Tag: quilting

Quarantine Quilts, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy August 2026 – Making a Family Scrap Happy

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It’s the 15th of the month and I am part of the monthly ScrapHappy posting group currently hosted by Kjerstin of Quimper Hitty.

Here are links to the blogs of the ScrapHappy participants:  Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,Viv, Karrin,  Alissa, Tierney, Hannah,
 Maggie and Wizzy

I already posted my update on my very scrappy quilt in progress on my August 10th post Very Good Progress on the EPP Quilt:

So I thought I’d just share something from my blog archives that I came across recently – the story of a very scrappy quilt created by my friend Wendy and a group of 4 boys ages 2 to 8 years during the COVID pandemic. I posted a little bit about this quilt in the Postscript section of my August 12 post Celebrating 25 Years of Quilting but I’ve removed it from the Postscript section to share in this post.

I have several new blog readers since 2020 when The Quarantine Quilt Project story was first shared over 5 guest posts by my art quilter friend Wendy Hill.

I think this story to truly ScrapHappy and worth sharing again. Not only did the quilt that came out of this project result in major family “ScrapHappiness” but the journey to complete this quilt brought a lot of happiness to a family struggling with four rambunctious boys stuck at home full time during the COVID quarantine.

Wendy distracted the four boys by working with them to create a scrap quilt for their parents. (And what an amazing and very personal quilt it turned out to be!)

I thought I would share for this month’s ScrapHappy post some highlights, in Wendy’s own words, about this project. The original 5 guest blog posts by Wendy Hill are linked at the end of this post.

The Quarantine Quilt Project

Below are section of text and images from Wendy Hill’s 5 guest posts about this project (All images and works are property of Wendy Hill, and cannot be used without her permission):

This is the story of two neighbors who banded together when the state government ordered a lock down because of the first Global Pandemic in over 100 years.

One day, I sent over a note which read “I have a bit of a crazy idea….”. I sent over a Big Bag of Fabric Scraps with instructions to fill up blank 8 1/2” by 11” pages with fabric pieces. Overlaps of fabric were okay but no gaps. I explained I’d sew the fabrics together to make “quilt blocks”.

The Boys had fun playing with color & texture, and they enjoyed seeing their fabric arrangements get transformed into blocks. As the number of blocks grew, they played with layouts on their floor. We agreed to make enough blocks for a quilt.

(Wendy had permissions from their parents to share images of the 4 boys on line)


Some arrangements were easy to sew together. I could sew pieces into smaller units, then assemble the units into a block. Other arrangements required me to be inventive. Sometimes the seam allowances created gaps, so I had to add fabrics. I added a solid pink to this block. I looked for fabrics that would “go” with fabrics in the arrangement.

Then this happened: The Hand Blocks! I surprised “The Boys” with machine appliquéd fabric hands (from outlines of their hands taken by their parents). I embroidered their name and age on each hand. 

Since I refused to do anything more than trim (or square-up) the precious blocks, I had to find another way to unify 65 blocks of all sizes. I sorted the blocks by height, the first bit of “magic”, to layout 8 rows of 8 blocks, saving the extra block for the quilt back. 

I’m eager to show off the Quarantine Quilt and The Big Giveaway where “The Boys” and their parents see the quilt for the first time.

Here are the full view photographs of the front and the back. (The quilt, with no sleeve, wiggled a bit being clamped to a bar for the photos.)

Finally the day for the Big Giveaway came. David and I spread out several sheets on our back deck. As we watched the kids scramble around the quilt (while staying 10’ apart), some of us burst into tears while the rest became teary. This project was definitely a good thing.

For the compete story about this “scrappylicious” quilt, see the links below to the series of 5 guest blogger posts written by Wendy for my blog about this extremely “ScrapHappy” project!

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part I (Guest Blog Post)

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part II (Guest Blog Post)

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part III (Guest Blog Post)

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part IV (Guest Blog Post)

Quarantine Quilt Project: Life in the Time of Coronavirus, Part V (Guest Blog Post)

Wendy eventually condensed her write up into an awesome story that was published in Issue 18 of the magazine Curated Quilts: Collaborate, in 2022.

A Crafter's Life, tierneycreates

Celebrating 25 Years of Quilting

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Several years ago (It might even before I moved in Colorado in 2019), my art quilter friend Wendy Hill was working on a retrospective of her quilting journey. She was putting together a binder with photos of the quilts she made and stories.

Wendy suggested that I consider doing that someday and not just have online copies of photos of my quilts stored on my computer or posted to my blog.

I put that thought in the back of my mind and after a while forgot about it for the most part. Then this year I started thinking about how to archive part of my blog to save storage space on my blog since the plan I pay WordPress for is running out of space. Check out the Postscript section of my June 28, 2026 post Getting Down to Business for more discussion and musings on dealing with this issue.

In the Postscript section of my July 7, 2026 21 Ready to Applique! I discuss my recent discovery that  the Denver Public Library lets patrons print out up to 100 photocopies a day for free.

I tested this at first and converted some of my blog posts to pdf files (if you simply pull up a post on your screen, then click on “Print” and change the “Destination” from your printer to “Save as PDF”…this is how it works on my Macbook/MacOS not sure if it is the same on a Windows based device) and printed them out in color at the library. It worked well.

Then I remembered Wendy’s advice all those years ago – to consider making a binder about my quilting journey. I thought about the beginning of my quilting journey and realized I finished my first quilt around 2000 and if I went to 2025 (as I am still in 2026) I could put together a binder about my first 25 years in quilting: 2000 – 2025.

And I did!

It took about a month and combed through a lot of information on my blog. I am very glad I documented a lot of my quilting journey, especially since 2013 when I started my blog, on my blog. I also combed through old photo files and saved documents on my external hard drive that I back up documents on. Then I got to creating web pages into pdfs and selecting what to print out, etc.

I spent about 5 to 6 trips to the library printing out materials and ended with this binder filled to the brim with printed pages documenting my quilting journey:

tierneycreates: the first 25 years

Tierney’s quilting journey 2000 – 2025

The front of the binder has a photo of me at my first solo show along with images of my first official art quilt “Flying Triangles” and similar quilt “What Direction Do I Go?” made 11+ years later; and the back of the binder is the flyer for that show:

Inside the binder are stories and photos from my 25 year quilting journey, some examples are below:

(Image above: The home page to my blog, the first flyer one of my pieces appeared in, the first ad I was featured in, photos of completed quilts, my first quilt to be in a quilt show (Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show 2007), my first quilt and my pair of rescued miniature schnauzers Fritz and Snickers wrapped in that quilt; and galleries of non quilting items I’ve made over the past 25 years)

I am so thankful to have pulled so much information and photos off my blog and printed them out for free (in color!) at the local library.

I’ve maxed out the binder which was a binder I snagged for free, filled with sheet protectors, in the ‘Free” bin at a garage sale. I am thinking about having it bound into a book once I decide I’ve filled it with all that belongs there (perhaps a couple more trips to the library for printing…)

Wendy was right. This was a VERY GOOD and important exercise to do and it was very powerful to look at my body of work and my journey over the past 25 years of quilting. I cannot believe I am in my 26th years of being a quilter and I look forward to working on my 50 year retrospective someday (finger crossed) 🙂

By the way, much thanks to those of you who’ve been following my journey on line over the years and some of you have been with me since 2013 when this blog began!

