So, this week, I once again got after hand quilting Rain, Rain.  It dawned on me that it’s nearly 80% done and I could actually enter it in this year’s community fair if I finished it.  Well, as you probably know, restarting a project is harder than it looks.  I had all these supplies – needles – pearl cotton – needles threaders – thimbles and no idea which one I had finally decided on using.  Luckily, I had left the needle in where I last worked, and I could match the thread.  From there I found a great video that taught me how to figure out what type and size n ..read more

A Fantasy Garden, Christine Weise/Shelley Cassatta You know when you go to a Sewing & Quilting Expo, you are overwhelmed by the amount of things to buy and classes to take.  Well at least that was how it was for me during the recent Cleveland Expo.  It was a lot!  But tucked in the back of the Expo were rows of black curtains, filled with the most gorgeous quilts!  SAQA had shared a few exhibitions and there were also some from the North Texas Quilt Festival.  The exhibit was so stunning, I ended up going through it 3 times during the day.  I th ..read more

 Okay, so I don't like change.  I know most people say that but I really don't like change.  Of course, this translates into my quilting life as well.  When I find a tool I like, I like it for life.  That would be why I am using the same rulers (Quickline designed by Nancy Crow) as I did 30 years ago.  My square rulers (Bias Square from the Patchwork Place) and rotary cutter by Kai.  When they wear out, I just check on ebay for replacements.   That all said, I still keep my eye out for what's new in notions. That became a goal of mine on my recent ..read more

Waiting for the vendors to open! Okay am I the only one who has never been to a Sewing Expo?  This year I finally got to attend since it was returning to the I-X Center on the westside of Cleveland...and let me tell ya....most of the women I talk to have been going for years.  After spending the day, now I understand why. Reason 1 - the Expo encompasses all that is sewing and quilting - If it has to do with those two things, then you will find it there.  There were vendors for EVERYTHING which includes but not limited to sewing and long arm dealers, quilt shops, notion ..read more

Hard at Work You know sometimes all you want to do is sew and boy, have I done that.  Taking Improvisational Piecing with Veronica Hofman-Ortega at John C. Campbell's Folk School was one of my better ideas.  I love a class that starts with design exercises that will lead into bigger and better ideas.  Not to mention the ladies in my class were great!  There was a full range of quilters in the class  - from the very experienced to the beginner.  All were traditional, so this was pushing pretty much everyone out of their comfort zone.  But let me te ..read more

Okay, show of hands, who out there gives a small groan when you get the supply list for a big quilting class?  25 years later and many, many 5-day quilting classes and I still get intiminadated when I first read the list.  You think to yourself, "Self!  Does she really want us to bring all this stuff?  Are we really going to use all of it? And how much fabric is actually enough?"  I mean nobody wants to get to class and think, "Gosh I wish I had  "insert the most perfect fabric here" with me."  But also you don't want to be THAT gal who brings her wh ..read more

  So last week, I was talking to a friend of mine and she said, "Ohhhh I don't have a creative bone in my body."  If I only I had a dime for every time I heard that.  I do believe people are born with strengths and weaknesses and there is no reason that you need to be strong in everything.  HOWEVER...I believe that everyone can enjoy the joy of "making" no matter what their talents.  I mean think about it.  How many kids don't like to color and draw?  Hardly any.  It's only when they hit about age 8 do they let the world's perception of their art affec ..read more

My Pegboard, white, cut to fit the space, painted stripes, electric orange tape. Baskets, cups used for additional space, labeled So today I read an interesting post on my Sewing/Quilting Organization list on Facebook.  A member was looking for ideas for the use of a pegboard in her sewing space and asked for pictures.  My first thought was lots of people must have pegboards and they all must use them the same way.   Apparently, I was wrong.  As goes it with a list of 110K (yes you read that right 110,000!) quilters/sewers, you get many opinions and ideas on ..read more

Dorothea Lange, Seeing People Exhibit  Okay so here is this week's tip....don't think you can take a quick 2-day trip to Washington DC and not come home exhausted and your mind a big creative blur.  We only saw 2 museums, The National Gallery and the National Museum of American History and it still was stimuli overload. It wasn't just the museums which were amazing in themselves, but also the whole National Mall area.  We took the metro in from Arlington, VA, and popped up in the Federal Triangle station which is the middle of 10 neoclassial HUGE buildings.  I tru ..read more

  Dorothy's Lange This week finds me traveling to Washington DC to visit the National Gallery.  We love the National Dorothea Lange, Formerly enslaved woman, Alabama, 1938 Mall since we are kinda museum junkies.  But we haven't been back since 2019 due to the dreaded plague.  I keep an eye on the National Gallery's webpage and discovered that they are running a Dorothea Lange exhibit through March.  So Paul is indulging me with a quick trip down to see it as well as the Mark Rothko exhibit and Masters of American Furniture, the Kaufman ..read more