When my daughter had her wisdom teeth out last week, she wanted to spend every waking minute in my sewing room with me so I could provide comfort and watch her favorite TV shows with her. I wanted to make her Christmas present (leopard-print fleece pajama pants) but couldn’t, because she was right there on…
One of my favorite handmade gifts to sew for friends and family members is a set of double-sided table napkins. I’ve made napkins for quite a few people over the years, and I know they are popular because I see them in use on the table whenever I visit, even years later. Cloth napkins are…
I haven’t sewed any fabric gift bags or wine bottle bags this year, but that doesn’t mean I have stopped making bags! This crop of drawstring bags will be headed to the Days for Girls foundation, where they will be used to hold feminine hygiene kits for girls who would otherwise have to stay home from…
It’s time for the mad dash to finish Christmas presents! Most years, I make a big stack of Christmas gift bags, but this year it looks like real quilts all the way. On the spur of the moment, I decided to make a quilt for a nun at my daughter’s high school who has been…
Here’s what I was doing instead of cooking for Thanksgiving: This little rail fence quilt is the same one I made for A Beginner’s Guide to Quilting, but in a different set of fabrics. I used two layers of wool batting to make the quilt extra warm. The quilt is stiffer and a bit heavier…
First, a big thank-you to all you wonderful quilters who commented on the giveaway post and are following Quilter’s Diary. It’s a pleasure to share our quilting adventures and misadventures with you. Now, the winner of the blog giveaway! Missmoozie, a new quilter, will be receiving a free copy of Hand & Machine Quilting Tips…
My Thanksgiving table runner got started with this orphan star block: The star had somehow been left behind when I found new homes for the other blocks I inherited from a very old quilter. I got tired of seeing it float around my sewing room, looking wrinkled and lonely — it made me sad, seeing…
53 x 42 Here’s the story of this quilt: I had some fabric left over after making a table runner for my friend Felicity Walker’s new quilting book. (The book includes a complete tutorial for a quilt-as-you-go table runner.) Instead of cutting the fabric into small blocks, I decided to make this lap-sized strip quilt. Here’s what…
Last week I went to the Pacific International Quilt Show in Santa Clara, California. PIQF is a large show (at least, the largest one I’ve been to) and always features an exhibit of quilts from top international quilters. Seeing the work of these consummate artists is humbling for an everyday quilter like me, but it’s…
I found this sweet red-and-white Friendship Star block a couple of days ago in a pile of the blocks I inherited from a longtime quilter. Two things set this block apart from the basic Friendship Star (tutorial here): or this easy variation: The contrasting triangles in the four corners of the block. The quarter-square triangle in…
This little Log Cabin quilt (30″ x 42″) is going to my new step-niece, Allison. I bought the Log Cabin blocks on Ebay years ago and decided to assemble them as part of my “clean the sewing room by making new projects” initiative. This is a limited success as a cleanup measure, but it does…
I recently received a treasure trove of quilting supplies from my daughter’s cheerleading coach. The coach’s grandmother died at age 95 last summer. She was a dedicated quilter and quilted right up to the very end. When I went through her boxes of fabric, trim, finished blocks, buttons, templates, and all the miscellany of a…