What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

18 months ago we moved into our newly renovated house and had a lot more space.  We had spent all of our money on the renovation so we were not in the market for buying furniture.  Some people set aside money for doing that but we just don't do that.  So I kept my eye our on freecycle for furniture.  We had only been back in the house for 6 weeks when an advert came up for two two seater sofas, and they were only about 2 miles away.  I asked for them immediately.  It wasn't that surprising ...

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OK—so what do you do when the book you're listening to is depressing? The book is "When the World Fell Silent," by Donna Jones Alward, and it is about the Halifax explosion (1917) when they were in the midst of a war. I totally get that times were tough. Many people died in the war, the explosion, and the Spanish flu. It just seemed that the two women in the book were saddled with EVERY possible calamity. Even the prologue foreshadowed terrible things. 

I hate abandoning a book, so I persevered. I'm now down to one hour ...

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And as John (Denver) says -- It's good to be back home again!!

It was a pleasant surprise to see how busy the fourth and final day of Salon Quebec was. Shows usually peter out, but this one kept going strong until almost the end, making the day pass quickly. 

Many people came to the booth, and I was pretty handy at presenting a sewing machine in French. I need to find a place in Montreal to stay for six months! Imagine how much better I would be. And I could offer my services (for free) at a sewing machine ...

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Oh, what a huge disappointment! Yes, they smoothed out the ruts without adding fill, but they did not add pavement to those parts. 

No extra pavement in the forest!

Thick pavement!!!!

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I picked this beautiful color thread to quilt my Pieces of Love quilt.
I loaded it up and ready to quilt.
I quilted two rows of this delightful all-over feather. And hated every stitch. It was too dense. It didn't come close to what I imagined this would look like stitched out on this quilt. 
Then, over the course of the week, I spent over four hours ripping out those two rows of quilting. It was back breaking, exhausting, and sad. 
It made quite a mess. And I ripped more than a couple holes in the backing fabric. Thank ...

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Here's a prime example of why that list of ten things I set out to do two days ago is still incomplete. Three items remain on the list. 

We've lived in this house for almost 21 years. Several times a year, we get letters addressed to the previous owners from a utility company. We have an up-to-date account with the utility company. 

For 21 years, I've tossed those letters addressed to the previous owner. When I recently received two, I decided to open them. As I suspected, there was nothing significant in them. But this seems like ...

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Yep -I'm deleting from SENT and then emptying the TRASH folder. I don't have time to deal with it today, but I'm happy knowing that I've found a good part of the culprit. However, I'm still a long way from cleaning up that email. I'll do a little bit each day! If I were to add up all those "little bits" each day, I'd need a long, long day!

But all is good! You can't sweat the stuff you can't deal with that day. Just tuck it in the back of ...

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We’re back with another guide for cross stitch beginners. If you don’t already know, we’re sharing a Learn to Cross Stitch Series with releases twice a month sharing everything from floss to finishing. We’re guiding you through the basics of this timeless and traditional art!

In the second installment of our Learn to Cross Stitch series, we’re continuing where we left off from the first post (which you can go back and read if you missed it) with a Beginners Guide to Cross Stitch Floss & Needles.

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Last Friday was World Water Day and this next Friday is Mermaid Day, so this week’s free motion design just fits in!

The Mermaid’s Tail design is based on the clamshell grid. This design can be quilted pretty densely, but stitch it out as big as you want. You could even use a ruler to help you create the semicircular arcs. The clamshell gird is used upside down, making it look like scales. Scales on a mermaid’s tail!

Fill the clamshells with teardrops that fan out from the centre. Use as many teardrops as you like.

There ...

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I'm happy to report that NOTHING was running around the neighborhood last night or early this morning. On the wildlife front, all is quiet! Murphy is still sleeping, and we're good!

However, we had issues walking in the morning. Snow was on the ground, and Bear came home covered with mini snowballs on his legs. He wasn't happy, and I had to carry him part way. 

Winter is back with dog snowballs

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 After working a month on my previous crazy quilt, I was ready for something uncomplicated.  

Guess I can't leave well enough alone!  I was going to use just the simple background block for the whole quilt, but then decided that it needed a star in support of democracy.  It got more complicated after that to keep the zig-zag pattern going.  I ended up making 84 of the 3" striped blocks before I got it right -- always a learning process even on a simple quilt.

THE STATS: Democracy Matters; Thread, White, and Blue, 2024, 27" x 27", Paper pieced, Machine ...