Postscript

Still Working on Blog Storage Space Issue

I’m still working on the trimming down my blog storage project and I’ve decided to start with revamping my whole Portfolio, News and Events/Publications pages on my blog by combining them in some format and reducing down the images.

I am looking into WordPress page formats that will work and I was recently very inspired by what Mariss did on her Fabrications website/blog in her newly revamped Gallery of Works page.

Special Events

Quilter Playdate: Laying Out the Quilt and New Shelves

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A follow up to the post Quilter Playdate: Learning to Piece the Blocks

At the end of July we met in J’s studio (she is my neighbor and I can walk over to her house – I now live in a community of quilters!) to continue to help D, a new quilter, make her first quilt.

This session was laying out the quilt on the design wall! D had pieced all her blocks and it was time to find a layout. I won’t clog up this post with photos of all the different versions we worked through but here is the final version (to my knowledge unless she went home and changed it):

I worked on my EPP project (hand sewing the rest of the rosette hexagon sides together) during our get together:

D was so sweet and had gifted J a brand new ice maker that she bought a couple years ago and never used. J had been wanting an ice maker for her little kitchenette in her studio (for a tour of J’s studio where we are meeting see my post Project Linus Mini Retreat, Part II):

J mentioned she wanted to add some shelves to this area so she could get tea and coffee supplies off the counter, etc. So I decided to call my husband John and see if he would pop over and install some shelves!

And he did!

J later sent me photos of how the area looked after she organized her coffee/tea service:

I am in love with embroidered coasters with cute sayings, my wonderful friend K has gifted me several over the years; and J as a gift for getting John to come over and put up shelves in her studio made me one in a saying I selected.

I choose this one that she already had in her studio:

It was fun select the fabrics and threads and then watch her amazing embroidery machine create it!

I think we are getting together again this Friday so I will get to see D’s first quilt all sewn together!

Special Events

Quilter Playdate: Learning to Piece the Blocks

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I am back dating this post as I’ve been distracted with life and did not post as much as I would have liked to in July. So perhaps you will see more posts for me in August…perhaps 😉

This is a follow up to the early July post Quilter Playdate and Learning to Rotary Cut.

Starting in June, my friend J and I have been helping a new quilter D learn to make her first quilt (for her baby grandson). J, who I think has been quilting since birth, ha, is taking the lead on teaching and I am tagging along and offering occasionally useful advice from my 25 years of quilting experience.

It all began with taking D on her first quilt shop hop (see post Taking a New Quilter on Her First “Shop Hop” ) where she learned to select fabrics for a quilt and get yardage cut; then she learned how to rotary cut; and a couple weeks ago she learned how to piece, press/iron, and even chain piece her blocks together.

Here are some photos from that session:

Here is J demonstrating chain piecing (she is working on the same quilt in Christmas fabrics to create examples for D as she progresses):

I love chain piecing and I always laugh when my chain of pieced blocks gets eventually wrapped around my leg/ankle – ha!

It is really cool to be part of seeing a new quilter make her first quilt. I remember when I made my first quilt 25 years ago (I used to think I made it in 1999 but I figured out it was 2000). My first quilt was a traditional “Irish Chain’ pattern, here is a photo I found recently as I was cleaning up old photos:

Weird thing – I no longer have this quilt and I am not sure what I did with it! But I remember taking a nap under it after finishing it and being so pleased!

J showed us this cool little bag that she made for her daughter and granddaughter using a By Annie Pattern and we might get together with D the new quilter and do some bag making after she finishes her first quilt.

D is an experienced seamstress so she is very comfortable with a sewing machine. That has greatly helped her while working on her first quilt.

Adventures in Paper Piecing

21 Ready to Applique!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

A quick follow up to the post from June 28 Getting Down to Business. I’ve been working on finishing up my pesky English Paper Piecing hexagon flowers quilt that I began in 2016 (because I am weary of it!!!)

Made more progress – I have 21 blocks ready for the sewing machine to applique the flowers to the background denim fabric, then trim to 6.5 inches by 6.5 inches.

(So happy about my progress I took two photos!)

Once the 21 blocks are done I will add them to the rest of the blocks (currently 65) on the design wall:

AND that will bring me to a total of 86 block completed! Only 13 more blocks to go after that! (I can see the finish line, I can see it!) for 99 blocks for my 9 by 11 blocks setting.

Okay I will continue plodding along to get this quilt tope D-O-N-E!

Postscript

I also wanted to follow up on the Postscript section from the post Getting Down to Business, where I discuss my challenge with running out of media image space on my blog after 13 years of blogging and paying for an upgraded plan.

I recently discovered something very cool (and sort of unbelievable): the Denver Public Library lets patrons print out up to 100 photocopies a day for free. Yes, you read that correctly – 100 copies a day!!!

Here is what it says on their website:

So it sounded too good to be true and I suspected it was 100 pages per library card or something like that, total, for your lifetime! So I called the library and verified it is 100 pages per day!

I am still in disbelief as I used to pay 25 cents per copy at my other library system.

So I have the option of printing out in black & white OR color, old pages from my blog if I want to make some type of book of my old posts! Also they have mobile printing and I can upload documents from my computer and then retrieve them at the library!!! (Is this all a dream?!?!)

I love having this option available as I still work on figuring out what I want to do to decrease my media files stored on my blog (I got to clean house in some capacity!)

Adventures in Paper Piecing

Getting Down to Business

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Honestly – I am tired of the English Paper Piecing (EPP) quilt I’ve been working on since 2016 and posting about during the monthly ScrapHappy 15th of the month posting group.

In my June ScrapHappy post (ScrapHappy June 2026), I mentioned I’ve only gotten 6 more EPP Rosettes (a flower like combination of 7 paper pieced hexagons) since May’s ScrapHappy post.

Well last week I decided I needed to GET DOWN TO BUSINESS and just get the quilt FINISHED as I am tired of working on it, thinking about it, and writing about it!

So I went from 6 completed rosettes to now 20 by just making myself sit in my studio and finishing sewing sides together of rosettes for MANY hours!

Do you see the mess of papers to the left – well that all the EPP hexagon papers I had to pull out of each rosette so I can applique them to their background squares.

This is the really tedious part of EPP – removing the papers:

I think the problem is that I had my late husband help me with wrapping the fabric around the paper hexagons and he was very heavy on the glue. He did most of his work helping me create the EPP hexagons back in 2016 and 2017 so the glue on the fabric has been sitting since that time.

After removing the papers, ripping them away from the glue at times, they hexagons/”hexies” can get deformed and I have to iron them back into shape before adhering them with a little bit of fusible to their background block to be appliqued.

(20 done and waiting to be pressed back into shape with an iron)

The true problem could be that I am the “World’s Worse EPPer” – ha!

Originally I used the traditional technique of stitching/basting them in place on the paper hexies. Then another quilter showed me the faster glueing method (which has special glue pens you can buy to use) and I thought “this isn’t too bad”.

I was guilty of not demonstrating to Terry the “light application of the glue pen” and he got focused on helping me to get a lot done (production mode).

But if I keep up what I am doing – focusing on finishing – eventually it will be done. I’ve already arranged for someone to longarm machine quilt it. As soon as I have the top done I want the thing out of my house to be finished, ha! I am not domestic machine quilting it!

Okay that was my whine ;-). I will torture you to future updates on my progress…

By the way I have 2 other EPP projects I started in 2016 when I became obsessed with EPP but they are aging in the closet for now (perhaps forever?!?!?)

