Every year, my mom and I attend the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, always aiming to learn a new technique. Before my kids were born, we often took classes together, but once I had little ones, we started picking a quilting book or block style to focus on each year.

My grandma loved birds, so the year before her 85th birthday  I told my mom I wanted to learn paper-piecing to make a bird quilt for Grandma. I found a book with paper-pieced bird patterns, and my mom and I each made one bird block a month. I used my twelve blocks to create this special quilt for my Grandma.

One day my youngest came to me with his favorite hat and trustingly said, "Mom, will you fix my hat?" He had managed to pull the button off of the top of it. That day I realized that my kids believe that I can fix anything! It sparked a conversation with them about how they are actually quite privileged to have a mom who can fix their rips and tears and make them things when they ask.

For me, it is heartwarming to know that they believe I can fix anything but also intimidating knowing that I do have limitations. I'm thankful that I was able to fix his problems that day!

When my kids were little I tended to do most of my projects on holidays, because they gave me the longest uninterrupted chunk of time. This was my Thanksgiving Day project one year. The fabric for the skirt is St. Jude fabric that my aunt gave me. I designed it with two extra layers of ruffles tucked inside, which could be let down as my daughter grew, allowing her to wear it longer. She absolutely loved this skirt! Recently, she’s been talking about making one in a similar style, and I’m excited to see what she creates!

My sister in law asked if I would make a quilt for her daughters, if she supplied the fabrics. I said yes. She chose the design on the left for the top of the quilt. I used the leftover fabrics for the back of the quilt. Her daughters loved it!

When this dress was brought to me it needed to be taken up at the shoulders and my client didn't like the hem line. It made the bottom of the dress look heavy, frumpy, and messy. We changed it to an asymmetric high-low hem line. She loved it!

Sometimes in life you need a fun twirly, girly dress! My daughter and I made this Frozen dress for a dear friend of hers. With all of the ruffles it was truly a labor of love! My daughter was eight at the time. She really wanted to do as much as possible herself, so she helped me with sewing the stitching for the gathers and some of the easier parts on it. The twirl factor on this dress is truly amazing! 

I love the fullness of this gorgeous dress! Boy was it a beast to handle at the sewing machine, though!

This dress only needed to be hemmed. We left it with just a little bit of a train. This girl was a delight to work with!

We took the train off of this gorgeous prom dress to allow for freedom of movement while walking and dancing. The wide horsehair braid at the bottom gives an airy feeling to the skirt that complements the top of the dress. Faith Reiner at Faith Reiner Photography did a fabulous job with the photography!