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Merry Christmas to everyone! Thanks to all of you for supporting me in so many ways this past year (OK -- that's something I should say on New Year's Day), but I appreciate all the comments and feedback and know that many of you read the blog over morning coffee! No pressure on me to face an empty computer screen every morning and drum up something! I LOVE it! 

I hope that your day is whatever you want it to be. Our day has always been quiet - no big families or groups of friends to celebrate with. And there ...

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We’ve stitched up a surprise for you all here at Fat Quarter Shop. We’re doing some redecorating and we have some spools that are looking to go out into the Threadiverse and find some new homes! Find out all the details of The Great Thread Giveaway in today’s blog post.

Fat Quarter Shop is excited to give 60 lucky winners some of our favorite 50wt Aurifil threads from the thread wall in our studio! You may have seen it in the background of videos on Fat Quarter Shop’s Youtube Channel!

Aurifil 50wt thread is the most ...

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I had a headache yesterday, which is extremely RARE for me - thank goodness. I hear stories from people who have migraines and headaches every day - I'd go mad! Thankfully, it wasn't a terrible headache, so I could still "function." Or so I thought. 

I was attempting to prepare for my paper-piecing class this morning and listening to an audiobook. As I said - it was a mild headache. Well, I think I made every paper-piecing mistake in the book! I stitched on the wrong lines, placed the fabrics incorrectly, and sewed the wrong fabric in place - so, needless to ...

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This is how you create fabulous texture!

I don’t even know how many times I have used this Swirl Hook pattern, I have lost count. Baby quilts, charity quilts, bag components, pillows. It looks good on all of these projects. I think I saw this pattern first in a tutorial by Angela Walters and I thought it was the best ever! It felt like a more advanced pattern, and it is, but once you are aware of its structure it becomes way easier.

The design starts with a smallish curl / spiral. From the centre of that spiral you move ...

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Did you play with marbles as a child?

I love collecting them but also really enjoyed beating my classmates in a game. We made a little hole in the ground and took turns getting our marble into that hole in the least amount of turns. Some negotiation took place before the games started to make sure the marbles were of the same ‘level’ or value. The big galaxy-type marbles were prized possessions.

I really loved stitching with this 12W Accent thread by Wonderfil. I put a larger needle in my domestic machine and stitched way slower than I normally do ...

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In this WIP Wednesday episode Vanessa will be discussing:

– Tips for choosing thread colors in garment sewing projects

– Serger seam allowance tips

– A new JUKI sewing machine she’s trying out (with auto thread cutter!)

– A bag course sale on the Sunday Tote!

– Jalie Karine Cardigan course sale- this week only

Submit your own question to be answered on a future WIP Wednesday here: https://forms.gle/D2qMCVJxfAgJHvWb7

What we’re covering:

1:24 – Choosing thread color

12:22 – Thread on textured fabric demo

14:01 – Jalie Karine Cardigan Class

16:20 – A look inside the Karine Cardigan

18:38 ...

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No change in the numbers.

I’m stitching facing on the challenge piece, which means a finish soon.

I mentioned last week I’m using a Robison-Anton rayon for the quilting, a thread I’d not tried before. It stitched fine, no tangles or breaks. It doesn’t have the sheen of some of the other rayons, but more of a flat finish. There is a bit of a twist to the thread that reminds me of a buttonhole twist. The line also contains many solid and variegated colors.

It’s a thread I’ll keep in mind if I ...

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No fabric in this week.

I used 1/4 yard of fabric for a quilt binding.

Once that quilt was finished I returned to working on the challenge quilt. The top is together and I’m totally underwhelmed. I have big hopes that the quilting and some embellishment will liven it up.

I had questions last week about the brand of thread I bought. It’s a Robison-Anton rayon in the color Sky Blue. I’m not sure on the weight, but it looks thinner than Sulky. I plan to use it on this quilt, but that could change. Quilting ...

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 Let me start this by saying I am in no way affiliated with Wonderfil.  In fact, as you might have noticed, I never monetized my blog 'cause I really feel like we have enough ads in our lives and I'm not adding to the clutter.

 Wonderfil is a thread manufacturer in Alberta, Canada.  I came across their thread by mistake back in 2020 when I saw somewhere (I think it was on the AQS site) that they were giving away free samples of Wonderfil thread.  Because all the national quilt shows had been canceled that year,  they had all ...

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