I'm slowly but surely making progress sticking to a schedule for myself, which means hopefully I'll show up here a little more often. Since my last post, we had our final kid wedding, two in 9 months was a little rough 😂, and I have had a busy summer with quilt shop orders, apparently tourists are back!  I also did a several fun classes, in Delta Junction and Soldotna. I usually manage to post on Instagram, which autoshares to my Facebook page, but I really want to focus more on blog and newsletter! (which I've been saying and not doing for awhile now...)

Sale!
     First of all, with all of the back to school things happening, I thought it would be fun to do a "Back to School" sale on classes! So, through Labor Day weekend, (ending Monday, Sept 5 at midnight AK time), my two online classes are 25% off!
Framed Collage Class, regularly $49, now $36
Simple Secrets to Starting Art Quilting, regularly $79, now $59.
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Sample projects from the Framed Collage Class. Easier than they look, I promise 😃 That's actually the goal for all of my products, for you to make something that looks more difficult than it is. 

Sample projects from the Simple Secrets class. Also, not as difficult as they first appear, it's all about the secrets 😊 Each of these quilts uses at least one. For example, the first one, Moonrise, is simple appliques on pretty fabric, with a couple of embellishments. When you break it down into parts/principles, it becomes not only doable, but repeatable in designs of your own! There are built in projects, but I also encourage you to do at least one of your own. 

Introductory video, except that it says the class is not ready and it is! However, due to my geek squad going fishing this weekend, you probably won't receive your welcome email and access until Monday sometime. We'll do it as soon as possible! Another reason to change platforms, (see below)... this one has too little automation! 

​New Platform coming
     I've taken some fun classes myself this year, and I'm finding it a bit addicting, I love to learn new things! Including better ways to do classes... 😂 For longer term, I'm really hoping to move my classes to a platform that is much more streamlined and easy to use, plus includes a community right there, so I'm not dependent on people joining my facebook groups for interaction! (which seems to not be popular, only 25% participation for one class, and about 10% for the other, where it's even more important!) I love that part of it, and my classes are basically 'alive', because they keep growing as I think of things to add. And just one community for all of the classes, so you don't have to join anything, and it will all be in one place. Stay tuned! 

New kits coming
     I've done lots of work on two new collage quilt kits, but I keep having to move them aside for more urgent things. Right now I'm getting ready for bazaars for the first time in three years! I love doing them, but I am starting to see that it might not be practical for the long term, they take at least 1/4 of my year! We'll see how it goes! 

     It's definitely fall here, we've been able to get out a little and see the amazing colors, which we get on the ground/tundra, most of the trees just turn yellow. I hope you will join me in one or both of my classes while everyone is in back to school mode! 😊

Happy sewing! Beret

Good heavens, I need an assistant! I've been working like mad all week putting the final touches on this class, and forgot to post it here! I'm extending my pre-launch/introductory price so you still have a chance to get it. Goodness....
    I'm extra excited about this one, it has been in the works longer than my other class. It encompasses much of what I do. It's called Simple Secrets for Starting Art Quilting. It will be the same format as the other class: self guided, with a facebook group for questions and interaction. I will probably try to add some Zoom sessions for this one also, which will be open to anyone regardless of where you are at in the class. I'm hoping it will be a stress free zone for you to learn lots of fun tricks of art quilting! 
    The class will launch Saturday, March 5, and the introductory price of $59 will go through Tuesday, March 8. Then it goes to $79, still a great value in my unbiased opinion 😃
To sign up, click here: Simple Secrets class
And here is video with a little info! I hope to see you there 😊😊
​Beret

    Today's post is a departure from my usual art quilting, but it was too cool not to share! I've been trying to do some fun things this week as it's not only the week between Christmas and New Year's, but we've been having epic snowstorms back to back preventing us from leaving the house! It's also the time of year when many of us regroup and plan for the next year. So, I've been doing some paper crafting and also working on a planner for this year. (I definitely let my schedule get out of control multiple times this year, hoping to reel it in for 2022...) 
     I'm not a committed bullet journal person, but I have been having fun playing around with it. But this trick has lots of other uses anyway! I really wanted something temporary to mark pages, but not a ribbon or a bookmark. I decided to try magnetic tabs, and I think they will be great. I have already learned a few things, so I will share them here, as well as several paper cards I made this week while watching it snow! (and snow.... and snow... 😂)
     These are really easy, but I did learn a few things... First, fold your paper before cutting it to size. I wanted mine to end up 1 1/2" wide and about 1 1/8" tall, but that's up to you. I already had these small scraps of paper, but they were still big enough to make two at a time. So I folded them, then trimmed to 1 1/8" from the fold with the rotary cutter. I cut strips of adhesive magnets about 3/8" wide, but again, measurements are flexible. I learned that while my magnets were nice and thin, ( I have some thicker/stronger ones too, but thin is nice for this), they didn't always stick very well. So I made sure my magnet strips were going to stick together before attaching them to my paper. Not sure why some didn't, and it did seem to matter a bit which way I had them turned, so try both directions. Then, it's actually easier to attach them to the paper if they are stuck together anyway. 

