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Just this week, I lost the sketch I was working on under a pile of fabric, and it took way too long to find where it had gone! It’s hard when all my flat working surfaces are used for cutting and pressing. How is a girl supposed to stay organized?! I came up with a solution, and I thought you would like it too! I bought this set of three cork trivets at IKEA. I also bought a couple of different trims to make each one a little less plain. You will need ⅔ yd of each trim for each trivet. Using my hot glue gun, I began gluing the trim to the very outer edge of the back of the trivet. I wanted the rick rack to stick out beyond the edge and show from the front when the trivet was turned over. I repeated this same process with the pom pom trim, and it turned out so cute I wish I had bought more! Here you see the three trivets all dressed up. To mount them to the wall, I used 3M mounting tape. This stuff is double-sided, thick, and rubbery. I cut a couple of 1 ½” sections and placed them on the backs of each trivet. I mounted the trivets to the wall, right behind my pressing station, so I could pin up my directions while I worked!  The nice thing about these is they are only about 8” across and could fit just about anywhere. I placed them all together, but I think I might make more for above my cutting area and over by my sewing machine. I’ll never lose anything again ;) Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Do you have a go-to size to cut your binding? Have you ever tried a different size to see what effect you would get? I thought I would do a little experiment to show you different sizes and what they look like all sewn up! Here I have four different-sized strips: 2”, 2¼”, 2½”, and 3”. I quilted up some sample swatches with a layer of 100% cotton batting in the middle. If you like to use thicker batting or thicker fabric like flannel or Minky, you may want to adjust the cut size to accommodate that. First, we have the 2” cut size. I folded it in half so it is only 1” before sewing it around the quilt. This will make a very dainty little binding, perfect for wall hangings or other projects where you want the binding to be discrete. I sewed this binding on with a ¼” seam allowance. Then, I wrapped it around to the other side and topstitched super close to the edge to finish it off (you can also hand stitch it down). You can see here it is showing about ⅜” once it is wrapped around and stitched down. This makes a nice “full” binding without empty space inside the bound edge. Next, I have a 2¼” cut size. Here I have folded it in half to make a 1 ⅛” size strip before sewing it around the quilt. This is my go-to binding size. It's not too small and not too big. It’s easy enough to stitch on without covering too much of the edge of the quilt. I stitched this one on with a heavy ¼” seam allowance. You can see it's a little bigger than ¼”, but not quite as big as ⅜”. If you have a machine with an adjustable needle position, it should be easy enough to move your needle a couple of clicks to the left and still use the edge of your presser foot as a guide when sewing. This binding comes out as a heavy ⅜” once wrapped around and stitched down. Next, we have the 2½” cut size. I folded it in half and now it is 1 ¼” before sewing it around the quilt. I sewed this one on with a shallow ⅜” seam allowance. It's just one needle position away from ⅜”. Once wrapped around and stitched down, this one makes for a shallow ½” show. I use this size binding on thicker quilts because it gives a little more room for fuller edges. Finally, we have the 3” cut size. This size binding is great for adding some real drama to the edge of your quilt. Folded in half, it's a 1½” strip before sewing it around the quilt. I sewed this one on using a heavy ⅜”-scant ½” seam allowance. This will cover up quite a bit of the border edge, so it may not be ideal if you have a pieced border and don’t want to lose any details/points into the seam allowance. Once wrapped around and stitched down, this makes a full ½” binding. This size binding almost creates a frame or accent border on its own. Use a bold print or a fun stripe and you’ll really make a statement! You’ll never know what a difference your binding size could make until you give it a try! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

It’s time to change out the snowflake throw pillows in my living room, now that we are well into spring, haha! This week, I had the idea to make a 3D flower pillow to add some pretty spring blossoms to my collection of pillows. I like to use up scraps any way I can, so I dug around to find the palest pink scraps in my stash. I didn’t have enough of any one shade, but that makes for an even more lifelike flower. I plan to shade my petals from lightest to darkest. I cut out of paper three different petal sizes. I made 12 of the largest ones, 6 of the medium, and 6 of the smallest ones. You can print my petal templates here. Place your lightest outer petal colors, right sides together, and trace twelve sets of the largest petals. Repeat this process with six sets of medium petals of a slightly darker shade(s). Finally, trace six sets of the smallest petals of the darkest shade(s) you use. Stitch on the two curved sides pivoting at the point, backstitching at the flat bottom edge (leave the flat bottom open for turning). Cut out each petal with ⅛” seam allowance so the edges aren’t too bulky. Turn each petal right side out poking out the pointed end with a point turner or other semi-sharp tool. I finger-pressed each petal at this point. I didn’t want to crush the petals super flat by using an iron and finger pressing worked beautifully! I quilted up a pillow front panel with my go-to straight lines, and without taking it off my longarm I started adding petals. You could do this with a domestic machine in a similar fashion if you dropped your feed dogs and used the darning foot (free-motion foot). Here, you can see the first six large petals ready to stitch. I stitched down the flat edge of each and then did a curvy line up the middle leaving the last inch or so unstitched. This is where those soft finger-pressed edges really show well. I added another set of six large petals, overlapping just a little and making the opening in the center of the flower a little smaller. I stitched these petals down in the same way as the first set. Now for the medium petals. You can see these overlap much more and the opening in the middle is getting pretty small. I stitched these down the same way as before. I was surprised that it didn’t feel all that bulky. I suppose the staggering of the petals is the key to lightening the bulk. Now for the final set of petals. These are the smallest petals, and I decided to add a little fold to the flat edge of each one. For these, I just stitched the flat edge with its fold down and did not stitch up the middle. Because of that little fold, these petals curled over a little and laid against the others. I was debating if I should hand tac the outer tips down to hold them in place, but so far they look great as is! For the center, I decided on a fabric-covered button. I love doing these, they are so easy, and they have such a nice finishing touch. You could use a cute decorative button or any embellishment to cover the center opening. I hand-stitched the covered button down and added my backing to the pillow. The flower came out about 12” across. I made the pillow cover to fit an 18” form. And here it is! The first edition of this year's spring pillow collection. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Last week, I received quite a few comments and questions about how I do my straight-line quilting. This is a question I often get when doing trunk shows, and I try to describe it while showing the quilts, but I've never done a blog showing my process. So this week, I spent a little time filming my straight-line quilting in action. I quilt almost all my quilts this way, it is super easy and fast! I do this style of quilting on my longarm, but you could do the same style on a domestic machine if you used a free-motion foot or a darning foot. Here, you can see the video I did showing one row of quilting on the baby quilt from last week's blog. I fill in each triangle sweeping up and down across the space to fill it in. I keep going into the next triangle until the whole row of triangles is done. Once it was all quilted, this is the back and front of that same quilt. You can see from the back that the triangle blocks connect to each other, so the quilting creates a diamond grid from the back. This is my Honeycomb Hexagon pattern. The blocks are all hexagons, and you can see how I fill in each block with straight lines curving around at the top and bottom to go for the next pass. I try to mount the quilts on my longarm in such a way that I can go from one hexagon block right into the next without stopping. In the case of my Fall Foliage quilt, I did up and down lines in all the hexagon leaf blocks. Then, I quilted side-to-side lines in all the fill-in triangles between the hexagons. It looks like the same texture, but the change in direction adds a little fun detail. My longarm is very old and does not have a stitch regulator or any computerized functions, so I freehand everything. I shoot for about ¼” spacing between my quilting lines but they are probably closer to ⅜” apart. If you look closer, you’ll see they are not perfect and I hope that encourages some of you! Don’t be afraid to try 🙂 Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

