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It’s that time of year again! The time we start scrambling for good little gift ideas for our quilting buddies. My friend, Benita, gave me this idea, and I just had to share it. A cup and saucer turned into essential quilting room tools. They are quick, cute, and super useful! You will need small tea saucers (and their matching cups if you like), and large extra-strength disc magnets, these were about 1½” across. Make sure your magnets fit inside the divot at the bottom of the tea saucer. I went to my local thrift store to see what kind of tea sets I could find. I found so many cute little plates that could be used for this idea, but I settled on some basic-looking ones to which I could add a bit of personality. For a bit of personality, I added these beautiful big blossoms that I cut out of a Kaffe Fassett fabric. I centered the blooms in the middle of the saucers for size and trimmed them where needed. Use Mod Podge and a sponge brush to coat the middle of the saucer out to about where the flower edges had been. Center the flower in the saucer again and gently press in place. Use the sponge brush and more Mod Podge to coat the top of the flower, especially around the petal edges, making sure none of them curl back or flop over. Here you see both saucers and flowers as they were drying. You’ll want to leave them to dry until the Mod Podge is smooth to the touch and no longer tacky. Turn the saucers over and use super glue to stick the magnets to the underside, right in the middle of the plate. Add pins and notice how they all stick in the middle. Fill the teacup with Wonder Clips and give this as a cute gift set. Plump it up with a couple of fat quarters and some chocolate and whoa, you’ll make their day ;) Haha! And thrifty too! Oh, and I wanted to tell you all how the charity auction went last weekend! We raised just shy of $6,500!!! That's just incredible! I am so thankful and blown away by your generosity! Thank you, thank you, and Merry Christmas! Happy Sunday everyone, Krista A few notes: If you're still looking for that gift for your favorite quilter, we have gift cards in denominations from 10.00 to 100 dollars. And, if you participated in the Passport to Quilting Holiday Edition Giveaway, your discount code is active through December 14th! 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. If you're looking for fabric kits, you'll find them here.

This week is a little different. In a busy holiday week, we have two big things happening this weekend. First, we are doing our biggest sale of the year! All patterns and classes are 25% off, kits are 10% off in the store through Monday (Nov. 29th) 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 :) Second is near and dear to my heart! This is the fourth 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 long, 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 and this year I have even more samples that need forever homes! It is really kind of exciting to join the bidding bonanza, so don’t be shy! I did 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 FB, find someone who is, and is willing to bid in your name ;) The bidding starts right away and goes through Tuesday afternoon at 2:00 pm, PST. 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.

Or four 2½” strips? How about a cute Christmas stocking?! You know me and my funny little scrap projects. I had some remnant pieces from the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt, and I thought I’d put them to good use. I cut two striped 2½” strips, one white dot 2½” strip, and one darker green 2½” strip. Sew these together into two different sets, as shown, and press the seams open. Cut across the strip set in 2½” sections. I used the Mini Diamond Ruler for this, but you could use the large one as well. Trim the end off the strip set at a 60-degree angle then use the 2½” diamond line on the ruler to measure and cut each section. Use the flat tip of the ruler to trim the tips off flat. Cut the second strip set in the same way and make two stacks of double diamond blocks. I laid out my stocking template (free printable here) and began adding double-diamond units in rows to cover it. I made sure to add plenty of extra blocks to both the length and width knowing it would shrink up quite a bit once all the seams were sewn. Here is how it looked before I started sewing the double-diamond units together. I separated a couple of units to fill in here and there. I sewed the double-diamond units into rows. One row is a green stripe and white dot and the next row is a green stripe and darker green print. Press all the seams open. Here, I took the first three rows to sew together. I folded the top right one down onto the next one, then pinned my intersections. These intersections will crisscross each other ¼” from the raw edge. To get a good match, I peeled back the edge of the block set ¼” to line up the seams and then pinned it in place. Here are the first three rows sewn together. Continue adding rows until the whole thing is pieced together. I placed the stocking template back over the top to make sure it was big enough. Now to quilt it! I added a simple muslin backing, and some batting, and quilted through all the layers. You can see here I made a second red version at the other end of the batting. I also quilted up a backing piece for both stockings with some extra dot fabric. Cut out the stocking from the quilted piece, then place it face down on the quilted backing piece to cut a matching back. Pin the two layers together and stitch down one side, around the toe, and up the other side leaving the top open. I went ahead and serged around the edges after I stitched it to finish it off on the inside, but you could add a lining instead. To bind off the top edge and add the hanging loop, I cut a 2¼” strip and pressed it in half lengthwise. I started at the back seam and stitched the binding down around the top edge. I sewed the binding on with the stocking turned inside out so I could wrap it around to the front and topstitch it down. Here you can see how I overlapped the ends and left about a 6” tail to make my loop. I turned the stocking right side out and rolled the binding from the inside to the outside to topstitch. This is what that intersection looked like as I was finishing it off. I kept stitching the extra binding tail folded into itself and then looped it over and stitched it down on the inside of the stocking to make the hanging loop. Tada! Here they are all finished up. Pretty stinkin’ cute if I do say so myself :) And, it’s that time of year again. I’m going through my closet pulling out all my samples and the other fun pieces I've made this year to raise money for one of my favorite charities, Angel Tree. This year, we are trying a new platform so we can open the auction to everyone. To test that platform before next week when the big silent auction takes place, we are auctioning off my Vintage Windmill quilt all dressed up in Christmas colors. Isn’t it cute?! The link to the auction for my Christmas version of Vintage Windmill is here, and the opening bid is $5.00. The auction will run until Wednesday at 3:00 pm with all the proceeds going to charity, so don’t be shy, and you'll automatically be notified if you are the winner. (You'll be able to register to bid using Facebook, Google or email. And, all your information is private. You won't be asked for your personal information unless you win.) Vintage Windmill 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.

