Artquiltmaker Blog – Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity

Why Take a Sampler Class

We all get excited about quiltmaking and want instant success. A lot of the current patterns are set up for that. I wholeheartedly agree that making a quilt or two out of the gate can set someone up as a life long quiltmaker.

Limiting yourself to patterns only limits your own creativity.

At some point, however, we want to go beyond making patterns. This is when making a sampler quilt or taking a sampler quilt class can add to your skills in a positive way.

A sampler is a quilt made from different blocks. The blocks can be anything, but in a good class each block represents a different skill. As you work through each block you add new skills to your quiltmaking toolbox. Once you have learned the basics, you have the skills to make your own designs, make quilts you see or make changes to patterns with confidence.

Handbag Sampler - all the blocks — Handbag Sampler – all the blocks

Even if you have been making quilts for awhile a sampler class can help you learn about block grids, resizing blocks and choosing better methods of construction. You also get a sense of when to press open and when to press to the side.

Making a sampler is also fun. You don’t get stuck making the same units over and over. Each block or section has something new. You can place fabrics in different places and get a break from chain piecing the same units.

Samplers can have themes as well. Star Samplers, like the one I made, are very popular. Samplers with curved blocks or using a certain specialty ruler can also be great learning experiences.

Look into a sampler class as your next workshop.

Pearce Complete

WOW! The Pearce is done. What a journey!

My Mom has been using it for a few days and she loves it. I am so relieved. I won’t tell her about the trials and tribulations.

It is a good thing I didn’t add that mesh pocket I discussed in the progress post! This was a challenging bag to put together. The final seam, as mentioned, was more than a bear.

I like the features that Sara added, such as the vertical pocket in the back.

I was able to use a leftover piece of zipper that I had laying around, thus the odd red zipper. Hopefully, it will add a visual cue to where my mom puts stuff. She uses that pocket for her glasses as it is too small for her phone.

I am running out of the Paint Tube fabric, so I had to find some other fabric that would coordinate. The dots are leftovers from a dress I had made for Politcal Wifery. It worked pretty well, I think. No complaints anyway.

The bag has two pockets. I added vertical credit card slots to both. I am glad I did and I would do it again. She uses the large pocket for her phone as well as various cards.

The small pocket is accessible, too. I think she uses this for her insurance card, driver’s license, etc.

I am pleased that she likes it. I feel like I should make another one, but am reluctant to take on that bear of a curve again.

Flower Motif #2

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves #2

This is the second of the blocks for the Country Revival/The Sad Quilt. I was able to lay it out much easier than the first block.

I added some solids I had in my pile of Tula fabrics and I think they look really good.

I am really in love with how this looks. I can’t wait to see how it looks sewn together.

I have started block 3, but I have only 4 pieces on the design wall, so not really much to show.

Multi-Pocket Organizer Complete

I finished the Multi-Pocket Organizer over the weekend. It is already off to its new home. I am kind of sad, because I would have liked to look at it a little longer, but birthdays are on a certain day and I wanted my friend to have it on or before the day.

I am super pleased with how this project came out, the directions and everything.

I think it was a great a great project to work on when I needed a break from the Pearce. The pattern is very straightforward and easy to follow. The skills required are somewhere between beginner and intermediate. I had never added an elastic pocket, so that was fun for me. The hardest part was the interior zipper pocket and they aren’t hard, really, just fiddly. If you have done one they are relatively straightforward. If you haven’t done one, then the directions in the pattern are great!

I don’t use fusible fleece** much for bags, but it works really well in this pattern. I didn’t quilt the pieces, which should come as no surprise, but quilted fabric would work in this pattern.

I might try foam one time if I make one in the future.

I am not sure I chose well when I picked that floral as it doesn’t go well with the neon pink stripe. Still I like both fabrics. For the next one, I might choose a solid for the fabric under the pocket and use the pocket fabric for the back as well. The pocket covers up so much of the exterior, as is often the case with a front pocket, that I like to use a fabulous fabric for the front pocket.