I’m serious! You don’t need much fabric for this little baby quilt! Last weekend, I had a baby shower to go to and needed to work up a quick quilt. The mother-to-be loves surprises and never wants to know the gender ahead of time….! So, I went to my stash and scrounged around for something that looked gender-neutral. I found four fat quarters that looked good together and got to work. I love the way this little quilt turned out, and I thought I would share how I did it. You could always expand this idea to make a lap quilt or bigger! First, you’ll need four fat quarters. For this next quilt, I chose a black and white plaid plus three bright companion fabrics. The purple fabric is sort of an ombre shading lighter as it goes across the fabric. Follow this cutting guide to cut each fat quarter for the least amount of waste. You can print this diagram here and keep it with your supplies for future reference. From each fat quarter, you’ll get eight 6½” triangles, eight 3½” triangles, and a 1½” leftover strip (save this for later). You’ll also get 6½” wedge triangle pieces at the end of each 6½” strip, those make the perfect fill in pieces for the sides of your quilt. I laid out all my triangles, big and small to fill in all the space. There are six rows of seven triangle blocks each. This layout is about 29" x 36" when finished. I put one of the wedge triangle pieces on the ends of each row. I did come up two blocks short, but where there’s a will there’s a way! I had two wedge pieces left, and I sewed them to each other to make another triangle. I also sewed the 1½” leftover strips together until I could cut one more 6½” triangle from that. And just like that, I used up 100% of those fat quarters! Here you see how the 3½” triangles sewn together make 6½” triangle units. I was able to make eight blocks like this. I sewed the blocks into horizontal rows pressing the seams between the blocks open. Then, I sewed the rows to each other and pressed those long seams open too. And just like that, a quick gift was done! And, now I have a bonus quilt for when the next baby shower sneaks up on me. Happy Sunday everyone! And Happy Easter too! Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Have you ever made or wanted to make a collage quilt? I made a collage quilt several years ago, and it was so much fun. I got so carried away cutting out flowers that I ended up making not one but two quilts. Each one had its own look because I just couldn’t make all the ideas play well together :) Some of these photos were taken many years ago, and you can tell cameras have come a long way, but I think you’ll get a kick out of seeing the process anyway. Collage quilts are basically a background piece of fabric with flowers from other fabrics cut out and glued in place then stitched down with quilting. Or, you can use fusible web and stitch each piece in place before the final quilting. The first thing you want to do is pick your flower fabrics. I like to use very large scale prints that will make big splashes of color and won’t take an eternity to cut out. Here are several pics of different prints. I left my hand in the photo so you can see the size and scale of them. I cut out each flower pretty close to the edge but I wasn’t fussy about it. I even used partial flowers, layering them in behind other flowers so it looks like there are layers of blooms. For my background, I used two different black and white prints: one was floral and one was newsprint. I cut a wonky line between the two and pieced in a black strip to join them. I added several more black strips for “stems”. These were all cut on the bias so I could easily manipulate them into gentle curves. Now it’s time to play! With a stack of cut flowers and about six glue sticks (literally Elmer's glue sticks), I set to work making my garden grow. Some of these photos aren’t the best quality, but you get the idea. Here are some other close-up photos of the second quilt I made using this method. I haven’t quilted this one yet, and I needed to reattach some of the flowers. You don’t have to glue every last inch down, just enough so they don’t move around or flop over while quilting. This glue applicator would work great for small areas because it has a pointed tip, and you could put just a dot in small places. Basically, the quilting is the magic. You can put as much detail in the quilting to make the flowers pop and secure the edges. The glue will either wash out or dissipate and soften up over time. And, that’s all there is to it! You’ll have some sticky fingers and a big smile at the end of this process :) I hope you enjoy it! Happy Sunday everyone! Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

This is a question I get from time to time, but in recent weeks, I've gotten it quite a few times. “How do you prepare your fabric, and do you use starch or not?" I shot this simple little video showing and talking through my process as I prepare to cut into my fabric. I also discuss at what point in the process I starch my piecing (and what product I use). There are many kinds of starch out there, and I'm not a stickler about what to use. Did you know you can make your own starch and there are about a million ways to do it?! Below you will find several different recipes for homemade starch. We added these to printable recipe cards, so you can print them off to keep! Cornstarch Cornstarch is the one that comes up most frequently when looking for recipes for homemade spray starches. Potato Starch This one is interesting. But unless you're really ambitious, you might want to stick with mashing your potatoes. Flour Starch This is probably one of the earliest recipes for spray starch since flour was also used to make paste. Vinegar This recipe is very similar to the cornstarch basic starch, but adding vinegar to the mix cuts down on the possibility of mold. Glue Starch School’s almost out! What are you going to do with all that extra school glue? Make spray starch of course. Vodka Starch Here's a recipe for spray starch using inexpensive vodka which is supposed to produce a light crisp finish. Apparently, the potatoes used to make vodka make an effective starch. Rice Starch Here’s one using white rice if you already drank the vodka and used the vinegar to make pickles :-) Use and Storage of Homemade Spray Starch Use as you would any store-bought starch. Follow the recommendations on your iron for heating. Clean your iron regularly. Starch can build up after a while. Store in a cool, dry place for a few months or in your refrigerator. Discard if you notice any discoloration." Have you ever made spray starch? What did you use? How did it work out for you? Do you have a recipe that’s not included here? Who knew there were so many ways to make spray starch? Now you know! Happy Sunday, everyone! Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

