Scissors case with flap open is standing up against a sewing machine. The case is a purple print fabric with teal lining.

Have scissors, will travel

I signed up for a class at the Houston Quilt Festival that begins later this month. In looking at the supply list, I noticed that I’m going to need to bring scissors — something more than merely thread snips. What’s a girl to do but quickly make a scissor case […]

Photo shows a detail of the needle area of a sewing machine. Two human hands are guiding the white fabric along a barely-visible seam line, and a tiny red laser dot shows where the needle is about to hit.

Fantastic laser!

About a year ago, I traded in my Bernina 790Plus (which I *loved*) for the Bernina 790Pro. I thought long and hard about it, but I couldn’t really see a down side; the Pro has all of the fabulous features of the Plus and some amazing additions. One of those […]

A small mug rug (large coaster) in beige cotton with embroidered motif of the Eiffel Tower. There is a multicolored flag at the top of the tower, and there is text reading "Summer Olympics", "Paris, France", and "2024" embroidered around it.

Another mug rug

I’ve had this design for a couple of months and finally got around to making it today. It’s just a little mug rug (from San Francisco Stitch Company), but I wanted it as a sort of souvenir, even though we weren’t in Paris for this year’s Olympics. It only takes […]

A wooden box with hinged lid. The box is divided into eight small sections, intended for tea bags, but it is full of packages of needles. The lid has a sort of large pin cushion custom fitted into it, marked with a grid for various types and sizes of partially-used needles.

A solution!

There are times when a sewist uses a machine needle for a very short time and then has to change types. What to do with the partially-used (but not used up) needle? I’ve always simply put them back into their little plastic boxes, making sure they were as far to […]

A set of four embroidered ornaments -- two in gold metallic thread and two in silver metallic thread: two embossed hearts and two doves in flight.

More ornaments

My husband and I give our grandchildren a Christmas ornament each year. To give a bit of background, we had no Christmas ornaments when we married, so I made a point of giving each of our daughters an ornament each year so they’d have a little supply when they began their own […]

Back of the same bag in dark grey cork with multicolored trim and a zippered pocket.

iCases bag

If you’ve read this blog in the past, you’ll know that I like many of the various bag patterns from https://byannie.com. A few days ago, one of our grandsons stopped by with his iPad Mini, and I was horrified to see that it was “naked”! What if he dropped it? […]