When you go to Quilt Market, you know you're in for a big, memorable experience, and Fall Quilt Market this year was no exception. I saw lots of beautiful quilts and fabrics, loads of fantastic people that I don't get to see anywhere near as often as I'd like, and generally had a blast, in spite of the Texas-sized blister my adorable but apparently heinously uncomfortable shoes gave me. It's always so fun to get to see all the amazingness the quilt world has to offer all in one place, from the fantastic people to the drool-worthy fabrics!

Denyse Schmidt has a new line of solids coming out for Free Spirit, Modern Solids, which are just lovely. I made a quilt for her booth using the new solids, my Sparkling Diamonds quilt, and got a chance to say hello to her during my time in Texas, which was awesome. I'm pretty sure that I was a geeky fangirl, because I adore Deynse's work so much, but she was positively gracious and so nice! Her new Ansonia collection of prints is also quite lovely, especially after seeing it in person.

quilt by Alissa

quilt by Jen

quilt by Jacquie

Denyse Schmidt is coming out with her very own collection of solid fabrics for Free Spirit Fabrics at Fall Quilt Market this week in Houston, and I'm excited to show you what I made with her beautiful solids for Free Spirit's booth. One of the things I love about Denyse is the way she names things, and these solids are no exception - from dogwood to kumquat and baltic, each solid has a beautiful Denyse-i-fied name to it, and many of the colors are super rich and saturated.



I worked up several different designs for the solids, but ultimately Denyse chose a simple patchwork quilt with a mix of squares and half-square triangles. I wanted to make it as scrappy as possible, so rather than sticking with one background color, I used several different neutrals for the "background" pieces.

I quilted this quilt with 50 wt Aurifil thread in my trusty shady of white, #2024, in a cursive-inspired kind of loop-de-loop, which was not only quick to stitch, but fun. I like the final effect the stitches give the finished quilt, how they emphasize the linear nature of the piecing, but spice it up at the same time.

I almost love the back as much as the front of the quilt - I used several snippets of the solids from the front mixed with some larger pieces of a light gray, much like a coin quilt. I especially love the way the quilting looks on the back.

A pattern is available for this pattern right here, thanks to Free Spirit! Speaking of which, I'm heading off to Houston tomorrow for Quilt Market myself. Guess that means I should start packing today! If you're going, I'll be doing a Schoolhouse on Friday at 3:40 p.m. about my book, sharing all the quilts, and a book signing at the Martingale booth on Sunday at 10:00 a.m., so please come say hello! Have a great rest of your week :)

The Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap is in full swing - Kristi got together a bunch of great, crafty people to make mini-quilts for each other, with a great hashtag on Instagram, #makeaquiltmakeafriend. Lots of swappers made fun mosaics of some of their favorite things, to give their partners some insight into their style. I think mine is kind of all over the place, so I'm not sure how helpful mine is, but it sure is pretty!

1. Crackle, 2. 2013.08.09: Mustard, Wine, and Moldy Cheese, 3. Supernova Quilt, 4. A Spider's Web Quilt my way, 5. sew sew modern mine, 6. Post Sewing Summit Swap - full reveal, 7. Selvage Spiderweb Quilt, 8. Since it's almost the 21st in Hawaii, I'm posting this pillow I made with @alisonglass's new line, Sun Print. Go check out my blog and enter the giveaway!, 9. chicopee closeup, 10. Quilt top made by the Magnum PI set of the Modern Stash Bee, 11. Schoenrock Cross blocks progress, 12. For Miss November (Lovely Liz) - FQR Kinky Bee Bumblies, 13. marcelle plus quilt, 14. Now that I have conquered my fear of curves. Scrappy center or just 1 fabric in the center?, 15. Scrap Attack - String Along Quilt top !, 16. Lone Starburst Pillow Top, 17. PTS10 progress, 18. Madrona Road Front 45" x 45", 19. Butterfly Spool Quilt Finished, 20. Sewing Machine Paper Pieced Block, 21. Hello Post Office!, 22. finished - modern drunkard's path, 23. ModChevron7, 24. Robert Kaufman Kona Solid Challenge, 25. Down the Rabbit Hole

I've spent a good bit of time going through my partner's favorites, trying to come up with some ideas that she would appreciate, but I'm having a hard time deciding which one to go with, so that's where you guys come in...

