Rib Stitch

I've been very slow getting around to blog about quilts I finished last year.  I finished Rib Stitch in December, just after a lovely, unusually early snowfall.  The snow made for a pretty photoshoot!

Rib Stitch by Canuck Quilter Designs

I designed this in the wee hours of the morning at some point last year during a bout of insomnia. I booted up my EQ8 software and started playing with HST.  Obviously, I ended up with more than just HST, but HST is what I started with and there are still quite a few of them in the quilt.

Making them a tad oversized and trimming down to perfect size is a bit tedious but worth it in the long run for accurate piecing and making everything fit together just right.  That said, after trimming 189 HST, I decided to add triangles papers to the pattern to give you the option of making the HST more quickly with less fuss and trimming.  If you're not familiar with making HST using triangle papers, you can read more about the technique here.

The two at a time method with trimming does give you a cute little trimming monster though!

Many of my patterns use stitch-and-flip techniques to avoid cutting and sewing individual triangles.  I tried to come up with a way to do that for this design, but it would have used almost double the fabric and left me with a lot of "bonus" parts to figure out how to use up in something else. I gave in to the triangles!  Look at all tose cute little triangles, lined up and waiting.

Sewing triangles requires an accurate 1/4" seam.  Also, when you're first joining things together it may seem as though things aren't fitting together properly.  Just trust my math and take a look at the detailed diagrams in the pattern that show you exactly how things should look, even if it seems wrong!

I chose to quilt Rib Stitch on my domestic Sewing machine using my walking foot.  I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to quilt, but I knew it would start with stitching in the ditch, so I started with that.  It might seem daunting to stitch in the ditch around all those triangles, but it really isn't difficult.  The key was to not stitch every side of one triangle at a time, but rather stitch a series of lines in one direction all they way down or across, then stitch all the lines in another direction.  Eventually there's stitching on all sides of each triangle without turning the quilt a bazillion times.  (I discuss examples of this approach in my guild presentation "There's More than One Way to Quilt a Quilt".  Please reach out to me if you think your guild would like me to visit by Zoom!)

After finishing all the ditch stitching, I had a better idea what I might quilt in the large parallelograms.  I used my hera marker to mark and audition my idea.  This tool makes a light indentation in the quilt sandwich, which is a great way to audition what the quilted texture will look like.

At this point I ran out of thread.  Well, out of the color I needed.  Of course this happened over the two days of the week when the local quilt shop is closed.  I didn't want to interrupt my momentum on this project, so I moved on to quilting the borders, as I had matching thread for those.  You can see below that the quilting in the borders is minimal, just straight line 1/4" in from each edge of the border. 

Once that was done, I figured it was safe to bind the quilt.  Generally, it's best to quilt the center first, then the borders, and only trim and bind the quilt after all the quilting is done.  In this case the ditch stitching and the quilting in the borders seemed like enough to be sure the quilt wouldn't wave or shrink from additional quilting.  So, I bound the quilt.

After a quick trip to the quilt shop for thread (did I buy too much, just to be safe? - yes, yes I did) I finished the quilting and headed out into the cold with my ever helpful quilt husband for a photo shoot.  It did not go quite as planned, as the tape I had used to tape rods to the back of the quilt to keep it straight failed.  I had done this with other quilts in the past with no problems.  However, this photoshoot day was well below freezing.  Even tape for "hard to stick surfaces" isn't rated for that cold.  Go figure.

Tape failure 

We regrouped without the rods, though the wind did move the quilt around a lot more without the weight of a rod at the bottom.

The lighting was great to sow off the quilted texture.  Unfortunately, it also really showed off fold creases.  

Here a look away from the creases so you can focus on the quilting.

This quilt, which I chose for the pattern cover, uses 4 fabrics plus a background.  If you use seven fabrics, you could acheive a lovely ombre effect.  Here's the seven-colour version featured in White Owl Textiles' winter catalog on page 90, pictured in their Botanical Sketchbook collection. (Check out Boxed Kisses on page 89 and Surface Curves on page 86 too!  Botanical Sketchbook fabrics will arive in shops in early fall 2026.)

For a much more exhuberakt look, I love rainbow brights on black.  The ones below are Micheal Miller Fabrics' Patina basics.

Which version would you make?  Let me know in the comments.

I'm off to bind a new quilt I'll be sharing later this month.  Can't wait to show you!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Find the pattern as a PDF download in my Etsy shop
or ask for a print version at your favourite quilt shop.

