The other night, I cut out a new quilt. WOO HOO! My cousin Lynette's second daughter, Violet, hasn't yet gotten her Grandma Paper Doll Quilt yet and she's got to be nearing a year old, or maybe a little older. Here's a photo of the pieces; I'll post updates of its progress, highlighting some of the fun tools and techniques I'll be using as I go.

I fussy-cut the border-strip fabric to use in the centers of the blocks so there were two of the dolls in each block and I have two of each doll pair. The sketches at the top are only the rough drafts--I changed the colors right before I started cutting, which is funny because I was shopping for a blue and yellow print at the Quilt Festival for the blocks and ended up swapping the greenish daisy print for the blue. So here are the fabrics cut for the quilt. I'm really excited to get working on it, but I think I'm going to cut the Storm at Sea quilt pieces first. I've found that if I have pieces cut, I'm more likely to work on a project but somehow making the decisions and getting them cut is the part that's been holding me up. So I thought I'd cut a few quilts out (the Storm at Sea and my sister's Stack n Whack) and then, over the summer, I'd sew and sew and get them all done. Then I can start working on the quilting part.

I shot pictures of several quilts last weekend at Quilt Festival in Chicago, but I've yet to sort through the photos and match them up with the names. I'll try to post them this weekend. I did, however, shoot some pictures of the fabrics I found for my stash (as if I needed more, right?).

Most of the fabric sold at quilt shows is precut--either fat quarters, half-yards, or bundles of some type. Some shops bring bolts of fabric, but in the past many years, I've been more likely to buy fat quarters than yardage. I'll need to be making some scrappier designs, since fat quarters are great for scrappy designs. And they're gonna be some very colorful scrappy quilts because I have a definite preference for brighter colors. And, of course, farm prints. This isn't everything--some of it wasn't all that interesting--but I thought I'd share some of the fun stuff!

Of course, there's always a little farm fabric that I need to bring home. On the left is a farm panel--it was just too fun to pass up. On the right are some fat quarters, a half-yard, and another very cute farm print from a newer line. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but that's okay.






Feathers are up next. The one on the left was just too interesting in colors to pass up. The one on the right will match the fabrics in the Storm At Sea quilt I'm planning. The blues and purples will be perfect and add a lot of texture to the quilt.

The village print on the right was an interesting find. What I'll do with it--don't know. It would make a cool center for a quilt with several borders (plain and/or pieced) along the edges. I love that it has a New England village field to it. As for the rest of the fabrics, I loved the light lime batik, the dots were a fun color combination, and the ladies are already, I believe, part of the stash I have set aside for the someday decorating of the sewing room.

My Mom uses double-sided, pre-quilted fabric to make a thing called a potato bag--used to microwave baked potatoes to perfection. When I saw the parrot and tropical print, I knew it was the potato-bag fabric for me! The mushy print on the left just called to me, as did the farm-y one on the right. But the parrots....





And finally. There was a booth selling fat quarters for VERY good prices. It was jam packed in there, but people were being very generous by passing things back to others who had their eyes on something. Great source for stash-building, a little bit of everything, and I bought duplicates of the ones I was particularly fond of--like the soft green and pink on at the bottom. I don't know what I'll do with it exactly, but I am looking forward to having the chance.

What I don't have in my hands right now are the baby flannels I bought for me (that I offered to share with Rich's niece) and the fabrics I picked up for my Mom for a special project she's working on. So when I get the flannels back, I'll share them. I won't get all of the others back--I guess I did a pretty good job of choosing fabrics for Mom because she kept several of them. More to come on the display quilts soon!

The other day, I ran across a book from C&T Publishing called "A new light on Storm at Sea quilts" by Wendy Mathson. The quilt shop I visited previously, quiltfabric.com, mentioned the book on their site. In looking into it further, I noticed several things. First, it's a quilt I have considered making in the past, but the twist on this one is that there's a tool created to make the block easier to make and more accurate. I do love tools that let me piece a little less-than-perfect and still have everything fit together once you've trimmed the block. Then, after I bought the book, I discovered that my friend and former coworker Carol Zentgraf was a technical editor on it. And though I had always thought I'd do an off-center log cabin with the fabrics (like this one), I think this might be the answer to my newest quilt idea.

