Free motion class:
     So many people ask me about classes, but I am terrible about posting reminders, trying to get better! My next free motion quilting class is Saturday, Feb. 29, from 1-4 pm. To make it reeeeally easy for you to come, you don't have to bring anything at all! You can bring your machine if you'd like, but you are also welcome to use one of mine. I will provide materials. We will cover the basics of free motion quilting, and have lots of time to practice different stitch patterns. Usually in this class I only do a bunch of practice stitches, but this time I thought I'd add a quick wall hanging project for anyone who is interested, it will be optional. I do my best to take the fear out of free motion stitching for you! Sign up here: free motion class 

Free pattern!
​     The other big thing happening here lately is a group bib making project for some care packages our church is making for a local pregnancy center. They were really fun, I hope this becomes an annual project! We used mostly Kaffe Fasset fabrics (from my quilt angel!) so they are pretty colorful! They are also really easy, and I got the pattern put up for anyone who wants to try it:  free scrappy baby bib pattern.

      And now, it's 25 degrees outside for possibly the first time in maaany weeks, so I'm going skiing! Happy sewing, Beret

     I thought I would follow up my last post with a little more of a tutorial just on improv piecing. This is a very low risk way to try it! The secret is fabrics that are similar in both value and color, but not toooo much alike. (I may do yet another post on using a wider range of fabrics, but I have to learn more about that first 🤣😅)
     I have been wanting to play with the borders on this fireweed panel from Teresa Ascone since I got it, but haven't had a chance! I made a couple of quicker versions for bazaars, but I really wanted to make one similar to the tall iris one, they go well together. 
     The first step is to grab a pile of fabrics that I think might work. Then I put them by the panel, and quickly saw a few that I wanted to remove. Too 'grayish' or too red, or too light. That's partly just my preference, it's quicker and easier with less variation. What is left is fairly homogeneous, but there is still some variety. All medium ish purples. I did end up putting one of the pinks back in, you will see how that ended up!

     If none of your scraps are in strips, you may want to cut a few to start. I had several already in my pile, so I started with sewing some of those together. The width doesn't matter too much, but keep in mind the scale of the project you are doing. Then I cut those into random sized chunks. In the second pic below, you can see that I cut a few chunks off, then trimmed a whole strip so I could add another to that set and have it not be too wide. 

     Then I start stitching those pieces to each other, or to another strip. You will be amazed at how quickly it comes together! I just keep making each little chunk bigger, then when I have a good pile, I can put them by the panel to see how it's coming. At this point, I will decide approximately how wide I want my borders to be. I decided to have them 4 inches on two sides, and 6 inches on the other two. (cut size, but it's improv, so it doesn't really matter!) So then if a chunk was already four or a little over, I knew to only add to the ends, not the sides. I squared things up after each batch of stitching a new piece on, but that's optional too, it can be wonky if you want! 

     I thought I had enough at this point, (below) and I even remembered to allow extra at the top and bottom to make room for inner borders. But for some reason it didn't connect that the sides would need that too. 🤦‍♀️ (Lyme brain😭) But that was ok, because I was also not really happy with that one bright pink fabric... I tried flipping the whole border over so it would be on the inside, and I still didn't like it, so I chopped the whole thing in half and sewed it back on another way. After adding some more to the length, the pink ended up in completely different spots, but I like it better. The trouble with a wider variety of fabrics is that totally random doesn't always end up looking great. But that just means it requires at least a little more planning. 

     It still needs quilting, but that has to wait a bit! I'll put the iris one in here again too. As long as there isn't a huge range of colors and values, these can be pretty random and still look great! I'm still not 100% sure of those little pink squares.... maybe I'll paint them 🤣  And, as I said in my last post, this project can also be done as a 'beginners and enders' project. I hope you will try it! Now I need another beginners and enders project myself, hmm.... Oh, and I almost forgot! These plus more panels, kits, and patterns available here, just click 'shop online' above.
      Happy sewing! Beret

Upcoming classes: Barn wood quilt block painting, Mon, Feb. 17, Free Motion quilting Saturday, Feb. 22. Click 'classes' above for more info or to register! 
Click the photo below to see all of our kits and patterns!

