52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - December

Monday, December 31, 2018

I am SOOOO excited to share my progress with you this month!!!

I met exceeded my goal!!! I made 54 charity quilts in 2018!!!

Debbie Mumm charity quilts

The Wonky Donkey Quilt

December's Island Batik ambassador challenge was "Whimsical and Wonky."

The challenge took much more brainstorming than most months! "Whimsical" isn't exactly my style, so I focused on "wonky." After looking at lots and lots (and lots!) of improv style quilts, I just couldn't get inspired. I took a step back and tried to think outside the box about the challenge.

As a mom of three young boys, the only thing my brain can think of when I hear the word "wonky" is the very popular children's book, The Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith. I knew I would have to make a donkey quilt!

Wonky Donkey quilt with Island Batik fabrics and Aurifil thread

Peeking Santa

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

When I was a child (back in the 80s - I'm vintage now!), my aunt made our family a peeking Santa toilet seat cover. It was a decoration I looked forward to putting out every year! I knew my boys would also appreciate the quirkiness of one, so I've had it on my to-make wish list for several years.

On Christmas Eve this year, I found myself with a few hours of sewing time, so I decided this was the year!


Quilted peeking Santa toilet seat lid cover

The original was made from felt, and the pieces were all hot glued on. Now, as a mom of three boys, I cringe thinking how the one from my childhood would never have been able to be washed!

Tumbling Blocks Quilt

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Right before we moved at the end of the summer, I had two quilt deadlines to meet. One was the Glowing Lone Star quilt, and the second was this Tumbling Blocks quilt - both for Craftsy. And I can finally share this one with you!


Tumbling Blocks quilt kit on Craftsy

52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - November

Friday, November 30, 2018

I'm adding TEN quilt tops to my charity quilt endeavor this month!

Debbie Mumm fabric for quick and easy charity quilts

Have you done any charity sewing lately?

Turning Tiles in McCall's Quilting Magazine!

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

I'm so excited to be able to share my Turning Tiles quilt with you! This quilt has quite the story behind it!

Turning Tiles quilt using Island Batik Lavendula fabrics in McCall's Quilting Jan/Feb 2019 magazine

A Stitch in Time Book Tour

Monday, November 26, 2018

Do you have a sewing bucket list? Things you want to try but haven't gotten around to it yet? Well, today I am crossing something off my bucket list! English paper piecing!

English paper pieced mini quilt from the book "A Stitch in Time" by Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane

Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations has just released a new book especially for English paper piecing, or EPP called A Stitch in Time. I've only dabbled in EPP, but have never actually completed a project before. When Sharon offered a chance to be part of her book release blog tour, I knew it was the perfect chance for me to try it out!

G-O-O-O-O-A-L!!! + TGIFF

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Remember when I made a baseball quilt for my son's really great t-ball coach earlier this year? Well, we just finished up the soccer season, and I couldn't resist making a soccer quilt for the coach!


Soccer quilt made with half hexagons

Tote bags for my boys

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

On very rare occasions, and only for very special circumstances, I make things other than quilts.

Tote bags for boys

Just a few weeks ago, my oldest two boys (ages 3 and 5) started attending AWANA at our new church. When signing up, there were several supplies we needed to purchase. There was a vest that they will put patches and pins on as they earn them and books with the lessons and Bible verses. The tote bag was listed as optional but highly recommended. The price tag on the tote bag was a bit steep, so of course I said I could make them one instead!

Quick and easy lined tote bags for boys

Have you seen those memes on Facebook that say something like, "Why buy it for $7 when you can make it yourself with $92 of craft supplies!"? Well, that's a bit representative of this story too! But handmade is always worth it!

Cabin Fever

Friday, November 16, 2018

We've had several flurries and snow days already this year, and that just makes me want to curl up by the fire in a log cabin in the woods in front of the tv with a log cabin quilt. (Let's be honest: a log cabin in the woods would have mice and spiders and terrible internet service.)

Island Batik modern pastel log cabin baby quilt

This month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was to create a quilt using the traditional log cabin block, but like usual, I wanted to challenge myself to make it a bit more modern.

2019 Aurifil Designer of the Month Team Announced!

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

I have been like a balloon about to pop waiting to tell you this exciting news!! I am part of the 2019 Aurifil Designer of the Month Team!!


