Thank you all so much for all of your well wishes on my book news. I'm still pinching myself over the whole thing! I'm so touched by the things you guys have said to me, I really appreciate all the support. As soon as it's listed for pre-order, I will be sure to let you guys all know! In the meantime, I've got some good news to share on my Hope Valley improv quilt today: I finished the quilt top. Yay! It's officially big enough to fit on my queen-sized bed, and because of that, it's nearly impossible to photograph. But, I love it so far. :) You can read a little more about my work on this quilt right here.


The bad news? Now I have to baste the darned thing! Yikes. My weekend clearly is going to include a heck of a lot of quality time with my 505. And I need to shop for some Aurifil thread to match the yarn-dyed Essex to quilt it with - thankfully my MQG meeting is tomorrow at Inspire Quilting & Sewing, where they stock boatloads of Aurifil! Hope you have a great weekend!

I have started and deleted and started this post over at least five times now, so maybe the sixth time's the charm...I have really something big to tell you guys. I kind of wrote a book.


I really did write a book. Omg, omg, I can hardly believe it. Becoming a Confident Quilter will be out this September and it's chock full of tips, techniques, and exercises to stretch and build your quilting skills. There are fourteen quilt patterns, and I can't wait to show you every last one of them, but I have to keep them under my hat for now.

I can tell you this much - I've wanted to be an author since I was six years old. I still have the very first book I ever wrote, a delightful tale I called Bunnies, about a family of bunnies, so this is a really big deal to me. It nearly makes me cry when I think of the idea of running into a copy of my book in reality at a bookstore someday in the not-too-distant future. I cannot begin to tell you how much this whole experience has meant to me, and I can't wait to share more about it with all of you, including loads of pictures and stories about the quilts over the next several months. Suffice it say, I'm beyond excited. And proud. And joyful. It's a good day :)

Need a little easy-to-finish springy quilt for your spring picnics? Or a quick quilt to whip up for Mother's Day this weekend? The Divide and Conquer quilt will totally hit the spot!

I just finished this quilt and wrote a simple pattern for it that you can download from Pellon's website. This is a quilt that you can easily finish in a day or a weekend.

Using some simple stitch-and-flip corners and cutting some large prints, you can create a vibrant, but really simple to assemble quilt. As much as I love intricate quilts, sometimes it's a lot of fun to put something together that takes less thought!



I'm really loving the color palette I used for this quilt - I seem to be gravitating to it a lot lately, now that I think about it. There's just something about the coral and aqua and yellow together that just says spring to me!


The quilty photoshoot couldn't have been more perfectly Florida-ish unless there was a plastic flamingo in the shot - a lizard jumped on as I hung the quilt, and it took some serious encouragement to get him out of the way. He was just enjoying the combination of the sunshine and the beautiful quilt, I think, a bit too much to move.

I quilted this quilt using two different stitches to create a really cool effect on the back. I decided to try something new and used a curved stitch to emphasize the stitched-and-flipped corners, and creating a curved diamond. I then stippled the remaining parts of the block, using white Aurifil 50 wt thread. I really love the finished look, and I will definitely do more of this curved free-motion stitching.


Quilt Stats
name: Divide and Conquer
size: 60" x 72"
fabrics: Sketch in Coral, Pearl Bracelet in Yellow, Outfoxed Jewels in Teal, Outfoxed Foxglove in Ruby, Linda Lace in Peach, Frida's Dream in Cool, Henna Stripe in Gray, Eyelet in Gray, Flowerpop in Zesty, Houndstooth in Yellow, La Dee Da Floradots in Aqua, Imperial in Turquoise, Quilt Blocks Xs
pattern: Divide and Conquer, free pattern by me, download right here
quilting: Meandering stipple and arcs, in white 50 wt Aurifil thread
binding: Kona Azure, 2 1/2" straight-grain strips
backing: Meteor Shower in Sunset

If you make a quilt using this quickie pattern, please be sure to share it in the Stitching with Don't Call Me Betsy Flickr Group and/or Threadbias Group, I'd love to see it! Have a wonderful day today!