Small projects are fun to make and give as gifts. This Coke Table Topper & Coasters was started by another quilter, who did not finish it and gave it to me. I know a lady who collects all things Coke and I decided to finish this for her. This also marks the first time I actually bought anything off eBay. The center part of the table topper was complete and in a box of donations I received. I set it…
This quilt was made by me many years ago with much love for the recipient. My (step)dad was an avid fisherman, and we ate many wonderful trout and salmon meals over the years he was alive. Wishing I was Fishing describes this hard-working man’s hobby. The original post on my old blog gave the most basic of info on the quilt for this wonderful man. The back story: This widower came into our lives at church. He was a quiet…
Quilters worldwide make quilts for many reasons. Reasons may include income, for charity or community, for personal satisfaction, as school projects, for therapeutic help, and the list goes on. But the real question is are you a happy quilter? No matter why you quilt, does it bring you joy? Does it improve your life? Do you look forward to your quilting time each day? Like you, I live in the real world. I work full time, clean my home, shop,…
A reader emailed me asking how I am keeping track of my quilting pins. Well, the honest answer is that I am practical and frugal about it. After all, who wants to step on them? First choice for keeping track of pins: My first choice for keeping track of pins is a clear jar with a screw on lid. I use both “up-scaled” plastic peanut butter jars, and glass canning jars. I can see the quilting pins. Most important is…
Scraps, scraps and more scraps. I saw the pattern for this Prairie Meadow quilt in the Winter 2013 Primitive Quilt magazine and thought it would make a pretty wall hanging. I had a shoebox of 2.5″ squares left over from some previous project and thought this would make a simple and easy project to use them up. You will quickly notice that the directions were used as a guide, but my pieces were different sizes based on what I had…
I found three shoe boxes full of tumblers. They are from the scrap bins just from the different fabrics. Tumblers are easy to sew together, and it is nice to just sit and piece on the machine. I had no real plan how this quilt would evolve but Tumbling Along just called to me. In 2020 while in COVID lockdown, I decided to cut as much as possible from the scrap bin. I cut sizes and shapes I use frequently,…
Here is another project that started during the COVID lockdown. The scrap snowball pattern can be found here. I have been cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room during July and discovered several more plastic shoeboxes of quilt pieces that were cut during the 2020 lockdowns. I had 3 shoeboxes of pieces for making snowball blocks. It seemed like a good time to finish another UFO. There was no color scheme apparently, just a wide variety of scraps. And lots of…
I started this strip quilt in 2019 as a project to use as a hand quilting demo. Finally, it is finished! Oh, happy dance! The Strip Quilt To read about how this quilt started, go here. The strip quilt took almost 4 years to complete. But in all fairness, it only got worked on a few hours a month over each year April through October. Then it was put away until the next year. After all, I had other quilts…
I love to research historical quilts – especially prior to 1820. One quilt that intrigues me is a quilt that belonged to King Henry VIII. The mystery of Henry VIII’s green quilt is well researched by the chapter author, and for historic quilt lovers is fascinating. According to the book, “Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4” edited by Robin Netherton and Gale R. Owen-Crocker pg. 193-207(published by Boydell Press in 2008). Currently it can be purchased on Amazon. This entire series…
This is time of year to bring out all those patriotic quilts – in any mix of red, white, and blue. It is the birthday of the USA so those of us who live in the US should celebrate our wonderful country (no, it is not perfect, but then neither are any of us). Show off your patriotism with quilts. Each of us have favorite holidays, and here in the US there are plenty to pick from and decorate for….
