Lindsey Rhodes of LR Stitched has started a campaign to encourage people who have benefited from all the free online quilting and sewing tutorials to buy five patterns from indie pattern makers in the month of May 2016. Take some time to read her May is for Makers post. She very eloquently explains how much time, effort, and money pattern makers invest in their free tutorials and how paying for a pattern is a small way we quilters/sewists can thank and encourage indie pattern makers and make it possible for them to keep creating. I’m committing to buying five patterns from five different indie pattern makers this month. So far I’ve purchased two quilt patterns from two women whom I have met personally and who I have already learned so much from.

The first pattern I bought today, Half-Square Triangle Sampler Quilt, was from Jeni Baker of In Color Order. I took Jeni’s Mastering the Half-Square Triangle Workshop at QuiltCon, and I consult her book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle. on a regular basis. I truly appreciate how down to earth Jeni is and how approachable and responsive she is. I love the color combination of fabric in this pattern along with the use of sashing and coordinating cornerstones.

Image used with permission by Jeni Baker

The second is from Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl who has been a quilt blogging mentor for me for a year, and I finally met her in person also at QuiltCon. I’ve admired her  Triangle Transparency pattern for several months but questioned my ability to select fabric with the appropriate color value and color gradient to achieve the transparency effect. In her pattern, she provides detailed guidelines that quilters may follow if they choose. And I probably will!

I plan to buy three more patterns from indie pattern makers by the end of the month, and I’ll write another post sharing what patterns I decided to buy. I sure am having fun looking at all the cool patterns out there.