I hope you are having a great weekend! I’ve been waiting to share a new release – The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Sampler! It is a companion piece to the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book and the piecing directions for the sampler are now available as a download from C&T. The sampler includes piecing directions for every block in the book, so it is a fabulous practice piece if you are looking to improve your quilting skills. (And to make it a quicker sew, there are master cutting instructions included, so you can cut everything at once and then get sewing!) I hope you all will piece it and quilt it along with me this fall on Facebook!
I quilted this on the BERNINA Q 24 and pieced it on my BERNINA 780. To quilt each block, I chose a random pattern from the book – no rules – just whatever I felt like quilting each day. I used Benartex’s Color Weave fabric and Aurifil 50 wt. thread for piecing and Aurifil monofilment (with 50 wt. in the bobbin) for quilting. (There are suggested quilting plans organized by block in The Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book.)
I used Benartex Color Weave for the example and the SKUs are included in the pattern. I’ll be sewing it again starting this September in Carina. I’ve created a special Facebook group for this piece so we can share our progress. I hope you’ll join me if you are quilting along.
Note: My copies of this book arrived and you can find signed version in my shop!
Hi everyone,
I hope you are having a fabulous week and are looking forward to the long holiday weekend. I’m really excited because today I get to show you what I worked on all last summer. It has been SOOOOO hard to keep it secret, but now I can “let the cat out of the bag”, so to speak, because this landed on my doorstep last week…
I wrote the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book as a jumping off point for quilters who want to be creative with their quilting and are looking for a place to start. It shows you how to build complex-looking custom quilting plans using just a handful of design families. I was so excited when C&T Publishing took it on – thanks C&T!!! We start with the basics…
And talk about both domestic and longarm machines. (I have a long arm now but started off with a domestic and you CAN do these designs on a domestic!)
The heart of the book is the over 150 quilting designs shown step-by-step.
You can look them up by element…
Or by design family…
But the part I’m most excited about is that The Free-Motion Quilting Idea book is also an app! And actually, I first conceived it as a digital product so a very special thanks to C&T for seeing the possibility and taking it on! In the app version all these designs are hyperlinked for easy access. The app also include actual video of the designs being stitched out on the BERNINA Q 24 and 790 in Chicago! Thanks BERNINA!
In the app the design steps are animated but in the book you also get step-by-step photos that walk you through how to stitch out each section. You can follow along exactly or mix and match to create something uniquely your own!
A sample project is included to get you started, and a optional coordinating sampler will be available from C&T, featuring ever block in the book. (I think it might be my favorite of my projects ever, so I hope you guys like it!)
Thanks for letting me share my news. Have a happy 4th, everyone!
I hope you are having a lovely spring. Things have been so busy over here my head is spinning! But in a good way – I’m pinching myself on a daily basis. I’m excited to share that I am a new Quilting and Long Arm Spokesperson for BERNINA. That’s right – that means the new Q 24 has arrived!!!! I absolutely could not be happier with how this machine sews and in the upcoming months I’ll be sharing some of my favorite features and tips for working on the machine with you right here and also over at BERNINA. Being a spokesperson basically means that not only do I love quilting – I actually love just talking even talking about quilting (ask my family), so it is nice to have the opportunity to share tips and tips right here with you. So, if you have any specific questions or things you’d like to see me talk about, please leave a comment or send me a note and I’ll try to blog about it in the upcoming months. (And, as an aside, if you new to this blog and are not on my email list, please sign up to receive updates.) And, in the meantime, if you’d like a sneak peek of the Q 24 in action head over to my Instagram account! I’ll be posting more frequent pictures there
Here are some photos from the video shoot…
Getting set up on the BERNINA Q SeriesThis is the makeup artist, Ann Marie, who made me look WAY better than I normally look every day. I’m awful at makeup so having her there made me feel truly pampered.This is Brian MacDonald of Wonderkind Studios and his crew talking with me between shoots. They were wonderful to work with! Cara, Connie, and Andrea from BERNINA of America and Roxane from C&T Publishing ensured everything run smoothly, from start to finish… (Cara, these ellipses are for you!)And this is me getting down to business and quilting! Quilting is easier than talking!
If you are a dealer looking for ideas on showing your customers some of the unique possibilities on the Q 24, please sign up for my classes at BERNINA University in Arizona in July. I designed a special yet-to-be-announced teaching tool for you guys and your customers!
Tying into all this is my new book for C&T Publishing – the Free-Motion Quilting Idea Book. It is an “encyclopedia of quilting ideas” indexed by both block type and design family and will come out this summer. The really exciting thing about this book is that it is also an app! That means you will actually be able to see animations of the designs and, in some cases, even see video of motifs being executed on the BERNINA Q 24!
Also, I’m excited to announce my first line of fabric with Benartex. It is called Carina, which means “dear one” or “sweet”. The colors are so vibrant and happy which makes it a joy with which to sew, plus it has a ton of blenders which makes it great to splice. Thanks, Benartex! I’m releasing 4 news patterns for Market with this line… here are some sneak peeks. (And, yes, for those of you who emailed me, the header on my newly revamped website is a feature print from this collection.)
“Bouquet”“Bouquet” quilting, my first quilt on the BERNINA Q 24!“First Crush”“Romance”
If you are going to be at Market, please visit me in booth 2310 – or I should say please visit my quilts because that is really what we all do at Market anyway – visit quilts!!!
I’m off to work on my Block-of-the-Month – “Heart’s Delight”. I have 6 days to “finish” (ahem, actually “start”) it. Nothing like working under pressure right?
Hope everyone has a productive and wonderful week!
Amanda
One housekeeping note: In an effort to be able to share some more types of content with you (videos, etc.) I’ve migrated this blog over to WordPress. Any bookmarks to specific pages you might have on this site might be lost – so sorry! But all the content is still here in the archives. If you are looking for anything specific you can’t find, feel free to contact me.
Learn how to quilt a feather!AMD_TraditionalFeathers_180
Download Evolutions in Shadow+Stone
Download “Bloom 2” in Twilight Serenade
Download the dark version of “Bloom 2” in Moonlight Serenade
Download the light version of “Bloom 2” in Moonlight Serenade
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Teaching policy: My patterns may be used to teach in-person classes, as long as every student has purchased the pattern. They may not be used to teach online classes.
