WHILE I TRAVEL

 When this posts I will have just returned from a week out West, to Yosemite and Arnold CA, for Lynn Wilder’s retreat. There will be a big post about that soon. 

We walked

We snacked

We sewed

And we laughed and learned:

I gave my presentation “TIME MANAGEMENT for QUILTERS”. It was very well received. Here is just a taste of it for you, my top 3 Tips for Time Management:

Top Tips for Time Management. Click this link to read that post.

Enjoy and I’ll be back soon!

Let’s quilt.

Barbara

LAUREL RIDGE -- MONTH 12

Laurel Ridge is the 2025 Block of the Month quilt designed by Lynn Wilder exclusively for The Quilt Show.  Star Members have FREE access to the patterns starting January 1, 2025. Made in two colorways, the complete patterns are excellent. You will love making this quilt. Lynn supports the pattern instructions with Videos too.  

We made it! It's time to ASSEMBLE your quilt top! 

Grandmother's Autumn colorway

Granddaughter's Spring colorway

VERY IMPORTANT CUTTING UPDATE: SPACER STRIPS  (A)  ARE CUT 3” x 10.5” 

The quilt is put together in a variety of sections. The directions are thorough and easy to follow. What could possibly go wrong??!!

It is very EASY to get something turned around, between the design wall/area and your sewing machine. Just ask me how I know. 

Here is what happened to me as I rushed to get my top assembled months ago:

What NOT TO DO!

A friend pointed out I had turned the middle row section completely around, 180 degrees WRONG. She wasn't familiar with Laurel Ridge so she was trying to see the overall LAYOUT of the pattern. She spotted quickly what I couldn't see. Thanks, Nina!

I was willing to confess this to you on a LIVE broadcast, so that hopefully, you won't do what I did. Later that day Pat H. reached out to me with the sad news I had messed up 3 more blocks--those easy half square triangle blocks in the upper left section! Oh, no!! How did I DO THAT?!  Thanks, Pat!

It was EASY. There is a LOT of sewing here, lots of sections, taken off the wall, sewn together, put back on the wall. One simple misplaced block will require hours of work to fix. The big section took 2.5 hours to fix, the 3 small blocks took more than 3 hours to fix because they were in 3 different rows.

It is EASIER TO DO IT RIGHT, than to have to FIX IT. My TIPS:

1. Take it slow. 

2. If you're tired, stop.

3. Use photos to "see" what your eye can miss. 

4. Get another set of eyes to check you out BEFORE you assemble the various Sections.

In my own defense, I did not have the MONTH 12 ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS until recently and my quilt was assembled in June. All I had to follow was the photo of the completed quilt, enlarged on my computer and IPad. 

Fortunately, my mistakes were brought to my attention while it was still a top. If they had been found after the quilting I would have had to say "It was a DESIGN DECISION". But I would have been very disappointed in myself.  

I added the borders with MITERED SEAMS, rather than straight seams. It allows me to make "border fabric" by sewing the inner border to the outer border BEFORE SEWING THE BORDERS to the quilt:

I tried to keep the floral fabric in the same orientation so I labeled them as I sewed

Once sewn  I carefully drew a 45 degree sewing line

I  had to piece the floral for needed length, it is not visible on the quilt

Mitered seam sewn and pressed open

I love the look of a mitered seam

You might not be surprised by now: I HAVE A TUTORIAL on mitered seam borders:

MITERED BORDERS  Lots of photos and detailed explanations

My remaining TIP is that you make a LABEL for this, and ALL YOUR QUILTS. It tells the who, what, why, when and where of this quilt. The designer and quilter, if not you, needs to be  recognized. See my Label Tutorial for more information:

LABEL TUTORIAL

It's time for my annual REMINDER: all the patterns for LAUREL RIDGE, both colorways, are ONLY AVAILABLE FREE TO STAR MEMBERS until December 31, 2025. After that date, all rights to the patterns return to the designer. No one on The Quilt Show, including Star Members, can give any of these patterns to anyone after the end of this year. That is copyright violation. We respect and protect our designers so we can continue to provide these valuable quilt projects FREE TO OUR MEMBERS. Any patterns you are missing you will have to buy from the designer.

If you haven't saved all the patterns, do it now. If you haven't started, but think you might "someday", save them now. There will be an easy link available soon to save all of the patterns at once. The GOOD NEWS is my blogs remain available free as always, with no ads, pop-ups or anything for sale. Just me sharing what I know.

If you are not currently a STAR MEMBER, JOIN any time before December 31, 2025  and you will have full access to ALL the LAUREL RIDGE patterns as well as the INTRODUCTION to the 2026 BOM--it's so good!  

I hope you have enjoyed making LAUREL RIDGE. It may have taught you a lot, more than you know right now. 

See you in 2026 with the new BLOCK OF THE MONTH--it's another great one!

Let's quilt.

Barbara

LAUREL RIDGE -- MONTH 11

Laurel Ridge is the 2025 Block of the Month quilt designed by Lynn Wilder exclusively for The Quilt Show.  Star Members have FREE access to the patterns starting January 1, 2025. Made in two colorways, the complete patterns are excellent. You will love making this quilt. Lynn supports the pattern instructions with Videos too. 

