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I've put together photos + words that detail how I go about hand quilting. Quilting is such a vast topic with various approaches. This here is simply addressing the very stitch itself, as in how I start, stitch and finish each thread. To me there always seemed to be some mystery to the actual stitch and that classic motion of making it. Then I learned that you just have to begin . Right or wrong, start somewhere. I hope this post helps you do that. A lot of this info is in Handmade Beginnings (almost here!) but I didn't get the luxury of this much photo space in the book. So here you go, and thanks to Alexia for helping me take the pics! Have fun! Alexia and I both like to use big chunky thread for hand quilting. I use the little Perle Cottons that come wound in a ball, usually a size 5, 7, or 8 (the smaller the number the thicker the thread). DMC also has these gorgeous skeins of variegated cotton that Alexia is using in these photos. As for needles, I use embroide...

I hosted my supper club last night. I let a local restaurant do the cooking this time, but I managed to buy flowers. I know, it was exhausting. (Lest you think me lazy I should say that I was a single mother of 5 for 4 days while Jeff and Juliana were in NYC school-looking (and eating, and shopping and generally having lots of city fun without poor ole country me). And I cooked for 60 people at church on Wednesday night. Now that was exhausting. More than you needed to know to describe a vase of tulips but you're the one who decided to start reading this.) A close up of my favorite quilt that I think I've ever made but haven't shown you yet. Just seeing those stitches reminds me that you might be waiting for my quilt stitching post ...still in the works. It's coming, promise. See parenthetical excuses above. I don't believe you've met Lemon the canary. He is our sweet, little, somewhat aloof, tweety bird who sings so beautifully. We adore him, but he ...

Hello Spring! Who likes taking pictures outside where you are not freezing, where you are not getting blown over by sideways rain, or you where you are not standing in snow but rather standing in spongey, new, weedy, flowery grass? Me! Me! Okay, now that that's resolved. Using Little Folks voiles and dobby dots, I made a baby zigzag quilt using the same pattern as my big Folk Dance quilt. These little zigs and zags run across the quilt's width instead of on the length. The finished size is 36 x 45" and I used only 5 different fabrics for the quilt top. The fabrics repeat above and below the center instead of every zigzag being a different fabric, which I really enjoy in this smaller scale. The triangular pieces in the center zigzag were cut from the large squares of the Square Dance dobby dot panel fabric, and then you'll notice that a few zigzags further the smaller squares of the same fabric were used. I love how this makes the centered bouquet motif of t...

This is an overdue post to officially welcome Alexia to the studio! She joined us a few months ago to help with sewing pattern testing, trunk show support, sample sewing and in general to help keep this place a happy, humming business! You may have also, of course, seen her modeling on my Roundabout Dress pattern cover. And if you've frequented either the City Quilter or Textile Fabrics in recent years she may have just cut your fabric or offered you expert sewing advice! She is so talented, clever, and helpful and I couldn't be happier to have her working with us. There are few people in life who will geek out over certain sewing techniques with you or who can quote all the best lines from Elf , not to mention interject those lines into everyday work situations so effortlessly. I know. I am so lucky. And just as with Allie , beauty was not a requirement. However being thrown into photo shoots because of said beauty just becomes a way of life when working with me! ...

Happy Monday~ xoAM

I've collected my thoughts and experiences of the voiles here for you that includes my mindset in developing the collection and my experience with sewing and living with them- I hope you find this helpful! Voile Voile is most always defined as a sheer woven material, usually cotton, and taken from the French word for veil. (I also find that while the pronunciation varies between VO-yul and vwal , that this has most to do with whether you choose to say it in French or in English. Most people, including me, say toile in French so I tend to do the same with voile , not important, just the kind of thing I lose sleep over. Amen.) My Voile While I know that other designers at Westminster will be using this substrate in the future ( Kaffe and Valori that I know of so far), I am choosing to call this my voile. Not because I am territorial, but because I kept FedEx in business by shipping back and forth every voile sample overseas that I could and feeling, rubbing, blowing my bre...

Well the dress itself didn't take a whole year- we've made several in the past year! But creating the sewing pattern with all the options that I thought (and rethought) it should have and getting it all fine tuned, published, printed, shipped, etc. That took a year. But it was worth it. I love, love, love, this dress. I originally jumped into the design here , when I was all about zigzagging, which I totally still am. The humble beginning of this dress was simply that I had made two Folk Dance Quilt tops, a warm version and a cool version, and couldn't decide which to photograph for the free pattern download. While we were preparing a shoot for the Good Folks collection I picked up the warm toned unfinished top and thought...wow, this would make a great dress. And it did. I simply wrapped the raw edged unfinished quilt top around Juliana, took a few quick measurements, fashioned a quick bodice that echoed the triangle design, pinned it all around her, clamped it ...

For the third time I asked " Are you sure I can't get you anything?... I'm Greek, I have to keep asking.". Natalie smiled and said "I'm Southern, and I do the same!" The way that she called herself Southern made me think of the South as a nation more than a region. She had accepted the invitation to come to my home as easily as I had offered. Florence, Alabama is less that 2 hours away from Nashville and she was clearly looking as forward to the journey as she was the visit. I daresay without insulting myself that she may have been looking even more forward to the drive than she was the visit. Which speaks volumes about this beautiful designer. The journey is everything. The process as important as where you arrive to in the end. And the end? One of the most enchanting places I've been. The end product that I refer to is the amazing collection of clothing, homegoods , accessories of which Natalie is chief designer. Its not everyone wh...

March sounds optimistic. I sometimes always have mixed emotions about Spring starting. I welcome the bright green smell in the air, and the warming up, but I am overwhelmed with the obligation to get out in the yard and do all those gardeny things that you are suppose to do in the yard with your garden and your yard in the yard around that garden thing. Its been a few years. I have been busy. For a few years. I think you are only suppose to say that about the few past days or weeks, not years. Tis true though. What was I talking about? March. Gardens. Well, the big news about this Spring is that I don't have mixed emotions. I have one emotion and that is oh good spring is coming . And right here in the spot where normal people would rattle off their revised Springy gardeny yardy intentions, I will rather say that I think I will have some time to make my outer home a more beautiful place and that perhaps there will be some planting and maybe even a vegetable thrivi...