Quilter's Planner Sampler Quilt Along Starting

Looking for a good quilt along to start the year off?  The Quilter's Planner is just starting a year long quilt along for a sampler quilt I designed :)

The sampler contains instructions for 12 different blocks and 2 different settings, an on-point setting and a traditional setting.  All of the instructions can be found in the pattern magazine that is included with a Quilter's Planner (affiliate link).

The quilt along is structured for one block each month (if you are making the on-point design you will have to make doubles of a few of your favorite designs to get to the 17 blocks in the quilt) with Facebook and Instagram link ups for prizes each month.

One really nice thing is the entire pattern is in the magazine so you can work at your own pace.  You can click over to the Quilter's Planner blog to learn more about the sampler including how to linkup for prizes and tips for completing each block.

Here is January's block...

Photograph by Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter, taken for The Quilter's Planner 2018 @thequiltersplanner

...and here are the two quilt layouts...

Photograph by Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter, taken for The Quilter's Planner 2018 @thequiltersplanner

Photograph by Kitty Wilkin @nightquilter, taken for The Quilter's Planner 2018 @thequiltersplanner

I am planning on joining in, are you?  (I did not make either of the sampler quilts due to scheduling so I am excited for the chance to sew one.)

I am planning on using some of my Bonnie and Camille fabrics using the on-point layout. I am not sure if I am going to go with a white background or maybe a really light blue?  

Remember, you can get your planner right here and the included magazine contains all of the instructions for the sampler (as well as many other patterns).

Happy sewing!

My Best of 2017

Hi and welcome to my stop on the Best of 2017 blog linky party!  I had such fun going through my posts from the year to figure out which 5 posts I would be highlighting today.  It was a great way for me to review the year and revisit some finishes from earlier in the year that I had forgotten about.

I picked my top 5 posts by the posts with the most views (minus any giveaway posts).  Click on any of the titles to be taken to the actual blog post for more details and pictures.


1.  Magnolia Mystery Quilt

The Magnolia Mystery quilt is my current 2017-18 quilt along and has had several of its instructions be my top viewed posts.  The quilt top was just revealed earlier this month and the reveal parade will be in March (so there is still plenty of time to join in)!

2.  Meadow Mystery Quilt

Another of my top posts was for the Meadow Mystery Quilt.  This mystery quilt finished up in the spring with over 250 versions of the quilt design! I had such fun quilting along with everyone and seeing their different versions of the mystery quilt. You can see all of the finishes here: Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3.

3.  Modern Plus Sign Quilts Book

My book, Modern Plus Sign Quilts, that is coming out soon (early February!).  I am excited to have the book publishing soon and will be having a book hop and other events to celebrate its release.

4.  5 Tips for Ruler Quilting on a Domestic Machine

My top viewed tutorial this year was on tips for quilting with a ruler on a domestic machine.  I included some tips about rulers, moving the ruler and quilt together, ergonomics, hand position, and pressure.

5.  Up the Ladder

Up the Ladder was my quilt pattern for the 3rd pattern collection of Quilt Theory. The quilt design was inspired by traditional quilt ladders used to showcase and store quilts and is a lap sized, jelly roll or mini charm pack friendly pattern.  

Photograph by Michelle Bartholomew

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I hope you will consider linking up your favorite posts from 2017 or stopping by to see other blogger's best of 2017 posts!  You can visit the Best of post right here.

Best of 2017 Linky Party!

Welcome to the Best of 2017 Linky Party!  This is the third annual "Best of" blog party to share your and read others top 5 posts of 2017.

To take part in the link party, simply write a blog post highlighting your "best" 5 posts from 2017 and linkup. There is no set way to pick your best, you can pick your posts anyway you would like, some examples include:

• Posts with the most views
• Posts with the most comments
• Posts that provoked the best discussions
• Posts showing your favorite 2016 finishes
• Posts of your best tutorials
• Posts that are simply your favorites

The link party is open now and will remain open for 1 week, closing on Tuesday, January 2nd.

I invite you to grab a cup of tea, coffee, apple cider, or your favorite blog reading beverage, relax, and have some fun reading the best blog posts of 2017 :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Cloud 9 Block Hop Charity Quilts

At long last, I have finally finished the charity quilts made from the 2016 Cloud 9 New Bloggers Block Hop!  I apologize to all of the hop participants for the delay in getting these quilts finished.

