Category Archives: TK Harrison

Christmas in July 2018 at BOMquilts.com!

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Christmas in July 2018 at BOMquilts.com!

Join me for this year’s “Christmas in July at BOMquilts.com” where I feature free original quilt patterns and will, once again, focus on design sets. There are SO many possibilities by making 24″ (finished size) design sets – increase the sets to create endless possibilities from anything to a table topper to a king size quilt!

“Christmas in July 2018” at BOMquilts.com is sponsored by:Abbi May's Fabric Shop - AbbiMays.comThe pattern revealed today is shown below:

Friendly Forest Gathering




I used design sets last year, too. I made four design sets for my “Christmas in July 2017” at BOMquilts.com and from those four design sets, I received three custom orders for quilts. One lap quilt and two full size quilts.

Lap quilt made from the Christmas in July 2017 “Snowy Magic” original pattern written by TK Harrison, Owner of BOMquilts.com.

Full size quilt made from the Christmas in July 2017 “Festive Stars” original pattern written by TK Harrison, Owner of BOMquilts.com.

Full size quilt made from the Christmas in July 2017 “Invite a Moose to Christmas” original pattern written by TK Harrison, Owner of BOMquilts.com.

All quilts shown above were quilted by Meloney Funk.




10+ Years and Counting with FaveQuilts.com

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My BOMquilts.com website was one of the first sites to partner with FaveQuilts when they started out. They shared my free patterns and instructions on their website and with their newsletter subscribers. In turn, their audience was directed to my website to shop around and download my free patterns. It was a win-win for both of us!

Unfortunately, once I was diagnosed with MS at the end of 2010, I was no longer able to produce as many patterns as I had previously because I needed to focus my priorities on my family and getting to know the new me. There was no extra time for designing, testing and writing anything beyond my yearly block of the month quilts.




This past week, I was notified that one of the patterns that FaveQuilts previously highlighted was being featured in a new special bundle that they’ve named “Keepsake Quilting: 13 Wedding Quilt Patterns.”

When I went to look at the project of mine that they included in this bundle, I had a little laugh. I designed it for my 15th wedding anniversary. This past month, my husband and I celebrated our 26th wedding anniversary – hence the title of this blog post. 🙂

I won’t tell you which of my patterns is in their bundle, but head on over to FaveQuilts and see what you can see. Though I warn you, you can easily get lost on their website, finding dozens upon dozens of free quilt patterns and projects that you can’t wait to make! So before you mosey on over to FaveQuilts, make sure your printer is full of toner and you have a ream of paper on standby.




A Quinceañera Quilt

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Last summer, I was having a few health issues and my family doctor decided the best approach to treating them was through a home healthcare agency. I had an RN who came out to our house every other week and a CVN who came out once a week. My CVN’s name was Bea and she was just a joy to be around! We got to know her pretty well so when she told me they were planning for her daughter’s Quinceañera for later that summer, I asked her if I could make a quilt for her? Bea was flattered and readily accepted my offer.




Bea and I took a trip out to my quilt studio so she could go ‘shopping’ in my quilt stash. She was very particular regarding the two main colors she wanted in her daughter’s quilt – Navy blue and coral. As I was pulling out fabric from one of my drawers, I happened across a piece of green focus fabric that had both coral and navy blue in it. Once I showed it to Bea, she immediately said yes and that sealed the deal.

Next came the decision about what to embroider in the quilt blocks. We had already decided the quilt was going to be a 55″ square lap quilt so there was only room for nine embroidered squares. In the center row, she wanted her daughter’s name, then her daughter’s favorite Bible verse and then the date of her daughter’s Quinceañera.

Bea told me what she wanted embroidered in the remaining six quilt blocks so I found five of them and sent her links so she could pick out the ones she liked best and then to purchase them. She gave me her login info so I could download them after she bought them. For the sixth one, I hired a custom digitizer to create it and once Bea gave her approval, I stitched it out.

I knew I was meant to make this quilt because everything came together just right!




