Blog

My goal for 2022 is 50 fails.  Ok, so maybe that needs an explanation.  When I used to set goals, I didn’t challenge myself.  I felt setting goals was scary, and I didn’t want to fail. So I set my goals so low, I knew I wouldn’t have to stretch too much to reach them.  […] Read More

 Here we are, two weeks into the new year, and I am just starting to settle into a new routine.  The Christmas decorations are finally put away.  OH HAPPY DAY!  Feathering the nest for winter means a good winter cleaning, decluttering, organizing, and a big deep breath…followed by a relaxing AHHHHH!  I can finally take […] Read More

Are you ready for some Mindfulness?    Yes, that is definitely a buzzword these days. In fact, you might call “mindfulness” a trend, a fad, or even WOO WOO MUMBO JUMBO. I have been studying mindfulness lately and I want to tell you how being mindful has helped change my quilting journey for the better!  […] Read More

Extroverts are always ready to try something new, they make friends easily, and are very optimistic.  Extroverts love working in groups and do their best work while collaborating!  When extroverts face a challenge, they seek out a group of friends who will talk it out.  They express themselves easily and are uplifted by big groups […] Read More

A month ago I called Karla Overland, the owner of Cherrywood Fabric.  “Karla, I want to use your amazing colors for my 2022 Temperature Quilt” I said!  “Great”, Karla replied, “Go on my website and make a “Personal Shopper” appointment so we can pick out the colors together!” Really?  A personal shopper for fabric?  What […] Read More

This year, I have been seeing the trend of Temperature Quilts really take off! Search on Pinterest and dozens of examples show up. After sitting on the sidelines and enjoying everyone else’s creations, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring and design my own temperature quilt.  The concept is something I really […] Read More

I’m still daydreaming of my trip to Brimfield Antiques Market with my friend, Diana Annis.  As I reflect on the time we spent and the purchases I made, I regret some of the “ONES THAT GOT AWAY!”. I won’t let that happen again next time…I’ll spend more time and be more careful of the condition […] Read More

On Wednesday,  I had the pleasure of antique quilt hunting at the Famous Brimfield Antiques Market with my friend, Diana Annis! With Diana by my side, we had a fabulous day poking through bags, boxes, bins, and baskets looking for buried treasure.  Diana is an expert in quilt appraisal, dating fabric, and identifying the dyes […] Read More

Have you ever washed a quilt in the bathtub? That is how I was taught to wash an antique quilt, but it is a little difficult to handle a heavy, soaking wet quilt. If you do wash in the bathtub, make sure you put a clean sheet on the bottom of the tub before you […] Read More

Applique is now easier than piecing, even for beginners.    If you find that statement hard to believe, you are not doing applique MY WAY!  Now, wait a minute.  Before you give me an “eye roll”,  let me explain. I’m not saying “My way or the Highway!” I’m saying  “My Way or the HARD way!” […] Read More

When I am out speaking to quilt guilds, I always ask, “WHO LOVES TO MAKE APPLIQUE QUILTS?”  A few uncertain hands raise slowly, sometimes wavering or giving me the metza/metza signal. The other 95% of the room lets out a low groan! On the other hand, if I asked, “Who loves the look of Applique […] Read More

New England’s Textile Heritage, and what that has to do with ClamBoils! What do Portuguese cooking and quilting have in common? I was raised in Rhode Island, on Narragansett Bay.  There was a very large Portuguese population in that area that was drawn to Fall River and New Bedford MA by the fishing industry and […] Read More

I just love watching the frogs in my green slimy frog pond in the middle of my backyard garden! The pond is filled with little black tadpoles this year. It is all taking me back to my childhood of collecting tadpoles in a bucket and watching them grow.   Every time I see these big bullfrogs […] Read More

The Kaffe Design walls that I made for my sewing room are perfect for me to use when teaching or taking Zoom workshops! I use one wall to pin up the workshop samples and another wall to design quilts along with my students or teachers.  Now that we have the ability to start going to […] Read More

I am so fortunate to still have both of my parents living in Texas!  Now that we are all vaccinated, it was time to go visit “the folks”.  My siblings and I decided to travel to Texas at the same time, so we could finally have our family of six together to celebrate. I just […] Read More

When designing an applique quilt or reproducing an applique pattern it is very helpful to tack the blocks and borders up to a wall. Sit back and ponder your applique placement and your choice of applique fabrics before you fuse and stitch. I never fuse an applique block without admiring it from a distance to […] Read More

When I first started making applique quilts, I did everything by hand. Over the years, I have tried many methods of hand and fusible applique. While I love hand applique, I no longer can find the time to do it! I have resorted to making all my quilts with Fusible Applique, and quite honestly, I […] Read More

The primary reason I use EQ to design my applique quilts is that I can quickly recolor any quilt by swapping out colors with the When coloring an applique quilt in EQ, I often use solid colors to represent the fabrics in my color palette.  That way, I can see the design without focusing on […] Read More

When you want to resize an applique block in Electric Quilt, there is an easy way to do it…if you know the secret!  Once you have an applique block drawn in EQ, or a series of blocks like in this sampler quilt, you may decide you need a different size background on your applique blocks. […] Read More

This quilt was designed in an applique block design workshop with my guild. I drew each block in EQ by taking a photo of each block, importing the photo into EQ, and tracing the shapes using PatchDraw. The border design was created as a “Motif” a floating applique design that can be added and moved […] Read More

Designing Applique blocks and borders in EQ   When you tackle a quilt like this  spring flowers quilt, the first step is to design the basic quilt structure in Electric Quilt.  I like using a large block size for applique blocks. Floral blocks tend to get pretty big when you are working with 2 1/2″ and […] Read More

Let go of perfection to achieve perfection! This is the advice I have been giving the members of “Ahead of the Curve” this week. They are learning to free-motion quilt with Leaves Galore. I’d like to share these same words of wisdom with you.  Study the MASTERS! Watching someone quilt is no substitute for doing […] Read More

Many of us have had the experience of “Nesting” while expecting a child. Nesting is the female’s natural instinct to clean, organize and prepare the “Nest” for Baby’s arrival.  Lord knows at 55, I am definitely not “expecting”, so why am I “Nesting?” You heard last week about how I reorganized my small sewing room.  […] Read More