It’s time to make a baby quilt for my friend with a minimalist style. Luckily, I have just such a quilt in mind. It is a design related to my Transparency block. Ok, so that block didn’t turn out minimalist in my first Pas de Deux quilt, but the design can be quite understated. Pinky promise!
Read MoreOver the course of a few days, I’ve created a new group for my Pas de Deux quilt. This one turned out nothing like the original group. Instead, it was created by making color connections with surrounding blocks, and experimenting with fabrics on hand.
Read MoreBetween Pas de Deux and my longarm quilting services, you all are keeping me pleasantly busy, and for that I am grateful. Let’s catch up on some of the quilts I’ve had the opportunity to finish on my longarm quilting machine this year from.
Read MoreDreaming up a quilt color palette, choosing fabrics, even scattering fabric ideas on the design wall - all those stages of quilt planning are so easy and open and free for me. With a sampler quilt like Pas de Deux, actually choosing which block to sew first, on the other hand, can be a bit intimidating.
Read MoreFor my second version of Pas de Deux, I’m choosing a color palette for the quilt as a whole. I want a limited palette of 3 or so colors, so that the patchwork groups naturally harmonize and the edges between them can blur. Here’s how I pulled together fabrics, questioned myself and spiraled finally toward a decision.
Read MoreWow, the 2022 Pas de Deux club release was my most successful ever! Thank you! Quilter reactions are encouraging: the quilt is fun to sew, scrap-friendly, skill-building and yet totally doable for the average quilter. A new round begins in April and is on sale through Monday!
Read MoreWeaving together my life as a maker and other spheres of life: Best of March, feeling inspired by your Pas de Deux quilts (registration for Round 2 on sale now!), anticipating an epic secondhand shopping trip, and a serendipitous book recommendation.
Read MoreIt’s seems I’ve captured the rainbow again. This swirl of happy, scrappy patchwork makes me smile, just like that bow of color in the sky. Come see my finished quilt! Psst - a new round of Pas de Deux is on sale now. We start fresh in April!
Read MoreTrue confessions: I’ve been avoiding this part of Pas de Deux. I questioned the colors for this patchwork group and the construction presented so many choices. Which would be best?
Read MoreA rainbow of diamonds sparkles with vibrant color, bringing to mind a field of spring flowers. The wedges in between the diamonds offer slivers of contrasting blue and lavender skies. This wash of contrast enhances the diamond colors just as a bright, sunny day brings a garden to life.
Read MoreFor us, the desire to immigrate to Europe came first, but affordable higher education made the move both possible and practical. In the Netherlands college is cheap and admissions are stress-free. Here’s what we’ve experienced so far in Dutch higher education.
Read MoreFrom a distance and viewed through our social media lenses, it can appear that beautiful things simply slip into being, blooming as effortlessly as wildflowers. But in reality, there is Friction. With almost every quilt I’ve made, there are moments where I struggle to move forward, moments when I question my sense of design.
Read MoreIt’s a lot at the moment. Logically I can rationalize that things will be ok, that our family’s future can unfold in a number of acceptable ways, but emotionally I’m often feeling a sort of anxious haze. And do you know what breaks through the haze and sets my spirit light? This very quilt. The colors. The clarity. The contrast. It’s freeing me.
Read MoreToday is new issue day for Make Modern, a beautiful magazine written by quilters for quilters and delivered digitally to creatives across the world. Patterns, interviews + ideas for the modern quilter.
Read MoreOnce Hourglass was completed and photographed, I practically ran into my sewing room to join its floating rows to those from the Orange Peel group. Assembly is so satisfying! I actually have only two more groups to go and then I can complete the top. Can’t wait!
Read MoreI’m crafting a rainbow of diamonds with the Wedge Cross block, a bonus quilt-pattern-in-progress for Pas de Deux BOM club. Fabrics are Ruby and Bee Solids. These rich, saturated hues are captured in cloth by designers Heather Ross and Annabel Wrigley, working in tandem for Windham Fabrics.
Read MoreOh, checkerboard patchwork, how I do love thee! It’s charming every time. Now a whole checkerboard quilt in this small-size patchwork would be quite an endeavor, but this little taste is pure delight. I’m on my way to a finished quilt top this month!
Read MoreWhen your hobby is also your job (so lucky!) it does blur the lines between work and rest. It’s healthy to mark boundaries from time to time. That why I set the Ice Cream Soda quilt apart when I embarked on the project years ago. No goals, no pressure. Just slow, satisfying sewing.
Read More
