It’s always worthwhile, wouldn’t you agree? Practice makes perfect — we’ve heard it and said it all our lives. Because it’s true! If you want to be expert at something, if you want your skill to show, if you want to be (reasonably!) proud of your work, then it’s worthwhile to pursue excellence. My good friend, Trudy, says that working with small blocks is a good way to perfect piecing skills. To that end — here’s a chevron “mug rug” made from 1 3/4″ half square triangles — which were the “excess” trimmed from “real” quilt blocks! I plan to quilt it and bind it next week.
Tag Archives: quilting
Headed in the right direction…
Moving forward — it’s always a good place to be. Learning something. Improving a skill. Understanding the ‘why’ in a problem or a process or an idea. I’m working hard on the skill of ‘precision’ in my quilting these days. A friendly competition with myself. Very satisfying to see the results improve day by day.

Starry, starry night….
This quilt, a pattern published in McCalls Needlework and Crafts in 1979, became the connection in 2014 with another quilter. She, like me, chose this challenging pattern for her first quilt! She finished it in a year, and hand-quilted it … Continue reading

Darkness and light…
This quilt began with a simple pattern, called pioneer braid and reproduced from an antique quilt by Denice Lipscomb at Common Threads Quilting in Waxahachie. I admired the pattern for a long time, and finally decided to try it when … Continue reading

A chance to share a gift…
It’s like the best form of re-gifting! I have a chance this summer to share the gift of sewing with 8-year-old Emalee. I am, by my best reckoning, about three years younger than my grandmother was when she first began … Continue reading

Textile reminders…
I’ve renamed this quilt — the pattern is named Pioneer Braid. But to me it has become my Prayer Braid. Each piece of fabric reminds me of someone — the green leafy one in the picture is a scrap from … Continue reading

Better than I imagined…
This block, part of a design I hope everyone will like, is turning out even better than I thought it would. I love the way the fabrics work together, and how the design has depth. Can’t wait to start on … Continue reading

A new form of writing…
I am learning a new form of writing: quiltmaking instructions. This is a first ROUGH draft of the pattern I am designing, which is named “Celtic Nights.” I am puzzling over the best way to illustrate these directions, or whether … Continue reading

The start of something good…
This strip — 1.25″ – 5″ – 1.25″, dark, light, dark — represents the beginning of a quilt that I hope will rival the Judy Niemeyer Wedding Star quilt I did at Christmas. I guess that’s awfully ambitious, since I … Continue reading

Today we gave thanks…
With our needles and our thread, our machines and our scissors. With our hands and our tools, our creative ideas and our time. With our abilities and learned skills, with our effort and even our trepidation. With our hearts. We … Continue reading