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Handmade Quilt

Handmade quilts come in a variety of forms, from small works of art to large, functional pieces. The exact definition of "handmade" is also quite broad and includes quilt that are constructed with machine stitching. No matter the kind of handmade quilt you are creating, the Quilting Arts blogs, forums, and reader galleries offer inspiration and guidance.

Related Posts

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  • How to Bind a Quilt with a Whipstitch Binding
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine, June/July 2013
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  • Bring Flowers to Life with Machine Embroidery and Paint
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    Here's a little exercise that gives you a chance to flex your mixed-media stitch muscles and produce a little piece of fabric art .
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    Last year when Pantone announced its Color of the Year — Tangerine Tango — I was a fan. I like cheerful, sunny colors, and this one hit the spot for me. I could see using it in different modes, from fabric to embroidery, to surface design techniques .
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  • Customize Handmade Bags with Applique
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    Several years ago I was helping a friend clean out her neighbor's sewing room and we came across a beautiful piece of handwork. It was a hand-pieced patchwork block from a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and it captured my heart immediately. Not only was it pretty and colorful, it also told
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  • Memory Quilts Made Easier with TAP
    Recently, I was looking through pictures of bird art I've made over the years. After the winter we've had, just seeing this bird building its nest on the flowering apple branch makes me happy! Spring has arrived (by the calendar, at least) with coming soon, and that means that even if it snows
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  • Imaginative Hand Sewing with the Buttonhole Stitch
    As you read this, picture me curled up on a comfortable chair by the fire, hand sewing . Although that's probably not the case, it's certainly what I would like to be doing on a cold, snowy day, wouldn't you?
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 1112: Stitch Designs in Quilting
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 1110: Stitch Meets Art
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 1109: Nifty Quilt-y Techniques
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 1106: Creative Approaches to Quilting
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 1102: Studio Play
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  • Sewing Techniques for Quilters - A New Free eBook
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  • 9 Expert Fusing Tips for Quilt and Fabric Art
    A lot of contemporary art quilters swear by fusing their fabric art . But if you've had a bad experience with fusing, maybe you just swear.
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  • Ideas for How to Quilt with Eco-friendly Methods and Materials
    Our foremothers knew how to make a quilt using only what they had, from scraps of fabric to natural dyes. But, quilt making the frugal and eco-friendly way was easier for them:
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine, February/March 2013
    Explore the cutting-edge art of 3-D quilts in Quilting Arts Magazine . This issue is packed with information and ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Spotlight artist Diane Núñez shares the techniques she uses for moving her quilts away from the wall with an innovative system of metal
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  • How to Choose Photos for Compelling Photo Quilts
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  • Enhance Small Quilting Projects with Surface Design
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  • Now is the Perfect Time for Hand Sewing
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  • In Stitches Volume 7
    Quilting Arts In Stitches features an abundance of stitching inspiration! In Issue 7, find articles about needle-felting, decorative stitching by hand and machine, fabric beads, stitch samplers, conceptual art quilts, free-motion machine lace, and much more.
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  • Quilting Instructions for Cute Mini Stockings
    Right now, I'm looking for quick quilting projects to make. Running through the file of quilting ideas I keep in my head, I remembered these sweet little free-motion stitched stockings by Diane Rusin Doran from Quilting Arts Gifts 2011.
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  • Appliqué Quilts That Tell a Story
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  • 6 Easy Quilted Gifts to Make for the Holidays - Free eBook
    In this free e-Book, Handmade & Holiday Gift Ideas: 6 Free Homemade Gift Ideas for Art Quilters , we offer you six easy gifts to make for your friends or your own home décor.
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  • Tips for How to Appliqué Circles
    Last week I blogged about tricks for machine stitching in circles . Today, I thought I'd share how to appliqué a circle.
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  • Blend Hand Sewing with Machine Stitching - 7 Tips to Try
    Hand sewing and machine stitching can happily coexist on the same fiber art piece. Personally, I love to add hand stitching to my sewing projects, even if the bulk of the stitching is done by machine.
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  • Machine Quilting Circles - The Perfect Solution
    During almost a year of sharing quilting ideas with you via the Quilting Daily blog, I've noticed something interesting: circles are popular. Whether the circles are sewn with hand stitching or machine quilting doesn't matter. Every time I write about circle motifs, the post gets a big response
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  • Notes and Trends from the Quilt-Making Mecca
    I just returned from the Quilt Market trade show in Houston, and my head is buzzing with ideas. There was so much to see: so many colorful booths filled with the latest fabrics, embellishments, and tools for quilt making .
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  • Easy Beaded Fabric Embellishment Techniques & Tips
    Did you ever have one of those quilts that was almos t finished, but just needed a little something ? A little sparkle, a little more texture, a little oomph to catch the eye? Chances are, what the quilt needed was some embellishment.
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  • Bead Embroidery Stitches Add Sparkle to the Ordinary
    I'd love to tell you that I am already working on my handmade holiday gifts, but honestly, it's not happening. I do like to give gifts with handmade elements like quilting and embroidery , but this year, I'll have to streamline those efforts if I'm going to get it all done.