Which mini would totally make you swoon?


design #1                                                                    design #2


design #3                                                                    design #4

I am so happy to tell you that the infamous minion quilt is finished and on the munchkin's bed. Oh, how this quilt makes me happy!





My yellow and cobalt blue fabric stash really took a hit after this quilt - I see some shopping in my future. Shopping with a purpose!

I'm really glad I added on the pixelated border, which brings this quilt to a perfect twin size, with a nice drop all the way to the floor. It looks great in his room, and the munchkin is so happy with it. And me? Well, I'm just glad it's done!

Quilt Stats
name: One in a Minion
size: twin size, 71" x 94"
pattern: created in Microsoft Excel by yours truly
fabrics: various solids in shades of white mixed with various prints in yellow, blue, and black
quilting: all-over stipple in 50 wt Aurifil in white

Have you gotten hooked on the fun of foundation paper piecing yet? I've gotten a lot of emails over the last month or two about the Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club winding down. There's just two more blocks yet to come, and I've had lots of questions coming in about whether or not there are more blocks where these came from...and the good news is that there are loads more stars under my hat! I spent some quality time this weekend picking and choosing 12 new stars for the 2014 Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club, and they are all ready to roll!


To recap how things in the Lucky Stars BOM club work, club members receive the block of the month via email on the 1st of every month, beginning on January 1st. The monthly PDF patterns include detailed piecing instructions, with loads of photographs to illustrate the piecing, as well as block templates in two sizes for each block, for a 6" finished block and a 12" finished block. To subscribe to the 2014 club, you can do so at my Pattern Shop or my Craftsy shop.

2014 Lucky Stars BOM blocks

Current subscribers, you should have received an email from me this morning with a special discount code for you to use to subscribe to the new year of blocks. If you can't find it, let me know!

If you were not already a subscriber for 2013, you can still join in the fun, as well as get a great deal on the 2014 club. You'll receive the past blocks within 48 hours via email, and then receive the remaining block on the 1st of each month. For just $25, you'll receive 48 foundation paper piecing templates - talk about a screaming deal!

2013 Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club blocks all together

To check out some of the awesome blocks the 2013 subscribers have made so far, you can visit the Stitching with Don't Call Me Betsy Flickr group or on Instagram, check out #luckystarsbom. So...what do you say? Are you in for another year of paper piecing fun?

The third round of the Sew Sew Modern swap has just wrapped up, and I couldn't be happier with the beautiful package I received from Ginny of Fishcreek Studio. Oh my goodness, I feel so spoiled!

I love this fabulous paper pieced mini she put together for me, with a beautiful color palette that I adore and a fantastic paper pieced block as the focal point. I really love the low volume fabrics she used for the background, and the pops of navy are just perfection.

And she knew I'm a geek for office supplies! She made me this gorgeous notebook cover, using some fun black, white and red fabrics, and I'm loving carrying this notebook cover around with me. I'm constantly writing things down - even in this day and age, I love a good notebook because I tend to remember things I write down better than things I type on my phone, so I still do a lot of written list-making and such.

She even sent along a beautiful rainbow pack of Sharpies, which I took with my to my first book signing over the weekend, which was great fun. It still feels so wrong to be writing in books - my mom taught me how to treat books properly! - but I managed to do it anyway. It's an awfully strange feeling when someone wants you to write in their book, but a good kind of strange!

Happy Wednesday to you!

I spent the day last Thursday free motioning my Sun Prints quilt. Making the back was easy. Basting was easy. But when I sat down to quilt, I was positively stumped. Maybe this is one of the reasons I don't make the same pattern twice very often. I didn't want to do straight lines like the original Less is More quilt, from my book - I kind of felt like "been there, done that," like it was a cop-out, which is totally silly, but it's the way I felt. So I tried to envision several different fmq styles, trying to think of an all-over design that would really work...and I just couldn't come up with one I was happy with.

I took a break and opened up iTunes on my computer, and made a playlist, with some newer tracks I've picked up lately, like Justin Timberlake's new 20/20 Experience Volume 2. I'm enjoying that album a good bit - it reminds me way more of the vibe from his FutureSexLoveSounds album than the first volume did, and it makes for some good quilting music. Music always helps me chill out when I get stuck, so I listened to a couple of songs, trying to clear my head, and then I decided that the panel of patchwork needed to have some different quilting than the negative space, to further set it off, so I got started stippling the negative space. I had thought about doing pebbles for a moment...only a moment before I remembered how much I absolutely despise stitchingthem...

