Off the Bolt
Stories, stitches, and the little wins between seams ~ pull up a chair.
Off the Bolt
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Take Two Seams and Call Me in the Morning
Every quilter already knows the cure for a long week. It isn't found in a pharmacy, it doesn't need a refill slip, and it hums at about the speed of a good straight seam. Stitched with Soul is the collection that writes the prescription out in full: peaceful sewing machine scenes, a few honest sayings and some very understanding animals, all for the woman who comes to the machine to feel like herself again. Here is what the doctor ordered. -
The Mountains Have Always Understood Slow Stitching
Mountains are never in a hurry. They sit in the same spot through every season, letting the light and the leaves change around them, and nobody ever asks them to speed it up. Hand quilters understand that completely. Stitched Mountain Views gathers our peaks, ridges and high country valleys, each one drawn like layered appliqué with stitched details you can almost feel, and the name of the place lettered underneath. -
If Your Sewing Machine Sat for a Portrait, It Would Look Like This
Our sewing machines work harder than anyone in the house, and they have never once been asked to pose. The Signature Collection fixes that. Every design here is a painting with a sewing machine at its heart, set into rolling water, blazing suns, stained glass and gardens that could only grow in a quilter's imagination. Consider this your invitation to the gallery opening. Wine and cheese are on you. -
Which Sewing Machine Are You? A Quiz for the Quilter Who Knows Herself
Quilters have strong feelings about their machines. We name them, we talk to them, and we can tell you exactly which one we learned on. The Sewing Machine Stitch Club puts the machine front and center in every design, set into sunrises, seas, mountains and pure bursts of color. So here is a quick quiz. Answer honestly: where does your mind go when the machine starts humming? Tally your answers, then find your match below. -
Breathe In, Press the Seam: A Sewing Room Meditation
Settle into your chair. Rest your hands flat on the extension table. Let the hum of the machine be the only sound in the house. Sewing Machine Serenity is the collection for that feeling, where every design puts a sewing machine somewhere peaceful: rolling on the tide, glowing under a rising sun, or sitting quietly in the middle of a rainbow. Ready? Close your eyes. Well, not while the needle is moving. -
Porch Light On, Rotary Cutter Ready: A Quilter's Halloween Route
Some quilters hand out candy on Halloween. The rest of us are in the sewing room with the porch light on, answering the door between seams. Rotary Cutter Chic is our spooky season in the sewing room, where ghosts wind thread, skeletons piece blocks and the rotary cutter is always somewhere in the picture, sharp as ever and dressed for the occasion. Grab a pillowcase. Here is the route. -
Deal Us In: Every Quilter at Card Night Has a Poker Face
Once a month the sewing group swaps rotary cutters for a deck of cards. The quilt tops get folded, somebody brings a bowl of pretzels, and within one hand it becomes clear that quilters make wonderful card players. Years of staring down a wonky seam will give anyone an excellent poker face. Resting Stitch Face Wine Sippers puts those faces on stemless wine sippers with lids, so everyone at the table can keep her drink close and her expression unreadable. Shuffle up. Here is who is playing. -
Monday Through Sunday in Resting Stitch Face Tees
A quilter's week has a rhythm all its own. Monday is for unpicking whatever went wrong on Sunday night, midweek is for pretending you will not buy more fabric, and the weekend belongs to the machine. Resting Stitch Face Tees gives every day its own tee, so the saying on your chest can match the mood at your cutting table. -
The Society Column: Who Was Seen Stitching Where This Season
Every proper society deserves a gossip column, and ours has been buzzing. The Resting Stitch Face Society is our collection for quilters who wear that famous look, the calm, unreadable expression of a woman counting stitches in her head, and this season its members have been spotted everywhere from mountain cabins to the far side of the galaxy. Pour a cup of something warm. Here is who was seen, and where. -
The Sewing Room Mood Chart, From Prickly to Perfectly Pleased
Doctors keep a chart of little faces on the wall, from smiling to miserable, and ask you to point to the one that fits. Every sewing room deserves the same chart, because a quilter's mood can travel from delighted to dangerous in the time it takes to find a skipped stitch. Resting Stitch Face Sippers is that chart, one expressive face at a time, ready to sit beside the machine and tell the household exactly how the afternoon is going. Point to today's face and fill the sipper accordingly. -
The Bell Over the Quilt Shop Door Never Stops on a Saturday
The local quilt shop on a Saturday morning is the best kind of noisy. The bell over the door never stops ringing, the cutting counter has a line, and somebody is always telling a story about the quilt she is definitely finishing this month. Resting Stitch Face Quilt Shop gathers the designs that sound like that room: the comebacks at the register, the notices on the bulletin board and the regulars who have been coming in since the shop opened. -
