New Quilting Class Starting Soon!

January is almost here, and I can not wait to get back to my regular class schedule. For those of you who are new here, you may be wondering what I am talking about. I am the teacher over at Quilting Weekly the online classroom website. And I have been off for about 2 months. (no new classes or scheduled chats.

I do miss my regular chat schedules, postings, and even my meetings with Michelle and Simon. (who are my partners on the site) We have not had a meeting in a while either. I like routine. Not that I am not enjoying this time off, as I am. But I am also ready to get back to work. I have a lot of new ideas to bring to our classroom and can not wait to share them. So watch for updates here, and at quilting weekly.

I am in the process of creating our next class. As soon as I am able to release the information, I will post it here and over there. I know Michelle will also be sending out an e-mail to let you know all about the details. So if you have not registered yet please do so at quilting weekly. it is free to register, and then you won't miss out on any important news! You can also bookmark this site or subscribe to my feed and keep up to date that way.

The class I am working on promises to be one that everyone can do, and may even help you use up some of your scraps. The scraps will need to be red, or pink for this project, so if you have a lot of them like I did then this will be a good place to use them. The one thing I will share is you may want to collect some old denim jeans to recycle. As I am using denim for the project as well. ( I happen to have been collecting old jeans from the family for a few years, and now I will finally get to use them!) Yard sales, and resale shops are great places for good deals on used jeans. (By the way the class title is ..............oh you thought I was going to tell you) Not just yet. Give me a few more days and then I can release the info.

If you have not taken any classes with us yet, head over to the site, and see if any of last years classes are of any interest. Our classes are never too full, or ever cancel, so you can register with confidence. And we guarantee all our classes. Nothing to worry about! The door to the classroom is always open. And if you have any questions you can always reach me by e-mail

How do I cut my quilt blocks?

How Do I Cut My Blocks? This is a question I get asked a lot. So I thought this might shed some light on the subject for those of you who want to know.

Here are some various ways to cut your fabric for quilt blocks. Take a look at the different ways to cut your fabric, and see the benefits of each one. Then choose the one that is best for you.
What method is best for my project?

Templates –

1) Good for single blocks.
2) Good for hand piecing.
3) Can be very accurate. (Depending on your ability to trace and cut accurately)

Cutting blocks with a rotary cutter, ruler and mat-

1) The use of rotary cutters, rulers and mats, with proper use can lead to very accurate blocks.
2) It allows you to cut multiple layers of fabric at once, resulting in more blocks with less time.

Paper Piecing also known as foundation piecing –(using random pieces of fabric)

1) Good for unusual shapes.
2) It is very forgiving.
3) It is a great way to use up left over scraps of material, and almost eliminate precutting.
4) Can be very accurate.

Strip Cutting, or Piecing –

1) A quick way to make several blocks of the same style, shape or size.
2) It is fast, easy and accurate.
3) It makes better use of your fabric.

For more great tips like this, please bookmark my site or add me to your feed reader to keep up on all my latest posts. You can also check out my online classroom "Quilting Weekly" where you can get all your quilting questions answered in our forums, classrooms, chatroom, or e-mail our teachers directly!

New classes & New Teachers

With the new year fast approaching, I want let everyone know that we are creating an entire new list of classes over on Quilting Weekly. Along with the new classes that are in the works, I am on the hunt for new teachers. Yes that means there will be more material and different quilting styles to choose from.

I love creating classes and I will continue to do so. But although I feel very confident in My ability to teach quilting, I can not possibly be an expert in all areas of quilting. (I would like to try and learn as many as possible) But in the mean time I think the addition of new teachers will bring a refreshing change to the site. I do hope that if you have not registered for this site yet you should at least do that and bookmark it for reference. The site again is (quilting weekly) By the way there is no cost to register, and you can still check out the forum and other parts of the site without spending any money I promise ! If you like a class then you can register for it with confidence as we have a money back guarantee on all our classes.

Well as soon as I have more information on who these teachers are, and what types of classes we will be adding I will post it here. So please bookmark my blog, for all the latest updates.

