Skip Ahead Baby Quilt

Welcome to another TGIFF party, where we get to celebrate our recent finishes!

I always love getting to make a new quilt, and I especially love it when I know the new quilt will be going to a new baby. When that new quilt will be going to a new baby whose parents actually use the quilts I've given them, it's even better! This Skip Ahead baby quilt will be going to a great-nephew due to arrive in a couple of months and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of him on it.

Skip Ahead is the Stash Artists pattern for July and the pattern includes throw and queen sizes along with the baby size. I was debating which size to make because I really love making throw quilts, but then I remembered little man on the way and decided this was the perfect design for his quilt. And bonus, it used an off-cut piece of my Warm and Natural batting.

For a while I was calling the design Citrus and Blue, but I try not to reference the colours I used in the pattern names since most people probably won't choose the same colours. I do love the combination of citrus colours for the kite shaped blocks and the blues for the squares, but needed to come up with something else for the name. The name Skip Ahead comes from the diagonal paths created by the shapes and how it looks like we could skip along on the paths.

I chose to use all solid fabrics for the blue squares and all prints for the citrus colours. Some of the prints are pretty subtle, so they don't show up well in the pictures, but they're not solids.

The kite blocks are paper pieced, so I used freezer paper to make mine (of course!). I traced two templates and used them for all of the blocks. I love that the freezer paper templates are reusable! Learn more about the freezer paper technique in this on-demand workshop.

I knew right away that I wanted to quilt wishbones in the kite blocks. It's one of my favourite designs to quilt, especially in a shape that changes widths like this one. Wishbones are so forgiving - they don't have to be perfect to look good and they can be made any size to fit the shape you're trying to fill. They also work nicely to flow from one shape into another when you have a long line of connected blocks.

It took a bit longer to decide how to quilt the blue squares. I wanted something simple that would connect from block to block like the wishbones. I love when I can quilt a whole line across a quilt without needing to break the thread! Eventually I settled on a spiral that enters the block in one corner, spirals into the center, then back out, and exits the block in the opposite corner. I can guarantee you no two spirals are the same! Thankfully they still look good, even with the variations.

Then it was time to quilt the background. "Just quilt a good-size stipple," I told myself. That sounded like a good idea, especially since it would be quick for filling in all that space. Of course, I then proceeded to quilt a very dense stipple, which was not at all quick. Oops! My default is still to quilt very small, even when I'm intending to quilt larger. I do love how it looks, though, so that's good.

With the three different quilting designs, the texture on the back is amazing!

I chose three blue solids to use for a scrappy binding and I love how they frame the quilt without really drawing attention. I also love how the quilt looks with the ocean in the background 😊 We haven't seen any whales yet this summer, but hopefully that will change soon.

If you love scrappy, stash-friendly patterns, like Skip Ahead, and virtual sewing sessions with friends, join us in Stash Artists!

That's my finish, what have you finished lately? Link it up below and then be sure to visit some of the other quilters to celebrate their finishes, too.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

My First Quilt with Maude MacDonald

It's the last Friday in June, which means school is out and we officially have no children in high school anymore. That just blows my mind! Nathan says it hasn't really hit him because right now it just feels like any other last day of school. September will feel different for all of us, though, with him heading off to university and leaving just the two of us here at home.

It being the last Friday of the month also means it's time for another My First Quilt interview! This month my fellow Canadian, Maude MacDonald is sharing the story of her first quilt.

Maude MacDonald is a quilter, author, and designer who creates quilts and patterns, teaches people to trust their taste, and helps creative businesses find a look and voice that actually feels like them. She loves bold colour, old things, and doing things her own way - and believes perfection is vastly overrated while making things meant to be used, shared, and remembered.

You can connect with Maude at her website and on Instagram.

And now, here's Maude's first quilt! It's the first time we've featured someone whose first quilt was a t-shirt quilt!

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

Winter 2018 - I needed a Christmas gift for my Dad & didn’t have a lot of money to spend.

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

I guess it was traditional patchwork- I made my Dad a t shirt quilt with scissors, about 5 safety pins, no clue about interfacing or the process of quilting. I literally just went for it.

