Christopher Columbus Day? Indigenous People's Day? Let's go with BOTH as I finish up with the  Quilt Along for NMAI  (Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian). The 5th part of the Quilt Along for NMAI  was the pieced border. What a LOT of seams (58 - yes, I counted them!) Here are the parts: 3 of the 22 units for the borders Here are the top 3 units stitched together with the small spacer strips: Top border These units measure 4-3/4" x 4-1/4". No room for fudging or deviance from an accurate 1/4" seam. Ask me how I know! I should have listened to my trusty chicken overseer and paid attention to what my calculator said. My trusty seam ripper I finally got it right, but had to make a very small adjustment on the top of the right side border. Can you see it? Quilt top: 23" wide by 50" high Today is October 12. Some people call it Columbus Day. Some call it Indigenous People's Day. We can celebrate it all. I love my quilt top and will quilt it soon. I...

I like to revisit some older quilts and the one I want to share (again) is Seeing Red from my 2013 book Paper Piecing Perfect Points . It was inspired by this vintage quilt called Midnight Sun which appeared in an issue of Quilt Magazine about 25 years ago. Vintage Midnight Sun quilt Yes, that was pieced using templates and definitely all by hand! Not me, of course. I drafted the pattern for foundation paper piecing: Seeing Red: 38" x 38" with 15" blocks I taught it as a class and here are some of my teaching samples: Foundation pieced units And the full block center: Midnight Sun center block Let's see it from the back. Look at those pointy points! Back of block I made several blocks, put them together and then donated the finished quilt to my local guild for our charity endeavors. Midnight Sun 15" block Here is the 9 block quilt finished in 2022: Brown and Pink Midnight Sun: 45" x 45" Yes, I get a lot of inspiration from vintage quilts, but I am not...

This is the 4th block in the series offered by the National Museum of the American Indian. It's named Ellam Yua and was designed by Nikki Corbett. Did you miss the first three? Here is a link to get you started: Quilt Along for NMAI Here are my first 3 blocks: June: Bison pattern by Lauren Good Day July: Kanani O Ka Home pattern by Cissy Serrao: Hawaiian August pattern designed by Emma Alcazar Now for the 4th block designed by Nikki Corbett (and sewn by me, of course). First, the fabrics I pulled and my threads: And the special symbol at the top of the water. I used fusible webbing and a sewing machine stitch: Top of my Ellam Yua block I used fusible interfacing for the waves at the bottom of the block so I could trim away the background to reduce bulk: And here is the finished block (designed by Nikki Corbett, sewn by me): My Ellam Yua block Now, these 4 blocks get stitched together using 1" (finished) strips. We now wait for the border directions to be released October 1! Go...

 Here is a recent quilt finish that is filled with happy fabrics. It's my Diamonds and Four Patch pattern which I've made several times. I used an older Benartex collection called Apple Blossoms. Diamonds and Four Patch: 47" x 60" This was a workshop and I had so many diamonds left over, I put them on the back. Wonderful, huh? This has been donated to Hopes and Dreams to benefit ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) patients. I know this will cheer someone up with the happy prints and colors! And I hope it sends love and care, too. I have made several quilts for this charity and it is a special group to me. I do this in honor of a dear friend who lost his battle with ALS last year. Andrew was a cheerful, gregarious man who ran marathons and yet, in his last days, he couldn't even breathe on his own. Here is the first quilt I made using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. It appeared in my second book Supersize 'Em Quilts (2009, AQS). Cloissoné Diamonds and Four Patch: 70...

What's RMDH, you ask? It's the local Ronald McDonald House that helps families with lodging and meals while their sick child gets treatment at the hospital. That's Fairfax Inova here in Virginia. Here are four quilts I gave to my fellow guild member, Leslie, who takes these once or twice a month. We never have enough, but we try! This is a simple Cobblestone Block of fun summer images. I quilted it. Endless Summer Cobblestone Quilt: 48" x 48" And the next one is even more fun with the birdhouses and birds. The birdhouses were paper pieced and left over from some workshops I taught. And I quilted this. Home Tweet Home: 42" x 49" Pieced Hearts is a set of 16 blocks that my sister Janet made and gave to me to put together for these quilts. It measures 51" x 51". I quilted this one, also. Pieced Hearts with Butterflies: 51" x 51" And the fourth one I call Fractured Jewels. It also is from a workshop I taught. I've made this a few time...

 I made this block last year and never posted it here. I heard it crying in the closet so I gently took it out, wiped away the tears and promised I would share it today. Now, she's singing and dancing. Wanna see? Basket of Squares: 18" x 18" This appears in my Quilter's NEW Perpetual Block a Day Calendar by C&T Publishing on August 12. I made it using some Kaffe Fassett prints and a white/gray background. Go check it out. And if you do a search here on the blog for Quilter's Block a Day Calendar , you will find dozens more blocks stitched up in real fabric!

There will be 4 blocks. Here are the first 3. Scroll down to see my approach to Emma's block #3.  NMAI - Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian asked several quilters who are Indigenous Americans to provide quilt blocks that emphasize various time periods. The Quilt Along runs from June through October. Click that link and you can sign up for each block (even the past ones) and also be notified by email of the ones coming (includes a border). I shared the first by Lauren Good Day. The Bison. Her pattern was for 5 bison on a 10" block. I decided to make just one. Block #1 Block #2 was designed by Cissy Serao and is Hawaiian: Block #2 by Cissy Serao My Hawaiian block: My machine stitched block Block #3 was designed by Emma Alcazar: Block #3 by Emma Alcazar These are 45 degree diamonds. The block background size is 10" finished. I was able to follow Emma's directions to sew 2" strips together and then recut into 45 degree diamonds, but first needed to visualize...