Postscript

You’ll probably see more blog posts from me the rest of the summer (fingers crossed) as we’ve sort of slowed down on traveling (one trip per month and sometimes just a road trip instead of the craziness we had in 2025).

I really enjoy blogging, connecting with my blogging buddies around the world, and of course reading your posts.

I am starting to run out of photo storage space on my blog though at 13 years of blogging even though I pay like $96 a year for a WordPress plan with expanded storage space. I know in the beginning I didn’t think about resizing my photos; and even though I’ve been resizing my photos for years I think I’ve just posted too many photos. I also pay like $18 a year to have my blog web address be “tierneycreates.com” instead of the free “tierneycreates.wordpress.com”.

I’ve been mulling over an overhaul and audit of my blog for a long time. It might be time to archive offline or delete my early posts. I doubt any one is going back in my blog history and reading my posts from 2014, etc.

Honestly I am challenged with revisiting the older posts myself as many of the contain stories about my fun life with my late husband who was also a quilter. I’ve been mulling over doing a summary of all the “Terry the Quilting Husband” posts in some type of memorial essay and just having that as a page on my blog and removing all the posts.

Same sort of challenge (though not comparing the passing of my spouse to my dogs) with old blog posts that feature my late dogs Sassy, Snickers and Mike. Sassy had her own blog “Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer” which I archived.

I am thinking about doing a page for the dogs also with some fun memories and stories and deleted all the old dog related posts.

I tell you memories, even if fun and wonderful, can be rough. However for my own benefit I’d like to figure out some way to keep their memory alive on my blog. Just stuff I am mulling over, no decisions made.

(This is sort of a long Postscript, it could have been it’s own blog post!)

Quilt Shop Tours

Taking a New Quilter on Her First “Shop Hop”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I’m not sure if our day qualified as a “Quilt Shop Hop” since we only visited two quilt shops (the day got away from us) but on Friday I headed with two other quilters to Loveland and Longmont, Colorado for a day of quilt shop hopping, tasty treats/food, and a yarn shop.

My new community has a quilting group that meets monthly and I have new quilting friends in my life now! One of our members D is a brand new quilter (though she is a very experienced seamstress) and my buddy J and I decided we should take her on her first quilt shop hop to help her select fabric for her first quilt that she is making for her newborn grandson.

Now if you are a quilter, you know experienced quilters LOVE to get in other quilters “business” (ha!) and help them choose fabric for a quilt (just visit any quilt shop and you will see this is action).

So J (who has been quilting since birth I think) and I (since 1999) couldn’t wait for this road trip. Luckily D was of good humor and appreciated (being bossed around) the help to select fabrics!

J drove and I sat in back and worked on my latest granny square blanket:

(Previous post – Starting a New Granny Square Blanket – I’ll do an update on that post from April 2026 once I get a little further along on it.)

Quilter’s Dream

Our first stop was Quilter’s Dream in Loveland, CO (they don’t have a website but I linked their Facebook page) where we got to work helping her pull fat quarters and yardage for a beginner quilt pattern that D was making:

And we figuratively “held her hand” while she got her yardage for a quilt pattern cut from bolts for the first time:

(By the way the “Toilet Paper Quilt” I shared in the post The Funniest Quilt Concept I’ve Seen was in the loo at this shop!)

After all that fabric selection assistance and additional time wandering around this wonderful quilt shop looking for ourselves (it’s not like J and I weren’t going to shop too!), we were ready for a treat and headed to the ice cream shop next door to that quilt shop! (hmm…wonder if they get a lot of business from quilters, ha!)

Yes we were well behaved and did not tap on the glass…but we did longingly gaze at all the delicious sounding flavor options! (This shop also has a “liquor infused” ice cream selection but we thought that a bad idea at 11 am and fabric shopping!)

A couple ice cream cones later (only one person, ha) and we were ready to head to the next shop.

Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric

The second shop we visited (and fell into a hole in the space-time continuum because I think we spent a month there, ha!) was Maggie’s Sewing & Fabric in Longmont, CO.

We were greeted by an adorable pup as we walked in, which is also a good sign for me when I enter any shop!

They had quite the sense of humor in this log cabin themed quilt shop with fun displays like this Barbie fabric one:

A couple photos around this shop, which I really liked and didn’t want to leave:

Yes I spent some time visiting the Clearance section where they had some amazing modern fabrics for 30 – 50% off, as well as kits, panels and pattern. I ended up bring the kit (for 50% off) of this quilt home with me (hey, it begged me to take it home, not my fault!):

The shop dog saw us off after our long visit (which did involve some dog petting of course):

Yes we had ice cream (hours ago!) but we were now hungry for actual food and had a wonderful lunch at Teocalli Cocina in Downtown Longmont.

I had the most amazing salad with a spicy oil infused egg and lots of avocado (I love, love, love avocado).

As we came out of the restaurant we noticed that practically next door in Downtown Longmont was a yarn shop!

Longmont Yarn Shoppe

We couldn’t stop ourselves from wandering in since we all either knitted and/or crocheted.

While checking out (I bought a deck of granny square pattern cards) they had this awesome crocheted mandala on display behind the register, which reminded me I want to make one someday.

Believe it or not, we began our day with J picking us up around 9:00 am and it was now 3:00 pm! So it was time to head home and to wander how we didn’t have enough time to have fit in a 3rd quilt shop (unfortunately the one we wanted to go to next closed at 3:00 pm we discovered too late!).

Very fun day and it’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of quilt shop hopping with other quilters and bossing around new quilters on their fabric selections – ha!

(I posted that meme above with humor as J and I were very respectful of D’s choices on fabrics and just acted just as facilitators…okay rather passionate and insistent at times facilitators..ha!)

Quilt Retreats, Special Events

Project Linus Mini Quilt Retreat, Part I

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

One of the things I like about the new community that John and I now live in is that they have a lot of community activities and clubs.

For example John joined the Poker Club and the Sports Fanatics Club, and so far I’ve joined the Quilting Club.

Saturday the Quilting Club met at the home of one of the members who has turned her entire basement into an AMAZING quilt studio (which I will show photos of in part 2 of this series of posts), to work on Project Linus quilts.

If you aren’t familiar with Project Linus, it is a volunteer organization that “provides handmade blankets to children 0-18 in the United States who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need” (projectlinus.org). The “blankets” donated are usually handmade quilts or crocheted/knitted blankets.

My community quilting group has many years of experience making quilts for kids as part of Project Linus and the group thought a day of intense group quilt production would be a great way to whip up some donation quilts.

We were assigned either cutting, ironing, or sewing; and the long-arm quilters in the group would do the machine quilting on the quilts. They chose a simple pattern and precut packets of coordinate fabrics for those of us assigned to sewing (I was in that group):

I brought my little travel Bernina and had fun hanging out with the other “sewing assigned” quilters, sewing our pieces together while the “ironing assigned” quilters came and took out chained pieces from our machines to press!

Here I am with my completed quilt top at the end of the mini retreat day:

Here are some of the other quilts (same pattern) in progress or completed:

And here is one of the completed quilt tops on the long arm machine getting quilted:

It was a very fun day, though we joked we were in a “quilting sweat shop” – ha! We did take breaks and visited/chatted a lot. We had a wonderful potluck lunch.

We got at least 5 quilt tops completed and a couple more started.