     I also decided to add a thin strip of double sided tape in the crease. This gave it some stability, but also keeps them from sliding too far in, I wanted the tabs to stick out. I left the magnets and tape a bit long, then trimmed after they were attached. I then was able to get two 1 1/2" tabs from each of these. 
     I had already added washi tape along the edges of my pages, which helps the tabs stay on a little better also. Just put it on the edge of your page, using only half the width of the tape, fold it over to the back, then trim the corners to match the paper, another favorite tip! (which I saw online somewhere...) For me, that marks the sections, and the tab will mark the exact page I'm on.
     If you carry your journal around or it gets jostled a lot, this might not work for you, but mine just sits on my desk so it's fine. You could experiment with stronger magnets, or put them all the way across instead of just on the edges. Lots of ways to be creative with these, but I am going to love being able to move them around! They would also make good bookmarks!

     I hope you will try it, and if you are new here, I hope you will look around at our art quilty patterns, kits, and tutorials 😃 Two of our designs were featured in today's Keepsake Quilting email, and are in the current catalog. But of course available here too!
     Here are a few paper cards I made this week (while sorting paper!) and some of our epic 35+ inches of snow! That big lump is our grill 😂
​Blessings for the new year,
Beret

I recently participated in the online Raven Art Show sponsored by the Alaska Songbird Institute. I made a different shape of framed collage quilts than I had before, and they were really fun. (And they all sold quickly, plus I have several orders for more, hopefully I will keep making them to sell too!) I will update the class with some tips on making these. 
I also updated my gallery page, so there are lots more pictures there! 

Framed Collage Class update, price increase coming November 29:
When I first made this class, it had four designs in it. It's up to I think 12 now, and I haven't added information on this newest batch yet! You can still choose to keep it simple and stick to the original designs, which are at the beginning of the class, or you can keep going and try some of the added ones. Or branch out on your own, which is always my goal! But because I have invested tons of time into adding to it, I feel that I need to raise the price a bit. It's still a steal for how much information it contains 😊, and is not overly expensive! You get permanent access to it. It was $35, and will be going to $49 on Tuesday, November 29, after black Friday weekend is completely over. So you still have 11 days to get the current price! These quilts are really fun, if you haven't tried it, I hope you will!  Click online classes above, or here to sign up! 
If you are already in the class, look for an email coming soon with some other information about it.
Also coming soon, a couple of my kits in the Keepsake Quilting catalog!

      I've had a little time to come up for air between a major wedding dress alteration and sewing my daughter's wedding dress, hopefully I will still be able to fit in a little art quilting during that one! 
    These mini pocket prayer quilts have been popular on the internet recently. The idea is you give it to someone with a note saying to keep in in their pocket, so whenever they feel it, they remember God's love for them, or a Scripture, or whatever you decide to suggest. They fit in a greeting card, so they'd be a great addition to a quilted one! You could even make it match 😊 They're a quick, fun project, but also a little tedious! I came up with a way to make the process a bit easier, and it also adds a little pocket to your pocket quilt 😂  You could tuck your note into the pocket. There are endless ways to vary them, of course, but this is a quick way to make the basic four patch version. I hope you will try it, and happy sewing! 
Beret

       What started as a fun little project turned into a study on what makes quilting show up... I already knew that quilting shows much better on solid fabrics than prints or hand dyes, but this fabric was so pretty I decided to try it anyway... a project that is only quilting. If the light is just right, it looks ok, but if it's not? Then it's just a pretty piece of fabric hanging on the wall 😂🤦‍♀️ I also wondered if lighter or darker fabrics made a difference. So I made a few more samples to show you, or future students, what I'm always talking about in my free motion quilting classes! 
      I used wool batting for extra loft; I will put in a couple of pictures to show just how puffy it was! I traced the swan shapes, which I had printed out and then cut out. (Tracing with a light box would have been smarter..🤦‍♀️.) I used 505 spray to adhere the layers, then started stitching. I outlined the swan shapes, then filled in the rest with matchstick quilting, 5-7 lines per inch. Still free motion as I wanted them a bit wiggly, and not be constantly turning around! Process photos at the end, I'll focus on the visibility of quilting first. All samples were done with a 40 wt thread, I'm sure the thread weight makes a difference too. 