Half of my handbag is a mess! You know: lipgloss and a mask and two granola bars, a pad of paper, etc, etc. It needs an organizer. Before I sent off this bag, I tried it out in my handbag. It’s a bit of a squeeze and might not work when full, but maybe worth a try. I can always use it in my Kit Supply Tote, if it doesn’t end up working in my handbag. Perhaps I should see if I still have some of that Butterfly fabric. It might make a good pouch regardless of where I use it.

I really like this pattern and will probably make one for myself. It might be a good addition to Mom’s Sewing Date Traveler, which worked REALLY well in the hospital. I am definitely not done with this pattern yet.

**N.B.: Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

Remembering September 11

Another year and I don’t think things are better. I blame Geo. W in general for the way the world is now. If he had acted differently, things might be different now. Fewer post 9/11 dead, fewer wars, less nationalism and hatred. Of course, some of the post-9/11 Presidents haven’t helped the situation. Easy for me to say, I know.

The same old men are still in charge. There are still people dying in the Middle East. I am not excusing the radicals; I just don’t know if there is anything that can make everyone tolerate everyone else, stop killing each other for religion and stay in their lane. It is depressing to think about.

There are now adults who weren’t even born on that day, which I know I said last year. Now they are in the workplace and don’t even react when September 11 is mentioned. There are even more adults who were too young to remember. Do they even care?

I made two quilts to commemorate the lives lost during the destruction of the Twin Towers. The first one was Fireball, which is the imagery I saw as I sat and watched TV the week after the event.

I was doing woven art pieces at the time and this is one of them. It is chaotic, reminds me of smoke and flames. This is a small quilt, maybe 12×12, and I was able to channel the pure emotion into this piece as I made it very quickly. The quilt was shown at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2001.

The quilt I really wanted to make took longer. I wanted to plead for something different than what ended up coming out of that terrible day. I wished for something different than a 20+ year war. People just want to fight when they are attacked; they don’t want to talk. What Comes Next is above and is one of my favorite quilts even though it had no effect.

This is a hard post for me to write. I had to force myself once again to write it this year, to get the message of What Comes Next out there, so, perhaps, people will think and do something different next time, though I hope there isn’t a next time.

Motif Metamorphosis

I had the Flower motif from the Country Revival pattern** on my design wall for a long time without sewing it together. It wasn’t quite right and looking at it was the only way to figure out how to improve it. I knew I couldn’t use white in the place I had put it originally-leaf area around the outside. I wanted to use white as a background and the white as shown would be lost and change the shape of the flower motif completely. I also didn’t know what to do.

I often find that if I just do something, then I can get started improving a piece.

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves

The first thing I did was decide the white ‘petals’ needed to be replaced with green and become leaves. It was a good start.

I liked the addition of the green, but decided I needed more and different greens. In this photo there are two different Tilda fabrics. One reason is that I used some of the green on the tips of the flowers for a pillowcase for my friend. I didn’t have much left, but I wanted to include some so it would kind of match the pillowcase. I had just enough to make four leaves.

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.3

I wasn’t 100% happy with the look and feel. I really wanted an emerald green solid. I didn’t have that so I tried some dots. They were close to an emerald green and looks like a great addition to the overall look.

I still felt like there was nowhere for the eye to rest, so I moved some of the tall, skinny pieces with the slightly curved tops around. Better, but not perfect.

I added in some of the Dovetail by Ghazal Razavi background I bought at Bay Quilts with Julie a few weeks ago. It is a bright white, which I like and the many colors go well. I know it is hard to see in the photo. You can enlarge the photo to see it better.

Country Revival/Sad Quilt flower motif with leaves v.4

I can’t get away from symmetry, so I cut more pieces and changed the fabrics around so there was more symmetry, e.g. the piece looked more symmetrical.

I know the changes are slight and hard to see. I changed the corner fabrics and moved some of the other greens around.

My eye was honing in on the pink dots. I wasn’t liking them, but I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t want to add more of the pink solid as I thought it would overwhelm the piece in general. For the moment, this is the final version of block 1. I may make some more changes, but I decided to work on a second block and give myself a rest from the pink.

I love that pink and blue Tilda fabric and it is now much less prominent. I’ll have to use it in another block.

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.

