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The Modern Sampler Quilt Along is an informal and virtual quilt along where we make a block from Yoshiko Jinzenji's Modern Sampler Quilt pattern each month. You can follow the hashtag  #modernsamplerquiltalongon Instagram to get a peek at everyone's blocks, fabrics, and progress, as we work our way through the pattern together. On the last Tuesday of each month (or Thursday, in this case!), we...

One of my goals for the past few years has been to have my work included in a booth at Quilt Market (a bi-annual trade show for quilt shops). Last fall, I was able to accomplish that goal (yay!) when I was asked by Michael Miller Fabrics to create two pillows for their fall Quilt Market booth, using fabrics from their holiday Glitz collection.


Since the objective was to showcase the green, gold, red, and white prints, I wanted to stick with clean, simple designs that referenced the holidays, but weren't over the top. For the first pillow, I envisioned creating a minimal wreath design. I first thought of sewing one of the rings from Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl Quilt, but I wanted something that had a bit more space in the borders. Not long after, I found Svetlana of Sotak Handmade's quilted pillow design---featuring a patchwork ring---and thought it would be lovely in this context.


The resulting pillow cover wound up being so pretty and simple, and a subtle nod to the holidays.


For the second pillow, I created a design inspired by overlapping cranberry garlands. I made each garland by fusing small red circles to the patchwork pillow top, and then stitching a line through each "strand."


In addition to making the pillow, I also wrote up a free tutorial for it, which is now available on Michael Miller's web site, if you would like to make your own. 


Each of the pillow backs featured more of the Glitz prints and hidden zippers (I used Svetlana's tutorial---my favorite method!), for a fun, festive finish.


P.S. Looking for this month's link-up for the Modern Sampler Quilt Along? It will be posted later this week, so stay tuned!

Among the classes I'm teaching this spring at Pintuck & Purl is one on the Fancy Fox II block, a quilt pattern designed by Elizabeth Hartman. Using fabrics selected by the shop's owner, Maggie, I created this fun sample for the class.


This fox is larger than those typically found in the Fancy Fox quilts made from the original pattern (this being one of my favorite iterations of it), so this...

A few months ago, I began teaching quilting and embroidery classes at Pintuck & Purl, an adorable fabric and yarn shop in Exeter, NH. For most of the classes, I've created class samples for potential students to see what we will be making. This month, I taught students how to piece the Fernweh Quilt top, from the gorgeous quilt pattern by Domestic Strata, and I recently finished my sample.



I used...