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  • Quilting Binding and Finishing: New Techniques in this Free eBook
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  • Patchwork Owls: One Way to Show You Give a Hoot
    When I saw Lynn Krawczyk's Wishing Owl plushies in International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene magazine last fall, I knew I had to make some of my own. Encouraged by her suggestion to jazz them up in your own way, I gave mine patchwork bodies made from vintage feed sack fabrics.
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  • Handmade Quilt Art - A Sisterhood Connected By Thread
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  • How to Make a Quilt Sleeve, Step By Step
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  • Q&A with Modern Patchwork Artist Ashley Newcomb
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    My living room sofa could use a few new pillows, which means I'm headed to the studio. I love making throw pillows, because they are easy sewing projects I can use to try out stitching designs and techniques.
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  • Make a Monoprint with a Plate of Lace
    Have you ever looked at a heavily stitched or textured textile and thought, "That would make a great pattern for printing?" Lace, embroidery, even free-motion stitching can all be inked up (or painted) for monoprinting and surface design .
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  • Hand Stitch a Bevy of Boro Bobbles
    Hand sewing is the foundation of needlecraft, and quilting is no exception. But trust art quilters to take needlework and turn it on its head!
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  • Add Depth to Fabric Art with Double Thread Stitching
    Being on set when we taped the most recent Quilting Arts Workshop TM videos was a real education. Not only did I learn how the videos are taped (very efficiently!), but I also picked up lots of tips for quilting and fabric art .
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  • The Joy of Patchwork and Japanese Fabrics
    I have a long history of finding, buying, hoarding, and using Japanese fabric. I can't bear to part with even the tiniest scrap. I am always looking to incorporate a piece in my patchwork projects.
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  • Patchwork Mug Rugs Make Quick Quilted Gifts
    I have made bed and lap quilts, holiday table runners, and other large-scale quilted gifts and décor. But more often I make small quilted gifts that come together quickly with the sewing machine and my abundance of fabric scraps.
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  • Make a Memory, Quilt for Hope and Support
    Sometimes fiber art is for art's sake: the joy of creating with color and texture. Sometimes, though, we imbue our artwork with meaning: memory quilts to honor a loved one's passing, journal quilts that recall special-and ordinary-days, story quilts that tell the world how you feel about an issue
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  • Quilt Binding Techniques for the Creative Quilter
    I may have mentioned that binding a quilt is my least favorite part of the quilt-making process. But I've realized that if I'm going to reduce the number of UFOs in my studio, I'm going to have to learn how to bind a quilt in a way that I enjoy.
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  • Hand Sewing Doodles for Every Day - Tips on the Feather Stitch
    Every time I think I that I am too busy to make any art, I come across an artist who has found a way to fit fiber art into her day — even if it is just a bit of hand sewing .
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  • Hand Embroidery Tips and Tricks
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  • What is Modern Patchwork Quilting?
    What does "modern quilting" mean? There are a lot of opinions on what modern quilting is — and isn't. But one thing's for sure, modern patchwork quilting is hot right now.
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  • Summer Quilting
    Over the weekend I decided to go outside and get some color for my upcoming wedding (Yes, I was wearing sun screen!). I searched around for a good quilt to take outdoors and realized that I didn’t really have any I was willing to use outside. Then
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  • How to Make a Modern Patchwork Quilt Fun and Functional
    The first time I laid eyes on Malka Dubrawsky's quilts a few years back, I sat up and took notice. Now, here was someone who was taking basic patchwork quilt blocks and giving them a fresh and contemporary spin using color and freehand cutting and piecing.
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  • Hand Stitching Tips and Tricks
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  • 81 Tips on Free-Motion Quilting and Thread Sketching Techniques - free eBook
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  • Hand Sewing Q&A with Deborah Boschert
    I often look at someone's art and wonder who inspired them to quilt, embroider, and stitch. Did they start by hand sewing or go straight to the machine?
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  • Vote on Our Supply Showdown
    I just got back from Quilt Market in Kansas City. We had a blast, but my oh my were there a lot of new fabrics, notions, and surface design supplies to see. It was overwhelming...almost. I almost rode away with a bike basket full of supplies at Quilt
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  • Some of my Favorite Fabrics... And a Fabric Giveaway!
    For me, this is the hardest time of the year to inspire myself to get into my studio. The weather is warming up, the days are longer, and I want to spend more time outside. That being said, I think that it is important to get crafting at least once a
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  • A Foiling Technique for Writing on Fabric
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  • Hand Embroidery Tips for Contemporary Fabric Collage
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  • How to Personalize a Baby Quilt
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  • Embellish on the Fly: Tips for Sewing Beads on the Go
    I have just realized — like so many others with busy lives — that if I'm going to get any of my own artwork done, I'm going to have to squeeze it in on the fly, embroidering by hand here and sewing embellishments there.
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    Whenever I visit my local quilt shop, I delight in the displays of fresh new fabrics, all cut and folded in beautiful and unique ways. Jelly rolls? I have them at the ready for strip quilting and quick patchwork projects . Fat quarters? They are tucked into baskets in my studio.
