Needles and thread of some sort have been around from practically  the beginning of time and women have been making clothing and bedding for nearly as long. Over time the process for making warm bed coverings has improved greatly but the basic process has been the same. Two fabric layers and something in the middle to make it warm and you have a quilt. To keep those layers from falling apart stitches had to be applied to “sandwich” the layers and keep them together. Tying quilts was a quick and often used method of…

Some happy quilters who will join Quilt Camp at Sea’s 2012 cruise will be thrilled when they receive their fabric bundle prizes adorned with fabric flowers made with Clover’s Flower Frill Templates.

Oh WOW!!! Just got back from a week in Dallas and nearly died in the heat. I joke. Fortunately we were inside the hotel and event hall so didn’t have to go outside. It was HOT, HOT, HOT! And my heart goes out to all those folks dealing with the fires. I have one cousin in Texas that lost his house and three cars to the fire and another friend with van packed waiting for the mandatory evacuation notice. May rain come soon for these folks. We were there for…

We came for a week of demonstration to the tropical and enchanted island of Puerto Rico!  Puerto Rico is a small island located in the Caribbean Sea and only 100 miles long by 35 miles wide.  The weather was hot and humid, but the scenery was beautiful.    We were greeted by the sign in the hotel lobby “Puerto Rico Does It Better”.  What a great way to start our demo exploration! Outside the Convention Center where we spent 2 days of demonstration. The people were eager and excited to…

I know most of you out there have made a Pom-Pom at one time or another in your life –or– you have had something with a pom-pom on it.  If you haven’t used Clover’s Pom-Pom Makers you have been working too hard.  My 7 yr old grandson, Garret, loves making pom-pom’s…especially the big ones.  That’s just how easy it is to use the Pom-Pom makers.  Check out these pom-pom ornaments.  How creative and fun!

I often wonder why there are so many different kinds of scissors on the market and decided to do a little digging for the history of scissors. All too often the things we use daily are taken for granted. We don’t stop to ask how they first came about or when. The first known scissor appeared in ancient Egypt around 1500 BC. This was a  spring scissor made of two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze which held the blades in alignment to…

Summer is connected to warm days and sunny adventures in my memory — peaceful times spent with friends and often alone in quiet places thinking about the complexities of life. Of course what was complex about the life of a 7-year-old in the summer? It was all bare feet, playing in the woods, riding bikes with friends till someone’s mother told us all to go home for supper. There were cookies and lemonade with “gramma” and “grampa,” swimming in the creek. Oh how precious our childhoods were but it isn’t…

Life has been hectic since Quilt Market and most days I wouldn’t know if I were coming or going without the help of post-it-notes and gentle reminders from Carol Porter and Bill Gardner! A big thanks to them for always having my back. Time moves too quickly and once I post an entry I think of a zillion things I forgot to share. During the blogs on crochet lace I started two receiving blankets for the new baby our Graphics Designer, Leslie, was expecting. I finished the blue one and…

It’s been a busy few weeks! After spending a few days at Nancy’s Notions Sewing Weekend in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, I was home two days before heading to Salt Lake City for the International Spring Quilt Market. As always, though, it was worth the trip … or trips! What a treat it was to leave the cold soggy Northwest and head to sunny and warm Beaver Dam for the weekend.  It’s always a blessing to spend time there with the customers who flock to this high-energy weekend of learning and…

The Ball Point Awl is used for making a hole by carefully stretching the fabric without thread breakage, but I use it for just about everything. I love this little awl! It’s awesome for pulling threads out when I can’t find my seam ripper, and it doubles as a stiletto when I need to guide the ends of my sewing through the machine. Turning corners is much easier with the help of this little tool.  If you don’t have one, you should! My grandmother-in-law was from Sweden and loved to do cut work…