Pearl the Squirrel

Christmas and Chanukah are less than a week away, and like everyone else, I'm in the throes of preparation for family and guests to arr...

Amanda Jean's slabs and strings Our guild lined up Amanda Jean Nyberg , co-author of Sunday Morning Quilts , for a workshop and I...

Sometimes the world of quilting and sewing seems very big, and other times it seems like a small town, where everyone is somehow connected ...

Tiny paper hats? Nope, HST trimmings A few months ago I agreed to participate in a a half-square triangle (HST) swap. I'm always en...

Colleen & Roger Hicks Featherweight table My recent Etsy post on Featherweights was such a treat for me. First, it enabled me to ...

Just a quick post to let you know about a web TV show worth watching. It's Monica Lee's Smart Creative Women . I met Monica at ...

A traditional Amish quilt from Kalona, Iowa I loved what readers had to say about my recent Etsy post on innovation and craft . Is it e...

Just a quick note to share with you something that has left me chuckling. No, I would say it's more like guffawing. And I figured the...

I am not a native Iowan. I lived briefly in Minnesota, spent some time in Florida, and then moved to California when I was two. Although ...

On the right-hand side of this page you can see a number of the places I'm privileged to write for. But one that's missing (and I...

My husband's 7th grade picture, on our workbench Welcome to those of you who are visiting after reading my guest blogging post on t...

Last spring, a woman at a meeting sat next to me with the loveliest scarf. It was short and flippy on the ends and had the most charming li...

Iowa is the land of cicadas. There are some nights in mid-summer when their drone nearly drowns out conversation. Their carcasses litter sid...

Sewing clothing has always been a frustrating experience for me, largely because of fit. I'm your basic straight-up-and-down gal without...

Just found out about this project Etsy is undertaking (and not for the first year, either). They're asking folks to create Valentines th...

My quilt guild has a devoted group of charity quilters. They make quilts for cancer patients, for young, single moms, for the domestic v...