Next post I will show you a tour of the amazing full basement quilt studio of the lovely woman who hosted our mini retreat.

ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy March 2026: Scrappiness About the New Home

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello, it’s the 15th of the month and I’ve rejoined the monthly ScrapHappy posting group hosted by Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia.

Here are links to the blogs of the ScrapHappy participants:

Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie

I’ve completely fallen off the blog-o-sphere with the move to our new home. After days of endless packing now there are now days of endless unpacking.

We closed on the house on March 2 and the began moving in over a couple of days via many carloads and then on March 5th we had professional movers move our large furniture items.

My new studio in the loft of our new home currently looks like this:

So there are no scrappy creations to report for March’s ScrapHappy post.

However I wanted to participate in this monthly celebration of working with scraps/recycled materials so I will provide a tour of some of the scrappy quilts now on display in my new home.

I don’t do well living in chaos so John and I have diligently worked over the past week to get the main floor of our new home livable and even kind of cozy.

1) Scrappy quilt in my new living room on the sofa:

This quilt was made in the 2000s with batik fabric scraps.

2) Scrappy denim quilt hanging on the wall of the new living room:

Made from recycled denim and home decor fabric samples.

3) Scrappy mini quilt wall hanging in the new living room:

A piece I made in a hand embroidery class at the Stitchin’ Post in Sisters, Oregon when I lived in Central Oregon.

4) Scrappy quilt hanging on the wall in the new kitchen:

This quilt was made with Northcott Fabric’s Stonehenge line scraps. Year ago I was completely in love with this fabric line and a friend their large collection of Stonehenge scraps. Along with a set of fat quarters from the fabric line I made this quilt.

5) Scrappy quilt used as tablecloth in new kitchen:

This quilt is composed of scrappy pieced blocks set in Peppered Cotton.

6) Another scrappy quilt made with Northcott’s Stonehenge fabric line scraps, hanging on the wall across from the new kitchen:

I had so many Stonehenge scraps I made another quilt with the stash.

7) My scrappy quilt The Lesson and the Equation I made for the show Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience, hanging in my new dining room/library:

I call this my “Dad Quilt” as the lessons my father taught my sibling and I inspired it.

8) My scrappy quilt Trees Outside My Window hanging in the stairway up to the loft:

Improvisational pieced fabric scraps along with trees I stamped on fabric were used to create this very scrappy quilt.

9) Scrappy (and not ironed yet) table runner in my new dining room/library:

My friend Wendy H. that some of you have met through my blog gave me a collection of leftover pieced blocks and fabric scraps which I turned into the table runner.

10) Another scrappy quilt made primarily with batik fabric scraps, in the stairwell down to the basement:

11) A couple scrappy denim, clothing and home decor fabric scraps wall hanging in our new primary bedroom:

12) Scrappy quilt in the new dining room/library for snuggling under while reading:

There are more scrappy quilts hung about the house but I figured a sampling of 12 was enough for this post.

Apologies that I currently can’t keep up on my blogging buddies posts or read/reply to comments on my posts right now, but I plan to catch up someday.

We have our first out of town visitors to our new home arriving this upcoming week so we are trying to get the basement guest room together. I feel like I have one operational brain cell right now…

Looking forward to settling back into regular life again someday 🙂

ScrapHappy, What's on the Design Wall

ScrapHappy February 2026

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello, it’s the 15th of the month and I’ve rejoined the monthly ScrapHappy posting group hosted by Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia.

Here are links to the blogs of the ScrapHappy participants:

Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie

Life is currently crazy and filled with lots of boxes (see post How Did We Get Here? ) but I do have an update on the scrappy English Paper Piecing (EPP) hexie rosette project I’ve been working on since 2016 that I previously posted about in this post – ScrapHappy January 2026: Moving Forward on the Hexie Project .

In the January 15th 2026 ScrapyHappy post I shared this progress – 9 scrappy EPP flowers machine appliquéd to 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch scrap denim backgrounds:

I made some great progress since then and I now have 37 EPP flowers machine appliquéd to scrap denim:

I’ve developed a rhythm to my machine appliqué of the flowers onto the denim and it’s now so cumbersome now to do it.

I stitch them on a slightly larger than 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch square and then trim to size after I stitch them onto the scrap denim.

Only 62 more blocks to make of the 99 EPP flowers I’ve created.

Postscript

Just a little follow up to my previous post – How Did We Get Here? 

The house is currently in such chaos I needed a calm place in which I could blog and sew if I wanted until we get closer to our move date in early March. John came up with the idea of moving a table into our bedroom in front of the window and setting up my laptop and my sewing machine.

We also set up an area in our bedroom where I could sit and stitch on the quilt I am hand quilting (Hand Quilting “Go Boldly”) or read a book…or just enjoy an escape from boxes…

So now I have a place to escape the madness in the rest of house and write or create (even if most of my stuff is packed up now).

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Quilt Shop Tour: Kathy’s Fabric Trunk, Del Norte, Colorado

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

As I mentioned in the post 2025: Year in Travel, Part 2 during our 2025 year of travel we spent time in the South Fork, Colorado. One day we went into a neighboring town, Del Norte, Colorado and visited a quilt shop – Kathy’s Fabric Trunk in downtown Del Norte.

First we stopped at the Up Top Cafe for some breakfast, coffee (John) and tea (me):

It felt like we spent a couple hours on their cozy couches (there is another sofa across from the one in the photo) eating breakfast and drink our hot beverages. I think we only spent an hour there actually but it was a delightful hour!

Then we walked over to Kathy’s Fabric Trunk to wander around:

Immediately upon walking in we were greeted by the staff and a very cozy and cluttered (but the fun kind of cluttered) quilt shop:

And there was a dog napping that I had to just walk around, he didn’t want to be disturbed by shop visitors!

There was a second section of the shop where they had a huge fabric sale going on of older fabrics and a “Husband Seating Area” for John.

(John sat on the other side of this fabric on a table with sewing machines for sale.)

It was more cluttered than I captured in photos but I had a blast wandering around and even found some fabric that I could not leave the store without:

It’s the Northcott Fabrics Barn Quilt line and here are the fabrics I bough a couple yards of each (images from Northcott Fabrics website):

Not sure what I am making with these fabrics but I totally fell in love with them!

They also had a collection of antique sewing machines scattered around the shop like this one:

Lots and lots of buttons:

And another shop dog that couldn’t be bothered with shop customers – ha!

Hope you enjoyed this little tour 🙂

A Crafter's Life, Studio

Update on My Studio: The Evolving Layout

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in mid-December 2025 I shared in the post Chaos in the Craft Room! that we had moved my quilting/crafting studio from the large Primary Bedroom to a small bedroom in preparation for putting our house on the market and moving to a smaller home.

Since then I’ve been playing/sewing/crafting in my new studio and doing some re-arranging to make it work best for me.

I added back in my tea station and little refrigerator (we tried to make it work in our Primary Bedroom but I didn’t like the low volume noise the refrigerator made when I was trying to sleep at night; and I missed easy access to tea as I need a couple cups a day to keep me happy, ha!):

Thanks to my friend K who attended the 50th anniversary 2025 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and got me a poster! (I used to attend it every year when I lived in Oregon for 14 years and had exhibited quilts in it along with my quilter late husband several times…and sold quilts)

I had to rearrange where I kept my projects in queue because this is what the area looked like previously:

Now the projects in queue are stored under my cutting table (I forgot to take a photo).

