I took a break, my Sewing Machine did not! Let's chat about sewing dolls, quilts and more!

In this episode of Make and Decorate, host Stephanie reflects on her unplanned break from podcasting and shares her excitement about returning. She discusses her creative projects over the past year, including a cathedral window quilt for her parents' anniversary and a commissioned king-sized quilt. Stephanie also shares her experiences at a quilting retreat, innovative tools she discovered, and cozy holiday projects. She highlights new patterns and classes she's excited about, and outlines her plans for the future of the podcast, including a shift to monthly episodes and potential video content.

Chapters

00:00
Welcome Back to Make and Decorate

03:43
Reflections on the Past Year

06:05
Creative Projects and Commissions

Missouri Star Cathedral quilt tutorial. 

Kraeo Handyed yarn shop

Sparklesax Designs Longarm Services

12:03
Retreat Experiences and New Techniques

Center Street Quilts Hemmingway zipper pouch pattern

**Free Pattern** Sweetwater Patchwork Tree Mini Quit excerpt by Moda Mail

Out of Print Elenor Burns Trip Around the World Pattern Book - 1988 available on Thriftbooks

2021 Elenor Burns Trip Around the World - Accu Quilt YouTube Video

2019 Donna Jordan Quick and Easy Trip Around the World You Tube Video

22:08
Innovative Quilting Tools and Techniques

Modern Quilting Stencils by Sew Harmony

27:57
Cozy Holiday Projects

31:15
Exciting New Patterns and Classes

Katia Ferris New Book - Make Your Own Animal Friends

Katia Ferris New Sew a Mouse Class on Creativebug - available now

Katia Ferris' New 14" Rag Doll Class on Creativebug - available on 2/10/26

Jayne Stitches - Meredith doll workshop

37:46
Looking Ahead: Future Plans

Transcript

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (00:04.878)
Welcome to Make and Decorate, a podcast for makers who love to sew, quilt, knit, and decorate.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (00:24.77)
Well, hello everyone. I am Stephanie, your host, and I took a long break, an unplanned long break. I am sorry that it took so long. And the good news is that I still want to keep podcasting. I also want to do more video podcasting, but for right now,

We'll stick with some audio until I can get everything going with the video and figure that all out But yeah, I it's just been one thing after the other this past year and before we know it Here we are at the beginning of 2026 a new year and we're already even like a whole month in

So I thought it was high time to get back to the microphone here and to chat with you all. Yeah, I've been thinking about the podcast a lot over the last several months. And it's just been hard to get the time. I used to have a bit more time with my other freelance.

work and now over the past year and half I have taken on a different freelance job requires more time and energy so I am working on trying to balance that and to get myself the time that I need to do this podcast that I absolutely love to do and to

hear from you and to present topics and people. So anyway, I'm just going to muddle through because as we all know, if it's gonna be perfect, it may never happen. So I'm just getting back on here. I'm rusty, but those of you who have been with me for the past seven plus years understand.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (02:46.926)
And I'm truly grateful for all of you that have stuck with me all of this time. And what is quite bizarre is that I still get weekly reports on the number of listens every week from my Buzzsprout hosting service. And it's been astounding to me to see that

So many people are still listening to my little show with all of my back episodes. I do have a lot of back episodes. I'm proud of that. And I have had some really great guests on the show. anyway, that was also part of the motivation for me to keep going and to...

do what I can to produce new shows and new content for all of you. So here I am, new year, not a new me, if I wish. So this episode will be chit chat. If that's not your thing, then you may want to go back to an episode where I am talking to a guest. However, if you do love the chit chat that I do, and

want to learn about projects that I've been working on, completed, starting, then keep listening. Okay, but first, first, first, first, can we please talk about and recognize, this is not sewing or any making related, anything is a sports, but my Chicago Bears made it to the playoffs to like the second playoff game and

It was disappointing when they did lose against LA. But I mean, they went from like zero to a hundred losing streaks to winning streaks all in the matter of one season. It is unheard of. Well, not maybe not unheard of, but it's rare. And I'm just so excited. I was so excited this whole season. I love our new coach.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (05:06.6)
love our team. I'm so super proud of my bears because it's been so many years every year and I am a ride or die so I mean all the years that they just weren't doing it it's hard it's very hard to stick with them but we do and so I just want to say yay yay yay okay one more quick announcement for those of you who are in my patreon group

I am going to post a bonus episode for you guys very soon. I have most of it recorded, but it is going to be about a new sewing machine acquisition of mine. And also a little bit more about the next commission quilt that I have started to work on and specifically a foundation paper pieced quilt.