I'm so excited to finally share what I have been working on since last fall! This is Dancing Dahlias. It's perfect for using up scraps and stash, or using your unique collection of colors to build each flower. I know the name says dahlias, but I was inspired by the colors in daffodils, daisies, mums, coneflowers, and of course dahlias. Just look at all that color! This is a very happy quilt :) I filmed a new YouTube video walking you through the process of cutting and piecing the flower blocks. They are so much easier than they look! You’ll get addicted to making them. I've been working with Creative Grids ,since last fall, to design the 60 degree diamond TINY ruler. It cuts diamonds, triangle, hexagons, trapezoids and parallelograms in 1½”, 2½” and 3½” sizes. This itty bitty ruler packs quite a punch for something pocket sized :) Dancing Dahlias is the first of many patterns I have planned to show you just what a TINY ruler can do! If you already own the Creative Grids 60 degree diamond MINI ruler, that will work just fine for this pattern so no one is left out here! Last but not least, we made kits of the exact fabrics that I used to make this quilt. Of course you can use your own stash and scraps, but if you love the fabrics I used, you can buy the bundle here. The pattern comes in both a PDF and printed form here. The brand new Creative Grids TINY ruler can be found here. Or if you would like the Fabric kit and the TINY ruler bundle, we'll include the pattern for FREE with that purchase. Let the quilting begin! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Here goes another crazy scrap idea! I know you are shocked ;) It's looking a little like spring here in the PNW, and pretty soon we'll have quite the floral display just north of me in the tulip fields in Mt. Vernon, WA. I started thinking about using my pretty floral scrap strips, and the quilt-as-you-go method, to mimic those perfect rows of tulips that stretch out for miles. I decided to add some “blue sky” and “green grass” to the mix. This isn’t what you would call a landscape quilt, but it was a fun process and maybe it’ll inspire you to mimic your own nature scenes. I started with a scrap piece of 100% cotton batting that I cut to about 15” x 40”. I cut the ends into a 45-degree point and pressed it in half both widthwise and lengthwise to create an X crease in the middle. I added a backing and placed a 4” “blue sky” square right in the middle. You may want to use spray baste to hold the backing to the batting during the construction of the top. I started building my “fields of flowers”. I added the first pink floral strip, lining it up with the edge of the blue square. Pin in place through all the layers and stitch down ¼” from the raw edges of the pieces. Most of my strips were 1 1/2" wide, although I cut them in random sizes up to 2" wide for variety. Press the floral strip out, and add the next floral strip down the next side of the center square. Keep adding strips to the sides of the center square log cabin style until you’ve gone all the way around at least once or twice. It was time to add some grass. I had some of these nice spring green scraps, and I cut a couple of strips 3” wide. I pressed a layer of fusible web to the back of one of the strips, then peeled the paper side off and pressed it to the back of the other strip. Now, I had a two-sided green strip. I cut that into three 1” wide strips and clipped little notches along one edge of each to make sharp “grass” blades. Now, back to the table runner. I'd made a couple of laps with the floral strips, so before sewing the next strip on, I inserted one of my grass strips into the seam. Sew through all the layers and press the floral strip out, leaving the grass strip to pop out like a flange. I continued adding floral strips and grass strips for a couple more rounds, then it was time for some blue sky. I started adding these pale blue strips at random, often following them with another grass strip. Here you see the nearly completed top after I had sewn enough strips in place to cover the batting from edge to edge. I trimmed the outside edges even with the batting and straightened up the sides a bit. I added a green binding to the outside edge, and since I had a couple of grass strips left, I went ahead and tucked them into the binding along the ends. I used my fingers to curl the grass blades up off the table runner for a real 3D look. And just like that, I have the tulip fields on my table :) Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Hollow Star Table Runner Fabric kits, in Patriotic and Brave prints, are new in the Shop. Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

You know what’s better than a four leaf clover? Well, uh, a five leaf clover of course. I mean four leaves on a clover are so overrated (and this pillow looked kinda weird with only four :) I made this little shamrock pillow while I was dinking around with ideas. If you have my Creative Grids 60 Degree Diamond Ruler, then you could follow along and make your own in no time. I bought six shades of green, light to dark, and cut a 1½” strip from each one. Sew the four lighter shades together and then the two darker shades together. Press these seams open. Using the triangle lines on the ruler, cut (5) 4½” triangles from the lighter strip set. Align the 4½” line along the darker edge of the strip and the flat tip at the lighter edge. From the darker strip set (of only two strips), cut (5) 4½” trapezoids. Align the 4½” line along the lighter edge of the strip set and the 2” star “burr” line along the darkest edge. Cut a 2½” strip of background white, then cut (10) 2½” triangles from it. From that same strip, cut (2) 6½” trapezoids by aligning one edge of the strip along the 6½” line and the other edge along the 4” star “burr” line. Cut (2) rectangles 5½” x 8½” from the background white fabric. Cut these in half diagonally by aligning the 8½” triangle line along the bottom and the left dashed center line along the left edge. Also, cut (1) 6½” triangle from the white background fabric (I forgot to take a pic of this step, sorry). Now to assemble! Take the triangle of the four lighter shades and the trapezoid of the two darker shades along with two 2½” white triangles and lay them out as shown. Sew the green units together, press this seam open. Then, sew the two white background triangles to each side, press these seams out. Make five petal/triangle units like this. Arrange the petal units as shown and put the 6½” white triangle in the open spot. I used a piece of green ribbon to make my “stem”. I manipulated it into a curve and glue basted it in place (see a tutorial on glue basting here). I then stitched on either side and trimmed the ribbon even with the edges of the block. Sew the blocks together into two halves, the three bottom blocks and the three top blocks. Press these seams open. Sew the two halves together and press the center seam open. Lay out the shamrock block with the background pieces, the two 6½” trapezoids and the four corner triangles. Sew the trapezoids on first, and press those seams out. Then, sew two of the corner units on, on opposite sides, press those seams out before adding the other two corner units. This will make a 14” x 16” pillow cover as is, I added a strip to the top and bottom to get myself a 16” square. Here it is on the longarm after quilting. I made sure my top and bottom strips were oversized so I could trim it all down after quilting. The top panel all trimmed and ready for a backing and zipper. And there it is! A five leaf clover :) Kinda fun, and pretty quick too! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

You guys are going to love this trick! Over the years, I have gotten this question again and again, in class, in emails, in exasperation! Hahaha!… How do I get the ends of my binding to join perfectly? I've been using this Corner Clipper tool, and I’m crazy about it! I can’t believe how foolproof it is, and you can be sure I’ll recommend this method to everyone with that question from now on! Soooo, I did a little how-to video to show you a couple of ways I’m using it to get my strips to join perfectly everytime. I hope you’ll find it really helpful. If you’d like to get your hands on one of these tools, you can find it here in the shop! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

I have a pretty good stash of neutrals and low volume fabrics. I save the most trivial little strips for the “someday” projects that need just that size! After last week's purging and organizing, I thought it was time to pare down those little neutral scraps. I made three scrappy log cabin blocks, starting with a 4” light gray square in the middle. I did a couple of laps with random 1½” wide neutral strips. The blocks came out 8” square. I sewed those blocks to each other and added a 1½” black and white striped border strip around the whole thing. I have a bench pillow that is about 14” x 25”, so I kept adding neutral strips until it was big enough to cover that. I cut out a heart shape to fit in the middle of each block. I used a water-erasable pen to draw the outline. I decided to quilt ¼” straight lines, right up to the heart outline, so they would really poof up. I used wool batting, which has a nice loft to it, so the texture is extra good! I contemplated just satin stitching the outline with red or pink thread to make the heart shape stand out, but not fill it in. In the end, I decided I wanted to try something new! I grabbed some fancy fabrics I have little bits of. This is a polyester lining fabric with a sheer sparkly one to match. I cut three big squares for each heart: two sheer layers and one lining layer. I stacked them up over the puffy hearts that were quilted. I marked the heart outline lightly, on the top sheer layer, so I could see it clearly. I stitched the outline a couple of times with matching thread and once with black thread. I wanted it to be very secure, but I didn’t want to go round and round with black thread, so this kept it subtle. Now, to see if my crazy idea worked. I trimmed the layers around the heart to about ¼” away from the stitching. I grabbed a dry toothbrush with stiff bristles and scrubbed away at the edges until they were nothing but fuzz. I gave them a little haircut to shape them up again. With the pillow top done, I added a backing, dressing up the living room just in time for Valentine's Day! I can see this technique working with other fabrics. It would be cute to do stars or flowers with cute prints instead of the sheer fabric I used. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

