Those that have been around the Quilting Gallery site for a year or more may remember the birth of my Alice Lynne, last Halloween. This year, I’ll be taking my nieces out trick or treating for the first time. Lucy, at 3.5 years old, is very excited to be a Princess (again!) and Alice will [...]

With less than two months left until Christmas, I’ve started thinking about some quick and easy gifts I can make. These fabulous Scrappy Bookmarks definitely fit that bill. Terrie has put together a great tutorial with lots of photos. If you need a refresher course, be sure to check out Nadine’s video tutorial on edge [...]

I’ve been working this week on a new feature for the Quilting Gallery site: a Quilter’s Cookbook, to be available for sale early in December as a downloadable PDF file. Early next week, you’ll be able to submit your family-favourite recipes for inclusion in the Cookbook. You’ll also be able to include a short story [...]

I hope everyone had a wonderful time participating in Pat Sloan’s The Edge Blog Hop last weekend. I enjoyed reading everyone’s comments. Lucky quilter Angela won the set of all 10 rulers. Congrats Angela! If your local quilt shop does not have the rulers yet, and you want to purchase them, you can visit Pat’s [...]

Julie Pieri from Quilted Pleasures writes a great monthly newsletter, The Sewing Gazette filled with news and information from the quilting and sewing world. I’ll be a guest for the November issue. Sign up to receive the newsletter and read my interview.

Geta Grama has put together some great tips in her free motion quilting tutorial. I definitely have to try her hand position to see if it helps with the back pains. UPDATE: I did try Geta’s hand positioning recommendation on a smaller wall hanging this past weekend. It really did help, though the big test [...]

Terri Stegmiller and Sue Bleiweiss of Two Creative Studios are doing a free Mystery Block of the Month project on their web site. Block Two was posted last week. What I love about this project, besides the fabulous blocks and great colours, is that they’ve included multiple ways to complete each block. You can choose [...]

Congratulations to #21 Billie K. for winning Jenny Wilding Cardon’s The Little Box of Baby Quilts. This week’s give-away is for a hand dyed fat quarter set of your choice from Vicki Welsh’s Fabric Palette collection. The Fabric Palette collections are sets of 5 to 8 themed hand dyed fat quarters. Some are color family [...]

I’ve moved up the Fall swap registration deadline to this Saturday. No late additions will be accepted, so please register now if you want in. Partner information will be released by the 28th. The Inchie Ornaments Swap has been extended until November 5. Again, no late registrations will be accepted. Most partner information has already [...]

In honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Connecting Threads has available a free tutorial to make paper-pieced Pink Ribbon Pins. Help raise awareness by sewing this simple quilted ribbon for your family, co-workers, and friends. Two sizes are available: large pin is 3″ x 4″ and the small pin 2 1/4″ x 3″.

Kaaren from the The Painted Quilt teaches us how to make these gorgeous fabric pumpkins in her Pumpkin Tutorial – Crazy Quilt Style!. You’ll start with 6.5″ blocks, stack them, whack them, stitch them, then trim blocks to 4.5″. You’ll stitch the 4.5″ blocks together, make a tube, gather and stuff. A great tutorial with [...]

Here’s a very quick and easy tutorial to make a spooky trick or treat bag for your little ones to use this Halloween. You’ll need 18 charms, 1/2 yard of fabric for the lining and 2 1/2 yards of black nylon webbing for the handles (or make your own). I wish I had time to [...]

Phyllis Dobbs has designed this super cute tutorial just in time for Halloween. It uses felt and can be made into a trick or treat bag or a wall hanging. Get the full-sized pattern and instructions here: Halloween pumpkin and cat felt treat bag or wall hanging

This was the scene the other night around midnight. Both of my boys sleeping soundly in the often fought over chair. I guess they were too tired to fight anymore and decided sleeping together wasn’t so bad after all. The black and white one is Slade and the brown tabby is Daniel. Daniel is 10 [...]

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I thought I’d wrap up my Houston report with some of the art quilts that I liked. Here they are in no particular order: Iguana is hand painted and machine quilted. Corrugated Iron is fused, burned, beaded and machine quilted. Redwood is made with cut [...]

