Cassandra Beaver
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cassandrabeaver.bsky.social
Cassandra Beaver
@cassandrabeaver.bsky.social
Mostly-modern quilter, quilting instructor, blogger, and pattern designer. Blue dot in rural Ohio.

https://thenotsodramaticlife.com
National Zoo Lover's Day is today, and The Zoo Family Portrait Quilt is based on animal photographs I took during visits to my local zoo.

Today, the pattern for the Zoo Family Portrait is 20% off to celebrate!

thenotsodramaticlife.etsy.com
April 8, 2025 at 3:24 PM
My #pantonequiltchallenge mini quilt is all foundation paper pieced so a lot of my cutting and process work looks like a pile of clippings!

#pantonequiltchallenge2025 #miniquilt #modernminiquilt #modernquilt #pantonecoloroftheyear #foundationpaperpiecing
March 25, 2025 at 3:47 PM
This year’s #pantonequiltchallenge2025 features a truly challenging color for me. I am using Ruby + Bee Field Mouse for the dominant Mocha Mousse, and the rest of this mini quilt includes bits of a rainbow of fabrics. Most of the fabric is solids, but a few prints appear too!
March 17, 2025 at 2:05 AM
It’s the March Quilt Block Mania release day, and that means you can download more than a dozen free patterns for quilt blocks featuring this month’s theme of fancy drinks!

https://thenotsodramaticlife.com/make-this-free-raspberry-lemonade-quilt-block-before-summer/
March 5, 2025 at 1:33 AM
My partner for the MQG mini quilt swap said she likes geometric designs and the colors of the sea. I landed on a half-rectangle-triangle design incorporating my favorite 1/8" wide slivers and a loose gradient from pale green to deep violet.

thenotsodramaticlife.com/a-creative-s...
February 25, 2025 at 3:13 AM
I recently returned to exploring straight-line quilting as a key design element, and this time, I went with bold colors for both the piecing and the quilting! This quilt is displayed at QuiltCon this week in the small quilt category.

17.5" x 17.5"
February 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The MQG announced a transparency challenge category for 2025, and I decided to go the most literal route by making a transparent quilt. The top and middle layers are pieced to form the overall design, and the final layer is white to create a pastel version of the quilt when the piece is reversed.
February 22, 2025 at 2:31 PM
100 Days of Apple Cores was my 2024 100-Day project. For each apple core shape, I improvisationally pieced a section of fabric and then used an Accuquilt machine to cut the final shape. I’m over the moon that this quilt won third place at QuiltCon in the Modern Traditionalism Category.

52" x 61"
February 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
I am thrilled that my appliqué quilt, Oasis, received second place in its category at QuiltCon 2025!

Based on my photographs from a road trip last summer, Oasis captures desert plants and red rock formations as needle-turn appliqué. This quilt is in the appliqué category at QuiltCon this year.
February 20, 2025 at 2:23 PM
100 Days of Greenery is my first major pictorial appliqué with a modern twist. None of the appliqué pieces touch each other, exposing the gradient background fabric and giving the piece a stained glass effect. This quilt received third place in the appliqué category at QuiltCon 2024.

35" x 41"
February 19, 2025 at 8:36 PM
An exploration of stripes and maximalism led to the quilt Keeping It 100, which I made as my 2022 100-day project. It was rejected from QuiltCon 2023 but accepted in 2024 as part of the Maximalism exhibit.

58" x 66"
February 19, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I recently shared my quilt, Emergence, that I made leading up to QuiltCon Together in 2021. Upon completing that quilt, I had a pile of scraps that I turned into Next Verse Different Than the First during the virtual event. This quilt went on to get juried into QuiltCon 2024.

37" x 45"
February 18, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Tipsy was inspired by the 2023 Pantone color of the year, which is a mix of solids and prints with extensive use of pieced 1/8" lines. This quilt was juried into QuiltCon 2024.

18" x 18"
February 18, 2025 at 4:34 PM
After I appliquéd and quilted Where We Connect, I cut out a circle, bound the cut edges, rotated the circle, and hand-stitched it into the new position, creating a modern reintroducing of a potholder quilt. Where We Connect received third place in the appliqué category in QuiltCon 2023.

44" x 35"
February 18, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Angled was inspired by the Modern Meets Modern Challenge, sponsored by the International Quilt Museum. We were given four historic quilts to reinterpret into modern designs, and my resulting mini quilt was accepted into QuiltCon 2023. This is the first one of my quilts to sell at a QuiltCon event!
February 18, 2025 at 1:08 AM
When the world shut down in 2020, I did four 100-day projects, ending with Emergence, which I constructed in the 100 days leading up to QuiltCon Together, the virtual event in 2021. This quilt was then juried into QuiltCon 2022.

46" x 61"
February 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Oscillation started as a two-color (plus values of those colors) challenge for a local quilt guild. I chose blue and turquoise to create Oscillation, which was juried into QuiltCon 2022. The curved right side of the quilt is my favorite feature of this quilt!

30" x 39"
February 17, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Urban Cabins started as a guild challenge to reinterpret a photograph of buildings in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and it appeared in QuiltCon 2022.

30" x 40"
February 17, 2025 at 1:24 AM
In 2019, Living Coral was the Pantone Color of the Year, and I used four values to create a 3-D illusion. The Value of Coral was part of the virtual 2021 show QuiltCon Together.

56" x 70"
February 16, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Dense quilting in white and ten bold colors make up String Theory, my only wholecloth quilt that has appeared in QuiltCon. This piece appeared in the virtual show QuiltCon Together in 2021 and in person at QuiltCon 2022.

11" x 11"
February 16, 2025 at 10:46 PM
In 2019, Living Coral was the Pantone Color of the Year, and I used four values to create a 3-D illusion. The Value of Coral was part of the virtual 2021 show QuiltCon Together.
February 16, 2025 at 11:37 AM
I combined two simple blocks using a variation of an interleaving technique to create Forward and Back, which appeared in QuiltCon 2020.
February 15, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Resonance continued my exploration of using colorful thread as a bold design element. This was my first 100-day project, and it appeared in QuiltCon 2020 and the accompanying QuiltCon Magazine. Resonance was rejected from the 2019 show, and I'm glad I entered it again!
February 15, 2025 at 3:18 PM
This week, on the blog, I’m sharing the process I use to construct and attach a quilt sleeve to hang your masterpiece!

thenotsodramaticlife.com/make-an-easy...
Make an Easy Hanging Sleeve to Show Off Your Gorgeous Quilt – The (not so) Dramatic Life
thenotsodramaticlife.com
February 15, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Stripe Club uses all solid fabrics with color blocking in large blocks and narrow stripes to create the pattern within the quilt. Stripe Club appeared in QuiltCon 2020.
February 14, 2025 at 11:24 PM