How do you organize your stash? I've been asked several times to do a blog about this, but I kind of felt ill-equipped because I don't have a huge stash. I typically buy just enough fabric to do whatever I’m working on (crazy I know). I like to do scrap projects and use things up, so even if I have leftovers, they aren’t here for long! I've been slowly working to combine my scraps from a couple of different sewing areas and group them into color piles. This is a project that I started last fall and you guys have already seen a few fruits from that labor :) It's amazing what you can dig out when you start sorting. I mostly put similar colors together, but I made special piles for Christmas fabrics or 4th of July fabrics. I separated the pre-cut leftover blocks from past projects. I stacked neat little piles of triangles and gathered up fat quarters and charm packs from all corners. I really need to see all my fabric if I ever want to remember what I have and use it up. This means that boxes and tubs have never really worked for me. I saw these little rolling carts at IKEA and thought they would be just perfect! Here you see some of my color piles. I organized them with the smallest pieces on top, so they don’t get lost in the layers. Most of these piles consist of pieces that are ½ yard or smaller, but I have a couple of yards folded at the bottom of a couple of these piles. I usually only buy what I need for a project, so to have yardage is unusual. Once I had my piles sorted, I began filling the carts! They look so pretty with their colorful stacks side by side. I used a few shelves/baskets for all my neutral whites, grays, and blacks. I also added a stripe section and a few baskets to hold everything for a single project still in process. This may be the best part, I have at least five different quilts I can pick up and finish if I ever get bored, haha! Once the big fabrics were sorted, I turned my attention to the pre-cuts and unused blocks. I also picked up these letter files at IKEA and thought they would be perfect as they are see-through and stackable. I began layering each tray with pre-cuts in a single collection or with similar styles. These trays are about 2½” deep, so I made nice flat stacks and spread them out. It’s so accessible now, that I can just grab that tray and start tinkering on a new scrap idea when the time comes. Organized at last! Just look how nice this looks! Now, to keep it this way ;) Haha! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Oh, and one more thing. We just restocked the shop with City Girl Chevron and Honeycomb Hexagon kits. They have been out of stock for a while, and I know some of you have been asking about them. Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

A couple of weeks ago, I started a little scrap quilt using 2½” squares and leftover binding ends that I couldn’t seem to throw out. I showed my process for partial seams in making those super simple but interesting blocks in that week's blog post, Partial to Scraps! I made a total of sixteen blocks that ended up 6½” square. Now, to figure out a layout 🙂 I decided on four rows of four blocks to make a square quilt. I thought it would be more interesting to put the blocks on point.… and that meant I needed to do quilt Math for those fill-in triangles around the edge. First, I cut nine 6½” squares of my background gray for the middle blocks. These blocks are the same size as the pieced blocks. For the triangles along the sides, I wanted to cross cut larger squares, twice diagonally, to keep the outside edges along the straight of grain containing the bias-cut edges of those triangles to the inside of the quilt. Bias edges will stretch and it can be a bugger to get a quilt to lay flat once the stretching begins. I cut three 10½” squares, and cut those squares twice diagonally, as shown, to get twelve side-setting triangles. Next were the corner triangle cuts. I needed to cut these squares, once diagonally, to keep the outside two edges along the straight of grain, and the cross cut (biased) edge would then be towards the quilt block. I cut two 5¾” squares, and cut those squares once diagonally to get 4 corner triangles. Now for the layout! Fill in all those outside triangle spots and begin to form rows. These rows get pieced together, diagonally, with the opposite corner units being the shortest and the middle row being the longest. When sewing the biased edge of those triangles to the straight of grain edge of the pieced blocks, keep your biased edge towards your feed dogs or BOB (bias on bottom). This will help control the stretch as you are piecing. Once the rows are all sewn to each other, you can see there is just enough room at the outer edge of those setting triangles to “float” the blocks. I like this look and it makes it easy to bind without losing your points! This little quilt ended up 36” x 36”...perfect for a baby quilt or a funky little wall hanging. Quilt Math… What if your pieced blocks were 8½” instead of 6½”? Here is the formula for figuring out those side-setting triangles no matter the size. Multiply the finished block size by 1.41 (so that would be 11.98”). Add 1¼ inches to the dimension (13.23”) and round up to the nearest ⅛ of an inch (I sometimes round up to the nearest 1/4" just to be safe) . This would make your squares 13¼”. Cut those squares twice diagonally and you’ll have side-setting triangles. For the corner triangles, here is the formula. Multiply the finished block size by 1.41 (so that would be 11.98”). Divide that number by two (5.99”), add .875 inches, and round up to the nearest ⅛ of an inch. This would make your corner squares 7”. Cut those squares once diagonally and you’ll have corner triangles. I put together this little printable chart for some common block sizes, so you can do Math at a glance :) But the formula above works for every size, if I didn't list the one you need. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

What a week! I taught six different classes at Road to California, and now that it's over, I can’t believe how fast it went. I managed to take some pics in each class, and I thought it would be fun to share what we worked on! We started the week with Vintage Windmill on Monday. I love teaching this class to newer quilters and people who haven’t done much with angles before. It's such a crowd-pleaser and everyone learns so much through the process. At the end of class, we all gathered our blocks together and laid them out on the floor. What an impressive bunch we had! For the next two days, I worked with a split group making either Snowflake Lane or Flutterby Frolic. Having two full days, with the same gals, was quite relaxing because you can get into a great productive groove and really enjoy each other's company. That night, I caught up with Jen Kingwell who’s become a really neat friend, and with a new friend Roxanne who owns a couple of shops in Southern California! I love how small the quilting world is and how much of a family it has become for those who travel a lot, often alone. The next day, it was back to the classroom for Tully The Turtle and this busy group made some serious headway. I just loved seeing the different fabrics and bright “turtle shells” as they came together. Friday was another split class with about half the group making Summer Succulents and the other half working on Fall Foliage. Just look at these amazingly perfect stacks of leaf cuts! I told her this made my OCD heart so happy to see! Ha ha! What a fun group and they all did soooo well! Finally, Saturday was our Bespoke Stars class, and this one took the cake. First, we had two sisters from Monday's Vintage Windmill class, come to class with their Monday quilts all done! These gals are wiz kids for sure and so much fun to have In class through the years! Just look at all they got done. So many amazing combinations and color schemes. What a great way to end the week! I made everyone promise to send pics of their finished quilts, because don’t you just want to see these all done now?! I hope you enjoyed a peek into my classes this week. I’m flying home now and will be back in my sewing room to finish that scrap quilt I started last week 🙂 Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