So head on over to my Patreon page if you're interested and stay tuned. If you sign up, then when I do post an episode, you will get an email notice about it. So sewing, all right. Man, let's rewind. I've gotta rewind back to the summer. Now, the late spring and early summer,

I pretty much took a break from everything because I was just healing from a very bad case of COVID and then the gardening season started. So I didn't really start getting back into the groove of making until around August. And so we'll start there. I made a cathedral window

wall quilt for my parents 50th anniversary. And the color of the 50th anniversary is gold. And the mini quilt that I made were was a palette of these soft metallic gold fabrics, the Kaufman S6 linen, and that has the gold threads going through it. So kind of has like this flax color.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (07:31.094)
thread in it like a background with just a little glint of the gold metallic thread, which I really like. And a few other ones, like I had all of this fabric in my stash, yay, so that was good. And there's a Wiltshire

the Wiltshire Liberty pattern, but this is in the quilting line and it was from their holiday collections. And so it was gold Wiltshire berries on a white background. So that was used as well. And it turned out nice. It was the first time that I did a cathedral window quilt and I'm glad that I did it in a small size. So it was nice. It was pleasant to work on and

I followed the Jenny Doan YouTube tutorial from way back, I don't know, it was probably from 2012 or something, somewhere around there. And so I followed that and it was very, I mean, I don't want say it was easy, but it was just nice and nothing like too tricky or anything like that. Everything kind of went exactly how she said and...

It was it was great because part of the technique that she showed was a quilt as you go. So it came together fairly quickly, which was great. Let's I'm not I'm around here, but let's just do it because now I'm like going in chronological order from my memory here. But around the same time, like I was also knitting.

the Pico Edge hat and fingerless gloves. And I talked about those last season. And I had Kristen, the owner of Cre-O, it's a hand dyed, she does hand dyed yarn. So I did a wool, the merino wool in her autumn colorway. That was my first time knitting that pattern and that technique of the Pico Edge. There were many mistakes, but.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (09:37.006)
I finished it and I wore them during the fall. I was thinking that because I made one of the fingerless gloves in a bigger size and then the second one I did it in a smaller size that fit better. So I'm, I don't know, I'm debating on ripping out the bigger size and remaking it to the smaller size. I'm not sure, but I can think about that later because then I moved on to other things.

And this is huge. I finally finished the commissioned quilt, which is was is the king sized braided Irish chain quilt. It turned out really gorgeous. I know that I just really hated the process of and this particular pattern.

And just combined with the gargantuan size of this king size quilt and with all of these little tiny two and a half inch squares, but Wow, it turned out stunning and partly also because of the long arm quilting that was done on this so Yeah, it's it just turned out so beautiful and I used wool batting and

quilting with wool batting shows up so beautifully and it really adds that dimension and to the quilt, but it's very lightweight too. It's not a heavy quilt because when you do a cotton batting and sometimes long armors might double the batting and stuff like that just to like get more

detail and depth of the quilting pattern, stitching on there, but then it gets really heavy. So this one is very lightweight, but it's also wool, so it's also warm. And I loved it and the client loved it. She really, really loved it. So I felt really good finally when it was done. And I have one more quilt commission that I'm working on right now. But before I get to that one,

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (12:03.742)
There were a few other projects that I did make because in November I went to the annual fall retreat with my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild and that was great. And since this was my second time going, so I kind of had these.

things that I did differently based on what I experienced on the first time, which was to bring some small projects that are like quick finishes so that you can feel accomplished because basically it's a, you know, sort of like a two and a half, three day retreat. You bring all of your own projects and there's like tons of us in a big room.

at a hotel. You know, some people get a ton of stuff done because they're just like very focused. It's like pedal to the metal with their sewing machine. And it's great. I just really admire that. I do kind of like a combinations where I do want to get some stuff done, but I also want to take advantage of the time that we have to.

socialize, see my friends, catch up seeing what they're making and talking about what I'm making and just it's just like a nice time to just you know unwind. So okay so the whole point of that whole verbose thing is I took a couple of small projects that got finished or almost finished and here I go again. All right.

rusty, sorry, bear with me. So a week before this retreat, I went to a local quilt show. There were vendors there and there was a one of our local quilt shops that everyone seems to love. It's a little bit far of a drive for me, so I never got there, but it was fun to see their booth there and they had a bunch of kits put together to sell and

