Category Archives: home dec

Ribbon Box #4 Back from the Quilter

by Dawn Posted on March 26, 2026

My fourth version of the free pattern Ribbon Box by Cloud 9 Designs is back from the quilter, and I am so pleased. If you saw my previous post, you know that I converted the pattern from a lap size to a bed runner by tweaking the number of vertical ribbons. Not only is #4 quilted now, it’s also bound, and I am almost finished hand-stitching the binding to the back of the quilt. Here’s a peek at the bottom half of the quilt:

The quilt motif by Quilts Complete is “Embellish,” one of my favorites. It’s especially appropriate for Ribbon Box because the swirls in the quilting look like ribbons.

I decided on single-fold binding that finishes at ⅜”. If you look at the left side of the photo above, you can see the binding strip attached to the edge of the quilt has not been folded in half. The binding strips were cut 1¾” wide according to the measurements in my tutorial on single-fold binding. The mitered corners turn out so nice and crisp! Here’s a look at one of the corners from the front . . .

. . . and from the back:

Here’s my fourth and final corner pinned and ready to tack down:

The only thing left to do after the binding is finished is make the label, and I’ve gotten a head start on that. The perfect name for this quilt popped into my head the other day but I’m going to wait until I’m ready to show off the finished quilt to reveal the name. I hope you’ll come back for that.

 

 

 

Posted in bed runners, home dec, Ribbon Box quilt, update | 4 Comments

“Make Your Bed”

by Dawn Posted on March 11, 2026

Fifteen years ago I bought a quilt book called Make Your Bed, written by Leslee Evans and published by That Patchwork Place, an imprint of Martingale & Company. The book contains nine designs for quilted bed runners and also includes instructions for decorative pillows and shams. I never made a single thing from the book but the idea of making a bed runner has been percolating in my mind all these years.

In my post of January 25 titled “The Joy of Petting Fabric,” I mentioned I was planning to make a bed runner by transforming the free Ribbon Box pattern from Cloud 9 Fabrics from a quilt into a bed runner. I tested my idea by simply folding the cover page of the pattern to create a quilt with two vertical ribbons and four horizontal ones. As a reminder, here’s a photo showing the quilt as designed and what a bed runner would look like:

Here’s what my bed runner looks like:

I love how this turned out! I added 3″ to the top and bottom. It now measures 29½ x 65½” — the perfect size to drape across the foot of a twin or double bed. The quilt is intended as a surprise gift for a family member. Next up is a simple pieced back and then it’s off to my longarm quilter for her special touch.

Waiting to be made are the second 10 of 20 blocks needed for the other quilt I’ve been working on based on the pattern Dandelions at Dusk.

 

 

 

Posted in bed runners, family, home dec, update | 6 Comments

The Joy of Petting Fabric

by Dawn Posted on January 25, 2026

Petting fabric? If you’re not a quiltmaker, “petting fabric” may be a foreign concept but I can assure you it’s a real thing — for me, at least. Earliest this month while thinking ahead to the projects I want to undertake in 2026, I decided to pull some of my most beloved fabrics from my stash to see what I wanted to use and what I needed to add to the pull to get the right mix for the designs I have in mind.

And by “the right mix” I mean that magical combination of color and value and texture that printed designs on fabric bring to a finished quilt. The combination that makes this quilter’s heart sing. There’s nothing quite so satisfying as running your hands over crisp quilter’s cotton (otherwise known as petting fabric) and imagining what beautiful things you can create from it.

I may be waxing philosophically but this past November was a milestone for me. I turned 75 – three quarters of a century! — and I got to wondering how many quilts I have left in me. I have accumulated a virtual (I won’t say literal even though it’s true, ha ha) mountain of fabric, and there’s no way I can use all of it in my lifetime.

So I asked myself: what are some of the fabrics I love so much I want to make something with them before I die? I’m not being morbid here; I simply want to acknowledge the desire to prioritize my quilt projects according to the fabrics I adore the most while taking into account the fact that I am not immortal.

