Hashtag ~ Spring 2013 Quilt Market

Emily, from Crazy Old Ladies designed this adorable Hashtag quilt from her new Technicolor fabric, a Michael Miller fabric. I love the modern yet bright look of her new fabric collection.

Emily brought me the quilt and asked me to custom machine quilt some hashtags in the negative space and other than that I could have fun and do whatever I wanted with the quilt.

So, I did!

I machine quilted feathers, pebbles and some random swirls in the background, all of these techniques are taught in my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting.

I love how Emily's quilt turned out.

I can't wait to see photos of her booth!

Arrow Quilt ~ Spring 2013 Quilt Market

This cool arrow quilt is another quilt that I custom machine quilted for the Moda Fabrics booth at Spring 2013 Quilt Market.

I love the simplicity of this quilt. I NEED to make this one for myself!

In this quilt I used Babmoo batting, I love the texture that the batting created.

Fall In Love with Moda ~ Spring 2013 Quilt Market

This darling quilt is another quilt that will be hanging in the Moda Fabrics booth at Spring Quilt Market.

The darling quilt is made from Moda's new pre-cut fabric the Honeycomb, they are 6" hexagons that are laser cut, and trust me, they are fun to work with.

I custom machine quilted this quilt for Moda Fabrics and I had a fun time really making that center section pop!

This quilt has bamboo bating, bamboo batting is quite heavenly to work with, it has a nice amount of loft to it so it really qives you a gorgeous finish.

I'm a little crazy over solid fabrics right now so I'm LOVING this quilt.

Machine Quilting for Spring 2013 Quilt Market

Now that Spring Quilt Market is here I get to start sharing the awesome quilts that I had the opportunity to machine quilt. 

Today I'll start with one that I machine quilted for Moda Fabrics, this quilt is made from Moda Bella Solids, I love bella solids so this quilt was super fun to machine quilt.

This quilt is a pretty simple pattern, so I decided to really enhance the half square triangles  I love what the feathers created and added to this quilt.

I used Quilter Dream Wool batting, and it's just what it sounds like, a dream to quilt with, the little bit of loft that it creates is AWESOME!

Stop back by tomorrow, I'll have more quilts that I machine quilted for Quilt Market to share.

Precision Piecing (taught by Norah McMeeking)

Something that I've really wanted to become better at is paper piecing, I've taken a few classes but for some reason it just hasn't clicked for me yet...

Today I'm super excited to share with all of you the opportunity to win Norah McMeeking's, Precision Piecing class taught on Craftsy, a $39.99 value!

Norah offers an overview of foundation paper piecing, showing you how to avoid common trouble spots. As you piece blocks inspired by traditional Amish quilts, the windows of Notre Dame and Roman mosaic floors, you'll achieve beautifully matched points, even Y-seams and smooth curves. With Norah's detailed instruction, you'll create intricate designs with the accuracy that quilt-show judges demand.

Your "Best in Show" journey begins here. Sign up today for Precision Piecing!

What You'll Learn
Secrets of fast and accurate foundation piecing
Precise 4-point and 8-point matches
Y-seams with an unusual mid-seam anchor
How to handle finely tapered pieces
Tricks for achieving perfectly flat, "married" seams
Piecing large curves without fear

What You'll Make

FREE instructions and templates are included for three quilts, designed by Norah exclusively for Craftsy!
Amish Pinwheel (60" x 60" finished size)
Stained Glass Window (36" x 36" finished size) 
Emerald Rings (42" x 42" finished size)

To enter to win simply click here and fill out the short form. Craftsy will select a winner next week!

Wrapped in Red ~ A Red and White Quilt

One of the most flattering things as a machine quilter / pattern designer is for others to re-make your quilts.

A year or so ago I designed "Wrapped In Red" and the pattern was published in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. 

Beverly made this version of Wrapped In Red, I LOVE red and white quilts so of course I love how Beverly's quilt turned out.

I machine quilted an all over swirly pattern and I love the simple detail that the quilted gave to the quilt.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt your quilt Beverly and thanks so much for re-making one of our patterns. :)

Genny also made a quilt from this pattern, read more about hers here.

Spring 2013 Quilt Market ~ What I've been quilting

Late last year I decided that I was going to skip this spring quilt market. Now that I've finished quilting all of my customer quilts for quilt-market and seeing little peeks on their blogs I'm starting to feel sad about my decision. Oh well, it won't be long until fall market and we've already booked our flights and hotel. :)

Today my friends over at Fat Quarter Shop and It's Sew Emma are showing a few of their new-releases that I machine quilted for them.

First up...

Primrose & Poppies

Next,

Four Patch Fun

Next,

Hamptons

Next,

Through the Looking Glass

Next,

Vintage Days

Next,

William's Crossing

And lastly,

All Aboard

I had a lot of fun custom machine quilting each one of these adorable quilts. You can read all about each pattern over on the Jolly Jabber and pre-order the patters at It's Sew Emma or Fat Quarter Shop.

Hop on over to Lissa's blog to see a little peek at one of the quilts I custom machine quilted for the Moda Fabrics / United Notions Booth.

Celebrating the MOM ~ a guest post

Holy cow! It's already mothers day weekend, and for the first time in my life I feel like I'm really a mom, the other night just before I fell asleep my husband said to me, what do you want for mothers day, and my first response was, "I want you to help me go through the kids drawers and get rid of the clothes that no longer fit". WOW! I can't believe I just said those words, I'm a real mom! lol

Anyways, today my friend Melissa is sharing a little look into my life as a "work-at-home" mom. Hop on over to her blog and read all about it. While you're there you can enter to win this beautiful bundle of fabric from the intrepid thread.

Americana Quilt

Marna pieces a quilt for each one of her grandchildren when they get married. I've machine quilted several of them for her and each one is uniquely beautiful.

This is her most recent quilt. I love American quilts, even though I haven't made very many myself I love the classy look of them.

I think this pattern in particular is pretty cool!

I machine quilted an all over loops and stars pattern, I love the little simple detail that it added.

Thanks for letting me machine quilt another one of your beautiful quilts Marna!

In my book, Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting I teach a similar loops and stars pattern.

How-to Machine Quilt with Natalia Bonner via Fat Quarter Shop

While Kimberly and Chelsey from Fat Quarter Shop were in my studio they filmed a video of me machine quilting. 

As much as we all dislike seeing ourselves on video I really do appreciate the work that the girls at Fat Quarter Shop did in putting these videos together, it's really interesting to see yourself through a different perspective. :)