Category Archives: wall hanging

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

“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”

by Dawn Posted on December 31, 2024

Do you know that lovely song written in 1947 by Frank Loesser? If not, you owe it to yourself to listen to the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald’s lush rendition. You can do that right here. This New Year’s Eve I’ll be putting the finishing touches on my final quilt finish of the year, Wonderful World. It will be the subject of my first post of 2025.

In the meantime, here are a few images of our decorating at the Portland White House to keep the holiday vibe going. I love seeing the elaborate decorations some of my fellow quilters have posted on their blogs and Instagram pages, especially because my decorating seems to get more minimal every year. We do keep our decorations up until Twelfth Night (January 6) so we have a few more days to enjoy them.

I bought this lovely wreath at Trader Joe’s in early December and added the clusters of red bells:

We had the exterior of our house painted this year. The door and mailbox were painted a lovely shade of green. The lights you see reflected in the door and windows are icicle lights on the curved arch on the front porch. From the sidewalk you can see our tiny tree and my little round quilt, Holliberry Circle:

Here’s a closer look:

From her perch a very relaxed Coco has a view out the front door:

My other Christmas quilt, ‘Tis the Season, is currently on rotation on the sofa:

The Dear Husband and I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year. I’ll be back in 2025!

 

 

 

 

Posted in cats, family, home dec, Quatrefoil, Ribbon Box quilt, update, wall hanging, wonky Dresden neighborhood | 5 Comments

Addendum: Hanging Quilts with 3M Command Strips

by Dawn Posted on January 23, 2023

After seeing my last post on using 3M Command Strips to hang quilts, one of my readers asked an excellent question: “Can you successfully remove the strip from the back of the quilt?”

The answer is “yes” — but there’s a surprise involved. When you take a quilt off the wall that was hung with Command Strips, the strips stay on the wall — not the quilt! And there is no residue whatsoever on the back of the quilt.

I discovered something else quite by accident: if you’re planning to take one quilt down and put up another one of the same or slightly wider width, you can reuse the strips that are already attached to the wall. Serendipity!

On one wall in our main floor bath I took down Uptown Funk (now on loan to a quilt guild for an upcoming workshop) . . .

Uptown Funk, 24″ x 26″ (2020)

. . . in order to hang Loose Leaf:

Loose Leaf, 24 1/2″ square (2015)

I saw that I had hung Uptown Funk using Medium-size Command Strips, which measure ¾” x 2¾”. All I had to do was separate the top strip from the bottom strip of each pair on the wall. You will remember from my previous post that the strips work in pairs, with the Velcro-like textured sides coming together with an audible click. It’s quite easy to separate them, leaving one half of the pair on the wall with the Velcro-like side exposed:

I took three new strips from the package (each strip is half of a pair) . . .

. . . and pressed each Velcro-like side to its mate on the wall. Then I peeled off the paper backing to expose the adhesive and pressed Loose Leaf into place. Easy as pie! It took less than two minutes.

If you’re the least bit apprehensive about attaching adhesive strips to either your wall or your quilt, I have a suggestion. Start with one pair of Command Strips. Remove the paper backing from one strip and attach it to the back of one of your quilts. Remove the paper backing from the other strip and attach it to a wall in an inconspicuous place — perhaps behind a door or a piece of furniture. Leave both strips in place for a week or two. Then remove the strips, remembering to pull straight down and very slowly on the rounded tab . . .

. . . until the strips completely separate from the fabric and the wall.

Pulling slowly and straight down on the tab is what loosens the bond between the adhesive and whatever it is attached to (fabric or wall). If you pull the tab out from the wall instead of straight down, you run the risk of pulling part of the wall or paper off with the tab. (This has never happened to me, by the way). If you pull too fast, the strip will snap you like a rubber band when it comes off. (This has happened to me but it won’t ever again, I assure you.)

I predict that trying this experiment will give you the confidence to hang your own quilts with Command Strips.

