It has been raining all night and all day. But that's good; it will help clean up the ground. The wetland on one side of the pond is finally free of ice and I flushed a pair of ducks when taking this photo last week. The Peepers are finally making their spring calls early morning. They can sound quite raucous and I read why...the females choose their mates by the volume of their sounds.
Yesterday I spotted these two on the pond so took this photo from a great distance and I wonder if they are the pair ... read moreEvery so often, questions and comments come from readers, and I think others would like to hear my response. That’s when I feature them on the blog. This is one of those days. The question today comes from the comment section…and emails. I have been asked numerous times about the tape measure on my long arm. I’ve …
Ask Jo: The Tape Measure Read More »
read moreThis beginner-friendly Log Cabin Rings Modern Quilt is a fun twist on a traditional block. Turn the blocks this way and that, and voilà!
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©2025 MEREDITH OPERATIONS CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Happy Day! My quilt, Rainbow Petals, was just published in the Summer 2026 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine! It measures 46″ x 46,” and the blocks finish at 10″. I worked with Confetti Cottons by Riley Blake Designs and some fabrics from Blank Quilting’s Lower the Volume collection for the background. If you look closely, though, you will find a ...
read moreOh, finally, some days warm enough to run around in my roadster with the top down! Now that I am feeling better, it is lovely to have the trees leafing out and my azaleas blooming. I adore white flowers, and these are pristine this year. They had not formed buds when we had our last hard freeze, so the blooms are stunning.

This is just the first plant to bloom, we have several white ones. The sun was just coming up, and I need to take some better photos later in the day when the sun will be shining on ...
read moreHello Friends,
I hope you have had a good week! I am very happy to announce I just added a new pattern to my Etsy shop.
Chain Mail is a traditional bed quilt that will instantaneously give your bed a glow up!

Click HERE to purchase the pattern.
This is one of my all-time favorite quilts to make. I hope you will enjoy making yours as well!
Take care, and have a great rest of your week!
read more..and progress was made.
Honestly, it's a miracle. I almost had a flimsy by March 31, but embroidery digitizing homework got in the way. But...I was very happy to have an epiphany moment while working on the homework (almost at the last minute) that made me feel so good about moving forward. I have, of late, been questioning my desire to commit to digitizing all the files I want to stitch for quilting my quilts. But that tiny peephole of light I saw last Monday was what spurred me on.
Antelope Canyon will be a flimsy soon-ish...the ...
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I had quite a varied week at work with some teaching, some quilting and making a movie about a new Accuquilt die with Karen.
Nella came to stay and we had a super 4 day weekend. Plenty of chocolate was consumed, we went to see Mel in Looe and visited Lydford Gorge with its stunning White Lady waterfall.



The sun came out at last so I could cut my grass. I was glad of an assistant to put my pop-up budget greenhouse from Lidl together. I was sorely tempted to purchase a hanging egg chair from Tesco but common sense ...
read moreThe Scrappy Sampler top (my version) is at the quilters. Hope to have it to share soon. In the meantime, I made a pair of potholders (slightly different sizes, due to quilt math).

It is a great way to use up small pieces, units or even entire blocks at the end of a quilt.
read moreAs I was moving fabric bins the other day, I peeked into the flannel tub. These have been in here for many years and I suddenly felt like I ought to do something with them. I still liked these, but I didn't have any plan or direction for them and I needed some coordinating pieces to move them forward.So I grabbed a piece of paper and started scratching out some ideas and notes for simple designs.
read moreAudrey awoke from her deep sleep with a level of activity never before witnessed. Later tonight or early tomorrow morning the fermentation process for sweet dough begins. I’m making a double batch to share. As I started this the delightful memories of checking a book on how to make a loaf of bread out of… Continue reading whew – it’s April
read moreField of Valor – A Patriotic Take on the St. Paddy’s Field QuiltThis quilt may look familiar… and that’s because Field of Valor is simply a different colorway of my St. Paddy’s Field quilt pattern. Changing fabrics can completely transform the story a quilt tells, and this version speaks to something very close to my heart — patriotism, gratitude, and honoring those who have served our
read moreEven I still can't believe it's done, and it's been almost a year since it was completed.
Patti, my former supervisor, is also my friend. Before she was my supervisor, she was a co-worker in our agency and we made each other laugh a lot--that was a necessary skill set. She finally made the decision to retire and did so mid-2025. We worked together for over 20 years and propped each other up through the years.
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| Patti packing up her office, and unpacking the quilt |
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| That's MaryBeth holding it up so Patti could see everything on ... |
Last year I ended up working on two BOMs, which kept me pretty busy while also trying to work on various other projects. One of those BOMs was one that our quilt group decided to do as a group project, though everyone did her own version. Some of us did 12″ blocks, and some of […]
read moreOh my goodness. I can’t begin to tell you how long this community quilt has been at my house waiting for me to give it some attention. All I can say is that it’s embarrassingly long. In my push to get the projects on my sewing room island finished, this one managed to make it …
Community Quilt from ME! Read More »
read moreRay recently shared some pictures of the Airing of the Quilts. It is a quilt sale fundraiser that his church sponsors. All of the money from the sales is used to help outreach programs that their church sponsors. I am going to photo bomb you with pictures. Most of the quilts you have already seen …
Airing of the Quilts… Read More »
read moreLast Saturday was our local guild show for Worldwide Quilting Day at our small shopping mall. The stands and black drapes were set up along a wall, and the entries were pinned to them. The show was set up and ready to view before the mall opened. There were 31 entries, and visitors in the mall were encouraged to vote for their three favorites.

As usual, the creativity and imagination of our members is amazing. This challenge was all about imagination, so even more so this year. In most of the entries, the challenge fabric was easy to see, which ...
read moreSome time ago, Ila sent me a UFO she was not happy with. I told her I’d finish it and donate it to a needy cause. Kelli was at my house and she is the one that sewed the blocks together. Kelli got the blocks sewn together, and it was my job to put the …
Solving a Quilt Problem Read More »
read moreWe were plunged back into Christmasy looking winter on Saturday. It was beautiful outside in my woods.
Hey friends…I’m popping in here on a rare Sunday evening post. I’ve failed to let you know about my return to YouTube. My daughter Kalissa said, “Mom. Do you realize people are waiting for you to come back to YouTube? It’s been almost a year since you posted there.” I’ll admit…it has been almost a …
read moreIt's very slow...
It's a log cabin quilt. How hard can it be? Very hard and confusing if I don't pay close attention to it.
I try to set myself up with every quilt I make with a plan to be more efficient in my piecing. A big part of that is organizing the blocks into stacks that can be chain pieced. Again, it's a log cabin block...but a very big block! Each block finishes at 37", and that's 47 logs plus the center square. And the majority of those logs each have two ...
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