VA Fibre Arts Blog

Hello! My name is VA (they/them) and Welcome to my Blog, VA Fibre Arts!

I am a beginner quilter and quilt pattern designer, but I've been sewing for most of my life. This blog was made to share the skills and lessons I've been learning, as well as the struggles and mistakes. Below, you can find all the posts I've made on a variety of topics I've been interested in, including some tips for fellow beginners, quilting research, my regular project updates, and quilting and sewing experiments.

If you'd like to get to know me a little better, please send me a message through my contact page or follow me on Instagram @vafibrearts. I would love to have you come along with me on my learning journey!

Project Update: 14.07.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome! With another few weeks of Summer gone, it feels like the season has been flying by! I've been keeping busy with family visits and home renovations, and when the weather really heats up, I retreat to the cool basement for some restful stitching! I can't wait to share the progress I've been making! Crochet Afghan In my last update, I was just getting started on my second Narrawong square, but since then, I've finished it and many more! In the top ro

vafibrearts

7 days ago3 min read

Renovation Report: 07.07.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! After another month of progress, I'm excited to share a new update on our renovations! Since we have several rooms in progress simultaneously, the sewing studio will sometimes sit unchanged for a few weeks at a time. But over the weekend, we made some exciting progress that I can't wait to share! Let's take a look! Filling in the Walls After replacing the window at the beginning of June, we were able to finish the electrical in that wall, whi

vafibrearts

Jul 72 min read

Project Update: 30.06.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome! After a much needed check up of my seasonal stitching goals last week, I'm feeling a lot more organized moving into the Summer months! And while I think I was already working in line with those goals, I'm excited to take a look at my ongoing project progress and see how well they align! My last project update was back at the beginning of the month, so I've had several weeks of stitching since then, as well as work on renovations and moving our liv

vafibrearts

Jun 304 min read

Seasonal Goal Update: Summer 2026

Hello Friends and Happy Summer! Over the weekend, the passing of the solstice ushered in the start of the Summer season! In my house, the longest day passed with little fanfare, since we were in the process of moving our remaining furniture into the basement so we could start working on the living room renovations. And though I'll miss the beautiful view from the big front window, the cool basement is quite nice considering the house is not air conditioned! Of course, the a

vafibrearts

Jun 237 min read

Pattern Preview: 2026-2027 Quilt Along

Hello Friends and Welcome! Between renovations and ongoing stitching projects, I've also started working on something new; my next quilt along pattern! Since my term as BoM convenor for my guild has just come to an end, this will be the first year that I'm designing a pattern for myself rather than for a group! This is both an exciting and terrifying change. Exciting because I can fully embrace my own ideas rather than attempting to adhere to what my guild mates want to wor

vafibrearts

Jun 162 min read

Project Update: 09.06.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! I had so much fun visiting with family last week, but after all that traveling around, it's nice to be able to sit and relax in my own home again! Though the week was pretty busy compared to my usual schedule, I did make plans to do some sewing with Mom, and to sit and visit with Grandma and my sister, so I made some progress on some of my ongoing projects while I was away! Let's take a look! Crochet Afghan I've continued to crochet more square

vafibrearts

Jun 94 min read

Renovation Report: 02.06.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! With the start of a new month upon us, it feels a little strange not to be sharing a quilt along update. While it's sad to see the quilt along end, I can't wait to see all of your Midnight Circus quilts finally coming together into finished quilt tops! And, of course, I'm looking forward to getting started on next year's quilt along project soon! But, in the meantime, there is still work to be done around the house! Over the past weekend, we

vafibrearts

Jun 22 min read

Project Update: 26.05.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! As the renovations continue and the warm weather settles in, I've been getting comfortable in the new house, and begun making connections in my local quilting community! I've reached out to a few groups, which I'll share more about later, and I'm excited to make some new friends and learn more about the opportunities that are available in my area! And while all of that has been keeping me busy, I've still found a few moments for progress on som

vafibrearts

May 265 min read

Renovation Report: 19.05.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! After another few weeks in the new house, I thought it might be fun to take another look at the progress being made in the sewing studio! Of course, both my husband and I were sick for two of those weeks, so there was a little while that we weren't working on the renovations at all, but it's still fun to see how far we've gone, take a look at what we're working on now, and figure out what our next steps will be! I can't wait to share our progre

vafibrearts

May 193 min read

A Brief Update: 12.05.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome! After being sick for so much of the last few weeks, I've been looking forward to getting back into my stitching projects and continuing renovations! Unfortunately, I celebrated getting well a little too soon and ended up eating something disagreeable and needed another few days to recover. But, such is life I suppose! And while I haven't managed much significant progress on anything while I've been sick, I did continue crocheting squares! Once I'v

