MyWebQuilter.com

I have been busy making MyWebQuilter .com easier to use and also allowing you to place quilt blocks manually in the quilt designs. The current automated block placement is handy but does limit the designs you can implement. This new feature makes designing quilts much more flexible. The new features are underway and will be available soon. In the meantime, let me tell you a little bit about where I live.... I live in the beautiful Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the town of Escanaba . We are having a very early spring up here. Our snow has all melted and our Little Bay de Noc is mostly free of ice. This is VERY unusual for us. Last year we still had at least a foot of snow and the bay was still frozen solid at the end of March. I took this picture today of one of our local lighthouses with ice flows around it. Happy quilting! Amber

I just added the Glorified 9 Patch quilt block pattern to MyWebQuilter .com It is a nice easy block! You can find the pattern for this block here . Here is an example of an cute baby quilt in blue using the Glorified 9 Patch combined with a Snowball quilt block. You can find a pattern for this quilt here . Happy quilting! Amber

My quilt guild has been making " Quilts for Kids ". This is a wonderful program that provides the comforting touch of quilts to children in hospitals. We made six of these quilts at our last meeting. It is easy to participate. Just sign up for a free kit. The kits are easy to make, well organized and include very nice fabric. For details and more information check out the Quilts for Kids website . Here is the quilt I made. I named it Meow to go with the fun cat fabric. The pattern for this easy patterns is also available at MyWebQuilter .com . Happy Quilting! Amber

You can see Barn Quilts - quilt blocks painted and attached to barns - in many places. Here is one example. But, what if you like the idea, but don't have a barn? How about a Wall Quilt? I have many quilts hanging on the walls in my house but also had a few places where a fabric quilt would be easily damaged. So, I got out the old paint cans, a long level/ruler and the painter's tape out to make my "wall quilts". Here is a set of Eccentric Star blocks on my garage wall and door from garage into the house. The block pattern for Eccentric Star is available on MyWebQuilter .com . I couldn't stop there. I put Storm at Sea on the other side of the door between the house and garage. Happy quilting - and painting! Amber

The Quilt Gallery at MyWebQuilter .com has been updated to include quilt patterns for every quilt block and standard color that is on the website. There are now more than 1000 free quilt patterns! The new gallery page lets you search the free quilt patterns by the block name and by color. Links are provided to view the pattern or to copy the pattern as a starting point for designing your own quilt. I hope you enjoy these new patterns! Happy Quilting, Amber

I have digressed from making quilts designed using MyWebQuilter and instead made several art quilts. We started a local art quilting group that has been a tremendous inspiration to me. So here is a picture of my latest art quilt. My inspiration was old pictures of my mother-in-law and father-in-law out on the town when my father-in-law used to play the saxophone in a big band group. However, I have had several people tell me the silhouette of the woman looks like Michele Obama. The background uses multiple batik fabrics and is based on Ricky Tims ' convergence quilt pattern. The couple is free motion appliqué . The shiny parts are quilting with metallic thread and angelina fibers . This was a very fun quilt to make! Happy quilting, Amber

I have started adding products that I recommend to a shopping page at MyWebQuilter .com. I just added the Perfect Binding Miter tool created by my friend Glenna. This little tool is very simple to use and helps you make a perfect miter on your quilt binding. I had trouble making these miters until Glenna showed me how to use her tool. There is a free video showing how to use this handy little tool as well as a link to purchase it at MyWebQuilter .com . Here is an example of one of my quilts where I used the Perfect Binding Miter tool. This wall hanging is based on Ricky Tims ' Convergence pattern. I used batik fabrics that created a forest fire effect. It was a very fun little quilt to make. Here is a detail photo of the miter at the corner of the binding. Happy Quilting, Amber