Little Man Quilt

Sunday, November 11, 2018

A few weeks ago, a soon-to-be first-time grandma asked if I could make a quilt for her grandson. After a few messages back and forth to iron out the details I got started on a quilt for her new little man!


Little man woodland themed teal, navy, and gray baby quilt


Glowing Lone Star Quilt

Monday, November 5, 2018

It's time to reveal another secret sewing quilt from earlier this year!

The Glowing Lone Star quilt is a pattern and kit available on Craftsy! I enjoyed writing the pattern and making the quilt top, but I REALLY loved adding the quilting!

UPDATE: Craftsy/Bluprint has since closed and no longer sells kits. You can purchase the pattern HERE.


Glowing Lone Star quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts for Craftsy

Vintage Sheets Quilt in Quilty Magazine

I vividly remember the sheets on my bed when I was growing up. They were soft, but had a sort of crispness to them and were cool to the touch when I laid my head on my pillow. One set had small light pink flowers with light green leaves. Another set had dainty yellow and peach flowers. Today, they are called "vintage," and I now know that crispness came from the cotton/polyester blend they were made from.

When I learned of people making quilts from vintage sheets, I knew I *HAD* to make my own!

Odd Fellows Chain quilt made from vintage sheets

Rainbow Hexies

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was paper piecing. When trying to decide what to make scouring Pinterest for ideas, I remembered I had already made a small stash of hexies earlier this year from the Petting Zoo collection! It was their time!

Rainbow modern hexies mini quilt with Island Batik fabrics

52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - October

Have you done any charity sewing this month? I am happy to be adding three more finished quilts to my charity quilt count for the year!

These three bring my charity quilt count to 15!


Charity quilts using Debbie Mumm fabric

The Finial Quilt + Pattern

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Remember that one time I made a quilt in a crazy short period of time for Mathew Boudreaux (aka Mister Domestic) for Quilt Market earlier this year? (You can read about it here.) Well, I obviously didn't learn my lesson, because I jumped at the chance to create something with his second fabric line, Aura!

Meet my newest quilt pattern: Finial. Finial is featured in the Art Gallery Fabrics lookbook for the Aura collection!


The Finial quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts using Aura fabrics by Mister Domestic for Art Gallery Fabrics


Flurry Quilt

Sunday, October 14, 2018

I'm so excited to finally be able to share this version of my Flurry quilt with you that I made earlier this year! Have I mentioned how hard it is to keep quilty secrets?!?


Flurry quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts using Island Batik fabrics


By Hand Blog Hop

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Welcome to my stop on the By Hand Blog Hop! By Hand is a new fabric collection from Contempo designed by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time. The fabrics are in quilt shops now, so be sure to visit your favorite quilt shop and ask for them! The bright rainbow palette immediately drew me in!


Texture quilt with 3-D twisted strips

Amy designed the collection to have a light and dark of each color - and I wanted to make something that captured that!

Snowfall Barn Quilt

Last week, Kristi at Put a Quilt on It issued a fun design challenge: design a quilt block that you would want to see on a barn quilt. The winner would get their design as a painted barn quilt! I knew immediately I wanted to participate!

After a few days of being indecisive on what I would want to "permanently" display on our house, I thought of a brilliant (to me) idea: a Christmas barn quilt!


Snowfall quilt by Slice of Pi Quilts

52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - September

Sunday, September 30, 2018

This month, I added binding to five charity baby quilts. It feels so good to move some quilts from the WIP pile to the DONE pile!

Debbie Mumm charity quilts

I'm making 52 quilts for charity this year. You can read more about my plan on this post. I recap my sewing progress on the last day of each month, and host a linky party where you can link up any charity sewing you've done too!

Seeing Stars

Saturday, September 29, 2018

The theme of this month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was "Starstruck." I've been arguing with myself all month about what to make. The rational half of me kept reminding me that I just had a baby three weeks ago and my sewing time has been limited so I should make something small and easy. But the irrational half of me got an idea months ago and hasn't stopped thinking about it since.

True to my pi nature, the irrational self won.


Spirograph quilt using Island Batik fabrics and Aurifil thread

Spooked Geese in Quilty Magazine!

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

I have several secret sewing projects from earlier this year that I can finally share with you! First up is "Spooked Geese" - a Halloween quilt in the September/October issue of Quilty Magazine!


Modern Halloween flying geese quilt in Quilty magazine

Won't you be my neighbor?