vafibrearts

May 121 min read

Midnight Circus: May Quilt Top Assembly

Hello Friends and Happy May! I've had a slow start to the month with lots of rest while fighting off some kind of sickness. Though I'm feeling quite a bit better than a few days ago, I'm definitely not quite well yet. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to be missing another quilt guild meeting because of it, but given how much I've enjoyed being sick, I know I don't want to put anyone else through it. That being said, I hope all of you have had a much better start to May than

vafibrearts

May 57 min read

Project Update: 28.04.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! Even though this is a Fibre Arts blog, it's been a few weeks since I've shared any stitching, so I think it's a good time for a new Project Update! Throughout the move, I've done my best to keep piecing and experimenting! Even working at a slower pace, I still have some new progress that I'm excited to share! Let's take a look! Midnight Circus Sample Quilt This quilt is a little hard to share an update on, since it still hasn't moved into the

vafibrearts

Apr 284 min read

Renovation Report: 21.04.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! After nearly a month in the new house, I'm excited to announce that we finally have an internet connection set up! That means, for the first time, I'm actually posting from my new home! But since that only happened over the past weekend, I was forced to take a little unplanned break last week. Unfortunately, my part of Southern Ontario has seen a lot of rain and melt water over the last few weeks, and some of that water made its way into our

vafibrearts

Apr 213 min read

Midnight Circus: April Three Quarter Square Units

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! Last week, it turns out I was a little too optimistic thinking the internet would be set up and the blog back to its regular schedule. Instead, today I've found myself at a local library! It's nice to get out of the house and explore the new community, though I would have preferred to do it in warmer weather. Why has the start of April brought more snow?!? I suppose more cold weather just means more time for staying in a working on the next

vafibrearts

Apr 75 min read

Life Update: 31.03.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome! After a few weeks offline during my move, I'm excited to be back on the Fibre Arts blog and into my new home! Well, sort of. I'm not actually posting from the new house right now because we don't have the internet set up, I'm actually at my parent's house, but we should be getting that sorted out over the weekend! For now, I wanted to share a quick look at my new home! The kitchen is quite a bit larger than our old one, but somehow has less cupboar

vafibrearts

Mar 312 min read

Project Update: 10.03.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome! I'm excited to be starting off this week's post with an announcement; we've bought a new house! It's got almost an acre of land, which will be great for Meara, and is a bungalow, so hopefully that will help with my habit of falling down stairs! The house was built in the 1960s, so it's a lot newer than our current home, but needs some renovations and updates, which gives us the chance to make it suit our needs exactly! We actually bought it a few

vafibrearts

Mar 104 min read

Midnight Circus: March Double Goose Units

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! After another month of ice and snow, I'm beginning to question the groundhog's credentials. But I continue to hope for warmer weather soon! And with the Winter weather persisting into March, we have a good excuse to stay in and work on this month's quilt along units! Midnight Circus brought us an easy month of piecing in February, so hopefully you found time to finish those units, and maybe catch up on any of the previous months if needed!

vafibrearts

Mar 36 min read

Lupine and Laughter: Accents

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! Hope you're not tired of hearing about Lupine and Laughter yet, because I'm not done talking about it! So far, I've been really focused on the lilac values in this quilt and haven't put a lot of thought into the accent fabrics since the very beginning of the planning process back in November. But after working out my fabric gradient placement a few weeks ago, I've been thinking a lot more about what accent fabrics I should use! I have a fe

vafibrearts

Feb 243 min read

Project Update: 17.02.2026

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! Last week, I was feeling a little under the weather, and though I was still stitching, I wasn't feeling up to sharing updates on my socials. We started house tours, so I'm not sure if I was reacting to the air in an unfamiliar environment, or it could have been the changes in air pressure as the warm weather rolled in. Of course, there's always the possibility that I caught a little head cold. But I'm feeling better now and wanted to get you

vafibrearts

Feb 173 min read

Lupine and Laughter: Gradient Planning and Fabric Placement

Hello Friends and Welcome Back! After many months of showings and open houses, our house has finally been sold! We reached an agreement on a conditional offer at the end of January, and received notice that the terms had been met early in February! Our closing date is late in March, so we'll be in the house for another few weeks yet, but it's such a relief to have all the tours and interruptions to our life out of the way! With that done, we're now starting the hunt for our

vafibrearts

Feb 104 min read