I Wish You a Merry QAL - Block 1

Today's the day! The wait is over! The "I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long" starts today!

Retreat Surprises

I am currently at a quilting retreat, but I can reveal some secret sewing I've been doing!

The retreat is at the same location as the one I went to in February (read about that here), and most of the same group of quilters are here, too. I decided to make a few goodies for all my quilty friends to have something to take home from the retreat.

Have Sewing Machine, Will Travel

Last week, I shared all the activities I had prepped for my boys before our long road trip (see that post here). I also shared that I had bought a battery powered sewing machine to try out in the car!

Well, now that I've tried it, I'm excited for the possibilities!

Makin' the Bacon

I really enjoy participating in quilting challenges. It lets me try new things and makes me push through to finish a project before the deadline. I enjoyed participating in the Project Quilting challenges earlier this year, and in the off-season, Kim of Persimon Dreams hosts a few other quilting challenges to encourage her readers to keep sewing. For July, the challenge theme was "Summer Sizzle." Well, it took me all of about 2 minutes to decide I was making a bacon quilt!

Christmas Quilt-A-Long starts August 1st!

Do you love trying new things and learning new techniques? Do you want to meet some new quilty friends? Would you like to finish a Christmas quilt BEFORE Christmas? Then you should join me and a dozen bloggers for the "I Wish You a Merry Quilt-A-Long!"

Travel Prep

I’ve spent my usual sewing time this week preparing some new and never-before-seen activities for my boys in preparation for a family vacation. We will be going to Leech Lake, Minnesota – a 13 hour drive (without stops) from where we live! I have two young boys (ages two and four), so traveling can be quite the chore! My boys are very good travelers, but this isn’t my first rodeo, so I want to be prepared!

A Speedy Gonzalez Quilt

About a month ago, I received an invitation for a baby shower for a friend in the mail. The baby shower was less than two weeks away, and I had a million other things on my plate. It was already on my to-do list to make a quilt for my friend, but the baby shower moved the deadline up by several weeks!

Fruit of the Spirit - in Make Modern!

Do you remember this quilt from last September's selvage challenge? Well, fast forward 10 months and the pattern is in Issue 17 of Make Modern magazine! It's my first pattern in a magazine!

Hearts for USS Fitzgerald

On June 17th, the US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship in Japanese waters. Seven sailors were killed.