     It seems like I would have posted about this before, but if I did I'm doing a better job this time 🤣  Most quilters will be familiar with the first couple of parts of this tip, but of course I add my own twist! 
     Here we go: most quilters know about chain piecing, where after each seam, you immediately butt the next piece up to that one and stitch. This saves tons of time and thread, and maybe more importantly, bobbin winding! 😅 It also eliminates the need to hold down your threads at the beginning of every seam to prevent the needle from coming unthreaded...

     You may even be familiar with well known quilter Bonnie Hunter's 'beginners and enders' technique. It's the same as chain piecing, except when you get to the end of your batch, stitch onto a folded piece of fabric, so it's ready to go for next time. 
        She then takes it a step further, and says why not keep a pile of squares or pieces from another quilt project by your machine, and stitch two of those together instead of just onto a piece of fabric. Brilliant! I made an entire quilt top this way, which was in progress for years, because I kept forgetting about it, but it's done! Except for cutting the squares before hand, the hand applique, and adding the borders at the end, I never spent any dedicated time on this quilt, the whole thing was done as 'beginners and enders' during maaany other projects. Definitely the way to do the tedious tiny squares border!

     But here's where I add my twist to this idea. While my above lap quilt used up some dark batik scraps, the majority of this is the background fabric. I have waaaaaaaaay too many scraps to use them that slowly 🤣😅 So, I decided to pull out a bunch of coordinating scraps, usually one color family even, and use this concept to do some improv piecing. This has a couple of extra benefits. One, it uses lots more scraps! And two, and probably more importantly for me, is that there is far less prep work to be done. I just dig through a tub for colors I like, then maaaybe iron them, but that's it. And these can be used for lots of things! They make really great borders for panel quilts, or any quilt, and in that case, you just choose a size you are aiming for, and just keep it a little bigger than that, like 4-5 inches wide, and trim it to size later. But they also make great potholders, journal covers, or even a whole quilt background.
​     To improv piece, just start stitching fabrics together! They don't even have to be cut straight, as long as you sew straight. You can trim after. No accuracy in seam allowance required. Just don't sew two pieces of the same fabric together. After stitching a few, you can recut, like a chunk off of a strip set, and stitch that to another piece. 

    I started this batch to use on my 2020 exclusive Teresa Ascone panel, Shadow Patterns. I decided I was not happy with the chunk on the right, pieces were too big, and too similar, so I cut it up and I will stitch it back together a different way. 

     Here are a couple of other improv pieced quilts I have made. On the iris one, I decided the hot pink fabric was contrasting enough that I did choose more carefully where it landed, but otherwise it's pretty random! On the fireweed blossom quilt, even the dark green border and binding are pieced if you look closely!
         I hope you will try the beginners and enders trick, you will be hooked! In addition to saving so much thread, time, aggravation, and bobbin winding, could end up with a project done in barely noticeable nooks and crannies of time! Maybe I'll do another post with more details on improv piecing, of course I have tricks for that too.
     Happy sewing! Beret

And remember, these panels and soooo much more are available here on our website 😊
​And also remember, every comment, share, pin, and like helps us a ton! 

Click here to see all of our kits, patterns, and panels 😊

​ Greetings from a freezing cold Fairbanks! We had three days off from our cold snap, but it's back... The Moonshadows card kit was mostly ready last spring, but I decided to wait until winter since it wasn't very 'springy'. And then almost forgot! It's a good one to try if you like the wall hanging but aren't sure about doing it! Or include it if you made the wall hanging as a gift. 😊
Here is the link:
 https://www.onthetrailcreations.com/moonshadows-card.html

For local people, I also have several classes scheduled. I will put them here with a link to the classes page. The barn wood painting one is really fun, you can invite your non quilting friends too! And any of these can be done with a private group if you'd like, I can do groups of 3-6 for sewing, up to 10 for painting! Just call or email me to set up a time.
                      907-687-7603  beret@onthetrailcreations.com
     These are all one session classes, if it has more than one date, that is a separate class. If you are interested in these, sign up now, or print this off for a reminder! I will send reminders also. (only the next upcoming session will be live for registration... future ones will go up after the previous one is full or happened.)
https://www.onthetrailcreations.com/classes.html

