One of the best things about being in a quilt guild is getting exposed to all the good ideas of mature quilters. Years ago my friend Virginia Olson was sharing a trunk show with us, and in passing she mentioned that she cuts all of her scraps into 5″ or 2.5″ squares and 2.5″ strips. If it’s smaller than that, she throws it away. I immediately loved this idea of having a boundary around the size of scraps I wouldn’t keep.

I’m not always perfect at it, but since then, if I have middle or smallish scraps, I cut them into those sizes. This practice has swelled the number of little empty strawberry or lettuce containers full of 2.5″ and 5″ squares in my sewing room.

A little about me, I have four children, and my oldest just started college, so you can probably guess my age range. A year or two ago, a friend from college posted that she had a baby. I hadn’t even known she was pregnant. This was her first child, and I was absolutely thrilled for her. She is one of those friends who I will always think of as a close friend even if we lose track of each other here and there over the years. I knew instantly I had to make her a quilt.

I had been gifted a few bags of denim and have been experimenting with them in various ways. I thought, what if I made scrappy blocks and used the denim to neutralize them? I had bought a rose fabric that came in a strip pattern a few years back and always wanted to use it to border a quilt. All of these things came together in the quilt below for my friend and her baby.

I always say the quilt is for the mom, not the baby. We’ll see who ends up with it, but I couldn’t be happier for my friend to embark on the joyous journey of motherhood. Sometimes I wish I could go back to that little baby age and sniff a little head and cuddle a wee thing again. I guess I can just hope that at some point I’ll get to graduate to the esteemed role of Grandmum.

Wow, it has been awhile since I sat down to add to this site. Hello friends! How are you? A couple of fun things have happened in my quilt journey over the last few years, and I will be posting about them shortly.

My aunt Kathy texted me a year or two ago asking if I would like a quilt top that she received around the time of her wedding. It is a star quilt, brown with a white background. I asked if she wanted me to finish it for her, and she said I could just have it if I wanted to finish it. Naturally I did! I asked if she could remember who made the quilt, and she couldn’t remember.

My parents divorced when I was 9 years old, and my mom’s mother was a very accomplished quilter. She made a star quilt for each of her grandchildren, and I have a pink and green one from her. She hand quilted it, and it is a treasure to me for that reason. Aunt Kathy is married to my dad’s brother, Todd. This mystery quilt makes me wonder if my dad’s mom commissioned the top from my mom’s mom. I don’t know if either grandma made it, but I like to think it may have been made by one or commissioned by one of them.

I finished it last year, and it won people’s choice at the 4th of July Toquerville quilt display. That made me feel so good! Here is a little picture of how it looked when it was almost done.

Hey friends,

With the re-launch of my quilting services, I decided to make a few videos. So far I have a binding tutorial, and one about how to get your quilt ready for the long arm machine.  I have got a couple up, and a few more on the way. Have a look, and if you have any feedback or something you would like to see, or a question I can try to answer I would love it!

Jenny Sews on Youtube

I was feeling sorry for myself that I had not finished a darn thing all year, and then I remembered: I finished this peach dress! My brother Jesse got married in July, and I made that dress out of rayon. It breathed very nicely, and I loved the drape of it, but my baby son fell asleep in my arms and sweated all over it and wrinkled it almost to death later in the evening. I still love the dress. It is so nice to have an article of clothing that fits exactly the way you want it to, because you made it that way!

So I can’t say I haven’t finished a darn thing all year. I have. One darn thing.

PS, is my new sister in law not the most gorgeous creature? I am very fond of her.

I haven’t been doing much stitching, due to illness, pre-school co-op turns, and a variety of other reasons. But my aunt sent me a fun link I thought I ought to share. I don’t speak German, but it appears to be the site of a woman who crafts all sorts of clever things, from dolls to skirts.

I really like this page, with little crocheted picnic / tea sets.  There are also a lot of fun pages of bright, fun children’s clothes.

The best way to navigate is the side bar on the left, with tons of links to her interesting and colorful crafts.

She also has a blog, which is Greek to me, but full of fun pictures and wares!