This past weekend my local quilt guild held its biennial quilt show. (Special shout out to blog reader, Martha, for coming by to say hello when I was working the mini quilt table!) I thought I'd share a peek at some of my favorite quilts (and quilted pieces) from the show: There was a great mix of traditional and art quilts. I, personally, tend to gravitate towards the art quilts -- which you can see in these photos. Here are links to some of the quilters websites/social media where I could find them. I also included links to the quilt... Read more →

Back in 2018, I took a class from Pat Pauly. I came home with yards and yards and yards of fabric that I printed over the five day class. It's no secret that one of the keys to me being prolific is that I'm very fast when it comes to making things. I did so much printing that I had to buy more fabric half way through class! Over the past few years I've pretty much been hoarding my pretty fabric. I did use it to make some shirts for myself... ...but that's pretty much been it. (BTW: It's the... Read more →

I love the look of a quilted coat! I believe that all of these beautiful coats were made by the person who also made the quilt: source source source source source source Now, if you don't quilt you can buy a quilt and make it into a coat. But that turns out to be quite controversial. Someone recently sent me this video and I have to say that I had a strong reaction to it. I'd love to know your thoughts on quilts being cut into coats and other objects. Yay or nay? Thanks for stopping by! Read more →

Believe it or not, it turns out that I make more things than I can share here on the blog! It's crazy, but true. I make A LOT of stuff. And I've got the messy desk to prove it! So here are a few things I've made recently and haven't had time to share with you! I made this mug for my Mom! I used some food-safe markers I had sitting around from a project I did back in 2015. They're food-safe, dishwasher-safe, and microwave-safe. I don't think they're made anymore, but the Pebeo ones have been around for years... Read more →

I'm going to be giving a lecture on Surface Design in Quilting at the Watertown Public Library tonight. The event is free, but reservations are required. Here's the flyer for the event: If you're interested in learning more about Surface Design on fabric, here are four tutorial videos I've shared over the years, specifically about printing/painting on fabric: I'm going to tell you the most important things to remember about painting/stamping/drawing/printing/etc. on fabric. If you're not going to wash the fabric, then anything goes. Use any art supply in your stash and have fun! If you are going to wash... Read more →

Don't let the alphabet soup title of this post scare you! It's important to understand file extensions so that you can create all of the magical projects you dream up. FCM - This is the proprietary file extension that the ScanNCut uses for cutting data. PES - This is a machine embroidery file extension. I like to use a program called Simply Applique in order to help my ScanNCut and my Brother embroidery machine "talk" to each other in order to make projects like this: In the video in this post I share how to take a PES embroidery file...... Read more →

I had a wonderful group of artists in my live online Screen Printing at Home class. Here are two nice notes I got from students after class: "Thanks for an awesome class Julie! You're an excellent teacher. I came away with a much better understanding of the process and some good ideas for the future." "Thanks for demystifying screen printing -- so much simpler than I thought, and no fancy anything required! I can't wait to start playing!" I thought you might like to see some of the demo pieces I created during class. We printed on paper and fabric.... Read more →

I took some of my screen printed fabric and made a flat bottom zipper bag with it: The screen printed fabric I used for the pouch has a real grungy feeling to it (as opposed to the screen printed fabric I used as the background in these photos). I think that the grungy feeling makes it feel perfect for storing art supplies. It has funky flair but I'm not at all worried about accidentally ruining it with a splash of paint or an uncapped marker. Originally, I was going to use the fabric you see in the background to make... Read more →

I stumbled across Erin Wilson's work on Pinterest and it was love at first sight. I like all of her work, but her works on paper are the answer to so many questions I have about my voice in quilting. From her website: 8” x 10” paper dimensions 5” x 5” approximate artwork dimensions hand-dyed cottons pieced and stitched onto archival paper I loooooooove it. I love piecing. I love the art and architecture of piecing. But I haaaaaate the quilting part. This feels like such an elegant solution to that problem. (Also, I love that it isn't square and... Read more →

Have you heard of artist Margo Hoff? This is her bio from the David Cook Galleries website: A prolific artist, Margo Hoff's exquisite style evolved throughout her career yet was always rooted in the events, people, and places in her life. The human experience was her sole focus, expressed through her eyes alone. Born in 1910 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Hoff began creating white, clay animals at a young age, giving them to her friends and family. At eleven she contracted typhoid fever and was bedridden for a summer. During her convalescence, she drew and made cutouts, and it was during... Read more →