When I left McCall's Needlework, I'd just made a slipcover for a chair using a tulip fabric that I loved. It combined royal blue, purple, and a dark green with a teal blue tinge on an ivory ground with gold tipping. At that point, I started collecting fabrics to make a quilt based on that fabric's color combination. I've moved these fabrics from Birmingham to Northwest Arkansas to Chicagoland to Milwaukee to central Wisconsin and back to Milwaukee. And I think now might be the time to finally cut into them! Then, the remaining fabrics can be put in their correct color container and I can enjoy sleeping under a quilt that's been rolling around in my head for years.

I spent Sunday afternoon trying to finish up the cleaning and tidying and organizing of the sewing & craft & stamping & quilting room. (Doesn't that seem like a lot of titles for one room--maybe it should be more than one room....)

I put all of the beads into one big storage container from Plano Molding. Rich gave me four of them that he wasn't using a while ago. He thought they might help me get organized. (He's always thinking of me!) And he was right. I was able to organize most all of my jewelry-making supplies into the three large and two small containers stored inside the big ole box (which is stored underneath the dresser). And the whole containers is ORGANIZED! One small container has jewelry projects that need something or are already ready to be something (all the parts for a pair of earrings, for example), the other small container holds extra clasps, jump rings, head pins, etc., one of the big boxes holds strands of beads, another holds seed beads, and the remaining box holds miscellaneous beads. The only things that don't fit in the box are the flexible beading wires and other stringing materials and the tools. And the lunch-room trays that I use sometimes to organize things while I'm beading. And now, all of it is tucked away.

I also got all of my cross-stitch and embroidery supplies, floss, fabrics, etc. in the drawers of the dresser, so that dresser is full of great craft stuff! Smocking in the bottom drawer, embroidery in the middle, and jewelry in the top!

I was able to get rid of some things, making space to actually put away other things. I was able to clear off the rack and put the quilts on it. The three-drawer plastic container now holds things it should instead of random stuff poorly organized. And I threw away a big bag of stuff that needed to go. I can now navigate the entire length of the room without stepping over anything. The only thing I have to do still is set up the quilting machine. And then, its on to cutting out baby Violet's paper doll quilt, my sister's Stack-n-Whack, and my next quilt, a Storm at Sea. I'll talk more about that in the next few days.

I believe that the first quilt shop I ever shopped at was called Stitches n Stuffing in Naperville, Illinois. I remember going there on occasion in high school and college. I remember that they had a ton of patterns (which is what drew my Mom in) and a huge classroom, and a very large shop. I remember that they had pre-pleated smocked bishop dresses and bubbles so you could just smock and finish them. On several of my trips home over the last year, I'd meant to get there, but never did.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from a shop I discovered this summer--quiltfabric.com. They were having a great sale--quilt fabric for $6/yard. Of course, I couldn't make it to the sale because it was one of my weekends in Milwaukee and those are precious to me. But they continued the sale the next weekend--a weekend I would be back down in Chicagoland. Of course I went. Of course I found some fabric that I wanted to bring home with me. But the strange part was that I notice some labels on the fat quarters marked "Stitches n Stuffing".

Turns out, Stitches n Stuffing closed over the winter. One of my Mom's friends had gotten an email about it. Finally, the tags and the great deals on the fabric made sense. And though I love my finds, I feel sad that the shop closed. But I'm grateful for the shop that first introduced me to quilting.

So as I mentioned in my previous post, the quilt shop I managed in Florida had a Christmas in July 12 days of Christmas kit sale. Here are a few more of the projects we kitted.

This was a very easy project--a wine bottle bag. Simply sew a rectangle in place, box the bottom by folding in the corners, and voila. Made up in a fine Hoffman fabric, it was great.












