Binding Tutorial by Sharon Schamber

I am swiftly becoming a HUGE fan of Sharon Schamber.  She makes so many great tutorials for free to show us how to do hard quilting techniques with great tips to make them show-worthy.  Here is her version of putting show-quality binding on your quilt.  I am definitely doing this on my next binding.  This is well worth the time watching.  You will most certainly pick up something new from it.



Thank you Sharon.  You are amazing!

Applique Lessons/Tutorials

The Missouri Star Company is my favorite place to go for my lessons on quilting.  They are generous to a fault in giving us these free online.  They have put out a four-part series on applique that I think is astoundingly good.  I have put links to these right here for you to access:

Part 1 Rectangles and Applique Basics:



Part 2 Stars, peaks and valleys:


Part 3 and 4 to come.

Anyway, I don't want to just take their stuff and run.  Please visit the Missouri Star Company to see what they have to offer.  I think you will really like them!

Printable Bias Tape Maker

Over at Scientific Seamstress she has developed a printable bias tape maker.  Hallelujah!  It is a downloadable PDF.  Thank you Carla.  We LOVE it!

To get your your downloadable PDF of this template go on over, and don't forget to thank Carla for this wonderful tool.  SCIENTIFIC SEAMSTRESS LINK

Material Girls 5 " Charm Square Utilization Chart

This chart is available at The Material Girls Quilts blog.  I think this is wonderful.  Thank you so much Material Girls for putting this together for us.

Hand Basting Tutorial by Sharon Schambers

Oh   My   Gosh!  Where has this tutorial been?  I am going to try this very soon.  Thank you Sharon Schambers for your generosity in sharing this with us.  I have a feeling I am going to get a lot more quilting done with this help.

Part 1

Part 2

Orphan Block Idea

 We all have orphan blocks laying around that are just too nice to throw away.  I save mine for just such an occasion as this.  This beautiful block was given to me unassembled by my wonderful friend, Alice.  The navy blue star in the center was also part of the gift and is a chenille star by Rhonda Horvath.  She has so many lovely designs.  I have a few more I have not made yet.

These pictures don't really do it justice.  The burgundy looks much redder in these pictures than it really is.  

Anyway, another passion of mine is music.  I play violin/fiddle and mandolin.  My husband got a great deal/steal on Ebay on this violin case, but it had some ugly red lettering on the front of the case.  I knew right away this was a great place to use a quilt block, and this is how it now looks.  I wish I would have taken a before picture to show you the difference, but now I carry my quilting passion to my music opportunities as well.  

I used fabric glue to hold it down and also did some applique stitch as best I could to reinforce it.  I think the glue would have held just fine, but in this case I was able to give it a little insurance.  Has anyone else out there had any luck with gluing blocks to things?  It would be nice to get your thoughts on this.

Easy Pineapple Blocks by Karin Hellaby

Wonderful new technique by Karin Hellaby.  I normally don't like the tediousness of making pineapple blocks, but this technique I will give a try.  She has a book out about how to do this called Pineapple Plus also with patterns.  Thank you for sharing your wonderful technique Karin.