Welcome to Mountaintop Quilting Studio

This is where you find me exploring a variety of creative adventures mostly about but not limited to quilting. I'm a firm believer that one increases their creativity by being open to and playing with a variety of cretative endeavors ... at least that my excuse for today. Enjoy your sourjourn through my studio playroom. May you find encouragement and inspiration, and on occassion, a little pin-prick that may be thought-provoking or spark your imagination. Thank you for stopping by.


Quilting Tips & Hints MMAG 2011: BLOCK TRI-RECS UNITS Posted: 9 December 2011 at 6 a.m. Can you believe it ... we're ready for putting together the last units of the block. These block units are called Tri-Rec units and you will need 4 for each block using the main fabric and the background fabric. This is one of my most favorite patch units to use ... ...read more MMAG 2001: BLOCK CORNER UNITS Posted: 6 December 2011 at 6 a.m. Time for the next installment in this pattern. Are you ready? How is the cutting going? Be sure to drop me an email if you have any questions. After you cut your strips you will need your Omnigrid 96 ruler for cutting the triangles from the 4.5" strips. Many ... ...read more IN THE STUDIO 1 Posted: 23 November 2011 at 4 a.m. Just a quick post today. Jan is a fairly new quilter and chose to work with this panel making a baby quilt for a friend. I quilted around each of the patch blocks in the inner border and outline quilted each of the letters, stars, and hearts. Ditching the blue ... ...read more CUSTOM FLYING GEESE: TO DO AND NOT TO DO Posted: 29 April 2011 at midnight As I was journaling this morning I thought I might check in with the daily prompt generator and see what might be the suggested line of thought for the day. TODAY'S PROMPT: *"Know your limitations and be content with them. Too much ambition results in promotion to a job ...* ...read more DESIGN CHALLENGE: LYRA Posted: 28 April 2011 at midnight Lyra is a piecing pattern designed by Debby Maddy. I was contacted by Kaye who has this quilt coming up quite quickly in her quilting que. She is quilting it for the shop who has plans for putting together several kits. Needless to say, we always want to do our ... ...read more DESIGN QUESTION: FEATHER SURPRISE BORDER Posted: 27 April 2011 at midnight Recently Cindy sent me some beautiful photos of a quilt she completed using the 1472 FEATHER SURPISE COLLECTION. She had some questions about using the border blocks. So I took some time today for design play using the blocks in question working up options for filling large triangle spaces and ... ...read more PUMPKIN PATCH CLASS: DIAMONDS ON THE DOUBLE Posted: 9 April 2011 at midnight Ah a day for petting the fabrics, playing in the scrap bins, and getting a little bit ahead on the cutting for several different projects while I prep for Saturday's class using my pattern called MQS 112 DIAMONDS ON THE DOUBLE at Pumpkin Patch Quilts in Lee. Here's ... ...read more BABY SHOWER QUILT Posted: 6 April 2011 at midnight Sindy and her friends wanted to make a quilt - a grandma quilt - for a new baby due to arrive in May. They gathered their scraps and yardage and set to work. I think the outcome is just perfect fr comfy cozy grandma snuggle times. Sindy chose to use a very ... ...read more CHOCOLATE COVERED CHERRIES Posted: 4 April 2011 at midnight Susan's quilt ... a scrappy 9-Patch using all different shades of red and brown. Part of what makes this quilt so effective is the way Susan used so many different textures, so many different shades, and varied the scale of print. What really pops is the fabric that is a ... ...read more QUILTING ZEN MOMENTS Posted: 30 March 2011 at midnight Are you pinner or a stapler or a tacker or a stitcher? The question on the table this morning is ... the topic at hand is ... "how you attach your quilt back to the leaders." The innovation of quilters never ceases to amaze me. If there is a different way to ... ...read more CUTE LITTLE MATS Posted: 23 March 2011 at midnight I'm always looking for ... a quick hostess gift a quick gift for the guest room an easy sew project for beginning sewers fun quick and easy gifts for a holiday basket new ways to add seasonal decor items to make my home more cozy a project the recycles or ... ...read more CREATIVE STUDIO: TRIM FUNCTION Posted: 