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (14:19.786)
I got the kit for what, and it includes the pattern and it include all the fabrics and the zipper. All I had to provide was the foam stabilizer. So it was all there. So this is like this light bulb just went off in my head when I saw these kits put together and I'm like, this is it. I just like get this little kit, everything's there.

and I just drop it in my bag and away I go to this retreat. I don't have to like pull all these fabrics and make sure I have everything that's needed. I mean, it takes forever to do and it did take me forever last year. So packing this year was so much easier. And it was such a cute kit. The pattern is called the Hemingway

Pouch and it's a rectangle pouch. It's super easy to make and it looks very impressive because the zipper is done on an angle and So it goes from the top corner on the one side and it goes on an angle about three inches down to the other side and that is the opening of the pouch

So you could fit a lot of stuff inside there with this zipper being all the way at the top. But the fabrics were so cute. So the kit that I got is a fabric with these cassette tapes. And if you're from my generation that grew up in the 80s, there was this thing called cassette tapes.

that you would record mixtapes with. So it's very similar to playlists of today. They were the playlists of the 80s and they were analog. They were actual physical little tapes that you put into a tape player. So there's all these cute little tapes and on there that says like summer mix and love songs and jazzy vibes, road trip. Didn't we all have a road trip mixtape? So much fun. So that's the fabric that is in the kit.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (16:41.87)
And so cute. It turned out so, so cute. I want to make more of these. The second kit that I got is a little mini quilt and it was it's Christmas, Christmas design. And it's a simple little Christmas tree that is pieced from little two and a half inch squares. And then you apply it onto the whole background piece fabric. And it's very small. It's kind of like a

I don't know, like a 14 inch square little quilt. And I could have been done at the retreat with it, but I decided to hand quilt it with snowflake embroideries. And so that took a little bit longer and I kept working on it when I was home and I'm done with the snowflakes now.

So now I just want to embellish the tree a little bit with like maybe some garland embroidery and have to bind it. So I'll have it for next year's Christmas season. But it's just a fun little project. And so the third project that I did bring to the retreat was a bigger project. And it's a project that I did have to pull together.

but it is a gift for someone and It is a trip around the world yeah trip around the world quilt and There's many ways to make this type of quilt trip around the world is one of those Quilts where it looks like concentric diamonds

that you can play with the colors like an ombre or a rainbow. But and then they are done using strips of fabric. Most of the time they don't always have to be made that way. I know on YouTube there was Donna Jordan who

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (18:54.894)
I watched her videos and she had a totally different way of making it and I do want to try her method as well and that was not with strips. She actually cut the squares each square and she had like this little assembly line technique that she used. And she also did the quilting with by hand hand tied.

And that's something that I haven't done yet either. And so it looked really interesting and sort of quick actually, the way that she did it. So I still, I have that tucked away in the back of my mind of wanting to try that method. But I did the Eleanor Burns. I have her little booklet from way back in the 80s. And this was done with four and a half inch strips.

Yeah, I followed the pattern in the book and I noticed I did notice that there were some techniques and I don't even think she does them because I also saw some videos of Eleanor Burns making trip around the world back in like 2017 and she did update her techniques. So but I followed the book just because I wanted to see how it was made back in the day. And that was

the type where you sort of unpick the tube of strips that you make. Because basically, it's like, how many number of fabrics you choose, and you make this step design, and that's what steps these concentric diamonds and makes that pattern of the trip around the world. So hopefully I explained that where you can envision it.

The top is just about done. It is actually done, but it's a little narrow for a lap quilt and it's long for a lap quilt. It's weird. So I'm going to add, instead of borders, I just want the trip around the world on the top of the quilt with nothing else, no borders. And kind of like...

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (21:14.252)
you know, if you think of like the infinity pool sort of that thing where the pattern just runs off the edge, that's what I want this to be. So I took out the fabrics again and cut out more. Now this time I just cut the squares, not the strips, because I will have to piece them into long rows for each side of the width of the quilt.

That's what I have to do now. So hopefully I will be able to get to that very soon. And then the top will be done. And then I will quilt it. So going back to the quilt show that I went to in the fall, there was another vendor there that I met and talked to for a long time. You know, it was very nice to be at this small quilt show because there weren't like, the day that we went was the last day.

And there weren't like, it was busy for sure, but there weren't like throngs of people like how you experience at like maybe some of the bigger quilt shows and there's people waiting at the booth and you're just trying to get like a little bit of time with the people at the booth. This was not like that and it was great. So I had time to talk with

the person and this particular company has only been around for about a year, year and a half maybe. And she has come up with these quilting, she calls them quilting stencils, but they're thick enough to be like acrylic templates, but they're stencils in the fact that you trace them. And they are, I have them right here, hold on, I guess so I can describe them better.

