Here’s one more finish from retreat.  I couldn't get the whole top in the picture, but you get the idea.                      It needs

This is what I planned to take to retreat.           This is most of what I’m taking.  The Retro Charm quilt is still hanging on the design wall.  The Fig & Plum kit is under the big pi

Here’s the finished butterfly stencil.                His head’s a little bigger and his bottom a little wider, but the brown halo doesn’t show.  I also fini

What’s on my design wall?                From left to right:  the mostly quilted I Believe panel, the sorely neglected Dresden plate block, and a mock up of a block usin

My sister bought this Hungry Caterpillar kit from Keepsake Quilting and brought it with her on her visit.  She teaches kindergarten and likes to have bright, fun things on the walls.  We got it all together in a few hours yesterday. &n

Do you sew over pins?  I’ve done it for years, but I’m trying to stop.  I broke two sewing machine needles this week by hitting pins.   You have to hit those pins dead on, but it does happen.  Last fall I broke a

The quilt on the design bed hasn’t changed much since last week.  I have about 75% of it sewn together.  Once I get the top pieced and the borders on I’ll show another picture.  I started working on the design for my friend

All those strip sets and four patches finally look like a quilt.  The first four rows are sewn together.  The next five rows are sewn, but not to each other.  Make sense?            I h

On Mondays, Judy at Patchwork Times asks us to show everyone what’s on our design wall.  This week I have all the orange/black and orange/blue strip sets to go with the 72 blue and black four patches.  By next week this will look like

Judy At Patchwork Times designated Mondays as “What’s on your design wall?” days.  I don’t have a real design wall, but I’m considering building the one shown on the Sew Many Ways blog.     

If you go to the NQA show in Columbus, Ohio later this month, make sure you check out the Challenge Quilt exhibit.  Entries had to include the challenge fabric (red and white batik), measure 20 inches square and contain only red, white, black or

With a few twists and deletions, this border pattern from the pattern pack purchased in Chicago turned into this continuous line quilting design. Quilting has never been my favorite part of the process.  At one point I had eight tops stacke

I finished the first happy quilt last week.  I figure you’re as tired of seeing these as I am of photographing them, but I wanted to make some points on the quilting.    This quilt needed a panto with swirls and butterflies, so I

Here’s the quilting on a single block and the sashing on my sister’s quilt.  The quilting shows on the original picture, but when I upload it to the blog it loses some clarity.  A little like a typical day…..  I'

Do you ever buy quilt kits?  I have never bought one in my life.  I have the gene that prevents me from following pattern instructions.  I always have to change something.  This gene shows no mercy.  I can’t even follow

EQ quilt design in hand, I started going through my stash looking for sashing and border fabric for the QOV.  As I laid out fabric, I got to thinking that the blocks looked too big to finish at nine inches.  I never did measure them. 

I stopped at the quilt shop last weekend to pick up another roll of Golden Threads paper.  They didn’t have any, but promised to order it.  I’ll go back for it in a few weeks.  The owner and I got to talking about how we us

So many projects hanging in the breeze, wishing I would finish one of them.  I’m maintaining my backlog and working two months behind on the Take It Further challenge pieces.  Every time I decide to skip a month, an idea sneaks into m

Progress on the May TIF challenge continues.  Flowers bloom across a grid of green.  A few more blossoms, some beads, and an edge treatment will complete the piece.  Sketches and notes pile up for the June TIF challenge.  As one d

I worked on the fall quilt all through June but didn’t write about it much.  Like most of my quilts, it didn’t end up looking like the EQ version.  Here’s the original plan as drafted in EQ6.  Here’s the finishe

We had a whirlwind couple of days.  My sister came into town on Tuesday for a two-day visit.  Since my sewing room doubles as the guest room, I don’t sew much when we have company.  I did, however, get out and about.  Our qu

I spent all day Saturday in Vikki Pignatelli’s class, “Putting Openings in Your Quilts”.  It was such a full day it’s hard to know where to begin.  Vikki packs so much information into her classes!  When I take

I basted the May TIF challenge last night and wondered how other quilters baste their quilts.  I always pin baste, whether I’m machine quilting or hand quilting.  I thread basted a quilt once with horrible results.  That one expe

I’m making progress on the May TIF challenge piece.  I’m compelled to work on this block every time I go into the sewing room.  Even when I plan to work on something else, I walk over and pick up this project instead. 

In January I listed some new habits I wanted to adopt during 2008.  It’s time to review where I’m at so I can plan how to use all that free time I’ll have this summer.  First, I wanted to get out once a month for inspirati