I added a floor lamp (left side of image below) to my half design wall area (we had to break up my former design wall to make it fit in the room). As we plan to sell the house and move next year to a smaller house, John didn’t want to install track lighting in this room like he did in my previous mega-studio that was in our converted Primary Bedroom (which has now returned to being a Primary Bedroom):

I am pleased with the floor lamp and it illuminates the design wall nicely.

I’ve done additional rearranging and here is what the rest of the room currently looks like:

You might think it would feel very cluttered moving from a large studio (see the post Thrifting for the Studio if you’ve recently joined us and haven’t seen my previous studio) but it feels COZY and like a HUG of CREATIVE INSPIRATION whenever I go into the room.

In addition to being visually “warm and cozy” it’s also physically/temperature-wise warm and cozy because there is less space to heat compared to my big studio. In my post Magnetic Poetry to Ease My Soul I discussed, in the Postscript section, “Creative Restraints”/”Creative Limitations”/”Creative Limits”; and it appears that a smaller space to create in is really fueling/stimulating my creativity!

During the studio move and reorganization I’ve had an “archeological dig” of unearthing old projects in progress (or “UFOs”/Unfinished Objects as quilters like to call them). For example I discovered this partially finished table runner that would be wonderful on the table in our entryway:

I actually sold a couple of these when I had my Etsy shop going (see my post from 2017 – What’s on the Design…Ironing Board?) and I guess this one another one from 2017 that I was going to finish and list in my Etsy shop.

I continue to work on the English Paper Piecing hexie flowers quilt that I shared in my post ScrapHappy January 2026: Moving Forward on the Hexie Project ; and I love sitting my little studio and working on removing the hexie papers from the back of the flowers (so so so many to go…):

(I’ll share an update on the hexie quilt progress during February’s monthly ScrapHappy post.)

Adventures in Paper Piecing, ScrapHappy

ScrapHappy January 2026: Moving Forward on the Hexie Project

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Hello, it’s the 15th of the month and I’ve rejoined the monthly ScrapHappy posting group hosted by Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia.

Here are links to the blogs of the ScrapHappy participants:

Kate, Eva, Sue, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Tracy, Jan, 
Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Dawn, Gwen,
Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol, Preeti,
Viv, Karrin,  Alissa, Tierney, Hannah and Maggie

Over the next couple of months I’ll be saving updates on my long time English Paper Piecing hexie rosette project to share on the 15th of each month for ScrapHappy.

In my most recent post on this project, Revisiting the EPP Quilt, I shared that I’ve been working on this project since 2016 when I fell in love with the quilt on the cover of Issue 1: Oregon of Quiltfolk Magazine.

I paper pieced 99 rosettes from my fabric scrap collection, attempting to coordinate the colors:

And finally I’ve begun setting the rosettes into blocks using my collection of scrap denim with plans to trim each block to 6.5 inches by 6.5 inches.

But I had to find the most efficient want to attach 99 rosettes to the denim scraps without having to hand appliqué them to the blocks. I was afraid if I committed to hand appliqué all 99 blocks, it would be another 9+ years until I finished this quilt!

So I decided to find a way to use my sewing machine to do it.

I researched my Bernina sewing machine books on the Bernina sewing machine feet and sewing machine stitches, and discovered I could use the #20C foot to sew a blanket stitch around each rosette to attach it (I decided to use a little Stitch Witchery Tape to anchor the rosette onto the denim before machine stitching).

After practicing on scrap denim I was able to figure it out and attach my first rosette and from there I put together my first 9 blocks:

Here they are squished together to sort of give you an idea of how the quilt might look:


I have a long way to go but it is a start!

I did discover that in addition to removing the paper from the hexies in each rosette, I still have to stitch some of the rosettes fully together! So there is a lot of work to get this project done and we’ll see how much progress I will have to report next month 🙂

Oh and yes it will be a heavy quilt using scrap denim as the setting squares but it is going to be a wall hanging in my upstairs guest room, not a utility quilt for snuggling under.

What's on the Design Wall

Easing Back into Quiltmaking with a T-Shirt Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

It feels like I floated far away from a regular quiltmaking practice and I’d like to return to it.

I’d like to always have some quilt, whether traditional or art, in progress on my design wall.

So I am easing back in by making a simple T-shirt quilt for John for Christmas (it’s not a surprise as I wanted him of course to have a say in what T-shirts he gave up for the project!);

I took 17 of his old T-shirts and backed them with interfacing and trimmed them to 12.5 inches by 12.5 inches.

The one in the middle, “Beards Turn Laziness Into Awesomeness” is not actually one of his old T-shirts but a joke T-shirt my friend S found for John while she and I were thrifting.

I am setting the interfaced T-shirt squares with a tartan looking flannel I found a couple years ago at a thrift shop.

I will bind the quilt once it is quilted with red flannel binding to “frame” it/coordinated with the scrappy red flannel I put around the center T-shirt to make it large enough to fit into the design.

Happy to have a quilt in progress up on the design wall!

It should come together quickly so I hope to soon have an update on this quilt!

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

The Spinning Scrap Bin

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I don’t seem to be able to control my attraction to fabric scraps – various little bits of tasty fabrics. I’ve culled/curated my collection over the years and have donated the scraps I’ll never use to the charity thrift shops to sale in bundles.

I tell myself that I must use up what I have before I pick up more scraps, but new fabric scraps keep finding their way into my life.

I was doing pretty well controlling my obsession until we went on a day trip to Fort Collins, CO last week and stopped at the relatively new retail location of Pink Door Fabrics in Frederick, Colorado on the way to Fort Collins.

And they had toward the back of the store a SPINNING BIN OF FABRIC SCRAPS!!!

They had organized the fabric scraps (which were fat quarter to nearly half yard sized scraps!) by color and/or fabric line. The spinning bin was some type of industrial organization bin that was repurposed into a fabric scrap bin.

They had a “fill a bag” for a flat rate set up and I filled…two bags.

I started out filling only one bag but the staff was so friendly and got a kick out of how excited I was about their spinning fabric scrap bin and one staff member decided to go out to the Pink Door Fabrics Warehouse behind the shop and see if there were scraps for me to choose from.

She brought back this plastic tub of scraps:

So I ended up filling two bags. Very full. They even let me have fabric overflowing the bag. (I am pretty sure they were happy to get rid of the scraps).

I know I should show you my haul but I forgot to photograph it before I put it away in my already ridiculous collection of fat quarters and fabrics scraps.

If you’d like a little tour of the quilt shop here are some additional photos:

Pink Door Fabrics has an amazing collection of well curated fabrics with a focus on modern quilting style fabric lines such as Ruby Star, Tula Pink, AGF Studio, Riley Blake, Alison Glass, Tilda Fabrics, Anna Maria, Tara Faughnan, Moda, etc.

They also have a nice little seating area in case you have someone with you that doesn’t want to wander the fabric stacks – ha! (hint John)

I really loved this quilt they had displayed:

Postscript

After the “spinning scrap bin” incident, we headed on to spend the day in Fort Collins (which is about 1.5 hours from our home) and found a delicious Ramen place we never tried before (we love Ramen); as well as stopped at one of our favorite Fort Collins breweries – New Belgium Brewery and had a tasty sampler!