Everything Looks Better Up on the Design Wall
There is a moment in every project when the blocks come off the cutting table and go up on the design wall, and suddenly you can see the whole thing. Resting Stitch Face Patchwork is that wall. Every design here is pieced from prints, scraps and squares, the way a quilter sees the world, arranged in rows so you can step back and take it all in. -
Inducted Into the Sewing Room Hall of Fame
The ballots are in, and the votes were counted at the cutting table. Resting Stitch Face Icons honors the true legends of quilting life: the machine that never quits, the coffee that keeps us going, the dog who keeps us company and, of course, the face we make when a point refuses to match. Every design here is a plaque for one of them. -
A Polite Reply to Everyone Who Says You Could Just Buy a Blanket
Sooner or later somebody says it, usually kindly, usually while watching you square up your fortieth block: you know, you could just buy a blanket. Every quilter has a reply ready, even if she only says it in her head. Resting Stitch Face Handmades is a whole collection of those replies, drawn in color and thread for the people who make things by hand because the making is the point. -
These Critters Are Looking for a Forever Sewing Room
Every quilter has taken in a stray at some point. Maybe it was a cat who wandered into the sewing room and never left, or a dog who decided the space under the cutting table was his. Resting Stitch Face Critters is our adoption day for the animals of Chic Quilter: dogs, cats, a fox and one very well dressed flamingo, all of them a little tangled in thread and every one of them hoping to go home with a quilter. -
How the Crew Smuggled a Fabric Haul Past the Front Door
The plan was simple. Get the new fabric from the car to the sewing room without anyone in the house asking how much it was or where it would go. Pulling that off takes a crew, and the Resting Stitch Face Crew is the finest team of accomplices a quilter ever assembled. Here is how the job went down, member by member. -
Who Came as Who at the Quilt Guild Costume Party
The invitation said three things: come as your favorite icon, bring a finished block for the swap and practice your resting stitch face in the mirror beforehand. The Resting Stitch Face Collection is the photo album from that night, with the famous faces who showed up in character, the guests who came as themselves and a few who wandered in from the snack table. -
The Secret Handshake Involves a Seam Ripper
Every good club has a password, a clubhouse and a calendar full of meetings nobody would dream of missing. The Resting Stitch Face Club has all three, plus a membership that grows every time a quilter squints at a seam and decides it will do. This collection is the clubhouse: sayings members whisper at the door, portraits hanging over the fireplace and a design for every season the club gathers. -
Out of Office: Gone Quilting, Back When the Binding Is Done
Thank you for your message. I am currently away from my desk, my phone and most of my responsibilities, and I will be returning at an unspecified time after the binding goes on. Rather Be Quilting is the collection for every quilter who has ever wished she could set an automatic reply on her whole life. Each design says, in cheerful color, exactly where her heart already is. -
Tasting Notes From Our Quilty Pleasures Sip and Sew Flight
Real wine tastings come with little cards describing each pour: notes of cherry, hints of oak, a lingering finish. We thought our Quilty Pleasures Wine Sippers deserved the same respect. This collection is a whole flight of stemless wine sippers, each one lettered in glowing rainbow gradients with a saying every quilter has lived, and each one ready for the good stuff after a long day at the machine. Swirl, sniff and read on. -
Sewing Room Commandments, Handed Down From the Ironing Board
Every sewing room runs on laws nobody wrote down. Press as you go. Never touch her good scissors. Friends do not let friends quilt alone. Quilting Humor Tees finally puts those laws where people can read them, lettered in bright rainbow gradients on soft tees in blues, purples, pinks and coral, one commandment at a time. -
Now Enrolling: Introduction to Quilteontology
Some fields of study take years of schooling. Quilteontology takes one good weekend at the machine, and most of us earned our degree long ago. The Quilteontologist collection is where you claim the title officially: every design announces I'm a Quilteontologist in bold capitals washed in gradient color, teal melting into pink, violet into rose, or bright gold on deep navy, with a small line of fine print underneath explaining your particular area of expertise. Please find the course catalog belo -
Quilt Hair Is Spreading, and Even Bigfoot Has Caught It
This just in from sewing rooms across the country: quilt hair is spreading. The symptoms are well known to any of us who have spent a happy Saturday at the machine. A crest of frizz rising from the static of the batting, loose threads tucked in like ribbons, and a total, joyful lack of concern about any of it. Quilt Hair Don't Care is the home of our whole wild-haired family, and the latest reports suggest nobody is immune. -