So here’s a short list of projects I want to embark on in 2026. (You just have to promise not to hold me to this list because who’s to say a fabric line won’t debut in the next few months that totally takes my fancy, turns my head, and causes some of the quilts I have in mind to drop down on the list? This is the eternal dilemma for quilters, no?)

At the very top of my list is a quilt showcasing a gorgeous floral print from the “Jolie Jardin” line by Lakehouse Dry Goods:

I’ve paired it with fabrics that I think will go well with the pattern shown, Dandelions at Dusk by Blue Bear Fabrics. That Lakehouse focus fabric has been in my stash for at least 16 years. I know this because I used some of it in a quilt I made in 2010 called Dianthus, which you can see right here:

The pattern is 4-Patch Stacked Posies by HD Designs. Back then I had recently discovered the four-patch kaleidoscope block and was having great fun investigating the possibilities with other fabrics and other settings. At this point I haven’t decided whether I will make four-patch kaleido blocks for this next quilt or cut squares directly from the fabric. My plan is to make a test block or two tomorrow.

I have two quilts in mind for this next group of fabrics:

The first is a true winter version (as opposed to a holiday version) of my pattern Season to Taste. Here you see my spring, summer, fall, and winter versions:

The winter version (far right) was given to my twin Diane as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago so I made a second holiday version for myself this past year:

I’ve been rotating my Season to Taste quilts on a wall in the master bath but I don’t necessarily want to keep the winter version you see above on display during January and February. That’s why I need a true winter version, and I am totally in love with the fabrics in the grouping I have put together that speak “winter” to me. I have already cut out more than enough 45˚ triangles for the three blocks needed for a wall hanging:

The background fabric is a light gray “Grunge” from BasicGray for Moda. Very appropriate for a typical rainy winter in Portland, Oregon but the prints are lively enough to dispel the winter blahs (or is that winter blues?).

And what about the second version with these fabrics? Well . . . regular readers will recall my obsession with the free Ribbon Box pattern from Cloud 9 Fabrics. I made three versions in 2024. (You can see them here in my Quilt Gallery.)

In the photo below you can see the front page of the Cloud 9 pattern. My plan is to transform it into a bed runner. I tested my idea by simply folding the paper to create a quilt with two vertical ribbons and four horizontal ones. By reducing the width of the ribbons from 5″ to 4″, I’ll wind up with a bed runner that measures 28½” wide.

I have a length of very pale aqua fabric with just a hint of texture and sparkle for the background of this quilt. I think it will be lovely!

I hardly know where to start but as Scarlett O’Hara famously said, “Tomorrow is another day.” There is nothing on the agenda tomorrow so I hope to have a test block to show you very soon.

Thank you for stopping by. And by the way, Happy New Year!

 

 

 

Posted in 4-Patch Wonder, bed runners, faux-kaleido quilts, home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, picnic quilt, Ribbon Box quilt, table runner, update, wall hanging | 6 Comments

We Need a Little Christmas

by Dawn Posted on December 24, 2025

“We Need a Little Christmas” was my older sister Reigh’s favorite Christmas song — and it had to be the version recorded by Johnny Mathis that you can hear right here. The song was written by Jerry Herman for the Broadway musical Mame starring Angela Lansbury. The cast recording was made in 1966 with the Mathis rendition coming two years later.

I find myself humming the tune as I write this post about the holiday decorating my twin Diane and I did during her recent visit to Portland. I promised an update in my last post so let’s bring it on. I don’t decorate as extensively as I did in my younger days but the decorating does feature quite a few “soft furnishings” I’ve made over the years, items made with fabric (including quilts, of course). Let’s take a look.

We’ll start with the sideboard across from the front door. On display again is our little Christmas tree and my “Holliberry Circle” quilt made from the pattern Dresden Neighborhood by Persimon Dreams featuring fabrics from the “Holliberry” line by Coriander Quilts. In previous years I have put one of two placemats I made years ago under the tiny tree. This year I used the companion napkins and just scrunched them around the base of the tree. I rather like the effect:

I hung a Christmas ball on the outside doorknob and love how the colors are repeated in the vignette on the sideboard inside:

One thing I added after those two photos were taken was my set of candles spelling out XMAS, a gift from my dear friend Miriam who knows how much I love Scrabble:

The candles even show how much each letter is worth in a Scrabble game!

