Wise Craft Quilts Archives - Wise Craft Handmade

May 23, 2022

New Pre-Treated Cyanotype Fabric Squares In the Shop

“Cyanotype” from Wise Craft Quilts is filled with poems, sketches, and other mementos from my kids.

When I wrote Wise Craft Quilts, I was interested in creating a book that had all kinds of quilts that had some sort of meaningful element to them. Quilts with fabric that has meaning is certainly important to my work, but what if you have memories you want to preserve in a quilt, but no meaningful fabric tied to those memories to use?READ MORE

March 4, 2020

Quiltcon 2020 Workshops

Boro Stitching Workshop

Scenes from my “Boro-Inspired Quilting” workshops

I’ve been back from Quiltcon for almost 2 weeks now and I’m still super inspired by the workshops I taught and everyone I met there. I stayed busy, with 4 workshops spread out over 3 days. I don’t know what I would have done with my sis-in-law Jenny to help me out. Having her helped everything run so much more smoothly. Plus she’s just fun to hang out with!READ MORE

October 26, 2019

Join me at Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah

I am so excited to be working with Gossypium Quilt Shop and Fabric Store on some upcoming workshops. I really love supporting my local quilt shops and this one is very local, so I’m extra lucky. There are spots available in the workshops and tickets available for the lecture, so grab a spot and join us!READ MORE

June 20, 2019

Join me at Quiltcon 2020

I will be joining the faculty of amazing instructors at Quiltcon 2020 in Austin, Texas! Happening Wednesday, February 19- Sunday, February 23.

June 12, 2019

Block of the Month and Color Value Survey

Sensory Quilt

Sensory Quilt from Wise Craft Quilts book

I am working behind the scenes on brand new online classes and would love to hear from you! Completing this 5 minute survey will help me determine what kind of content you all would be most interested in learning from me. At the end, you can add your name to my email list to be notified when these classes are ready. Thank you so much!READ MORE

May 24, 2019

Caroline’s Story of Just One Quilt

This video really made my day today. Jenni Smith sent me this video tale from her “Just One Quilt” video series. This is an interview with Caroline, and in it she discusses the craft of making her second quilt. Don’t you love her version of the quilt “Value” from Wise Craft Quilts. Caroline really got the essence of what his project was meant to be about. This quilt was about me wanting to create a beautiful piece of patchwork that didn’t require us to go out and buy loads of new fabrics (that’s what swapping with friends, and getting creative with our stash, is for).

It is truly not necessary to follow a pattern to the letter to create beautiful patchwork, or feel you must be super precise or exact. As Caroline says, its a lot like baking. You gain some basic skills. Get an understanding of the basic ingredients. And for goodness sake stop trying to achieve a level of perfectionism that is unrealistic (and frustrating). Begin a quilt project with this mindset and you will find success.

You just start!

Find more lovely “Just One Quilt” stories and inspiration, subscribe to Jenni’s YouTube Channel.

February 28, 2019

A Mini-Lesson on Using Color Value in Your Quilts

Color value is a good thing to understand when you are designing your quilts. It can help you create and define shapes in the layout, and is an important thing to be aware of when choosing fabrics and deciding color placement. I just posted a little mini lesson on value in my Instagram Stories and thought I’d post it here too!

On its surface, determining color value differences between two fabrics is not a difficult. One is light and one is dark, right? In my lectures and workshops, I focus more on the concept of relative lightness or darkness of fabrics. This can be a bit harder to understand, especially in the context of a full quilt layout.

January 4, 2019