I needed to produce a program on short notice for my local quilt group recently, and I’d like to share what I came up with. This is good for those times when your guild’s speaker has to cancel late in the game. These are 3.5″ patches I played with while making a baby quilt about a year ago. I had a good time arranging and rearranging them until I came up with a combination I liked. Read More »

I had a new experience this week: judging quilts and textile arts at a county fair about 70 miles from home, somewhere in Nebraska. These were open class entries, that is, not 4-H entries which are judged by an established set of standards. Which may have been why it was so difficult, even though it was a small show. There was nothing to guide me—no established judging criteria. I had to rely on 50 years of sewing experience and 30+ years of quilt making. Read More »

There’s a new magazine out, and it contains my favorite pumpkin quilt. Try and spot Quiltmaker Reader Favorites on the newsstand, because it’s chock-full of great stuff. I was pleased to open it up and spot one of my designs inside. Pumpkins and Patches is as friendly and happy now as it was when first published in 2014. Here is one of the original diagrams I created for Quiltmaker. They made a good decision to pattern it as a throw rather than as this 77″ Read More »

Some three decades ago, Jo Morton was just beginning to teach in our home state of Nebraska. She came to our fledgling guild and taught us to make Log Cabin blocks with strips that finished at 1/2″. There weren’t any reproduction fabrics in those days, so Jo was inventing ways to make new fabrics look old. One of the secrets she shared with us was this: Read More »

I finished piecing this long-term project last week. It’s a traditional Burgoyne Surrounded design, but it was reimagined by Lissa Alexander and published in American Patchwork & Quilting. I’ve been working on it at retreats for the past couple of years. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, and I used up a lot of light neutral background fabric. The top is 75″ x 90″. Read More »

I’ve had some adventures lately! Saw interesting things and met wonderful people. Here are some highlights.     International Quilt Study Center & Museum held its International Advisory Board meeting June 9 and 10, and because I’m involved with Friends of the museum, I attended. It was an opportunity to meet well-known people in the quilt world who are not necessarily quilters but are esteemed for other reasons. Read More »

Designing quilts is really enjoyable, but do you know what’s even better? It’s when people like your design enough to make a quilt of their own! It’s like a little piece of your soul goes out to live in the world. You can imagine my delight when I opened the latest Quiltmaker to find my Swoopers owl quilt featured in Spotlight. Michelle Barker of Riverton, Utah and her sister Tammy Howell who lives in Oregon worked on their Swoopers quilts at the same time. Read More »

Stash Bandit is all about making scrap quilts, often from the fabric you already own. I asked some well-respected industry folks for their best tip, trick or advice about making a scrap quilt. Enjoy! Read More »

Many years ago, a quilt shop owner showed me her technique for binding a quilt by machine. I’ve used it ever since because it looks great on the front and the back of the quilt, it’s easy, it’s fast and it’s sturdy. Here’s a tutorial for how I bind my quilts by machine. Read More »

Transparency is a great trick, and it’s especially effective in quilt design. My recent X Marks the Spot for McCall’s Quick Quilts makes good use of transparency to create interest in an otherwise ordinary design. Read More »