I've been thinking about all the things that quilters figure out along the way. There is a lot to learn, and as a beginner, you can't absorb it all at once. One example is yardage. Occasionally a non-quilter will ask me how much fabric it takes to make a quilt. I'm not hedging when I [...]
If you start playing with the decorative stitches on your machine, the ideas for how to use them will begin to pile up. I’ve been meaning to make a new nametag for quilt events and the ease of the HQ Stitch 710 prompted me to get going. My instructions for how to make a quilter’s [...]
In the spring, I designed a little sampler quilt for a retreat I'm co-hosting this fall. I did the piecing on the HQ Stitch 510 and then I quilted it on the 710. This is Petit Patchwork. The idea is to help retreaters learn some new skills and perfect some basic skills by making this [...]
It can be tricky to use large prints for patchwork. It's so easy to buy those luscious fabrics, but sometimes not so easy to use them effectively. Scrap quilts are what I make most, and I'm pretty determined to use the stash I've accumulated over 33 years of quilting. So I've devised a couple of [...]
A few years back, I wrote a post for Quiltmaker called "One Hundred Things Every Quilter Should Do." It was fun to write and it generated a lot of feedback. It's time to rewrite that list. I wrote this one without looking back at the original list. Many of these could become their own blog [...]
I started two new scrap quilts over the weekend, which meant that I thought much about what would work and what would not. I recently made a new dog, and I don't want that to happen again. (A dog is an ugly quilt. So ugly that it should never see the light of day.) [...]
When you begin to discover how the special stitches on a machine can be used, life takes a turn for the better. I've been playing with the HQ Stitch 710 and making quilt labels with the alphabets. It takes a little practice but it's worth the effort. Let's get started. Decide on what your label [...]
I’ve been playing with the special stitches on my HQ Stitch 710. Playing is one of the best ways to become familiar with your sewing machine’s features, and it often generates ideas for future projects. I used to think that playtime was wasted time, but now I know it’s one of the most important things [...]
I took in a flea market this week in southeast Nebraska. I love checking out anything related to quilting or sewing. Only a select few things come home with me, but I take photos of most items. This was my favorite quilt of the day. It was in poor condition with huge rips where the [...]
Here's an easy method to make a quilt label. It's simple and effective. Maybe you'll like it too. I create the text part of the label on the computer or by drawing it with permanent fabric markers. Either way, follow the manufacturer's instructions to make the text permanent. My experience has been that everything [...]