How about another useful trick for using up scraps and making them look not so much like scraps after all?! This week, in my ongoing effort to sort out just how much fabric I have sitting around here, I uncovered a couple more packs of these little 2½” square crumbs. First, I dug around some more and sorted out all my leftover striped binding chunks from past quilts. Can you tell, I don’t throw anything away ;) But, it comes in handy at some point! First, I made as many four patches as I could with these 2½” squares. I ended up with 16 four patches measuring 4½” square. Next, I cut those orphaned binding chunks into 1½” x 5 ½” sections. I needed four for each block so I cut 64 total. Now for the fun part! Have you ever done anything with partial seams? This is a super easy way to make a block look a little more interesting but not too complicated to piece together. You can see here how I have laid the 1½” x 5½” “rail” pieces along each edge overlapping the next rail piece in a rotation. Start stitching on the first rail piece by lining up the end of the rail with the edge of the four patch. Stitch almost all the way down the length of the four patch, but leave about 1” unstitched where the rail piece is detached from the four patch. Next, rail piece two is added. This one gets stitched down the whole length, end to end. I like to press these seams open because it makes for a very flat block, but you can press to the side if you like. Now, piece three is added stitching end to end. Press that seam open. Finally, it’s piece four’s turn. Before sewing piece four in place, you will want to pull piece one out of the way at the top edge. Sew piece four end to end and press that seam open. To finish the block, you will lay piece one back in place over the end of piece four and finish the partial seam you started with. And, just like that you have a cute scrappy block with a twist. I like to do this method because I can cut all those rail pieces the same size and then decide where they are going to go. Not a lot of pre-planning is needed for figuring out side rails and top/bottom rails. Before I knew it, I had my pile of 16 scrappy blocks all made up. These squares ended up 6½”. I have a fun layout in mind for a baby quilt, and I’ll share that next time! I’m off to teach at Road to California this week, so when I get back we’ll pick it up here with setting squares and side-setting triangle math :) I bet you can’t wait, haha!! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

I posted these at the beginning of last year and this idea got rave reviews soooo.... It's a new year and that means new projects to finish! I know we all start the year with big ambitions. I sure hope I’m not alone with my visions of grandeur and a “to finish” quilt list a mile long. Well, it’s time to get organized if I'm going to make headway! I designed a series of FREE printable quilt journal pages that can be used to organize your UFOs or plan out the quilts you haven’t even started yet. Sometimes picking up where you left off on a project is the most daunting part. I think these pages are going to help with that! I filmed a little video showing how I am using these sheets to keep myself organized. I hope you like them and find them useful too! Happy New Year, everyone! Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