Who taught you to make the quilt?

Me and a hope and a dream lol

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

Oh no! This was a t shirt quilt made of mostly my Dad’s old NASCAR shirts. 

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

Well after this one I decided my stepmom needed a quilt for Christmas too, and that led me to the fabric store. After that my mom requested her own quilt and insisted I use a pattern which was a trip around the world, and with the combination of these three quilts I was hooked.

Where is the quilt now?

My Dad still uses it in the winter. It has wool batting so it’s really warm (I wasn’t aware at the time it was wool batting!) 

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

Maybe a few structural things, like how to baste or even use a dang rotary cutter! But no- I went for it and completely discovered quilting accidentally and on my own and I think that’s how it was meant for me.

Anything else you want to share about your first quilt?

The first one, third, tenth even wasn’t perfect, but I had fun making every quilt I’ve made and they all are loved and used.

Thanks for sharing the story of your first quilt with us, Maude!

Lazy Summer Quilt Camp Challenge

You're invited! Come join me and some amazing quilty friends for the Lazy Summer Quilt Camp photo challenge!

Lazy Summer Quilt Camp is a month-long photo challenge on social media taking place in July, giving us all a new opportunity to share our quilts and build our quilting community. The online quilting community is amazing, so of course we want to meet more of the quilters hanging out there!

I teamed up with some of my quilt pattern designer friends to create the photo challenge. I'll be serving as the host of the challenge (because needing to tag 6 accounts in your posts is crazy), but it has been a collaborative effort and you'll see the others participating and cheering you on all through the month. So let's give a round of applause (and a follow!) to my Lazy Summer Quilt Camp teammates:

Staci of Crafty Staci - Instagram | Facebook

Monika of Penny Spool Quilts - Instagram | Facebook

Lauren of Palm Creations - Instagram | Facebook

Bobbie of Geeky Bobbin - Instagram | Facebook

Eva of Gingerly Quilt Co - Instagram | Facebook

(and come follow me, too, if you don't already, Devoted Quilter - Instagram | Facebook)

You'll notice we called it Lazy Summer Quilt Camp. There's a reason for that! Summer can be busy (beach days, hiking, BBQs, ice cream stops, soccer practice, baseball practice...oh, and all the regular stuff like laundry and work and figuring out yet again what you should eat today) and we wanted to create a challenge that would be fun and easy.

You don't have to make anything new.

You don't have to write a whole blog post.

You don't even have to take a new picture.

Look at the daily prompts (more on that in a minute), look through the dozens or hundreds of quilt pictures already on your phone (I know I'm not the only one 😅) and share the ones that fit that day's prompt. A quick caption to tell the story of your quilts and you're done. 

Then, maybe while sitting on the deck with your morning coffee or tea, scroll through the posts of your fellow campers using the hashtag #lazysummerquiltcamp and bask in the quilty inspiration. You might even find some new quilting friends to follow and discover a new pattern you just have to make.

The Daily Prompts

Each day in July there will be a new photo prompt. There's no pressure to post everyday, so join in as often as you want (remember, we're going for fun and easy, not pressured and stressed). Here are the prompts so you can start thinking about which of your quilts you might want to share.

To make it even easier to participate, I'll be sending out daily email reminders with the prompt for the next day. It'll be your gentle nudge to take a few minutes for yourself and think about which of your beautiful quilts you'd like to share for that prompt.

Sign up for the daily reminders here

 

I'm excited for Lazy Summer Quilt Camp (I've already been thinking about which of my quilts to share) and I hope you'll join us!

