Next week I get to reveal a beautiful quilt I made using some gorgeous Benartex fabrics . Equinox is the name of the blenders (ie, they "read" solid, but they have some texture). I pulled several 10" panels of dogs from the Dog Gone It collection by Ann Lauer and centered them in a Nonsense block. Nonsense is the actual name of this vintage block! (This also appears in my Block a Day Calendar with the name "Hilary's Garden").  I've used it many times before because the center is a large 10"! Wanna see? 15" Nonsense block using  Equinox  and Dog Gone It Those block triangles are easy to cut and the block goes together quickly. And who doesn't like big blocks? Your quilt is finished quicker. Here's how the March Nonsense block (Hilary's Garden) appears in my upcoming Block a Day Calendar : Hilary's Garden (aka, Nonsense): 15" Can you see how that large center square invites some fabulous print or motif or panel to strut the...

Another year, another calendar. The newest perpetual calendar is due out in June, but it can be pre-ordered at Amazon. Just wanted to show that listing here! Various books and calendars I've published The new calendar by C&T is full of new blocks in a whole lot of sizes. What I also realized was that I have a few dozen quilts I've made over the past several years that utilize these blocks! I will be sharing them month by month as they relate to the corresponding dates in the calendar. IF you own the calendar, the patterns will make sense For example, Underground Railroad (a 12" January block). . . Underground Railroad: January 22 block in my calendar . . . was used in a much smaller size in this mini from 20 years ago. These blocks are tiny, but I made them to surround the center panel. Underground Railroad Then there's a June block which I call "Glorious Blooms."  Glorious Blooms: June 18 block I've made this several times, with the most recent usi...

Yes, I live where snow is normal in the Winter. Doesn't mean I like it. It comes and goes and right now it's sitting on my grass and driveway. (The sidewalks were shoveled yesterday). This reminds me of a quilt I "made" a few years ago for P & B Textiles. I say "made" because all I had to do was get the printed top quilted and bound in time for Quilt Market. Snow on my patio table This is a repost from July 2017 . While you may not be able to find these fabrics, red and green is universal. Use a gorgeous print for those panel strips. The stars are easy and this will go together quickly. Snow Play  is a sweet quilt with a Row by Row flavor. The Winter Friends Collection is very traditional with snowmen, stars, pine trees and lots of red and green. Here is a picture of the finished quilt as it hung in my house for a few minutes. My good friend Connie Gallant longarm quilted it for P and B Fabrics and I put the binding on. Snow Play  quilt by Gina Gempesaw ...

I was asked by HandiQuilter's Facebook page to showcase a few Valentine's inspired quilts made using my HandiQuilter Sweet 16 machine to quilt them. I thought I would showcase them here, since many of you may not do Facebook or follow their page. The first is my Stacked Hearts quilt. It is a small teaching sample (11" x 14") for when I taught dozens and dozens of machine quilting workshops. Just so you can see what I mean by Stacked Hearts, here it is done as an appliqué: I created Love Bugs for Benartex and also quilted that on my HQ Sweet 16: I used some Kaffe Fassett fabrics and made another LOVE quilt using the same block letters. Don't forget the Oh, Fudge quilt! Made with yummy Benartex chocolate themed 10" squares. And, my trusty Hearts on Fire quilt: I still have another dozen or two quilts that feature hearts, but these are more recent. Hope you enjoyed seeing these!

Web sites. Blogs. Facebook. Now Instagram. What's a quilter to do? I started in print media (quilt magazine editor) 32 years ago. No web presence for a few years. Then everything exploded! I was the one to get our magazine group to create a web presence in 1997 - and they were kicking and screaming! Where am I going? Did you know I have an Instagram identity? It all doesn't make much sense to me, but I came kicking and screaming. I'm not interested in spending hours making silly videos, but I have been uploading hundreds (probably thousands) of beautiful quilt photos to cyberspace for all these years. @quilterbydesign is where you can find me. But I'm not sure if I even wrote that correctly! Slashed Hearts Slashed Hearts was designed in 2007. This quilt is about that old. I've been busy uploading some Valentine's themed quilts to Instagram. Several years ago you could only upload photos from your phone to Instagram. I said, "NO WAY." I like to type de...

February. The month for love and hearts. Did you know this is National Heart Month? A dear friend from my Atlanta days bought a packet of hearts and didn't know what to do with them. She saw some inspiration in a quilt shop the next year and decided to play around with putting them on a single piece of fabric. It appeared in my second book, Supersize 'Em Quilts (2009). I like her super wide binding - it looks like a thin border. FREE pattern is in the link. Jeweled Crazy Hearts  by Jan Jolly: 42" x 42" I took this idea and made it into a workshop in 2009. Students received pre-cut squares with fusible webbing on the back and a heart template. Then they were to place them in one or two arrangements on a large piece of background fabric. We used raw edge machine appliqué to stitch them down. Here are a few versions. This next photo is of REAL fabric. Dancing Hearts Table Runner: 20" x 29" I made one in 1930s fabrics. Actually, two. These photos are a bit fuzzy...

I have always been in awe of the Amish quilts and their use of solid fabrics and traditional patterns. When I created the Gee's Bend patterns for Windham Fabrics I had a lot of their hand dyed solids left over. I created two timeless quilts, one of which is the classic shadows pattern. Classic Amish Shadows: 52" x 63" This was published in McCall's Quilting Magazine about 12 years ago! Simple squares of color alternating with simple squares of black. And all set on point. I could make this quilt again and enjoy it just as much. My faithful friend and longarm quilter, Connie Gallant, gave it an all over design to soften the strong linear feel. Here is the quilt as a flat shot: Classic Amish Shadows One of my daughters has since snatched this up. This appears in my 2014 Wall Calendar of Quilts and is the January quilt. I pulled the calendar off the shelf and looked at the dates/days and they coincide with those of this year, 2025! I think I'll hang it in my studio s...