This should be inspiring! You may know we did a quilt along for my latest pattern, Fall Foliage, this past fall. Each week, for five weeks, I recorded a video lesson the participants watched before moving to the next part of the process. And boy, was it fun to see these quilts come together! I think you'll agree, this is quite the parade of eye candy. The creativity in color choice and layout is so inspiring, I find myself saying, wow, why didn’t I think of that?! Haha! I hope you enjoy this amazing show of workmanship. I'm so thrilled to share your work with the big wide world of quilters :) Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Julie Belz I am quilting mine this weekend to have it done for my quilt group's quilt show next weekend in Red Wing. I'll try to post a picture when it is done. It has been my favorite quilt to make this past year. Kristin Nelson I hadn’t gotten very far because I had too many things to do, so I had no time for sewing. Hopefully, I’ll have time to sew this weekend. Krista, you always make your amazing designs so easy and enjoyable to sew. Your tips about how to use the bias and straight of grain to your advantage when sewing have been a game changer for easier accuracy! I always strive for perfection and sometimes it’s frustrating to get all the seams matched perfectly, but with your technique, it comes out perfect with minimal struggle. I have learned so much from watching your videos, thank you for all of your hard work! Carol Richardson Laid out my blocks, totally not close to finished but working on it. Love the green background! Have a cream fleece for the back and dark green for binding! Will use gold thread for quilting!!! One row at a time!! I am so excited to get going again!! Great pattern Krista!! It is a journey in color hues, contrasts, matching and not so matching Machie!! I am now a master of colors!! lol!! Deborah Jacobs Happy (almost) New Year’s everyone. My quilt is almost complete. All I need to finish is tacking the front binding. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this quilting experience and watching each person’s squares come together. I learned to enjoy the process. That each small piece fits into a larger piece, and all those pieces work together to make a beautiful treasure. I also learned I need to always use a starter piece of fabric. Thank you, Krista Moser, The Quilted Life for taking me on this journey. My quilt will be donated to my husband’s company to auction for their community charity fund. As will your City Girl Chevron which I am completing. LaDauna Jorgenson Wilson My Fall Foliage quilt top is done. I used Kona Solid Berry for the background and various solids for the leaves. Also added a couple of rows and columns to make it larger. I love it! Thank you Krista Moser for another great pattern and sew along. Ann Jeffrey My Foliage is destined as a donation and needs to be a bit larger. I rotated it 90 degrees and added another row to the shorter measurement to get 61" by 71". It is being quilted right now so I am showing the flimsy. I did not have any ombre fabric and I took a page from Bonnie Hunter to make my background a scrappy rich cream assortment. On a sunny day in the fall, the air just seems to be golden as it reflects all the brightly colored leaves. I enjoyed this project and almost all my points are perfect. I really like that diamond ruler Krista. Claire Quicoud Cqc Finished the tablecloth requested by my daughter-in-law. The size is customized for your coffee table. And it has been waterproofed with a specific product, which gives it that wrinkled look. I used AGF fabrics "pure solids" None of the leaves are the same as the others. I loved this first pattern by Krista, and I have many more on the table. The use of Diamond rules is great and allows for super-precise cuts!! Learned the Y join stitches to put hexagons together. I loved doing this piece! Thank you, Krista, my daughter-in-law loves it! Sue Ewles Borders are made, just need to sew them on and get it quilted. Thank you for the journey Krista, I really enjoyed it. Susan Ainsworth Smith For the blog post, I made more blocks than I needed so I could make it bigger. This isn’t the final layout, but she’ll be done in the next few months. I’ll enter it in our guild’s quilt show, which will be in October. I’m very much a “fly by the seat of my pants” quilter, and I like to change things to suit my creativity. I learned, even after 35+ years of quilting that I can follow a pattern and still change things up a bit to suit my style! Rebecca Fiedler In the past, I've avoided bias edges where possible and starched the living daylights out of fabric when I couldn't avoid bias. I don't yet claim to have mastered bias but I have improved! A lot. I've never been so mindful of bias edges as I was while working on my two Fall Foliage tops. The first was from a variety of reds and light greys. Although you can't see it in this photo, I added an extra row. Once I trimmed the sides, I turned the top into my guild's Quilts of Valour (Canada) group. I hope to get a better photo after it is quilted and bound. I also made a top I intend to keep for myself. I finished assembling it this afternoon. I'll trim the sides, choose a backing, and take it to one of our local longarm quilters in January. Thanks for the helpful videos and feedback, Krista Moser The Quilted Life. Denise Quilting Work In Progress, the quilting is not completed yet. I am quilting a different background quilting motif in each hexagonal ring as it radiates out from the center. The center is the green leaf in the top row with the lightest purple background. I learned that free motion quilting "straightish" lines on a domestic sewing machine for a quilt this size is difficult. I should have stuck to wavy lines and curly motifs. Deloras Amore Not quilted but soon. Rhonda Davis One of my favorite quilts! If I make another one, I definitely would use your coloring sheet before cutting. Anyway, Krista, you're the best! Mary Rochford Just loved doing this quilt! My husband is enjoying it greatly. I learn something new it seems, with every quilt I make. I loved the term engineered corners and now I can tell straight of grain and bias without stretching the fabric. Thank you, Krista, I have enjoyed making many of your creations and look forward to making many more. Happy New Year! Karen Pickford I loved this project so much, I couldn't stop! The table runner was a test piece, but every time I saw a different background I was amazed and wanted that, too. Hopefully, I'll be able to quilt these soon. Bernadette Koenn I am officially done with my fall foliage from Krista Moser the Quilted Life. I found comparable fabrics at a local shop and I LOVE THIS QUILT. This is the third quilt I have made from your patterns. Your use of color is just delightful. This was a fun project! Darlene Orschek Loved the creativity and working with colors. Pasqual Vasquez My favorite takeaways from your videos are: Slow Down! Engineered corners Use a stiletto Straight of grain on top of bias cut when joining Iron often Did I mention Slow Down! No compromise Don't hesitate to unzip & resew if off > 1/32" 2.0 stitch length Now, I have the confidence to take another shot at Entangled Sky. Susan Hansen I finished, thank you Krista Moser The Quilted Life! Sonja Devenney Quilted and washed. Ready to be sent to my parents to enjoy. Jackie McKinnon Putnam Slow and steady... I finished the full leaves! Some adjustments are to be made! Chrisand Glenise Hart I have been quilting for 30 years and still learned a lot from your pattern especially how to deal with bias edges. Looking forward to your next sew-along project. Peggy Bruns I love this pattern and fabric! Making progress. Beth Davis I finally had a nice enough day to take a picture of my Fall Foliage!! Really enjoyed making this quilt Krista! Mimi Lawson Well, it’s taken a while. In Australia, fabrics are not as plentiful as in the US. It took a little time to source them as I had to break down the greens into three fabrics. I couldn’t get any Ombre so had to settle for Moda Grunge fabrics. I really enjoyed doing this Quilt Along as well as seeing all the other wonderful posts over the past few weeks. Thank you Krista Moser love all the work you do. Now to do the backing and put it on my quilting frame but that can wait until after Christmas. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to all of you. Tammy Whitaker Hendrickson Yeah! All rows are sewn together! Trimming then quilting! Thank you Krista for a beautiful and wonderful pattern! Amy Payne Thank you, Krista Moser, The Quilted Life for designing my most favorite quilt and hosting the quilt along! Enjoying a light snow in KS to complement the leaves today. Kathy Syring Thank you!! It is an amazing pattern! Margaret Devolt Here is my quilt top. I used 28 different fabrics for the leaves. It will be great on my wall for fall. Thanks, Krista. Cathy Cameron Making progress! I love these leaves!! Chresteane Howell Finished mine today!!! Tara Jones Wohlford The first couple weeks of cutting and these 3 blocks are all I had done when I took this photo a couple of days ago. Now, I can add one more block to the mix. Irina Milashevskaya Julie Goetz My Fall Foliage. Kat Scribner Currently working on a pieced border, but in the meantime here is a picture of my center. Ingrid Seiler My top is finally finished. The quilting still has to wait, now it's time to start the Christmas stuff. Stephanie Peterson I was grateful for a little found and unexpected sewing time the other day and finished my blocks. Now onto the connector blocks! (My design wall is not quite wide enough.) Barbara Hagerman Cerwinske Mary Miglis Here's my first row - three blocks finished and the 4th ready to sew after my morning walk. The first block of the next row is awaiting background choices. The triangle connector blocks are just helping with spacing the blocks and not in their final positions. Aida Merlini Finished the top. I added a row since I had enough fabric. I'm quite satisfied, some points are not perfect. Linda McKee Kau After several days of power outages, my Fall Foliage top is one piece. I must admit, I smiled and shook my head a bit as I sewed on this one. Sewing falling leaves while a record snowstorm brewed outside. Seemed a bit unusual. BTW, using 2 very different ombres wasn't a great idea. I may try again using some batiks. I think the movement in some nice batiks would be much prettier! Leslie Davis It's been a struggle trying to keep up, but I have my parts all sewn. Just need to figure out my layout. Krista Cummings I love leaves, so I had to do this one. Can’t wait for my purple kit to arrive so I can make it again. Thank you, Krista Moser, The Quilted Life for your wonderful patterns. Can’t wait to see your next one. Lois Dean Lots of color shifting has happened this week. I think my blocks are ready for rows. Mary Fitzgibbons Finished the piecing. I need the design wall for another project! Laila Mogensen My layout and all blocks are done. Can't wait to see the finished quilt. But isn't it always like that? Jackie Chapp Carroll This was another great quilt along Krista Moser, the Quilted Life! Thank you so much for doing these. I love everything about this one, and can’t wait for what you might be planning next. Susan Hofstetter I liked making this fall foliage quilt so much, I did it twice. The teal and gold version was inspired by the backing fabric that's hanging next to the quilt. The more colorful version was also fun. The background fabrics are ombres from Jennifer Sampou. The pattern is by Krista Moser. I will quilt them before next fall. Linda Snyder All my leaves are ready. Whew! Susan Lynn I used Jennifer Sampou Sky Ombre fabrics. The purple background is Cerise. I also like the blue background table runner… making a few more of these for Thanksgiving tables. Claudia Knight Another row finished. 7 leaves to go. It is self-bending well. Carol-Ann Cox Happy New Year everyone! Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

I know it’s the day before Christmas, but I just had to share this ornament idea! You know, just in case you need a fun little project to keep the kids entertained. I made a bunch of these little felt tree ornaments and they take no time at all. They are so fast and easy, I think they'd make a great project for kids. I cut ½” x 14¼” strips out of wool felt (regular felt works too). I could also see this working with ribbon or two layers of cute fabric fused together. Hole punch eight little holes down the length of the strip. I spaced them out as follows: the first hole is 1” from the left end, then mark 2½” from the first hole for the second hole, then another 2½” for the third, the fourth hole comes 2 ⅛” after that, and the fifth another 2⅛” from the fourth. Then the sixth is only 1½” from the fifth, the seventh is 1⅛” from the sixth and the eighth is 1” from the seventh. This should leave you with about ¼” at the right end. If you do not have a tiny hole punch, you could poke holes with a large gauge needle and that would work to “pre-poke” the holes for the wire that comes next. I cut about 6” of wire and used needle nose pliers to curl one end under into a little coil. Next, string your “trunk” bead onto the wire, making sure the coiled end is big enough to hold the bead on. Then, put the wire through the first hole with the 1” tail out to the side. Now, add another bead and put the wire through hole number two. Keep alternating beads between each hole until you have the wire through the last hole. Clip the excess wire off about ½” from the top of the tree. Curl it over to create a wire loop. Finally, string a length of twine through the wire loop to create a hanger for the tree. These take no time at all and before I knew it I had three done. My original idea was for Christmas ornaments, but these would make cute embellishments on gift wrap as well! Merry Christmas everyone! Krista 'Twas the night before Christmas, And the quilts were not made. The threads were all tangled, the cookies delayed. The stockings weren't hung, the pantry was bare. The poor weary Quilter was tearing her hair. Stacks of fat quarters, tipped over in streams. Visions of Log Cabins had turned into dreams. When what to her wondering eyes should appear, But a bus full of quilters with all of their gear. They went straight to work with just a few mutters, Sorting and stitching and brandishing cutters. The patterns emerged from all of the clutter, Like magic, the fabrics arranged in a flutter. Log Cabins, Lone Stars, Flying Geese & Bear Tracks Each quilt was a beauty-even the backs. Her house how it twinkled, her quilts how they glowed. The cookies were baking, the stockings were sewed. Their work was all done, so they folded their frames, And packed up their needles, without giving their names. They boarded the bus and checked the next address. More quilts to be made, another quilter in distress. She heard one voice echo, as they drove out of sight, Happy quilting to all and to all a good night! -Author Unknown Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