When I got to the patchwork panel, I started with a large figure 8 in the bottom and top part of the blocks. It's one of my favorite linear fmq styles at the moment. Then, when I got to the center strip of patchwork on the rows of blocks, I decided to just do a little loopy doodle stitch, which was a lot of fun. I like the contrast that these different stitches give the finished quilt.

This fab quilt is headed to Houston for Quilt Market in my suitcase in a few weeks, but right now it's hanging at Inspire Quilting & Sewing as a sample for my Less is More class, coming up next month. And if you're dying for this pattern, it's in my book, Becoming a Confident Quilter, which you can pick up at local quilt shops, Amazon, and my Pattern Shop as well. Thanks Alison for the gorgeous fabrics, I really loved working with them and can't wait to pick up some more of them! And the lucky winner of the Sun Prints bundle and Color Plus pattern is: #804, Stephanie Blair! Congratulations, Stephanie, I'll be emailing you shortly :)

Quilt Stats
name: Less is More Sun Prints Style
size: 60" x 70"
pattern: Less is More from Becoming a Confident Quilter
fabrics: Kona Silver and Alison Glass's Sun Prints
quilting: meandering stipple in 50 wt Aurifil in color #2024 (white), figure eights 50 wt Aurifil in color #2024 (white), and loopy doodle stitch 50 wt Aurifil in color #2024 (white)
binding: Kona Pewter

If you're in the Florida area, you might want to stop by Inspire Quilting & Sewing in beautiful downtown Plant City tomorrow, because I'll be having my first book signing there!



I'll be at the shop from 2pm to 5pm on Saturday, and I'm bringing lots of the quilts from the book as well! I'd love to see you there! I'll also be bringing my finished Less is More Sun Prints Style quilt, which will hang there as a class sample until it heads to Market in Houston. I'll be teaching a class to make that quilt on November 8th at Inspire. Have a wonderful weekend, and don't forget to enter the Sun Prints giveaway - a winner will be announced on Monday.

If you haven't yet heard about Alison Glass's epic Sun Prints collection, chock full of stash must-haves in rainbow colors, prepare your wallet right now, because this is a must-have collection! Alison is a supremely talented fabric designer, whose first collection Lucky Penny featured the wonderful Bike Path print that I used in my Sew Positive quilt last year. Fast forward to this year, and Alison is in the process of releasing her Sun Prints collection, print by print, in multiple colors each month. So far, there's been the Feathers print, the Party Streamer, the amazing Text print, and there's still several more prints coming! Alison sent me a sampling of all of the prints to put together a quilt with, and it was so much fun working with this collection.


I turned to my book, Becoming a Confident Quilter, for a pattern that would work well for an assortment of fabrics, and I chose to make my Less is More pattern. It's one of my favorites in the book, and it comes together very quickly. I sorted my fabrics by color, and then got to work, chopping them up.


As I sewed, I had a good feeling about this quilt top. I had a feeling I was going to love it, and as I placed the blocks up on my design wall, I couldn't help but grin. The blocks were fantastic. The prints shined through the piecing really beautifully, and the rich, saturated colors popped from my background fabric, which is a new shade of Kona called Silver, which I am loving right now!


And if you are salivating over these fabrics, then you need to make sure scroll to the bottom of this post to enter a giveaway to win a stack of 10 Sun Prints fat quarters and a copy of her new Color Plus pattern! One lucky winner will be drawn on Monday morning.


And that's not all! You simply must go visit Alison's blog to enter the amazing giveaway she's running right now. She's giving away a fat quarter stack of all 74 Sun Prints!


There's been a great group of bloggers that have been sharing their creations with Sun Prints, and still a few more left to go, so make sure to check them out!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm sharing the story behind my first quilt today over on my good friend AnneMarie's blog, Gen X Quilters. For those of you who've followed this blog a long time, you might just recognize this quilt as my previous Blogger and Flickr avatar! It was a lot of fun to dig up photos from early on in my quilting life, and marvel over how bad some of them were, and to laugh and remember the mistakes I made early on in quilting. It really makes me see how far I've come as a quilter! Pop on over to Gen X Quilters to read all the gory details. I hope you had a wonderful Tuesday today :)

my first quilt, for my munchkin's toddler bed