I finished my first free-motion quilting foray this evening! Yippee! It feels really good to be at this stage. It’s not perfect, but I’m glad I decided to quilt it myself. It was a risky move, but so worth it. It’s been really great to discuss the progress of this quilt with Abby everyday. Tomorrow, [...]

So I’m machine quilting now. I decided to go for a completely random pattern to take the pressure off. So far it’s going okay. I’m amazed how physical this part of the project is. Managing the weight of the quilt while trying to move it under the needle as evenly as possible is a bit [...]

Download the show (you may need to right-click the link) Listen to show in browser Subscribe to CraftSanity on iTunes RSS feed for podcast Jenny Hart didn’t pick up an embroidery hoop until well into adulthood, but that didn’t slow her one-woman mission to put embroidery back on the craft map. Very quickly after becoming [...]

I taped the quilt to the dining room floor and basted it with pins. Now for the quilting… I’m going to stitch around all the embroidered panels first, working from the center out. Then I’m going to fill the spaces in between with free-motion quilting. We’ll see how it goes… In unrelated news, I invite [...]

I put the darning foot on my Janome and busted out with a little free-motion quilt action this afternoon. Wow, that was fun. Seriously, I really wish I would have tried this sooner. I have some more practice stitching to do before I will commence stitching on Abby’s “Happy Monster” quilt, but I’m starting to [...]

  The quilt top is done! There’s still tons of work to do, but I feel good about this progress. (You’re right, that’s not the finished top in the photo. Keep reading for the details.) I didn’t want to try to take a picture of the finished top indoors after dark. So I’ll be photographing [...]

I’m quilting on deadline again and still plugging away on Abby’s birthday quilt that features some of the “Happy Monster” drawings she drew in her sketchbook. This afternoon I was trying to decide which fabrics to use to border each embroidered piece. I didn’t buy any new fabric for this project, so it’s all about [...]

This is “Foxy Roxy,” another of Abby’s cute little “happy monsters.” I’m stitching this guy up for Abby’s quilt. Her birthday is the 23rd, so I really need to step things up. I couldn’t find my tiny embroidery hoop, and had to borrow one from a friend to keep the project momentum going. (Thanks for [...]

This postcard traveled all the way from London and landed in my P.O. Box today. It’s from my CraftSanity postcard swap partner, Michelle, and it’s fantastic. The swap theme was spring and Michelle wrote: “… my inspiration was from the forced sprouting of lima beans,” a project she did as a kid in school. (I [...]

I have three more “happy monsters” to embroider to complete the stitching for Abby’s birthday quilt. This is probably the most enjoyable project I’ve ever done. Tracing my daughter’s crayon drawings has been a wonderful experience. It goes a little something like this: she shows me her finished drawing and I tell her it’s great. [...]

I don’t think there’s anything cuter than a little girl with her own individual style. Check out my little Abby’s getup. She’s all about the stripy tights these days and asking to wear a dress every day. Her color combinations are most enjoyable. (These tights clash with most of her dresses, but worked out swell [...]

This is the fabric postcard that I sent to my swap partner, Michelle, in London. She wrote to let me know it arrived safely, so I thought I’d share a picture of it with you. The design was inspired by the flowers Abby has been drawing in her sketchbook. I stitched the message and address [...]

Poor Juna. I could tell she regretted her decision to plant herself in the middle of an intense dress-up session here at CraftSanity headquarters. I came home early from work to relieve my very sick husband (He’s got what I had last week.), and got to spend a rare mid-week afternoon at home with the [...]

Here’s the embroidery I finished this evening at Craft Club. It’s another one of Abby’s drawings that I’m making into a quilt. There’s snow on the ground in West Michigan. I’m so ready for spring. :  )

There’s something soooo relaxing about stretching a swatch of muslin across an embroidery hoop, threading a needle with some lovely thread and stitching away. I love getting caught up in the rhythm of the stitching, tracing the whimsical lines of my little Abby’s “happy monster” drawings. I’ve transferred many of her drawings from pages of [...]