      Isn't it amazing how the cream thread shows up almost as much as the dark? A little too much, like every little bubble! 😂 (I can tell I wasn't as careful on these two samples either...)

      I also tried photographing all of them in bright sunshine. Usually more angled light helps the quilting show the best. The aqua one shows a bit, but the white ones show more, and again, very little difference between the light and dark thread on the white ones! (I used three shades of thread on the aqua quilt)

    Now for the backs, at least of the white ones:

     It's a subtle, even print, and it's in light with good shadows, so it still shows. In the photos below, I'm surprised the aqua shows up as well as it does in the bright sun. It's less in the shade for all of them. It still shows up better than I expected on the print, so maybe light fabrics do show better than dark... maybe the shadows disappear on the dark...

    Here is the solid black sample, in different lighting. 

      So, while quilting shows up better on solid fabrics than prints, it also seems to show up better on lighter fabrics than dark. And the lighting when you take a photo makes all the difference in the world! And of course, a higher loft batting will show more as well. If you are learning and you DON'T really want your quilting to show, use lots of dark prints and a low loft batting 😂 What doesn't seem to matter as much as you would think is the thread color. Scroll down to see close-ups: the dark thread shows up well there, but not from any distance!

     Here are a few process photos:
So much puff! It looked like it would never go flat, but it did. The quilting needs to be close together, and also go very close to the outlines of the shapes, or you will get a little ridge around them.

     And, for anyone who made it this far, our crazy snow is melting so fast! It started warming up on the 12th and it's been spring ever since 😂 The first and last photo below are the same spot, our driveway...
​Happy Sewing! Beret

Wow, it's been awhile again...not sure what happened! Anyway... I have a fun and quick project for you today. We're still buried in snow, which I love, (photos at the end) but somehow all of my recent projects have been very springy 😂 These greeting cards are very easy and quick!
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I wasn't kidding about the snow... 🤣

Winter Survival Kits
These have been a big hit, but the name turned out to be unfortunate, since much of the country was actually in survival mode for a few weeks! I haven't said much about them for a bit, since it sounded insensistive..., but hopefully you have all recovered your water, power, and a bit of normal life after the polar vortex 😢 I promised they'd be available until the end of February if supplies last (it will be close!) so that's four more days to take advantage of this offer! 
Here's what you get:
1. A wall hanging or table runner kit of your choice
2. A hand carved Alaskan birch point turner, handy for all of the kits
3. A full yard (by weight) of hand dyed fabric scraps from Starr Design Fabrics, $18 value
4. A 5 inch reclaimed barn wood quilt block to paint (our design choice) from The Reclaimed Nation
5. A card pattern (our choice)
6. A little treat with custom On the Trail wrappers 😊

The sets are $59 or $79 depending on which big kit you choose. Click here or on the photo to see your options, and happy sewing! Beret

    I'm pretty excited over here, I've been working on this for a long time. The Framed Collage Class is ready to go! I hope you will design your own, but there are four different designs with specific instructions to choose from if you wish. I love the idea of this format, because I can keep updating it. For this first one, I made it self guided, there won't be any live sessions, it's much less complicated that way. You can work at  your own pace and have permanent access to the class. Lots of text, photos, and videos, and a PDF file for pattern pieces. But if you take it, I hope you will join my Beret's Online Classes facebook group for questions and support! I'm working on another class too, so hopefully that won't be far behind. 
Introductory price, through this weekend only! The class will normally be $35, but for this weekend it will be $25. At this time, there are no kits available, choosing fabrics is part of the class! But while supplies last, I will have this tree fabric available in 1/3 yard pieces if you want to do that version. 
     These are very fun, pretty quick, and very forgiving to make, I hope you will give them a try! Beret

    As usual, it's been way too long since I posted. I've been chipping away at my list of goals for the winter, but that one is still lacking 😜 I did, however, get a new card kit made, with my own chickadee artwork printed on velvet, which prints the colors really well. It's a very quick project, as all you have to do is a little quilting and then binding! The panel is square, so the card can be made in either direction. Click here to go to the kit! Out on a Limb card kit
    Also, I made a very short video that is an overview of the process for my wall hanging kits and patterns. (Most of them, the Sandhill Sunset is pieced like normal) Since my methods are a little unorthodox, I thought it might help to show that they are really not scary 😃 
    I hope you are still thriving and creating during this unusual season! Beret