Yes, the company is called and I'm hoping to have her on the podcast. I think that she was interested, so I just have to get on the ball here and ask her. But the company is called So Harmony and it's so harmony dot com and she's got. Well, I bought like all three of her existing templates. I'm sure she's designing some more and maybe has released some more since then. I'm not sure, but I've I've got.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (23:35.298)
this what's called Hexipop and they are as you would imagine, Hexi design. And so these are to trace on your quilt top as the quilting pattern design that you can just stitch right over the traced design. And what I love about these is that the scale of these designs are

I don't know, I just love them. They're perfect as far as I'm concerned. They're not too small and they're not too big. They're just right, like Goldilocks. So I would say that they, the repeat of these, some of these quilt patterns are about, well, let's see, I've got a little ruler here and they are about, yeah, seven inches. That's like a nice size of a quilt pattern.

And it's something also that makes you think that, you know, quilting won't take forever to get done. And another thing, too, that's nice about this is that there's enough negative space on the quilt so that it doesn't get too stiff with like a bunch of like quilting. I think that there's still like very dense quilting.

that people love. And but there was like this time about seven, 10 years ago where that was the thing, like the McTavishing and the stippling and the mini stippling and the like fill every single space on the quilt with quilting. And what you don't realize sometimes until you after you get done with that is that, whoa, this this really made the quilt.

a little bit stiff because there's so much thread in the quilting and the pattern. The quilting is so dense and tiny and close together. So I think there might be like a, you know, kind of a step away from that a bit as far as what I have been observing. And maybe it's my own preference too that I'm just injecting here, but.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (26:03.79)
I love these and I can't wait to use them. So I'm going to use one of these stencil designs on the trip around the world lap quilt So the three patterns that I got are there's one called loop D loop and that's you will recognize it It's the sort of like the wishbone ribbony Design and I love that one. Love it so much

The other thing is that with each of these stencils, there's several ways that you can trace them to make different, completely different designs. So don't we all love a multi-use notion? So that's what these are as well. I got very excited about these. So loop-de-loops. And then there's one called Hills, and that one is...

a scallop. Also, you could do like a clamshell design. You could do circles. There's this one called modern curves where it looks like a chevron, but it's curved. So instead of a chevron points, it's a chevron curve like curving along the horizontal sort of stripes. Then the Hexipop one.

So that one has hexagons. There's like this tortoisey type look you can get from tracing it certain ways. There's nice graphics visuals on the actual product itself, like not on the stencil, but like instructions wise. And then she does say that she has some YouTube videos. So you should look for those as well. But so yeah, I got those at that little quilt show as well. So then I took like over the holidays.

I kind of get like sort of into the whole just wanting to like cozy up. I wish I had a fireplace because that's totally like the look, the feel that I always want to have. But I do the best I can with what I have. But to cozy up the hot chocolate, just do hand sewing and like slow projects and just like relaxing. In other words, nothing like to

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (28:27.566)
or crazy because holidays no matter what, no matter how chill you are or you try to be, it's still a holidays and it's still like running here and there, visiting, know, family, friends, wrapping gifts, preparing gifts, meals, all of that. So.

And I am one that has definitely, I won't say perfected, but I have gotten so much better at being a lower key around the holidays because I've had just too many years where, know, all right, without like, let's go on this little tangent, but like when I was in the height of like, you know, interior design.

those were like some of the worst holidays ever because people want their furniture, want their draperies, they want their dining, know, sets and everything done before Thanksgiving, before Christmas, before Hanukkah, before, you know, and anything can happen. And then, so it's a whole thing, getting these projects through the workrooms. Workrooms have production schedules. So I mean, it's a whole like circle of processes and waiting and

you know, all this other stuff. So after that, after I kind of like, you know, started to shift away from that and more into the sewing and quilting world that I love in today, I just made the decision that I will not have that stressful of a holiday time again. Like I am putting my foot down because I want to enjoy.

that with family and not, you know, be so irritated and worn out and stressed. So yeah, that's what I've been doing for the past several years. Just trying every year to be cognizant and aware. And yeah, so that's what I do now. I just love my quiet time. And after I'm done with the visits and all that stuff, I

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (30:48.566)
I want like a few days or any time that I can get just to do my thing, to do what I want to do. So here's what I've been doing. After all that, we get to the point here. I, okay, so I've told you about Katia classes on Creative Bug. And several years ago, I made these really cute stuffed animals.

that are her patterns and from her classes on Creative Book. The cat ones and a puppy dog one. So I made those for my nieces and little nephew. So she now has a book published and I was all over that. I have it, I bought it. I like read through the entire thing cover to cover as soon as I got it. There are more patterns.