7 Truths About Scrap Quilting

It's no secret around here that I love scrappy quilts! I even created a membership for quilters who love scrappy and stash-friendly patterns as much as I do (join us, if that's you!). After making many (many!) scrap quilts in my almost 30 years of quilting (now I feel old), here are some things I've noticed about scrap quilts, along with some scrap quilt eye candy. And yes, all of the quilt patterns are available in my shop along with a lot more😊

Blooming Beautiful

It takes longer to cut everything for a scrap quilt

When you're cutting 40 2 ½" squares from yardage, you can quickly cut a few WOF strips and then cut them down into the squares you need. It only takes a handful of minutes. When you're cutting those same 40 squares from 40 different fabrics, it takes longer. There are ways to speed it up a little, like stacking the scraps so you're cutting more than one at a time or using a die cutting machine, but it's still not going to be as fast as cutting from yardage. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since it also means you get to admire all those fabrics as you go, but it is something to take into account if you're making the quilt on a deadline.

Ombre Twirl

Scrap quilts are a great walk down memory lane

Not only do you get to admire all those fabrics as you're cutting them, you're also reminded where they came from and what projects you've already used them in. Digging through my scraps is always accompanied by an internal monologue of 'I made a skirt with that,' 'Sandrine gave me this one,' 'I used this for Brandan's quilt,' 'that's the fabric Aiden bought me for Christmas,' and on and on and on. It's kind of like taking out the Christmas decorations and remembering the story behind each one, except it isn't confined to one part of the year.

Scraps Take Flight

Every scrap quilt is unique

Even if you use the same pattern and the same colours, you still won't make two identical scrap quilts. You might be using only blues for the nine patch blocks, but you'll still use a different combination of fabrics each time, giving the quilts a slightly different look. That means you can use the same pattern over and over, but not get bored because every quilt will feel new. It also means basic patterns, like simple patchwork squares, can feel fresh each time because the fabric combination keeps you engaged.

Framed Pinwheels

They never empty the scrap bins

I swear the scraps multiply as soon as we turn our backs! It doesn't seem to matter how many scrap quilts I make, the scrap bins are never empty. Considering how much I love scrappy quilts, I'm not complaining, but it is mind boggling.

If you're starting a scrap quilt thinking it's going to use all of your scraps, you're going to end up disappointed. But if you're starting that quilt thinking it's an opportunity to play with some favourite fabrics, create something beautiful without needing to buy a bunch of new fabric, and create a little space in the scrap bins at the same time, then you're right on track.

Pinwheel Irish Chain

They can look chaotic if you're not careful

Some people are perfectly happy to throw absolutely everything into a quilt willy-nilly and they're thrilled with the results. Other people look at those quilts and shudder because there's no cohesion. Personally, I've done both. These days, I prefer to use a single fabric for the background, especially a solid or blender, which tames the chaos a little and makes the whole quilt feel calmer.

Other ways to tame the chaos include using all solids, using a limited colour palette, and keeping all the scraps of one colour close in value.

Stand Out Starburst

Any quilt pattern can become a scrap quilt pattern

A pattern's fabric requirements might say it needs one fabric, but that doesn't mean we can't use an abundance of scraps instead. One of my Stash Artists members recently dug into her stash of dark purple fabrics in place of a single purple I had used for the background of a sampler quilt. Her version looked fabulous!

Prairie Points Pinwheel

They can be addictive

Once you start combining all those leftover bits of fabric to make a quilt, it's hard to stop. There are so many possibilities and it's so fun to rummage through the scraps to find the perfect ones. And of course, we all know there are always more scraps just waiting to be used. These days almost all of my quilts are scrap quilts and I'm not mad about it!

8 Point Meadow

Did I miss anything? Are there more truths about scrap quilting that people need to know? Share them in the comments!

All Booked Up Quilted Bookmarks

In the Stash Artists membership, I'm sharing a mini quilt pattern each month of 2026. This month, I really embraced the mini and designed the All Booked Up quilted bookmarks. Aren't they cute?

The bookmarks finish at 2" x 6", not including the ribbon. Since they're so mini, I went for simple, scrappy piecing with a bit of reading-themed text. There are three piecing designs and three text designs, which can be mixed and matched for 9 different bookmarks. They're so quick to make, you could easily make one for all your reading friends! (And if you're not a Stash Artists member yet, join us now to get access to the All Booked Up pattern right away.)