Isn’t it the best when you meet someone you like and then you find out they like all the same things you do?! Well, I’d like to introduce you to Cari. I met her through one of my quilt-alongs a while back and then found out just how much we have in common! Cari has made so many of my patterns, and she always sends me cute pics when she's finished. I thought it would be fun to share what she has made and a little more about her… think of this like meeting a new quilting buddy, I dare you not to smile as you read and see what she has shared! Lollipops & Licorice It's an unexpected delight to have this opportunity to share with you all. A little about myself. I’ve been sewing since I was in single digits. My mom signed me up for summer sewing lessons at the Singer Sewing Center in Upland CA. It was 1957. I rode the bus to the shop and made a hideous pair of orange shorts. It was about then that I realized garment construction wasn’t for me. But I did love the creative, yet obedient, nature of fabric. Eventually, in my 20s, I discovered the art of cutting perfectly lovely fabric into small pieces and stitching them back together. I haven't looked back since. Heart Candy and Thinking Spring blogs There isn’t an aspect of the quilt-making process that I don’t enjoy: choosing design and color, prepping the fabric (I ‘starch’), cutting, stitching, pressing, stitching some more, and then, magically, the big picture appears. At the beginning of 2022, I even got myself a 15” midarm. So fun!!! Snowflake Lane My first quilt was more than four hundred 4” squares (absolutely not 100% cotton), that my Mom found somewhere, I stitched them together with no direction or plan. I tied it because I didn’t have a clue how to finish it. Then, I bound it with a satin ribbon. It quickly became the ‘sicky’ quilt under which all of my children recovered from various illnesses. That was more than 50 years ago! Good Grief! Lollipops & Licorice I also design and make purses, pouches, and free-standing embroidery designs. I like to stitch. I need to sew. I tell my kids it keeps me out of trouble. After my husband passed, I bought a ‘used’ home near my kids and took the wall down between two small bedrooms to make a nice size studio. And guess what…it still isn’t quite big enough. My daughter came over the other day to find me doing embroidery in the guest room and said “Two Studios?!” I just smiled. Fresh Fruit My favorite quilt shop is 35 minutes away. On the way, I pass several other perfectly fine, shops, but my absolute favorite quilt shop is the "Bernina Connection" in Phoenix. I always feel so welcomed there – like Norm walking into Cheers – they say “Cari” and I’m home. Bespoke Stars I was an accountant in my former life, so I love the rules. Any rules, give me a rule and I’ll follow it. I rejoice over reconciled accounts, straight lines, and flat borders. I like square quilts. I like being as accurate as I can be at every step, because (as I have recently discovered) a longarm quilter cannot always ‘quilt it out! Tully the Turtle Because I like rules, I love Krista’s designs; they lend themselves to accuracy. To date, I’ve made at least fifteen of Krista’s quilt patterns. Many are from her kits, which are absolutely the best kits I’ve ever purchased. Festive Fun Blog Like Krista, I am dyslexic, so her thinking and mine match up. Beyond that I love her imagination: I mean bees and turtles and sunflowers? Come on! Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt I’ve enjoyed the quilt-alongs I’ve participated in, but I always get so excited, I cannot wait for the next week. I’d love to say I will be joining for the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt quilt-along this year, but I’ve already made 4 of them. Yikes…I may need intervention. Lollipops & Licorice with a twist! Thanks, Krista for sharing your creativity with us all. Cari Apostol There's still time to join! The Gilded Christmas Tree quilt along starts November 15th. Purchase your Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern, then go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/ with your pattern number and request to join the group, or type Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the Facebook search bar. If you're having trouble downloading your Passport to Quilting Holiday Edition goodies, or you're disappointed in your experience because you haven't been able to access all the content, it may be a browser issue. Contact us at info@kristamoser.com. We are happy to help! 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 about that time of year when we start thinking about quick little gift projects to make in a flash! How about a super easy wool-felt zip pouch for quilting essentials or a shave kit pouch for the guys? I've been working up some little project ideas using wool felt, and I thought I would share one because it came out sooo cute! First, I cut an 11” wide x 12” long rectangle of wool felt (this stuff is stiff enough to hold its shape, but not hard to sew through). My size was determined by my big pair of scissors and my rotary cutter since I plan to use this pouch to carry these things to and from classes. I rounded the top and bottom edges slightly to give it a softer look. To make the box bottom, I folded the whole thing in half and cut a 1.25” square out of both bottom corners. Here you can see what that looks like once it’s opened again. You could make this cut any size you wish, mine got me a box bottom of about 2.5” across. Now for the embellishments. I chose three different colors of wool felt and cut a 1.5” diamond from each. You could do just about anything for embellishment… buttons, flowers, and monogramming your initials. Here I lined up my diamonds, having measured for the center, and then marked my placement. Stitch each diamond down ⅛” from the edge. Even as thick as it is, this is remarkably easy to do. I marked the midpoint, between each diamond, and again on the outside of the two end diamonds for my stitched-in argyle plaid lines. I shortened my stitch length and backstitched at each end. You could use a triple straight-stitch or go back over your stitch line more than once to make the plaid bolder. Now for the zipper. Because wool felt has a really nice unfinished edge, you can just line the zipper up under the raw edge and stitch it into place. I turned the tab end under at the start, then gently lined the zipper up with the edge as I went. The first side is done! With the zipper mostly closed, I lined up the other side of the zipper with the opposite side of the pouch. I used Wonder Clips instead of pins because the layers are pretty thick. Continue opening the zipper and clipping it into place as you go. Stitch this side in the same way as the other. Now turn the whole pouch inside out, and clip the two side seams together. Keep the zipper open and stitch the two side seams, backstitching across the zipper at the top edge and at the bottom notch. Clip the excess zipper off. Turn the pouch right side out again, and clip the notch for the box bottom into place. Stitch ¼” from the edge, backstitching at each end. Clip the edges even for a clean finish. And enjoy your new zip pouch! What do you think? Ready to try some wool felt projects?! I hope you found something useful or inspiring here. Have you signed up for Passport to Quilting Holiday Edition yet? Twenty-five designers want to thank you all for your love and support with a fabulous bundle of free patterns and projects! November 10th will be the first day to download the free projects, but you need to register in advance. There are shop discounts too! Take a sneak peek at the projects and the designers who are participating in this fun customer appreciation celebration! Register at passport-to-quilting.thinkific.com/courses/passport-to-quilting-holiday-edition. And, last but not least, The Gilded Christmas Tree quilt along starts November 15th. Purchase your Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern, then go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/ with your pattern number and request to join the group, or type Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the Facebook search bar. 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 kind of design can you make with just one cut? I had fun playing around this week and came up with this woven braid-style table runner! I had a pile of orphan 2 ½” strips in all kinds of fall colors and thought it would be fun to use them up in a new way. First, I cut 8 ½” trapezoids from the 2 ½” strips. I used the Large 60-Degree Diamond Ruler for this step. Using the triangle lines on the ruler, align the 8 ½” line with the bottom of the strip and the 6” star/burr line with the top of the strip. Cut on both sides of the ruler, and trim the outside corners off flat. Rotate the ruler 180 degrees to make the next cut. I got a little carried away and cut a huge pile of these trapezoids. I ended up only using 34 of these for my table runner and it still came out 36” long. Now, for the layout. This was fun! I thought I'd mix all the colors up, but in the end, I ended up liking a more ombre layout… no surprise there :) Here you see each one overlapping the next one. Okay, now to sew it together. I took the first two pieces and sewed the short seam to join the left piece to the underside of the right piece. Press that seam out. Add the next piece to the top left, and use the flat tips as a match-up point on either end to center the piece before sewing. Press that seam out once sewn. Add a piece to the top right, sew, and press each new piece. Alternating right and left, add one piece at a time, pressing each seam out before adding the next piece. I kept adding trapezoids until my table runner was as long as I wanted. This would be fun to do in a quilt-as-you-go method as well. So easy and pretty fast too! I just quilted mine with straight lines ¼” apart on the longarm. I planned to cut both ends off straight, so I didn’t bother quilting the areas that would get cut off. Trim the whole thing up and straighten out the ends. I bound it with a 2 ¼” binding. And here it is! I had so much fun with this super simple scrap project, I already have plans to make a few more. This table runner came out 14½” wide and 36” long. If I started with 6 ½” trapezoids, this table runner would only be about 10½” wide. You could make a cut heart runner from 4½” trapezoids. Wouldn't that be cute in a candy cane colors?! 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. PS: Join Krista for the Gilded Christmas Tree Quilt Along on Facebook starting November 15th through November 29th. Admission is FREE with pattern purchase. Go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/ with your pattern number and request to join the group, or type Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the Facebook search bar.