Sew Day Fun

Amy and I survived being MaryC yesterday! It took us longer to do the setup than it takes Mary; thank the quiltmaking goddesses that Friend Julie came early to help as well.

Sew Day for me actually started on Thursday. I wanted a piece of Beatty Cake and that meant making one. I did the baking of the layers on Thursday and frosted it on Friday. Friday was also the day I decided on projects.

I didn’t work on all the projects I brought along.

It occurred to me that I still hadn’t made v.2 of the hat I planned. The fabric and new pattern were already in the bag so that was one project. I also thought about working on one of the Patchwork Palooza blocks I need to make to catch up. In went the fabrics for that project (I need to clear out one of my project bags!). I also put my scrap bin, well overflowing scrap bin, in the bag. Finally, I put a few Half Hexie Star strips in so I could cut some Four Patch Fun patches.

Scrap cutting - Sept 2025 — Scrap cutting – Sept 2025

Of all of those projects, I cut out the Four Patch Fun units and worked on clearing out my scrap bin.

I made good progress on cutting the strips and random shapes I use for the Color Strip and Color Improv quilts. This time I toss out more pieces than I have in the past. I did this more at the end of the day as I was getting tired. I did it mostly with plain white fabrics. My white scrap bin is close to overflowing and the plain white fabrics aren’t interesting. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t know the scraps were going to fill Cubies for kids.

I also trimmed a few HSTs that I will use for something.

Scraps regular shapes - Sept 2025 — Scraps regular shapes – Sept 2025

I also had large enough pieces to cut some of the regular shapes I add to my stash.

I have a tidy stack of 5″ squares which replace the ones I used for a new EPP ball. I also cut some 2.5 inch squares for my use later (left) and for donation blocks (right). Between the two stacks of 2.5 inch squares are a small stack of 2″ squares for Blue Lemonade and a 1.5 inch stack for the next Scrap Dash quilt. I did cut a stack of 1.5 x 2.5 inch squares also for Scrap Dash, but I couldn’t find them when I was ready to take the photo. I need a tray or something for transport.

I forgot to bring the donation top and back that I finished. I’ll bring it to the next event, but that is a disappointment. I wanted to keep up my streak of handing in a quilt top at each Sew Day. Oh well, at least it is made.

Cyndi stopped by with her goat quilt. She was on the way the shower, but wanted to show us all. This quilt had 50+ pieces in each block. Cyndi used some more colorful language to describe the number of pieces. LOL!

The goats are wearing pajamas and some of the pajama fabrics have motifs that are special to the couple and will have some meaning for the baby.

The Free table was also full. Peggy brought more of Rhonda’s things to give away. I picked up some more bag hardware and may have to start focusing my bag projects on what hardware I have.

It was a fun day and I talked to a lot of people. We even had a visitor, which was nice. I hope she joins.

Pearce Problems

The Pearce is not going well. This curve is nearly impossible to sew on the machine. I have tried at least 4 times and ripped it out that many. Right now it is on timeout while I finish the Multi-Pocket Organizer.

The bad part is that this was going SOOO well. I got to the point where there was one seam left to sew (photo left) really easily. I mean the pattern has been a bit of a challenge, but nothing like I am experiencing with that last curve.

I am afraid I should have sewed the curve first. If I make this again, I will do that. For now, I will think about what to do and get back to it in a few days.

Multi-Pocket Organizer Start

Because I don’t have enough to do I decided to make a bag for my friend Jen who had a birthday last week. I made her an Enigma Pouch last year. She is a fantastic person for whom to make bags, because she uses them.

I started it the other day when I was having a Sew Day with Tim and it went very quickly. The fabric is pink, which matches the color scheme of her Enigma, but I didn’t have anymore of the fabric I used, so I had to select new fabrics.

Multi-Pocket Organizer exterior in process

I had to stop working on the Pearce (it needed a timeout). Fortunately I had brought this bag along and very quickly got the exterior together.

I need to work on the center divider and the interior.

This is a Sotak Handmade pattern. I bought it in 2023. As I work on it, I think it might qualify as a purse organizer or insert. I am not sure Svetlana (at Sotak) would agree. She has another purse organizer pattern, which I have made. That pattern is very different from the handbag organizers in the post above. This pattern, the Multi-pocket Organizer, is similar to the ones I made for my Mom from the Sew Sweetness Mustang pattern.