I replaced the table runner that usually goes on the side table between the couch and loveseat with the two placemats, butting them up next to each other for an almost seamless look:

Since the Dear Husband and I no longer bring a live tree into the house to decorate, I mounded some of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments in a white bowl. In the background on the back of the couch you can see ‘Tis the Season, my Christmas quilt from 2021 made from the Missouri Star Company’s pattern Quatrefoil.

And what of Enchanted Forest, the wall hanging/table runner I finished just a few days ago? I told you in my last post I had found a rather unusual spot for it. And here it is, hanging on the door of the coat closet:

I hung it with 3M Command Strips, which will be easily removed when the holidays are over. (In case you don’t know about hanging quilts with 3M strips, check out my two tutorials — #22 and #23 — here.)

My vintage Fostoria candleholders are on display year round in the living room — sometimes on the coffee table and sometimes on the mantel. Recently I found some vintage tulip-shaped peg votive cups that reflect candlelight beautifully:

Here’s a look at the entire living room:

The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care and now it’s time to wrap the gifts the DH and I gave each other. He asked me today, “What did I get you?” I replied, “You’ll find out tomorrow!”

It’s a quiet and cozy Christmas Eve at the Portland White House. I wish you all Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

Posted in family, home dec, Quatrefoil, Scrabble, single-fold binding, table runner, tutorial, update, wall hanging, wonky Dresden neighborhood | 4 Comments

My Very Own Scullery Maid

by Dawn Posted on December 20, 2025

I’m smiling as I write the title of this post but I was down in the dumps earlier this week after taking my twin Diane to the airport for her trip home to Georgia. She had just spent six weeks with the Dear Husband and me, and during those six weeks she had devoted herself to helping me with some long deferred spring cleaning as well as various and sundry other domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning up the kitchen after meals, and doing laundry. I laughingly — and lovingly — dubbed her “my very own scullery maid.”

We also had fun working together every single morning on the New York Times Spelling Bee as we sat on the couch in our jammies with our first cup of coffee. We are still both Scrabble aficionados but on this visit we concentrated on achieving “Queen Bee” status on the Spelling Bee. That was high priority but getting to some cleaning projects and preparing the Portland White House for Thanksgiving and the holidays were at the top of Diane’s “to do” list.

Diane is one of those exceedingly rare creatures who actually enjoys cleaning. (I may have gotten the sewing gene in our family but she definitely got the cleaning gene.) I’ve been very focused this past year on taking care of the Dear Husband, working with him in the yard and garden, and trying to keep the household running smoothly, often at the expense of carving out time to read and sew and make quilts, three things I dearly love to do. Diane’s goal for this visit was to lighten my load and at that she succeeded admirably.

The biggest transformation was in the living room. One day when I was away teaching a quilt class, Diane took every item out of the china cabinet, which was jammed to the gills with vintage pieces and antiques accumulated over four decades. She washed and dried each item and then wiped down all the shelves of the cabinet. When I got home we worked together to edit the contents, creating a pleasing arrangement consisting mostly of my Spode china (the pattern is “Camilla” in blue) and Waterford crystal:

She also took all of the books out of the two bookcases flanking the fireplace and not only wiped down all of the shelves but also washed the leaded glass windows inside and out. Here’s a close-up of one of the bookcases:

We washed the curtains (made by moi many years ago) and all the remaining living room windows inside and out and then dusted all of the woodwork. There may have been a cobweb or two . . .

We have a very large sideboard in the dining room which also got emptied and cleaned, and those contents got edited as well. One of the things Diane found inside the sideboard was a vase containing several dozen marbles. I explained that they were all marbles Charlie had dug up in our yard over the 44 years we have lived here, and a few other marbles he dug up in the community garden plot he tended for well over 40 years.