Quilt Block painting   Monday, Jan 20, 6-8pm $36
                                  Monday, Feb. 17, 6-8 pm
                                  Thurs., March 12, 6-8 pm
                                  Monday, April 6, 6-8 pm
                                  Tuesday, May 12, 6-8 pm
Quilted Greeting card class  Saturday, Jan 25, 1-4 pm, $25 plus kit of your choice
                                             Saturday, April 18, 1-4
Wall hanging class   Saturday, March 21, 10-4, $35 plus wall hanging kit of your choice
Free motion quilting basics   Saturday, Feb. 22, 1-4 pm, $25
                                               Saturday, May 16

I love to pass on my enthusiasm for what I do, I hope to see you in one or more of these! Beret

To see all of our kits and patterns, click the photo below:

To see all of our kits and patterns, click the photo!

It's been ages since we did a sale! So, to cover Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, this will go through Monday, Dec 2nd. Here it is:
All wall hanging and table runner kits, 30% off, code SNOW since we have plenty of it here! I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! 
​Beret

​

​    Imagine yourself at 11:00 pm on Christmas Eve, you finally got the kids to sleep, the lights are twinkling on the tree…you would love to relax on the couch with a cup of tea, but now you are faced with a pile of gifts to wrap…Those gifts you have been meaning to wrap for days and never got to.  And then you remember! You made a bunch of fabric bags just for this! It only takes a second to stuff gifts in and tie  them shut! They work on odd shaped gifts like the duck decoy you got for Uncle Harold, and things that are still in their Amazon box. You get everything wrapped and get to sleep long before you normally do. Then, on Christmas morning, there is no mound of paper to get rid of, and you put some empty boxes back in their bags and back under the tree, so it still looks nice even after the gifts have been opened! You sit back with your tea and enjoy the morning.
    Or maybe you are one of those people who DO get things wrapped early, but you still love to save time. These are great for you too! They’ve been a life saver for me, so here is a quick tutorial.
    They are super easy to make. Choose the size you want your bag to be. Make lots of sizes! But then you just need to cut your fabric twice as large as you want them. You can add a bit for seam allowance if you want, but the sizes are pretty random anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. I start with some the whole width of the fabric, some half, and some a third. I usually fold the fabric in half and sew one side and the bottom. But you could fold it vertically (as long as it is not directional) and stitch both sides instead, to get some other sizes and still have no waste. I like to use velvety fabrics for the bags, and sparkly fabrics for the bands. 
    Cut the band fabric the same width as your bag, and twice as tall as you want it, as you will fold it over before stitching on. You can add it before stitching the side seam, but I prefer to add it after, so the seam doesn’t show at the top. But, no rules!
Just stitch the side and bottom of the bag, and the side of the band. Then fold the band in half so the seam is on the inside, put it inside the bag (which is still inside out) lining up all raw edges, and stitch around the top. If you have a serger, this is a great time to use it…even faster! All that is left is to add a cord, which I do by using a zig zag stitch in the middle of the cord, attached at the side seam where the bag and band meet. 
   We also use chalkboard tags, which are quick and also re-usable. I hope you try this gift to yourself that keeps on giving! They are also great to give away. 

There are lots more tutorials on our website, and of course, kits and patterns too! 

Once again, it's been awhile, but lots going on! At least four new things to tell you about, wow...
Classes:
​We have several months worth up on the website now! We will add a kids' class for after Christmas eventually too. The newest class will be monthly, and I'm very excited about it! Friends of ours in Michigan, The Reclaimed Nation, have barn wood blocks with quilt designs on them for painting. Everything will be provided for you to make a large (10-12") and small (5") block. Additional blocks will be available to purchase if you wish. Several designs to pick from. But there are sewing classes up too! Click here to sign up for a class 

Eversewn machines: 
​I'm so excited to now be able to offer Eversewn machines for sale! I have never found a brand of machines in this price range that I felt comfortable recommending until these. There are four levels of basic machines, ranging from $200 to $475, then a quilting machine and embroidery machine; those I'm not super familiar with yet though. I've been using the Sparrow 25's in my kid classes for almost a year, and I've been happy with them! I'm not totally organized yet with demos of each model, but if you are interested, I'd be happy to talk to you. I do have a couple of models in stock. 