Landscape quilting resources

Here is the book that got me started. The quilts and techniques in this book are amazing. You should have a real hard look at them. Landscape Quilts Another great book by Nancy Zieman and Natalie Sewell is "The Art of Landscape Quilting.


Take a look at the works by this artist. Scroll through her galleries, there are some real amazing works of art here. Especially in the "real places" section. Doughty Designs, fabric Art and landscape quilts.


Let's see I know I have more links to share. The best part about doing landscape quilts is there is no pattern to follow, no seam allowances to worry over how accurate they are. If the fabric is not right, then paint it, with fabric paints, markers or thread. Some times the back of the fabric is more important than the front. So go look through your fabric stash, and see what treasures you have.

Now back to some more links. Natalie Sewell co author of Landscape Quilts. This next site, "Quilted Views" has some really nice pictures of her work as well, and I especially like that she included her "inspiration picture" and tells a bit about the quilt. And yet one more quilt artist that has a nice assortment of landscape quilts to look at. Carol Anne Grotrian

Now if these sites did not wet your appetite like it did for me, then you are not ready for landscape quilting. :)

My First Attempt at Landscape Quilting

Here is my first attempt at a landscape quilt.

As you can see by the photo, I am not done quilting it yet. I am finding that to be the most challenging part. I am outline quilting the tree trunks, which helps them stand out. The tops of the trees I think I will do a meandering or stippling. As for the bushes, I have tried to do leaves, but the fabric print has such small leaves that I am finding it difficult to do. I guess I will just have to keep at it and maybe it will look better when it is all done.

I had lots of fun finding my fabrics, fussy cutting and laying it all out! Even though it was a very tedious process. I never realized how difficult it was to find tree fabric. (with a little patience I found what I wanted) The gray trees, are actually the back of the black border fabric! So you just never know where you will find your fabrics.

After finding the fabrics, I also attempted to do some fabric painting and added some details with fabric markers. (now that was fun) The thin brown trees are actually done with markers. The details in the gray trees were added with markers as well. I even emphasized some of the grain lines in the larger brown trees. Pretty cool huh!

I wish I would have photographed the entire process to show you. It was very different from anything I have done in past quilting projects. Because this was so much fun, and I really like the results, I will be doing more of these in the future. So check back if you are interested in landscape quilts. I promise that the next one will include some extra photos.


In this photo you can see I tried to make the path look like it was a stream. At first I thought it was a good idea, but after looking at it on the wall for over a week I finally decided it was not working. All I saw was the blue fabric, which distracted from the rest of the quilt.

What do you think? I would love to hear your opinions.

Free Quilting Class Online

How would you like to take a Free class? Quilting weekly is a new website that offers quilters what they need! A place to take a class at your own pace, in your own home and at a time that is convenient for you! No more lugging your heavy machines to class. No more expensive supplies to buy only to find your class has been canceled. (We never cancel classes) And the best part is the site is free to sign up for. Once you register you will automatically be registered for our Free Friendship Star Class. You can hang around as long as you like in our forums and meet other quilters, post questions and get answers quickly as our forums are checked daily. There are many other informational parts to the site, so have a look around and let us know what you think. Simply click the"contact us" and send an e-mail we love to hear from our readers and students.

quiltingweekly.com - Forum List - Quilting Weekly Forum

quiltingweekly.com - Forum List - Quilting Weekly Forum

What is your quilting preference?

Thanks for checking out my Quilting blog! I hope to learn as much about other quilters as I can through the use of some simple and quick surveys. I run a online classroom to teach quilting. "Quilting Weekly.com" To better serve my customers and the readers here, I want to learn all I can about "You" the quilters of the world. These surveys will change often, and will be on different things each week. From what level quilter are you? to Your quilting styles, and preferences and so much more.

Over the next few months I will be putting up some simple surveys on this site. You can find them on the right hand side of the screen. Please fill in your vote, and come back often to see what the next survey is about. This information will help me tailor this site, to provide the best articles, content, and links to help you learn quilting. I will also use this information to help provide better tailored classes on Quilting Weekly. (The Online Quilting Classroom website)