It’s that time of year again… when everyone is scrambling for little last-minute gift ideas and small bits and bobs to fill the stockings. I thought it might be helpful to work up a quilters stocking stuffer checklist that you might casually leave lying around (or taped to your spouse's steering wheel). You can check off items you’d like and make important notes to specify size or type. This is just a jumping-off point, so feel free to add your own flare. I do think hobbies like quilting, with its very specific idiosyncrasies, can be intimidating to shop for… so maybe this list will take the edge off the panic. I put a couple of my personal favorites on this list (that hand lotion is the all-time best, and those chocolates are seriously amazing), but you can change these items to suit your own taste! Rotary blades Iron cleaner Fabric marker Nice pins Little sharp scissors Neutral Thread Pack A small true color light Hand lotion Extendable magnet stick Zirkel pin holder Diagonal seam tape Sewing machine needles Misting bottle A box of color catchers Phone Holder Chocolate Coffee shop gift card Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Well, this is a fun way to sew in the season :) I designed this peppermint pinwheel block a few years ago as an alternative block to the little trees in my Buffalo Lodge pattern. But just this week, I thought I’d work them into a super simple Christmas lap quilt and, oh my gosh, is it cute or what?! This is basically a combination of two of my free patterns, the Buffalo Check baby quilt and the Peppermint Pinwheel block. I officially combined them into one lap-size pattern that is now a FREE printable PDF found here. This pattern is super fast and could easily be done before Christmas. But, it’s not so specific to Christmas that you couldn’t leave it out all winter long! In addition to the pattern, I made a couple of YouTube videos in the past, one for the original baby quilt, and the other for the peppermint block itself. If you get stuck on any part of the process, these videos should help. Okay, and last but not least, I made up some kits for this quilt. It’s a pretty simple palette of only four fabrics, but if you can’t get to a store or don’t have a good local selection, I’ve got you covered 🙂 Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

Are you gifting a quilt to someone this Christmas? Do you want to make sure they take good care of it and know what to do if/when it gets dirty? I’ve heard some horror stories over the years about sheepish family members hiding a soiled quilt in the closet rather than attending to the problem right away. Most of the time it was because they didn’t know what to do, and the thought of asking the one who made it for them was just too humiliating! So if you’re gifting a quilt this Christmas, let’s make sure the giftee doesn’t ignore your phone calls or peak through the blinds before opening the door…. At least not for this reason anyway ;) haha! I put together this little PDF graphic that you can print off and include with the quilt. It’s not overwhelming or too tedious to follow and should make them confident enough to clean the quilt when it needs it! There are of course special situations with vintage quilts or delicate quilts that have embellishments or lace, but this will cover the bases. Washing It is usually okay to wash me in the home washing machine, though If I am a very large quilt you may need a commercial size machine. I prefer cold water and a mild detergent (that is free of perfumes, brighteners, and bleach). Run the machine on a short gentle cycle. To keep my colors bright, you can add half a cup of vinegar to the wash cycle. Drying Quilts are heavy when wet. Try to support my wet weight so that the threads don't pop (maybe drape me in half over the shower rod). It is also okay to partially dry me in the dryer on low heat tumble setting. My favorite is to lay flat on a rack or bed of towels and then air fluff in the dryer. In the Summer, you could lay me out on the grass to finish drying on a sunny day! I do love sun, but only in short doses. If I am on a bed in full sun please close the blinds so my fibers don’t discolor. Please don’t iron me! I don’t handle that kind of heat well. How Often? Washing me when I’m soiled will extend my life; washing me when I’m clean will shorten my life. Quilts that are used every day normally only need washing once a year. But if you have pets or children, I may need more frequent washing. Airing quilts (on a drying rack outside) between washings is a good idea. I will never turn down an opportunity to feel the breeze on my fibers! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my Youtube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

This week is a little different. In a busy holiday week, we have two big things happening. First, we are doing our biggest sale of the year! All patterns, classes, and kits are 30% off in the store through Monday (Nov. 27th) at 11:00 PM PST. There's a lot to be thankful for, and we are very thankful for your encouragement and support of this small business :) The second is near and dear to my heart! This is the fifth year I'm doing my sample sale for charity! Every year, I make tons of samples for blogs, classes, or just fun sewing out of scraps. They pile up all year, and then we do a silent auction over on Facebook with all the proceeds going to one of my favorite charities, Angel Tree. Last year, you blew me away with your generosity! This year, I have even more samples that need forever homes! It's exciting to join the bidding bonanza, so don’t be shy. I made a little video going through my huge pile of samples so you can get a quick peek at what’s up for auction. The starting bid for each piece is $5… that’s right, five dollars! So even if you aren’t on Facebook, find someone who is, and is willing to bid in your name ;) The bidding starts immediately and goes through Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 pm, PST. (See note below for more Auction details.) Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my Youtube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website. ANGEL TREE AUCTION 2023: Bidding: Select the item(s) you want and make your bid on Facebook by making a comment on the item you want. The price will be the amount you bid plus applicable shipping. We will ship internationally if you are willing to pay for the shipping. Bidding will be open from Sunday, November 26th at 9:00 AM PST through GIVING Tuesday, November 28th at 2:00 PM PST. Tied bids will be settled by drawing the names from a hat. Checks and credit cards are both accepted. TO BID, PLEASE READ ALL COMMENTS. DO NOT EDIT PREVIOUS COMMENTS. IF YOU WIN, YOU'LL BE NOTIFIED BY FACEBOOK MESSENGER. Winners: If you are notified that you are a Winner, please send a NEW email to info@kristamoser.com, Subject: WINNER, with your complete address, your phone number, your email address, and your preferred method of payment.