Have you ever wanted to know how to add piping to your binding? I had a special blog request a few weeks back for just this technique, and I thought it sounded like a great thing to share! I decided to make my own piping for this project, but you could buy prepared/store-bought piping and it works the same way. You would just need to buy enough to go all the way around your quilt plus a little extra for connecting in the corners. If you want to make your own piping, you will need enough ⅛” cotton cord to go all the way around your quilt. You will also need enough fabric to cover the cord and a zipper foot for your machine. Some machines have cording or piping feet and those work great. I don't have such a special cording foot so I went with the zipper foot option. From the fabric, cut enough 1¼” wide strips on the bias (45-degree angle) to cover the length of the cord. Sew your strips end to end and press the seams open. Wrap the bias strips around the ⅛” cord and leave the first 3” or so open before stitching with your zipper foot as close to the cord as possible. I move my needle all the way to the left and wrap the cord as I go with even amounts of fabric on both sides. Now that the piping is prepared, it’s time to add it to the edge of the quilt. I pinned the starting end in place leaving the first 4-5” unstitched so I can join the ends when I come back around the quilt to this side. You'll want to start and stop along a long edge to make it easier to join the ends together. If you are using store-bought piping, you might want to start in a corner and just overlap the ends there when you have gone all the way around. I am sewing the piping to the front of the quilt and stitching it down along the same stitch line I used when making the piping. Notice I am using my stiletto to hold things in place as I sew. When you come to a corner, stop about 1-2” shy of the corner and clip the flange of the piping up to the stitch line ¼” from the corner. I clip mine in at an angle because it’s easier to do on the fly… this little clip will help the piping hinge around the corner to go up the next side. Here is what it will look like once all four corners are clipped and pivoted. Once you have gone all the way around and are back at the starting point, you will want to leave an opening of about 6” or so. I joined the end of the fabric at an angle following this technique from a blog a while back. You'll love the foolproof success you get when joining your binding ends this way, so if that’s something you struggle with, check out my video from that blog. Once the fabric ends were joined and pressed open, I cut the cord ends short enough to meet each other inside the piping fabric. Pin it in place and stitch up the remaining opening. The piping is on, now it’s time for the binding. I make my binding as usual. In this case, I might do a 2½” binding instead of 2¼” since there is more bulk to wrap around. I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt (but you could sew it to the front and wrap it to the back to hand-stitch in place), still using the zipper foot and riding along the edge of the bump that the piping on the front side caused. If you haven’t seen my video on basic machine binding, that might be worth checking out for this step. It is very much the same technique for this part. The binding is sewn all the way around and the ends are joined together. I wrapped the binding to the front side, right up snug with the piping. I'm still using the zipper foot for this part to get as close as possible to the piping as I top-stitch the binding in place. At the corners, I fold the bottom up first, and then the side wraps over. I used my stiletto again to hold that little fold in place as I stitched it down. And here it is! All done and as fun and funky as can be :) Last week, we said we’d announce something you will love. It's coming! But we have a few more hours before we are allowed to share, so look for that special email with all the details tonight after midnight. And in case you missed it: Join Krista for the Gilded Christmas Tree Quilt Along on Facebook starting November 15th through November 29th. Admission is FREE with pattern purchase. Go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/ with your pattern number and request to join the group, or type Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the Facebook search bar. If you need to purchase the pattern, you can do that here and we have kits too, in festive red & green and glorious gold & black. 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.

Who doesn't love Fall? Crisp apple cider, warm pumpkin spice cookies, hot cocoa, flannel shirts, and warm cozy fires? Leaves, pumpkins and all that stuff... As the holidays start to draw near, you might be looking for a festive little project to get you in the mood! Here are a few of my favorite fall-inspired quick-sew projects. I have done a specific blog showing the process for each of these, you can click on the link in each description to check out that blog. Jack-o-Lantern Applique How about a cute and festive project to learn fusible machine applique? There are many different ways to applique, I am not an expert at all of them, but I thought I would share one of the easier ones! Candy Corn Pillow Gather all your yellow, orange, white and black scrap bits together and make some low-calorie candy corn from them. It’s amazing what you can do with 2½” triangles! I seriously can’t throw anything away, and I had a bunch of little black and white triangles laying around. I added a few oranges and yellows and ta-da! Scrappy Pumpkins I made good use of these orange and brownish scraps to make scrappy little pumpkins, just in case you too have a pile of scraps and a little Fall weather sewing time. Candy Corn Table Runner Here’s an easy little table runner that’ll be perfect to set the candy bowl on this season. Or, just make one block for a table center! I made this one with the Creative Grids 60-degree diamond mini ruler, but you can do these same cuts with the original ruler as well! My calendar for the year is drawing to a close, but I still have a few more classes left to teach. If you've been looking for an in-person class, I'll be teaching in Waite Park, MN. I'll be doing a Lecture/Trunk Show on November 4th at 6:30 pm, and teaching workshops on Mi Amor Baby Quilt/Table Runner, on November 5th, and Champagne & Pearls on November 6th. If you're in the Greater Seattle area, I'll be teaching the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern at Quilting Mayhem in Snohomish, WA on November 19th. If you've purchased the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern, and you want to join the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along on Facebook, it starts November 15th and runs through November 29th. (Admission is FREE with pattern purchase.) Go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/ with your order number and request to join the group, or type Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the Facebook search bar. I hope you have an opportunity to try one or all four of these fun Fall projects. Last but not least, check in next week for an exciting announcement you will love! 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 one has been a long time coming. I’ve had a Christmas Tree Skirt on my must-design list for quite a while. Well, today is the day, and I'm glad I waited until now because I had so many fun new ideas with this one… and striped fabric of course ;) You can see I went in two very different directions with my color schemes. My personal decor style is more gold and glitz, but I knew it would be very fun in this cheerful red and green with polka dots and those spinning candy cane stars make me smile! We filmed a new YouTube video this week so I could show you how I cut my striped fabric to get the most bang for the buck. I said it in the video, and I’ll say it here, I think the striped fabric is a totally sneaky design hack that makes everything just come to life! I'm also doing this tree skirt as a three-week quilt-along, starting November 15th! We’ve done one of these quilt-alongs every Christmas season for the past couple of years, and they are really a lot of fun! I will film a new tutorial video for each week's lesson and then everyone works through the process and posts their results in the FB group. There is no cost for the quilt along, but purchasing the Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern is required. You can purchase kits for both color versions here or you can get just the pattern here. If you would like to join the quilt along, you can join the FB group here 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. Links to everything in the blog can also be found here: The pattern is available here: Printed: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt PDF Instant Digital Download: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt-1 Kits are available here in the Red & Green version and the Black & Gold version: Red and Green: Without pattern: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt-fabric-kit-red-and-green-version-without-pattern With pattern: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt-fabric-kit-red-and-green-version Black and Gold: Without pattern: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt-fabric-kit-black-and-gold-without-pattern With pattern: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/gilded-christmas-tree-skirt-fabric-kit-black-and-gold Uses Large 60 Degree Diamond Ruler: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/creative-grids-non-slip-60-degree-diamond-ruler Mini Ruler: https://www.kristamoser.com/product-page/creative-grids-60-degree-diamond-mini-ruler (For the star block pieces only.) Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along on Facebook: Requires Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt pattern purchase to join. Put Gilded Christmas Tree Skirt Quilt Along in the FB search box or go to www.facebook.com/groups/5565561496856804/