And also on creative bug there is an owl one that I haven't made yet either but that one is in the book And now she has this mouse one I'm gonna make that I haven't started that yet though. So there's that and There's a few other patterns in the book. The book is great. I Highly recommend it if you like that sort of sewing

And I like her style and the way she makes things because it's not over complicated and it doesn't take I I don't think it takes forever to get done with it and there's there's so much you can do to embellish as much or as little as you want and so I'm so excited about that, but

There is another stuffy type thing I'm making now and it's a doll and it's from Jane stitches, J-A-Y-N-E stitches. How did I discover her? I don't even know, but I saw these dolls that she makes and I went to her site and she has these little workshops. she does not have like

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (33:05.782)
Patterns she she sells them as workshops and Has these videos that takes you through each step as if like a pattern would which is very good because the visual and seeing how this is done is So much better seeing it in real. Well, not real life, but you're kind of in real life watching it on video

instead of these two dimensional sketches of how you're supposed to do this because a lot of that is handmade and She does sort of specialize in heirloom type sewing I've never really made a doll before I've only made like animal dolls This is a doll doll like with hair and face little girl doll, but so cute So I am making one for my niece's birthday. That's coming up at the end of February

The dollas finished itself. That didn't take too long either. And I actually made it all by hand. And you can make it with a sewing machine for sure. But I just decided to try the hand stitching part of it. And because they are little pieces and it doesn't take that long to hand stitch it. So I might do the other. am going to make a few more too for her sisters. But.

And I probably will make those maybe with the machine. And so it's interesting because the hair is crocheted yarn. And that took the longest to do, not the crochet part, but the way that you're stitching it on by hand. You shape the hair that way, that takes a long time. But once it's on, it just gives the doll so much character and beauty.

I will try to take some photos of that. I think I have taken some, so if I have, I'll put them up. So now I'm making their, it's sort of like, I guess from the 1800s-y time, the clothes. So I'm making the dressing gown, I guess. The undergarments, basically. So there's like pantalettes and a chemise, I think that's what she calls it.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (35:30.29)
and just out of like some lawn white solid fabric and I'm almost done with the top part. And then there's a dress that I'm going to make to complete the doll. But the doll is cute and it was interesting to make this doll because it's done, of course, in a different technique. It's a very similar

type of doll to the Katia animal dolls where it's stuffed. It's like a soft raggy stuffed doll with the arms and the legs that are similar to how the cat and the animals that I've made with the other pattern. It's just the way that the arms and the legs are attached that were done differently. And of course the head and the facial embroidery.

That also I enjoyed learning different techniques. So I'm in the middle of that. OK, hold everything. This is future Stephanie coming in while editing this podcast to say that Creative Bug is posting and releasing a new class on February 10th with Katya Ferris. She is teaching how to make a 14 inch rag doll.

a cute little doll girl doll. It's so cute and you can bet that I will be watching that as soon as it is posted and up. And definitely gonna have to make one of those as well. So I just wanted to put this in here. I will put the link to Creative Bug in the show notes so you can check out the 14 inch rag doll.

Class on Creative Bug by Katia Ferris. Yeah, I think that's it now. I was going to talk a little bit about, I'll say that for the next one actually. Sorry, I am thinking out loud here and we just need to close it out. Gotta close out this episode.

Make & Decorate W/Stephanie (37:46.806)
I'm excited to be back. am so excited. This is really like energizing me right now to be recording this and I hope you enjoy this episode. I probably will not be doing them every other week like I had been doing. I am shooting for once a month. So bear with me while I do it this way for a bit until I can kind of see what

What direction that I'm going as far as even like venturing into the video part. I definitely know that I will be doing guest chats and interviews video posted on a YouTube channel, so you can Be sure of that anyway, I hope that you keep making and decorating and Until next time

I just said this backwards. I'm going to keep this blooper in because that's I got to get this out. I have to publish this for you guys. So all right until next time. Keep making and decorating. Bye bye. Please help support this podcast by following me on Instagram at Stephanie dot Socha dot design and my YouTube channel at Make and Decorate.

Also check out my Patreon page at patreon.com slash make and decorate. Until next time, keep making and decorating.