Blog

Golden Ratio and Nature
One day I was walking along the Potomac River near my home and met a man who was studying one of the plants with great interest. I asked him what was so fascinating about the plant. He told me that the name of the plant is Horse Tail and that he was very curious about...

Baked Beans Recipe
The first July 4th after we were married, John and I were invited to a pot luck barbecue with other graduate students. One of the dishes was an incredible pork and beans casserole. I asked for the recipe and was surprised at how easy it was to make. I have made...

What Kind of Needle Do You Use?
What kind of needle do you recommend for both hand piecing and hand quilting? First let me say there are a wide variety of needles, sizes and styles available and there are no rules as to what to use. Generally, most quilters prefer “betweens”, but some use applique...

Tropical Paradise
In my last blog I talked about taking a block design and making it with multiple fabrics for a scrappy effect. That blog has information that is helpful in understanding how I placed the fabric in the blocks used in this blog as well. I was so excited...

Scrappy Quilts with Traditional Style Blocks
Growing up, we had a scrap bag. While I didn’t start quilting until I was an adult, as a child I was always sewing something. My sisters and I made a lot of our own clothes and there were always leftover pieces. I would look through the scraps searching for the right...

Getting to Know Jinny Beyer Part II
We received an email from Jan about a postcard she bought on eBay from a woman in Latvia. Included was a photo of this card and she was wondering if we could tell her more about it. Shown here is that card. Yes, that is me from very long ago. Many of you may...

Getting to Know Jinny Beyer
I have been very lucky to have been quilting, teaching, writing books and designing fabrics for quilters for more than forty years. This past year, while there have been many things I haven’t been able to do, the Studio continues to operate, as an internet only...

My Pandemic Tree
On March 16, 2020, the governor of our state issued orders to help curb the Corona-19 virus. In compliance with those orders and in the interest of the well-being of our staff and customers, I closed the brick and mortar portion of our business and went strictly to...

Celebrate National Homemade Bread Day
This is a little diversion from quilting but most quilters also love to cook. Like so many of us during this pandemic, I have pretty much been hunkering down and staying home. One of the things I have been doing is baking sourdough bread. I have talked before about my...

Selecting and Placing colors and fabrics for scrap type quilts, Part 2 Assembling the Quilt
In my last post, I discussed my Day Lilies quilt and how to plan fabric and color schemes for this and any “scrappy” quilt. Today, I’m continuing that discussion. Step 1. For any scrappy quilt, I think it would be impossible to try and plan the...