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 […]

Quick weekend projects

I started and finished three quick projects on Saturday. First up was a fabric book for my six-month-old niece. Since fabric books come in ready to cut out panels, this project was very quick. All I had to do was cut out the page spreads, fuse half of them to fusible fleece and then sew […]

A Quilted Christmas tree reveal

When I signed the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild up to create a tree for the Festival of Trees in Davenport, Iowa, my goal was to show the community that quilting is much more than a hobby for little old ladies. Quilting is beautiful and an art in its own right. So with textiles and thread […]

Children’s quilts tell the stories of our lives

Quilts are important because they tell the stories of our lives, and that’s the message I’m trying to get across with the Children’s Quilts exhibit at the Quad-City Botanical Center which I curated for the Misssissippi Valley Quilters Guild. The quilt show features more than 20 quilts with a mix of modern, antique and not […]

Block A Day Challenge round up – Week 1

The Block A Day Challenge got a slow start this week, but the participants have made some good progress. I’ve sewn more blocks for my New York Beauty in one week than I have in the last six months. Here’s a few of the blocks that were completed this week:   If you’re hesitant to […]

Block a Day Challenge roundup – Week 12

This week was an exciting one in the Block a Day Challenge. The blocks we’ve been making for the first 11 weeks, started coming together as completed tops and quilts. We finished four quilts and two tops this week in addition to 93 new blocks. Great job everyone, keep up the good work. And don’t […]

700 inches of binding

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the longarm lately. Thanks to my newfound flexibility in scheduling, I’ve been able to spend one day a week at Quilting By-You in Bettendorf, Iowa, renting time on a longarm to finally finish up some quilt tops. Two weeks ago I finished quilting one of my two […]

Block a Day roundup – Week 8

We continued our productive trend this week, by completing 82 blocks, 1 top and two quilts for the Block A Day Challenge. Keep of the good work ladies. You’ve got five more days to post photos of your blocks, tops and quilts completed in February to the Block A Day Flickr group to win this […]

Dare to DIY: Homemade gifts

My friend Kim Woodward is hosting a Dare to DIY blog party over at NewlyWoodwards.com. This week the challenge is to make homemade gifts. Over the weekend I whipped up some Christmas stockings for my sister, brother-in-law and new nephew. When my sister asked for stockings I reminded her that I still haven’t made stockings […]