My brother-in-law William’s photo of the pink granite coast near Trébeurden in France. I think that would be a pretty byway to explore after the wedding–n’est-ce pas? As promised in my Tuesday post, here’s a look at my wedding quilt project from the perspective of commissioning the input of a long-arm machine quilter. In this case, I’ve found Marla Monson, a super-talented long-armer based in Northern California.  She’s contributed her talents to a number of quilts produced b

Ahh, the chateaux of France. . . here’s a pretty one photographed by my brother-in-law William. Another year, another family wedding! My niece/goddaughter will be marrying in the French village where she grew up and we’re so excited to visit that side of the family for such a joyous event. Of course, such a milestone requires the bestowal of a wedding quilt so I’ve been working away at my latest nuptial project. Street life–strolling through a small town in France, again by W

I always like starting my posts with flowers, especially “quilt-able” ones. A few posts ago, Darra gave us a rundown on texture depicted in printed fabric. (I learned a lot BTW.) In this edition of our June texture-themed features I’m going to switch things up a bit and look at the opposite end of the textural spectrum. What do you think about sleek, slippery, and shimmery? Now I know those qualities aren’t generally associated with everyday quilts, those that get tossed in t

Do you know you can have your own designs printed on fabric? Now I’m not talking about dyeing techniques or any other DIY processes. I’m talking about commissioning your own printed yardage.  Isn’t that fabulous? A spectacular Buddha print designed by art quilter and illustrator Sandra Bruce on Spoonflower. The company that’s getting a lot of attention in the crafting/quilting/sewing communities for print-your-own fabric is Spoonflower, the brainchild of a crafty mom and her

Over the past year, many of you have told us that you enjoy our different styles and “voices,” so to kick off the month, we thought it would be fun to issue ourselves a group fabric challenge to see just how different we really are. We each began with a fat quarter of the same fabric. Our assignment: Choose six fabrics to go with it. For our focus fabric, we selected a large-scaled, daisy-bedecked Robert Kaufman print from the Fly Away collection by Amy Schimler. Our theme fa

There are times when whim governs my quilt-design process–I just jump in and see where an idea takes me (believe me, it’s a hit-or-miss strategy). More often, though, my ideas are jumbled mental clutter. I’m sure there’s something doable in the mess, but I just can’t grasp it. One way I dig myself out of a mental morass is by perusing my collection of torn-out magazine pages because I like to see what my subconscious is telling me (sometimes very cool things). Nowadays, armed

Twenty years ago if someone had told me one of my favorite things to do would be get in the car with a friend and travel to a quilt show I would have asked them what they were smoking! Who knew? Last month we headed to the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA. It’s a six-hour drive from home in Northern California, and we took the most direct route (south on I-5) which isn’t exactly a scenic wonderland. About the time you think you can’t stand looking at another fie

Yikes! I'm under instructions from my fortune cookie to deliver an entertaining post. It’s scary when one of my half-baked ideas goes viral among my friends. All of a sudden, after my quilting buddy Kim comes knocking on my door with piles of beautiful completed quilts to share, I’ve got to live up to one of my crazy schemes as well.  Turns out she was inspired by my rant last Christmas about prioritizing UFOs and tackling them. I’m so jealous plus I’ve got to get seriously m