I made my first set with hand embroidery. I did simple backstitching using Aurifil 12 wt thread (one bookmark also has a handful of french knots), and did it all while traveling for the h+h trade show. It was a great travel project. 

Bonus points if you can identify the book I used for a background!

I really love the addition of the hand embroidery! Tip, if your backstitched lines aren't as smooth as you'd like, make your stitches smaller. Larger stitches tend to make choppy lines, whereas small stitches make lines look nice and smooth.

Then, since not everyone is into hand embroidery, I made a second set using fabric markers. I used the fine tip end of my Ohuhu fabric markers.

I wasn't sure the fine tip of my fabric markers would be fine enough, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it was exactly right and worked perfectly for the small text. And no, these aren't freehanded! My writing is nowhere near that neat! The text template is included in the pattern and can be used for either embroidery or fabric markers.

Here are both of my Bookworm bookmarks. I love that there are endless possibilities for making unique bookmarks, with the different piecing and text options, and then incorporating all your favourite scraps and different ribbon colours, too.

I opted for simple quilting after assembling the bookmarks, using white Aurifil 50 wt thread to outline the piecing.

I kind of expected the flying geese design to be my favourite bookmark, but the horizontal stripes with the teal embroidered Bookworm ended up being my favourite of them all. Which one is your favourite?

If you love mini quilts, stash-friendly and scrappy patterns, and virtual sewing sessions with friends, then come join us in the Stash Artists membership! Once you join, you'll get access to the All Booked Up pattern and more. We're an international group and we'd love to welcome you, too 😊 

My First Quilt with Karen Neary

This has been a crazy busy month, with the h+h trade show, Nathan's high school graduation (and family visiting for it), and then us traveling for Zachary's university convocation. With all of that, the last Friday of the month really snuck up on me and I almost forgot about the My First Quilt interview. Thankfully, I remembered late last night and was able to get the post ready this afternoon. Whew! This month Karen Neary is sharing the story of her first quilt.

From her home in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Karen Neary has been obsessively designing quilts full time for more years than she cares to admit. Her work has appeared in books and magazines, and her quilts displayed in shows around the world, including France and Japan.  Karen even designed and made a quilt presented to Sir Paul McCartney to mark his visit to Nova Scotia in 2009. She takes great joy in making, and teaching. Her particular love is New York Beauty quilts. Karen is a Canadian retailer for Aurifil threads and has a well-stocked online shop of threads plus her books and patterns.

You can connect with Karen at her website, her blog, on Instagram, on Facebook, and on Pinterest.

And now, here's Karen's first quilt!

What year did you make your first quilt? What prompted you to make it?

My first quilted project was when I was around 8 years old and made a Dresden Plate potholder, hand pieced and hand quilted. It proudly hung in my grandmother's kitchen for many years.  My first big quilt was a very traditional log cabin made for my eldest son's first bed, well over 30 years ago. 

What techniques were used in that first quilt? Did you quilt it yourself?

The quilt was pieced in red, blue and white scraps which included some of his baby clothes. The blocks were put together in a "barn raising" setting. Having no rotary cutter (and no patience for scissors) I tore the fabrics into 3" strips and sewed them together by machine using the 5/8" seam allowance I had learned from garment sewing. The squares mostly finished to around 12" and the quilt fit a double bed. After joining the blocks, I "birthed" the quilt by sewing it right sides together with the backing and turning it to the right side.  I then machine quilted it just in the ditch between the blocks. It's a wonder it held together at all. The batting used was "Mountain Mist" polyester, a popular choice at the time. 

Who taught you to make the quilt?

My grandmother Myrtle Davis was an avid quilter who taught quilt-making in her community, and I learned from her...although I sure could have used her help making that first one. I wish I had paid more attention to her instruction. 

Are the colours you chose for your first quilt ones you would still choose today?

I absolutely love the red, blue and white palette and use it often still. I get why so many world flags use this combination as the colours work so well together.

Did you fall in love with quilting right away? Or was there a gap between making the first quilt and the next one?

I was hooked from the moment that quilt hit the bed.  As awful as it was, it made me feel so good to think that I had made it.  All these many years later, I've never lost that feeling with each new quilt. 

