We’ve opened the last presents, my mother returned home, I’ve put my sewing room back in order and started packing away the decorations, making Christmas officially over.  My sister did me a huge favor by taking mom home and saving m

I’m reading a book by Stephen King called On Writing.  It describes selected events in his life, and then explains how he writes his books.  I read many of his books during my teens, but now I choose books with happier themes.  M

I started subscribing to American Patchwork and Quilting (APQ) when my son’s school sold magazines as a fundraiser.  To my surprise, the brochure had a nice selection of quilting magazines.  I received my first issue last week and saw

The sewing machine found a home in the living room where I could sew while hanging out with mom.  I finished the last of the strippy blocks, laid them out, and restacked them in sewing order.  Today I'll start sewing the top together.&n

I spent the day driving three hours to mom’s house to pick her up then drove three hours back to our house so she could spend Christmas with us.  I was lucky enough to get an early start and miss the traffic on the way there.  Three h

With the purse finished, it’s time to move on to the next lesson in the Quilt University class.  If you missed the earlier posts, you can read them here and here. Lesson Four requires completion of a quilt top that means something to

After way too much thought and indecision, I signed up for Sharon B’s “Take it Further” challenge.  The challenge itself is exciting.  I have a long list of quilting techniques and design ideas I want to try.  This ch

We’ve had a couple of inches of snow, waiting to see if we get the 12+ inches forecast.  The grocery store was crazy today with everyone stocking up.  Unfortunately, I always grocery shop on the weekends because all that's left in

It’s another dismal rainy day here in the Midwest.  I’m thrilled we didn’t get the second round of ice and snow that blanketed many areas.  This is the kind of day when I like to look forward to something fun I have planne

We’ve had a round of ice storms here, followed by thick fog that kept everyone home that didn’t have to be elsewhere.  Unfortunately, this caused my quilt group to cancel their Christmas party last night.  How disappointing to n

I’m combining my class update with my stashbusting report because they are one in the same.  Here is the class piece as it looks now.  If you want to see where I started, look here.  I still don’t like it, but that’s

Sharon over at inaminuteago has announced a challenge for 2008 called the “Take It Further” challenge.  Some of you may be familiar with her blog and the “Take a Stitch Tuesday” challenge she has been doing all this year.

I’ve taken a break from the strippy blocks because I need to find something to use as a foundation.  I already used up the white fusible interfacing and the last of the poly-cotton I bought by mistake.  Actually, the bolt end said it

I’m doing the happy dance because I finally get to post a picture of a round robin!  This is the last one I’ll be doing in this swap, except for finishing my own.  I’m so pleased with how it turned out.  More than any

The third assignment in the Quilt University class was to make a journal size quilt out of the fabric in your stash you dislike the most.    I received this fabric in a fat quarter swap.  You can see in the corner that I painted t

I’ve been playing along with Judy at Sunshine Quilts who issued a stashbusting challenge.  The goal is to use up that fabric stash and not purchase any new fabric unless it’s necessary to finish a project.I’m happy to report I