Month 11 brings us to the rest of the block piecing. There are two parts to this month's pattern: the CENTER BLOCK  and the remaining 20 FOUR PATCH IN A STAR BLOCKS.  The pattens have now moved to PAGE 2 in the LAUREL RIDGE 2025 BOM Patterns listing, find them there.

The pattern instructions for the CENTER BLOCK are easy to follow. They are pages 1-9 in Month 11.  There are a few new techniques and some old favorites. Here are the centers, each is 20" finished, 20.5" with seam allowance:

Granddaughter's SPRING

Grandmother's AUTUMN

My center is completely different so I did not make it according to the pattern. I also added some additional fabrics to my quilt. As long as the fabrics look like they "belong" in the quilt, they are fine:

In addition to the CENTER BLOCK, there are 20 more FOUR PATCH IN A STAR Blocks to make. We have done these twice before this year. They are the last 4 pages in the pattern. 

Find my previous posts about them here:

MONTH 1

MONTH 7  I discuss my cutting changes for the Star Points that allow me to quickly and accurately draw the lines on the back of the small squares. 

You will find these easy to do at this point. Here is the Autumn version:

The two gold blocks in the lower right 

Once you have the CENTER BLOCK and FOUR PATCH IN A STAR blocks done, you are ready to assemble the quilt. That is MONTH 12, also released now. 

It's time for my annual REMINDER: all the patterns for LAUREL RIDGE, both colorways, are ONLY AVAILABLE FREE TO STAR MEMBERS until December 31, 2025. After that date, all rights to the patterns return to the designer. No one on The Quilt Show, including Star Members, can give any of these patterns to anyone after the end of this year. That is copyright violation. We respect and protect our designers so we can continue to provide these valuable quilt projects FREE TO OUR MEMBERS. Any patterns you are missing you will have to buy from the designer.

If you haven't saved all the patterns, do it now. If you haven't started, but think you might "someday", save them now. There will be an easy link available soon to save all of the patterns at once. The GOOD NEWS is my blogs remain available free as always, with no ads, pop-ups or anything for sale. Just me sharing what I know.

If you are not currently a STAR MEMBER, JOIN any time before December 31, 2025  and you will have full access to ALL the LAUREL RIDGE patterns as well as the INTRODUCTION to the 2026 BOM--it's so good!  

There are so many good lessons in this quilt, you may find yourself returning to them over time as you work on other projects. Each new skill you learn adds to your "toolbox" of magic tricks as a quiltmaker.

Let's quilt,

Barbara

INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL HOUSTON 2025 PART 2

 It always surprises me to see the quilts friends post from Festival and how different many of them are from the photos I took. That just shows that there is something for everyone at Festival!

BEST OF SHOW:  The Visitation by Ricky Tims:

                                                    

Watch this documentary of how Ricky made this quilt to see why it is truly the BEST OF SHOW 2025:

THE VISITATION DOCUMENTARY

Another big winner is Karen Kay Buckley's COLOR MY WORLD. It was awarded the Innova Master Award for Contemporary Artistry:

I am a fan as well as a friend

Machine Quilting

Hand Applique and Embroidery

And now for some of the quilts I felt the urge to photograph in no particular order:

NO DIRECTION HOME by Randa Milford-this is four separate pieces

EMILIA by Hugo Dos Santos, his FIRST quilt!

PEACOCK by Naomi Ootomo of Toda-shi

detail

detail 

One very large quilt in Special Exhibits--it is hard to photograph the entire quilt:

RUSTY JANE by Dena Angela Miskel

THE MAN LOST IN HIS MEMORIES by Marina Landi with Fabia Diniz--this also won VIEWER'S CHOICE

detail 

COLOR SPLASH GARDEN by Karen Kay Buckley

ONE EARTH, ONE ESSENCE by Paula Rafferty

IF NOT NOW, THEN ... WHEN? by Karla Nitz

SOUND OF SILENCE by Susan de Vanny

THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY by Rosanne Williamson

I love seeing past Block of the Month quilts from The Quilt Show:

RUFFLED ROSES by Deborah McCormick and Julia Quiltoff

From the FINE FEATHERED QUILTS Special Exhibit:

TULIPIERE by Tracey Moyer

                                                    

                                                    

RED And GOLD FEATHERED STAR by Sondra Park with Cynthia Clark

Quilts by local friends from home:

MIAMI MEETS MANHATTAN by Ben Darby

FUNKY PICKLES by Ben Darby

AMAZING GRACE by Kari Hawkins

KALEIDOSCOPE GARDEN by Judy Ballance and Patty Wilson

CHERRYWOOD CHALLENGE ABYSS EXHIBIT:

FROM THE DEPTHS Sally Wright

Sue Bartlow

COOKING THE BOOKS by Sally Wright--in the Reading and Remembrance - A Tribute to Barbara Bush Special Exhibit

These few photos are just a tiny bit of the more than 1100 quilts on display this year. This is a show not to be missed!

In case you missed it, see my previous post about my TEACHING and FRIENDS experience:

HOUSTON QUILT FESTIVAL PART 1

Let's quilt.

Barbara