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. This report will highlight quilts from Japan. If you read my blog you know that I love any quilt that has tiny pieces, intricate piecing or quilting or is just plain fiddly. That’s why I am so attracted to quilts from Japan. I notice more [...]

Congratulations to #30 Bradie for winning the feedsack fabric donated by Marydon Ford ~ Feedsack Fantasy last week. This week’s give-away is Jenny Wilding Cardon’s The Little Box of Baby Quilts. Welcome little ones to the world with the things they love best—bright colors, fuzzy textures, and wonderfully whimsical quilts! Use these portable project cards [...]

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. One of the great things about my trip to the Houston International Quilt Festival this year is the opportunity to meet so many fellow bloggers and other quilters that I have met on the web. You can read about my visits with other bloggers on [...]

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. While I am don’t make reproduction quilts, I absolutely love antique quilts. Some of that love stems from the collection of quilts and quilts blocks left behind by my Great-Grandmother. My Mom and I have spent a lot of time finishing up some of her [...]

Vicki Welsh reporting from the International Quilt Festival in Houston. Hello from Houston quilt fans! I thought that Quilting Gallery readers might like to see some highlights of the exhibits. Today I will start with the garment exhibit. All of the garments in the exhibit are stunning and the three winners are: 1st place – [...]

It is Thanksgiving this weekend here in Canada. To celebrate, I’ve gathered together some fabulous Canadian photos from family and friends to share with you. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into Canada from coast to coast. Thanksgiving Give-Away Pink Panda Fabrics has offered to help me celebrate Thanksgiving by offering 2 half yard bundles [...]

Congratulations to #10 Denise for winning the cute learn to sew accessory kit donated by Ruby Jane’s Retro Fabric last week. This week’s give-away is a piece of approximtely 36″x44″ vintage feedsack fabric donated by Marydon Ford ~ Feedsack Fantasy. This fabric is a bright bold blue & red on creamy white background fruit & [...]

Here’s my submission for Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Fall 2009. So far, I think this quilt that I made for a wedding gift for friends is my all time favourite. I love the warm and rich colours used. It’s a Disappearing Nine Patch. Read more about this quilt and a few other pictures here: Caitlin [...]

Looking for some inspiration? Here are a couple of fabulous videos from Patsy Thompson. You’ll learn some great techniques specifically how to: burn fabric edges add colour highlights with Prismacolor pencils free motion machine embroidery I am the very lucky owner of Patsy’s free motion DVDs. I highly recommend them as they’ve been a tremendous [...]

The Linus Connection is a Central Texas non-profit organization whose mission is to make and deliver handmade security blankets that are for children in crisis situations in the Austin and Central Texas area. The blankets go to children in hospital emergency rooms, in crisis centers, foster care, battered women’s shelters, and to any child who [...]

Congratulations to the winners of the Nature’s Best Quilt Contest. I will be contacting each of you over the next few days. Large Quilts View the quilts: Thumbnail Photos | Full-Sized Photos Earthbound By: Quilt Rat, Ontario, Canada Coral Reef – By: Maggieinsc, South Carolina, USA Stained Glass Garden – By: Denise French, Ontario, Canada [...]

Today is the final mail date for the Friendship Bag Swap. If you are going to be late sending, please email your partner and myself to let us know when you expect to send it. Here’s a small sampling of the gorgeous bags that have been created. You can see more in the Flickr group. [...]

Unfortunately, one of the quilts entered in the Small Quilts category for the Nature’s Best Quilt Contest had to be disqualified due to it exceeding the size limitations for that category. I’m truly sorry Deborah that I didn’t realize you entered the incorrect contest when you submitted your entry. I’ll do my best to make [...]

Congratulations to the four lucky winners from last week: #51 Charis Cranford, #10 Wendy, #27 Darlee Byron, and #16 Jeanne McBrayer. They each won two packs of bobbin wrappers donated by LoveBug Studios. This week’s give-away is for a charming accessory kit that includes just about everything you need to make a tote bag and [...]