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  • An Easy Quilt Binding Technique for Small Quilts
    I will be the first to admit that quilt binding is not my favorite part of the quilt-making process. I understand that binding a quilt frames it and, done correctly, enhances the design of the body of the fiber art piece. And of course, if you're going to use a quilt (rather than hang it on a wall
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  • Pass On Your Passion: Stitched and Quilted Bag Patterns
    We're nearing the end of our Pass On Your Passion celebration of National Craft Month and Giveaway Extravaganza , so I thought I'd sneak in a few more treats for you to enjoy and pass on to others. Today I'm sharing three easy quilted bag
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  • How Hand and Machine Embroidery Affect Your Quilt Design
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    While looking through past issues of Quilting Arts Magazine and past episodes of "Quilting Arts TV" for ideas, one easy method of surface design caught my eye.
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    Hand stitching is one of my favorite ways to enjoy some unplugged studio time, and Japanese sashiko is one of my favorite hand sewing techniques.
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    Flowers are one of the most popular motifs in art, and quilting designs are no different. From antique quilts to the most contemporary quilt design, the flower often takes center stage.
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  • Get Our New free eBook with Easy Resist Fabric Dyeing Techniques
    Batik is one of the oldest methods of dyeing fabrics for surface design. Using hot liquid wax as a resist for dye, batik yields beautiful patterns and rich colors.
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  • How to Organize Quilting Supplies
    I love fabric and quilting supplies, and I try to keep them contained. But sometimes I look around my studio and think, who let the hurricane in?
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    I have a ton of vintage textiles that I like to incorporate in my artwork. I have been using many of my more fragile pieces in my Prayer Flag Project, stitched to sturdier pieces of muslin or linen.
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    I am so enjoying my new role as Quilting Arts Magazine editor and am excited to be joining the Quilting Daily team. There are so many tips, tricks, and techniques I'm looking forward to sharing with you, and I hope you'll share back on my blog.
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    You know I'm passionate about my pets; I'm particularly taken at the moment with the newest addition to my menagerie, Clarence.
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    Sometimes I think I'm finished with a quilt. I've surface designed it, free-motion stitched it, maybe even appliquéd it. But it still looks a little flat. It needs a little . . . something.
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    A couple of months ago I announced a few sizable changes at Quilting Arts (you can read more about those changes in this post ). Now I’d like to share the fantastic news that we have a new editor for Quilting Arts! Meet Vivika Hansen DeNegre, a
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    We often advise artists to practice, practice, practice if they want to improve their machine embroidery skills. But practice doesn't have to make perfect. In fact, I recently spent time with two artists who embrace imperfections in their machine embroidery designs.
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    Whoa! I just looked at the calendar. Between the October snowstorm back in Massachusetts and the move to Houston over Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas has snuck up on me, and I am way behind on my holiday checklist.
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    There was a time when the only sewing patterns that crossed the threshold of my studio were the vintage tissue paper kind I gathered to use in my mixed-media artwork or the books of Victorian sewing patterns and needlework I collected for inspiration and amusement.
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    I've been using digital photos as a basis for my quilt designs for quite some time now. Digital technology has improved so much, too.
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    Do you like to follow a prepared pattern or design for your fiber art or start completely from scratch? Maybe your answer is "a little of both" or "it depends on the project."
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    All these new TV shows about fairy tale characters in the contemporary world casting spells and carrying out age-old vendettas has me thinking: If an evil fairy/stepmother/witch cursed me so that I was left with ability to create only one hand embroidery stitch, what would it be?
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    It's easy to get down these days, with all the tough times people are having. Especially if you're the one who's having the difficulties. But this is why I think it's so great to be an artist: you have a creative outlet for your woes.
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    Have you ever wanted to bring an expert home with you? Well, here's your chance. The third edition of Quilting Arts in Stitches is now available!
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    Quilting Arts Magazine® and Quilts, Inc. , are proud to bring you the second annual edition of International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene! Quilt Scene celebrates everything we love about quilting today. It’s like an entire quilt show packed into a super-sized 148-page special issue.
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  • Holiday 2009–2010
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  • Quitling Arts TV Episode 803
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  • Where Did You Learn Your Sewing Techniques?
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  • Learn How to Quilt with Four Free Projects
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  • Make a Quick, Patchwork Quilt Game Board
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  • 3 Free Techniques for Quilt Designs
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  • How to Combine Hand and Machine Stitching
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  • Use Cast-off Threads for Surface Design
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  • Patchwork Designs for Summer Living
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  • Sewing Techniques for the Birds
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  • Put Your Patchwork Quilt on Paper
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  • What's Weaving Got to Do with Quilt Art?
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  • Make a 'Mom Cave' for Sewing Projects & More
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  • Spring Trends in Quilting and Quilting Supplies
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  • My 10 Favorite Quilting Arts Tips
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  • How to Turn Pictures into Photo Quilts
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  • How to Make a Quilt Sleeve for Hanging
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 107
    107 Quilting Every Day Experienced artists in every discipline know that creating a little art every day is a great way to hone skills and find inspiration. We start out with baseball card-sized artist trading cards; they are little and quick and great
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 103
    103 Embellishments and Encrustations Embellishments such as beads, sequins, yarn, and even metal add dimension and sparkle. Create shimmering fabrics out of fibers that actually fuse together when heated. The first feature is fabric foiling or adhering
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 203
    203 Texture This program explores different ways of achieving textural interest on our quilts. First, paint fusible web to create lustrous, one-of a-kind fabrics. Then the Kemshalls show how quilted fabrics provide surface textures that can be enhanced
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  • Give a Pillow Punch with Easy Sewing Techniques & Scraps
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  • Quilting Arts Tv Episode 302
    302 Lifestyle Sewing : bringing artful sewing to your everyday life. First learn how to integrate color and pattern on every day quilted items with Anna Maria Horner. Next we explore journal quilting with Karey Bresnahan on location in Chicago. Journal
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  • Top Product Picks for 2011
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  • Quilting Arts TV Episode 401
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  • Quilting Arts Episode 702
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  • Winter/Spring Stitch preview
    Chipmunk Hot Pad from The Art of Applique section. Kimono Wrap Top from the Knit Wit section. Spaghetti Strap Necklace from the Sew Small, Sew Stylish section. The new issue of Stitch hits newsstands January 18, and it's the exciting start of our
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  • 5 Learn-to-Sew Skills I Plan to Pursue Next Year
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  • Fast Finish for Your Handmade Quilt Projects
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  • I want Sew Daily!