I had another hair-brained idea to use sliver strips and scraps. I thought it would be fun to create a “canvas” for a new out-of-the-box applique idea and make a quick Thanksgiving table runner. I gathered up a bunch of rust and plum fabrics, these are mostly small amounts left over from other projects. I cut random-sized strips ranging from 1¼” wide to 2” wide, all of them WOF or selvage to selvage. I opened the strips to a single layer and cut the right end off at a 60-degree angle using the Creative Grids Large 60-degree Diamond Ruler. I staggered the ends, as shown, and pieced two strip sets together with as many strips as it took to get the whole strip set to measure 8½” wide. Using the triangle lines on the ruler, align the bottom edge of the strip set with the 8½” dashed line and the flat tip of the ruler with the top edge of the strip. Cut the first 8½” triangle like this, then rotate the ruler 180 degrees to make the next cut. You should get eight triangle cuts from each strip set for a total of sixteen (you will only need 14). Arrange the triangle cuts, as shown, with six in the middle creating a complete hexagon, and each end being made up of four more. The random size of the strips gives the table runner an improv scrappy look without fussing about matching seams. Sew the triangles together into two rows: a top row, and a bottom row. Then, sew one final seam down the middle. Press all seams open for the flattest results. Okay, now for the crazy part. I bought a few spriggs of those fake silk flowers with pretty fall-looking leaves on the stems. I peeled the leaves off their plastic stems and pressed them out flat. You have to use a steam iron so the leaves won’t melt or shrivel. Off to the longarm! I quilted up the table runner using my favorite ¼” lines and scattered the freshly pressed leaves around to give it a tossed random look. You could use a strip or two of Steam a Seam to hold each leaf in place, or even a little spray baste would work great to keep things from moving too much during quilting. I thought I'd just wing it and hold each leaf in place with my fingers as I quilted them down. It worked surprisingly well on my longarm, but I think it would be a lot harder on a domestic machine. I stitched down all the little vein lines and then around the whole outside of each leaf. What a cool look! I had no idea these leaves would be so easy to appliqué. I got a little carried away with the leaf buying, so I went out and found a nice woven fall plaid fabric to use up the rest of the leaves. I placed all the leaves down the middle, overlapping them a bit to give it a garland look. In no time, I had two Thanksgiving table runners and the second one took one-tenth the time! Haha! So if you need something super fast, do this version! I just love how they came out. This idea would also make a cute Christmas table runner with holly leaves and poinsettias. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.

This month, we remember and honor those who served. Once called Armistice Day for the ceasefire of the First World War, Veterans Day is recognized in the USA and Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth countries on November 11th. One way to show honor for the courage and sacrifice of our veterans is with a very special handmade quilt. Quilts of honor, or valor, have become symbols of gratitude and remembrance to those who served, often risking their lives to defend our lives and freedom. Remembrance Day Quilts These quilts were made in honor of Remembrance Day. This gorgeous red poppy Anzac quilt has its roots in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who served during WW1. Inspired by the poem, In Flanders Field, the red poppy is one of the most recognized symbols of remembrance of soldiers who died in conflict. This Remember quilt, set against a stunning blue background, honors the fallen in stars and poppies. Pam Bono's Quilt of Remembrance, with green leaves and red poppies, was officially recognized as Canada's quilt for Remembrance Day. Quilts of Valor Quilts of Valor seeks to Service Members and Veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor. Quilts are made by volunteers who want to show appreciation and thank those who gave us so much. They incorporate symbols like eagles and flags in the quilts to show patriotism, national pride, and honor. Colors and patterns they choose have significance: red for courage and sacrifice, white for purity and innocence, and blue for dedication and loyalty. Quilt patterns like the Log Cabin or Star of Bethlehem represent home, hope and faith. And, every quilt tells a story. Five veterans, from Blue Ridge, NC, with service as early as 1944 were honored with special quilts. The mission of Quilts of Valor is to wrap service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing quilts of valor. "The quilters think of how the veterans protect their freedom while they are making the quilts." The veterans are wrapped in a quilty hug. I think they like their quilts a lot. Look at those happy faces! Quilts of Honor Quilts of Honor's mission is to bestow a universal symbol and token of thanks, solace, and remembrance to those who serve in harm’s way to protect and defend our lives and freedoms. What better way to do that than a personal handmade quilt. When Retired Army Master Sgt. Carl "Eddie" Courtney returned to the United States from Vietnam, in 1970, he was verbally and physically abused. He bought a sewing machine and started his own chapter of Quilts of Honor so that another veteran would never feel unappreciated. Quilts of Honor make custom-made quilts for military veterans. He calls them, Hugs of Gratitude. Eddie says, "No person, especially a veteran, should have that happen to them. I'm grateful to be doing this. It's almost like prayer." Honored for their Service The stories represented in these honor quilts are truly amazing! These three men represent so many who have served. Bill "Sweet William" Amberson (pictured center) is a 92-year-old World War II veteran who has never received a quilt of valor. He still carries injuries sustained in Germany as a 20-year old infantryman. Jan Bynum made Bill's quilt. Her brother was killed in Vietnam in 1968. Adding her brother's initials to the quilt, she said " I do this to honor him." She also quilted, "In valor there is hope." Vietnam veteran, Lance Wilson (pictured right) received a quilt made by his wife, Nancy. Wilson served on ships for two years in support of the war. He said, "No one has ever honored the Vietnam veterans that much. It's the forgotten war. I think it should be done a lot more." Edward Erb (pictured left) is a retired Army Ranger, served from 1975 to 1996 deploying four times to Operation Iraqi Freedom as a contractor installing surveillance systems at Army posts and forward operating bases. He said the quilt has great meaning for him because someone outside of the military wants to understand and recognize what veterans have gone through. The Veteran's Quilt Project, Tulalip, WA These are the generous quilting volunteers and the well-deserving recipients of these quilts of valor: Candy Hill-Wells/Raymond Fryberg, Marine Veteran; Sara Andres/Joseph Jones, Marine Veteran; Rae Anne Gobin/Gary Holding, Navy Veteran; Sheila Hillaire/Mel Sheldon Jr., Army Veteran; Benita Rosen/Larry Wooster, Air Force Veteran; Sonia Sohappy/Steve Gobin, Navy Veteran; Sherry Dick/Guy Madison, Marine Veteran; Lena Jones/Daniel Moses Sr., Army Veteran. The Veterans Quilt Project, for the Tulalip Veterans, was founded in 2016. Each year, the members decide on a pattern and make one quilt for each veteran honoring the service of men and women in all branches of the military. The eagle represents strength and power. Rae Anne Gobin, quilter and project founder said: "We hope each recipient finds the quilt comforting. We know our veterans put their lives on hold while serving, and helped protect us to keep our freedom. " Honoring Dad I really love this story! Cathy is on the Accounting Team at Fat Quarter Shop. She wanted to honor her Dad for all his years of military service. She sewed the Night and Day Quilt as a tribute to her Dad. This is the very first quilt she has completed. The pictures of her family and her Father's military career are just fantastic! He retired in 1985 as a Major, and then returned to school to get his teaching degree. I hope you'll take the time to read their story. Scott's Victory Quilt Pam Neill of Kentucky, actively supported her son's service while he was in the US Army Special Forces in Afghanistan in 2001. She made a quilt for him, nicknamed Scott's Victory Quilt, adding one square for every day he was gone, using a quilt as you go method. Family and friends wrote messages on the blocks. The quilt provided comfort during a difficult time for this family. (Click on the link, Scott's Victory Quilt, and page down to read her story and watch the video.) It would be great if we could honor everyone who has served, their stories are worth remembering. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. For the Fallen, Laurence Binyon, 1914 I hope you enjoyed this small tribute to our veterans. The quilts may outlive them, but their service will never be forgotten. This blog was written and compiled by our resident historian :) Crystal King PS: You can read more about these honored veterans and their special quilts by clicking on the links in each paragraph. Happy Sunday everyone, Krista Follow all my quilty adventures on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Visit my YouTube channel for free tutorials and tips. If you like my patterns, you can buy them on Etsy, and here on the website.