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Tooling Around Townsend

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Before we sailed out of Port Angeles, WA to Victoria BC for 24 hours (minus sleep) of fun in July 2025, (see posts A Delightful Bead and Button Shop in Victoria, BC and 24 Hours in Victoria, BC) we spent a lovely afternoon in Port Townsend, Washington.

It been countless years since I visited Port Townsend, WA…not since when I lived in Seattle, WA for 8 years and would stop there on the way to British Columbia (which we visited as much as possible)…. Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Washington state known for its beautiful waterfront and natural scenery at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula; and many historic Victorian buildings remaining from its late 19th-century heyday. It is also a hub for numerous annual cultural events, and a maritime center for independent boatbuilders and related industries and crafts. (Wikipedia).

John and I had a delicious lunch at thr Sirens Pub with a wonderful view of the water:

Then we wandering around the shops in downtown Port Townsend including a fiber shop – Diva Yarn & Trim.

A shop with yarn and fabric is always my kind of place.

While walking in the waterfront area we came across two ladies playing guitar and accordion and singing in French. Their music was so wonderful I tried to find their tip jar to give them a little something but they said they did it just for fun not for any money.

They didn’t mind if I filmed the area with their music in the background:

It was a glorious day in Port Townsend, WA!

Postscript

When we first arrived in Washington State via the Seattle (SeaTac) airport, we stayed in Olympia and the next day drove to Port Townsend and then on to Port Angeles to take the ferry to Victoria, BC. On our way to Port Townsend, we stopped in Shelton, WA and visited one of my favorite Washington state quilt shops – Annie’s Quilt Shoppe.

I hadn’t been there in years, not since I used to attend an annual quilt retreat in Shelton, WA (see posts A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part I, A Drawstring-bagalicious Retreat, Part II, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part I, Guest Blogger: Quilt Retreat Report from the tierneycreates Beastie, Part II, and Riptide Retreat 2022 in Black and White ) and it was nice to return and chat with Annie the owner.

I bought some very reasonably priced fabric to support this awesome shop (that perhaps I did not. need, ha!).

I always get a kick out of this sign in front of the shop that some of the quilters reading this post might have seen in front of other quilting shops:

Finished Projects, U.S. National Parks

National Parks Wallhanging Quilted and Hung

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Now that my year of travel has slowed down (only one more trip to go this year), I am easing back into my studio to make things. (Perhaps someday there will be more “tierneycreates” posts vs. “tierneytravels” posts in the future…)

John and I are obsessed with U.S. National Parks and ended up visiting 6 this year (I’ve only blogged about 2 of them so far as I am quite behind in my travel posts – Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks) and when we redecorated our basement guest room we did it in a Colorado and National Parks theme (see post “Pieces of Colorado” Now Hung in the Guest Room):

What you can barely see in the image above is some of the art on the wall are framed pages from a book I found thrifting for $2.99 (retails for $34.99) of 63 of the iconic Anderson Design Group National Park Posters on individual pages:

Image Credit: Anderson Design Store website

I took this amazing 9″ x 12″ book apart and framed 16 or so of the 9″ x 12″ to use as art in the basement and in the stairwell leading to the basement.

So when during our trip to South Dakota we stopped at a quilt shop in downtown Rapid City, SD (see post A Wander About Downtown Rapid City, SD) and they had the Riley Blake Designs National Parks Poster Panel featuring miniature U.S. National Park Posters by the Anderson Design Group, I had to have it!

Image Credit: Riley Black Designs website

Instead of letting it gather dust in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection”, I decided this week to actually make it into a wallhanging and hang it 🙂

I decided to use strategically placed fusible web tape between the panel and the batting, and the batting and the backing to hold it all together for quilting instead of thread basting or pinning it:

Here the wallhanging hung in the stairwell from the 1st floor to the basement:

Here is a close up of some of the miniature U.S. National Park posters on the panel which mirror some of the posters I hung on the wall from the Anderson Group book I thrifted:

My machine quilting on this quilt was very simple – I followed the lines in the panel and outlined the individual states, the miniature posters, and the longitude and latitude lines. The finished wallhanging measures 33″ tall by 43″ wide.

Of course now the MANY other panels in my “impulsive-purchase-quilt-panel-collection” are envious of the National Parks Map panel as they would also love to be completed wallhangings and hung (or made into quilts). 😉

A Crafter's Life, tierneycreates

Reacquainted with an Old Quilt

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Recently my friend K reacquainted me with an old quilt with emotional ties I had forgotten about.

I’ve been quilting since the late 1990s and I’ve made a lot of quilts, most of which I’ve given as gifts or in some cases sold, so you kind of forget some of the quilts after a while; and sometimes the emotional connection you had with a particular quilt.

One of the quilts I had forgotten about was a blue and white quilt that I made from a pattern many years ago (10 years ago?) and ended up sellling (for basically the cost of the fabric and the professional longarm quilting) to a quilting friend L who fell in love with it.

Last week my friend K was staying at L’s home in New Hampshire and ended up sleeping under that blue and white quilt I made (and had forgotten about) and sent me photos:

It was nice to see the quilt but I forgot the emotional connection I had with the quilt until K mentioned that the quilt had a spectacular backing.

I gasped as I suddenly remembered the backing I put on the quilt and asked K to send me a picture of the back of the quilt so I could see it again:

On the back of what one might consider a “quiet quilt” (blues and white in a traditional setting) I put what one might consider a “very bold” fabric!

At the time I made the quilt I thought the front of it was “boring” and decided to spice it up with a colorful backing fabric I found in my stash.

That fabric was from my friend Tracy who suddenly died a couple years after giving me the fabric which she found at a thrift shop.

I met Tracy at work back in the 1990s when I lived in Houston, Texas and we stayed friends for many years, occasionally losing touch but finding each other again. I started quilting while livingi in Seattle, Washington and she, unknown to me at the time, had also started quilting! When we reconnected a couple years after each of us becoming quilters we were very elated that we now shared the same hobby.

I however have some intense regret related to Tracy. Over a year before she died we were supposed to go to the International Quilt Festival in Houston in October, and I cancelled and said it would work better for us to go next year.

There was no next year quilt festival for Tracy as she passed away the following year before the festival. I had missed a glorious opportunity and memory with my friend because I delayed going to the event with her a year. I also missed an opportunity to spend time with her before she left this existence.

Perhaps this is why many years ago I decided to sell the quilt to L. L loved the quilt and the quilt was just making me sad, reminding me of Tracy’s passing and my regret on not going to the quilt festival with her.

Now of course I wish I’d kept the quilt and honored Tracy’s memory by still having a quilt a made with a backing she gave me.

However, all I can do now is be grateful that is being used and not in a closet somewhere tucked away; to remember not to wait to do special things with special people; and tomorrow is not promised.

Special Events, Studio

“Toward 2050” – Volunteering to Make A Quilt Top

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in May I shared in the very long post QuiltCon February 2025, Phoenix Arizona, that while in Phoenix, Arizona for QuiltCon 2025 I visited the Desert Botanical Garden and got to spend time at the Toward 2050 exhibit.

I was so taken by the exhibit that I wanted to be part of it if possible and signed up to volunteer to piece one of the quilt tops together.

But let me back up and first give you some background from that May 2025 post.