Diane insisted we display the marbles and found a bottle in the sideboard that probably originally contained balsamic vinegar or olive oil. It was the perfect vessel for the marbles! It’s now on the sideboard opposite the front door:

I can’t remember where that big marble on top came from but it makes a perfect stopper. And by the way, one of those marbles in the jar is one I myself dug up in our backyard this past summer.

Here’s a look at the living room with clean windows, shelves, and cabinets:

Now we were ready to decorate for the holidays. (The green and gold balls surrounding the pillar candle in the foreground were left over from last Christmas. I liked the look so well I left them there year round.)

I hope you’ll come back for my next post when I show you how Diane and I decorated the house for Christmas. I was looking for a place to hang my lastest quilt, Enchanted Forest, shown here . . .

. . . and I found a rather unusual spot for it.

 

 

 

Posted in family, home dec, Scrabble, table runner, update, wall hanging | 7 Comments

Better Late Than Never

by Dawn Posted on December 16, 2025

I really thought I would have this holiday wall hanging/table runner completed by Thanksgiving. After all, I started it in August. Here it is the week before Christmas and I just finished tacking down the binding this afternoon. That’s cutting it close! Take a look:

Oh dear! I see I am holding it upside down. Oh well. It actually works either way but this block is the one I planned to be at the top:

The quilting was pretty straightforward. Using my walking foot I stitched in the ditch around the borders of the octagons and narrow strips between blocks and then quilted straight lines 1″ apart on the rest of the quilt.

I wish you could see all the sparkle this little quilt has. Most of the fabrics in the octagons have metallic gold in them and the background fabric glints with gold or silver, depending on the light. Here’s a close-up:

Check out the filigreed antlers on the reindeer. They’re metallic, too:

Although I favor pieced backings, the back of this quilt is a single piece of one of the prints used on the front. It’s so pretty I could use the back side for a table runner if I were so inclined.

I’m trying to find just the right place for this quilt, which measures 18¾” x 55″. It still needs a label but I have decided on a name. Most of the prints I used are from the 2024 “Enchanted Christmas” line by Makower UK Fabrics so I am naming this quilt Enchanted Forest in honor of the majestic reindeer inhabiting it.

P.S. You might be interested to know I used single-fold binding on this quilt. My tutorial on single-fold binding is trending on my website right now so if you haven’t checked it out yet, take a look.

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, single-fold binding, snowball blocks, stitch-and-flip corners, table runner, update, wall hanging | 7 Comments

Silver Threads Among the Gold

by Dawn Posted on September 27, 2025

The piecing of my current project, a holiday wall quilt made from my Season to Taste pattern, is complete:

Here’s a close-up of the top block with the accent strips added above and below:

You can probably tell that most of the fabrics in the kaleidoscope triangles have gold metallic accents but what you can’t see is that the background fabric also has a touch of metallic. This particular shade of white “Grunge” by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics has a slightly yellowish cast in places that looks like gold but there are also silver metallic threads running all through the fabric that add even more sparkle. The effect is subtle but sophisticated.

I’m eager to get a backing made and get this quilted. Inspiration hasn’t yet struck on a name. The fabric line is “Enchanted Christmas” by Makower UK Fabrics so maybe I should name this small quilt Enchanted Forest in honor of the majestic reindeer inhabiting it. Just look at those gold filigreed antlers!

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, snowball blocks, stitch-and-flip corners, table runner, update, wall hanging | 3 Comments

“Season To Taste” Update

by Dawn Posted on September 15, 2025

The latest version of my kaleidoscope pattern Season to Taste is coming along, albeit at a snail’s pace. Carving out time to spend in my sewing room when the garden is in full swing is a tough row to hoe. How’s that for mixing metaphors?

Here’s a shot of the first block, with my pattern shown for reference:

Finally I got the second and third blocks put together. It took an inordinate amount of time (i.e. a ridiculously long time) to settle on the final placement of the triangles in each block, especially the triangles containing the reindeer. Even though I envision this as a wall hanging with a definite layout from top to bottom, I couldn’t help but consider what the blocks would look like in a table runner. I wanted the reindeer to be well placed no matter whether the quilt was viewed as vertical (as in a wall hanging) or horizontal (as in a table runner). Crazy, I know!