    I wanted to make sure you knew about this cool thing we recently launched, called Sew Daily . It's a free email newsletter you can receive every Friday that gives you contemporary sewing projects, techniques, designer interviews, and inspiration.
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  • Facebook Blogger of the week: Barb Forrister!
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  • How to Expand Your Stitchery and Sewing Machine Techniques
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  • Easy Handmade Holiday Cards
    I'm just going to come right out and say it: these stitched holiday cards are so easy to make, it's ridiculous. Plus, by giving, you also get: UFOs (UnFinished Objects) are used to make the design. How great is that? I've whipped up many of these cards since first creating them for the 2010
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  • Easy Fabric Jewelry Ideas
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  • Create Your Own Art Quilt Reference Library
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  • Episode 610
    Episode 610 is all about details. Terry Grant opens the show with soft-sculpture fabric birds. Then, Jennifer O’Brien demonstrates fusing techniques for creating collages. Finally, Andrea Bishop, using the computer, plans a memory quilt in which
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  • Episode 603
    Episode 603 focuses on surface design. Jane Dunnewold returns as the first guest. She demonstrates stenciling and stamping hot soy wax and adding color with fabric paints. Then, Susie Monday shows how to make colorful screen-printed fabrics using water
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  • In My Travels: Art Quilt Inspiration
    Designer Kaffe Fassett has said he finds much of his inspiration for his palettes and patterns from books on ethnic textiles and his own worldwide travels. "I follow women in the marketplace to get a look at the pattern on the edge of their skirts or the way they put a flower in their hair,"
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  • Quick & Easy Selvage Project & Quilt Show Tips
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  • Our Cover Artist's Top Stitch Tip
    When I look at Kathy York's body of work, it's hard to believe she has only been making art quilts since 2003. Her award-winning quilts are easily recognizable for their bold and graphic styles, bright colors, and whimsical or humorous topics. I'm an especially big fan of her three-dimensional
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  • 10 Reasons (and Ways) to Celebrate With Us
    Ten years ago Quilting Arts was a little magazine that I lovingly sent out on its first flight into the big world. As it happens, this week also marks the one-year anniversary of launching Quilting Daily, as well as, drum roll...my birthday!
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  • Send Us a Birthday Card!
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  • Easy Sewing Projects for the Ones You Love
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  • Canine Confessions & Celebrations: Quilting Arts Is Turning 10!
    GUEST BLOGGER: Louie Bolton, Min Pin, soon to be 10 years old Hello there! My name is Louie Bolton. When I’m not chasing squirrels, begging for cookies, or wheezing from eating too fast, I do a little modeling on the side. I love to walk the catwalk…especially
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  • Don’t Fall for the Same Old Line
    Are you up for some fun? Then let's do some exercises today, beginning with free-association. I'll say a word, and you respond with the first thing that comes into your head. Ready? Here we go.
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  • I’m Sharing a Cool Fabric Scrap Project
    It's no secret I'm a surface design junkie. Over the years, I have amassed an overflowing stash of fabrics that have been dyed, printed, screened, stamped, and stenciled. Not only do I despair of ever using these fabrics up in art quilts, I have to admit that some of them aren't quite art
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  • Get Organized With Free Fabric Stash Book Pages
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  • Download 5 Innovative Techniques for Making Memory Quilts -- Free!
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  • Create Textured Textiles You'll Want to Touch
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  • Improve Your Free-Motion Filler Technique
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  • Oh Sew Simple Inspiration
    Whenever I visit a new city, one of my favorite things to do is just walk. There’s no better way to soak in your surroundings and I find that wandering without purpose often turns up the most unexpectedly delightful finds. Of course, walking often
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  • How Fast Can You Make Art?
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  • Summer: Time to Stitch on the Go
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  • Make Your Focal Point Pop with Thread Painting
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  • Five Free Embellishment Techniques Ready To Download
    I love quilts that have been encrusted with lots of beads, baubles, buttons, found objects...you name it. The more outrageous the embellishment, the better! So I can't wait to share with you our latest ready-to-download eBook, Fine Embellishment Techniques from Quilting Arts : 5 Innovative Ways To
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  • Surprise Quilt Spottings in D.C.
