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A new finish: the Legato quilted zipper bag

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Hello hello! Welcome to have a peek in my sewing studio! Lately, I’ve been busy sewing patchwork surfaces into quilted zipper bags, and this post introduces the first of those finishes. I’ve called it Legato, which is a music term meaning “tied together” – that the notes are to be played or sung smoothly without a silence between one note and another. I used to play the piano in my childhood and youth, so the notation and the term became familiar to me. Legato felt like the right name choice because of the way the petals of the coneflower blend into the neighbouring reds in this surface. The other side of the Legato quilted zipper bag is constructed in a similar way – around a focal fabric piece – but the orientation is horizontal: Both surfaces are a rarity for me because I built them using the quilt-as-you-go method. The surface ends up looking as if it has not been quilted though it has, and I’m not sure how I feel about the look. In some earlier projects, I have added qu...
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What’s on my sewing table right now (Quilt studio diary)

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I’ve shared many tips and how-tos lately because I love to be helpful. I hope that you readers have found my posts helpful! Today, though, I’m going to share the quilting projects that I’m working on in my sewing space. If you tend to have several projects in progress, you’ll be able to relate to this studio diary post. Here’s what’s currently on my table (and slightly off it): Unfinished quilt projects Two – no, three! – quilt projects are waiting to be completed. The first one is my flimsy that combines Xs and four-patches-in-squares. It's waiting to be taken to long-arm quilting. After I took its sunny pictures earlier this month, I folded it and set it down on a sofa. Now I see that it’s accidentally been taken in with two folded quilts, turning them into a sort of pillow. It will have to be re-pressed after this treatment! The second unfinished project is the one with Kaffe Fassett squares surrounded with a lot of scrappiness. I've shared the beginning of th...
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6 common quilting mistakes that are worth fixing

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Even experienced quilters can make choices that affect how well a finished quilt wears, lies flat, and keeps its design visible. In this post, I’ll share six common quilting mistakes that are well worth fixing. In this post, you’ll learn why and how you should avoid: choosing fabrics that wear out too quickly in everyday quilts forcing the edges of blocks to match even when your quilt blocks are not of the same size border strips/pieces that are too long sewing a binding on so that you end up with wavy edges quilting your quilt too sparsely making problematic colour-value choices Over the years, I’ve learned that many quilting frustrations do not come from lack of skills but from small decisions that one may make without thinking. So it is not because of any quilting laws but out of self-interest that you should avoid or fix certain mistakes – early. 1. Unsuitable fabrics in a quilt that is meant to be used This is a mistake that you can – and should – correct even before be...
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Splendid colour tips for quilting: Purple in quilts

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This post is part of my Splendid colour tips series, where I share helpful information to help you choose fabrics and colours with more confidence. In this post, I share my thoughts and practical tips about the use of purple in quilting and use my own quilts and quilted items as examples. In this post you’ll discover:  how different purples can behave next to blue, red, yellow, green and turquoise common colour-contrast problems when sewing with purple (and how to avoid them) reliable ways to combine purple fabrics successfully in your own quilts  Purple is a colour for queens, kings, and royalty. It represents success and wisdom. It has traditionally been associated with wealth because the colour was difficult and expensive to produce. Only the richest could afford purple garments. In quilts, purple isn’t a symbol – it is a colour that has its own characteristics. What to watch out for when using purple in quilts Certain purples can look brown in the finished quilt, so wa...
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