I had some 45 degree diamonds left over from my Flying Swallows workshop. They reminded me of another swallows pattern that uses the same units: Swallows in the Window. Yes, a vintage block from the early 1900s and pieced using templates. I like to rotary cut my patches and that's what I did.  Hint: I will show you my latest creation using these fabrics (Romance, by Windham) as you scroll down. As you will see, I took poetic liberty with the hummingbirds and call them swallows. Romance Fabrics by Windham This Hearts and Swallows quilt is from 2001. I had to do a bit of fabric manipulation to make those diamonds behave in the corners, but it worked! Those little triangle points along the pieced border are like prairie points! Hearts and Swallows This would not be hard to make today. Those 4 corner units are really half Lone Star blocks! Let's see the vintage Swallows in the Window block that I'm talking about. There are NO y-seams in my version. Here is a digital version of

This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I designed a simple Ribbon block that appears in my upcoming Block a Day Calendar (June 2025 release). It is an October block. (My hot pink crochet yarn insisted on being in this photo!) Pink Ribbon Block: 14" x 14" Just simple squares and triangles and the shading of two pink prints from the Hugs and Kisses Collection of Benartex Fabrics. They do remind me of Valentine's prints, but pink is universal to me and it's my favorite color! Hugs and Kisses Collection from Benartex Fabrics I also made a Double Hearts Block (appears in the calendar). For some reason, I put it in the January lineup. Hey, but if you make it in January, then it's ready for Valentine's Day in February! Double Hearts: 16" x 16" I have raised money for the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure. I actually did the 3-Day, 60 mile walk in 2001 and survived! Also, here is a poster I designed for a group in Pittsburgh: I'm hoping to make a few

You've seen some of these Nosegay quilts before. They are based on the vintage pattern "Nostalgic Nosegay." What you see here is from 1937. How do you like those templates? Not me! It's easy to cut the diamonds, but the other shapes made me nervous. So, I converted the pattern to foundation paper piecing and left out the little buds that appear between the diamonds. Here is a simple vintage block with the buds in red. Vintage Nosegay block made with templates Here is how I foundation pieced my version. Each block will have 6 diamonds (with background) and a cone base. Foundation pieced Nosegay block parts And here are a few blocks using the Solstice Collection from Windham Fabrics. 12" Nosegay blocks I finished the quilt top about 2 years ago and finally quilted and bound it earlier this week. Allow me . . . 4 Block Nosegay Quilt : 48" x 48" All the fabrics in the center are from the Solstice collection, but I didn't have enough yardage for borders.

I've made several Storm at Sea quilts over the past 35 years. I taught the workshop many times in 2011 and 2012. But this most recent one is my favorite. I call it the "I Love You" version (a heart). Can you see it? Storm at Sea: 47" x 47" For my workshops I had decided to get the quilt kits laser cut by  John Flynn . They were awesome and when I handed them out to my students and they looked at all the perfectly cut patches (and NO cutting for them), they stood and clapped and cheered! I was a Rock Star (for a day).  Here are the blocks before I put them together in my Heart version above: Units ready to put into my  Heart Storm at Sea And here is the vintage pattern as given almost 100 years ago! Do you think you'd want to do it this way? Let me show you some of the other Storm at Sea quilts I've made. This first one is a tiny version with just a few units. It was my practice quilt to see how the laser cut patches go together so well. Small Storm at Se

When I love a fabric collection, I like to squeeze the very last snippet of fabric from it. This Stacked Jewels quilt shows what I mean. Can you see what I did? Regency Dandy Stacked Jewels #2: 46" x 48" Here's a clue: check out the jewel patches below and compare with some of those in the outside rows. These were cut from 60 degree diamonds. I cut off one of the points in each. I made another quilt earlier in the year that uses the same jewels and different borders. I donated this to my local quilt guild. Same quilt center with the same number of patches. These borders are slightly wider. Regency Dandy Stacked Jewels #1: 48" x 49" OK. I'll give you a hint: 6 of the jewels in the first quilt are PIECED! I absolutely did not have enough fabric to cut whole jewels, so I pieced them together. Do you think the recipient will mind? Probably won't even notice! It's a finished quilt and will bring a smile to whomever gets it, I'm sure. I still have 2 qu

Here's another quilt inspired by a vintage design. Ruby McKim published hundreds of patterns in the Kansas City Star in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. One is called Noon Day Lily (1929). I created my own quilt in the mid 1990s and it was published in one of our Quilt Magazine issues. This is the best photo I have of it. I named it Ruby's Lilies. The blocks are 12" square and the entire quilt is just 38" x 38". I have no clue where this is, but I'm sure I gave it away to a friend or family member! Ruby's Lilies: 38" x 38" A quilting friend shared a vintage quilt made with these Noon Day Lilies and she gave me permission to share it here. What a gorgeous quilt with SO much piecing and appliqué! Another name for this block is Carolina Lily. Vintage Carolina Lily quilt owned by Pepper Cory Here's my art as it appeared in the magazine. It's easier to see the structure of the Lily blocks. Ruby's Lilies I love to see how vintage quilts inspire our

Oh, I'm not talking about tasty mountains! I'm talking about a vintage pattern that I took some liberties with. Here is the vintage block in multiples arranged in 6 different assemblies. This is from my magazine days, maybe late 1990s. Actually, the first time I saw this newer version was when Kathy Wierzbecki (from the staff of Martingale Publishers) did a demo at least 20 years ago. I thought it was SO clever. Here's one done in blues. I combined some un-pieced squares with four Delectable Mountains blocks. Delectable Mountains quilt. 26" center block The four blocks measure 7" high by 12" wide. The center floral square is 12". The four outside squares are 7". I sewed a LOT of those units without any idea of where I was going. Here is one idea up on my design wall. I still have the blocks and some finishing fabric. This will become a charity quilt before the end of the year! 9 Delectable Mountains blocks I made one several years ago using some Kaf