Make Hoop Quilts with Anne Marie Chany, Episode #29

Here’s the video with live intro so you can see what I’m working on!

Let’s learn more about Hoop Quilts! I fell in love with this over the summer as Anne Marie began posting pictures to Instagram. I LOVE this idea because it takes care of a big issue I have with mini quilts – what do you do with them after they’re done!?

Seriously, I’ve made a lot of mini quilts in sizes from 12 to 30 inches and there’s only so many table surfaces in my house that need a quilt on top. And hanging them on the wall is such a pain to hand stitch the hanging sleeve in place, then you have to install the stuff to hang it. Can you tell I’m whining? I’ve seriously blown this out of proportion, but it’s a serious quilting problem here people!

By putting the quilt in a hoop, Anne Marie has fixed all the issues of displaying and hanging mini quilts. No more hanging sleeve, no more side tables covered with dusty quilts. Pop that beauty into a quilt frame and stick it on the wall. Ta Da!

Anne Marie has created a beautiful quilt pattern for you to make your own mini hoop quilt with sixteen half square triangles you can mix and match. She also has templates you can cut out and piece the curved seam to create this pretty circle too. Click Here to find the quilt pattern.

Hoop Quilts are also a great way to use up small scraps of fabric and play with embellishment. I love the idea of gluing on buttons and stitching decorative threads on the surface. Anne Marie was originally inspired to create Hoop Quilts after spending a lot of time hand embroidering while recovering from surgery so this seems a terrific way to try new techniques on a small, manageable project.

I’ve had my own Hoop Quilting adventure which I’m planning to share this Friday so be looking forward to learning how I machine quilted my mini quilt.

We also discussed Anne Marie’s Block of the Month programs which she’s run for five years now. This year she’s sharing the Chocolatier Block of the Month which is not only gorgeous, it’s also scrumptious!

The sponsor for the show this week is my website and the new Happy Fish Quilt Pattern we just released today! This cute quilt will show off your pretty fabrics and create a bright, cheerful addition to any kid’s room.

Just like all of my quilt patterns, I go beyond just teaching you how to piece a pretty quilt top. I also include ideas for machine quilting so you’re not stuck with an unfinished quilt top. For Happy Fish, I added extra texture to the quilt with air bubbles and embellished each puffy circle with hand embroidery. Learn how to do this and make this cute quilt with me!

Now for a few updates from around the house…

I’m officially working on a new online workshop featuring the Love the Light Wholecloth quilt. I had the quilt half marked and decided it was time to mark the rest while talking through the intro. This is a walking foot wholecloth – two things you probably don’t think of going together!

I love how this quilt turned out and I’ve learned so much every time I’ve created it. Now I’m going to make it one more time, this time filming each step of the process so you can see how it works too. And yes, this quilt is entirely created with walking foot style quilting. It’s a bit slower, but creates such a beautiful finished effect!

Another thing we’re working on is the new Rainbow Log Cabin quilt for our the Machine Quilting Block Party starting in January. We’re going to piece this beautiful, bright quilt together, AND machine quilt it too!

I have been working on the new version of this quilt that we’re piecing with beautiful Island Batik fabrics. I can’t wait to get started making the videos next week!

I hope you didn’t mind my tale of spider slaughter in the podcast. That little bugger had it coming! If you make me scream in terror you’re not long for this world (or at least you owe me a very big cookie). Oh and here’s the Bug-A-Salt gun on Amazon (yep, that’s an affiliate link). Josh LOVES blasting flies with it!

Just in case you missed Friday’s post, here’s the Itsy Bitsy Spider design post. Yes, I like spiders stitched in thread. Not a fan when they’re real and huge and wiggling right in front of my face.

And last but not least, the design video Cotton Candy that YouTube decided was Inappropriate Content. Can you give it a watch so they will review it and hopefully remove this incorrect flag?

Thank you for watching and super thank you for listening! If you’re enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on iTunes as that also helps increase the podcast reach so more people can find it. We had eleven wonderful reviews left so far and I was so touched to read everyone’s kind words about the podcast.

I really love creating this show and am seriously thinking about increasing to every week. That’s a lot of work, but honestly this is turning into my favorite video of the week so why not?! Let me know what you think of that idea and please continue to watch, listen, and share the podcast with your friends.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day