Author Archives: Judith Oswald

The finishing touch!

The finishing touch to a quilt is the binding. Binding is the frame around the focal point–the combination of fabrics, colors and cuts pieced together to make the quilt top. To become a quilt, the pieced top needs four more elements–batting, the backing, the quilting and the binding. The batting gives the quilt its bodyContinue reading “The finishing touch!”

Summer Time

Officially it is summer–first we had the meteorological summer that begins on June 1 and Sunday we observed the start of the astronomical summer..June 21. In Kansas, summer begins any time in March, April and May with over 90 degree temperatures. But for the past few days we have had cooler than normal days withContinue reading “Summer Time”

Sewing + Audio Books=A Good Day

How would you describe a good day? I am not talking about those “once in a life-time days” when you were married, or your first child was born or you bought a home, but what makes an ordinary day feel really good? Two close friends answered that question with “playing in the dirt”; they areContinue reading “Sewing + Audio Books=A Good Day”

Evolution of Quilting Tools

Both my grandmothers quilted–because they needed warm covers for their families in the winter and because it was a creative outlet in the Depression/World War II era that did not offer women many opportunities to brighten their world. They used scraps left over from making garments for their families supplemented with some yardage they purchased.Continue reading “Evolution of Quilting Tools”

Small but Mighty

What is quick to make? Uses leftover fabric? Sells well at the Quilt Etc. Sale? Can be quilted on a domestic sewing machine? Quilters enjoy creating them? Quickly decorate your home for the season? Did you guess table runners? If you did- you are correct! Table runners do all that and more. We have hadContinue reading “Small but Mighty”

Maycember

Graduation, Mothers’Day, Anniversaries and Birthdays–Did you know there is a term coined by the Holderness Family (the funniest, most realistic digital creators on Instagram and YouTube) that describes this time of the year? It is Maycember–is used to describe a frantic, jam-packed period at the end of the school year. I “graduated” i.e. retired fromContinue reading “Maycember”

Grades of Fabric

When I taught clothing classes in high school, I knew I had converted a student to the of love of sewing when the student walked around the classroom (we were a considered a lab class, less structured) and judged the new fabrics of other students. They would rub it between their fingers, pinch it orContinue reading “Grades of Fabric”

A Different Fabric Use

Are you a “reduce, reuse” recycle” person? Do you have two or more trash containers–one for trash and others for paper, metal and glass? Have you had your shoes re-soled or a zipper replaced in a jacket rather than purchasing new shoes or jackets? Is your rice stored in a cleaned pasta sauce jar? DoContinue reading “A Different Fabric Use”