White ermine standing erect in foliage and winter scenery.

Meadow Marquis

And here’s the third of the four blocks that San Francisco Stitch Co. is issuing as a free download for the winter! This “marquis” is a curious little ermine who pokes his head up in search of whatever he can see in the neighborhood. He was inspired by a real […]

Happy holidays!

Chouchou is popping in here to help me wish everyone a happy holiday, no matter which one(s) you celebrate!

Snowy owl stitched on grey fabric. Scene is at night and owl is perched on a branch and surrounded by snowflakes.

The Snow Baron

A couple of weeks ago, I posted an embroidered block that was the beginning of a short series put out by San Francisco Stitch Company. Today the second block was released, the Snow Baron, a snowy owl at night. Given the state of my back at the moment, I wasn’t […]

Zojirushi bread machine

A tale of the most expensive Christmas bread…

Every year I make a special Christmas bread that my family loves. It’s basically a riff on stollen that began years ago when we did a Christmas dinner from a different country every year. Since then, the kids have grown up and added our grandchildren to the mix, but we […]

polar bear stitched on grey fabric with white and gold snow swirls, all surmounted with a crown.

King of the Ice

I’ve posted before about designs from San Francisco Stitch Co. As they’ve done in several times in the past, they’re providing a free set of designs, one block at a time over the course of several weeks. This time, the 6″ blocks are called Winter Twist, and each block will […]

Black background with Drunkard's Path blocks and triangles, done in two shades each of purple, green, orange, and blue.

Win a few, lose a few …

Time has slipped past me while playing with our new dog and having a fun trip to the Houston show, but I have two new quilts to post here, neither of which is my usual “stuff”. First of all, while I absolutely love free-motion quilting, I’ve been wondering what it […]