Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Jenny

Last year, our Quilt Guild talked about how we would like to have this year’s Peach Days show be a Patriotic theme because of America 250. I got really excited. I bought the book Traditions with a Twist, by Blanche Young and her daughter Dalene Stone. I was really excited about it because, while she has passed, I cherish a special spot in my heart for Blanche. She was in the same guild as me for many years, and her amazing daughter Lynette Bingham is the mastermind behind the Piecemakers’ Peach Days Quilt Display. I digress. I bought the book, and I determined that I would make a Double Irish Chain for the Peach Days show.

I finished the quilt in late spring.

Then, in late summer, some heck broke loose in my personal life, and a large number of stressful events in a short period of time lead to my brain function not being up to its usual par. I missed a few quilt guild meetings, and texted Lynette to get the form to submit my quilt. In reading the photo of it on my phone, my brain mixed up Tuesday and Thursday. I got my quilt all ready to submit and my form pinned in place on Thursday morning. When I arrived at work I realized, “It is Thursday. Always in the past we have turned them in on Tuesday.” I called Lynette, and sure enough, it was too late.

So this quilt, which I specifically made for the Peach Days patriotic quilt display in honor of America 250, did not get to hang with her homies in the show. I was pretty bummed out, but I posted it on social media, and I will post it here before it goes to its final home which will be a great secret for a few more months.

So without further ado, I give you “Sweet Freedom,” my celebration of our country.

I tried a new technique called graffiti quilting on the borders. I have been following Karlee Porter and buying her books to help me learn. She is awesome! Check her out.

I did three passes of the quilt so that the threads would blend with their own colors, red, blue, and gold on the white, with a few spots of gold for contrast on the blue.

The curves in the small blocks are called orange peel quilting.

A beginner attempt at graffiti quilting.

I feel like I learn new things with every quilt I make. With this one I learned, ALWAYS TURN YOUR QUILT IN ON TIME! Haha. I still enjoyed seeing all the wonderful quilts at the show immensely. There were many truly beautiful pieces there.

Stars and Diamonds

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Jenny

A good friend of mine finished getting her teaching degree and license, so I decided I had better make her a quilt. She had commented on liking this while it was a WIP, so I thought it must belong to her.

By the time I finished the quilt, she had taught for her first year, too. I think many of us know how that goes in quilting. I ended up giving it to her on her birthday, because it was the closest occasion to when I finished.

This quilt is based on one I saw on Pinterest from Pat Speth, but I made the blocks enormous to simplify, and I emphasized the negative space diamonds a bit more with the border.

Another fun fact in the history of this quilt is that many of the blocks came from a red white and blue block exchange we did at my quilt guild several years ago. I was so happy to finally finish this UFO.

Quick Easy Project, Paired with a Long, Arduous, Hard Project

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Jenny

What is this, you might ask? Let’s zoom out about eight months:

Back in February I went to some political breakfast with my dad, where he saw a quilt very similar to this one. Tired of purchasing endless raffle tickets and never getting his own quilt, he asked me to make him one. So I did! I have made 37 quilts, and this is the first queen sized one I have made. I will admit, there were some boring parts, but I have a great sense of accomplishment now that it is done.

Instead of the traditional tag on the back, I tagged it along the bottom in free motion quilting. It says, “Over 750 pieces of love for my dad,” because he used to write me letters when I was far away, and instead of newsy gossip I wanted to hear, he would write, “I have this many cows, this many businesses, etc. blah blah blah.” So I wrote an approximation of how many pieces went into this top.

I rented a long-arm machine at Let’s Quilt, in St. George, and chose a stars and swirls pantograph. It was pretty challenging, so don’t look too closely for neat, precise stars.

Close-up, you can see how it is really just a bunch of flying geese sewn together and set en pointe.

After I finished, I wanted something quick and easy to throw together, so I made these hot pads. They are probably my favorite hot pads I have ever made. Thank you, bias binding!