​    This past year, I’ve been doing lots of training in several areas, but mostly business related. The people I’ve been learning from start with the success of customers as the top priority, so it’s been a lot of marketing stuff from a very ethical and value based perspective, which I love! (I realized years ago that I don’t make anything without ‘talking’ to you guys in my head, 🤣 must be the teacher in me. 😄 So I already have had you in mind all along!) It’s been like drinking from a fire hose, but so good, and I’m excited to start sharing some of it with anyone who will listen! (more on that below)
Quilt making decisions
   Because of that, I’ve been doing more long term planning, and getting out of the ‘daily scramble’ of just reacting to what comes in my business every day. I have a much better idea of the ‘bigger picture’. But planning comes with lots of DECISIONS… That has made me realize that much of what I want to do for YOU is help you make some of the many decisions involved in art quilting.
   Making a quilt, and even more so an art quilt, involves a lot of decisions, and it can be overwhelming to the point where it stops people before they start. You have to decide the subject, the colors, the actual fabrics, the size, the techniques, the quilting, the embellishments, and more. My goal with my kits is to do that for you, but my goal with my classes is to teach you some actual steps and tricks for doing it for yourself. Hopefully even the kits are a boost toward making those decisions for yourself on future projects!
   I always hope to save you from some of the overwhelm and decision paralysis that can come with trying something new like art quilting. Even if you have been doing it for awhile, having a structure for planning a project can be helpful!
   So, I’m adding a free downloadable form that you can use to help plan your next project to the freebies that come with signing up for my newsletter. It will give you a framework to start with to take away some of the overwhelm, and help you see the bigger picture before you start a project. (I’ve been on a roll with the new free stuff lately, it might not happen every week, 😂!) And of course, there is a lot more information on each of these steps in my Simple Secrets for Starting Art Quilting class! 

​And for the business minded…
   I’m working on a plan for those of you who either would like to start a business, or have one already and would like to grow it! (Maybe it’s time for your hobby to start carrying some of its own weight, ha!) I’ve spent a ton of time, and literally thousands of dollars, to gain some great knowledge that is definitely helping my business, (and my sanity😅) and I’d like to save you some of that time and money by passing on what I’ve learned in a more economical way. I think it will be in the form of a membership, with monthly topics and a live Zoom call to ask questions. And how about a road map for you to follow to either start or grow a business? I wish I had had one!  Stay tuned for more information as I get that sorted out!
   I’m definitely excited to see where this is all going to go. My head is bursting with new ideas and ways to help YOU, whether it is with quilting or business. And that is ultimately what helps my business, helping YOU in whatever way I can.
    Sign up for my newsletter in the sidebar on the right to get the checklist, plus two more things! 
Happy sewing! Beret

   Almost every day in art quilt groups online I see people saying they want to try art quilting but aren't sure where to start. And I can't tell them I'd love to help, because that would be considered advertising, which I understand. But it's still torture 😂 It makes me want to work harder at helping YOU, the people who have already found me 😀 The success of my business depends on the success of the people who learn from me! 
    So, here's another quick weekend project for beginners, but of course this project is fun for more experienced people too! It involves no measuring at all, and should easily be under an hour once you choose your design and fabric. (And don’t spend too much time on that; if you don’t like it, make another one!) I do always assume some basic sewing knowledge.
Here is the project:
    Possibly the quickest/simplest art quilt design ever is a silhouette and well chosen background fabric. The silhouette doesn’t have to be black, and the background fabric doesn’t have to be ‘landscapy’. The fabrics that look like they are hand painted are always awesome, but there are lots of other options. I put in a couple that I auditioned and decided not to use.
    I also put them in a frame, which does several things. One, you don’t have to finish the edges if you don’t want to. Two, the mat can help you choose the right location on your fabric. And three, the mat also becomes the template for cutting out your project when it’s done. I used a 5x7 frame, but you can use whatever. (And you can skip the frame, but it’s easier with!)
    Step One: find or draw a silhouette. A branch is pretty easy, or you can trace a photo (that you have permission to use.) Trace it onto the paper side of fusible web. Iron that to the back of your silhouette fabric and cut it out. Now you can lay that on background fabrics to try them.
    Step Two: when you find a background fabric you like, use the mat to cut it out, but leave about 1/2” extra all around. No need for measuring or even cutting straight at this point!
    Step Three: peel the paper off of your applique and iron it to your background. You can use the mat again for placement. Just don’t put anything right in the center usually!
    Step Four: cut batting or fusible fleece the same size (ish) as your background fabric, and also something for backing. I often use interfacing, but fabric works too. Stack them with backing on the bottom, then fleece/batting, then your design.
    Step Five: using straight lines no more than 1/4” apart, quilt the whole piece, through all layers, even the silhouette. I purposely chose a lighter thread for the sailboat so you can see it’s fine if it shows on the appliqués, don’t stress over thread color!
    Step Six: use your mat again to cut it, this time exactly the size of the mat. That’s it, pop it in the frame! No need to even finish the edges.
    Of course there are endless ways to vary these and/or add more details, I just wanted to start with the very simplest! I could have added a moon to my owl, or birds with the sailboat. The best way to learn is to just try things, so I hope this gives you a starting place. What will you do? A cat, horse, bird, person, fence, cityscape, endless possibilities. If you do it, please share it with me! Either by email, or in my On the Trail Creations VIP Group page, or tag me on IG (onthetrailcreations) 
   And of course, I'd love to have you join one of my online classes if you haven't yet! Framed Collage, or Simple Secrets for Starting Art Quilting 😊
Happy Sewing! 
​Beret

