One of my favorite thrift shops is a little hole-in-the-wall place way out in a small country town near the Pacific Ocean. I drop in there on the way out to the beach, where I walk my dog and stare out to sea while the waves roll in. I stopped in at the thrift shop…
I love red and I love hearts too, which is one reason why I like making quilts for Valentine’s day. Red is a hot color, the color of blood, of sunsets, and of Mars, the ancient Roman god of War. In the west, red is the color of excitement, danger, and passion. In China and…
Have you ever made a quilt that just wouldn’t cooperate with you? This quilt fought me every step of the way. I’m relieved that it’s finally finished. First problem: I’m trying to use up the stuff I already have in my sewing room instead of buying new stuff (just got the painful news about how…
A quilt is like a sandwich, with a top layer of fabric, a middle layer of batting, and a bottom layer of fabric, all joined together by your stitches. Binding a quilt means covering the raw edges of the quilt sandwich to give the quilt a finished look and protect its edges from wear. Binding…
This is a story about taking a design that’s rather plain and adding a few extra touches to make it uniquely your own. I finished this quilted wallhanging the week after Christmas. (No, I was not late for last Christmas — I was getting a really big head start on next Christmas!) Here’s how it all…
The one and only quilt I’ve made with alpaca batting was the softest, lightest, fluffiest, warmest quilt I’ve ever made. I loved it. The recipient loved it. But I didn’t switch to making all my quilts with alpaca. In fact, I’m still waiting for a special situation that will let me make another alpaca quilt,…
This is an early rag quilt I made last year that seemed a little small at its original size of about 43 x 57. Yesterday I added the borders and gave the outer edge a deeper fringe. Then I took the quilt to my daughter’s high school to donate to a raffle for their annual…
Basting is an essential part of making a quilt, but I don’t know many quilters who enjoy it. Basting can be tedious, time-consuming, and difficult to get just right. If it goes wrong, you can end up with the heartbreak of wrinkles on your quilt. But it’s a step you can’t skip, and some ways…
My favorite way to baste most quilts is with basting spray. But sometimes basting with safety pins is a better choice–if you don’t like breathing in chemical fumes, for instance, or if you’re basting a quilt that you might not get finished for quite a while. Pin basting is easy to learn, low-tech, and involves…
What’s your least favorite part of making a quilt? Mine is basting. Or it was, until I discovered basting spray. Basting spray glues the layers of a quilt together temporarily until you can quilt them together permanently with your sewing machine. It’s by far the fastest and easiest way I’ve found to baste, and the…
I love paper snowflakes. My friend Mary tapes dozens of them to her living room windows every winter and makes it look like there is a magical snowstorm going on outside. The snowflakes really cheer up those dark winter days in gloomy, rainy Portland, Oregon, where she lives. But paper snowflakes start to look pretty…
Giving someone a gift card doesn’t have to have that impersonal, last-minute feeling. Make your gift something unique and personal by sewing a cute little fabric envelope to hold a gift card (or a crisp twenty-dollar bill).It’s easy to customize your gift by choosing fabrics that fit the person and the occasion. It takes less…