In 2015 I went to Chicago, and spent a day at SOFA: Sculptural Objects Functional Art and design (www.sofaexpo.com). This is a top of the line gathering of galleries from around the world, showcasing their artists. It spans the entire gamut of materials and techniques and imagination. Since I’m in love with patchwork, I was…

This past week I have been reviving my skills for odd count peyote beading. This is held in the hand, not on a loom. The tricky part is getting it going, and after several false starts, I realized the instructions in the book could have been a bit clearer! So I wrote in the book,…

I never knew I was competitive until I saw this call for entries for a big quilt show, and I had the perfect idea. The resulting quilt was accepted, and I was thrilled beyond measure! Someone liked my stuff! Besides Mom and Dad and my son, of course. So I got hooked, and spent the…

After years of dreaming about it, and reading James Michener’s book, I’m finally going to Hawaii! Not only for the snorkeling and kayaking and volcanoes, but to see the real Hawaiian quilts. Here is one of the many books you can buy on how to do this: See all the little ins and outs? Basically,…

A bunch of years ago, some genius started a website called stuffonmycat.com – it started out quite simply, with the website owner posting, then everyone started contributing, and ultimately, a book was published. And a sock knitter started yarnharlot.com, detailing not just her knitting but her riotous family life in Toronto, her travel adventures, and…

I love quilting, but sometimes I really hate the fiddly bits that I’m not very good at and I really stress out over and I wish I were living in a big hotel on Central Park where all my wants and needs were catered to at the lift of an eyebrow, like Eloise. Here’s what…

This lovely photo was shared in Facebook, and I just love it! Creative uses for things, especially out of the box (or bag, in this case), should be celebrated. I have lots of interesting containers from various family members, some as gifts, some from my parents’ downsizing, and some just passed along. A tole painted…

So I never really learned to cook. I was more interested in reading books and helping Dad outdoors with the gardening. By the end of high school, I knew how to trim trees, transplant a shrub, split wood with a sledgehammer and wedge, and the basics of carpentry. Cooking? Not so much. So last week…

I was working on another dragon quilt idea, and wondered what was out there on the internet. I threw the phrase “dragon quilts” into Google Images and WOW. Who knew there were that many visions of dragons? How many different mythologies do you think you see represented here? From Frank Frazetta to oriental to juvenile,…

(I’m looking back to June 2013, when we were letting the cats go out all the time, because they had figured out how to put their claws in the sliding screen door and pull it open.) Chipmunk cartoon channel here. Not sure which cat brought it into the living room. It was running from the…