Here’s a way to use up every last scrap strip no matter how wide it is! I made another batch of baby quilts with random odds and ends I had leftover from other projects. I have the hardest time throwing away odd-sized strips… you know the ones left at the end of your yardage once you’ve cut all your 2½” strips (or whatever size you cut). There’s always something left over… most of the time it’s only about 1½” - 2”… not really enough to do anything with, right… :) Well, let's just sew them all together and see what happens! I laid out all those random-sized strips in the color arrangement I liked-these strips are anywhere from 1½” - 2¼” wide. I used the 45-degree line on my ruler to trim the selvages off the right end of each strip. This way, I could stagger the ends when I sewed them together making the whole strip set angle 45 degrees at the right end. Notice how I used the little ¼” dog ear at the end of each strip so when I sewed my ¼” seam the ends came out even. I turned my stitch length down to 2.0, this way the seams won’t come apart when I cut my binding strips from the strip set. Here the strip set is all sewn together. Then, I pressed the seams all one direction. Now, for the cutting. I laid the ruler along the angled end. I also lined up the 45-degree line with one of the seams to help keep my angle straight. I cut a whole pile of 2½” strips from the strip set. Once all the strips were cut, I sewed them end to end as seen here. The ends are already angled so you just have to stagger them slightly, and they will line up perfectly once sewn. I made one long strip and pressed it in half lengthwise. I always double-machine bind, so I sewed the binding to the back of the quilt, then wrapped it around to the front and topstitched it down. See my full binding tutorial here for more on that process. Once I got the binding sewn all the way around and came to attach the two ends, I overlapped the strips to see how many “links” to remove. Here you can see what I took off from each end to remove as much bulk as possible. I tucked the pink end into the green end and wrapped it over the top, snuggly stitching the remaining binding into place to secure both ends together and to the quilt. I wrapped the binding around to the front of the quilt, topstitched it down, and voila!! Done! Now that’s a satisfying use of scraps :) I hope you’ll 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 has been quite a month! I have been traveling and teaching almost all month, and now that I'm back home, I can share all the class photos! This blog might be like drinking from a firehose of creativity. All the different color combinations and even different block arrangements were just so inspiring to see come together. First, I went to Nebraska where I did a trunk show presentation in the most amazing 1937 theater. This theater was recently reopened after a total restoration. And, it was just stunning! The City Girl Chevron class was first. I can't wait to see these quilts finished! I made them promise to send pictures :) The Vintage Windmill class was the next day and I forgot to take more pics, but I think these are a taste of how cute they all were! Next, I flew to Montana and we did Summer Succulents as our first class there. I love how different all these color combinations are. The second class we did was Summer Swag.They were just eye-popping! Like, oh my gosh, so cool! I flew home last weekend and then drove over the mountains to teach again :) We did City Girl Chevron for day one and Champagne and Pearls for day two. I wish I’d taken more photos, but my phone was smoking by this point! Haha! I don’t know about you, but I'm ready to sew after watching everyone else create such incredible things. I came home inspired and a little bit tired 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.

It’s that time of year, ya know, when we come in from the garden and organize for the sewing season ahead! Okay, some of us never made it out to the garden, haha, but anyway. ..Now, is a great time to take stock of things and do a little prepping before the busy season ahead. Giving your sewing machine some TLC should be on the list before you get cracking on that pile of projects! Preventative sewing machine maintenance is really pretty easy to do, and it will pay you back tenfold in peace of mind! I put together this little infographic cheat sheet to help you stay “on time” taking care of your baby :) CLICK ON THE GRAPHIC TO DOWNLOAD I hope this helps! 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 made a design wall for my sewing room, and I am so happy with how it works! I know there are several design wall ideas out there, some are good for portable projects (think flannel-backed tablecloths that can be rolled up and packed away quilt blocks and all). I was working in my temporary sewing room while my new workshop was under construction. The space is small, without a lot of wall space, so I needed a semi-portable design wall that I could move around the room. It also needed to be rigid and stand up on its own without being heavy. I bought a huge piece of foam insulation board at the hardware store. This stuff is 2” deep and comes in a 4’ x 8’ sheet (or you can get it in 2’ x 8’ as well). It doesn't weigh anything, I could easily pick it up with one hand. I cut it shorter by about 16” so it was 48” x 80” of usable design wall. I bought 2 ½ yds of white polar fleece. It comes in 58” wide yardage, so I just bought enough length to wrap over the ends. This is the basic inexpensive polar fleece that can be found at most of the big box fabric stores like JoAnn Fabrics. You can do any color you like. Maybe next time, I'll use the light gray color. I laid the polar fleece out on the floor and centered the insulation board in the middle of it. I pulled the corners tight, around the board, and used long straight pins (about 1 ½”) to hold the corners tight. I worked my way down the sides, tugging at the polar fleece, and poking pins in at a steep angle to hold it in place. It isn’t an exact science and the polar fleece will stretch so you can get a snug fit easily. Once the corners and edges were secure, I stood it up to ensure the front wasn’t sagging in any spots. I love how rigid this design wall is- a floppy design wall drops your blocks all the time and that can be very frustrating. I set this one up in front of the closet doors, but I can move easily it when I need to access the closet. One of the nice things about using polar fleece, instead of batting to wrap the insulation board, is just how clingy it is. Blocks of all sizes cling to it with no problems! I can’t believe how easy it is to keep clean. I use a lint roller and it doesn’t stretch it out or pull fibers off like it would with batting. I'm so happy with this design wall! I plan to make four to six more, just like it, to cover a big wall in my studio! No more floor layouts for me :) Hahaha! 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 common problem. Most quilters have heard something about how difficult mitered borders are. They never want to attempt them unless someone is around to help. That was my experience the first time around. It was only my second quilt and everyone in class said, “oh you have to do a mitered border to finish that off, it will look like a picture frame”. They said, “they are easy”, and “it wouldn’t have the same effect if you just did average squared-off lincoln log style sides then top and bottom”. What did I know? I’m usually game for trying anything even if I haven’t done it before. Lack of experience has gotten me into some serious jams, but then I always learn what not to do, and usually, I try every wrong way first. Here is a picture of the best corner on that first miter attempt. All the other corners look a little cross-eyed. I do love the mitered look. I think it’s ideal if you have a border print that you want to march around the quilt, unhindered by the corners, (as seen here with this patriotic fabric.) You can match up the design so It truly looks like a frame around your art piece. I’ve also used it with striped fabric and achieved a cool kaleidoscope effect at the corners. With this kind of striped fabric, you have to start at the corners, with the stripes at the same spot going out from there. Then, the design marries up as you sew the miter. To get the same effect in all four corners, you have to do the corners first and work your way in, hiding the seam somewhere in the middle of the border length. It may sound complicated, but take a look at my mitered border tutorial and see if that helps give you the confidence to try it on your next project! And, please share ideas or ask questions in the comments section :) 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.

Who doesn’t love a cute sea turtle?! This is my latest pattern, Tully The Turtle. It makes a super cute baby quilt or wall hanging! I’ve been working on this design since late Spring, and I'm so excited to finally be unveiling it :) I don’t know if I’ve ever shown you guys how these ideas start. Here is a pic of my sketchbook after my first attempt at doodling out my idea. You can see how things evolved… Suddenly a pink and orange turtle shell was the only thing that made sense! Haha! Green just looked so boring after that idea morphed. We filmed a new YouTube video so I could show you all the cuts that go into this fun quilt. I think you’ll be amazed at just how fast and easy it is! I also spent some time in the video talking about color and how to pick shades that will go together and make things pop. And last but not least, we put together fabric bundles for each version of Tully, both the tropical and pastel colorway. If you liked the colors I chose, and you’d like to make it exactly like that, you can get your kit here. And if you would like to put your fabric picking skills to work, you can buy the pattern here. 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.