New kits:
Thanks to the artwork of former Fairbanks resident Trish Stuart, we have two new card kits. These are both very quick projects, I think I actually managed to not have any free motion stitching on them! The fabrics are so nice you can't go wrong :-) The panels are printed on velvet! The background colors vary a bit, but the moose will be blue/purple, and the raven will be yellow/red.  Click here to order :-)

New Teresa Ascone panel:
I love this new Fireweed Solitaire panel! I can't wait to play with it, but boy have I not had time yet... It is the same size and shape as the tall iris one, so I plan to make mine using similar borders to my iris one.  Click here to order :-)

Whew, that's a lot of stuff! And more in the works :-) I'm also in the mad rush for bazaar season, my first one is the UAF Women's bazaar, Pioneer Park, Nov. 2-3 (both days this year!), 10-4. 
I hope you are all enjoying fall, it's pretty much done here. I took sooooo many pictures this year, lots of colors even here where we don't have a huge variety of trees... We might not have much for maples, but the tamaracks have been amazing this year. Thanks for making it to the end of this post!  
​Happy Sewing, Beret

​Have you ever wanted to try art quilting but don’t know where to start? I have a few easy ways to help get you over the hurdle of getting going! I have lots of tricks for making projects that look great but are really pretty simple when you break them down. These are all landscape style quilts.
Let’s start with the background. There are several ways to give yourself a head start. Use a watercolorish fabric, which looks like a landscape all by itself. (Seagull Sunset quilt) Or, use a panel that doesn’t have too much going on in the foreground, they are out there! (see two chickadee quilts) If you are a bit braver, you can make a simple striped background. (two single crane quilts) I like to have a bit of gradation in mine, but that’s not always necessary. If you are even braver, do a curvy stripe background. Just three carefully chosen fabrics cut with curved edges begins  to look like a world! Basically, the top one needs to look skyish! (quilt with three crane silhouettes) From there, it’s not too hard to add mountains….then trees… It’s kind of addicting once you get started :-)

​Once you have a background, there are some simple ways to add a foreground. The simplest of all is to do a silhouette. Several of these quilts were done that way. (more below) The Seagull Sunset quilt is done with only two fabrics other than borders! I also added a bit of thread sketching for some details, but only two fabrics. For the background, I cut it in half and flipped one half vertically so the sky and water are mirror images. So not only two fabrics, but only two pieces of each one! A step up from silhouette appliques is more detailed appliques. Those can be as detailed as you’d like. As you get more confident, you can add thread painting or other embellishments.
​
Another little trick is to use lots of borders. The teal tree quilt has only a small area that has the actual scene on it, the rest of the stripes are basically borders. The crane potholder is another example of that, and the iris and the swan. And I often do not make my borders the same all the way around, that is another way to make quilts artsy. I add details to borders with bead, buttons, quilting, decorative stitching or other art quilty techniques.
Once you break quilts into parts, you can see that you can do a lot of fun projects without doing anything super complicated. I hope you will give them a try, and send me a picture! Either like my On the Trail Creations Facebook page and send a message, or join my On the Trail Creations VIP facebook group.
And of course, our kits and patterns are another way to give you a head start on your art quilting journey!

I'm really trying to put more of my tutorials here instead of other forms of social media... I think they will be more accessible! I recently made a really fun bag for my Microsoft Surface Book, but it would be a great bag for many uses, and easily customized. I also was able to incorporate both cork fabric and a UFO art quilt that had been sitting around for awhile! I may do it as a class, or even two classes since the quilted part is optional. Let me know if that sounds interesting, local people! 

This won't be a complete tutorial, but I will include a few things that can be applied to many different bag projects, like my favorite tote bag zipper method! 
First of all, the gold strip under the buttons wasn't strictly decorative. The quilted part and the cork fabric are both fairly substantial, so to avoid a bulky seam there, I added the strip between them. If the strip is cut 4 times the seam allowance, the two thick layers will butt up together on the inside, which was my goal. Mine was 3/8" seam allowance, 1 1/2" strip, final size 3/4". Here is a photo (second photo below) of the inside at that spot. No overlap of the thick layers, but also no gap.

