (haha)

If ...

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Ribbon Candy vs Wishbone – cast your vote from Essie's Quilts

It’s a great debate. Which is a better quilting design? Ribbon Candy vs Wishbone? I personally think both designs have merit. They are both versatile and both are classic. But when it comes to fun of quilting, I think the wishbone wins.

I’ll describe how to quilt each one and then you can try them on for size and decide for yourself. Let us know in the comments which one you vote for.

 

Ribbon Candy

Ribbon Candy is the signature design for a certain Handi Quilter educator from New York, whose name rhymes with chocolate cake. (haha)

If ...

read more
September 24, 2022
Intricate Quilts from Gwen's Quilts

I was at the American Quilter’s Society show in Des Moines, IA recently. As I made my way through the quilt displays I noticed so many very intricately pieced quilts. These intricate quilts must have taken months or maybe even years to complete.

Of course I took lots of pictures to share with you. Check out these awesome quilts! (You may see my finger in some of the photos, just to give you an idea of the scale of the pieces. I did not touch any quilts!) This is only a sampling of the fantastic quilts I saw.

Intricate ...

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Intricate Quilts from Essie's Quilts

I was at the American Quilter’s Society show in Des Moines, IA recently. As I made my way through the quilt displays I noticed so many very intricately pieced quilts. These intricate quilts must have taken months or maybe even years to complete.

Of course I took lots of pictures to share with you. Check out these awesome quilts! (You may see my finger in some of the photos, just to give you an idea of the scale of the pieces. I did not touch any quilts!) This is only a sampling of the fantastic quilts I saw.

Intricate ...

read more
September 3, 2022
PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit Part 2 from Essie's Quilts

The PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit was at the Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh, NC last month. PAQA-S is the Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South that promotes innovative art quilts, art cloth, and art garments. Last week I shared some of the quilts I saw there. You can read that post here. This week is Part 2, sharing more quilts from the exhibit.

 

The theme of the exhibit is ArtQuiults Emerge.

 

Some of the quilts represent emergence from the restrictions of the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, much of life was put on hold. Daily life took on new restrictions. But during this ...

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PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit Part 2 from Gwen's Quilts

The PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit was at the Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh, NC last month. PAQA-S is the Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South that promotes innovative art quilts, art cloth, and art garments. Last week I shared some of the quilts I saw there. You can read that post here. This week is Part 2, sharing more quilts from the exhibit.

 

The theme of the exhibit is ArtQuiults Emerge.

 

Some of the quilts represent emergence from the restrictions of the pandemic. In 2020 and 2021, much of life was put on hold. Daily life took on new restrictions. But during this ...

read more
August 27, 2022
PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit from Gwen's Quilts

I had the distinct pleasure of  seeing the PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit at the Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh, NC this month. PAQA-S is the Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South that promotes innovative art quilts, art cloth, and art garments.

The 2022 exhibit is titled ArtQuilts Emerge.

Their theme is described on the website as follows:

In 2020 and 2021, much of life was put on hold; daily life took on new restrictions. But during this time, we endured; we re-considered what is important; what can be left behind; what does the future look like?

PAQA-South members have created works of fiber ...

read more
PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit from Essie's Quilts

I had the distinct pleasure of  seeing the PAQA-S 2022 Exhibit at the Sertoma Arts Center in Raleigh, NC this month. PAQA-S is the Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South that promotes innovative art quilts, art cloth, and art garments.

The 2022 exhibit is titled ArtQuilts Emerge.

Their theme is described on the website as follows:

In 2020 and 2021, much of life was put on hold; daily life took on new restrictions. But during this time, we endured; we re-considered what is important; what can be left behind; what does the future look like?

PAQA-South members have created works of fiber ...

read more
August 13, 2022
Perfection from Essie's Quilts

With this series of posts about free-motion quilting for beginners, I have been emphasizing the importance of practice. I encourage all my students to quilt every day. I think of practice not as attempting to achieve perfection, but of attempting to improve. It is a way of generating new ideas and trying new techniques. Sometimes it’s just enjoying the zen of stitching with my Infinity. Never for attaining perfection.

Here is a post I wrote about 4 years ago. It’s still true today.

 

A friend sent me this:

I don’t know where it originated, so I can ...

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