16 March 2011 at midnight Yes, look very closely at the bottom of the photo and you will see it ... that's right, I did an inside trim. If you've been in any of my classes you'll hear me give my reasoning ... the biggest reason I can think of learning how to do ... ...read more QUILTS QUILTS AND MORE QUILTS Posted: 2 March 2011 at midnight One of the ideas cooking in the back of my mind is to develop a art journaling project centered around the theme of houses, homes, the comfort of home, castle in the sky ... you know ... It just takes a heap of living to make a house a home. I just ... ...read more TIPS TRICKS & INSPIRATION Posted: 25 February 2011 at midnight I thought I might take today to share some of the great tips I've stumbled upon while out in the cyber quilting world lately. After all, that's part of the legacy and heritage of being in this wonderful community called "quilters." Sharing the latest tip; sharing a new ... ...read more OFF THE LONGARM TODAY 1/13 Posted: 13 January 2011 at 6 a.m. Not one, but two qults off the longarm quilting machine this week. The first one was pieced by my good friend Juanita. She made this comfy cozy flannel quilt for her grandsons. I used an edge-to-edge pattern that you can find in the Mountaintop Studio Store called 1375 Loopy Stars ... ...read more LEAF SEASON Posted: 9 September 2010 at 6 a.m. What better way to celebrate the beginning of a new season than with a SALE and a NEW PATTERN! It's the start of leaaf season here in the Berkshires and inspiration abounds with a riot of color, shapes, textures and the result is a new point-to-point pattern that works ... ...read more STITCH TO THE LEADERS Posted: 24 August 2010 at 6 a.m. A great tip and demonstration of the process of using the longarm to stitch the backing to the zippered leadered canvases was shared by Jan Sims at our Statler Retreat 2010 in Sisters, Oregon this last July. Stitching the backing to the leaders when loading a quilt dramatically speeds the ... ...read more AND THEN ... Posted: 24 February 2010 at 6 a.m. Just a quick glimpse into my art/journal quilt planning journal. This is a copy of the page with notes and ideas ... first impressions ... how would I transform this concept into an art quilt. I find it really helps me to come closer to making the project REAL ... making it ... ...read more PROOF IT WORKED! Posted: 30 January 2010 at 6 a.m. The proof is in the pudding ... er ... ah ... I mean ... the COLOR CATCHER! Remember my writing about washing quilts the other day. The focus of the article was all about the batting and the lovely soft antique crinkley look and feel of the quilt after the washing, but there was ... ...read more ALPACA RANCH Posted: 24 July 2009 at 10:34 a.m. Question of the day: How can you tell an alpaca from a llama … the ears of the llama are banana shaped and the ears of the alpaca are straight. Every year while on my way to Jan's house for our annual Statler Retreat I drive the backroads and go ... ...read more DON'T YOU THINK IT'S STRANGE ... Posted: 23 March 2009 at 2 a.m. Click HERE to enlarge. Don't you think it strange when ... the snow is falling on the daffodils that just came out in bloom? Don't you think it strange when ... you see the snow falling and hear the tree frogs singing their mating calls? And speaking of frogs ... Don ... ...read more ORGANIZATION Posted: 22 March 2009 at 1:53 p.m. Click HERE to enlarge. Does this describe your pattern library ... "One of the advantages of being disorganized is constantly making exciting discoveries." A quote from AA Milne, I can hear Winnie the Pooh's voice in my ear and his excitement over finding something new in his collection of STUFF ... ...read more RIBBONS AND STARS Posted: 31 January 2009 at noon Don't you just love it when faced with a quilt top that stops you in your tracks when trying to develop a quilting design plan? Any number of things can cause you to scratch your head in bewilderment. One of the most common roadblocks is an odd-shaped space. Strong ... ...read more APPLIQUE PLAYDAY Posted: 24 January 2009 at 12:14 p.m. They say tha many hands make light work and that was never more true than last Thursday when the three of us got together to tackle the applique projects. What a fun day we had playing with a new-to-us applique method. Marje, Juanita, and I got together to work on ... ...read more CONCATINATING GOLF Posted: 22 January 2009 at 1:14 a.m. I love the feature called CONCATINATION included with our Creative Studio software on our Statler quilting machines. Concatinating is a design process allowing us to create unique edge-to-edge designs using several different but related quilting patterns. We can choose an order in which we would like the patterns to be ... ...read more QUILTING FOR JILL Posted: 23 September 2008 at 11:39 p.m. First ... let's take a look at those quilts I teased you with yesterday. I promised more pictures of the customer quilts I've been working on, so, here they are! Jill has been bringing her quilt tops to me for her for several years now. Jill used to be ... ...read more STITCHOUT SAMPLER Posted: 8 June 2008 at 6:35 a.m. Hooray for a day of sunshine! Even for an Oregonian, the rain is getting to be a bit much for this time of year. It's time for sandals, short pants and sweaters to be packed away. Let's see if I'm as ready for summer after next week ... ...read more SPLICING BATTING SCRAPS Posted: 1 June 2008 at 4:54 p.m. I mentioned in a previous post that it is a rare occasion when I will splice together batting scraps for use in a quilt. However, when I do use batting scraps in a quilt, there is a way to splice them without creating a gap or a ridge where the ... ...read more WINTER ART Posted: 21 January 2008 at 10:48 a.m. Texture ... Color ... Line ... Shape ... Value ... Form ... Space Emphasis ... Movement ... Unity/Harmony ... Balance ... Rhythm ... Contrast The art form is negligible; the elements and principles are the same whether your create with music, dance, paint, crayons, pencils, your camera, words ... or ... fabric. Every year during the end of January and through the ... ...read more LITTLE BITS Posted: 17 January 2008 at 10:52 a.m. So much for a foggy morning with sun burning it off early and a clear cold day to follow. I had to cancel lunch with a friend and reschedule my hair appointment. Snow and temperatures below freezing seem to be more of the weather for today. I can get off ... ...read more A QUILTING DAY FOR ME Posted: 15 January 2008 at 10:57 a.m. When this hobby becomes your career there is a shift in thinking from what pleases you to what will market well. What pleases you is still a part of the decision making process because that is part of what gives your product the stamp of your personality to your product ... ...read more QUILTING AND BACKS Posted: 10 January 2008 at 11:08 a.m. First of all, isn't this the prettiest design for an overall edge-to-edge design? In helping my friend Linda come up with a possible quilting plan for a customer quilt, her request for an E2E pattern to go with the rest of the Gossamer Collection resulted in this design ... ...read more ELEPHANTS, BATTING AND TUCKS OH MY Posted: 9 January 2008 at 11:11 a.m. And a busy day it was, but very productive. I notice you all must be a stumped as me as to what to do with those left-over batting scraps. Not a word or suggestion from anyone as to what to do with them. I'll share some of my favorites ... ...read more TREASURES FROM THE TRUNK Posted: 7 January 2008 at 11:21 a.m. We all have them; we save them; we protect them in acid free paper; we shield them from sunlight and dust. We may even bring them out every year or so just to re-adjust the folds and admire them ... and then back into hiding for another long year or two ... ...read more DRAGONFLY BLOSSOMS & GOSSAMER WINGS Posted: 2 January 2008 at 11:31 a.m. A sneak preview of a pattern to be published later this spring in the AQS journal American Quilter with closeups of the quilting designs from the Gossamer Collection. First you see the border design Gossamer Wings and after that Gossamer Block filling in the pieced Blossom block. I resized Gossamer ... ...read more DARLENE'S QUILTING Posted: 11 December 2007 at 8:11 p.m. Darlene left a quilt with me to finish for her before Christmas. The quilt is to be a gift for her handyman and as we all know, guy quilts can present challenges in terms of design choices. Darlene looked through the catalog of my designs and made her choices ... for ... ...read more		Blog Archive Look for: FREE STUFF AUTOSKETCH TUTORIALS GENERAL TUTORIALS BLOGS I READ: FAIRFIELD MANOR Right Click/copy on the image to get the button code. Then paste into your sidebar.