Happy Valentine's Day! As a thank you for choosing to follow me, I made a little heart/flower card tutorial for you. I also realized that today was supposed to be the last day for the sale on my new card templates, but I have been forgetting to mention it, so I'm extending it through Saturday, Feb. 18! (Buy two card kits or three printed patterns and get the new acrylic card template free. Photo  below, no code necessary)
     I've been up to my neck in some really fun stuff that's coming, but it makes me forget to stay in touch now! I'm moving my classes over to a new platform (nothing will change for students yet, and we'll give you plenty of time and overlap between the two when we make the switch. But I promise it will be worth it!) I have also had an idea brewing for another big thing, stay tuned! Hmm... 

Heart/Flower greeting card tutorial
     Did you notice that all of the applique pieces are heart shaped, even the leaves? I happened to have not only fabric with fusible web on it, but even some already cut into hearts. But in case you don't routinely find things like this in your sewing room like I do, either trace several hearts onto the paper side of fusible web, OR, put fusible web on the back of your fabric and cut them freehand. Mine were anywhere from 1" to 2". It's not only ok if they are all different, I think it's better! I used 8 of them for the flower, but anywhere from 5-12 would work. If you use 10-12, I'd maybe do an outer and inner row of them. (I'd love to see if if you try that!)

     Next, cut two more, mine are a little larger, for the leaves. Then cut a background piece, batting, and a backing layer, 5 x 6" each. (I use interfacing for backing, but fabric works as well). Stack them with the background on top and interfacing/backing on the bottom. You can quilt the background now if you'd like, I usually wait until after the appliques are on. 
     Peel the paper off of the hearts, arrange them on your background fabric and fuse them down. OK if the center has a gap, it will be covered by the button. The background just needs to have contrast. I used one fabric, but it could be pieced or collaged as well! Just make sure it doesn't interfere with the flower. 
     Then add some stitching around the petals and leaves. I used the free motion foot, and I stitched through all of the layers like I usually do. Then quilt the background if you haven't, I used parallel but wiggly lines.
     Trim it down to 4" x 5 1/4" (or use the handy template!). Cut binding pieces about 5 1/2" x 1 1/4". See my youtube video here for how to apply it. Add your button, and glue your mini quilt to card stock, which is also covered in the video.

     That's it, I hope you have a great day and enjoy this fun little project! Beret

Sign up for my newsletter for another free pattern, and other things I don't always post here! (sidebar on the right)

I had so much fun with the Talkeetna ladies last weekend! They were adventurous quilters, which is a little bit necessary for my classes/projects 😂 They did wall hangings and journal covers, and did great with both! One star student even brought me an apple. 😊And The Patchwork Moose is such a nice shop. These were the first two classes in their brand new classroom!
Online classes
I'm working on transferring my online classes to a new platform that is SOOO much nicer than trying to make my website do something it wasn't intended to. Nothing will change for awhile if you are in one, but I'm giving you a heads up that it's coming, hopefully in a few weeks. We can keep both going for awhile too for people to transition over. With this platform ONE SIGN IN gets you into all of my classes that you have signed up for, yay! And it's so much prettier and easier to navigate, and even has its own community option. Still trying to decide how best to use that one... students only, open to anyone, a membership? I don't have to choose just one, so we'll see. The class lessons also have a comments option to make it easier to ask questions, so that might take the place of the student community. 
New Product! And sale in its honor 😀
I am so excited about this one, I've been wanting to do it for years! I have these for myself, but I had not found a good way to manufacture them for you, until now! They are clear acrylic templates for my greeting cards. If you make more than one or two of these, it's so worth having! You can see through it to choose the best spot to trim them down. And of course you can use it for your own designs as well! (They come with a paper backing, which is why it looks brown in the first photo)
They are only $6, but from now through Valentine's Day, you can get one free with the purchase of any two card kits or three printed patterns! No code needed. I think we're up to 12 different card kit designs! And almost that many pattern only designs also, with more coming, whew! 
Click here to see them all better than the fuzzy photos below 😛 Templates on that page also if you just want to order one. 
Happy Sewing! Beret