Have you ever needed to add a hanging sleeve to your quilt but didn’t know how? Then, I think you’ll like today's lesson :) Annette asked me last week if I could do a blog about my process for adding a sleeve to a quilt, and I thought, there’s no time like the present! Thanks for the blog idea, Annette! My favorite way is to add the sleeve before I add the binding. That way, I only have to hand sew one long edge instead of two. (If you’ve already sewn your binding to your quilt, you might want to use the method I did in this tutorial instead.) Let’s get started! I cut a 4” wide strip of the backing fabric that is just about ½” wider than the quilt top on each side. Press under the two short ends about ½” each, and then along one edge ½” as well. Now, turn the end edges under another ½”. Press to make a double-fold seam that pinches the turned under long edge into it. Stitch across the short ends and backstitch at the start and stop. Pin the sleeve strip along the back top edge of the quilt, with the raw edge right to the edge of the quilt, and the folded under edge towards the center of the quilt. Notice the short ends are about ½” shy of each side of the quilt. Stitch along the top edge of the quilt with a shallow ¼” or even a ⅛” seam allowance. Use a long basting stitch length (5.0 if you can do it). I stitch from the front so my feed dogs can do the easing up of any extra shifting that the sleeve strip might do. You could also use a walking foot for this step! Now the sleeve is basted into place at the very edge of the quilt. You may pin down the folded under edge at this stage so it doesn’t flap around, but do not sew it down yet. At this stage, I add my binding. I sew my binding to the back and then roll it to the front to top stitch it down. Here you can see I am sewing the binding onto the back along the top edge through the sleeve, and the quilt with a ¼” seam allowance and a regular stitch length. Once the binding is sewn on, I turn it to the front. It looks like all is well with the sleeve and nothing got twisted or caught up when I sewed the first stage of the binding on. Okay, now the topstitching part of the binding is done and you can see the sleeve flapping in the breeze :) I press the sleeve straight up over the binding and out away from the quilt. Then, I fold it back down onto the quilt, but this time I created a little fold along the binding edge so the sleeve is roomy and will pooch out for a hanging rod to fill without bulging out through the front of the quilt. Pin the folded bottom edge into place and hand stitch through only the backing and batting layer with small-ish stitches. Make sure to really secure the starting point and ending point as they get the most wear and tear. And look at it, hang! Such a fun quilt :) If you need a really fun lap quilt, I just put together kits for this one! It’s my Honeycomb Hexagon quilt in the lap size (55” x 63½”). The kits are $59.99 and can be found here. The Honeycomb Hexagon pattern is available here. 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 pressure foot as a guide when sewing. This binding comes out as a heavy ⅜” once it is 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”. This one makes for a shallow ½” show, once it is wrapped around and stitched down. 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 to add 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.

Last week’s blog was such fun! I’m so glad you all enjoyed that :) So, I added a 1” green border and then a 4½” taupe/gray border around the whole quilt. Then, I scalloped the edges! Once quilted and bound, the quilt now measures 46½” X 53”. I love how much a scalloped border adds to a simple little quilt! It looks so girly and sweet. This week, I thought I would show you how to bind a scalloped edge. I have a couple of tricks for getting that binding to lay super even and flat around those curves. Watch my latest YouTube video to see the whole process! I can’t wait to see your scalloped edge quilt! Happy Sunday, everyone, Krista The "Sew Charming" quilt blog is available Here The Bias Binding Video is Available Here The Scalloped Border Magic Video is Available Here The Corner Clipper Binding Video is Available Here The Scallop Template and Folded Corner Clipper Rulers are available here 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.

Who needs a cute idea for using up charm packs?! They are so cute and bundled together as a collection, so we buy them, but we don’t know what to do with them :) This week, I had a brainy idea to do something not so typical with a charm pack I had laying around! First, I laid out all (42) 5” squares in an on-point grid, six across and seven down. I started auditioning greens as the fill-in squares but then I thought better of it. Instead, I used a nice calm neutral taupe/gray. I cut (30) 5” squares to fill in the middle. For the outside edges, I cut (6) 7⅝” squares twice diagonally to yield (24) side setting triangles (you will only use 22 of them). The corner triangles are cut from (2) 4 ⅛” squares, cut once diagonally, to yield four corner units. I sewed all these squares and triangles together into diagonal rows. Then, I sewed those rows together into the beginnings of a quilt top. Now the fun begins! I cut the quilt top apart down the middle of each row. I measured 2 ¼” from the seams and lined my long ruler up to get a nice straight cut. I laid all the rows out on the design wall, spreading them apart so I could add narrow sashings. Here the green makes a reappearance as the sashing. I cut 1” strips from selvage to selvage. If I do this again, I will make the sashing 1½” wide because 1” was kind of tricky once I got going. I cut a length of sashing, just long enough to join the first two sections together. I stitched it down to one side of the row and then pressed it out flat. In order to make sure my blocks lined up across the sashing, I marked where the seams should land on the other side of the sashing with a fabric marking pen. Pin in place and stitch the sashing to the opposite section. Press that seam out flat (I pressed both seams in towards the sashing). I repeated this process with each row I added. The narrow sashing strips got longer until I had to sew a couple of them together end to end to make the long center seams. I worked my way in from opposite corners until I joined the two halves together with the last sashing. Now, it’s time to cut again! I laid the quilt top out and cut it apart going the other way, halfway between the seams again. Just like before, I used my long ruler and lined up the seams on the 2¼” line. Back up on the design wall, this time with gaps going the other direction. For this sashing, I cut a 9” wide strip of my green and a 1” wide strip of pink for my corner squares. I sewed these two together and pressed the seam towards the green. Then, I cut 1” wide sashing sections. You'll need a total of 42 of these sections. I was just barely able to get all I needed from this one unit! I cut (12) 1” squares from my pink corner square fabric. This will act as the start of each row. Row One is one sashing section plus an added corner square at the end. Row Two is two sashing sections plus a corner square added to the end. Here is Row Three with its three sashing sections, sewn end to end, with an extra corner square added to the starting end. I used the same pen marking strategy, as before, to make sure my seams/blocks were going to line up across the sashing. The little corner squares help line up the intersections where the opposite sashing strips came through. This was a little slow going, but man it was turning out so cute I kept at it! Finally, in the end, I gave it one last press with starch and trimmed the edges down straight. I think I’ll add a border and maybe scallop it too… more on that next week :) Isn’t it so fresh and fun though?! 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.

