I have had a personal Facebook page for several years. How else would I see and hear what's happening with my grandkids without a phone call? But I started getting dozens and dozens of "friend" requests from people I never met. I guess they heard that I was a quilter who puts dozens and dozens of quilt pictures on my page (it has a different feel than this blog). Just last week I had almost 100 "friend" requests from total strangers. My wise daughter said, "Mom. You need a professional page. It's got to be open to everybody. This way anyone can see your quilts, your tutorials, what you're working on day to day and you save your personal page for your family and real friends. That's what I did: As you can see, the background quilt is the one appearing in the current issue of McCall's. My photo? Well, old age stinks, right? Type in Quilter by Design (if you are on Facebook; I know some of you don't do Facebook and I totally unde...

We are done with the red and green; now it's time for the red and white! Remember these luscious reds from Benartex last year? Selection of red fabrics from Benartex And then I cut out some mystery letters that got mixed up and I "forgot" what I was going to spell. Remember these letters? Here's my technique for cutting out applique. I transfer the template to freezer paper and then iron it to the RIGHT side of the fabric (which has fusible webbing on the wrong side). No need to "mirror image" the template! Cool, huh? The letter O (easy to see)  And my Y: I unscrambled them and made a small quilt out of some of the letters and I have a few left over. I will be sharing my quilt in a post on February 1 in partnership with Benartex. (For those following my Calendar Girls BOM, I will reveal the February project on January 31) This is a small Hearts on Fire quilt I made using some Benartex batiks. The pattern is no longer available (reme...

Card holders for Christmas money Remember I gave you a link for a quick pattern for these? I made one for each of my 3 daughters and 2 sons in law, along with my 2 grandsons and little granddaughter. Each one has symbols specific to their interests - I even had some bobby pin fabric (the peach colored one) for my daughter Hilary who has always been the Bobby Pin Queen. I found an wonderful crochet pattern for Ninja Turtle hats for my grandsons. Yikes - way too big. Ninja Turtle hats for little grandsons These hats turned out too large! I'll have to remake them. They fit my daughter Valery (29), so yes - these are too big for pre-school boys. Valery wearing a Ninja Turtle hat which was supposed to be sized for preschool kids! Daughter Hilary asked for a laptop bag. I even put pockets inside. Laptop bag with zipper  And the inside? Inside bag with pockets. And yes, I've been quilting. Have another project for an upcoming Keepsake Catalog issue. This us...

The Sewing Expo Returns to Atlanta March 10 - 12, 2016 This is my 10th year teaching for the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo and I'm delighted to be returning to Atlanta! I lived there for 8 years and always love to be back. And I get to see my favorite youngest daughter, too! Here are my classes. 1. Ezekiel’s Crown:  http://www.sewingexpo.com/AtlantaGA/ClassDetail/tabid/676/EventID/125/ClassID/9248/Default.aspx           Thursday, March 10 at 8:30 - 11:30 am Foundation piece this awesome block and learn how easy it is to incorporate gentle curves for a show-stopper project Ezekiel's Crown: 9" blocks, 40" x 40" quilt 2. Machine Quilting: Basics and Beyond:  http://www.sewingexpo.com/AtlantaGA/ClassDetail/tabid/676/EventID/125/ClassID/9246/Default.aspx      Thursday, March 10 from 1 - 4 pm in the Handi Quilter sit down studio  Machine Quilting using stencils Using freezer paper for a simple outline...