Hi ,

Have you noticed that I begin all of my videos with "Hello my quilting friends"? I say this at the beginning of every video because it makes me really happy. I can't help but begin each video with a massive smile on my face as I welcome my quilting friends to the show.

Of course this happy intro made it super easy to decide on the title for my new quilting podcast. Yep, I've named it Hello My Quilting Friends!

I've created this new podcast because I love listening to audio while I quilt. I've recently become very addicted to podcasts and eventually I decided to start one myself about quilting, running a business, and how Josh and I balance our work and family life.

So our very first episode is about writing and publishing books. I recorded the schoolhouse presentation from quilt market that I shared with Stephanie Palmer and Christa Watson on traditional versus self publishing.

This is a topic that is close to my heart and I hope you enjoy learning about it too!

I was thinking about my favorite quilting supplies the other day and what material I would be really absolutely lost without. 

I know this sounds odd, but it would be Freezer Paper! 

I absolutely love Freezer Paper because you can use it for so many different things: piecing, applique, and machine quilting. Here's a few ideas to play with:

Applique  - Print your piecing templates directly onto the paper side of the freezer paper using an inkjet printer. Cut out the shapes and press with the waxy side down on the fabric. The waxy side will stick nicely, allowing you to easily cut out the shape leaving plenty of room to turn the edges.

Carefully turn the edges of the shape by pressing with a hot iron. Once the shape has been created, remove the freezer paper. You can use the same template to make multiple applique shapes!

Machine Quilting - Print your quilting design or diagram directly onto the paper side of the freezer paper using an inkjet printer. Cut out the shape and position it where you like on your quilt. Press it to the surface of your quilt with a hot iron, then machine quilt right on the lines. Remove the freezer paper carefully from the stitching and enjoy your beautiful quilting.

Click here to buy a package of 50 Printable Freezer paper sheets for $10.99.

Ready to piece block #11 from the Machine Quilting Block Party? This beautiful Glitter Star block is an awesome combination of Flying Geese units and a new corner triangle unit that's super fun to piece

When designing this block I decided to shrink down the flying geese units to the smallest we've pieced all year. This makes them a bit more intense to piece so take your time putting together all these little units.

When looking at this block, I knew I wanted to pull in a few designs from past blocks to help tie the quilt together and emphasize the angular shapes in the piecing. I ended up using a combination of Zippling, Fuse Fire, and straight line quilting for my Glitter Star block.

Make sure to swing back by the Free Motion Quilting Project Blog this coming Monday to see how we quilt all these fun designs on our beautiful Glitter Star blocks.