Every two years, one of my local quilt guilds puts on their fabulous quilt show. They display more than one hundred quilts interspersed among beautiful blooms in partnership with the local garden club. Welcome to the Mukilteo Garden Quilt Tour 2022! You'll want to put their next show on your calendar for 2024! The tour begins in the local community center where they have small quilts hanging along the walls throughout the building. Bright Stars, Kathleen MacKay Houses, A Communal Effort by Carol Bassert Here, I'm showing Crystal some embellishment techniques used in many art style quilts. The RoseHill Community Center is a pretty fabulous building with quite the view of the Puget Sound out of those huge windows! Once you walk away from the community center, the adventure begins with a treasure map of local gardens all within walking distance. Here was out first stop. They did such a good job labeling not only the quilts, but the blooms and shrubbery, just in case you were on the hunt for your own yard. If you see a quilt without a label and you know who belongs to, please post a comment! I wish I'd taken better notes. Simple Days by Sue Mattson, 44" x 44". Hand embroidery and piecing/quilting are my favorite things to do so I enjoyed creating this quilt that combines the two. Pattern is "Simple Days" by Jenny for Elefantz Designs. The Mountain by Jan Yeager, 56" x 50", quilted by Barbara Dau. "City Girl Chevron" pattern by Krista Moser. Tacoma artist Yoshiko Yamamoto's wood block print, "Mt. Rainier-White Pass" served as inspiration for the colorway used to represent the natural features of Mt. Rainier. We see white for snow, browns for tree trunks, greens for evergreens and meadows, gray for the talus, corals for sunset and yellows for flowers dotting the hillsides. Strip pieced bands were cut with 6o° angles and sewn into diamonds, suggesting mountain peaks. Bumblebee Blossoms by Tammy Braun, 54" x 71", quilted by Krista Moser. What a fun quilt for spring. The pattern, designed by Krista Moser gave me the confidence to challenge myself to another level of quilting. Don't be afraid of new arts and designs. Bats in the Air by Barbara Vannet, 45" x 64". I wanted to make a fall/Halloween quilt for a while. I loved this pattern by BasicGrey with bats flying across the quilt. I am in my happy place when piecing blocks and this quilt fit the bill with over 35 pieces per block! I used a fun Halloween themed layer cake plus some addi-tional fabric from my stash. It has wool batting and was quilted on my domestic machine with a walking foot. I love ombre and I love turquoise! Mountains to Me! By Kay Davidson, 65" x 62", quilted by Jenna Heine-Fennell. This was a Joe Cunningham workshop block study using a mirror image of a block. To us, it is Delectable Mountain block. After class I put it away, then during Covid-19 I changed it up. I love the new movement! Long arm quilter, Jenna was inspired by Joe Cunningham's quilting and did an amazing job. Catch the Big One by Jan Yeager, 55" x 56", quilted by Barbara Dau. A commercial kit was used for this quilt destined for an avid fisherman. A fabric panel features motifs of colorful lures, rods, reels, fish, canoes and creels. The rectangles were combined with coordinating sashing to frame the illustrations. Fabric with numerous species of fish borders the work. This fabric, combined with a print of small fish forms the backing. Handguided machine stitching and handstitched binding enhance the project. Purrfect Cats by Julie Kelly, 46" x 54", quilted by Judy Irish. This quilt was made for my cat lover, my daughter Shannon, for her 30th birthday. Star Bright Gems by Brenda Thorsen, 66" x 76", quilted by Gerry Schmidt. Class taken from Krista Moser with Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters, October 2021, and completed in March, 2022. "Vintage Windmill" pattern by Krista Moser. English Paper Pieced Sampler 2020 by Peggy Mansfield, 64" x 73", quilted by Krista Moser. As a beginner to English paper piecing, I used the 52 octagons from Katjia Marek's New Hexagon book for inspiration. I found I had plenty of fabric choices from my scrap stash. The hexagons are hand sewn to the light back-ground triangles, then machine sewn in rows. Crimson Delight by Anonymous Donor, 26" x 45". This Bargello quilt was donated to the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters guild to support our charitable activities. Love Those Leaves by Loretta Ockwell, 39" x 39". This was inspired by Freddy Moran. I enjoy doing scrappy quilts and this was shown in a book by Freddy and Gwen Marston. I am thankful for their early inspiring work! Home for the Pandemic by Wendy Stafford, 45" x 57". Fun collection of houses! Each was created by a fellow guild member and traded at our August 2021 picnic. Big Bad Wolfe by Susie Nieto and Trish Holt, 42" x 42", quilted by Tomme Fent. Storytelling quilt pattern "Big Bad Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood." Baby quilt, paper pieced with my friend who is learning to sew for her first grandchild. It was an act of love to her expanding family and a bond of friendship between us. Summer Swag by Mary McElroy, 62" x 78". I took Krista Moser's class on this quilt at the Sisters, Oregon quilt & sewing retreat. I loved the challenge of arranging each hexagon and star block to be intertwined but not lost. It Just Takes Two by Barbara Dau, 73" x 90". This quilt was originally designed by Barbara Black for the International Quilt Festival's Ruby Jubilee. Pattern was later made available by Senti-mental Stitches quilt shop. It is a combination of piecing and applique. Midsummer Night by Ann Lindquist, 63" x 84", quilted by Krista Moser. The fairy fabric was in my stash and I'm not sure how it got there... magic? I usually don't buy themed fabric. I challenged myself to build around the fairy fabric and use only scraps, which magically combined to create this quilt. Pots and Flowers by Loretta Ockwell, 72" x 72", quilted by Candi Ausbun. After quilting for several years, I wanted to learn something new. I sat beside my friend Trudy, who has made many beautiful hand applique quilts. I watched her, quizzed her and found a new part of quilting I find therapeutic, and grew to love. It was a great find! I enjoy needle turn applique to this day. Prism/Cross It by Kay Davidson, 73" x 73", quilted by Shawna Gould. Traveling about Montana found pattern and fabric. I love the brightness of fabric and chose low volume prints to complement the colors. The back was to be another pattern, but I chose to "improv" instead! The quilting intricacies and detail are amazing. Machine pieced and appliqued. Pattern by Zen Chic. Prism/Cross It by Kay Davidson, The back of the quilt. Patriotic Chevron by Judi Bergsagel, 57" x 75", quilted by Jill Bell. I attended a class by Krista Moser at the MLQ guild and started a quilt using her "City Girl Chevron" pattern. I loved her suggestion to use gold fabric for some bling. I had lots of 4th of July fabric in my stash so I used that, added red and blue fabric and ended up with a quilt per-fect for my home since my husband is retired Army. Mystery Quilts of 2022 by MLQ members, 70" x 70". Guild members embarked on this project not knowing its final design. Each month, they receive new instructions for one step of the construction process. The design emerges as the quilt is completed. Several variations of the pattern are displayed here. More views of the beautiful gardens. Floral Star Burst by Sydney Hoard, 54" x 67", quilted by Krista Moser. I took Judy Irish's MLQ Lone Star Workshop and used my rather extensive Kaffe collection to build the lone star. Thanks to Judy for helping me get those darn diamonds in a row so they could be surrounded by one of my favorite florals. Pickled Fish by Judy Irish, 75" x 75". It's my last paper pieced quilt. I worked with my friend on Zoom to make the quilt, and I love how it turned out! Splendid Sunset by Anonymous, 25" x 39". This Bargello quilt was donated to the Mukilteo Lighthouse Quilters guild to support our charitable activities. Truffle Duffle by Lisa Mortell, 35" x 41". 2021 Block of the Month by Sue Spargo. The Subdivision by Mary McElroy, 57" x 89". At about three-week intervals, I received instructions and cutting directions for house designs, trees, background sky, etc. Finally, this Mystery Quilt became what I call "The Subdivision." (Spring 2021 Mini Mystery pattern by Lawry Thorn of Stitchin’ Post.) Infinity by Linda Peak, 43" x 46", quilted by Judy Madsen. Bargello quilts are made from strip sets joined into a tube, then cut across the strips in various widths to form the degree of movement you need for your pattern. This Eileen Wright pattern uses io light and 10 dark fabrics plus the sub-dued black print as background. Choosing fabrics was the most fun. Fresh Cut by Lisa Mortell, 48 x 48. Pattern by Sue Spargo. Squash Squad by Lisa Mortell, 18" x 18". 2020 Sew-along hosted by Sue Spargo during the shutdown. Stitchers from all over the world did this project together. So pretty! Mukilteo Lighthouse Christmas Tree Farm by Memory McClung, 45" x 45", quilted by Krista Moser. I wanted a smaller quilt to hang over the fireplace. I also needed to use up some Christmas strips I had on hand. One of my favorite quilts at the show! Colorful Sunflower Garden by Peggy Mansfield, 77" x 80". This quilt is a Robin Ruth Mariner's Compass design. The back-ground is 100+ rectangles. I chose to do long arm quilting at this point. I then hand appliqued the 17 sunflowers to the back-ground. I did stitch in the ditch quilting and machine hoop center designs. I added dragonflies to the sky. House Block Challenge by Sue Mattson & Friends, 39" x 45". Ten MLQ members exchanged house blocks (we each got one from everyone else) and I put them together in this quilt. We had size limits but no other rules so it was fun to see what everyone came up with. Wheel of Fortune by Sydney Hoard, 63" x 65", quilted by Krista Moser. I have done this "wheel" twice - my first one had technical issues; this one has "color" issues. I used as many of my gorgeous prints as possible that I purchased when Calico Creations opened again. I hadn't been shopping in store for so many months! Pattern is "Culture Blend" by Kathy Doughty. More interesting details to look at. My Backyard Crow by Jan Delorey-Lytle, 22" x 28". Collage pattern designed by Emily Taylor. We have a pair of crows that patrol our backyard and attempt to tease our dog. Rhododendron Trail by Barbara Vannet, 72" x 72". This quilt is the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt for 2021. It was really fun to sew along with quilters across the world as each clue was released. Since the Washington State flower is Rhododendron I was excit-ed to make this quilt. I love the spring colors and the rhodies and butterflies dancing across the quilt. 2020 A Year in Crisis by Karen Walker, 47.5" x 52.5". This started as a temperature quilt in 2020, the first year of the COVID pandemic. Each star has 7 points that represent days in a week. The inner point represents the "low" for the day and the outer point the "high" for the day. Digitized embroidery mark significant events in 2020. Doodle Doo Rooster by Laura Heine by Katie Mackay, 41" x 35". Right before the lockdown, I took a class on how to do this appliqué technique and boy did I enjoy it. I used KafFe fabrics and other florals from my stash and it took me 2 months to complete. Winter Churn Dashing by Rhonda Anaya, 73" x 73", quilted by Shawna Gould. This quilt was a weekly Mystery. I made mine in neutral fabrics to complement our house decor. Although I changed the pattern somewhat, I love the outcome. Veggie Girls by Judy Irish, 45" x 42". I started the quilt in Freddy Moran's class. The veggie girls were pieced, but I decided to make mine raw-edge collage. Checking out the locals :) Who's Getting Dinner? By Brenda Thorsen, 60" x 82", quilted by Gerry Schmidt. Row by Row patterns were collected from quilt shops in Whitefish, Arlington, Lynden, Stanwood, Puyallup, Woodinville, Sedro Wooley, Spokane, Tacoma & Camano Island. My quilt was the ist completed at Tangled Thread in Lynden, so I received 25 fat quarters and a pair of scissors for my prize. Twilight Garden by Karen Walker, 85" x 85". This was a Kaffe Fassett Mystery Block of the Month, 2018. The blocks are fairly simple, a checkerboard and snowball block alternating, so the fabric and the layout do all the work. Windmills in Motion by Maria Nelson, 70" x 76", quilted by Kathy Hise of Stitches Workshop. Krista Moser's "Vintage Windmill" pat-tern in a collection of blue and blue/green fabrics with red, gold and brown accents and hexagons in tan tones. Krista's diamond ruler simplified the cutting process and the overall design was fun to work with. This was the first quilt that I kept for our home! Blossom by Peggy Mansfield, 82" x 88", quilted by Krista Moser. The 72" center blossom was constructed using the Robin Ruth "Compass" pattern and process. Once pieced the large blossom is appliqued to the background fabric. The long arm quilting was done by Krista in 2020. Study in Grunge by Michele Goodmark, 79" x 97", quilted by Barbara Dau. As indicated in the title, this quilt was a block of the month highlighting the grunge fabric. Ombre Blossoms by Marilyn Tschetter, 76" x 90", quilted by Cindy Morgan. This quilt by local designer, Krista Moser is constructed with Moda's Ombre Confetti fabric. The diamonds are arranged to resemble blossoms. It was quilted by Cindi Morgan of Surprise, AZ. All Roads Lead to the Sea by Karen Walker, 74" x 91". This peaceful seaside quilt was a block of the month from Stitchin' Heaven. The quilting provided an opportunity for me to landscape the scene with thread. All quilting was free motion and ruler work (except for pantograph borders). It was a fun quilt to make! Flowers Galore by Michele Goodmark, 55" x 72", quilted by Krista Moser. This quilt is from a pattern titled "BQ2" by Maple Island Quilts and designed by Debbie Bowles. Vintage Boardwalk by Jan Delorey-Lytle, 44" x 60", quilted by Shawna Gould. "Vintage Boardwalk" pattern by Kimberbell Designs. This beach themed quilt reminds me of my annual childhood vacation at the New Jersey Shore with my family. Perfect Moment by Amy MacNaughton, 40" x 53", quilted by Linda Powell. I have been collecting Kaffe Fassett fabric for a few years. I feel that this straightforward quilt pattern highlights the vibrant colors and patterns of his prints. Deco by Linda Peak, 56" x 68", quilted by Krista Moser. Brittany Lloyd's intricate "Deco" pattern using unfamiliar color combinations of Kona solids was challenging for me. My goal was to follow the directions to the letter and I love the end product. Thanks, Nancy Ann! by Elizabeth Speten, 48" x 62", quilted by Krista Moser. This quilt was started after my last baby was born — she's turning 40 this year. It is all hand pieced. Nancy Ann Twelker was my instructor and I so much enjoyed spending time with her. So what do you think? Would you like to take a stroll and look at quilts too? If you are local to the Seattle area, there is a quilt walk coming up on August 2nd. This one is put on by All In Stitches Quilt Guild. It's from 4:00-7:00pm on Tuesday, August 2nd, at Jennings Memorial Park in Marysville WA. Admission is FREE!! Enjoy a beautiful stroll in the park admiring the amazing quilts as they hang displayed along the path. The walk will take you from the Ball Fields (5500 70th St) to the Nature Park (6309 53rd Ave). Please, park at either of these locations. I Hope you enjoyed our tour today :) 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.