    Some friends and I decided to meet up in Washington D.C. to celebrate this past holiday weekend—after all, it seemed like an appropriate place to spend the 4 th of July. While I got some hand stitching done on the plane ride there and back, I spent
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  • New Freeform Machine Embroidery Tips & Project
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  • The Secret's Out! Our New eMag Has Arrived
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  • My Tasty Recipe for Art Quilt Success
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  • 6 Ways Technology Can Make You a Sewing Superstar
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  • Art Books I Can't Live Without
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  • Do You Know Your Sampler History? Learn Now!
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  • Easy Inspiration From Natural Beauty
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  • Stitch + Travel: You Can Take It With You!
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  • Texture Tips To Improve Your Art Quilts - Free Download
    Is there such a thing as too much texture? I don't think so! Texture is what we art quilters are all about. Texture is what excites the quilt artist and it's what entices the art quilt viewer to come up and take a closer look. Plus, adding more texture to our quilts gives us a great excuse to
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  • Download Now: 6 Image Transfer Techniques for your Art Quilts
    Digital technology has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for designing art quilts. Whether you want to apply image transfer techniques to make a photo memory quilt, use digital imagery to make abstract designs, or a combination, we'll show you how to make a quilt with photos when you download
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  • Note from Tricia: Promise to Sew
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  • Pokey’s Spring Quilt Market Report
    I just returned from Spring Quilt Market in the Twin Cities and had a really fabulous time! Outfitted with my new, spiffy Nikon DSLR camera, a journal, and comfortable sandals to traverse the show floor, I took note of several quilting trends this season…
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  • Never fear! Screen printing myths busted
    Many people are afraid of screen printing. They're intimidated by the equipment and the process. Or they think it's expensive. Or difficult to get appealing results. Well, I'm going to let you in on a little secret: Screen printing is easy, uses very little special equipment, and many methods
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  • To Market We Go, with Melissa Averinos!
    I’ve been full of anticipation for the past few days since I am finally attending my first quilt show: Quilt Market in Minneapolis. At the moment, I have just returned from an initial visit to the convention space which is enormous and enthralling—I
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  • Create Something New with Quilting & Mixed Media
    I started Cloth Paper Scissors magazine back in 2004 in part to give voice to forms of art that mixed fabric and stitch with paint, glue, and embellishment but were not strictly speaking art quilts. Forms like altered books, fabric and paint collages, shrines, assemblages, and paper quilts.
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  • What Do Bikinis and Quilting Have in Common?
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  • Quilting Arts June/July 2010
    Inspiration and techniques! Thread sketching; needle felting; hand stitching; recycled sweaters; 3-D embellishments; batik with soy wax; Dunnewold on design; circular quilts; “Inner Animal”; and more! Continue thread sketching with Susan Brubaker Knapp, with a focus on texture. Learn Jane
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  • Spring into Sewing
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  • Create Unique Impressions With These New Stamps
    Isn't it funny how sometimes the simplest of art processes can be so satisfying? I mean, you know I love my Thermofax screen printing and I am a sucker for hand embroidery. Thread sketching fascinates me and I never get tired of dyeing. But when it comes to hands-down fun, I have to go with stamping
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  • Our Favorite Quilting Arts Issues Revealed
    Many of you probably know I have five furry, four-legged "children." But did you know I feel a similar motherly instinct toward Quilting Arts Magazine ? Asking me to choose a favorite issue is like asking me to choose a favorite child. I love them all equally!
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  • Infuse Your Art Quilts with Mexican Flavor
    Since falling in love with the art quilting world more than a decade ago, I've seen thousands upon thousands of quilts. Despite the fact that each one is unique, I've noticed some themes and motifs that attract quilt artists repeatedly: nature, the sea, faces and memories of loved ones, and geometric
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  • Stitch Spring 2009
    ON THE COVER: Tuesday Pillow about this issue 22 inspiring sewing projects for Spring! view online patterns features Print Me Susan Beal Customize your sewing with DIY screen-printed fabrics The Whir and the Power of Making Linzee Kull McCray Sewing with
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  • Stitch Magazine: Spring 2010
    Spring has sprung at Stitch magazine and it is an issue not to be missed! This 148-page super special issue has 37 fantastic sewing projects for Spring! Read all about it!
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  • Stitch Fall 2009
    ON THE COVER: Odekakke Tote from Zakka Style about this issue This special issue 148 page issue is loaded with fun and fabulous sewing projects! This issue's theme is Sew Global and includes 30 sewing projects for the fall and holiday season. view
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  • How to Sew on the Subway
    Something about the spring weather has me out and about more than usual these days. During the cold winter months, I like hunkering down in my sewing room all night long, but lately I can’t resist venturing out into the sunshine whenever possible
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  • Submissions
    So you want to be featured in Stitch? We’d love to hear from you! Stitch is a special issue sewing magazine all about creating with fabric and thread. Yes, it’s sewing but oh so much more. It’s loaded with clever projects and modern
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  • Top 10 Ways To Create A Greener Art Quilt
    When it comes to celebrating Earth Day, art quilters and mixed-media fiber artists are lucky: for us, it's easy being green. Not that we don't love a bin full of crisp, new fat quarters, but finding creative ways to use reuse and recycle textiles and fibers--thus reducing what goes into the trash
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  • Get 12 Free Quilt Binding and Finishing Methods
    Is your studio harboring a heap of unfinished art quilts, just begging to be completed so they can be released and appreciated by the greater world? Not to worry, How to Bind a Quilt: 12 NEW Quilt Binding and Finishing Methods for Your Art Quilts has come to the rescue! Inside this free, downloadable
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  • Master Foiling Techniques Easily
    I love the soft shimmer of metal embellishment on a quilted surface. Just a touch of metal can act as an elegant focal point. An all-over quilting pattern of metallic thread, couched wire, or foil can add texture and make the quilt seem to glow from within.
