Freemotion by the River: Quilt tutorials

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. I am excited to share with you the quilt that I made this month as an Island Batik ambassador. The challenge was to create a quilt using at least 5 traditional quilt blocks. I thought a Row Quilt would be the perfect quilt to make using the new Garden Gate batik collection. Have you ever made a Row Quilt? This is a great way to practice making quilt blocks. My daughter has mentioned that she would like to learn to quilt which is exciting for me and I...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. Do you like to make small quilt blocks for pillows or table runners? I love little 4" blocks but it can be tough to get everything cut correctly. That is when I love my Accuquilt Qubes. I have all of the sizes except the 5". I might have to add that to my Christmas list. Can you see all of the little pieces? Everything sews up perfectly. I wrote up a blog post showing this block and two other ones. AccuQuilt GO 4" Qube - on sale! AccuQuilt has all of...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. The days are getting cool and the leaves are starting to fall. We have 2 locust trees that have almost lost all of their leaves. The squirrels and birds are really going through the peanuts and sunflower seeds. We'll have to put the heater in their water bowl soon. Someone has a birthday and it isn't me - it is Rusty! He has just turned 10, I have a couple of cute photos of him in today's Monday Happening post. Monday Happenings 28 In My Studio Island...

Hi Reader Do the kids go trick or treating in your neighborhood? Tomorrow night we will be passing out candy and I hope it won't be too cold or rainy. It is always fun to see the kiddos in their costumes. Have you seen my Vibrant Joy quilt? I had so much fun making this quilt that I made it with a white background and then again with a black background. I still can't decide which I like better. For a limited time, I have put Vibrant Joy on sale in my store, I hope you like it. Vibrant Joy -...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. I am really enjoying the cool weather, this is my favorite time of year. My beautiful Sumac tree went from lime green to this awesome orange color. When we get a hard frost all of the leaves will fall off of it. Rusty and I had our physicals last week and we are good for another year. Both of us lost 1/2 pound which was really funny. Yes, we have different doctors, lol. I will be getting new glasses and ordered them yesterday, our vet said Rusty's eyes...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. It looks like we lucked out and didn't get frost. To be safe I picked all the ripening tomatoes and moved a few plants in pots under the balcony. I am getting ready to go for my yearly eye exam. I didn't need glasses last year so I'll be interested in seeing how my eyes are doing. The only good thing about needing new glasses is....I get to pick new frames! I want to try the ones that are magnetic. I was blown away by how many of you purchased my...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. Today is perfect sweatshirt weather and time for me to go out and clean up my flower beds. We are still getting tomatoes so I'll wait until frost to remove them. How is your weather? Scattered is my favorite quilt pattern and I put it on our fence so I could capture that beautiful maple tree in the neighbors yard. The colors are so neat. I couldn't get Rusty to pose as the quilt kept moving and he wanted no part of that. You can read about my original...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA where we are getting some much needed rain. I had so much fun attending my first Stamp Joy with Taylored Expressions, there were 500 people and it was fun meeting new people, learning new techniques at all of the classes and Make n Takes and...of course shopping! By Sunday I was exhausted but enjoyed looking at all of my goodies and organizing things. I will definitely go again next year. Yesterday I got back to quilting and finished this sweet Woolie...

Hi Reader Good morning from Ankeny, IA. I am heading out this morning for my yearly wellness checkup so I wanted to get this out early. I have all kinds of fall quilt projects, tutorials, and quilts on my site and yesterday I wrote a new blog post to share 10 quilt tutorials that are fun to make anytime but look beautiful in fall colors! Be sure to check them out and let me know which one is your favorite. There is also a sweet, sweet photo of little Rusty! Fall Quilt Tutorials Monday...