I was part of a monthly bee, Sew Bee It, through my local quilt guild, St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild. If you are not familiar with a bee, basically it is a small group, usually up to 12 members.  Each member gets assigned a month and during that month all the other members make a block or blocks of her choosing.  They may provide fabric or part of the fabric and the rest is pulled from your stash. One of the blocks in our bee this round was an improv bird block.  Improv is not really in my comfort zone and especially having to look like something when it’s done so I procrast ..read more

I don’t do a lot of jam making in the winter, but one I do love to make is Carrot Cake Jam. It is so sweet and good, with all the flavors of carrot cake. Pair it on toast with a little mascarpone, it is amazing. Serve with melted brie and crackers for a delicious appetizer. Or you can go old school with a peanut butter and carrot cake jam sandwich. You can’t go wrong ..read more

The lawn chair quilt is such a quick and easy quilt to make. It’s also perfect for Jelly Rolls as well as left over strips from other projects. I have made three so far and I’m sure there are more in my future. The lawn chair quilt pattern is a quick and fun and free pattern to make by Monica Solorio-Snow, aka Happy Zombie that you can find in the Moda Bake Shop. It’s also kind of cool because it uses precuts and also, you can get 2 quilts out of three jelly rolls. But I didn’t do that. The first couple I made were Christmas gifts for my sister, Kendra, and sister-in-law, Kelly, for Chri ..read more

I made some really good low carb bulgogi tacos for dinner tonight. They were a hit with everyone so I thought I’d share. You can make them regular by using regular brown sugar and regular tortillas ..read more

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to participate in making some things for the Mediterraneo fabric line by Katarina Roccella for Art Gallery Fabrics. The fabrics were so gorgeous, I couldn’t wait to get started! Forgive me for the photo quality. I was trying to get everything sent off quickly but I’ll be updating these with better photos soon! I really needed some pretty new kitchen accessories and I thought the theme of Mediterraneo would be perfect! So first I decided to make some potholders. For these four potholders, I decided to let the fabric speak for itself and qu ..read more

A number of years ago, Riley Blake fabric company had a fabric challenge. They provided quilt quilts with a number of fat quarters free and asked quilters to follow the guidelines to make a quilt or project for their challenge. My Bright Spots quilt came from that fun challenge.. We had to use only Riley Blake prints but we could use any solids. I tend to run more modern traditional in my quilt designs and preferences, but I stepped a little outside the box on this one. I had no idea what I was going to do so I hit the internet for some inspiration. I ended up looking at bathroom tiles and rea ..read more

Smile!!! “Smiling is definitely one of the best beauty remedies. If you have a good sense of humor and a good approach to life, that’s beautiful.”– Rashida Jones “Peace begins with a smile.” — Mother Teresa “The world always looks brighter from behind a smile.” — Unknown “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” – Dolly Parton “We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.” – Mother Teresa “Because of your smile, you make life more beautiful.” – Thích Nhất Hạnh “Everyone smiles in the same language.” – George Carlin “A woman is most beautiful when she smiles ..read more

I have been following a month long participation hashtag on Instagram by Laura Tremaine, author of Share Your Stuff, I’ll go First. How it works is basically, each day there is a prompt and you share. Today’s prompt was Something I Don’t Usually Share. I thought some of these would be good to share on my blog to get back to regular posting. Something I Don’t Usually Share …how much I miss my dad. His loss is still so tangible to me even though it has been 35 years. I work to keep my memories alive, replaying them like reruns of a favorite show. I can’t hear his voice anymore. I can’t hear his ..read more

Way back in 2014, I saw an advertisement for some outdoor furniture which had the cutest Japanese paper lanterns.  The color palette and layout was so pretty, I thought about it for weeks.  I ended up doodling this quilt design and made this blue and yellow version way back in 2014.   It was such a fun quilt to make and Zen Chic‘s Sphere fabrics were just perfect for it.   I was asked a number of times about where I found the pattern, so I finally wrote one in 2018. We tend to like large quilts since everyone in my family is tall, so I wrote the pattern in two si ..read more

For quite a few years, as my kids grew older, I stopped being “festive” during all the holidays besides Christmas. I mean we still celebrated them, just not the same as when the kids were little and we went all out. We stopped decorating and kind of just did the minimum. Lately, though, I’ve been really enjoying getting into the spirit, decorating, and making things. Here is a round up of some Valentine’s Day crafts and treats that caught my eye. Diy Art Painting is not really in my wheelhouse but I think these Love Letters from We Lived Happily Ever After are just gorgeous and would love to g ..read more