Hidden Dimensions: a Quick Strip-Pieced Quilt

I shared a quick peek of Hidden Dimensions in this post and in a reel on social media in December.  I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long for more pictures and more details.   The fabric in the cover quilt is now arriving in stores, so it's a good time to share more!

Hidden Dimensions by Canuck Quilter Designs
Fabric from Rosy Blooms by Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics

It's bold, graphic, and quick to piece. Strip piecing makes the chevron shapes super easy to make.  

Hidden Dimensions by Canuck Quilter Designs
Fabric from Rosy Blooms by Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics

Pressing directions for the strip sets help you nest and match seams where the diagonals meet in a point to achieve crisps points.   

Hidden Dimensions by Canuck Quilter Designs
Fabric from Rosy Blooms by Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics

Be aware that the squares on point between two chevrons are formed by 4 triangles coming together so fussy cutting a favourite print for that square element is not an option.  Though it occurrs to me a I write this post that you could use a stack and whack method to cut the triangles and end up with a cool kaleidoscope effect in the squares.  I'm tucking that thought away for future experimemtation!

My version used a light background, but the design is just as effective with a darker bakground, as in the mockup below.  I love this navy and teal colorway.

Hidden Dimension by Canuck Quilter Designs
mocked up in Twilight Realm fabric from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric.

I also really liked the version I mocked up in the Salsa collection, also shipping from Island Batik now.  It's bolder than the pink and purple Rosy Bloom Island Batik selected for their catalog.

Hidden Dimension by Canuck Quilter Designs
mocked up in Salsa fabric from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric.

This alternate version from my fabric stash is still in the "to be quilted" stack.   This was the test quilt top I made to make sure my math was correct before I cut into the Island Batik fabric.  That fabric was advance yardage from the company and I couldn't replace it if I goofed.

You may notice the top set of chevrons here use a different set of fabrics than the lower set do.  I had nothing in my stash with enough yardage to make the quilt exactly as written, so I mixed it up a little more.

It was just a matter of making enough strip sets in each combo to be able to cut enough units for one set of chevrons.  The pattern has very detailed instructions and diagrams to cut the sections from the strip.  It's the same technique as I described in this tutorial about cutting 45 degree shapes.  Just substitute the strip set for the plain strip used in the tutorial, using the measurements detailed in the pattern.  Also, take care to orient you strips as directed to keep your fabrics in order.

I'm sure you can guess from this pattern that I love strip piecing, but I'd love to know how you feeel about it.  Love it, hate it, never tried it? If I write a strip pieicing tutoruial, what questions should I answer? Let me know in the comments!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

The Hidden Dimensions pattern is available as PDF download in my Etsy shop or ask for a print version at your favourite quilt shop.

My top tips for scrappy quilts

How much "scrappy" makes you happy?

Do you like every color and type of fabric thrown together in a glorious explosion of colour or are you happier with what some us like to call a "controlled" scrappy look?

Quilter's Scrapbook

While I appreciate the glorious scrappy explosions, as a maker I find this kind of project makes me anxious.  There are just too many possibilities and I overthink the choice and placement of every disparate scrap.  I need to reduce the chaos.  

If you also need some way to narrow your choices, consider one or more of the following strategies.

1. Pair your scraps with constrasting background or sashing.

This gives the eye somewhere to rest and helps the scrappy bits stand out.  Keep scrolling to see multiple examples of this.  Also, keep in mind that though most of mine use a light background, you don't have to.  Just focus on contrast between your scraps and your background or sashing.

2. Choose scraps from just one colour family.

While you might think a single color would lack variety and make a bland quilt, selecting a range of values adds visual interest, as does using a variety of print designs and scales.  

Half and Half

3. Repeat a single fabric for a particular element across the whole quilt.

In this scrappy version of Shining Lace, I used a single fabric for the tips in the starburst and the floating squares on point.  Just one constant element across the quilt can help anchor the design.  

In the pattern as written for yardage, there was a definite distribution of fabrics in the starbursts, but in the scrappy version I chose to let different values and prints fall randomly.  The one repeated element returned some order to the design.

Shining Lace - scrappy version

4. Choose scraps mostly from one colour group but add a small pop of a different color.  

Scrap Garden was meant to free up space in my bin of green scraps.  Adding just a touch of warmer colors (red, orange, yellow) in the cornerstones livened up the whole quilt.

Scrap Garden - similar to Hovering

4. Choose scraps from just a few color familes that play well together. 

Trimmed scraps for Starlit Picnic

I originally planned to use ALL the colours for Starlit Picnic, but once I had them out of the bins I found the variety overwhelming.  Narrowing them down to just three colour familes seemed more manageable.  I picked three because things tend to look good in odd numbers.  One was too few, five were too many, and three fell into the perfect middle. 