Once the embroidery was stitched out, I began the process of building her quilt, then sent it on to my dear friend Meloney so she could quilt it on her longarm for me.

For true quilters, there is fun in making a quilt, every step of the way. But the true joy is seeing the faces and reactions of those who receive a quilt. And nurse Bea did not disappoint. She cried a bit when she saw the finished product. She absolutely loved it and she was sure her daughter would treasure it for many years to come.

New Learning Experience: Braxton’s Baby Bibs

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Since I had already purchased the alphabet and head shot embroidery files that I used to make Braxton’s quilt, Braxton’s nana thought it would be a nice addition to his wardrobe to add some embroidered bibs, too.




While I am not new to machine embroidery, I have never embroidered on anything other than quilt cotton, towels and washcloths. Nana purchased 100% cotton rib knit bibs with knit terry on the backs <gulp>. After some quick but extensive research, and after querying another machine embroiderer with much more experience than I have, I figured out my game plan. My main source of inspiration came from this blog post.

I inserted a ball point needle in my embroidery machine. The bibs were washed before I embroidered them. It is a layering process to embroider on knit fabrics. I used a stiff cutaway stabilizer on the back of the bibs, then used a temporary spray-on adhesive on top of the stabilizer. I laid the bib on the stabilizer and positioned it until I was satisfied that there were no wrinkles and that it would be centered in my hoop. Then I hooped the layers, again making sure I centered the bibs by using a ruler. I then cut a piece of Sulky’s® Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer and centered it where I wanted the embroidery placed. I pealed off the backing and stuck the stabilizer to the front of the bib. Using the ruler again, I measured horizontally and vertically and marked the center of the area that I was to embroider. So far, so good!

I was nervous. I only had one shot at each one of the bibs as it is pretty easy to rip out embroidery stitches on 100% quilt fabric but it’s not so easy to rip out stitches on knit fabric!

I chose to embroider the stag head shot first. It was the one that embroidered so beautifully on Braxton’s baby quilt and the thread didn’t break once. I took a deep breath, re-checked the area on my embroidery machine where the head shot was to be embroidered – said a little prayer – and hit the start button. Guess what? It turned out beautifully!!!

I was still extremely vigilant with the remaining three bibs but all four turned out spot-on and I was so pleased with myself, my machine and with the finished product. They were sent through the washing machine again to remove the water soluble stabilizer. Finally, I packaged up and sent to Braxton’s mommy and she loved them, too!

Braxton's Embroiderd Baby Bibs

Tarleton State University Embroidered Quilt

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When your daughter asks you to make a quilt, there is no better compliment. When she asks you to make her a quilt for a charity that she’s involved with, it takes it to a higher level!

For her freshman year of college at Tarleton State University (TSU) in 2017, she was the Hall Council Chair for the Honors College with the Residence Hall Association (RHA). She asked me to make a quilt that they could raffle off to the students, to bring more recognition to RHA. As we talked more and more about it, and as she talked with the RHA board of directors, they decided they’d like to have a quilt that included the logos of a number of groups around campus as well as the core values of the university.




They sent me the logos and I hired a digitizer to create the files that would work with my embroidery machine. Some of them worked the first time she digitized them. Unfortunately, for many of them, we had to go back and forth – her digitizing, me test-stitching, just to get them correct. But in the end, I met my deadline and the quilt was delivered with plenty of time for the RHA to raffle it off!

And just to add another kudo to my dear friend Meloney, her longarm quilting was icing on the Tarleton State University RHA raffle quilt cake!

Tarleton Quilt

RHA raffle quilt with the core values and 12 logos of TSU

Tarleton Quilt

Closeup of a TSU logo on the RHA raffle quilt

Tarleton Quilt

RHA quilt on the bed of the young lady who won it in the raffle

I’d also like to take just a wee bit of credit as my daughter received the Hall Council Chair award with the RHA at the end of her freshman year, and she was voted in as the vice president of the RHA for her sophomore year at TSU!