I made the outside with a section of quilt, then cork, then quilt, attached with the gold strips for both seams. I didn't photograph that, but here is a diagram. Mine was 16" wide and 24" long, but that can be varied to any size you want. I also made 3/4" box corners, which makes the "bottom" 1 1/2" wide. I also added the handles at this point, which I made by folding a strip of cork in half and topstitching both edges. I attached them, then covered the ends with a rounded triangle cut out of cork. Then this gets folded in half right sides together, and sides and box corners stitched. (see lining for at least partial photos of those steps.) Also any decorations such as buttons get added now. 

I made the lining the same size, then I cut out a piece of Peltex stiff interfacing the same size, minus the seam allowances and the corners, and fused that to the wrong side of the lining. Then I added a larger pocket for the cord and mouse, and a smaller one on that pocket for thumb drives. Then stitched the side seams and box corners. It would have been easier to do the seams and corners first, but then adding the Peltex would have been harder, so I went with this option! Since I used binding to attach the inside and outside, the lining just tucks right in, no wrestling it through a hole, or turning it right side out, it stays just like this. 

After I tucked the lining into the bag, the thickness of it caused the lining to stick up a bit, so I just trimmed it off :-) 

And now for the dreaded zipper! But with this method, it really isn't bad at all. The secret is adding the zipper to strips of fabric, and then attaching those with the binding. You never have to deal with the zipper and the bag at the same time! Use a zipper that is longer than you need also, so you can open it up all the way when attaching the strips to the bag. 
First, cut four strips that are one inch narrower than your bag, and about 1 1/2 inches wide, bigger if the bag is wider. Then press under 1/2" at both ends of each strip as shown. Now you are going to sandwich your zipper between these strips, two on each side, but it's easier to do one at a time. In the last photo below, the zipper is face down on the right side of the fabric. The open end is at the end of the strip, with the excess zipper tape folded over. Stitch it down fairly close to the teeth using a zipper foot. The zipper will be extra long at the other end, that's what you want. 

Now add another strip directly on top of the one you just did, right sides together, with the zipper in between. Do the same to the other side of the zipper. Then, topstitch on either side of the zipper to flatten it out...hard to press with a zipper! There, that wasn't too bad, right? Much easier than putting a zipper in a bag! At this point, it's easy to add to the bag, I promise! 

 Center the zipper on the inside edge of the bag. Both ends should be an inch away from the corners, which keeps them from getting in the way of the binding. See how it helps to unzip the zipper past the opening? Tuck the extra zipper in the bag through the hole in the corner, mine is sticking out so you can see it... Stitch the strips to the bag, through the outside and the lining, using a narrow seam allowance that will be covered by the binding. You could even use a zig zag to reduce bulk, but I didn't think of that until now, ha! It's a good idea to zip before stitching to make sure the sides are lined up. Then unzip all the way before binding, and you won't even know it's there!

You can use your favorite binding method to finish at this point, but I thought it would be cool to try cork fabric. I knew the normal method would be too bulky, but then I thought it would be hard to catch the back side if I just used a strip folded over the edge. I ended up cutting it extra wide, and trimming it after it was stitched. I put the extra on the inside, and stitched from the outside. I cut it about 1 1/2" wide. There's a bit of waste, but I think well worth it! I had to use two pieces as my cork fabric was too narrow to use just one. I overlapped the ends just a bit. The first photo shows after stitching but before trimming the extra on the inside. I just trimmed close to the stitching, maybe 1/8". The second photo shows how you can shorten the zipper if it is WAY too long. There you have it, send me a photo if you try it, or any part of it! Send to beret@onthetrailcreations.com or post in our On the Trail Creations VIP facebook group. Happy Sewing! I'll put one more of the final bag at the end also. Ok, two... front and back. I've been using this bag and I love it! 

Click here to see all of our patterns and kits! (There isn't one for this bag, let me know if that would be better than this sketchy tutorial, ha!)