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  • Easy, Elegant Project to Make for Mom
    One of the things I most enjoy about International Quilt Festival is seeing all the little stitchers-in-training who attend with their moms, grandmothers, or aunts.
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  • Foolproof Recipes for Mixing Dye Colors
    I wonder if my love of dyeing came from coloring Easter eggs as a child. Setting out the little glass cups full of hot water and vinegar, mixing in the dye powder, and slowly lowering the hard-boiled eggs in one at a time, it seemed magical to me when they emerged all decked out in pretty pastels.
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  • Follow the Line to an Interesting Quilt Design
    As a devotee of "Project Runway," one of the things I love most about the show-after the hilarious Tim Gunn quips-is watching how the designers translate their inspirations into line, pattern, and form. Take last week's episode, where Anthony and Maya were inspired by New York's Chinatown
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  • Boost Your Creativity with These Tips
    It’s officially spring, and not a moment too soon for me. I already traded my boots for open-toed shoes a few weeks ago--and I'm not going back! Now it’s time to open the windows, do some spring cleaning, and let some fresh air into my studio in the hopes that fresh ideas will float in
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  • How To Make A Quilt Shine With Metal
    I'm pretty sure that when most people think about how to make a quilt, "metal" isn't the first thing that pops into their mind. But there are so many ways you can incorporate metal into your quilts and wall hangings, adding texture, dimension, shine, and that element of surprise. Here
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  • It's a wrap! Just returned from QA TV Series 6 TV taping
    Above: Diane Nunez's dimensional fabric flowers Five days, 39 segments, and 13 episodes later, Season Six of Quilting Arts TV is born. A number of very talented guests joined me this season: Jane Dunnewold was back to dazzle us with two surface design
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  • A Sneak Peek at the Next 'QATV' Series
    I'm packing my suitcase again, getting ready to fly to Cleveland to tape the sixth season of "Quilting Arts TV." As hectic as the shooting pace is, I always look forward to taping, because I get to learn new tricks and techniques in person
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  • BodyQuilting: How Kari Souders expresses the female body through quilt making
    I’ve always been intrigued by the link between contemporary and historical quilting, and the ways in which this traditional craft lives on in the work of modern day artists. Therefore, I was thrilled to have the chance to ask artist Kari Souders
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  • We Reveal Our Animal Alter Egos
    We received so many fun and interesting Let Out Your Inner Animal Challenge quilts from readers that the Quilting Arts editors decided we had to play, too.
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  • From Television to Textiles: An interview with artist and actress Lalla Ward
    There isn’t normally a great deal of crossover between acting and art quilting , but textile artist Lalla Ward has crossed this unusual divide. Well-known for her role as alien Romana in the BBC television series Dr. Who, Lalla now devotes the majority
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  • Send Me Your Letters
    This new month also means a new issue of Quilting Arts hits the newsstands! If you don't already have your copy of the February/March 2010 Quilting Arts , don't waste too much more time. This issue features an array of art quilting techniques
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  • Batik Made Easy: Hot Tips from Kathy York
    I like to think I'm always open to trying new things, especially when it comes to surface design methods. But there was one technique I shied away from: batik. I loved the effects, but doing it myself always seemed so complicated and time consuming.
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  • Introducing the Quilting Arts Community Spotlight: Janice Paine-Dawes
    We’re kicking off the new month with a new online feature: the Quilting Arts Community Spotlight. These spotlights will give us the opportunity to focus in on the work of some of our talented QA Community members, to share the stories behind their
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  • Especially for You: Six Issues of Quilting Arts on CD
    I have an uncanny (some on my staff would say freaky) ability to remember exactly what artist's article appeared in which issue of Quilting Arts , going back to the very first issue nearly 10 years ago. And up until recently, I've been able to put my hand on the printed page more quickly than
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  • Improve Your Machine Stitching Skills Now with Free Tips
    Makers of custom quilts and people who want to learn how to make a quilt, here is an invaluable resource on free-motion stitching: Free-Motion Machine Quilting - How to Make a Quilt: 67 Machine Stitching Tips and Motifs .
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  • Quilting Arts February/March 2010
    Creating Figures in Fabric; Leftover Dye Pillows; Turning fabric dyeing mistakes into masterpieces; Experimentations in resist dyeing; Embellish your quilts with simple machine stitching; Lession 1: Focus on color; A conversation with art quilter Barbara Walter; Major works by leading artists; Creating
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  • Good Food and Fiber Art: Enter our 2011 Quilting Arts Magazine Calendar Contest!
    This January, I’m all about soup. You see, I ate a little too much of this kind of thing while on vacation in Mexico: (the best chicken and mole I’ve ever had in my life) I received a glorious Le Creuset ® French oven for Christmas (basically
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  • A Magazine Cover to Combat Seasonal Affective Disorder!
