What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

When people ask me where to start with Sashiko, I often suggest one of these fukin (foo-keen) and tell them to pick a design they will actually finish. If you go for the super complex designs on your first try, it’s more likely you’ll get frustrated and shove it in a drawer, never to be seen again.

Keep your hands happy. Make a little Sashiko Fukin (刺し子ふきん) towel, also called a hana-fukin (“flower cloth” 花ふきん) or yume-fukin (“dream cloth” 夢ふきん). I’ve selected a classic design for beginners that I think you’ll enjoy even if you’re ...

The grandkids are visiting for the summer, which means I’ve been busy juggling a toddler and a bigger kid, both of whom need things to do outside.

Taking this video as inspiration, I decided to go for something we could do TODAY from start to finish and see results. [YouTube video: “Indigo Dyeing with fresh indigo leaves // 生葉で藍染”]

Our local soil is kind of garbage. It’s sandy, silty, and blows away in the wind, but we find ways to work with it.

I ordered indigo seeds from The Dogwood Dyer several months ago and lo and behold, they ...

Here’s my fashion tip of the season: Wear a damn mask.

Yes, I’m being harsh. Why? Because I live in a region where masks are mandatory and I support that decision by our local government. If you want to debate the merits of going maskless, please don’t bother. I will remove your comment. I already know too many people who have had to deal with the long term effects of COVID-19 and several of my friends have lost family members to the virus.

There are three of us living in this big, old house and we each ...

Sashiko and Boro reference books – hard to find/out of print editions worth seeking out

Three lovely books for visual and text reference. One in Japanese, and two in both English and Japanese. These are not how-to books, but beautiful resources for getting a feel for sashiko, kogin, and boro textiles in historical context.

Links provided were valid on Amazon at the time I wrote this, but as these books are out of print they may not be available or may be ridiculously expensive. I’ve provided ISBN numbers for the first two you can use to search for these ...

I just realized that I hadn’t posted on this blog about the quilt I made last summer for my daughter, who is now a junior at SUNY Geneseo, majoring in Art History. The school’s colors are blue and white, so it doesn’t completely match.

Long enough for her dorm bed, this was made from indigoes and yellows from my stash, using a modified Delectable Mountains block and free motion quilted on a longarm. While I hoped to make a dent in the dark blues, my stash is still blue-heavy.




This was before I bought my longarm, so ...

Its been a very long long time since I have blogged but I am just soo excited to tell you what I have been up to today!

A lady (who met me a while ago at a fair) contacted me and asked if I would help her do some Indigo dyeing with her for a quilt she was making.  Like, how fast could I say yes!!!

Anyway today Kay came over to my house and we broke out the indigo and got to the dyeing. She was dyeing linen.

We pleated, folded, wrapped and rubber banded.