QUILTER | TEACHER | AUTHOR | FOUNDER
Liz Porter and I were in our mid-twenties (both of us mothers of toddlers) back in 1976 when we met in a beginners quilting class offered through Iowa State University Extension in the small town of Winterset, Iowa. In no … Read More
Once upon a time, while meandering through the Egyptian Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I noticed an elevated sarcophagus—without a lid. “Goodness,” I thought, “a person could easily reach up, drop any sort of … Read More
The weekend’s forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s—ideal weather for a jaunt to my hometown, Winterset, Iowa, for Iowa Quilt Museum’s annual Airing of the Quilts. You’ll feast your eyes on hundreds of quilts on … Read More
Last October, I shared the exciting news that MONUMENTS, a new film by Jack C. Newell*, had won spots in a number of (virtual, natch, because of COVID) film festivals—the Nashville Film Festival and Heartland Film Festival (Indianapolis). MONUMENTS was … Read More
If you could choose just one quilt from the approximately 6000 in the International Quilt Museum’s vast collection and make it your own, which one would it be? A gorgeous Baltimore Album? An exquisite French whole cloth? Grace Snyder’s amazing … Read More
Here in aptly-named WINTERset, we’re having quite the sporty winter. Around here, even before the last snowflake hits the ground, guys are out there, “pushing snow.” Pushing snow is not the same as removing snow from one’s sidewalk with a … Read More
On November 3, 2020, I stepped outside my door at 5:45 a.m. and walked the four-block distance to First United Methodist Church for my election worker debut. (Because of COVID, Winterset Precincts 1 and 2 were combined into a single … Read More
Growing up, my family changed houses only about four times that I can remember. We moved from Iowa, where I was born, to Kansas City, where I started school, then to Friendswood, Texas, and after that to Houston, where I … Read More
When my children were little, I (and others) read to them every day. When Hannah—four years older than Mary, seven years older than Rebecca—learned to read, she read to us. Being sick in bed with a nasty ear infection or … Read More
No one would deny I know a thing or two about quilts. Having learned to read before I started Kindergarten, I know a thing or two about literature as well. I went on to major in English in college, and … Read More