Advanced Piecing Tutorial + Stars and Stripes

Hello friends!

So glad you're here. Thanks so much for stopping by!

New this week:

If you've been around these parts for a while, you probably know that I love quick quilts and quilting short cuts. But, I'm also a fan of slow stitching and lately have wanted to up my game making quilts that require more advanced skills. So this brand new week I shared Part 2 in an Advanced Quilting series about machine piecing Y-seams.

In Part 1 we talked about machine-piecing Hexagons. In Part 2 we're going to build on that new skill and walk through the steps to machine-piece traditional Tumbling Quilt Blocks.

Like the Part 1, this process takes a little bit of practice and patience, but once you get on a roll the process starts to flow.

Click below to check out the step by step tutorial.

Stars and Stripes: Free Pattern + Video Tutorial

Some of my favorite quilts to make over the years are red, white, and blue quilts - especially for the 4th of July. If you're in the mood to make something, but maybe running out of time for a big project, here's a free tutorial for this Stars and Stripe Pillow or Table Runner.

This project includes a step by step video as well as a free printable PDF pattern.

I made these projects using my Portsmouth Fabric collection, but they would easily work well with any favorite red, white, and blue prints or even scraps left over from past projects!

Click below to access the free video demo and printable pattern. I'd love to hear if you make either of them!

Summer Sewing + Pattern of the Week

With the fourth of July around the corner, I've made my Fly the Flag and Land That I Love quilts the sale pattern(s) of the week.

Get 20% off the Fly the Flag (left) and Land That I Love (right) patterns this week only. (Discount already marked down.)

In case you missed it in the last newsletter, there is a new Summer Block Party sampler quilt with 9 designers sharing free summer-beach-inspired 🏖️ quilt block patterns. It starts next week. You can find details and sign up here.

Inspiring Finds on the Web: Black American Quilt History

In honor of Juneteenth this week here in the US, I'm remembering the quilters of Gee's Bend. Their quilts inspire me to no end. One of my life's bucket list goals to either see an exhibit of their work or go to Gee's Bend itself!

PBS recently released a new documentary about this amazing community. You can see the free preview of The Quilting Women of Gee's Bend here.

Another formerly enslaved black woman's quilts that I've recently discovered are the quilts of Harriet Powers. Harriet is known for her unique story quilts that combined biblical scenes, African folklore, and celestial events using appliqué and narrative stitching. Her work, created in the late1800s, is celebrated for preserving oral history and African American heritage through textile art.

Two surviving quilts by Harriet Powers can be found in major museum collections:

• ​The Bible Quilt (1886) is housed at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
• ​The Pictorial Quilt (1898) is part of the collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Both are celebrated as foundational works of African American folk art and early examples of narrative quilting in the U.S.

20th Century quilter, Jan Patek created this Bible Quilt inspired by Harriet Powers' work and folk art style.

On a personal note:

This past week contained a series of awkward moments. I'm trying not to sit here and cringe as I think about them. Some, more than just awkward, were major mess-ups that I didn't discover until days later. 🤦🏻‍♀️

A few I can partly blame on technology (but there's obviously some user error on my part to set up the tech wrong. 🙃) Here's one of this week's examples: I had an Instagram post where an automated tech system sends out a direct message with a link to the information about a specific quilting project.

Only this week it sent out the wrong link.

To over 100 people.

Who now probably think I’m, at best, not helpful or, worse, totally incompetent. There’s probably some truth to both. I’m off to try to clean up that mess! sigh...

So just know that if you're having your own awkward moments, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. 😅

In better news, we had our trip to the Oregon coast last weekend. Oh my goodness it's SO BEAUTIFUL! It's a place I've wanted to visit for years and I'm so glad we finally had the chance. We spent our time on the north coast between Seaside and Netarts (including a delicious stop at the Tillamook Cheese 🧀 Factory.)

We definitely want to plan another trip back to explore further down the coast. (If you want to see more, I'm sharing more Oregon coastal pictures in my Instagram stories today.)

Another reason for our visit: our son volunteered as a missionary for our church and spent 2 years in Oregon serving in the Hispanic communities, specifically where he taught English classes, supported local congregations, volunteered with community clean-up events, etc. On this trip we got to meet many of the people who he became friends with while he was there. (My Duolingo Spanish skills were put to the test, and came up slightly wanting but still helped some.)

These wonderful people fed us amazing food (honestly, we ate SO much good food - sometimes 2 meals in one night!) and showed us so much kindness and friendship. They are a new gift in my life.

As always, thanks so much for stopping by. See you next week!

Amy

If you would like to stop receiving this content, please click unsubscribe below.

​Visit my Pattern Shop

​​​​