Starlit Picnic

Hmm.  I guess I should count that white accent fabric too.   In my mind I considered the white a neutral and not part of my scrappy selection.  In addition to illustrating the limited color scrappy palette, this quilt is a second example of using a single fabric for a specific element in an otherwise scrappy quilt.

5. Choose different colors for individual blocks.

Grouping scraps of each color into larger elements lets you use multiple colours while still imposing some order on the design.

 Butterfly blocks from this tutorial

This one is still in progress.  It stalled out, partially quilted, when I fell out of love with the setting and borders, but I still love the scrappy blocks.  Each block uses many scraps in a single color.  These blocks will be rescued and repurposed into a different quilt!

6. Pair super scrappy color explosions with a regimented setting.

Quilter's Scrapbook

Careful, orderly sashing is an effective counterpoint to the busy, colourful and radomly pieced hundred-patch blocks in Quilter's Scrapbook.  In this quilt I chose a fancy pieced sashing, but plain, tidy sashing would be equally effective.

7.  Embrace a scrappy backgound.

You don't need to limit yourself to yardage for the contrasting background.  You can see the background in my scrappy Shining Lace is made up of assorted white tone-on-tone prints.  The variety of prints adds subtle interest to this background.

Using a variety of values and prints in a scrappy background adds an extra design element.  I love the way the grey scraps in the quilt below add interest to the background of this quilt while still letting the sunflower block pop.

Adapted from the pattern Soak Up the Sun by
 Sew Kind of Wonderful in their book Mini Wonderful Curves. 

I'm thinking about writing a few words about how to tackle a pattern written for yardage when you'd like to use scraps instead.  Let me know if you would find this useful.

In the meantime, I'd love to know how much scrappy makes you happy.  Drop your thoughts in the comments!

Happy quilting,

Joanne

Shining Lace Quilt

I channeled very traditional vibes when I designed Shining Lace.

Shining Lace quilt by Canuck Quilter Designs

The starburst design came first.  It's a fairly substantial, sturdy design.  After playing with various sashing and setting options, I eventually decided the blocks needed some breathing room to make the quilt design lighter.  Option 1 was to simply float the blocks on the background, with no other elements.  Option 1 was bland.  

Option 2 was to add light, airy, but not blank, blocks between the starburst.  These new blocks added extra interest between the starbursts without competing with them.  Option 2 sparkled!

Shining Lace quilt by Canuck Quilter Designs

Straight set, no borders!

The resulting design has strong diagonal elements and even the starbursts seem to be set on point, but this is in fact a straight set, with blocks in horizontal rows.  Easy peasy.  It doesn't even have separate borders added.  The background "border" area is built into blocks in each row.

Shining Lace quilt by Canuck Quilter Designs

Piecing Techniques

Don't panic about those those 208 1" finished squares in the chains.  There are no individual tiny squares to cut and sew.  Strip-piecing really is your friend in this case! It reduces the number of cuts you need to make and individual pieces you need to sew, and really speeds up block assembly.

As for the 45 degree angles in the starbursts, if you're familiar with my patterns you have probably guessed that I used stitch-and-flip corners (AKA snowballed corners or lost corners) to make those.  

Don't forget to greet your trimming monster after you trim those lost corners!

Also, there are no inset seams here, though the points of the starbursts might tempt you to think otherwise.

Color Inspiration

My quilt was made with fabrics from the Rosy Blooms collection from Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics, but I submitted the design in alternate collections as well.  What do you think of the light versus the dark versions mocked up in Countryside Charm?  I find it interesting that the starburst in the dark vesion looks more like a blossom to me.

Shining Lace by Canuck Quilter Designs
in Countryside Charm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric
Fabric arriving in stores in spring 2026

Shining Lace by Canuck Quilter Designs
in Countryside Charm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric
Fabric arriving in stores in spring 2026

Pinks and spring greens lend springtime charm to the design.

Shining Lace by Canuck Quilter Designs
in Posy Twist from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric
Fabric arriving in stores in spring 2026

For a more muted, elegant look, try a monochromatic palette leaning more heavily on values than colors.

Shining Lace by Canuck Quilter Designs
in Twilight Realm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabric
Fabric arriving in stores in Feb/March 2026

This pattern is also a fabulous canditate for a scrappy version.  I may have dug into my overflowing bin of blue scraps...

Stay tuned for the blue scrappy version!  