    Have the frigid temps, icy roads, and price hikes in produce got you down? Let's see if we can cheer you up with a sneak peek at the February/ March 2010 cover of Quilting Arts... This cover features a detailed shot of Kathy York's "Falling
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  • Giveaway: Ringing in 2010 with Some Color & Texture
    I hope everyone was able to enjoy some time to themselves over the holidays! Since I was at our Interweave headquarters just before the break, I went skiing in Colorado for a couple of days. (This was to make The Husband happy.) Then when we came home
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  • Our Gift to You – Free Quilted Bag Patterns
    Heading out for a party on New Year's Eve and want to carry a stylish bag? Resolved to carry an eco-friendly tote bag rather than choose paper or plastic in 2010? Still looking for a last-minute homemade gift to whip together before Christmas? Maybe you just can't get enough quilted handbags
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  • Creating Lifelike Quilts: An interview with Barbara McKie
    I’m sure many of you did a double take when you saw the cover of the December 2009/January 2010 issue of Quilting Arts . The quilt, “My Buddy and Me,” by Barbara McKie (featured in the exhibit “SAQA@20: Art and Excellence”
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  • Get 6 Free Festive Patterns for Homemade Gifts & Décor
    So, you're hosting a holiday party and you want to personalize your dining room table-and quick! Look no further. In our latest Free e-Book, Handmade Quilts with Quilting Arts: 6 Free Sewing Patterns for Beautiful Handmade Gifts , we offer you six festive quilting and sewing projects to personalize
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  • Slow Sewing
    I am preparing for a class I will teach later this week. In this instance I was asked to do my Small Works, Big Impact class with a leaning toward painted imagery (rather than dye) and hand sewing. I love dye for its vibrancy, but paint is pretty awesome
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  • Stitched Holiday Fabric Cards
    Over the Thanksgiving Day holiday, I knew I needed to do something with my bin of fabric runts. You know what I'm referring to: those fabrics you made that didn't dye or screen successfully, but you just can't bear to throw them out. I decided
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  • Who Else Wants to Be Part of the Quilt Scene?
    I had all my fingers and toes crossed on the plane to Houston for International Quilt Festival last month, but it wasn't because I'm afraid of flying. No, we were debuting International Quilt Festival: Quilt Scene in a few days, and like a new quilter presenting her first piece for judging, I
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  • What’s New in the QA Community
    Our readers and online followers instantly made the QA Community the place to come and chat, share, and play show-and-tell. But each month we've added new features or updated previous ones. If you haven't stopped by the Community in a while, here's what you might have missed.
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  • Top Quilting Techniques Are Rewarded
    Maria Elkins couldn't wait to tell us the news, and no wonder. A few weeks ago, the International Quilt Association (IQA) notified her that two of her most recent quilts each won a category award in the fall Judged Show of the International Quilt Association's, Quilts: A World of Beauty.
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  • QUILT SCENE Online Extras are here!
    As many of you may know, our newest publication, INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL: QUILT SCENE, debuted last night at the Houston International Quilt Festival. And it's one gorgeous magazine, full of beautiful quilting and sewing projects, and articles
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  • What's New On the Quilt Scene: IQF/Houston Edition
    What's New On the Quilt Scene: IQF/Houston Edition - As you read this, I'm on the Quilt Scene at the International Quilt Festival/Houston , surrounded by some of the most beautiful quilts-and talented quilt artists-in the world.
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  • Quilting Arts October November 2009
    Designing Fabric; Sketches on fabric; Mixed-Media approach to quilting; dyeing technique; Sub Urban Art - selective Rusting; Edges; Monoprinting with texture plates; Journal quilts; Spontaneous explorations in color; Re-create your sketchbook images on cloth; Edges; Goddess at the last minute with Robbi
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  • The wonders
    I am back! While in Phoenix we stayed at a friends house. Upon entering her front door my guy noticed this mother and baby and it is a good thing I snapped a picture because the next day that li'l bird was fledged. Other great animals we saw? Bats
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  • Gone Fishin'
    Hey, are you on facebook? I am as Mells Testa. I say that because if you are on facebook and am my friend, you have probably seen these photos before. I am teaching Soy Wax with Paint over at Art Unraveled in balmy, Phoenix Arizona on Wednesday. Wow it's
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  • Long Beach, Baby!
    Arrow didn't want me to go to Long Beach, so he solved the problem by tucking himself into my luggage. Pretty lil guy. But went I did! Quilt Festival is new to me, it is like one big Partay, with the added benefit of gorgeous quilts, enthusiastic
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  • Busy Bee
    I have completed the forth I2Q Vid Prompt: Soy Wax!!! I dyed and surface designed my peasant blouse. And, well. I don't like my results. I like the shirt better in white. That is the bummer about blogging, you have reference of before and after. My
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  • Feeling the Love.