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, New Big Leaf, tutorial, update, wall hanging, wonky Dresden neighborhood | 8 Comments

Practical Magic: Hanging Quilts with 3M Command Strips

by Dawn Posted on January 11, 2023

Happy New Year!! I’m starting the year with a bit of practical magic:  using Command Picture Hanging Strips from 3M to change out the wall hanging in my master bath. Command Strips have a sticky Velcro-like texture on one side and adhesive on the other side covered by paper backing. The strips are assembled in pairs, with adhesive facing out on both sides and the Velcro-like sides in the middle, like a sandwich. When the paper backings are removed, one adhesive side attaches to the wall and the other side to the back of the quilt — without leaving a trace on either when they are removed. Seriously!

I have several wall hangings that I like to rotate more or less according to the seasons. Dark Moon, pictured on the left below, went up in December as my choice for winter but as the New Year rang in I was longing for something brighter. It took fewer than five minutes to swap out Dark Moon for Hip Hop:

Hip Hop features five different kangaroos gamboling on an Australian aboriginal print background. The playful ‘roos and bright colors are definitely lightening my mood during these gray and rainy days in Portland:

But I digress. Let me show you how very easy it is to hang quilts using these Command Picture Hanging Strips.

Packaging varies. I bought a “value pack” containing four small and eight medium pairs of command strips:

The strips come in Small (holding up to four pounds), Medium (up to 12 pounds) and Large (up to 16 pounds). As mentioned above, the strips are geared for picture frames but they are eminently suitable for quilts. The size Small is more than sufficient for my wall hanging, which weighs much less than four pounds. FYI, Hip Hop measures 16″ x 59″.

These are the four pairs of small Command Strips, front and back:

The strips are separated by pulling them apart (very easy). I’m using three pairs for my wall hanging:

Each strip is ¾” wide and 2⅛” long. Before removing the paper backing, I press two sticky sides together to form a pair, causing them to make an audible clicking sound as they connect. This is what they look like from the side:

I peel off one set of paper backing pieces and place the strips sticky side down right next to the binding at the top back of my quilt — one strip on each end and one in the middle:

Then I remove the second set of paper backing pieces . . .

. . . turn the quilt around, and place it on the wall, pressing firmly from the right side of the quilt. I actually run my fingers up and down where the Command Strips are for a good 30 seconds, pressing the runner firmly against the strips for good adhesion. Note: this wall hanging is going on a painted sheetrock wall. I have also used the strips successfully on wallpapered walls (although the instructions say not to do this with picture frames) and on lath and plaster walls in my 1913 home.

Oh, and one more thing: I want to show you how to remove the strips from the wall after you’ve taken the wall hanging down. This shot was taken after I took Dark Moon off the wall:

All you do is grasp the rounded tab at the bottom and pull gently, firmly and — this is important! — slowly straight down from the strip. That tab will stretch a good 12″ or more before the entire strip releases from the wall, leaving no trace behind of the adhesive. If you pull too fast or too hard, the strip snaps like a rubber band. Ouch! You only do that once, believe me.

Note: I have no affiliation with 3M, the maker of Command Strips. I’m strictly a consumer, recommending this product based on personal experience. As far as I know, there is no other comparable product on the market. Using this method to display quilts on my walls has eliminated the need to mar the surface of the walls with nails or screws in order to hang rods or other hardware.

About the wall hangings: both are original designs. Hip Hop was made using my first pattern, Full Moon Rising. Dark Moon was made from my second pattern, Full Moon Rising II. If interested, you can look at the front and back of the patterns on the Patterns page on my website.

A final thought:  I think this post qualifies as a tutorial. I’m adding it to the Tutorials page on my website. It’s Tutorial #23. Maybe you should check out the other ones!

Update posted Jan. 23, 2023:  Be sure to read the follow-up post to this one! It’s called Addendum: Hanging Quilts with 3M Command Picture Hanging Strips. Clicking on the link will take you right to the post.

 

 

 

Posted in home dec, tutorial, update, wall hanging | 8 Comments