Can't Throw Anything Away

Many of the blocks in my Jane Stickle quilt were paper-pieced, which means there was a bit of fabric waste. I can't bear to throw away fabric that is so pretty, so I just collected it over the three and a half years that I was working on piecing the top and kept it in the plastic jar. It will have a home somewhere in my quilting studio to remind me of all the struggles fun that I had making this quilt!

Sew Many Seams

One of the reasons that I'm often having issues with quilting my Jane Stickle quilt is that there are so many seams to deal with. Some of the blocks have 50 pieces or more in them! The photo gives you a bit of an idea of what part of the top looked like on the back before I loaded it on my HQ16 for quilting. Click on the photo for a larger view.

Rows 5 and 6 Completed

Here are some closeup shots of the quilting I've done on rows 5 and 6 of my Jane Stickle quilt. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Again, it's fairly minimal quilting.

Embellishing with Beads

Cindy Yost French presented a program to my local guild this month and also held a workshop on beading. Those in the workshop made scissors cases embellished with lovely beads. I didn't take the workshop (mainly because I have way too many other projects that I'm working on), but I did have a chance to sneak in and take a few photos (some of you may have already seen these on my guild's blog and facebook page). Remember, you can click on the photos for a larger view.

The quilt in the upper right is a journal quilt made by Cindy. You can read details about how she made it on her blog.

Spring Cleaning

It's a good idea to do this once in a while...



You'll be surprised how much lint is hidden away in your machine, especially if you use cotton thread and flannel fabric.

Something New To Try

Lucky me -- I recently won a copy of Laura Wasilowski's latest book, "Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts", directly from Laura herself. She presented a program and workshop to my guild last June, but I was away on vacation, so I missed what I hear was an absolutely delightful visit. I'm hoping to try a project using Laura's techniques and tips soon -- but I don't really want to try something new until I get my Jane Stickle quilt finished!

If you don't know much about Laura, check out her blog and website to be really inspired. I love her love of color!

Modern BOM Block 11

I haven't touched my sewing machine in ages because of all the quilting I've been doing on my Jane Stickle quilt and was starting to suffer from sewing withdrawal, so I decided to make the next block in the Sew, Mama, Sew series of Modern Block-of-the-Month.

This is block number 11. To see the others I've already made, click on the "SMS BOM" link on my blog sidebar.