So this is where we are:


No turning back now. I’ve sewn the white corner triangles on the blocks. They’re slightly oversized so I can trim them to exact size before sewing the strips between the blocks.

Here are close-ups of the other two blocks, first the middle one . . .

. . . and then the bottom one:

 

So close now! Let’s hope you won’t have to wait too long for the next blog post showing the completed quilt top.

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, snowball blocks, stitch-and-flip corners, table runner, update, wall hanging | 2 Comments

A Near Finish and a Fresh Start

by Dawn Posted on August 20, 2025

My fractured image quilt, now officially named Fractured Ferns and Flowers, is all done (except for the label, that is):

I’m in a hurry to show it to you because I’ve already jumped to the next project (more on that below). Here’s a closer look at the quilting on my fractured image — random wavy lines stitched diagonally from corner to corner with a walking foot:

A close-up of one corner:

Can you tell I used two threads, a pale green and a medium blue? That wasn’t intentional. I started with the light green and quilted two curved lines. Then I tried a green variegated thread that I really liked but took out because it was a heavier weight thread and showed up on the fabric more than I wanted. I decided to test the blue thread after removing the variegated thread. I really liked the look of that and probably would have quilted the entire top in blue if I’d started with it. That’s when it occurred to me to use two different colors. Why not? Every third curve is stitched with blue. Not exactly random but the effect is random. By the way, Fractured Ferns and Flowers measures 31½” x 36½”.

I vowed to finish this project before starting another but . . . my resolve slipped and over the last several days I have been stealing up to my sewing room, cutting 45 degree triangles from the holiday fabrics I showed you in my last post . . .

. . . and playing around with their positions in kaleidoscope blocks:

There is one change from my original fabric pull: I replaced a dark green print with a medium light green print after discovering that three dark green triangles overpowered the block. Sometimes you just have to play around with color, scale, and value to get the right balance. That’s part of the fun — and for me, the challenge — of quiltmaking.

I’m still playing around with placement possibilities but I couldn’t resist going the next step: adding the sashing strips and sewing the the triangles together:

How festive is that??

 

 

 

Posted in fractured image, home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, single-fold binding, table runner, update, wall hanging | 4 Comments

Christmas in July

by Dawn Posted on July 30, 2025

If you’re a quilter who subscribes to quilt shop websites or has been in a quilt shop recently, you probably know that July is the month that holiday and Christmas-themed fabric lines hit the quilt shops. It may seem funny to be thinking about such things at the height of summer but when dazzling arrays of holiday prints start appearing in shops and flooding your phone and tablet screens — well, let’s just say some of those fabrics can be mighty hard to resist any time of year.

I’ve been tempted by several new collections but it’s a line of fabric from 2024 that caught my eye: “Enchanted Christmas” by Makower UK Fabrics. The Dear Husband and I took a little road trip to Walla Walla, Washington in June, which is where I came across these lovely fabrics at a quilt shop called Stash:

I could visualize these prints in a kaleidoscope quilt with the reindeer fussy-cut to show them off to best advantage. But I needed a few more fabrics. Back home in Portland I raided my stash and added these to the mix:

And then just a few days ago I found the perfect background fabric at the quilt shop where I teach, the Lake Oswego branch of Montavilla Sewing Centers:

That’s a creamy white Grunge from BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics — and it has gold sparkles in it!

And the kaleidoscope quilt pattern? It just happens to be one of my own:

I’ve already made a version of Season to Taste with holiday fabrics . . .

. . . but I wound up giving it as a Christmas gift to my twin sister Diane in 2021. Funny, I didn’t remember until pulling up the photo just now that it also has reindeer in it.

By the way, the name of my quilt pattern is a reference to making wall hangings or table runners that reflect the four seasons. Here are my four:

You can probably tell the order of seasons in the photo above is spring, summer, fall, and winter.

I’m so looking forward to cutting into my new fabrics but I won’t allow myself to begin until I’ve finished my current project. And just so you know, quilting has commenced!

Posted in family, home dec, kaleidoscope quilts, table runner, update, wall hanging | 4 Comments