The tree skirt was made up with another Hoffman fabric. Again, easy-peasy. We folded it into eighths, cut straight across to form the octogon, slit the back, cut the hole in the center and there it is!
A folded star ornament was two sided and made in a beautiful print (might it have been another Hoffman?). I really don't remember how it was made, but I remember being intrigued by it. I must have those instructions somewhere....


This snowman (the only one to be seen in Florida THAT year) was made of batting, sticks, knit fabric, and scraps. The pattern is obviously from The Quilted Rabbit (I can read that!) and it was quick and easy to make.




Another wall quilt from a pattern pack. Fused applique as before, whimsical, and again, quick and easy. I love the way the shapes have almost a cookie-cutter line to them--nothing too complicated.





And finally, a Christmas stocking. Shadow applique was used for the cuff--basically, you choose bright colors of fabric, fuse them to the undersurface, overlay it with a sheer fabric, put batting behind it for tuft, hand-quilt through the layers to outline around the appliques and add definition and detail, and then turn it into a cuff. I love the look of shadow applique--I really do want to explore it further, but I feel it's more appropriately used in small ways, like this stocking cuff instead of large ways, like as a block in a quilt. But that's my personal opinion.

So there it is, the 12 (okay, 11) days of Christmas sale from times gone by. Finding and scanning these photos has been fun for me--getting reinspired by ideas that were rolling around in my head back then.

This organizing thing really does pay off. You have to look closely to distinguish between the baseball print and the pieced blocks, but I couldn't resist. If you recall, I posted a version of this quilt using teddy bear fabric in addition to the more subtle version that appeared in McCall's Quick Quilts.

This quilt was made for a very special newborn whose nursery was decorated in a baseball theme. His father is an avid Cubs fan, so the quilt was perfectly suited for the little slugger. The red and black fabric I used for the inner border and binding picked up on the color of the stitches on the baseballs. But it's possible that the black and white pieced blocks didn't offer the best balance with the large-scale baseball print.

I even went the extra step and made a really appropriate label for the quilt.

When my Godson was born, I lived in Florida and managed the quilt shop. His nursery had a fish theme. Fish fabric was something we had plenty of at the shop in Florida, so I had my choice. This project was a great adventure, inspired by several projects I'd seen come into the shop and classes we offered at the shop. Basically, I cut pieces of foundation, cut a fish from the print randomly shaping the fabric with at least four edges. Then, I cut my bright prints and black prints in various widths of strips, tossed them all in a bag, and whatever I pulled out, I used, sewing the strips on in a log-cabin-like method, working around the fish in the center and sewing it all to the foundation.

Once I got the larger blocks done, some containing several fish in the oddly shaped center pieces, I had to fill in the blanks with smaller blocks. That's when I had to start plotting the rest of it, since it was put together in no set pattern.

As for the side borders, I used several different blue fabrics. I wanted to provide the feel of being under water, so I used a blue underwater rock print for the bottom and lower side borders, a blue with water coral (is that what I mean?) up the sides, and then, at the top, dark fabrics that look like waves underwater.

I remember working on this project during the divorce when I went away, thanks to my bosses at the quilt shop, for a weekend at a hotel down the beach from where I lived. (A change of surroundings is always good!) I don't know if the hotel staff had ever seen anyone move into a hotel room with a sewing machine and rotary cutting supplies, but they had after that!

So you've seen cow quilt #1, dated 1997. Here's cow quilt #2. My sister's second son may have gotten the benefit of experience in his quilt. That and some fabulous fabric. I found this great print--the farm animals having a hoedown. I fell in love instantly. It was a striped print, with the barns in one row, the marching animals at the top in another row, and the dancing fowl in another row, from what I recall. The green print with the boogie-ing barnyard animals was a companion print. I included the same cow print and "moo" print from the other cow quilt in this one so they'd work in the same room, and grabbed a bunch of bright fabrics to make the paper-pieces stars. I still love the way this quilt came together!