BACKGROUND ON TOWARD 2050

Here’s an excerpt from the Toward 2050 website:

“According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change, global climate is on track to increase by 1.5° C by 2040, and with that, irreparable damage will likely be done to earth’s ecosystems if our course is not changed decisively and with haste. In the IPCC’s Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report, clear goals and pathways have been defined to reverse our emissions of green house gases – 50% by 2030, and to arrive at net zero emissions by 2050, keeping the global rise in temperature to under 1.5° C in perpetuity. Hence, 2050 marks a very important point in our human history…

Textile work from makers from 45 U.S. states and 9 countries have become important parts of TOWARD 2050, which has culminated in this immersive installation at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona – February 8th through June 1st of 2025. Makers were called to create environmentally themed, textile panels in the style of “prayer flags”. Our goal was to collect enough double sided flags to define the pathways of ​this interactive labyrinth experience. That goal was met thanks to the generousity and commitment of all the makers participating in this project.” 

Here are some images from the TOWARD 2050 textile flags  labyrinth (which took over a half hour to the center and back) I walked during my visit to the Desert Botanical Garden.

I recently found this video on YouTube of the labyrinth I walked back in February 2025:

NEXT STEP: MAKING BLANKETS (QUILTS)

As you can see from the Toward 2025 website screen shot above, after the exhibit (and raising awareness), the next step is to make “blankets” (to me they would be quilts) to donate to communities that will “suffer future climate catastrophe).

From the Toward 2050 website here are the packets that will be sent out to volunteers and what they want the “blankets” to look like:

Images credits: Toward 2050 website

VOLUNTEERING TO MAKE A QUILT/BLANKET TOP

So I signed up and a couple weeks ago (while I was traveling) a package of 30 flags arrived in the mail:

Here are the 30 blocks laid out quickly on my design wall:

And here is a sampling of some of the blocks I was sent to piece together made from participants all over the world:

Volunteers are required to provide the fabric for the lattice and borders for the “blanket top” they are piecing from the Toward 2050 blocks (the “blanket” will then be longarm quilted by other volunteers).

I was planning to search through my fabric stash to find something that would work with all the different colors in the blocks when I received a gifted piece of fabric in the mail from one of my awesome penpals! (You know who you are and you ROCK! Impeccable timing!)

Turns out this fabric would work well with the blocks and I tested it out in the image above.

Talk about a serendipitous surprise!

I will of course share the pieced blanket/quilt top with you all in a future post once I get it put together.

Postscript

If by chance you are interested in participating, they are still looking for volunteers to piece tops using 30 of the textile flags the they will send you.

See the link below if you are interested:

Join us to make blankets from the TOWARD 2050 flags!

Toward 2050 overview taken from a nearby desert mountain. (photo courtesy of Bill Timmerman, Timmerman Photography)

Quilt Shop Tours, tierneytravels

Stitch a Quilt Store in Durango, CO

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Well it’s been quite the Summer of Travel (after a Spring of Travel) so far; and I thought I’d dive into sharing my adventures with a little tour of a quilt shop I visited for the first time in Durango, Colorado in June 2025 – Stitch.

We visited Durango, Colorado as part of a Colorado roadtrip. In May I turned a “milestone birthday” and we’ve been celebrating with travel and adventures that I’ll share more about in a future posts.

Stitch is located in charming downtown Durango and has a warm and inviting atmosphere and friendly staff.

Here are scenes from inside the shop:

And here is where I got into trouble (ha!) and invited fat quarters that I did not need to come home with me:

I mean I got one free, how could I turn down the deal?

And here is the sign in front of the shop to lure you in…

(Because quilters need to be lured into quilt shops…)

Finished Quilts

“Pieces of Colorado” Now Hung in the Guest Room

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

I love Colorado and I’ve been lucky to live here for a little over 6 years.

In 2019 when I was considering the move to Colorado and not sure if it was the right thing or not, the Universe gave me a sign, and this ad was the first thing I saw when I opened a magazine to read while I was still deciding:

That ad did not lie, I feel “truly alive” here!

I want to share that feeling and my love of Colorado with friends and family who come to visit, so I placed my completed Pieces of Colorado quilt in our daylight basement guest room:

In addition to celebrating Colorado, I wanted to celebrate the beauty of the U.S. National Parks some of my country’s most beautiful and precious lands.

So throughout the guest room I have framed posted of National Parks especially those that John and I have visited (together or in our previous lives) and ones we plan to visit in the near future. I thrifted the pictures – got them from a book on the art of of National Parks posters that was not in good condition but most of the pages were.

I also thrifted all the other art/decor in room, including the beautiful rug which I found for $12 at a Goodwill Outlet (we cleaned it very well).

And John made the bedside tables which include built in outlets for easy access to charging devices for guests.

He also built a little bookshelf for the “guest library” where I keep books that I’ve already read and want to keep for guests to read while they visit and/or take with them home.

Here’s a tour:

Here’s a closer look at some of the cool Colorado and National Park art I found at thrift stores (many for under $5):

I struggle with buying anything new these days and there are so many treasures at thrift stores (plus I am keeping stuff out of landfills and giving them a new home).

On the desk in the guest room (we did buy the desk years ago new), I have a collection of thrifted books on National Parks below a thrifted radio:

Yes that is a National Park (Grand Canyon) thrifted mug holding pens for guests to use (I have a thrifted note pads in the desk drawer).

I also have a basket where we are keeping any maps, brochures or pamphlets were pick up while visiting National Parks for guests to look through (along with some unused slippers for them we’ve collected from hotel stays):

When designing our guest room I wanted to have the things I wished people would have for me when I visit and so we stocked the guest room closet with two (relatively inexpensive) bathrobes so our guests can feel cozy:

I hope this doesn’t sounds like a “soapbox” but I feel strongly that if people spend their money and time to come and visit you, you should make them feel VERY welcome. When traveling it is challenging to be away from your comforts of home so we try to give them as many comforts as we can.

We have our guest bathroom well stocked with what we think guests might need so if they are visiting us they don’t have to worry about bringing a lot of toiletries. We also make sure there are plenty of fresh towels. We’ve even put a little hamper basket in the guest room closet for their dirty towels, etc.

People might think we are “over the top” in our hosting but we want to honor each person who visits our home.

I guess this thrifted sign in our guest room we hung above one of the windows sums it up:

Oh wait, this post was supposed to be about the Pieces of Colorado quilt being hung, I think I digressed – ha!

(By the way if this post left your eyes rolling in your head, just accept that John and I are weird…ha!)

Quilt in Progress

Two Blocks for “Tealing (Telling) All Our Stories (TAOS)”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

For the second year in a row I am participating in the annual group Ovarian Cancer Charity Fundraising Quilt headed up by the lovely Australian based quilter Kate C. @talltales from chiconia.

I made two 12.5 inch by 12.5 inch blocks and shipped them off to Australia on Monday. (By the way I have a really good friend and penpal in Austria that I regularly mail letters and I made sure to clearly enunciate the country to the my regular postal clerk and make sure envelope was going to “Australia” this time and not “Austria” – ha! My Austrian based friend years ago sent me a funny magnet with a kangaroo with a slash mark over it that read: “there are no kangaroos in Austria”!)

This year’s theme is “Tealing All Our Stories” and we are to make bookcase shelf themed blocks. Check out Kate’s blog I linked in the first paragraph if you’d like to see some of the blocks she’s received from other quilters around the world.

So if you haven’t guessed, we needed to make teal, the color used to represent Ovarian Cancer Awareness, the feature color in our blocks.