Where is the quilt now?

Honestly, I was unsure this quilt still existed, but a search unearthed it shoved in the back of a closet.  Not only did this quilt spend many years on the bed, it was dragged around the house, attended many sleepovers, and always went to Cub and Scout outings.  It has many holes, some from wear, others from sparks from sitting too close to campfires. When it came time for this first son to head off to university, there was no way that raggy old quilt was going with him, so I made a newer version - same barn raising setting, same colours.  By a strange coincidence, the new school colours were red, blue and white. It was meant to be! This time I cut my fabrics more precisely with a rotary cutter and used 1/4" seams.

After only a few blocks in, I realized the quilt was going to be HUGE so I set those blocks aside and started again with 2-1/2" strips. It came out to a much more reasonable size, and got finished up with free motion quilting and an actual binding on the edges. Sadly, it did not survive the dorm room experience.  A year or so later, I found the larger blocks I had set aside and decided to make enough to do a table cover for quilt fairs.  I still use that one today;  nothing went to waste!

Is there anything you wish you could go back and tell yourself as you made that first quilt?

I think I would just whisper in my ear that this quilt would be the beginning of a journey that would bring great joy and creativity to my life. I have been so blessed to be able to pursue quilting as a career.  (And also I would say, pay closer attention to the seam allowance!)

Thanks for sharing your first quilt with us, Karen!

My Trip to h+h Americas 2026

I spent last week in Chicago for the h+h Americas trade show. It's like Quilt Market, but it's not exclusively for quilting businesses. There were yarn companies, garment pattern designers, embroidery kit makers, and more. There were also A LOT of quilting companies - fabric companies, pattern designers, scissors makers, sewing machine brands, notions companies, and on and on. There were gorgeous quilts everywhere and so many people I recognized from online. 

I arrived in Chicago Monday morning and Laura of Slice of Pi Quilts arrived that afternoon. We've been friends online for almost 10 years, but when she arrived at the hotel to pick me up for supper that was the first time we'd ever met in person. It was so good to finally get to spend time together without a screen between us! Here we are in front of her booth.

Tuesday was set-up day for everyone with booths. I chose not to have a booth for my first time attending, so that was h+h University day for me. There were classes and small group sessions and a tour of the show floor (which was still a work in progress, with booths being put together). When I got my badge that morning, it was a bit surreal to look around at the other people in the room and see so many faces I recognized from social media.

Wednesday-Friday was the actual show and I loved wandering and looking at all the booths. So many beautiful quilts, gorgeous yarn, threads of all kinds, and kits for so many fun things. I don't crochet, but had to take a picture of this kit for making Tairn and Andarna from Fourth Wing. I've always loved dragons and I love Fourth Wing, so this is almost enough to make me want to start crocheting!

Even with the dragons and the amazing quilts, the people were my favourite part of the week. I didn't think to take pictures with everyone I met, but I did remember to get some. Here's Laura in her booth.

And Terri of Lizard Creek Quilting, who was right next to Laura.

I got to meet Brandy from the Quilter on Fire podcast. Did you listen to my conversation with her on the podcast?

Hilary of By Hilary Jordan was just as lovely as I thought she would be! She was also dressed in beautiful handmade clothes every day!

I did demos in the Oliso booth on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, sharing about colouring quilts with crayons. I had my brand new In Full Bloom quilt with me, along with my Grateful table runner, so I could show shop owners examples of quilts coloured with crayons. The technique has been around for a long time, but a lot of the people I talked with had never heard of it, so it was fun to share with them. If you've never tried it, either, I have a tutorial for it here - it's a lot of fun and really easy to do!

I spent time late in the day Thursday and on Friday taking special notice (and notes and pictures) of how different quilt pattern designers had put their booths together. How were they hanging quilts on the walls? How were they displaying quilts not on the walls? What else did they have in the booth? I'm dreaming and scheming for how I can display my own quilts in a booth someday (next year?). Since I have to fly to get to the show, I paid special attention to display ideas that could be packed in a suitcase, like this stand in the Sassafrass Lane booth that was made of PVC pipe and could be disassembled for transport.

