Stacey Day Book Tour

What an absolute thrill to have the opportunity to be a part of Stacey Day's book tour!

Her new book 'Child's Play Quilts' is filled with adorable and quick quilts. Broken down into sections talking about color and fabric, looking after your stash, and last but not least, a wonderful variety of appliqué and pieced patterns. The instructions are easy to follow with lots of pictures to keep you on track and inspired!
Stacey is giving away a copy of her book over on her blog,  and on her instagram @staceyinstitches.

I had the opportunity to work with her quilt pattern in the book called 'Whirling'. It was so easy and fun to make, and you guessed it, the pattern had circles! 

This is the quilt Stacey made for her book, isn't it gorgeous!


I chose to work with Riley Blake Designs gingham collection to make it playful.
The instructions were easy to follow and while I didn't make the full sized quilt in the book, I did make a smaller wall hanging.

You can get your own copy of the book here. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

I chose to use a rainbow of gingham colors on a grey print background. 

The block above,  I pieced the fabric together in fan type sections and then cut so I would get a variety of colours in each circle. 

I chose a simple straight line stitching on the quilt to keep with the modern theme I wanted. 

As always my favourite place to take pictures is on old barns. 

Be sure to visit Stacey's blog and on her Instagram for a chance to win a book!  Drop by and see me on my Instagram @jackiesartquilts!

Fun-Size Quilts

WOOHOOO!!!!   Seriously you have no idea how excited this makes me!   I am one of the designers in this book! I would write this whole post with exclamation marks! But then you might really think I have way too much enthusiasm=)


Fun-Size Quilts is a book by Martingale comprised of quilts all made using a handful of fat quarters.Sigh...you should see the talented quilters in this book - Melissa Corry, Jeni Baker, and Julie Herman to name a few.

Here is my quilt. 

My Little Garden by Jackie White

I made it one day when I felt like playing with my favourite embellishments - ric rac and buttons. You may also notice that other than the background, all the fabric is covered in polka dots. This quilt just makes me smile=)

All the quilts are different and so unique. Here are a couple to wet your appetite. This one is by Heather Valentine. Don't you love her whimsical flowers?

'Garden Variety' by Heather Valentine

Missy Shepler grabs your attention with this bold modern quilt. I can't wait to try this one to see how she made this.

'Elongated Triangles' by Missy Shepler

How adorable are the little foxes made by Jeni Baker?  She always can turn a quilt into something you just want to have in your home.

'Fox in a Box' by Jeni Baker

Would you like a chance to win a digital copy of Fun-Size Quilts? Leave me a comment answering the following question: What is your favourite embellishment?

Want a whole pile of chances to win? Go here to visit all the other blogs in this blog hop! 

Good luck=)

Blog Book Tour and a Giveaway

I am very excited to be hosting my first ever blog book tour.   When Margaret Bucklew contacted me asking to participate, I willingly agreed.   It sounded like fun.  Ms. Bucklew is going to be  a guest blogger today on my blog, so please give her a warm welcome.

Have you tried threadpainting?

It’s really lots of fun and a little bit of “which way do I go”. Threadpainting is also referred to as free motion quilting because you are the one directing the motion of the fabric. By dropping the feed dogs the machine no longer pulls the fabric toward the needle, you do!

The first time I tried it, I must admit, I was intimidated. I had completed a portrait quilt and knew it needed highlights in the eyes and some threadpainting in the hair area, but I was really put off by the thought of “messing it up”. All that work into the quilt top and the idea of going wild with thread and not being able to “unsew” it had me a bit concerned.

Once I realized the size of the quilt was rather small and I had enough fabric to make another one if I had to, it was a go. Experimenting on something else just didn’t work, so it was on to the real quilt. Because I use a method I call “appliquilt” to quilt and appliqué at the same time, it really was at the end of the process with quite a bit of work involved that threadpainting was necessary.

Over the years and with lots of experimenting my preferred method is to really “stomp” on that foot pedal! The faster you go the easier it is to control! Can you believe it? It’s true. If you go too slow you tend to move the fabric too fast and end up with not the best result. So, hold on to the quilt with both hands and move it quickly and keep the speed up.

You can threadpaint with a straight stitch or even a zig zag stitch. If you look closely at the photos you can see that on the kitten I’ve just followed the direction of the hair growth and used a wide zig zag stitch and directed the quilt top where it needed hair. Turn the top in any direction to get the desired look and texture you need.

The kitten pattern is a bonus in our print and eBook, so if you are interested in giving portrait/pictorial quilts a try, a pattern and more tips are awaiting.

For a few more tips, please visit the next blog in the book blog tour.

We cover this and more in our “Step by Step Portrait Art Quilts: Learn to Create Realistic Portrait and Pictorial Quilts”. The book is both in print or eBook. This is a short link to take you to Amazon for more information about the book. This is the short link to the ebook on Kobo.

Thanks so much Margaret for dropping by...and friends, her book is good!  I picked up a ton of good tips and tricks to accomplish portrait quilts.  And because Margaret is a total sweetie, she is offering her e-book as a giveaway on my blog!   Just leave a comment telling me something fun about quilting.

Here are the other blog hosts that you can tour and check out more fun tips and information:

AllAbout Applique

 SewUseful Designs

 APassion for Applique