​     As you have probably figured out by now, one of my greatest passions is to drag as many of you as possible along on my art quilting journey 😂  I have lots of plans for this year, here are a few of them:

1. Another live version of my Simple Secrets for Starting Art Quilting class at least once, maybe twice! The first will be coming up in a few weeks, so stay tuned!
2. I also am hoping to do some smaller, bite sized, self paced online workshops.
3. I have a couple of patterns that have been almost done for a while now, hopefully soon they will be all done! (One is my ice cream quilt that a bazillion people have asked for😀)
4. And last, but certainly not least, I have a solo show in Minnesota in August/September to prepare for!

     To kick off the year, I decided I would do my idea of posting a quilted greeting card (or more!) per day for the first 100 days! I plan to divide them into a different category/technique for each week. I will be posting them on Instagram and my On the Trail Creations Facebook page for sure, not sure where else yet. Greeting cards are how I got started in art quilting, and they are still a great way to try a technique or color scheme, or dip your toes into art quilting in general in a very ‘low risk/low investment of time and materials’ way! So hopefully you will be inspired to try at least one of the techniques yourself  😊 I was working on organizing some card photos that I already have (and I’m sure I will make some new ones) into categories, and I realized that I hadn’t even thought of including the ones I have patterns for.🙈 Sometimes I’m a terrible business person 🤣 I really am motivated by encouraging other people to create! I will happily take suggestions for card ideas too! I’m notorious for not making cards for, you know, actual card giving occasions. 🤪
     As I work on next year’s plans, I’m trying to be mindful to not overpack the schedule. (Photo of one of my favorite gifts below, to remind me to slow down 😂 The branch in my studio is perfect!) I hope you are also leaving space for taking care of yourself and your families. And of course, to be creative! I heard someone this week who is a full time artist say they decided at one point to prioritize painting for at least 25 minutes per day. Now, wouldn’t you expect someone who is a full time painter to automatically do far more than that? But I totally got it, if I’m not careful, I can go weeks without making anything! So I hope you will carve out creative space for yourself this year too. Put it on the schedule or it won’t happen! (Preaching to myself… 😅)
Happy New Year, and let the card making begin! Beret
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Hi Everyone,
In case any of you are ambitious and are making quilted Christmas cards, this week I thought I’d share some of my tricks for making them, especially if I’m making a bunch at once! It saves a ton of time to make several of the same one at the same time, so that’s one of the things I do. There’s less thinking and thread changing involved! I think it only takes twice as much time to make four as one!
Something I do with any project is to start with my batting or fusible fleece a bit larger, and then trim it down later. This minimizes the need for accuracy at first, and allows for lots of stitching which can actually change the size of a small project. But another twist on that idea is to start with a piece of batting long enough for several cards, cover it with strips or your background fabric, do the quilting, and then cut it up. This saves time on quilting, and there is also less waste, since you only need the extra once for all of the cards. I usually do four at once this way. (The purple below already had one cut off the end) It doesn’t work with every type of background, but it does with with several, like stripes, collage, single fabric, or improv!

   In this photo, the purple one is actually one piece of striped fabric, so all I had to do was add stitching! But doing several backgrounds at once like this is a great time saver.
And of course, I use my acrylic template to cut them apart so I can add whatever applique they are going to get. (I added non skid pieces to mine, they don’t come with that. But they would, if I could find the right product! There are products made for that, but I think my favorite one was something like stair tread strips! But I haven’t been able to find the exact one, so I haven’t included that yet.) Of course I forgot to take pictures of the finished cards, but some of these are headed to the Quilt Tree in Anchorage soon!
I also chain sew the binding on, which saves both time and thread. I will link my card binding video here, I have tricks for that too, of course!
In case you need some ideas, I will put my five most wintery/Christmasy patterns in here. A couple are available as kits, and all come in printed or instant download form! Happy sewing! Beret