Monday, September 24, 2018

When we moved into our new house a couple months ago, I was surprised to see that the neighbors on both sides of us were also expecting! All three of us have had our babies now - and all three are boys!

A police themed baby quilt

If you remember, I made this quilt for one neighbor. The second neighbor had her baby a few weeks ago, and I was able to gift a quilt to her over the weekend.

It's a boy!

Friday, September 21, 2018

For those of you that have been waiting to hear the news - it's a boy!

My sewing time has been a bit scarce the past couple weeks as we welcomed baby boy #3 to our tribe!

Baby quilt using Blithe fabrics by Art Gallery Fabrics

Great Outdoors Blog Hop with Island Batik

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Welcome to the Great Outdoors Blog Hop with Island Batik! The Island Batik Ambassadors are showing you all the newest fabric collections from Island Batik! (And there are TONS of giveaways too!!)

Open weaving circle quilt using Island Batik fabrics

Hobbs Batting Challenge

Saturday, September 1, 2018

As the time nears for baby #3 to be born, I'm working very hard to clear my plate of deadlines and things I want to finish before I'm at the beck and call of a newborn. I have mostly been good about saying no to things that land close to the due date (I'm almost 38 weeks, so any day now!). However, when a friend shared her entry in the Hobbs Batting challenge a week ago, I really wanted to join in on the fun!

Modern mini quilt using Kona solids, Aurifil thread, Hobbs Batting, and reverse applique

52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - August

Friday, August 31, 2018

This month's charity quilts didn't go as planned! My goal was to put binding on several of the baby quilts I've longarmed recently. However, I ended up making three large throw quilts for foster teenagers instead!

Charity quilts for foster teens

New Address Mini Quilt

Saturday, August 25, 2018

This month's theme for the Curated Quilts mini quilt challenge is "house." Originally, I was un-inspired by the prompt. However, once I started thinking of "home" instead of "house," I realized our recent move could be the inspiration!

Mini topographical map quilt for Curated Quilts challenge

Free Motion Fantasy Blog Hop

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Welcome to my stop on the Free Motion Fantasy Blog Hop! I'm sharing lots of pictures in this post, but be sure to stick around to the end - there's a giveaway!

Baby items made with Free Motion Fantasy fabrics

When I saw the Free Motion Fantasy fabrics by Amanda Murphy, I was immediately in love! Amanda created the line specifically for using it for free motion quilting. Every print correlates to a free motion quilting design!

Since I'm 36 weeks pregnant with kiddo #3, I have baby on the brain! Right away, I knew I wanted to try making a quilted baby changing mat. Benartex generously sent me the fabrics for the changing mat, and a few extra too!

A quilt for baby Wren

Friday, August 17, 2018

When we moved into our new house just a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see that the neighbors on both sides of our house were also expecting! Of course I thought a baby quilt would be a better "meet your neighbor" gift than my usual quick bread!

Woodland themed baby quilt

Chatting with Pat Sloan

Monday, August 13, 2018

You all know I love trying new things - and today is a day for something new! I'm a guest on Pat Sloan's American Patchwork & Quilting podcast!


52 Charity Quilts in 52 Weeks - July

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to make 52 charity quilts before the end of 2018.

This month, I got two more quilted and ready for binding! The quilting really goes so much faster on my longarm than it did on my domestic!


Charity quilts from Debbie Mumm fabric

Double Take

Sunday, July 29, 2018

This month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was to create a quilt with a secondary design. A secondary design is one in which some surprising design appears when you put the blocks together - making you do a double take!


Fizzy block modern quilt using purple and teal Island Batik fabrics

Quilting Dream Come True: I Bought a Longarm!

Saturday, July 28, 2018

It's been a dream of mine to have a longarm for a couple years now. I first put it on my goal list for 2017, then again on my goals for 2018. Honestly, it was much more dream than goal though. However, once this year started, it became clear that a longarm needed to become a priority.

1989 24" Gammill longarm

I made 52 quilts last year, and am on track to far surpass that this year. I am often making quilts for magazines, fabric companies, and other clients on very tight deadlines that don't allow time to send the quilt to a longarmer. A few months back, I learned I would have just that type of situation in June/July. I was going to need to make a queen sized quilt start to finish within about a two-week turnaround time. This would be the largest quilt I've made on such a short deadline. I knew my Juki *could* quilt it, but the time it would take and the frustration it would cause just didn't make sense. I began a serious search for a longarm solution.

