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It’s been a while, friends, but I’m back and ready to get sewing again. My husband, Jim, and I recently returned from a very unexpected trip to India. We were invited to a wedding there, not only as guests, but to stand in for the bride’s parents during all the ceremonies throughout the three-day event. It was an opportunity we could not pass up. I can’t even begin to do justice to the Indian wedding, so all I have to say is, if you ever get the chance, take it. It was amazing.

But we are ...

Attention all quilting and sewing enthusiasts! Get ready to be captivated by the extraordinary talent of our Sewcialites. They recently took over our Instagram, sharing personal stories and their knowledge, skills, and insider tricks. And that's not all! Be prepared to be endlessly inspired by their latest projects. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a beginner on your creative journey, our Sewcialites have something for everyone that can take your quilting game to the next level. And Who are our Sewcialites, you may wonder? They are a group of 10 of the best creative and passionate quilting and ...

I am not sure why but I was so apprehensive making a second Rails quilt. A few years ago now I created Rails for RjR Fabrics with Fat Quarter bundle they supplied. The quilt was made with 1-1.5″ strips and I bent them into shapes as I sewed to make it represent the railroad junctions. There was little planning and the whole quilt took a couple of days (I procrastinated so much with the idea in my head to the point that I had no choice but to make it quickly so I wouldn’t miss the deadline).

I ...

Idea

I have trouble expressing my feelings and thoughts into words and talking about it. This quilt represents my wish that human nature can embrace difference. Different is beautiful, wonderful, inspiring and makes life and things around us interesting. It saddens me that often being different is used to divide us, introduce fear, hate or violence. We need to do better.

Design

The design and name of this quilt was inspired by the Sesame Street Song “One of these things“. It teaches that things are different and says “one of these things doesn’t belong” so are we teaching children ...

In the previous post, I walked through my process of creating the three tops I created while playing with color. In this post let’s take one of those quilts, Whitney, and talk about choosing quilting design.

Whitney is a 4 x 4 grid design, (4 columns x 4 rows). I consider these columns as a red (1), green (2), yellow (3) and blue (4) column if you read it from left to right.

Quilt Designs

I started the quilting with the yellow column, which provides almost a consistent stripe down the quilt. I feel this is where the eye ...

Over the last year, I have been feeling more of a need to give back to the community. I originally started by donating quilts to NC folks that were recovering from one of our hurricanes. I really enjoyed making these community quilts.

This year at QuiltCon I had picked up an amazing 100 x 5″ square charm pack with Alison Glass fabric. When COVID-19 stay at home orders were issued, I decided I needed some mindless sewing to do. For me that was making Half Square Triangles (HST) with the charm pack and a some Kona Snow (I has on ...

Idea

Back in 2018, I was had a give away every month. One of the give aways was I would make a mini quilt for the winner. The winner said her favorite color was blue.

At the time, I was looking for a way to design stacked circles/ovals and I discovered Leon Polk Smith. He uses shapes and lines within other shapes to get these interesting nested pieces.

Design

I designed this piece, which I new straight away that I would piece in the dark blue but raw edge appliqué the circles to the background.

As I cut the ...

Idea

Have you ever felt left out, or just on the outside of a group or even cast out? I assume most people at one time or another have felt like that. I have at various times, more than once. This quilt was originally designed based on that feeling of being on the “outs” from a group.

Design

I started the design with an idea of a group people being represented by 10 lines; 9 black (representing the group), 1 red (representing me or the person who was feeling left out). The other big decision I made was on the ...

Just before Christmas, I made a couple of mini quilts as gifts. I have not shared those makes with you yet. One of those quilts was a striking black and white minimal quilt.

Idea

This quilt was inspired based on a drain cover discovered on our family walk around the neighborhood. I loved the diagonal pattern of lines.

Design

During the design phase I used those 45 degree lines in the top part of the design. In the drain you have this bar 1/2 way across the lines, giving it a broken line feel. For me, that translated into ...

I have not given up on my book “Idea. Design. Create. Quilt.” It is just taking more time than expected. I did finish another one of my book projects last year. This table runner, I am calling “Rotating Spokes”.  I love how it looks on our outside table in these pictures.

This was inspired by an Art Deco style wrought iron balcony rail, I saw in New Orleans. I immediately a design formed, and it is repeated but rotated for each of the circle designs. The fabric choices were also an easy decision. I used:

• Black Essex Linen (Background Fabric ...