A Bali Pop, a Pattern, and a Little Clothesline

Have you ever been possessed by a project idea? I mean so totally consumed that you had to make it? Me, too.
Most of my sewing time is spent making samples or art quilts. I don’t make bags. I have lots of bags and, truth be known, I prefer leather bags. That’s why it was such [...]

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Fun vs. Productivity

This blog post is a quick hit-and-run entry that poses a question and a possible answer. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the subject.
To you workaholics, here’s my conundrum: why do we put off doing the fun things in favor of doing the hard or unpleasant tasks – even though the fun stuff is on our to-do lists [...]

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Being Productive

When I typed that title, I worried that it promised some profound wisdom, some insight that will allow us all to slay our to-do lists and spend our leisure hours making things that make our souls happy. Hmm. Instead, I want to talk a little about personal productivity and explore how I can be more productive [...]

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It’s That Time Again

It’s that time of year when we all tend to become more introspective. We’re surrounded by talk of weight loss, exercise programs, and job searches. We vow to get organized, save more, reprioritize, and generally become better people. I don’t know about all of that, but I am doing a lot of looking back at [...]

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What Quilters Want

I’ve thought a lot about this. What DO quilters want?
When I originally planned this post, I was going to roll out the new page on my website, My Favorite Things, where I list books and tools that I recommend in class. Those of you in my art quilt classes have seen many of these [...]

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It’s Done! Vintage Revisited #6 is Done!

Woo hoo! The sixth and final quilt for Mary Kerr’s Vintage Revisited quilt challenge is finally done. (Drum roll, please…)
Ding, dong!
The quilt is done!
Which old quilt?
The final quilt!
Ding, dong,
The final quilt is done!
I think the spokes made all the difference. After a lot of thinking about how to represent the spokes, I took a trip [...]

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Behold the Power of Deadlines

Deadlines are amazing things. They force productivity — sometimes with great results and sometimes not.
I needed to finish this quilt by yesterday morning so that it could be part of the Mason Dixon Quilt Professionals’ Network (MDQPN) special exhibit “What We Do” for this year’s Road2CA. The exhibit is designed to showcase what each of the [...]

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When a Quilt Fights Back

I’ve had quilter’s block before. I’ve had dry spells, but I’ve never had a quilt fight me.
Here’s the deal. I have a deadline.  Tomorrow. I’ve been thinking about this quilt and planning it in my head. Trees. Trees in winter. I have this amazing midnight blue batik with irregular white dots that look to me [...]

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Challenge Block #6: The Construction Conundrum

What was I thinking?! I love this shot, but I’m having heartburn trying to figure out how to get from a tired old green Grandma’s Flower Garden fragment to the quilt I have in my head that features this picture of my husband. This morning at 3:15, I had a few ideas and so I thought [...]

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Challenge Block #6: The Final Frontier

I still don’t particularly like to do vintage, but I have one more block to use before I’m finished the Mary Kerr’s Vintage Revisited Challenge. Each block is more “challenging” than the one before it and this one…well, this one’s a real doozy! In this case, I think there are real and compelling reasons why [...]

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