As for the words embroidered in the golden box in the center, it was from the striped print and it reads, "Hey diddle diddle, the pig had a fiddle, the cow played a groovy new tune. The others joined in and had a fine time, as they jammed by the light of the moon." Love it!

My sister lives away from the farm she grew up on. But she always seems to want to have a touch of farm in her home. So when her first son was born (maybe not RIGHT away...), I made this cow quilt because she had found the perfect bandanna bedding for the nursery. It was from a magazine, though I can't remember which one because I just happened upon it on the newsstand. I made it in residence #3 in Arkansas, so probably sometime in 1997. The border fabric looks like a black and white print, but it's actually the word "moo" in black type on white fabric. The cows were machine appliqued and their tails are braided embroidery floss just attached at the rump. The cows are actually cut from a cow-print fabric, which kept the spots random. And the tabs that hold it on the rod are secured with buttons shaped like ears of corn. The backing is a farm print--that's also what I used to bind it, though you can't tell that from the picture. Alice painted the rod and brackets to match and did a fabulous job.

Coming soon, the second cow quilt. Stay tuned.

My friend Julie's son arrived home from Iraq today, so she and her family have been on my mind. In a wonderful love story, Julie, a divorcee, and Scott, a widower, found each other through their faith and got married several years ago, merging families and households and serving as a living example to relationship success after loss and healing, a model for me and I'm sure countless others.

Before the wedding, I was visiting Julie and  reverse engineering a sweater for her to give to Scott as a wedding gift (yes, I do sweaters in addition to quilts), we stopped by Scott's house. I mentioned that I might stop by the neighborhood quilt store on my way home and he asked if I used batting in my quilts. This seemed like a strange question to me, so, with trepidation, I said "yes...?" Scott excused himself to the basement and returned with a large bag of batting pieces in assorted sizes. I turned out his wife had been a quilter. He shared her fabric with her quilting friends after she passed away, but had found this bag of batting later and graciously passed it on to me. I did promise him that I'd let him know what I did with it. As I was getting a tour of the house, Julie mentioned that they had purchased bedding for what would be their room, that they planned to paint to match it, and that they needed throw pillows.

As an aside: I'd always wanted to make a lone star quilt and had looked at the beautiful wall-size version featured in the book The Joy of Quilting by Joan Hanson and Mary Hickey. (Incidentally, this book was open to this article the day a distracting telephone conversation and a runaway rotary cutter caused me to require my first stitches. And no, I didn't bleed on the book! But I digress.)

Fast-forward a week. They were coming to town for Easter the next Saturday, so I asked Julie to bring me a pillow sham, because an idea had been rolling around in my head. There was a bridal shower within the month and I needed a gift for that and the wedding. After picking up the sham from them, I zipped over to the quilt shop and bought some fabric, filling in with some from my stash. And over that Easter weekend, I created this wall quilt for Julie and Scott. Of course, I used batting from the bag that Scott had given me. The colors were pulled from the pillow sham (shown in the background of the lower picture, see the photo below for a more realistic version of the bedding colors). The pillows were made from the fabrics in the star. For the green pillows, I backed the pillow front with batting and fabric, then did the embroidery through all three layers to add a little dimension, and then constructed the pillows. Both Julie and Scott were touched by the way that I used Ellen's batting in these pieces, customized to their decor.

I've been lucky to be involved in many of the special events in this family's life. I made the jewelry for the bridesmaids at Julie's wedding and also made the jewelry for the bride and bridesmaids at her son's wedding. And now her son is returning to his wife and their baby boy after a safe tour of duty. I have plans to make the new baby a present, but I don't know when that will get done.

Strangely enough, I think I followed the instructions correctly, but I ended up with two sets of diamonds for the star. So I made one set with green on the inside and purple on the outside and flipped the other ones around so the purple was in the middle. I very often put my projects somewhere I can see them, walk past them, catch a glimpse of them, when I'm trying to make a decision about something. In this case, I brought the two stars to the office and laid them on the sham so I could see which one I thought worked better with the bedding. As it turns out, Melanie, a dear friend and coworker whose daughter scored the doll clothes a while back was offering feedback and mentioned that the colors matched her dining room. So once I decided which one went to Julie and Scott, the other star had a home. Lucky break for me--joy all around!