I also loved how Kori of Olive and Grace Studios used embroidery hoops to hang some of her quilts.

After years of dreaming about going to Quilt Market, it was so fun to finally make the dream come true (slightly altered to be h+h Americas instead). Now to see if I can make it work to go again next year and maybe have a booth of my own!

In Full Bloom Mini Quilt Pattern

I'm excited to share a new mini quilt pattern with you today for TGIFF! This one was brewing for a long time before all the various elements came together and I really love how it turned out. Meet In Full Bloom!

Ever since I made my Grateful table runner, I've been wanting to design another texty pattern with the words coloured with crayon but I couldn't come up with the phrase I wanted to use. I've also been admiring the various home décor things I've seen with circles or partial circles with flowers and/or leaves along part of the circle. I wanted to translate that style into a quilt, but couldn't get beyond the basic concept.

Then last September we were in St. John's to move Zach back into his dorm for another year of university and the Airbnb we stayed in had a mug with the phrase 'Live life in full bloom' on it. I can't remember anything about what the mug looked like - what the font was, what colour the words were, even if there were flowers on it (though I assume there must have been) - I just remember reading the phrase and thinking, "That would be perfect inside a circle on a quilt!"

I design my quilts in EQ8, but the options for text in the program are really limited. I started playing in Canva instead, where there are a lot more font options and it's so much easier to manipulate the blocks of text. It took a while to settle on the combination of fonts, colours, and the angle of the words, but eventually the wordy part of the design was exactly what I wanted. I created the partial circle as part of the Canva block, too, then I could import that whole piece into EQ8 to add the flower appliqués. 

Actually making the mini quilt involved playing with different techniques. First, I coloured the words with crayons. I have a tutorial for doing that here, on another wordy mini quilt.

I love how colouring the fabric brings out the texture of the threads woven together to make it.

After colouring the letters, I used Aurifil 12 wt thread to embroider their outlines with a simple backstitch. I love how it gives extra definition to the letters. It also gives a little texture to the quilt. A simple tip to make your backstitched lines look neat - make the stitches shorter. Longer stitches tend to look more jagged or uneven, while short stitches make a smooth line.

Fusible appliqué flowers were next. As always, I had fun digging through my stash to find just the right fabrics for each flower.

At this point, Paul saw the quilt top on my design wall and suggested we hang it in our entryway when it was finished. We've struggled to find just the right thing for one small wall in the entryway, and he thought In Full Bloom would be perfect. There's something about having someone else look at what I've made and like it enough to want it displayed that just feels amazing. 

Once the flowers were fused to the background, I embroidered the partial circle with a chain stitch. I did that after the flowers were on because I didn't want any embroidery under the flowers, so this way I could stitch right up to the edge of them.

For the quilting, I used Aurifil 50 wt thread and started by stitching around each flower and leaf with matching thread.

I used white thread for the rest of the quilting. I outlined the letters. I was quite proud of myself for stitching very close to the edge of each letter and only catching the embroidery once! I outlined the edge of the embroidered circle, too. Then I quilted a dense stipple in the background.

I even went in and stitched the tiny gaps between the flowers (seen here from the back).

As usual, I love how all the quilting looks on the back.

I especially love the way the letters pop!

In Full Bloom will be traveling to Chicago with me on Monday, for the H+H Americas trade show. I'll be doing demos in the Oliso booth Wednesday and Thursday, showing how to colour quilt blocks with crayon and remove the wax, and showing off the wordy possibilities of the technique with both In Full Bloom and Grateful. It's my first time attending an industry trade show and I'm crazy excited (and nervous). I'm hoping to get my patterns in front of lots of quilt shop owners while I'm there!

The In Full Bloom mini quilt pattern is in my shop now, so you can make your own version to adorn whatever wall in your home is needing a bit of inspiration. It would make a great gift, too!

That's my finish for this week. What have you finished recently? Link it up below and be sure to visit some of the other links to celebrate their finishes, too!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter