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Quilting with the Donnas

I spent the weekend volunteering at the Fall Festival at Walnut Grove Pioneer Village. It was a cross roads settlement in Scott County, Iowa, in the 1860s and 18 period buildings have been preserved on the site so visitors can get an up close look at history. A couple of times each summer the Mississippi […]

The Block A Day Challenge has begun!

Ladies and gentlemen, start your sewing machines. The Block A Day Challenge has begun and this month’s prize is three spools Coats and Clark Multicolor mercerized cotton. Each spool has 1,200 yards of Egyptian cotton thread on it, which is perfect for finishing your quilts. I love it for free motion quilting  because the variegated thread helps […]

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. […]

‘Sonoma Rose’ characters have an edge

I started reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s new Elm Creek Quilts novel, “Sonoma Rose” last night and couldn’t put it down. I plowed through half of the book before I decided I absolutely had to go to bed if I was going to be of any use today. Part of what has me so enthralled in Chiaverini’s […]

Fuzzy cow

May is a big month for birthdays in my family. There are four kids who have birthdays all within a couple weeks of each other. Granted the fourth was just born last week, but it counts. All those birthdays mean May has unofficially been dubbed “Sewing for Kids Month” at my house. First up was […]

35th anniversary of the rotary cutter

Olfa is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the rotary cutter by making a Anniversary Commemorative Quilt that will be displayed at the International Quilt Market in Houston this October. I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute a block for the quilt. The only requirements were that the block measure 6 1/2 inches square and included yellow […]

2015 finishes

I was fortunate enough to complete quite a few projects in 2015, baby dresses, chalk paint projects and, of course, quilts. The later is what I will share with you in today’s look back at 2015 finishes. The first finish of the year was the Block of the Month 2014, one of the two versions […]