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Making time for personal projects

I’ve been working on a T-shirt quilt for a client. He has several T-shirts from his days in the Navy, a union member and from several presidential elections. The sashing is an appropriate red, white and blue. I finished sewing it to the top and left sides of the blocks two days before meeting the […]

Pillowcases for Japan’s animals

I’m a huge dog lover. I have three cocker spaniels of my home and I also have a foster dog that will stay with us until she finds a forever home.  So when the earthquake hit Japan, I wanted to do something for the animals affected by the devastation. I’ve made several novelty pillowcases that […]

I’m snowed in my sewing room

OK, clearly it isn’t actually snowing in my sewing room, but my blue and white snowball quilt is starting to come together. I’ve had the snowball blocks done since I started the quilt in the middle of a heat wave last summer. But I’ve been taking my time on the 6-inch nine patches that will […]

January quilting goals

Transforming my sewing room into a nursery means I’ve got to get some of big projects out of the way before the baby arrives. And that means I have a lot of sewing to do in the next 20 weeks, give or take depending on whether the little guy or girl decides to come early […]

My new favorite way to finish seams

  I’ve been sewing more garments since I had Angela and finishing seams is always a challenge. I don’t have a serger to bind off the edges and keep the fabric from fraying. But to be honest, even though serging is the fastest way to finish a seam, I don’t really like the look of […]

Snowed in with the Winter Blues

I live in the Midwest, which means a big winter storm has blanketed my town. Appropriately, I was working on my king sized Winter Blues quilt when the storm hit. I already finished a lap-sized one for practice and the pattern is available on for download. I’m about halfway done with the quilting. I think […]

Finding time to quilt every day

It’s fall, and that means spending more time in a classroom than at my sewing machine. I teach journalism and advise the student newspaper at my alma mater. We’re not talking going back to school after a summer off. We’re talking about working eight or nine hours at my main job at an ad agency, […]

‘More Custom Slipcovers’ not for beginners

I’m not a novice when it comes to creating slipcovers. I’m working on recovering a patio set, but in that case I just removed the cover, took it apart and used the fabric as a pattern to cut and sew my new slipcover. The techniques inĀ “More Custom Slipcovers: Easy to Make and Snug-Fitting” by Marge […]