I saw the most beautiful thing when I came home from "Quilting Arts TV" taping last week. Not only had all of the snow melted while I was away, but a small patch of bright green moss shimmered among the dull brown weeds on the hill behind my home. This spot of emerald was the first sign of spring I'd seen this season.

Want to add interest and dimension to a quilted piece in no time? Try felting.

Whether you felt by hand (with water or needles) or by machine, it's an easy, fun, and fast way to make a piece pop. Plus, felting is a great way to use up little bits of fluff, fibers, and sparkly things you have on hand.

The Spring 2010 issue of Studios debuts on newsstands today, so I asked Studios Editor Cate Coulacos Prato to be the guest editor for today's Quilting Daily blog post. Take it away, Cate!

Whenever I travel, I'm always taking pictures of interesting doors, doorways, gates, and arches. I'm especially intrigued by doors that are decorated and ones that offer a glimpse of what's behind them.

When something goes awry in the creative process—the ink splatters, the dye color is murky, the stitches have minds of their own—you have two choices. You can toss it and start over, or you can, as my favorite fashion designer advisor Tim Gunn would say, make it work.

I like to think I'm always open to trying new things, especially when it comes to surface design methods. But there was one technique I shied away from: batik. I loved the effects, but doing it myself always seemed so complicated and time consuming.

Thread sketching is not a new technique, but it seems as though more people are willing to give it a try and are looking for tips on how to do it. If you're one of them, then look no further, as Quilting Arts has plenty of thread sketching tricks and techniques for you to try.

One of the most exciting ways to change the look of fabric is through resist dyeing techniques. Resist-dyeing is one of the oldest ways to transform cloth, used the world over. These methods are exciting, because they are unpredictable-perfect if you're a person who likes to play, because each time you get a different result.

Most of the time when I'm not at work, you'll find me in my studio, conveniently located in my home (which is five minutes from the office--see how it all works together?). I made over my studio in the spring of 2008, with the results shown in the premiere issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios, and ever since I have been very happy with how it flows and functions.