A footnote, so to speak. As an anniversary gift I believe, Scott made Julie this beautiful headboard. She sent me this photo and there's the quilt I made. Talk about making my day! From this picture, you can see that the bedding really was more intense in color than how it was shown in the photo above. But what an amazingly talented woodworker Scott is--that's a beautiful headboard!

I had mentioned that the quilter of my cousin's king-size quilt did a wonderful job. Well, here's are the photos to prove it. I knew I had them somewhere and I ran across them in the reorg that's still going on.

So here are some close-up photos. I tweaked the colors and contrast a bit so you could see the quilting better. In the borders, she quilted lines using green thread and bobbins, which is why it shows up so well on the backing. In the little pieces inner border, and yes, I pieces those strips from the leftover strips cut for the blocks, she quilted those too with ivory thread and bobbin. In the red border strips on either side of the little strips, she quilted a vine pattern. And in the corner blocks of the little strips borders, there's a mini-block--I think it's a mini version of the bigger block used in the center of the quilt. THAT'S the type of detail the quilter put into this project! She did a scrolly square motif in each block using variegated green thread, so it showed in the off-white strips. As you can tell, I was pretty impressed with the quilting--I photographed the back, after all.

To see the quilting better, double-click on the image.

I designed this quilt a while back and have made several of them in my quilting years. I made one with these fabrics, obviously. I made one with a teddy-bear-in-sailor-suits print with royal and tan blocks and a red border (Randy and Michaelle's baby, I think). I made one with a black-and-beige baseball print; the blocks were black and beige and the inner border and binding being red (Baby Boy Blum who is now 11-year-old Boy Blum). There may have been others, but I can't remember right now. Again, somewhere in my photo files are pictures of those projects---I'll look soon.

The Baby Blocks quilt was published in McCall's Quilting Quick Quilts March 2000 issue. I believe I still have the materials list for this one in my checkbook, so I can quickly pick up the fabrics for this quilt if I get inspired on-the-fly!

Now comes the part that I'm almost embarrassed to admit. The quilting that I did on this was minimal. When I got it back from the magazine, there was much more quilting on it than I'd sent it with. I just put diagonal lines through the 16-patch blocks, forming an X in each block. They added triangles in the plain squares in each section of the X. Then they worked meandering in the borders. These are things I'd like to have the chance to practice on my quilting machine.

Sometimes you mess up. There's no excuse for it, there's no fixing it, and there's no way to ask for forgiveness. This quilt would be the example I keep with me as my mess-up. I tried a new technique with this quilt and every time I look at it, I think "wow, I did not do a good job on this one." I used that flip technique where you cut blocks, sew diagonally across the block, then flip the triangle back. I had a lot to learn, and accuracy was one of them. Even now, I feel like I should go back and fix things, both on the quilt and somehow in my reputation, but both things would be virtually impossible. I've thought about adding a lot of quilting to it to secure the not-well-secured blocks, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.

But that being said, I still love the colors and fabrics in this one. It still screams "Florida" to me. The deep teals, greens, and purples offset the very light, sweepy patterned background and the spiral-y darker border fabrics. So despite my disappointment in the execution, I still love this design. And I'm proud that it appeared in the September 1999 issue of McCall's Quilting Quick Quilts.

What a great Thanksgiving weekend! Visits with friends and family, doing a little surfing on the web, and, of course, doing a lot of the cooking. I found a new site this week: FaveCrafts.com and their blog: FaveCraftsBlog.com.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See a necklace and bracelet made from the same Blue Moon Beads pendant with a how-to video with me.

The Artful Crafter
Whatever the holiday, make cute pop-up place cards to organize the dinner table and delight guests of all ages.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is making her first crocheted hat for herself. Now, hopefully it will be done by the time it gets cold down South!

