What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I had the honor of creating a tutorial to post on my friend, Marie Bostwick's blog. Do you know Marie? In addition to being a great friend and kind human being she is a wonderful author. I found her years ago when she was writing her Cobbled Court Quilt series, all about, you guessed it, quilters! Since then she has written many wonderful books. I love that they focus on women and friendships.

Anyways, Marie asked if I would write a holiday tutorial for her blog. I created a pattern for these fun giftbags....

 If you aren't familiar with Sassy Sunflower Half Pack Quilt Kits click the following links to read about them and to see the others that I have shared - First post about Half Pack Quilts and Second post about Half Pack Quilts and Third post about Half Pack Quilts and Fourth post about Half Pack Projects.

The pattern used for this one is the Tippy Tote using our Elephants Half Pack.

I've been busy.  The Turkey placemats that I made were part of my grandkids early Christmas.  Unfortunately, USPS couldn't get the placemats to Alaska before Thanksgiving (I paid for Priority, but they shipped them ground despite the large difference in cost).  Because of that, and because the lady at the post office said that she couldn't guarantee that ANY package I shipped would arrive before Christmas, I decided to mail my Christmas presents by FedEx.  I mailed 3 packages on Monday, and 2 have already arrived.  The next package to Alaska should arrive on Monday.  

I made ...

Last week I showed you the sights of Tekapo.  This week I'll show you what we did at the retreat.  

I taught 14 ladies how to make my Summer in Tekapo tote bag.  We had a great time experimenting with wool felt, Perle 8 threads and ombre fabrics. Everyone's bags are going to look so different because they applied their own artistic flair to the design. 

Tula Pink lining

It was a great weekend with good people and very good food.  And of course the scenery was gorgeous with all the snow on the mountains.  I definitely hope ...

I had seen photos online of tote bags people had made from fabric, using men’s ties for the handles. I decided to go a little further and use one of my late husband’s shirts for the body of the bag.

Decide the approximate dimensions of the tote bag. I cut the shirt so that the front pocket was included, but in the end it became decorative only. I may adjust the tutorial in the future so that it would be a functional pocket. I now had two pieces of fabric of the same measurements.

Keeping the button placket ...

 I will be offering my first virtual class through my shop later this month. Since the class is virtual (gonna use Zoom), you can participate from anywhere. Here is what we will be making:

This is a Canvas Tote Bag. The class fee is $20 and includes a copy of the pattern plus enough canvas fabric to make one bag.

Here is what the pattern looks like, Canvas Tote.

I've got a few kits cut already but I have more canvas to be able to cut quite a few more kits, if necessary.

When you sign up for the ...

 I'm having a great time with this new pattern! It's called Tourist Tote. For these next ones I shopped from my stash.

Here they are both completed and ready to use!

And check out how green the grass in my backyard is already! We've had a lot of rain here recently.

My plan for these bags was one for me and one for my son. He turns 21 on Saturday! How did that happen?! He needed a new bag to carry his dinner and snacks with him to his new job. Right now he is working nights ...

 A customer told me about her favorite tote bag pattern recently. It's called the Tourist Tote. It looked like a good pattern and I had a good recommendation for the pattern, so I ordered several copies of it.

Then I had to make one!

I used four prints from the new Serene Nature fabric collection that arrived recently. This is a very nice bag and a nice pattern. It's not a very complicated bag pattern but you could easily add some pockets (inside or outside between the handles). You could also add a magnetic snap or zipper to ...

There are TWO new habits that I want to add to my OCD behavior this year. One is to write in The Happiness Project book every day! It takes no time at all, and the second is to respond to ALL the comments in a timely manner that people post on the blog. So far -- I'm good! 

As M (my daughter) mentioned and I had planned, The Happiness Project book (that's the blue book I just found again) is by my bed, as well as those new snazzy colored gel pens. My writing sucks, and it is even ...

 I am making up kits for these adorable canvas tote bags. I needed to refresh my tote bag pattern and thought I'd do a tutorial as well. So here goes:

The finished size is 17" wide by 14" tall by 5" deep. You'll need 1/2 yard of canvas fabric for the exterior and 3/4 yard of regular quilting cotton for the lining and handles. Or you can purchase one of our kits. We have several options: Basic Tote Nya-Nya, Basic Tote Midnight Geometric, Basic Tote Leaf Pods.    

Optional: 1 1/2 yards ShapeFlex interfacing. ShapeFlex is ...

I'm so excited, as I made excellent progress yesterday on my projects, and it makes up for the lack of real progress on projects over the last couple of days. 

It seemed to take forever to get the first one done, and I thought I was doomed for the day. But at last, I got my scrappy green quilt done. Well, this is step one of the project. It's not super big -- about 21 inches. I made 49 blocks that are 3" finished. It was totally from the scrap box, and it took a long time to complete ...

Hello makers and fabric lovers!

With a new season upon us, what better way to honor the bright colors of spring with new shades of a couple of our most popular blenders: Floral and Decostitch Elements! These six new colors of each are perfect to add to your stash of AGF blenders since they make up a few missing shades between some, and they work well with others. 

If you’re unsure what blenders are and how to use them, check out this previous blog post that gives you great ideas on how to use these non-directional fabrics. 

Introducing our ...

Hello lovely makers, 

how are you all doing? Has fall arrived to where you live? We've had some cool, quite autumn-y weather last few days and it felt absolutely amazing. I'm definitely ready for some sweater weather

Thanks so much for stopping to visit. I feel so honored to be once again included in our 2021 Seaside Adventure Row-Along! We have the fabulous Melissa Shields from The Quilting Room With Mel to thank for organizing the many different quilt bloggers/designers participating this year! And…lots of great FREE STUFF AND A GIVE-AWAY! I am offering a free paper piecing pattern designed by little ole’ me, AND a pattern to create a super cute Beach Tote with my row. Why do I offer FREE patterns to my customers and friends??? Because I love you!

In a previous blog (Classic Pattern Redo) I talked about how fun it is to fulfill the daily orders that come in to QuiltWoman.com. I love to see the different styles and interests of our customers, and also getting the chance to look at some of our older patterns.

Looking back over June sales I have compiled a list of the most ordered patterns last month. I thought that I would share with you the wonderful variety that is peaking our customers interest.

Since there are so many different patterns that were ordered last month that I couldn’t ...

Hello lovely makers, happy Friday to you all!

I think it's quite obvious by now that tote bags are one of my favorite things to sew. And today I'm going to share with you one of the easiest totes ever