Look It Up: The Chic Quilter Dictionary of Stitch Puns
Quilters speak their own language. We say stash and mean treasure, say UFO and mean a project that has been waiting patiently since last spring, and we never, ever pass up a pun. Stitch-Puns Galore is where our favorite wordplay lives, so we did the sensible thing and wrote up a few dictionary entries. Keep this handy for the family members who still ask what is so funny. -
A Quilt You Can Wear to the Mailbox
Every quilter meets the same problem come October. The sewing room is the chilliest room in the house, the quilt on the frame is nowhere near finished enough to wrap up in, and the cardigan on the back of the chair slides off every time you reach for the iron. Plush Quilter Hoodies is our answer: soft, roomy hoodies carrying the Chic Quilter designs we love most, so you can stay warm without ever setting down the rotary cutter. Think of each one as a quilt you are allowed to wear to the mailbox. -
Annual Review for the Studio Assistant Who Sleeps on the Cutting Mat
Every sewing room has staff. Nobody hired them, nobody pays them in anything but treats, and they have never once arrived on time for a meeting, yet the work would feel strange without them. The Pet-Inspired Collection is our tribute to that loyal crew, so we sat down and wrote their annual review. -
Last Orders, Please: The Cutting Table Is Closing for the Night
Every good neighborhood has a place where everyone knows your name, and for quilters that place is the cutting table. It is where the gossip happens, where the big decisions get made, and where somebody always says she will cut just one more strip. Last Call at the Cutting Table is a gathering of the regulars, the favorite faces and sayings who tend to linger long after the lights should have gone off. Pull up a stool before we close. -
The Face You Make When Someone Interrupts a Perfect Quarter Inch
You know the look. Eyes locked on the presser foot, mouth pressed flat, eyebrows set at an angle that says the next person to ask where the car keys are can wait until the end of this seam. Zip It, our Resting Stitch Face design, is that expression pieced together from fabric scraps and finally given a name. -
A Tried and True Recipe for a Good Day to Quilt
Some days just come out right, like a batch of cookies from a recipe card so worn you can barely read it. Good Day to Quilt collects the designs that taste like those days: sunrise colors, happy sayings, a little mischief and a lot of thread. Here is the recipe, written the way our friends at guild would write it, with plenty of notes in the margins. -
Questions From the Family, Answered by Your Tee
Quilters get asked the same handful of questions over and over, usually while holding a shopping bag or standing at the ironing board. Good Day to Quilt Tees saves your breath. Each soft tee carries a cheerful, rainbow-lettered answer, so the next time someone pokes a head into your sewing room, you can simply point. -
Translated for the Family: What Your Quilter Really Means
Living with a quilter is a joy, but it does come with its own language. She says one thing, she means another, and the whole household learns to nod along. Gifts for the Quilt Obsessed is where that language finally gets translated into designs she will love, so if you are shopping for the quilter in your house, consider this your phrasebook. -
What to Write on the Gift Tag for Your Favorite Quilt-a-Holic
Choosing a present for a quilt-a-holic is the easy part. Writing the little tag is where most of us freeze, pen hovering, because how do you sum up a woman who plans vacations around quilt shops and once rearranged the living room for a design wall? Gifts for the Quilt-a-Holic is our collection for her, and every design in it already says half of what you mean. Here is how to finish the sentence. -
Quilt Lover Seeks Same: Personal Ads From the Sewing Room
Quilt lovers are easy to spot once you know what to look for: thread on the sleeve, a fabric store receipt in every pocket and a faraway look whenever someone mentions a sale on batting. Gifts for Quilt Lovers is our collection of sayings and characters that describe her perfectly, so we let the designs write their own personal ads. Read closely. One of them is bound to sound like someone you love.
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Latest Articles
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Boss's Day in a Room Where Nobody Takes Orders
Hi there. Boss's Day is coming up, and we have a small confession from the sewing room: nobody in here has a boss. Not one of us. We looked. There is a chair, a machine, a stack of fabric that keeps growing on its own, and a dog, and not a single person who gets to say what happens next. Sound familiar? -
Straight from The Scrap Basket: The Collection That Says What We're All Thinking
Hi, quilting friends. Penny here. Jenny usually does the writing around Chic Quilter, but she handed me the keyboard for this one, and honestly, it was about time. Because this collection is my kind of honest.