     I don't do a lot of traditional piecing at all, but I'm fascinated by blocks that use fun tricks, like the disappearing 9 patch, etc. And I also always notice the ones that don't require much math, because that seems to be one of my 'things', even though I have always liked math! I'm always looking for tricks to show you :-) The other interesting thing about this block is that it ends up the same size that you cut your initial squares, hmmm.... :-) 
     For this one, I started with 5 squares that were 9 inches each. Neither of those numbers are required, there are lots of ways to vary this block! You can use any size square or rectangle (not toooo small), and more than five fabrics, even if you only cut five sections. The number of fabrics is how many blocks you will end up with. You do want at least as many fabrics as sections you will be making so they are all different. Since I was using light colored sashing, I used medium-ish fabrics. The fabrics themselves do not need a lot of contrast as they will be separated by sashing, but mostly you just don't want them too close to the sashing value. Black sashing would be cool too! The rest of the fabrics can be as matchy or scrappy as you want. 
     Stack all five fabrics, then whack a chunk off, I did approximately 1/3, but no measuring required! 

Do the same with the fabric that's left, only in the opposite direction. Keep cutting chunks off the remaining fabric, alternating directions each time. I tried not to make them all the same width, but I didn't measure. 

This is the fun part! Take one of the fabric stacks and move the top piece of fabric to the bottom. Then take another one and move two, then three, then four. One stack stays the way it was. Now your fabrics are arranged so each block will have one of each! 
     Next, stitch them back together, in the reverse order that you cut them, but inserting a 1" strip (cut size) of sashing. Press the seam toward the sashing, and keep the stack in order! 

    Keep going until all seams are done. Look, it's still 9 inches! 

     On the back, the seam allowances should just meet. The one inch sashing takes the place of the seam allowances so you don't lose anything! Pretty cool! (If you leave out the sashing, this doesn't work. However, I do have tricks for that too, maybe another tutorial!)
    If you use the same size sashing to join the blocks, you won't lose anything there either. So, for a 54 inch wide quilt, you'd need 6 nine inch squares to make 6 blocks across. Easy math! (You do still have to calculate the amount of sashing... I used three WOF strips for these five 9" blocks to give you an idea. But you just have to add up the length of all of your cut lines after cutting up your squares to find out how much one block interior needs. Calculating the strips to attach the blocks is pretty easy)

​     Variations: As I said, you can use more fabrics than you have sections, every block will just not have all of the fabrics that way. But if you restack them the same way, they will still all have five different ones. Or you can do them in batches, and they don't all need to be cut exactly the same as the previous batch. (I see some of you cringing, ha!)
   Also, you can cut them into more or fewer pieces. Since you don't lose seam allowances, it doesn't matter how many seams you add! 
     The initial pieces (and therefore finished blocks) can be rectangular instead of square.
      You can even cut them diagonally, but it gets a little trickier to line them up.
I hope you will try this fun block! Sign up for my newsletter (sidebar) for all of the tricks I have up my sleeve, it's a lot, ha!
​Happy New Year! Beret

    I recently announced that I have been wanting to focus more on teaching, since I really love it! And it's more than just teaching art quilting; I also want to empower you by showing you that you can do more than you might think. In my classes I always say, "I don't want to STRESS you, but I do want to STRETCH you!" It's so fun to see people make something they didn't know they could! It ends up giving you confidence in other areas of your life too. Creating art is important all by itself, but it can be so much broader as well. I've added a few updates, mostly to the Framed Collage class, but one in the Simple Secrets class too! On that note...
     First, I'd like to welcome all of the new class members after our Black Friday week sale! I hope you will at least get a chance to peek into your class even though it's a busy season, so you will be motivated to get at it after the holidays are done! And I also hope you will join the facebook group for your class. I am looking into another platform for classes and community both that will be so much nicer than what I have now if I get it going, hopefully after Christmas.
     Second, I'd love some feedback! I know I want to focus on teaching, but what is it that YOU want to learn? Are there specific techniques, such as collage, or free motion stitching? Composition? Color theory? Or, are you interested in having your own creative business? I don't know everything, but I have learned a lot in my 14 ish years of doing this, and lately I've been learning even more thanks to classes I have been taking, and I'd love to pass it on! The business side of all of this is as interesting to me as the creating and the teaching. Or is there something else that I do that you would like to learn more about? I'd love to hear from you! If you get my newsletter, there is an actual survey, but for here, please comment below 😊
    And, last, but not least, in addition to the printed greeting cards, we are gradually adding more art prints to the Etsy shop as well. I posted earlier this week that they are lower priced due to not being technically archival quality, hopefully we'll have those next! BUT, even when people have them in their hand, it takes a second to realize they are prints and not actual fabric, so the quality must be pretty good still! I like that they are an economical way to share my creations. (And also more 'normal'... people are more used to printed cards than quilted ones! 🤣) 
    I hope everyone is able to slow down and enjoy this season and not be too rushed. We've had plenty of snow here, so it definitely looks Christmasy! 
​Beret

