August Block of the Month

This month we’re making quarter square triangles, also known as hour glass units, from squares. It’s a new block for this quilt, but the technique is very similar to making the double pinwheels from squares, which we did in May and July. If you can handle those blocks, then this month will be a piece […]

Stephanie Soebbing

1 August, 2014

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Tutorial: How to make tab top valances

Let me start this tutorial off with a disclaimer. I am a quilter first, a home decor seamstress second and a bad knitter third. My advice and instructions are based of my knowledge of how to put a quilt together. That means my suggestions may be different than what you’d find on a home decor […]

Stephanie Soebbing

25 February, 2014

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National Quilt Museum open new exhibits featuring modern, antique nine patch quilts

The nine patch is one of the first blocks many quilters learn to make. But the quilts featured in The National Quilt Museum’s latest exhibit, New Quilts from an Old Favorite: Nine Patch, are anything but basic. The exhibit features 18 winners of an annual challenge to reinterpret a classic quilt block. The challenge began with […]

Stephanie Soebbing

16 March, 2015

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First baby quilt of 2012

It’s looking like 2012 might be the year of the baby quilt as well. Heck maybe my entire 20s will be the decade of the baby quilt since all my friends seem to be having kids one after the other and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. But I love working on […]

Stephanie Soebbing

10 January, 2012

63

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It’s Christmas in my mailbox again

I’m participating in my first fabric exchange hosted by Quilting Under the Influence. I exchanged 5-inch squares of Christmas fabric with Kelly Goheen and Linda Lewis Ezuka from QUTI, Deanna Pavay from Dizzy Little Kingdom, Marta Preusser, Dawn Nichols from Dawns Quilt Corner, Lizzie Marie from Wandering Stars, Jan Peoples from Sew Sowin Love, and […]

Stephanie Soebbing

9 November, 2011

34

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Virtual Shop Hop: Expressions in Threads, LeClaire, Iowa

I call the Quad-Cities home. It is a metropolitan area made up of five cities bordering the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois. I know you just read “Quad-Cities” and then “five cities.” It’s weird, we know it. But in addition to the cities that make up the Quad-Cities proper, there are several smaller communities just outside […]

Stephanie Soebbing

20 July, 2015

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Dare to DIY – Fall placemats

My friend Kim blogs over at NewlyWoodwards.com. In addition to just finishing the remodel of her third home (she’s under 30), Kim is also very creative and is hosting a Dare to DIY blog party. I’m participating and today’s theme is a making your own Thanksgiving-themed project. I’m cheating a little because I made these […]

Stephanie Soebbing

14 November, 2011

153

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Block a Day Challenge roundup – Week 14

Everyone must be inspired by spring, because the blocks and tops completed this week are all really bright and fun. This week we completed 57 blocks and three tops. I still haven’t had a chance to enter all the entries from March to choose a winner at random. I’m hoping to do that this weekend […]

Stephanie Soebbing

6 April, 2012

25

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Virtual Shop Hop: A Touch of Amish, Barrington, Ill.

Let me start with a disclaimer that while the quilt shop is named, A Touch of Amish, that doesn’t mean you’ll find Amish quilts there. According to the store’s website, when A Touch of Amish opened 25 years ago, it sold Amish toys, rugs and food. Today the only connection are occasional Amish-style quilting bees […]

Stephanie Soebbing

5 January, 2012

626

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You won’t want to put ‘The Spymistress’ down

Filled with intrigued, danger and a woman who was far ahead of her time, Elm Creek Quilts author Jennifer Chiaverini does not disappoint with “The Spymistress.” Following the life of Elizabeth Van Lew just before, during and after the Civil War, the historical novel delves into the covert activities the real life Military Intelligence Hall […]

Stephanie Soebbing

25 March, 2014

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