Midlife Quilter

Hello fellow quilters! We have come to the final lesson in building a proper stash!  Today we are going to talk about low volumes--another "unsung hero" of the quilt fabric world. Before I talk about the importance of low volumes, I want to give you a little history about myself.  I graduated with a degree in Art History and spent significant time doing gallery work at the campus art gallery.  I also worked part time in custom framing.  One of the most significant things I learned from these two things was about a little thing called "visual rest." If you...

Hello, my fellow quilters! Today we get to the exciting part of stash building--how do you elevate your stash to get that professional, "oh-I-just-threw-this-together-from-my-stash" look? I remember when I was a new quilter and I would look on with a touch of envy when quilters on Instagram would casually flaunt their coordinated pulls all "from their stash."  Meanwhile,I would look at my bins and felt it was every kind of fabric under the sun, yet I couldn't put even four colors together.  For me, the secret ended up being....blenders. I said last week that prints are my favorite, but I...

Hello quilty friends! This week, I am going to talk about my favorite category, PRINTS!! Prints are the star of the show…the scene stealer…the main attraction.  You don’t even know how hard it was for me to resist making prints the part 1 of this blog series, but I didn’t for one very important reason—this is about stash building—not bundle curating. What’s the difference?  I’ll answer that with a question of my own. How many of you have bins full of fabrics you love and when it comes time to make a quilt—nothing coordinates?  My guess is you fell prey...

I can still remember it clearly—standing in the middle of a big box fabric store, bolts of fabric in my cart, and being COMPLETELY confused  Isn’t it the most disappointing feeling to be buying lots of fabric, but every time you want to make a new pattern you feel like you have to go out and buy all new fabric? Or that nothing you bought matches what you already have? It’s the equivalent of a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear 😟  I believe, firmly, that you should want to buy fabric, not need to.  Every quilter needs...

Today I have a quick tip to how I keep my quilting projects organized. Lately, I feel like I have a minimum of 3-4 quilts going at all times.  I know, for some, this is a cake walk.  For me, this is pushing the limits of my sanity. I am a list maker, note taker.  I don't feel ok unless everything has been crossed off my list at the end of the day.  As I've added more to my quilting plate, I have had to learn to adapt and realize that if I want to finish all the quilts I...