I hope all is well in your quilting world. Let me know what you're up to during these cold winter days (or warm summer days in the Southern hemisphere).

Happy quilting,

Joanne

The Shining Lace PDF pattern download is available in my Etsy shop 

or you can ask for the printed version at your favourite quilt shop.

Shuffled Stars

I love designs that are easier to assemble than it seems at first glance.  Shuffled Stars fits neatly into that category.

What's simple about the quilt?

• There is just one block design in the quilt, using different fabrics for variety.  
• Though blocks seem to overlap, there are no inset seams or partial seams, just straight rows of blocks. 
• There are no triangles or other special shapes to work with.  You only cut and sew squares and rectangles, with every point achieved using stitch-and-flip corners.

Make sure to make a trimmings monster
with your stitch-and-flip trimmings!

Technical Stuff 😊

Besides the stitch-and-flip tips you can find here, I have this tip to add: pay close attention to the direction of the seams when you sew those diagonal seams.   The pattern shows you how to make the two units below.  Notice the seam leans in a different direction in each unit.  If you sew in the wrong direction, just turning the unit will not fix the issue.

It's not hard though. If you just follow the directions then double check that your unit matches the diagram before you trim away excess fabric in the corner, everything will be fine :)

My cover quilt was made with fabrics from Missing You by Terri Vanden Bosch for Island Batik, shipping to shops in March.  Terri was inspired by old love letter and designed fabrics with hearts, endearments in morse code, X's and O's, postmarks and envelopes.  It's a sweet story you can read about starting on page 55 of this catalog, but what drew me to this collection were the colors.  The deep reds an blue greys play so well together.

More Color Inspiration

Of course, there's no reason to limit the design to that collection or those colors.   Here's a bit more color inspiration for you.

Shuffled Stars by Canuck Quilter Designs
pictured in Countryside Charm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics
(Shipping to stores April/May 2026)

I like the yellow mixed in with blue above, but monochromatic works as well, as you can see below.

Shuffled Stars by Canuck Quilter Designs
pictured in Twilight Realm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics
(Shipping to stores Feb/March 2026)

Shuffled Stars by Canuck Quilter Designs
pictured in Twilight Realm from Island Batik for Lumin Fabrics
(Shipping to stores Feb/March 2026)

Yes, the last two both used fabrics from Twilight Realm, as it has a lovely range of both blues and teals.

I have more recoloring in the works.  I'm loading up Connecting Threads' newest Fench Vintage inspired Jolie Maison into EQ8 to see how it plays in Shuffled Stars.  I'll post again with an update :)

I'd love to know what colors you would choose for Shuffled Stars. Would you incorporate some prints?  You're not limited to the options above, and not even to fabrics in a single collection!  Please drop your inspiration in the comments.

Happy quilting,

Joanne

You can find the Shuffled Stars PDF pattern download
 in my Etsy shop or ask for the print version at your favourite quilt shop.

Surface Curves Quilt

Surface Curves is a little outside my usual design style.  I don't usually use a lot of curves, but this one is all about curves!

Surface Curves by Canuck Quilter Designs

I'm sure you recognize the traditional Drunkard's Path unit.  I've used it only twice before, first in my Autumn Moons quilt, then in the back of my Milky Way quilt.  I was actually planning a remake of Autumn Moons this fall but the backgrounds for the leaf blocks weren't working with the fabric selection I had in mind.  It did get my brain thinking of curves again though, so I decided to play around in EQ8 with an all-Drunkard's Path layout.  

Fabric Choices

My original idea was to have very definite dark/light pairs and have each circle or partial circle either all dark or all light to really define the layout, but as I started recoloring and trying different value placements I realized that relaxing those rules actually made the quilt more visually interesting.  In the end, I selected a very structured layout for block orientation as a base to work from and to help plan pressing directions, but I relaxed the color value "rules" so the end result looks less rigid and more random. 

Check out three mockups in alternate fabrics below. Same layout, different looks! The first highlights value contrast, the second leans into different print scales, and the third uses both color and value contrasts. 

Surface Curves, Cool and Calm version
in Botanical Sketchbook from White Owl Textile by Lumin Fabrics
(shipping to stores in fall 2026)

Surface Curves, Bold and Botanical version
in Golden Harvest by Martha Negley for Free Spirit Fabrics
(Shipping to stores in July 2026)

Surface Curves, Pretty and Preppy version
in Petal Whispers from White Owl Textile by Lumin Fabrics
(shipping to stores in fall 2026)

For my sample quilt I chose to pull out yardage of Northcott's Heavy Metal collection from my stash.  It's a collection from a few years ago but my local quilt shop, Quilting Connection, still has some in stock so I was able to supplement the six gold fabrics I had with the six grey/silver from the collection.  This gave me a variety of values (light, medium and dark) but also some color contrast (gold versus grey) to play with in the blocks.

