This is Amy R’s Grand Illusion quilt. This is a mystery quilt that Bonnie Hunter hosted in 2014. Its a whole lot of work and small pieces but a very pretty result. Amy decided to make the quilt smaller and use some of the squares in the back of the quilt. The quilting design is Cool Beans by Apricot Moon, Pink thread & Hobbs 80/20 batting.

This is Roseanne L’s Bordered Squares quilt. Roseanne used beautiful batiks to make this lovely throw sized quilt. This pattern is available by tutorial at Missouri Star Quilting and uses layer cakes. Roseanne decided to mix it up a little and changed the fabric placement a little bit. The quilting design is Felicity by Christy Dillon, Hobbs 80/20 batting & Violet purple thread.

Maryann made this beautiful quilt. This pattern is Arrowhead by Anita Grossman Solomon. The pattern is available for free at QuiltMaker. The quilting design is Garden Path by Kristen Hoftyzer, Hobbs Wool batting and Copper color thread. I love how this design gives the quilt some great texture.

Tis the season for a little holiday designs. The is Pam P’s wallhangings & throw. The design is Winter Wonderland by Barbara Becker, gold thread & Hobbs 80/20 batting.  

Connie’s Flannel Baby quilt with ABC-123 Panto by Judith Kraker, thread is Sea foam green & Hobbs 80/20 batting. The beautiful pressing helps make the finished quilt look its best.

Did you know there is a app for sewing needles? Well there is & thanks to Smith Owen Sewing & Quilting Smith Owen Sewing  for sharing this info in their newsletter.

I think this would be a really handy item to have on my phone when I’m shopping for needles & can’t recall what needle I need for a project. Here is a link for Apple Schmetz Needle app for Apple and the app for Chrome Schmetz Needle App for Chrome.

I am going to go put one of these on my phone right now.

Happy Sewing!

This topic comes up all the time as my house with clients. They would love to learn paper piecing but they can’t make a set class time. It’s not always easy to find someone teaching this or when you can attend. I just discovered that Craftsy is offering a class on paper piecing at a huge discount $19.99!!

The class is taught by Carol Doan, the queen of paper piecing. I have a couple of her books but ended up taking a class locally after I discovered I needed to see how to do it. The nice thing about videos is they are available when you are and you can go back and watch them over and over.

If this is on your to do list, its a great time to grab this class while its on sale. If you’re tempted there is a link to craftsy on the right, grab the class now and watch it when you’re schedule allows. Paper piecing is my favorite way to do flying geese. It’s also a great way to do blocks with points and mini’s with accuracy.  Check it out.

This is Joann N’s very pretty Blooming 9 patch quilt. The quilting design is Abundant Feathers by Three Sisters Fabric, taupe thread, and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

I have made a few disappearing 9 patch with 5″ squares & basically know that if I use 3 fabrics it takes 3 yards of 2 fabrics & 1.25 yard of fabric for the center square.

I had some other fabrics I want to make one out of but I’m just short of the yardages I need so I want to make the squares smaller. This is what I calculated for making a Disappearing 9 Patch with 4.5″ squares & 3 different fabrics.

I have 3 fabrics, White, Multi, & Red.

Using 43″ WOF (width of fabric) I would need:

White = 2.75 yards, Multi = 2.75 yards & Red (the center square of the 9patch) 0.75 yards. I’m pulling this out of my stash.

Number of strips to cut at 4.5″ width- White 22 strips, Multi 22 Strips & Red 6 strips.

You should be able to cut 9 squares from each strip of fabric = 4.5″ square.

Your block will have 4 white squares, 4 Multi squares & 1 Red square in the center. You should decide which fabric you want to be the larger square before piecing the 9 patch block & put them in the outer corners.  Sew your 9 patch together.  Press the top row & bottom row seams away from the center square. Press the center row towards the center square. This will help the rows nest together before sewing. 

Then cut it across the center in both directions.

Turn two sections to so that the small red square faces outward and leave the remaining two in place. See below:

Sew back together.

You will have enough blocks to place 7 across and 7 down. This will give you approximately 80.5″ x 80.5″ size. You can add borders to make the size you prefer.  I would probably add 2 borders maybe a 2.5″ and then an 8″ border to get the quilt to 90″ square.

2.5″ border would require about 9 strips so about 2/3rd yard of fabric.

an 8″ border added after the 2.5″ border would require 9 strips 8″ wide so 2 yards of fabric.

Now I’m going to go sew the rest & double check the measurements.

I am weak for Asian prints and designs.  This is Marthas’ Asian Bunny Quilt. I love the fabrics. The design is Mosaic Flower from Stephanie Schick. The thread is YLI Black Marble & the batting is Hobbs Wool.

This pretty cross walking was pieced by Kathy. The quilt design is Curling Fern by Tammy Oberin, the batting is Quilters Dream Wool and she chose a light gold thread.