We are already well into 2020 and it seems like it went quick and extremely slowly at the same time! I've been busy with lots of great things in the works for Tangible Culture over the past few months. Stay tuned for more info on a few of these ventures soon! But first I wanted to share with you all of the great quilts I made over the holiday season! Read more →
With spring 2020 graduations postponed due to COVID-19, let me help you make an extra special graduation gift that celebrates and commemorates all of your student's memories and experiences in a t-shirt quilt or memory quilt! Here is what you need to know about ordering a quilt as a graduation present. Read more →
Learn the steps I'm taking to reduce wasted fabric and other textile materials here at Tangible Culture and get a sneak peek at one of the quilts that will be available soon in my forthcoming Etsy shop! Read more →
I have had the honor of making a number of very special quilts over the past few months and wanted to share some more of those stories with you! Read more →
It’s time for an update on the Finish-A-Long! I previously wrote about my third quarter goals for this fun, free, and no pressure challenge intended to help motivate you to finish some of your Works in Progress (WIPs) or Unfinished Objects (UFOs). Now that the fourth quarter is starting its time to check in, tell you how I did, and make my list of projects for the last three months of the year! I hope you'll be inspired to make your own list and play along! Sign ups close this Friday October 18, so you still have a little time to join in. Read more →
I have an exciting announcement today! My research on early European and American patchwork quilts is being published by the Modern Quilt Guild in Modern Monthly, their quarterly online magazine! I'm writing a series of three posts and the first article just came out. The series explores European influences on colonial and early Euro-American quilting as well as the shift from these early styles to the block style layout we often think of when we hear the word quilt today. Read more →
Today we are headed back to Penzance to explore some of the fun things to do in the area after you have visited all the textile related shops in town. One place you should not miss while you are staying in Penzance is St. Michael’s Mount. It’s a fairy tale-like castle on an island accessed by a magical causeway that appears and disappears with the tide. It also happens to be the place where, according to local lore, Jack defeated the giant and this folklorist could not resist that combination! Read more →
Today we’re going to learn tips and tricks to help you pin baste the three layers of a quilt together. Basting allows you to temporarily hold all the layers together as you quilt, ensuring that you don’t get wrinkles or puckers on the back of your quilt. Read more →
Have you heard of the Finish-A-Long? It's a fun, free, and no pressure challenge started by Rhonda of Rhonda's Ramblings and hosted by a number of different bloggers around the world that encourages you to make a list of Works in Progress (WIPs) or Unfinished Objects (UFOs) that you want to finish in each quarter of the year. I've been participating for a couple of years now and really enjoy the community, seeing all the different types of projects that people are working on around the globe, and getting that little bit of extra motivation to finish something on my to do list. Read more →
Making any piece of art can be a long process. I know I have some quilts from 15 years ago that still need to be finished and I’m sure you have UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and WIPs (Works In Progress) too! It’s so satisfying to finish the that last step and feel the excitement of a completed project. But it is important to remember that a project isn’t really done until you label it! Why are labels important? It’s your one chance to tell the story of your quilt (or any piece of art that you make) the way you want it to be remembered. Read more →
It’s been an exciting few months here at Tangible Culture with the first orders for custom quilts coming in and a lecture on the development of the block-style quilt for the Bloomington Quilters Guild! I thought it would be fun to share a few highlights from the custom quilts that I have made in the past few months. Read more →
We’re in full blown summer-type weather here in southern Indiana and it has me dreaming of beach vacations and slowing down for a bit. A vacation isn’t in the cards right now as this new start-up business means a slow initial cash flow. In the meantime though, I can dream about one of my favorite vacations ever, when I visited Penzance, Cornwall, in the United Kingdom last summer and hopefully inspire some of you to travel there as well! Read more →
The 100 Day Project officially began yesterday but it isn’t too late to join in! You can start this project at any time but joining in now is extra fun since there is a whole global community taking part. What’s the 100 Day Project? It’s a free global art project. You pick a project, do it for 100 days, and share it. I’ve been participating since the first 100 Days Project was launched by Elle Luna in 2015 (it's now led by Lindsay Jean Thomson) and this will be my 5th year joining in. I haven’t finished every year but I have made progress, and progress and community are the whole point. Let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to see what I’ve learned and accomplished each year, even when I didn’t finish and then I'll tell you about this year's project! Read more →
Historical quilts and textiles are one of my passions and last summer I had the chance to see a truly amazing piece of quilting and patchwork history! The 1718 Coverlet is the oldest dated patchwork in the United Kingdom, that we know of at this point anyway. The piece is made predominantly from silk and is pieced over papers which are still intact in the coverlet, a process that we refer to as English Paper Piecing today. It is not quilted, hence the reason why it is called a coverlet and not a quilt. Read more →