Chiaverini makes women central players in history in ‘Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule’

History is written by men and in most cases they minimized or completely ignored the critical role women played in shaping the events of the past. Chiaverini corrects this in her latest novel released last week, “Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule.” A mix of well researched fact and imagined fiction to fill in the gaps […]

Stephanie Soebbing

10 March, 2015

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Giving knitting another go

I am an admittedly bad knitter. I can purl, knit and follow a pattern, but getting the project to turn out the right size is always a challenge. A few months ago I bought yarn to knit a sweater to go with Angela’s Easter dress that I made, and now I’m under the gun to […]

Stephanie Soebbing

11 March, 2015

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‘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 in “More Custom Slipcovers: Easy to Make and Snug-Fitting” by Marge […]

Stephanie Soebbing

25 March, 2015

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Craftsy class review: ‘Help! How Do I Quilt It?’

I enrolled in one of Craftsy’s newer quilting classes, “Help! How Do I Quilt It? A Machine Quilting Manual” by Angela Walters last week to get some ideas for quilting my 2014 Block of the Month quilt. I have never quilted anything so large in anything other than an all-over pattern and wanted to do […]

Stephanie Soebbing

24 March, 2015

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Quilt retreat progress report

I had hoped to write a triumphant post today about how much I got done at Quilt Retreat last weekend. Unfortunately that’s not the case. While I normally can accomplish more in one four-day weekend of uninterrupted sewing than I can in a month of distracted craft time at home, my weekend was anything but […]

Stephanie Soebbing

23 March, 2015

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Quilt retreat!

As you read this I am happily sewing away at quilt retreat. The semi-annual get-a-way is hosted by my guild, the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild and it gives me four days of (mostly) uninterrupted sewing and quilting. This is the first time I’m going for more than just the weekend in three years, so I’m […]

Stephanie Soebbing

19 March, 2015

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Celebrate National Quilting Day!

  Saturday is National Quilting Day! It’s a special day to appreciate your favorite quilter and share your love of quilting with others. I’ll be spending the day sewing at quilt retreat, hopefully finishing a quilt top or two. My guild, the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild, is celebrating with a special mini quilt show at […]

Stephanie Soebbing

18 March, 2015

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04:35

How to make a T-shirt quilt – Part 5

Learn some tips and tricks for laying out your T-shirt blocks. For complete instructions and fabric requirements, go to http://quiltaddictsanonymous.com/tutorials. Post photos of your work in progress in the Quilt Addicts Anonymous Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/tshirtquilts/

Stephanie Soebbing

9 December, 2011

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Virtual Shop Hop: Phat Quarters, Galena, Ill.

Awesome name, disappointing quilt shop. I really don’t like to hate on quilt shops. Without them we’d never get the opportunity to feel the hand of the fabric we’re considering for our next quilt, stack bolts on top of each other and see if they’ll go together for our next project and get inspired for […]

Stephanie Soebbing

13 March, 2015

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Virtual shop hop: Glad Creations, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

The first time I saw a quilt was when my freshman year roommate was stitching the binding on hers by hand one of the first nights we spent in the all girls dorm at Augustana College. I don’t remember much about the quilt except that it was bright, modern and I couldn’t believe that someone my […]

Stephanie Soebbing

13 December, 2011

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