Tomorrow kicks off the Quilt Market and Quilt Festival fun in Houston, and while I’ll be hanging out at home (participating in #missingmarket on IG, though!), all of our Quilt Theory quilts and a few of our fearless team members will be representing in Houston. We are so excited to have our patterns at Market and Festival, so if you’re going to Houston, please stop by and say hi (and take a photo for me!)
Here’s where you might spot some Quilt Theory goodness if you’ll be there too! (For those of you like me who can’t make it, you can follow everything on Instagram @quilt.theory and there will be a recap on the Quilt Theory blog when everyone is home and settled).
First off, one of the amazing Quilt Theory designers and my good friend, Stephanie Palmer will be participating in a schoolhouse session with Christa Watson and Leah Day on book publishing at Quilt Market. If you have any interest in writing a book or just want to hear some great folks speak, definitely check them out on Friday at 4:55pm… these ladies know their stuff!
Scrappy Geese Quilt, the back of our postcard, and Michelle, so you know who you’re looking for at Market!Michelle Bartholomew will be joining in the fun on Saturday & Sunday, walking around the convention center, taking photos and chatting up whomever she can! She is bringing some exclusive quilty postcards to hand out too, so if you are there, be sure to hunt her down, say hi, and take a few postcards to mail to your friends back home (pst… like me!!)!
Tiled Parquet, Ocean Path, and Strip It Down will be at Checker DistributorsIf you’ve been excited to see all of the quilts in person, the wait is over! Three of the quilts (Tiled Parquet, Ocean Path–that’s mine!, and Strip It Down) will be in the Checker Distributor’s area along with all of our patterns. Scrappy Geese (shown in the top photo), will be in the Michael Miller Fabrics area.
Jelly Lanterns, Cross Cabins, and Highland Tile will be at Quilt Festival
Additionally, Stephanie will have a booth at Quilt Festival for the Quilter’s Planner. Yvonne Fuchs from Quilting Jetgirl, another one of our wonderful designers, will be joining her in her booth and will have Quilt Theory patterns available for sale. They’ll also have three of the quilts on display (Jelly Lanterns, Cross Cabins, & Highland Tile).
Have a great time if you are going to Houston, and be sure to say hi to Michelle, Stephanie, and Yvonne for me!
We are so excited to announce the kick-off of the very first Quilter’s Planner Instagram Sew-Along, taking place over on the 
This pattern is super versatile and perfect for using up scraps! Make as a holiday gift, a scrap buster, or just a fun project with your quilting friends. The Sew-Along will run now through the middle of December, giving a little extra time for the piecing and quilting steps to allow for family time around the holidays.
It’s finally time to share one of the big “secret sewing” projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the past few months! Those of you who are also on social media have most likely seen the announcement that I have teamed up with six (6) other pattern designers to launch a new company called 
First, I’d like to introduce you to 
Living in midcoast Maine, an ocean path felt like the perfect inspiration for my quilt. I wanted to embrace the simple beauty of nature while providing a pattern that could be adapted to fit any color scheme, style, or decor.
I should note here that the stunning photos included in this post were taken by 
Using simple construction from easily cut triangles and sashing, this quilt comes together in a breeze. Generous negative space provides room for intricate free motion quilting, or you could finish it with simple modern straight line quilting.
Many thanks to 
I quilted Ocean Path with echoing, organic triangles within each colored portion using 50wt 
All of the Quilt Theory patterns are simple enough to be printed on 4″x6″ cards or a single page downloadable pdf. At only $3 each, they are perfect for gift giving or collecting, too!
To celebrate the launch of Quilt Theory, I am giving away a copy of my pattern, Ocean Path (printed or PDF, your choice!) along with a PDF of all of the Quilt Theory Coloring Pages. I’m also including 
Each of these Farmer’s Wife blocks manage to pack quite a punch in the little 6 1/2″ space. My method of attack when deciding how to piece each block has been consistent: how can I piece this with as little muss and fuss as possible? With Sylvia, at first I was thinking chain piecing would be the way to go, since it would help minimize the teeny tiny pieces in the inner borders I’d need to cut and sew. Looking at it more closely, I decided that with this block, even chain piecing would require piecing TINY bits, cutting, and then piecing again. Plus, sixteenths of an inch!? No thank you! Finally, I decided that foundation paper piecing was the way to go, since:
Ready to get sewing? Make sure you have a grasp on how to foundation paper piece, and let’s make Sylvia!
As soon as I saw this block, I knew that I wanted to meticulously cut the center square. I’m arranging my blocks on point, so be mindful of your own plans before meticulously cutting your fabric! (I call “fussy cutting” meticulous cutting, and you can read why 
Mark the specific piece you want to meticulously cut. I went a little overboard on marking mine for the sake of clarity here. I circled the number but also traced just outside the line of the particular piece, both with bright pink sharpie. Simply circling the number would probably suffice!
Cut out the center of the piece, creating a window that is exactly the size of the piece you want.
Draw a 3/8″ seam allowance around the window. I used a green micron pen for this example to ensure the line didn’t get confused with the printed lines on the paper.
Cut along the line you drew.
You should how have a planning template to help you cut your fabric for fussy cutting. Notice that I placed my planning template onto the fabric upside down. This is because in foundation paper piecing, we are sewing the block on the reverse side of the template. It did not matter too much for this particular piece, since it’s a square, but always be mindful of directionality of the fabric as well as wrong side-right side. If need be, mark your planning template with “right side up” or “wrong side up” so that your fabric is cut properly!
Between sewing the fabric on the reverse side of the paper, having the block broken into sometimes odd sections before sewing, and the many pieces involved in most foundation paper piecing patterns, it is in your best interest to color code your paper template before beginning to sew. This way, you can be sure you sew each fabric in the proper place.
Especially when first getting started with foundation paper piecing, one of the biggest tips I can offer is to be generous with your fabric pieces. It’s better to have to trim a bit more off than to be short and have to rip stitches! For my bright blue squares on Sylvia, I cut the fabric into 1 1/2″ squares, which as you can see includes ample overhang.
This tip goes for bag-making as well: just because there is a template created for a perfectly rectangular piece, it doesn’t mean you can’t use your rotary cutter and ruler! The outer pieces of Sylvia can be easily cut using a rotary cutter and ruler, which will save time with paper removal at the end. Since these pieces are not easily measured (let’s avoid using sixteenths of an inch if we can help it!) simply cut out the foundation paper piece templates and use them as a guide when rotary cutting. Use the foundation paper piecing method to piece the center portion, then add the D, E, H, and I rectangles using traditional piecing methods. Easy peasy!
And there you have it. Sylvia, in all her glory.
*Spoiler alert* My tip for her was to know your limits. When every project is a priority with a quickly approaching deadline, it’s difficult to make a prioritized list and keep yourself organized. On normal weeks, the prioritized list I make in my 
Night Quilter 