#HappierLaborDay
I have been listening to a podcast lately called “Side Hustle School” (still trying to find the magic bullet that will allow me to have an income from doing what I love, but alas, I think quilting is going to have to go back to being a side hustle). In …
Read More
The Legend of Gunna Brown
Bertha Smith Brown raised four fine sons, including a set of twins (one of whom was my grandfather), but the legacy she left to me was the lesson she imparted to her granddaughters. To them she said (often enough that her words are well known in the family still), “It …
Read More
Sources of Inspiration – Color
In this series on inspiration, I have written about how the designs of some of my quilts have arisen from a particular fabric or by thinking about the person for whom I am making the quilt and letting their personality be my guide. But color is also a great motivator …
Read More
Colorado Mountains
I’ve written a lot lately about the inspiration for my quilts and the process I go through when designing quilts for special recipients. Now that my sister’s wedding quilt has been delivered, I can share the thought process behind its creation. My sister and her husband live in Colorado and …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – New Beginnings
In last month’s newsletter, I discussed how to bring on spring after suffering through the dark time of a creative winter. I wrote about beginning new projects and the process for getting started. I missed the connection at the time, but that turns out to have been a very appropriate …
Read More
Sources of Inspiration – For Love, cont.
In the last Sources of Inspiration post , I wrote about being inspired by the person for whom I am creating a quilt and about thinking of particular aspects of the person’s personality or background that I want to use as my starting point. Yet, for an entire series of …
Read More
Sources of Inspiration – For Love
Last week I wrote about being inspired by a bolt of fabric to make a quilt for someone I love. Sometimes though, it is the desire to make a quilt for a loved one that comes first. In the past year, two people I care about were diagnosed with breast …
Read More
Sources of Inspiration – For the Love of Fabric
I love fabric. (That’s pretty obvious, I know. I don’t know any quilters who aren’t in love with the materials of our craft.) I have always loved fabric. My mother made clothes when I was a kid and I loved trailing along behind her in a fabric store while she …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Bringing on Spring
Last month I wrote about the seasons of creativity and discussed how normal it is to go through cycles of active creation and rest. But, if you find yourself in a creative winter like I do right now, how do you bring on the creative spring? Start a new project! …
Read More
Creative Play Newsletter – Seasons of Creativity
It wasn’t that long ago that we humans lived according to the seasons. Here in North America, we aired out our houses and planted in the spring; worked hard through the summer, sometimes taking siestas from the hot midday sun; we reaped what we had sown in the fall and …
Read More