Sewing dilemmas

I have a meeting of the Next Generation Quilters tonight and I'm not sure what to bring to work on.

The first option is a quilt I'm working on to donate to K9 Kindness Rescue to be auctioned off at the organization's trivia night next month. But it's a scrap quilt and all the pieces are arranged just so, which means carting my entire design wall to the sit-n-sew.


The next option are pillowcases. I've become slightly obsessed with making them recently. I have several that I'm going to sell on Etsy and about a dozen more that I'm making as favors for my sister's bachelorette party. It's a slumber party and I think you can tell from the fabric why they're appropriate for that event. Here's a link to a photo I shared on Twitter.

Happy New Year ... a little late

Hello all. I took a break from the shop and quilting in general in January because my husband and I started remodeling our kitchen.

Right now we're refinishing the cabinets which is a long, messy job, but the new stain is giving the almost 60-year-old built in cabinets new life. As we near the end of this phase of the project, it's time to get back to quilting and blogging.

I plan to update the blog much more frequently this year. I've got a lot of fun projects planned, including one that will help the community. You'll hear more about that in a few days.


In the meantime I wanted to share photos of the quilts I made for Christmas. The brown one you've seen before in various stages of completion. It was for my parents. And although it contains hundreds of triangles, I didn't cut a single one for this project. Someday I'll have to make a tutorial on how to make hourglass units and flying geese from squares.


The second one is and Illini quilt for my brother- and sister-in-law. My husband found this pattern at Sew Sassy in Urbana, Ill., while I was stocking up on Illini fabric, which can be kind of hard to find when you live on the border of Iowa. I liked it because although it is definitely an Illini quilt, it doesn't contain one scrap of licensed Illini fabric.


If any of you get the pattern, buy a couple extra yards of backing fabric. I ran out when it came time to piece the back.

I've got one more belated Christmas present still in the works, but I need to get my dinning room table back before I can finish quilting it. Right now it's filled with all the dishes and cookware that normally would be in the cabinets but have been removed for the refinishing process.

My love of fall decorations

I love, love, love fall decorations.

I have a set of fall placemats spread out around my own house with my collection of ceramic pumpkins and a few fall floral arrangements.

And in the shop I have some fall decor as well.


There are two table toppers that would look best on a small table or as part of a centerpiece on a large table.



There's one super-cute Halloween table runner that is soon to be joined by a second as soon as I finish sewing the binding down by hand.


And the sunflower table runners really, could be out any time of year, but could also work for fall.

How about you? Do you get into decorating your house in fall colors this time of year?

Getting ready for my first fair

I haven't blogged much recently because I've been very busy getting ready for a craft fair this weekend.

I've never been in a fair before, so I was afraid I wouldn't have enough items to fill my six-foot folding table, but as I arranged them all last night, I realized my problem is that I'm running out of space, which is a good problem to have I think.


I've made table runners, table toppers, pot holders, Christmas stockings, a messenger bag, baby/lap quilts and matching doll quilts. I'm still finishing up a few items, but I'll have close to 50 available on the day of the fair and all but three are priced between $5 and $30.


On top of those low prices, I'm offering 20 percent off to anyone who mentions this blog when purchasing.

The fair is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, at Ben Franklin Crafts, 2500 52nd Ave., Moline. It's behind SouthPark Mall. I hope to see you all there.

Completed project: Over sized messenger bag

My sister is a teacher and has a lot of papers and binders to carry back and forth each day.

So she asked me to make her a quilted over sized messenger bag that was functional and stylish.


I designed the bag above to fit her needs. It's 14 inches wide, 12 inches tall and 6 inches deep to fit all her binders and paper. There are two side pockets and one on the interior to fit her keys, pencils, pens and any other odds and ends she may have.


The strap is 3 inches wide, which I recommended so it wouldn't strain her shoulders. But it took me forever to find hardware for a 3 inch wide strap so it could be adjustable. Eventually I ended up using a piece made for a belt.

The entire bag is quilted in a diagonal grid, and I quilted in the ditch on the quilt block on the flap panel. I used a paper pieced design to make it look a little more modern, since my sister is in her early 20s.

My sister picked out the colors when we went on a shopping trip together to a quilt store near her home. And now it's finished just in time for her to start the school year in a couple weeks.