Fabric from Northcott's Heavy Metal collection.

Templates

In the pattern I included paper templates for each part of the block.  I recommend making a copy to cut out, keeping the master copy from the pattern as a backup to copy again if you lose or damage the working template as you use it.  The template includes registration marks you can use to help line up the parts when joining them if your preferred method of sewing curves calls for it.

The Drunkards Path block is a traditional block in the public domain, so there are various acrylic templates available if you prefer to avoid paper templates.  I had the Quick Curves Acrylic Template from Backporch Designs in my template/ruler stash so I used that one.  The diameter of the circles is a tiny bit larger than the one you'll get if you use the template in the pattern, but this won't affect the look of the quilt, as long as you use the same template size for all your blocks.

If you struggle, as I do, with keeping templates from shifting on your fabric, I recommend spraying the back of the template with Grippy Non-Slip Coating from Odif.  I'm pretty sure this was designed to spray on rulers and other acrylic templates, but it works on paper too.  It helps keep the template from sliding and being displaced as you either trace around the template with a marking pencil or directly with the rotary cutter. 

Assembling the Quilt

With just one seam per block, it didn't take long to make all the blocks.  It probably took me longer to distribute the blocks in the layout!  The most appealing distribution of fabrics colors/values/prints really depends on the fabrics chosen, so the pattern does not include a definitive list or diagram telling you exactly where to place each of the 12 fabrics.  The diagram do show the block orientation for each block though.

For maximum flexibility you could lay out all the parts before making the blocks and move parts around until you like the distribution.  That's too much choice for me! I chose to pair fabrics in blocks first, then just move blocks around until I liked the look of things.  It helped to have the basic layout set first, so all I needed to consider was fabric placement, not block orientation as well.

I distibuted values and colors as evenly as I could.  I'm pleased with the result. Some circles are more prominent than others, softening the lines a bit.

I'm really very pleased that all the seam intersections nest.  That helped keep the circles smooth across seams where blocks join.  Of course, complete pressing directions are in the pattern!

Quilting the Quilt

My sample measures about 48" x 60", so I decided I could quilt it on my domestic machine with a walking foot. (The pattern also includes a larger throw, 60" x 72".)

Instead of stitching in the ditch, I chose to outline quilt 1/4" on each side of every vertical and horizontal seam between blocks for extra visual interest.  I like the way this frames each block  I also outline quilted inside each circle to make the circles pop.

The border quilting involved a little bit of math and marking but was very easy to quilt in two passes all around the quilt.  I chose straight lines and angles for the borders as a contrast to the curves in the center, and also because they seemed to pair well with the fabric's gears and metal theme.  I had planned to make a third pass around the quilt for a slightly different design, but I really liked the way things looked after the second pass, looking like arrows pointing to the center, so I stopped there.  

More Pictures...

...just because I love that the snow came just in time for a pretty photo shoot!  It's all gone now, but I enjoyed the winter wonderland for a bit.

What You'll Find in the Pattern

You could make this quilt without a pattern.  It's a traditional block in the public domain.  So why did I bother writing a pattern?  

I wrote it for quilters who quilt like I knit.  I like to knit and I have the technical skill to knit things, but I have no idea how to figure out yarn amounts or sizing or a myriad other things to get the result I want.  I don't really want to spend the time learning those skills.  I just want to get to the making part, so if I want to knit a pair of basic socks, I'll buy a knit sock pattern from someone who has the skills to write a sock pattern so I don't have to figure it out from scratch!

So for any quilter who just wants to skip the figuring it out part and get to the sewing part, here's what you'll find in this pattern:

• guidance on the number of fabrics you need to get this scrappy look
• fabric amounts calculated for you
• templates so you don't have to make your own or hunt some down
• instructions for most efficient cutting
• diagrams showing block orientation for this particular layout
• pressing directions to nest every seam that needs nesting

If this sounds appealing, you can find the PDF downaload version of the pattern here in my Etsy shop or you can ask for the printed version at your favourite quilt shop.

On a more general note, do you have questions about sewing curves?  If you drop your question or concern in the comments I'll try to address them in my upcoming tutorial about sewing curves.  I'm not sure on the timeline, but I'll add a link here once it's written and posted, so check back in later!

Happy quilting,

Joanne