I used 24 blocks to make 2 baby quilts, each 36" x 48" and they will be donated to through the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild to the Greenville County Hospital System for children that have been removed from the parents and homes.

Under each picture is a listing of block/designer names and a link to the block tutorials.

Row 1: Star Thistle (Twiggy and Opal), Steady On (Night Quilter), Crossing Stars (CrafTraditions)
Row 2: Berry Fields (Granny Can Quilt), Diamond Fusion (Alice Samuel's Quilt Co), Barcodes (Smiles from Kate)
Row 3: Snowflake Swirl (Sevenoaks Street Quilts), Double Pinwheel (Woodberry Way), (Fenced In (Yellow Cat Quilt Designs)
Row 4: Pinwheel in a Snowball (Kathy's Kwilts and More), Frosted Windowpane (Lighthouse Lane Designs), Abstract Cabin (Brown Paws Quilting)

Row 1: Pointed Star (Said With Love), Urban Intersections (Irene Grimes), Geometric Transparency (Sarah Goer Quilts)
Row 2: Add it Up (This Mom Quilts), Berry Patch Path (Trials of a Newbie Quilter), Improv Star (Orchid Owl Quilts)
Row 3: Mazarin (Hilltop Custom Designs), Berry Patch Plaid (The (not so) Dramatic Life), Star (Adventurous Applique and Quilting)
Row 4: Bordered Square (Handwrought Quilts), Off Hours (Laurel, Poppy, and Pine), Four Square in a Nine Patch (Stitches Quilting)

I wanted to use these quilts to try a new-to-me machine sewn binding technique. 

If I sew the binding on totally by machine (I usually sew them on by hand), I typically sew the binding onto the front of the quilt, glue baste the binding to the back, then sew in the ditch between the quilt top and the binding on the front to (hopefully) catch and stitch down the binding on the back.  I made one of the quilts this way (shown above as the first method).

For the other quilt, I sewed the binding onto the back of the quilt, glue basted the binding to the front of the quilt, then stitched the binding down right at the edge of the binding (second method).  

I found the pros of this second method to be that I did not have to worry about catching the binding on the back like in the previous method.  The one con would be that I like how the corners look more in the first method.

Do you bind your quilts entirely by machine?  Which method do you prefer?

I am linking up with Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts and 

Finish it Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts.

QuiltCon 2017 Submissions

I loved how Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl shared all of her QuiltCon submissions. I had been meaning to post about mine but did not have a chance until now.

QuiltCon acceptance e-mails were sent out last week so now I get to not only show you the quilts I submitted, but also let you know if they got accepted.

You can click on the quilt title to learn more and see additional pictures of the quilts.

1. Pop Rocks - Accepted!

I made Pop Rocks for the Michael Miller Challenge Quilt category. The challenge was to create a quilt using at least two of the prints from the Our Yard collection by Sarah Campbell for Michael Miller Fabrics along with any Cotton Couture solids. My idea was to create a "pop" with the Our Yard prints on a monochromatic, minimalist black and white quilt.

2. Curated Cabins - Accepted!

I made Curated Cabins as a submission to the new magazine called Curated Quilts (it was not accepted into the magazine). The magazine was looking for mini Log Cabin quilts 10"x10" up to 16"x16" using their color palette of 5 colors.


3. Taste the Rainbow - Rejected

Taste the Rainbow really had three purposes. The first was as an entry in the Greenville Modern Quilt Guild's challenge quilt, which was to create a modern quilt based on the Birds in the Air block (Taste the Rainbow won first place). The second was as an entry into the flying geese challenge quilt category for QuiltCon. And the third was for a new decoration for my son's room (he loves bright colors and rainbows). Two out of three is not bad and new my son gets the quilt hung in his room earlier than planned. (If you would like to make your own Taste the Rainbow, I have the templates for sale here.)


4. Arrow Point Path - Rejected

I really like the design of Arrow Point Path (available as pattern on Quilt Theory) but I predicted that it was not modern enough to make the cut for QuiltCon. I was not surprised it did not make it in but I am glad I at least tried submitting it.


I will be attending QuiltCon 2018 in Pasadena so I am very excited that two of my quilts will be hanging.  If you are going to be at QuiltCon I hope I get to see you there!