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It feels good to declutter

My husband and I live in a little two bedroom ranch. Until now, the second bedroom has been my sewing room/throw anything in there that doesn’t have a permanent home. More often than not, it was a disaster. But now that we’re preparing for the arrival of our first child, all that has to change. […]

Pretty in Pink

For me, having a little girl means branching out in my sewing projects to garments. I’m just a big sucker for all the frilly little dress patterns, so Easter was a chance for me to have some fun creating a custom outfit for Angela. I started with a fuchsia eyelet dress made from McCalls M6015 […]

$10 antique store find

It’s official. At 13-months-old Angela has her first sewing machine. One of my favorite rainy day activities while on vacation in Shawano, Wisconsin, is visiting antique shops. Usually it is the same stuff year after year. Beer steins, tchotchkes, spoons, more junk than treasures. But occasionally I find something good. This trip it was a […]

Beginner quilters show off their work

I’ve been teaching a beginner quilting class at CommUniversity, an annual event in the Quad-Cities where local instructors and experts teach month-long courses on everything from religion, to Spanish, to knitting. I developed a pattern for my course that included the quilting techniques of strip piecing, basic piecing, fusible web applique, free motion quilting and […]

Labor, sharp objects and my husband

Occasionally I go to a knitting night at my local yarn shop called the Knaughty Knitters. It’s a fun bunch. There’s usually wine and everyone is always willing to make sure I haven’t screwed something up too badly. The last time I was there, hugely pregnant finishing a baby sweater, I asked if they thought […]

Learning to quilt feathers

Whenever I’ve had an inkling to learn a new quilting skill, I never start small. More often than not I decide I’m going to do it, and it is going to be king sized. That’s how I learned to paper piece, sew curved seams and triangles. Now I’m going to learn how to quilt feathers […]

Last-minute gift: GAP-tastic cowl

This post is for all you quilters out there that are also closet knitters. I started and finished the GAP-tastic Cowl in one week. Yes, just one week, and I am by no means a fast knitter. This pattern is super simple. You just alternate knit and purl stitches, so even a beginner can handle […]

Sewing room to nursery: Empty

Big changes are happening in the sewing room and the next few weeks will bring on heck of a transformation, but right about now the room just looks empty. I already wrote about what I did with all my sewing stuff that was crammed in the second bedroom of our home. Every linen closet in […]

Feeling the Christmas crunch

I started my career as a journalist, which means I like a good deadline. It also means I’m a procrastinator, a bad habit that bites me in the rear every holiday season. The gifts are bought, most of them are even wrapped, my cards have been mailed, but I haven’t even begun the handmade presents. […]