Iridescence quilt featured on the Midnight Quilt Show!

Friday, July 27, 2018

Eight months ago, Craftsy asked if I would write a pattern for them. The quilt was named "Iridescence" and would be featured on The Midnight Quilt Show with Angela Walters.

Well, fast forward to this week, and it's finally time I can share with you!

Iridescence quilt on the Midnight Quilt Show with Angela Walters for Craftsy/Bluprint
Photo courtesy of Craftsy

An Island Batik Christmas in July!

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

As an Island Batik Ambassador, I get two shipments of fabric from them during the year. Then I get to make awesome things to meet monthly challenges that all the ambassadors participate in! I have no idea what will be in the boxes ahead of time. It's just like Christmas! I just got my second shipment, so I thought I'd share with you what was in the box!

Island Batik fabrics, Aurifil thread, and Hobbs batting I got as part of the Island Batik Ambassador program

2018 Mid Year Review

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

How are your New Year's Resolutions going? If you're like me, you just rolled your eyes! However, I do set some specific business goals each year, and Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is prompting us to do a mid-year evaluation. So how am I doing?

2018 Mid Year Review

My Chambray Quilt is in Quilty Magazine!

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

I'm so excited to finally be able to share with you one of my secret sewing quilts from early this year! Meet "Somewhere in Indiana," published in the July/August 2018 issue of Quilty!


Somewhere in Indiana chambray quilt in Quilty magazine

52 Quilts in 52 Weeks - June

Saturday, June 30, 2018

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to make 52 charity quilts this year. (Read more about it here.) We are at the halfway mark, and I'm SO excited to share with you this month's update!

This month, I got five of my tops quilted - ON MY NEW (TO ME) LONGARM!!!


Quilting charity quilts on my new longarm

Play Ball!

Monday, June 25, 2018

This year was the first year both of my sons played t-ball. My youngest is three, and it became apparent within just a couple practices that his coach was more than the usual parent volunteer.

His coach is a parent volunteer, but she is coaching all three of her son's t-ball and baseball teams! She has a full-time job, then gave up all of her weeknights to coach teams of little people. Her enthusiasm and positive attitude was contagious. Her patience, kindness, and encouragement to the players (and the parents!) was remarkable. I haven't been a baseball mom for long, but it doesn't take an expert to know when you meet someone exceptional.

I wanted to say thank you in a way that would capture my gratitude and appreciation for all that she did for the team(s). And the only way I know how to thank someone to this level is to make a quilt.


Baseball throw quilt that was a gift for my son's t-ball coach

It's time to Row x Row!

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Do you Row x Row? Today is the first day to start collecting free patterns from shops all around the world! My local quilt shop participates each year, and I have been honored to write their pattern for the third year.

Sweet Tweets Row by Row pattern from The Stitchin' Post in Willow Springs, Missouri

Teaching at MO Star Academy

Friday, June 15, 2018

Last week, I traveled to Hamilton, MO to the Missouri Star Quilt Co. to teach at their 2nd annual Missouri Star Academy!

Laura of Slice of Pi Quilts meets Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Island Batik invited me as one of three teachers they sponsored (the other two were Tammy of Tamarinis and Jessica of Desert Bloom Quilting).

Riding the trolley around Hamilton, MO

This was my first time visiting Missouri Star Quilt Co. They really knew how to roll out the red carpet for us!

Missouri Star Quilt Co., Hamilton, MOMissouri Star Academy at Missouri Star Quilt Co., Hamilton, MOMissouri Star Quilt Co., Hamilton, MO

It's a Fireworks Show!

Thursday, June 14, 2018

This month's Island Batik ambassador challenge was to make a modern quilt, crib size or larger. Well, that's what I try to do around here every day!


Firework modern quilt using Island Batik fabrics

The most challenging part of the quilt was limiting myself to the fabrics Island Batik has sent me as an ambassador. Every idea I came up with was color specific, and I never had just the "right" colors.

Weave Your Jacket! + TGIFF

Thursday, June 7, 2018

I've created a few woven quilts (like this one and this one), even a couple open woven quilts (like this one and this one). I absolutely love the texture and uniqueness produced with each weaving. So when I saw Tara of WEFTY Needle putting her weaving into a jean jacket, I knew I had to copy the idea!

Upcycled jean jacket using fabric weaving