I am starting to think I need to make myself something like this.

Book Review: Handmade Style

Handmade Style: 23 Must-Have Basics to Stitch, Use, and Wear by Anna Graham

I saw the Carry-All Pincushion somewhere and thought about making my own pattern. I never did it and when I saw the pincushion again I checked the library then I realized they had this book, so I borrowed it. I saved myself some time and got to take a look at a book by a designer whose patterns I have used and liked. Remember the Poolside Tote?

The first thing I noticed is that this book is photo heavy. I am not sure it has more photos than other books I have reviewed, but the arrangement makes it seem like more. Leafing through shows the number of photos and the organization of the book.

The text starts with a short introduction. The introduction has no biographical information, just Anna Graham’s wish for readers of the book and a little advice. There are a few pages of photos to pique the reader’s interest in the whole book. Each of the three sections has only photos with the name of the project. There are a few pictures of each project from different angles as well and the page on which the reader can find the instructions. The book is not organized with all the information together (e.g. project photos and instructions). I kind of like this arrangement.

The ‘To Wear’ section (pg.11-19) starts right after the introduction. This section has a dress, flip flops (!!!), pg.14-15, a tunic and metal bracelets.

‘To Wear’ is followed by ‘To Carry’ (pg20-39). The texture on the bag that designates this new section (pg.21) is great. It makes the bag look very sturdy and useful. The pictures show projects ranging from totes, pouches and cases to a variety of bags, zippered cases and wallets. The Market Bag (pg.26) is a favorite.

The final section is called ‘To Use’. This covers a myriad of projects including quilts, pillows, a floor poof (pg.50-51), and various baskets. This is the section where the Carry-All Pincushion (pg.56-57) can be found.

The photos used in the three sections are very appealing. They are staged well and make me want to make more than one of the projects.

The only how-to section covers the making and attaching of double fold bias tape, pg.62-63. After learning to make double fold bias tape, the instructions for the projects start on page 65. The project instructions are the bulk of the book.

The illustrations in the instructions all look hand drawn. Each pattern or project instruction is from 2-4 pages long. Some projects include tips in sidebar format about doing some step or a special technique. For example, off to the side of the Metal Bracelets instructions, pg.74-75, is a sidebar of how to install rivets and grommets (pg.75). In the Makeup Travel Case pattern, a sidebar on handmade piping is included, pg.95.

In addition to installing rivets and grommets and making piping, quite a few bagmaking techniques and other techniques are included in the book. These including installing an adjustable slider (pg.107), installing magnetic snaps (pg.100-101), adding darts (pg. 110-111) and a couple of different zipper techniques.

Some of the smaller projects, like the Gadget Case (pg.28-29, 86-87) would make relatively quick gifts.

There is a glossary, pg.138-139, which explains a lot of the terms used in the book. I like some of the definitions, such as ‘top stitching,’ but found some to be lacking. Fusible Interfacing is described as ‘interfacing with a special glue that adheres the interfacing to fabric with the heat of an iron.’ My question after reading that definition is WHY? Why do you need interfacing, what is it good for, etc.

The resources section has vendors with whom I am familiar. This is a 2015 book, so some vendors are out of business. I was pleased to see some new resources that might provide some new bag hardware finishes or different prices.

This book is worth a look.

View all my reviews

JayeL on Motif MetamorphosisMonday, September 15, 2025
Thanks! I like the fabrics and they are a dream to work with. However, the colors and motifs are a…
JayeL on Patchwork Palooza 1Monday, September 15, 2025
Thanks! I am now keeping up with the ones released on Fridays.
JayeL on Remembering September 11Monday, September 15, 2025
That is the only hope I have as well. At least I have the comfort that I brought my offspring…
JayeL on Remembering September 11Monday, September 15, 2025
I have no answer to that question, but I hope something will change. I fear the change will be worse…
JulieZS on Motif MetamorphosisSaturday, September 13, 2025
This is a such a great post, I love seeing the thought process of your color and fabric choices. I…