Cross Stitch at About.com
The 2009 Holiday Ornament Collection is ready! Whip up some super quick back stitch ornies or cross stitch some more colorful ones.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge is ready for Christmas so bring it on! Check out this retrolicious frame she designed for iLoveToCreate

Mixed Media Artist
Mixed media artist Nicolette Anderson shares her lovely work!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got yummy pumpkin cookie and biscuit recipes, an inside peek into Bead Quilled Jewelry, eco friendly recipes for casein glue and an all-purpose cleaner, and starting Monday- The 19 Days of Holiday Goodness Giveaways starts, answer each day's question and you are entered to win a free book every day!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen invites you to join a creative challenge with her called the Erosion Bundle Project. Take a peek at her pictures and find out exactly what erosion bundles are!

About Family Crafts
Does your family have any creative Thanksgiving traditions. You can read about other people's Thanksgiving traditions and then share your own.

And here on Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style, I blogged about how creativity can prosper even in dark times.

As I look back on my quilt projects, some hold more meaning than others. As it turns out, one of the quilts that I no longer have is probably the one that means the most. The Snowy Night quilt appeared in the Winter 98/99 issue of McCall's Quilting's Quick Quilts. My dear friend Shirley was battling cancer, so I made Snowy Nights for her because she loved Christmas. When I got the quilt back, I sent it to her. She had it for the last few weeks of her life. She passed away around Thanksgiving of 1998. This time of year always reminds me to be thankful for the blessings in my life, the people in my life, and the memories of friends from my past.

When we moved from Springdale to Rogers, Ark., my ex, a DJ, must have mentioned it on the radio. One of his loyal listeners somehow realized we'd moved into her neighborhood. Next thing I know, we're over there hanging out with Shirley, her hubby, and their sons. They were so good to us--we were so blessed to have friends like them. Shirley found out she had cancer about the same time we moved to Florida, and I regret that I wasn't around to give her and her family support and assistance during their very challenging struggle. But in a phone conversation with her while I was working on this quilt, I promised it to her. Her husband told me she had it with her while she rested on the couch and kept it with her much of the time, and that always brought me some comfort.

At this time of Thanksgiving, I give thanks for all of the blessings I have and I send prayers to friends and family near and far. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

One of the last projects I did while working at McCall's Needlework magazine in 1995 was this quilt. The fabrics were new at the time, and I should have paid more attention to value in the pieced blocks. If I remember correctly, we received the fabric from the company, so we were working with what we had. Though the prints in the pieced blocks are different scales, the value of the fabrics (both reading as darks) make for blocks with very little contrast. I love looking back at these quilts because they provide me with a timeline of lessons I learned. As for the quilting, I did it by hand, and I don't think it shows well, but there's a three-leaf pattern in the large green blocks. And I hand quilted in the ditch (along the seamlines) on the pieced blocks and the inner border. This did appear in an issue of McCall's Needlework, I think, but I can't seem to find it in my stash of magazines. I think that it might have been in two issues, as the teaching column we used to do called "Stitch by Stitch". I always thought we did a nice job with that column--we provided the basics about a technique: the tools, the materials, and the techniques. Then we gave them a project so they could get started.

I used to have this quilt on display at the quilt shop in Florida and had many offers to sell it, but I never could bite. Sooner or later, I'll have to clear out some of these quilts, but for now, they're here.

This quilt has never been published, though it's a traditional double Irish chain. This was another incident of the same lesson learned--as in the music quilt, the border fabric was too distinctive. Both of these quilts were made within a year of each other (1996-1997), and both before I started to submit to the magazines, so I hadn't learned the lesson yet.

The quilting in this one is minimal--I hand-quilted leaves in the open areas and I stitched diagonal lines through the chains. The border fabric, however, is a fabric that I loved. My friend and former coworker Jeanne Field had passed it on to me, and I worked it into this piece a few years later. I used to have this quilt in my office, as it fit nicely on my big bulletin board. Now I have a 30s repro off-center log cabin quilt up in there--oh, I should take a picture of that too and share it here, shouldn't I?