I had a fat quarter of tiny stripe pattern Figo fabric I won at QuiltCon in February (see my post QuiltCon February 2025, Phoenix Arizona if you’d like to read about my first trip to QuiltCon), that reminded me of pages in a book seen from the side of a book and that was my inspiration.

I created two blocks of stacked books view from the pages side:

I happened to have in my fabric stash some unusual ombre teal fabric that sort of looked like mountains and I used that as the. background for my book stacks to represent Colorado where I live.

In order to unify all the bookcase blocks, Kate asked us all to put a 1 inch finished border around our blocks and that is why you see a cream border. She also asked us to use a dark teal as the background for whatever image we create for our blocks.

Fingers crossed the blocks arrive safe to Kate’s house in Australia (and don’t wander over to Austria, ha!)

If you are interested in the progress of this quilt please follow Kate’s blog @talltales from chiconia; and I will try to post an update on the quilt when she has the layout complete (she does a tremendous amoung of work on these annual charity quilts, the rest of us just have to make a couple blocks and ship them off!)

Postscript

I’ve fallen a bit behind in blogging as we’ve been enjoying the late Spring/nearly Summer warm weather and going on some fun holidays and roadtrips – from day long trips where we come home at night to trips over several days. I’ll blog about some of them in the future.

This past weekend we went to the community garage/yard sale and picked up some fun items, each for $2:

A leather top hat for John (for fun or costume wear):

And a lovely cast iron Japanese tea pot set for me:

Quilt in Progress

Quilt in Progress: “Pieces of Colorado” Update #2

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Please see the post Quilt in Progress: “Pieces of Colorado” for background on the quilt Pieces of Colorado.

In this post I want to share an update on my Colorado themed quilt, which will be hung in our guest room, that is made from panels I picked up during the 2021 Rocky Mountain Quilt Shop Hop.

The quilt arrived back from the professional longarm quilter who used an Aspen Tree Leaf pattern (Aspen trees are so Colorado and I have several in my yard) for the quilting.

I have the binding sewn on as well as the hanging sleeve. I just need to sew them down and then hang the quilt!

Speaking on Aspen trees, the Aspen trees next to the windows in my studio (on the 3rd level of our house) are in full bloom now as are all the other deciduous trees in our backyard.

Once again I feel like I am crafting in a treehouse!

Postscript

I mentioned above I just need to sew down the binding and then it is done. But alas, that will have to wait because first I need to work on two blocks for the group Ovarian Cancer fundraiser quilt that Australian-based quilter Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia is spearheading again (see her post Ovarian Cancer Quilt 12: Tealing All Our Stories ).

I think I am the only U.S. based quilter participating again this year. Correct me if I am wrong and you are participating.

The theme is a bookcase quilt and since I love books (and libraries…and bookcases), I had to participate! I’ll share my blocks in a future post. Check out Kate’s blog if you want to see some of the blocks the group working on this charity quilt has made so far.

Colorado Quilt, Quilt in Progress

Quilt in Progress: “Pieces of Colorado”

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Back in August 2021, John and I drove around the southern Front Range area of Colorado to visit the quilt shops in the 2021 Rocky Mountain Quilt Shop Hop.

Each quilt shop on the shop hop had a small panel, displaying something about Colorado, that you could purchase for $5 and make part of a Colorado themed quilt or use individually in project:

And then there were several Colorado themed larger panels to select from that you could buy to make a Colorado themed quilt including this one shown in a sample quilt in one of the shop hop quilt shops:

Here is another sample quilt using the same panel combined with the small panels each quilt shop participating in the shop hop had available:

While attending the 2021 Rocky Mountain Shop Hop, I bought this panel (“Welcome to Colorful Colorado”), collected the small panels from each quilt shop we visited along the shop hop, and bought this pattern – Pieces of Colorado.

And then they all sat in a box together for 4 years…

Recently I decided to finally make the quilt (which is wall hanging/small lap quilt sized) for our basement guest room which I was in the process of redecorating. Originally due to some waterfront/boating art John had from his previous life, the room was ocean/beach/sea themed. But we are “landlocked” in Colorado and the closest ocean is roughly 1000 miles away; and I thought we needed a theme that better represents where we live.

Colorado has the 3rd most National Parks of any states in the U.S. (Black Canyon Of The Gunnison, Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and Rocky Mountain National Park) and it’s a beautiful mountainous state.

Image credit: U.S. National Park Service website

So I thought for our visitors, the guest room should celebrate Colorado as well as the amazing National Parks we have in my country.

At a later time I will reveal the remodeled guest room (and all the National Park themed art I havw added) but for now here is MY version of the Colorado themed quilt (“Pieces of Colorado”) in progress (I finished the quilt top) that is going above the bed in the guest room:

In addition to the large and small panels, I used several yards from my collection of Peppered Cottons in green and saffron. I will be using a brown Peppered Cotton for the quilt binding to “frame” the quilt.

Here’s the backing fabric that I found thrifting. It is a heavy cotton duvet that I disassembled to salvage the fabric:

So right now the quilt top and back are with my long arm machine quilter getting professionally quilted. I can’t wait to put the binding on and hang it on the wall (I will make a hanging sleeve for the back) when it returns!

Postscript

Here is the inspiration for the “Welcome to Colorful Colado” panel:

This sign is located at various borders between Colorado and neighboring states.

It was also the 2021 commemorative Rocky Mountain Quilt Shop Hop pin that I got when I completed my “passport” by visiting all the shops on the shop hop!

Finished Quilts

Completed: Farm Girl Vintage Quilt (and trying a new quilt binding technique)

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Sending thanks out to those of you who’ve followed the journey of this quilt completion. A special thanks to Kate of Tall Tales From Chiconia who inspired me to work on this quilt as part of the monthly ScrapHappy online group she helps run (the blocks for my quilt are entirely of fabric scraps, many of them from other quilters).

If Kate hadn’t inspired me, the quilt might have continued to be an old UFO (unfinished object for the non-quilters) for endless years!

Quick story behind this quilt: I began working on blocks for this quilt at a quilt retreat back in 2017 (yes 8 years ago) when several of my quilting buddies were working on blocks from Lori Holt’s book  Farm Girl Vintage. I am not into the “farm girl” aesthetic but the blocks looked so fun; and I was drawn into the fun and excitement my friends were having making the blocks.

But the blocks got put away to gather dust (because I didn’t know what I would do with such a quilt that didn’t fit into my more Bohemian decor aesthetic) until I did an audit a couple years ago of my UFOs and decided I should finish the quilt.

And now finally the quilt is done!

I hate binding quilts and decided to try out of new technique for binding the quilt per this YouTube video:

It worked and I ended up with nice crisp corners, which I’ve always struggled with:

The finished quilt measures approximately 96 by 97 inches (2.44 meters by 2.46 meters) and it was a bit unwieldy to try and photograph for this post. First I tried photographing it on my front porch draping it over the railing and photographing the front and back on the rail:

Then John got a long board of wood from his woodworking project pile along with a couple of woodworking clamps and clamped the quilt on. He held it above his head while I took photos.


Yes there is a shadow up top but I didn’t want to ask him to redo it in another location. This photo is good enough!

And here is a little section of the quilted back of the quilt with the Cortez Mill Flour sacks and disassembled recycled duvet cover:

So my future plan is to send a photo to the Cortez Flour Mill so they can see what I did with their flour sacks!