Some cook, I sew and write: creativity brings joy

My husband sat down with me several days ago to help me figure out how many more half-square triangles I would need.  So far, none of my calculations have worked out correctly!  In the process, he helped me identify the color pattern on the quilt on Missouri Star Quilt Company's tutorial that made the star and secondary arrow pop into view.   When I began this quilt, I understood that it was to have a scrappy look and didn't see that the display quilt coordinated the colors in a set pattern.  They separated each star into 4 quadrants with blues in one corner, green in another, coral in another, and purple in the last.  If you follow that pattern, their material listing works perfectly and the quilt will have a cohesive quality.  If you use two main colors, one for the stars and one for the background, it also works, but if you randomly place the colored pieces that coordinate but do not match, the effect will be more confusing and lack continuity. ...

I just found some information on Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) on the Elven Garden Quilts blog.  Here is the link:   http://theelvengarden.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/free-motion-qal-choosing-colours.html .  There are more links at the bottom of the page.  I had wondered if it might be best to either tie or stitch-in-the-ditch quilt my Christmas quilt, and one of the posts reinforced that thought.  I think that might be the best strategy for me as a beginner. Also here is a cool Minecraft tutorial:   http://www.thatlookslikeitneedsstitches.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-02-17T12:42:00-08:00&max-results=1 Just wanted to pass those along!

"Finished is better than perfect," says Jenny at Missouri Star Quilt Co. I heartily agree. I grew up hating WIPs. My mother taught me that because she always had half-finished projects from Relief Society work meetings. Relief Society is the women's organization in our church. She was in the organization's leadership, organizing and overseeing the function, so she never had enough time to finish the projects. I think the only completed projects we had were those that the sweet sisters in the Relief Society made for my mother. What sweet gifts! (Eventually, my mother threw out all of her WIPs, making those gifts even sweeter!) Having said that, I've added several tutorials from other very creative (and skilled) ladies. My latest favorite blogger is from Freshly Pieced. Maybe eventually I'll advance to buying a book! In the meantime, I keep drooling over different pieces of fabric and jelly rolls. I really, really want to mak...

When I was looking through all the fabulous online tutorials, I found the name Amy Gibson teaching a class on Craftsy.  She instructed one of the BOM quilts, and I enjoyed her style and clear explanations so I went searching online for her.  Finding her blog, Stitchery Dickory Dock, I read this one and then this one and was especially intrigued by the Disappearing Nine-Patch tutorial.  She only explained how to make the block, but I started thinking that would be a good entry-level quilt. So I've started with fabric in my stash.  My mother sewed and taught me to sew and sewers generally collect fabric.  I certainly have! I cut lots of 5" squares.  Eight fabrics of 40 squares and one of 80 if I remember correctly.  I'm hoping that's enough.  Doing it my usual way, I simply plunged in without deciding how big I want the quilt to be or even how big the squares will be.  I think they are turning out to be about 14" square, but I still haven...