At the time I was designing this quilt, I didn't label or name them, so this will have to remain the "Northwest Arkansas Double Irish Chain Fall Quilt".

I've been searching my quilting roots here on Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style, posting quilts from my earlier days and telling stories of how I got started. One of the things I love so much about the internet is the ability to share stories with other like-minded creative people, get feedback from them, and the supportive nature of everyone I've come in contact with. So much so, I love sharing links from some of those I've gotten to know. So here they are.

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Make cool, graphic wall art using Ed Roth's Stencil Decor kit and a little imagination!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's on a mission to win a trip to NYC and to see the Martha Stewart show! Check out her under $20.00 Christmas project on Michael's craft site and rate it to help her win!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy reviews a new book full of unique and earth-friendly ways to wrap your gifts this holiday season using scarves.

Craftside--A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over on the Craftside blog there are how-to ideas for casting and making a silver metal clay wing necklace and a recycled wool sweater Christmas needle book. There’s an Mail Art Call Out to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, tips for making a vintage rosary style necklace and a little Jimi Hendrix thrown in.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge makes a festive Patchwork Paper decoupaged letter for your teen's bedroom door in this week's post for iLoveToCreate

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make a Sweater Surgery Light up Christmas tree inspired by The Lampshade Lady's Guide to Lighting Up Your Life

About Family Crafts
Come play along with this Make-It-Over craft challenge! What can you make out of candy? This is a great way to use up any left over Halloween candy.

About.com Cross Stitch
Connie's added a new pattern collection - Four Ways to Say Peace. These designs will make great holiday ornaments.

Mixed Media Artist
Would you ever do an art show where you knew you wouldn’t sell anything?

Cathie Filian
Cathie shows you how to make a kids felt book. The book are perfect for airplane trips, car rides and rainy days. They make great gifts!

The Artful Crafter
Eileen shares directions for some lovely polymer clay Thanksgiving napkin rings. You have a choice of one embellished with a cute clay turkey or a more formal looking ring stamped with a fall motif.

As I mentioned before, I worked at McCall's Needlework and McCall's Quilting in the early '90s. Before McCall's Quilting was launched in 1993, McCall's Needlework often created extra newsstand-only issues, called special issues or one-shots, in addition to the six regular issues a year. Sometimes they were holiday or seasonally themed and other times they focused on a technique. While I worked there, we did several Christmas specials and a few quilting specials. In fact, the whole reason I learned to quilt was because of one of those special issues--McCall's Country Quilting, copyright 1991.

For 17 of the projects in that special issue, we rented antique quilts from an store that specialized in such things. Then we wrote instructions so that people could recreate them. Remember, this was the early '90s, when rotary cutting and quick piecing were still in their infancy. And I knew nothing about quilting. Our editor had the solution--he was friends with Liz Porter of Fons and Porter and she came to the office for a three-day seminar on all things quilting. Not only did I learn a lot about quilting, but I also learned a skill that's been invaluable--the ability to reverse-engineer a quilt. Since we were working with antique quilts, we had to chart and measure and dissect each quilt and how it was constructed (or how it would be, using modern techniques) without doing one bit of damage to them. So now, I can look at a picture of a quilt or an actual quilt, chart it out, write instructions, and figure out how much fabric is needed. It's a great skill to have for designing my own quilts, and it's come in handy at other times in my life.

For instance, a customer came into the quilt shop one day with a family heirloom quilt. She'd received it from a family member, but felt a little guilty that she got it instead of some other family members. So she wanted to create similar quilts for them. After some quick math, I drafted a pattern for her and figured yardage and together, we picked out fabrics for her to get started. I remember it having some great colors in it and a black polka-dot on a white background, but that's all I remember. I didn't ever get to see the finished quilts, but I hope her family members appreciated the work she did.

So my engineering friends from college might be able to reverse-engineer equipment, but I can reverse-engineer a quilt.