Several weeks ago, I showed you guys how I turned the ends of my leftover strip sets into a cute scrappy baby quilt. That blog was called, Don't Throw That Out! I ran with that idea and made a second one. And, I already have two more in progress! This week, we filmed a new YouTube video, so I could walk you through a couple of different size options and expand this scrap-busting process into a little tutorial :) It’s time to gather your scraps and orphan blocks to see what you can put together!! I sure hope you have fun with this idea. Print off the free PDF pages to help figure out the math that best fits your scrap pile. 16" Blocks 12" Blocks 8" Blocks 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 thought I'd do a review of a few different marking tools this week! I've never been one to mark on my quilts for quilting, but I've used a few different marking pens during the piecing process, so I gathered up a collection to put to the test! If you want a perfect diagonal line to follow or are working on a project with special seams like Y seams, you might find that marking your piecing is helpful. There are a few basic categories of marking pens: water erasable, air erasable, iron away, chalk markers, and scoring or creasing style markers. Frixion pens I have heard so many good things about the Pilot brand Frixion pens. They are made for paper and are erasable pens when used on paper, but the markings iron away when used on fabric! They have a super fine point and the ink comes out evenly and without that scribbling/scratching motion :) One thing I heard was that in cold temperatures the markings come back until the fabric or quilt has been washed. I put my marked piece in the freezer to see if that was true and the markings came back, but only about half as dark. If you are nervous about this you might want to keep these markings to areas that will not ultimately show, like cut lines or the backside of fabric. Crayola Washable markers How about that?! Not just for kids coloring. I read a few comments from folks saying this is what they used for marking, and I just had to give it a try! The line is thicker because it is a felt tip pen, but the color is clear and you have plenty of colors to choose from if you are trying to find something that will show on your fabric. I used a Q-tip dipped in water to try and soak the line out. It just bled out, but didn’t really disappear. It wasn’t until I soaked the whole piece and ran it under water that the markings completely went away. I was pleasantly surprised that they disappeared completely! This could be a great marking tool in a pinch, or at least for areas that won’t show just in case some of those markings linger. Water erasable and air erasable pens How about a two-in-one pen? Air erasable on one end and water erasable on the other. This dual-purpose Dritz marking pen is convenient to have on hand when you aren’t sure what the project requires. The blue marks come out easily enough with a wet Q-tip or washcloth. You may have to re-wet certain areas where you pressed the pen down harder, or the lines come back a little after it dries. The purple side is air erasable and those lines will disappear after about 48-72 hours… or almost right away with a little water. So far the lines haven't reappeared and all is well :) I think this is my favorite pen of all. This water erasable Chacopen by Clover has an eraser at the other end, and I couldn't believe how immediately it worked! The felt tip has a fine point and was easy to use for marking the ¼” dots on my hexagon blocks. Once I had sewn my seam, I went back with the eraser end to remove the dots… they vanished! Like wow! No waiting for the water to soak in or dry off, just poof gone. I will be using this pen a lot! This air erasable fabric pen by Sewline has a nice steady roll to it. The line is very fine and the color is rich, so it would show on darker fabrics. It takes between 2-10 days for the lines to go away on their own, but you can encourage them with water and they pretty much disappear before the water dries. It's always a good idea to wash a quilt without detergent to remove any faint lingering lines if they are in places that show. The heat from an iron may also set some of this ink so maybe keep these markings to places that won’t be visible in the finished project. Chalk Marker If you're having trouble making very dark fabric, this is the best solution I have come up with. I know chalk markings aren’t ideal for all situations, but these lines show on black or almost black fabric and there aren’t many options for that! This Chaco liner pen by Clover has a little spikey wheel that dispenses a thin line of chalk, just like a pen would. It's ideal for running along the edge of a ruler, but nimble enough to mark curves. I gave my chalk lines a little blow to remove any excess chalk before working with the piece. because chalk can smudge and get messy. Chalk markings work well for heavier fabric like canvas where other marking pens get lost in the weave. Hera maker This is another of my favorites! I, really, really don’t like pen markings on the tops of quilts. I'm so nervous that something isn’t going to disappear or wash out. With the Hera marker by Clover, you can score the fabric along the edge of a ruler and then follow the quilting line. The lines dimple in quite a bit if you score them while the quilt top is layered up with batting already. And, you get the peace of mind that nothing has to be washed out or ironed away. I hope you found something helpful here! Do you have a favorite marking pen that I didn’t mention? I would love to know what you do when marking your quilts and pieces. 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 never thought I'd have so much to talk about when it came to batting. But wow, there really is a perfect batting for each and every project. Have you ever wondered what the best batting would be for a baby quilt versus a quilted garment? Well, I made a YouTube video talking about different kinds of batting and their best uses. I also covered some characteristics that make different battings ideal for different kinds of projects. Do you want to be able to wash your table runners and placemats again and again without having them lose their shape? It just so happens, there’s a perfect batting for that :) If you watched the video and didn’t get all your questions answered, I wrote this handy little pocket guide packed with every question and answer you could think of! I really hope it helps :) KNOW YOUR BATTING You guys know I love to make scrap quilts every chance I get. This week, I was able to quilt and bind a few of them! I've been stacking up quite a pile of tops since we had a very long wet spring here in the NW, so yard work had to wait (I wasn't super bummed about that ;) And just like that, the sun came out and the quilts were done. Look how cute they are all lined up along the fence! These are scrap quilts, right down to piecing the batting from scraps :) If you've never pieced your scraps of batting, it can be rewarding! Here is a blog I did a while back on the processes for piecing different types of batting. Oh, and one more thing! Many of you have been waiting for more kits for my Lollipops and Licorice quilt to become available. We just made up more kits for the Lap size from Jen Kingwell's newest line "Lookout". It's so cheerful and fun, I think you're going to love it! For those who haven't seen it, here's a link to my Lollipops & Licorice video, the pattern, and the mini ruler. 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.

