Quiltcon 2026

Quiltcon - the modern quilt show - is this weekend in Raleigh, NC.  My husband and I attended on the first day.  Here are a few photos of the meticulously made, imaginative and inspiring quilts we saw:

A close up of a favorite showing the beautiful quilting.

Hundreds of hexagons were handsewn by the quilter while she was out of power and water after Hurricane Helene.

This was 'open to interpretation.'  My husband said it looked like a heart.

This was probably the most my style of what I saw.

"I Scream" was my husband's favorite. It had beautiful quilting to make the swirls of the ice cream.

Another closeup of fantastic quilting in addition to the interesting design and piecing.

There were hundreds of quilts so I can only share a few.  This was the first national quilt show I have attended. Two years ago in Raleigh, they had over 25,000 attendees for the 4 day show!  I don't know how many people were there Thursday but it was very busy especially the vendor area. You could hardly walk.  I go to see quilts, not to shop, which is a good thing.

I'm glad we went. I'm not sure I would drive that far again unless we had some other activity in Raleigh we especially wanted to do.  Modern quilts are interesting and I always think I want to do more in this area but currently it isn't as much my focus.  Perhaps though I will be inspired by what I saw this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Circle Study

I'm not sure what to call this quilt. I was inspired to make it from a Craftsy class by Heather Thomas. Her class was focused on the quilting.  Her circles appeared to be layers that weren't really pieced.  

I wanted to practice curved piecing and also some foundation piecing.  Each circle is created using 4 wheel blocks with a quarter circle in the center and a variety of pieced quarter circles around them.  I used printed fabrics from my stash as well as gelli printing some solid fabrics to get tone-on-tone designs. The graduated colors are lighter under the red circles to darker under the yellow ones. I thought making some of the quarter circles have larger centers and mixing them gave it more interest. 

It was really fun to put together.  I finished piecing it a few months ago and then put off the quilting. That was what the class was about but by then I'd moved onto other interests and hadn't quilted much.  When I finally started, I loved the quilting process for this.  I kept changing thread types and colors enjoy the experimentation.

I am definitely better at quilting things with curves than more angular designs. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Mariners Compass Quilt

 

Have you ever bought a fabric because it was so pretty you just had to have it only to regret your purchase?  

I like Tim Holz products and style but I wouldn't say it is something I really do a lot of.  Still, I loved these fabrics in the store and just had to come home with them. On the way home though I was already regretting my impulse. Finally about 3 years later my stash was getting lower and these were rising to the top.  I realized the colors were a good fit for my newly remodeled studio. I'd always thought these fabrics would look good with the Mariner's Compass block and had wanted to do more foundation piecing.

So here is the finished quilt and I've walked through some of the challenges. This one definitely has some visible imperfections.  It was a learning experience. 

In the end, I like the quilt but I don't love it.  I did love doing foundation piecing and want to do more.

Using large scale print quilt fabrics

 

So many beautiful fabrics and so little time!  I am often attracted to beautiful, bold prints in the fabric store but wonder how I will use them.

For this quilt, I wasn't in the quilt shop but at my local quilt guild. The fabrics for this quilt were donated to our guild.  One of our members put together sets of fabrics for us to take home and make into quilts that would then be donated to one of the charities we support who put the quilts into hands of those who need them. Given the prints and the size I have made, this quilt will likely go to an adult.  We also do quilts for children and infants.

I was immediately attracted to these fabrics because they are my favorite colors and I loved the patterns.  The challenge was how to use them without having to add a lot of fabric from my stash. I often use my own fabrics in donation quilts. In fact, I usually use my own fabrics.  In this case though, there was quite a bit of fabric in the bundle and I wanted to see what I could make without adding anything except backing and binding fabric.

In the YouTube video, I share how I decided to use each of the fabrics making the most of the particular design. 

This is my first video in many months.  I hope you enjoy it and would appreciate feedback. If you like the video, please share it on your social media.  I have made hundreds of videos in the past but have stopped due to low viewership.  I really enjoy the process of making them and hope to find an audience again.

Also, please post any questions you have.

Thanks for stopping by!

Second Watercolor Sketchbook

I just shared my 2nd watercolor sketchbook on YouTube.  I have mostly been sewing the last few months.  I still paint for cards but it took me a long time to add to this sketchbook.  I still paint mostly botanicals and am developing my style.

If you would like to see my latest watercolor, here is the video:

Thanks for visiting!

Gelli printing on Tissue Paper

Using your gelli plates to create prints on tissue paper give you a pliable surface to use on all kinds of projects.  In this video I share why I create on tissue paper, materials to use and how to create the prints.  The video finishes with actually using the prints on 2 projects.

Thanks for watching!

Watercolor Background for 2022 Page

 

Doing a layout that tells a story guides how the page comes together.  Doing a layout with a nice photo that just captures a moment allows freedom to really make the page with any supplies.

I'm using this page as the title page for all of 2022.  I had already printed the photo 5x7 so I just needed to create a background, add a title and embellishments. Months ago, I ordered some Strathmore 12x12 watercolor paper. It is the only paper that comes in that size I know of, at least that is reasonably cost effective.  I wanted to use it for scrapbook backgrounds.  For this page, I painted dahlias as that was one of the flowers growing in the garden we were visiting when the photo was taken.  I used one of my own yellow dahlias as a rough guide for how to paint them.  I added markers for a more graphic look.

The numbers 2022 were actually one of the more challenging aspects of the page.  I do want to find different ways to do lettering as I'm not planning to replenish my Thicker stash when I finally wear it down.

Here is the process video:

Likely my future videos will be more technique specific.  I enjoy making process videos but with only 100 views or so per video, I honestly do not feel I am reaching a large audience for the amount of work that goes into these.  I so appreciate those of you who watch. I do plan to continue to scrap and make videos while looking for a way to create content that helps more people.  

Thanks for watching!

My First Watercolor Sketchbook

I started painting with watercolors over a year ago.  At first it was just to create cards.  I wanted more variety than I could get with stamps.  Frankly, I didn't want to keep investing in stamps which took up money AND space.  I would practice a particular design until I could paint it decently, make cards and move on.  Eventually though I enjoyed painting more and more things.

Many people paint in a sketchbook but I wasn't sure it was for me. I was concerned that 1, I would mess it up.  I would paint something I hated and then see it every time I flipped through my sketchbook.  And 2, what if the opposite happened and I painted something I loved. The 2nd thing was happening with painting on loose watercolor paper and those things that were pretty good were getting turned into cards.  Then they were gone and I had no reference.  So eventually I bought an Etchr Labs Watercolor sketchbook and was hooked.

It took me less than 3 months to fill it. Here are all the pages in this video:

Let me know what your favorite is.  Thanks for watching!