Tag: Accu-quilt

Ready for a QAL?

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Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved. 

True Blue: A Quilt-Along to start 2026

There’s something timeless about a blue quilt. It feels familiar, comforting, and steady—like a favorite pair of jeans or the well-worn steps of a front porch. And that’s exactly the spirit behind True Blue, my upcoming Quilt-Along created in partnership with the wonderful team at American Patchwork & Quilting.

I’m thrilled to invite you to sew along with me and the APQ staff as we work through this beautiful project together. That is not all, the team at Accu-Quilt is also featuring dies to be able to cut this quilt using the Accu-Quilt machines.

About the Quilt

True Blue is a scrap-friendly patchwork throw that celebrates classic quilt blocks with a fresh layout and calming blue palette. It’s the kind of quilt that looks just as good tossed over a sofa as it does folded at the foot of a bed—and even better when you know it’s made from fabrics you already love.

This project is all about:

• Using your stash (yes, the good blues or any color)

• Enjoying a steady, manageable pace

• Building confidence block by block

• Creating a graphic set vintage quilt.

No rushing. No pressure. Just good, honest quiltmaking.

Join the Quilt-Along

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved. 

 

The True Blue Quilt-Along runs January 15 – March 11, and you’re invited to stitch right alongside the editors and fellow readers of American Patchwork & Quilting and little o’me.

Here’s how it works:

• Weekly steps released over 8 weeks

• Clear instructions broken into bite-size units

• No set in Seams

If you’ve ever wanted to sew “together” with a magazine team and quilters from all over the world—this is your moment. It is the beginning of the year, so lot’s of good QAL’s are starting and hope you join in on this one.

The Weekly Schedule (mark your calendar)

• Week 1: Gather & cut fabrics

• Week 2: Assemble Unit 1

• Week 3: Assemble Unit 2

• Week 4: Assemble Unit 3

• Week 5: Assemble corner units

• Week 6: Assemble blocks 1A, 2A & 3A

• Week 7: Assemble blocks 1B, 2B & 3B

• Week 8: Assemble the quilt top


Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2025 Meredith Operations Corporation. All rights reserved.

Quilted by Michelle Parker of Sew Many Quilts.

True Blue feels like a bridge between generations of quilters. The blocks nod to tradition, the layout adds a graphic layout, and the process invites you to enjoy each step. It’s not about perfection—it’s about progress, creativity, and community.

Whether you’re sewing from a neatly organized stash or digging through bins of “someday” blues, this QAL is start off the year using up some stash..

So sharpen those rotary blades, warm up your sewing machine, and join us. I can’t wait to see your version of True Blue in any color!

Ask for this magazine at your local quilt shop and if they don’t have the magazine can be bought on line here.

Happy sewing and 2026,

-modaLissa

member of the club

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There is an elite club that many talk about. It is a club that has thousands and thousands of members. The members talk about it with such gleam and glow. It is the infamous Grandmothers Club. So this is my first official post about our little angel Nolan who is now 3 months old.

My son and daughter-in-law are a bit old fashioned in many ways.  They followed this “new’ trend of not finding out what the sex of the baby was. Imagine that, not knowing almost at conception whether you were have a boy or a girl. So this brought about 9 months of guessing. 6 of those months consisted of complete strangers predicting boy or girl. The gal at the nail salon assured us she has never been wrong, the neighbor down the street knew for sure, a friend of a friend previewed side profile pics of the mama and was willing to bet money she knew boy or girl. We didn’t keep a tally of who predicted what, but all this did was add more confusion.  

Not “knowing” also saved us lots of money because there is only so much neutral baby stuff one can possibly purchase. Don’t really know if this was my son’s plan all along but no matter what it saved us all a ton of money.

This also made the choice of making a quilt extremely difficult. Don’t get me wrong during this time I made lots of baby quilts. The problem with that is when I am making a quilt for someone I like to know that from the beginning much like knowing if you are having a boy or girl when you find out you are pregnant. I like to think about the person while I am planning the fabrics. I like to plan what the design is and how it fits their personality. I like to think that I can make it just perfect. So add up all that pressure and imagine how I crippled myself when it comes to making the first grandkids’ baby quilt.
I knew I would make more than one quilt for this wee little one so I just jumped in and made something that included all the existing family members.

Using an accu-quilt die I made a big chunky clamshell quilt.I loved using this die and I will certainly do it again.  I then embroidered all the family names on each of the clamshells.

The fun thing about this quilt is that I not only got to think about the new grand baby but also got to think about each of the family members and how one little person would forever change our lives. Those of you in the club completely understand, right?

Nolan Robert Alexander 

on a side note: I had to include a pic of his guard dog, Peter. I did not include pets on the quilt, so I had to go on record with a pic.