    In all of the excitement of the magazine cover/article, I forgot to post several new products, but now there are even more, so it worked out ok :-)
​      And remember, both online classes are still approximately 25% off through Monday!
     First, there are three new Trish Stuart projects. Two new greeting card kits featuring her artwork on velvet, (a humpback whale and a cute puffin!) and a panel with 12 mini panels so you can make lots of them if you want! I think picking the background fabric for each one is so fun. The first few people to order the panels will get a few extra mini panels also! Click the photos to go to that page. 

    Then we also have the first batch of printed cards up. These we put on Etsy, as our website fusses if we have too many products (working on that!) and we plan to have lots more! There are eight designs for now. (click photo to go to Etsy) I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I had all of my people together, which I'm always very thankful for! Beret

Fun mail!!
    Earlier this week I posted about a boring mail day; a big pile of bolts of what my kids used to call 'white stuff'. (Interfacing, fusible web, and fusible fleece. But necessary so we can include all the things in our kits!) WELL.... yesterday completely made up for the boring mail day with one of the coolest ever! My first time having one of my quilts on the cover of a magazine, Art Quilting Studio! I still can't believe it :-) It's an honor just to be in it, even more on the cover!
Focus shift
     I thought this would be a good time to talk about a bit of a focus shift for me. My business has gone from making things to sell at bazaars, to kits and patterns, and now more teaching. Each time I add something, the old things are still there, and I'm getting spread a little thin! (I may be looking to start building a team soon, so keep your ears open if that might be something you are interested in. The first things I hire for will be computer related; video/photo editing, managing some online things, so they can be done from anywhere, you don't have to live near me!) 
     So, I've spent the last year really thinking about what I want to prioritize! And I always come back to teaching. I love helping people in their creative journey almost as much as doing it myself! I will still be doing kits, but future kits will be more geared toward things I can teach, or that go with classes I already have. But I like to think of my kits as a little packaged class, too! I will probably be scaling back the bazaar portion, but I may still do some, because I do love that too. They just take so much time that I feel would be better spent in other areas now! 
Sale!
     And all of this is a good time to have a class SALE! Consider it our Black Friday sale, but for more than a week :-) Starting now through Monday, Nov 27, both of my online classes will be approximately 25% off.
Simple Secrets for Starting Art Quilting Reg $79 now $59
Framed Collage Reg $49 Now $36
​     I know it's a busy time of year, but because of the format, they will be waiting for you after the holidays if you don't have time now! And, the Simple Secrets one especially has parts you can do in a very short amount of time, they are great for fitting into little nooks and crannies of your life. 
     Ok, this is pretty long so I'll stop jabbering! I hope to see you in my classes, and there should be more coming, plus maybe a few other new things I haven't had time to get to, hmm... :-) Happy Thanksgiving, and happy sewing!
​Beret
     

     I somehow managed to sign myself up for two bazaars in one weekend... The Raven Art Show is at the Morris Thompson Center Friday, Nov. 4 from 5-8 pm. Then the UAF Women's bazaar is 10-4 Saturday at Pioneer Park. On Friday it will be all bird themed items, and then Saturday will be a wider variety. I have several new things this year that I'm excited about! 
     First, I've added cards that are prints of some of my quilts, mostly raven so far, but there will be lots more coming! Then, I've also been really having fun with paper crafting lately (I needed a new hobby, ha!), so I have some handmade paper cards as well. I even hand carved a couple of raven rubber stamps for those. The cranes pictured below are from a stamp by local artist Maggie Hallam. On Saturday I will have a wider range of paper cards, and they will be a fundraiser for the Helping Hands Alaska ministry! 100% of proceeds from those cards will go to them. 

    Then, I also have prints this year! Again, mostly raven/bird themed, but I will be adding lots more there hopefully soon also. This is just a few, there are 25 designs, and two different sizes of most of them. I'm calling them posters, because this batch is not archival prints, but still good quality. Hopefully the next batch WILL be archival, and the price will be a little higher also, these are going to be very reasonable, $8-12. 
    The printed cards will be on the website soon after the bazaars, and hopefully the archival prints will come soon too. 

     I will also have my usual quilted greeting cards, kits and patterns, and a few finished quilts. I hope to see those of you who are local this weekend, it will be fun to connect with people in person again! 
​Beret

     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.
​

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