About Me

Hi! My name is Dana, and I love to sew! I have lived many places in my life but have called Northern Virginia home since 2008. I’m married to a wonderful man who indulges my every creative impulse, supporting me every step of the way. Thanks to him I retired in my early 40’s which made way for what has become an ever unfolding creative journey, circuitous and varied with ebbs and flows of inspiration. Most often I wish I had four heads, eight hands, and a lot more time to execute all of my ideas. Besides sewing, I enjoy cooking, baking, organizing, laser arts, reading, writing, attempting abstract painting, taking classes, reminiscing with longtime friends, and though sometimes my motivation wanes, exercise. I also enjoy meeting new people who share my depth of interest in all things sewing/fiber art. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that I have a special love for cats. Yes, of course I love animals in general, but I am a cat lover at my core.

My Equipment

I came to sewing later in life than most and started out with one used Singer I bought on Craigslist. Today I have a suite of Baby Lock machines ranging from the Accomplish straight stitch to a ten needle embroidery machine with various others. A Crescendo, a Sashiko, an Embellisher, a Euphoria coverstitch, an Acclaim serger, and a Sailrite LSZ enable me to explore and evolve in many different sewing and fiber art modalities.

• More thread painting
  A long time friend of mine obtained her captain’s license for sail boats. She worked very hard to achieve it and hopes to run charters in a few years when she retires. She has always been an adventurous, ambitious, high achieving person who gives a great deal of herself to others. I made her this… Read more: More thread painting
• Thread painting
  Hello again…is it mid August already? How is everyone managing in the heat? I’m a solidly indoorsy gal so as long as the AC is blasting and I have thread (joke, I have lots of thread) I’m all set. I’ve done a lot of animals via foundation paper piecing and thread painting in the past… Read more: Thread painting
• Learning to use my. Longarm
  Hello! I have been a bad blogger; I am going to do my best to be more consistent. To be honest I’ve experienced a lot of glitches with this site that have made blogging more time intensive. I don’t know what’s wrong but suspect it’s more than one thing. But I won’t place all of… Read more: Learning to use my. Longarm
• It has been a while/elephant complete!
  Hi everybody! I know I’ve been quiet here; lots going on, all good stuff, but I haven’t posted in months. I write with news! First, pushing a 55” square FPP project through a Crescendo while trying to quilt with monofilament is demoralizing. So many thread breaks-I had to stop and think about how in the… Read more: It has been a while/elephant complete!
• Multilayered laser cut map
  I don’t know what happened but this post never uploaded and has been caught in draft status for months without my realizing it. Here it is; better late than never? Greetings everyone! Are you ready for a fresh new year? I hope you’re all looking forward to good things and new creative adventures; I certainly… Read more: Multilayered laser cut map
• An elephant in the making
  I’ve been able to steal some time away from chores this week, unlike last week which was a near complete loss! I’be made some progress but still have plenty to do. Wish me luck!
• Progress on The Matriarch
  Greetings from soggy, sloshy northern Virginia! I’m not complaining; I actually love this weather! Being cozy at home, cooking and baking, and of course sewing-what’s not to like!?! Because I cooked and baked this weekend I didn’t spend the entirety of it in my sewing room but I did make some progress completing more units.… Read more: Progress on The Matriarch
• The Matriarch has begun in earnest
  Greetings! I managed to get some good sewing time in this weekend and I hope you did too! My start has been slow because I’m pressing the yardage as different colors are indicated on the units I’m piecing but soon I will have pressed them all so there will be more time sewing and the… Read more: The Matriarch has begun in earnest
• Christmas cards, Elephant prep, and a deco stitch hand cut applique experiment
  Greetings! I hope everyone had a great holiday and managed to sneak in some time to sew! I had lots of stuff going on but had fun all the way through. By now you know I love making cards. Christmas, general winter, and even some spring/summer cards are in the mix. Have a look! I… Read more: Christmas cards, Elephant prep, and a deco stitch hand cut applique experiment
• The Matriarch by Verushka Zarate
  Greetings fellow sewing enthusiasts! I bet a bunch of you are elbow deep in holiday gifts; I finished early this year and am excited (and a bit trepidacious) about beginning the foundation paper piecing opus that is The Matriarch by Verushka Zarate. If you aren’t familiar with Zarate’s patterns you’re really missing out. She is… Read more: The Matriarch by Verushka Zarate
• Christmas wall hangings complete
  I finished the second version today and am happy with how it came out. I can’t seem to capture the nuance of the textures and sparkle but here are my attempts. Having the laser do all of the cutting enables me to focus on the development of my FMQ skills and of course, assembly. I’m… Read more: Christmas wall hangings complete
• I finished the wall hanging
  Hello again! I thought I’d post my finished wall hanging. I love the metallic and holographic threads and was inspired by my friend Gail ( who is an AMAZING seamstress) to bind this quilt using the Wave stitch on my Baby Lock Acclaim. She bound two beautiful advent calendars this way and it looked so… Read more: I finished the wall hanging
• Halloween 2023
  If you’ve been following along you know I love sewing on card stock to make fun cards, and what holiday is more fun than Halloween? None! My cards are in the hands of my recipients now so no surprises will be spoiled; I’ll share my designs and my handy helper, Diablo the laser. Here is… Read more: Halloween 2023
• Sewing humor and laser cut quilt shapes
  If you don’t know me and my husband as a couple, you aren’t familiar with our household dynamic. Artsy English major + brilliant rocket scientist = comedy. After 17 years of marriage he still cracks me up with his matter of fact, professorial responses. Today I learned about Pythagoras…I know I blocked that in tenth… Read more: Sewing humor and laser cut quilt shapes
• Quilted greeting cards
  I have fallen in love with creating quilted greeting cards. I mean, who doesn’t love a little quilty goodness? It all started several years ago when the isolation of the pandemic began to impact my extroverted friends the hardest. Most of the people I know live out of state and I wanted a way to… Read more: Quilted greeting cards
• Some blasts from the distant past
  I didn’t complete any sewing projects this weekend. We (hubby and I) spent a lot of time with the laser. For a little history, my husband is an aerospace engineer with an undergrad in electrical engineering. He can do most anything that can be done with two hands and superior spatial reasoning. He built a… Read more: Some blasts from the distant past
• A Sewing Blog
  My intention with this blog is to post the projects I’m currently working on and to create a gallery of previous projects. You’ll see if you follow me that I’m interested in a lot of different kinds of sewing but with a primary focus on textile art/art quilts. My one in 7 billion Baby Lock… Read more: A Sewing Blog