Quilt Verve

10/08/2026

10/08/2026

Sometimes I think about how ridiculous quilting sounds when you explain it to someone who doesn’t quilt. 😂

We take perfectly good fabric, cut it into a hundred pieces, and spend hours sewing it all back together.

And somehow, it makes perfect sense to us.

A little more progress on Tulip Row. 🌷

10/01/2026

A little collab and shout out to Kate Colleran’s newest collection for Island Batiks Lumin Fabrics GROOVY. Feelin’ a little mod over here!

Check out the fat quarter giveaway on Kate’s blog!

https://katecollerandesigns.com/groovy-a-new-batik-line-and-a-fq-giveaway/

Annette: Annette Ornelas
Swan: Swan Sheridan
Amanda: Amanda Bauer - Quilt Pattern Designer
Kathryn: dragonflysquiltingdesignstudio
Kim: Kim Ratchford | Stitched In Purple
Kristine: Kristina Trogdon | Quilting | Fabric | Patterns
Sondrasa: Sondra Raby

09/29/2026

This is where ⅛″ really matters.

I made these little half-square triangles four at a time, which is a great shortcut—but anytime I’m making multiple units at once, I expect there may be a little extra wiggle in the finished size.

On a bigger block? I might give myself some grace.

On pieces this small, where several seams have to line up with the curved tulip below them? I true them up.

An ⅛″ here and an ⅛″ there can turn into a surprisingly big difference by the time everything comes together.

I’m not interested in precision just for the sake of perfection. I want precision where it actually affects the design.

09/29/2026

There really isn’t a magic trick to getting comfortable with curved piecing. You learn what the fabric wants to do by doing it over and over again.

Today that meant sewing a whole lot of half circles for Tulip Row. 🌷

Pin, sew, press, repeat — and eventually something that once required all your concentration starts to feel surprisingly normal.

And in this case, all those little curves eventually become flowers.

09/28/2026

One of those tools that followed me from apparel design into quilting.

When I write curved templates, I often add notches to help match everything accurately. Instead of cutting those notches out with scissors, I use an apparel pattern notcher to punch them directly into the paper.

Then when I cut my fabric, I can make the little clips exactly where they belong without ever cutting paper with my fabric scissors.

Notcher cuts the paper. Fabric scissors cut fabric. ✂️

Sometimes the best quilting tools aren’t actually quilting tools.

09/27/2026

What if piecing could feel more like designing fabric?

Tulip Row actually began with a textile idea. Instead of treating each flower as a traditional quilt block, I wanted the piecing to work together more like a continuous print—where the seams become part of how the design is drawn.

I started this one a while ago and recently pulled it back out. Looking at it again, I think it says a lot about the kind of quilts I want to make more of.

Less “here’s a block.” More here’s how fabrics can work together to create more motifs 🌷

09/24/2026

I loved the fabric. I just had to figure out what it wanted to become.

When I started working with these Island Batik fabrics, I kept coming back to warmth, shadow, movement—and eventually, a sunset started appearing.

That became Into the Sun. ☀️

The same sunburst repeats across the quilt, but shifts in color and value until all those individual fabrics become something much bigger together.

The Island Batik catalog featuring Into the Sun is officially out, which means I can finally start sharing this version with you. I’ve been waiting to show you this one.

What do you see first—the individual suns or the whole landscape?

09/24/2026

Apparently four at a time wasn’t enough. 😂

When I shared the 4-at-a-time half-square triangle method, several of you told me I needed to try the Magic 8 method next.

So… here we are.

Two squares, a slightly strange sewing and cutting situation, and somehow you end up with EIGHT half-square triangles. This was my first time trying it, and I have to admit—it’s pretty satisfying.

And yes, that’s my Them Boots quilt quietly waiting in the background while I go down yet another quilting-method rabbit hole. 🤠

Now I’m curious: what quilting technique do you think I need to try next?

09/22/2026

There are a lot of people behind a finished quilt pattern who never make it onto the pattern cover.

This little bundle of MoonWashed is headed to one of mine—a fellow quilter who has test sewn for me, reviewed patterns and caught some of the little things that are so easy to miss when you’ve stared at the same instructions for far too long.

I’ve already made quite a few things from this collection, including this upcycled denim quilt. Now I get to send the fabric off and see what somebody else sees in it.

I think that might be one of my favorite parts of designing fabric. 🤍

MoonWashed is still available at select quilt shops and retailers. A big thanks to all the shops getting it into the hands of wonderful quilters:

Hancock of Paducah
Lancaster Home & Fabric
Pohlar Fabrics
Country Mouse Antiques
And many many Etsy shops

💫💫💫