Summer weather has finally arrived in my area, and that means picnics, BBQ’s and potlucks will be the weekend’s activities for the next several weeks! This week, I made a few fabric bowl covers to keep the chip dip and fruit salad covered up while in transit or waiting for guests to arrive. They turned out super cute, so I thought I'd show you what I did! I gathered up the bowls I typically use for Summer entertaining and narrowed them to three sizes. I measured across the top of one of the large bowls and then added a couple of inches to each side for my cover measurement. The bowl was about 11” across, so I cut a square of fabric about 15½” x 15½”. Fold the square in quarters using a napkin fold. Measure from the center point to the middle of the outside flat edge. I rotated my ruler, little by little, maintaining the same measurement from the center point. I used a Hera marker to score a line as I went. Once the line was scored on the folded square, I used my rotary cutter to cut along the line making a perfect circle. Now to add some fun :) I used a medium-sized rick-rack and stitched it down along the front raw edge of the circle. Make sure to turn the starting end up about ¼” and overlap the finishing end to make a clean transition. Turn the rick-rack under to the back side, leaving just one edge showing on the front side. Topstitch in place to secure the raw edge to the underside. I used a thin elastic beading cord to gather up the cover. I cut a piece just about the same diameter as the top edge of the bowl, plus a little tail to tie it off. I pulled it snug when I measured it to ensure a good fit. I scored a new line about 2” from the rick-rack edge on the underside of the cover. Place the beading cord elastic on the score line and zig-zag stitch over the top. I use the widest zig-zag, so the stitches land on either side of the elastic and not through it. This way, I can adjust my gathers after it is sewn. Pull it kinda tight as you go, so the gathers are mostly in the right place. Tie the two ends together in a tight square knot and clip the tails off. And here’s my first one! The happy little family waiting for the guests to arrive :) …and how about that Lemonade Pie?! You can also easily make this pie, gluten-free or dairy-free, and I’ve included both recipes for you. If you need a quick crowd-pleaser for a summer get-together, this is a must-make pie! Download printable pie recipes 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.

Have you ever run out of spray starch in the middle of your project? Did you know you can make spray starch, just like your Grandma did, from items you already have sitting in your pantry? It's non-toxic, cheap, and easy to make. All you need are a few pantry items, water, a whisk, and a spray bottle. You can make different spray starches from essential kitchen items like cornstarch, potato, flour, vinegar, white glue, vodka, and white rice. Toss in a few drops of essential oils, like lemon, lavender, or orange for that extra something special. Here are a few recipes for homemade spray starch. I haven't tested all of these myself, but I've included the source information so you can read more about the process. I've also made a PDF of all the recipes, in one place, so you can print these out and save them. 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 makes 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 Love to Know says 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 your own 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 are 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.