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 […]

After quilt retreat: Batik tree skirt

I spent 25 hours working on the batik tree skirt for the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild’s tree in the Festival of Trees fundraiser next month. The first seven were spent cutting the fabric. The pattern and templates were all on paper. I had one chance to cut the templates right so I had to take […]

After quilt retreat: New York Beauty

Most of my time at quilt retreat was taken up by the paper pieced Christmas tree skirt. But I did manage to get some work done on my New York Beauty quilt. I finished four more blocks for a total of 12 completed. That’s nowhere near the 32 I hoped to have finished by now, […]

Before quilt retreat: Christmas New York Beauty

I’m headed to quilt retreat on Thursday. It’s four glorious days of quilting, eating and sleeping. It’s a great opportunity to make significant progress on projects. I started a New York Beauty quilt in Christmas fabrics last fall at retreat and haven’t worked on it much since. This week I hope to get one half […]

Christmas fabric exchange reveal, sorta

Way back in 2011 (I know 2012 is only 25 days old, but it seems longer) I participated in a holiday fabric exchange hosted by Quilting Under the Influence. My quilt still isn’t finished, but the top is pretty much put together, which is saying something for me and my tendency to move from one […]

Christmas in July quilt top reveal

Sometimes when you go into a fabric store a line just grabs you. And that’s what happened to me when I spotted Holiday Frost by Jan Shade Beach for Henry Glass & Co., Inc. I picked up one panel, two yards of the red snowflake, one yard of the silver snowflake and one and two-thirds […]

Christmas present reveal

Last Christmas I made three quilts for gifts. I believe I was suffering from a bout of temporary insanity when I decided that would be a good idea. I got about five hours of sleep in the two days before Christmas to finish the quilts. The first was a queen-sized quilt for my parents that […]

Dare to DIY: Deck the halls

I had a sewing marathon last weekend. I spent most of the time working on Christmas presents and my Christmas fabric exchange quilt. I still haven’t started the Christmas stockings for my family. So I’ll share photos of the paper-pieced tree skirt I made for the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild tree at the Festival of […]

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 […]