Hi ,

It's not officially summer yet (which happens June 21st), but don't tell the folks at Craftsy because they're already running a big summer sale!


This is a sitewide sale, which means ALL Craftsy classes will be discounted up to 50% off! This sale will end Monday night, June 9th.

Just in case you're not familiar with Craftsy, here's a few details about this creative learning platform:

- Interactive - When you buy a class you also gain access to the teacher. Post questions to the platform anytime and get a response from the teacher directly.

- Lifetime access - Once you buy a class, it's yours FOREVER. There's no deadlines to meet, no time limit to run out. You can take the class right now, or in 3 years, it doesn't matter! Watch the online videos on your time, according to your schedule. Even if that means watching a cooking class at 2 am!

- New ipad Download - Even if you don't have a high speed internet connection, you can still enjoy Craftsy classes on your ipad. Find a spot in town, like a coffee shop with free wifi, and select the lessons you wish to watch and download them to your ipad. You can then watch those lessons anytime, anywhere with no worries about internet access!

I really love Craftsy classes, and have taught 3 Craftsy classes on free motion quilting myself. Click here to learn about the classes I've taught with Craftsy.

New classes are always coming out too! Here's a few Craftsy classes I've enjoyed taking recently:

Machine Quilting Wholecloth Quilts - Ready to jump into a whole new world of quilt making? Check out Cindy Needham's amazing wholcloth linen quilts. Learn how she designs amazing quilting motifs over intricate antique linens to create stunning quilts. Even better, learn my favorite word from Cindy - ISH - which perfectly describes the perfectly imperfect nature that all quilts should have.

Big Embroidery with a Small Hoop - I'm very intrigued by machine embroidery and still learning everything I can about stabilizers, hooping, and stitching designs successfully. This class struck me as particularly interesting because it's geared to the very smallest embroidery machines with 4 inch hoops. It turns out you can hoop some pretty amazing things even with a small machine!

The Perfect Fit Wrap Dress - Here's the perfect summer dress project you've been looking for! Short sleeves or long sleeves, cotton fabric or knit, this pattern will work for anyone!

I'm personally looking forward to busting my stash of busy print fabrics to create some cute dresses for the summer and fall.

It's the start of June which means it's time to piece a new block. This month we're also stitching it up a notch as we learn how to piece triangles for this Pinwheel Quilt Block.

When I first started quilting I was SUPER intimidated by triangles. I thought it was going to be SO tough to cut and piece triangle shapes. It turns out with half square triangles at least, you don't ever have to cut out an actual triangle shape.

Click here to check out post #22 on piecing a Pinwheel Block

Josh got the week off as he doesn't have to piece as he's "cheating" with his preprinted Spoonflower fabrics. Instead he shared a recipe for his cajun jambalaya, which you have to see in order to believe!


You can check out the recipe, as well as learn about an awesome Cajun cookbook, by clicking here.

Looking for a funky heart design to fill your quilts with love?

Look no further than Zany Hearts! This design was a lot of fun to stitch and while quilting on the video I explained my mentality about echo quilting, that this skill involves the same visual estimation of space and movement that hitting a baseball involves.

Visual space estimation is basically being able to look at a space or distance and judge how far away it is without measuring. I'm able to consistently echo around 1/8th inch apart, but I never take a ruler to my quilt to measure it - this spacing is all done visually by focusing on the space between your first line of quilting and your needle.

Click here to watch the video on how to free motion quilt Zany Hearts.

Finally, a last bit of BIG news!

I'm getting back into entering quilt shows with the finished quilt 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs.

Yesterday I mailed my first quilt show entry in 3 years, crossing all my fingers that hopefully I'll get in. I don't even care about winning a ribbon - I just want to get IN to this show.

It's interesting to see the different perspective I have now after taking so many years off of competing. I'm less concerned with winning ribbons (though they are always nice!). Really I just want to show this quilt and celebrate the effort it took to create.

It was so much work to connect all 365 squares together, and of course the journey to stitch them all out over 2 years. It's been a long time in the making and now it's time to see just how far it can go over the next two years.

So that's it for this week! Don't forget about Craftsy Big Summer Sale - it's a great time to stock up on classes to watch through the heat of the summer!

Let's go quilt,

Leah Day