    I returned home from San Diego after teaching a great group of gals and found this! In my mailbox! Mailed. With postage applied to the back of the postcard and a hand written note from Jakquil (the woman who won my Pretty Purse give away). It seems to
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  • Quilting Arts Uncensored and Make It University! at International Quilt Festival/Long Beach
    OK, Everybody! It's time to take the “Quilting Arts Uncensored: The Stuff You're Not Supposed to Know” Quiz! Are you ready? Which of the following statements is true? A. For the very first Quilting Arts calendar we published in 2001
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  • Just Keep Swimming
    I am working on this: This is a piece that I began as a project for my book, but that I it messed up and put it aside. Although I have been attending some knit groups, I have not felt inspired to knit. Instead, I bring sewing projects. I embroider, bead
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  • I spoke, sold and teach
    Last night I went to my Alma Matter, The Fashion Institute of Techology and gave a small talk to a silk painting class. The teacher was one of my favorites when I went to school there, Zsu Zsi Dalquist. Or at least I hope that is how you spell it. Zsu
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  • Stitch, Spring 2009
    ON THE COVER: Tuesday Pillow features Print Me Susan Beal Customize your sewing with DIY screen-printed fabrics The Whir and the Power of Making Linzee Kull McCray Sewing with Diana Rupp, Founder of Make Workshop projects Stitch it Up Get creative with
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine February/March 2009
    Pokey Bolton chats with “Project Runway” winner Jay McCarroll; Venus-inspired art: from prehistoric times through the Renaissance; designing with ink pads; thread painting 101; hand embroidery; designing with Paintstiks®; glue gel resist; monoprinting fabrics, and many more art quilting
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine October/November 2008
    Designing with sheer fabrics; soy wax for batik; quilts from photos and drawings; expert advice on selling your art; mixed-media canvas books; quilt storage and preservation; printing on fabric with Maggie Grey; collaged journal quilts; collaborative stitched book project; more “Go Green!”
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  • Quilting Arts GIFTS and a Fabric Giveaway
    I feel such a huge sense of elation, relief and utter joy; I want to jump up and down, dance around the office, or go run along the beach and holler into the breeze. Why am I so giddy? The Quilting Arts GIFTS issue officially went to press today. I'm
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  • Recap of International Quilt Festival/Chicago
    International Quilt Festival/Chicago was such a blast––a heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited and participated in Make It University!(TM) with Cloth Paper Scissors. The area buzzed with energy, creativity, and laughs the entire weekend, thanks to
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  • Artwork in my studio
    It’s here, it’s here! The Studios issue has just arrived in our offices and oh my… I think it came out rather nicely. I hope you think so, too. In my extreme makeover article, I mention that I will share some of the artwork in my studio on our website
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine February/March 2008
    Collaged fabric panels with found objects; wholecloth facing technique; monoprinting fabrics, including sheers; free-motion machine quilting; mounting and framing art quilts; flour paste resist with Jane Dunnewold; painterly quilt collage; eco-friendly journal quilting; 2007 Journal Quilt Project; Goddess
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  • Handmade Show & Tell
    My, my...what a busy group of elves you've been this season. I was thrilled to receive so many emails with pictures of handmade gifts you've been making this year! Here's a sampling of ten gifts (randomly selected) that I hope will inspire
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  • QA TV Becomes a Reality!
    We're mid-way through taping Quilting Arts TV so I thought it would be fun to share my journey with you thus far. Let the pictures do the talking... I had to chuckle when I boarded my flight to the taping and saw this on the back of the seat in front
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine August/September 2007
    Machine needle felting with yarns, specialty fabrics, and digital image inspiration; the Kemshalls on quilting; binding techniques; autumn-themed art quilts; digital prints in fabric collage; discharging fabrics; India ink resist with Jane Dunnewold; 2008 Calendar; Inchies; from theme to series; Goddess
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  • Quilting Arts Magazine June/July 2007
    Design primer: space, notion, and rhythm; the Kemshalls on sketchbooks; rubber stamp stencils and Paintstiks®; paint and dye with Lutradur®; exploring fusible thread, water-soluble fabrics, and more; expanded squares with Jane Dunnewold; "Flower Power"paper quilt challenge results;
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  • <Blank>5
    I'm home in body but not in brain, so let the pictures of International Quilt Festival in Houston do the talking! See those relaxed, confident smiles on Virginia and Nancy's faces? Just the night before, they counted the loot from the FFAC postcards
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  • Quilting Arts Fall 2006
    Art Design Primer: Unity and Focal Point; Embellishing with Attitude; MajorMinors II South African Fibreworks Exhibition; Artist Profile: Karen Stiehl Osborn; Embellished Stitches & Exotic Threads; Interview with South African Artist: Rosalie Dace; Art Quilts at the Sedgwick; The Art of Journal Quilting;
    Read More >>
  • Inspired
    We enjoyed beautiful, Indian summer weather this past weekend, and I took a photo break Sunday afternoon to capture some images of my bucolic little town where I work and live: Stow, Massachusetts. When mishaps from the Big Dig aren't backing things
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  • Fabric Collage Postcards and ATCs
    I just got the sweetest letter yesterday from a seven-year-old boy named Will. I met him this past spring in Chicago at Make It U! and I remember finding him staring up at the wall of fabric ATCs we had displayed. Eyes wide, mouth agape, and neck craned
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  • Studio before and after
    The Big Clean If you saw my letter from the editor picture in this latest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors , you'll know what I mean when I say my studio easily could have been mistaken for the set of "The Swamp Thing." With the amount of clutter
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  • A Word on the Journal Quilt Project
    I've held such hope to enter the Journal Quilt Project since it's inception in 2003. I'm not alone. Every January the activity on the Quilt Art list surges as people like me who've never formally entered a show, are excited at the thought
    Read More >>
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