Today is Veteran's Day in America. We celebrate and honor those who serve and have served in our military. There are so many fabulous groups that bring attention to this and two of those are the Quilts of Valor and the Honor Flights. We celebrated with my father in law who flew in from New York to Washington, DC on an honor flight in 2016. It was a fabulous time. He served in WWII over in Europe. Here is the calendar block for today as a tribute to our veterans: Double Star: 12" I designed a quilt for my 2017 Block a Day Calendar that uses this block. Lots of stars! Celebrate Veterans quilt: 56" x 56" I've made many quilts with an Americana theme - the red, white and blue. This was made almost 25 years ago and given to a veteran's family. Americana Hearts And one I made with a reproduction novelty print: Big Americana Lone Star I have LOTS of stars in my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar. So many ideas for you! There are only 7 weeks left before Christmas. D...

Today's calendar block is the Souvenir Variation. That just means that I tweaked the vintage Souvenir Block by adding a square on point in the center. First, let's see the standard block. This appears as a block on April 29 in my Block a Day Calendar. Souvenir Block: 15" I've used it to design quilts for several fabric companies. Wanna see? This was made for Blank Fabrics using their Tribeca Collection about 15 years ago. Souvenir Stars: 71" x 71" Block designed for the Playtime Collection Here is the real quilt I made and have gifted to a sweet little girl: Today's block adds a square on point to that center: Souvenir Variation: 15" Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Souvenir Variation. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

 Yes, a repeat, but worth repeating! This fabulous, large star is a quick and easy way to get to a big quilt fast. If you like big blocks, you will like this 24" Woven Star as the November 5 block (today). I first made this about 20 years ago, simplifying a common block pattern. It appeared in Quilt magazine (when I was an editor) with this cute doggy! Woven Star quilt  I simplified it by removing the templates and making it with rotary cutting. I added the woven effect by making strong contrast between the colors. Let's see some more quilts. Center Woven Ribbon Star in my  Galaxy of Stars quilt Woven Ribbon Star (24") as the center of a child's quilt Same star, different borders My sister Janet (who has the calendar) chose to make FOUR of these large blocks and use sashing and no borders. Very lovely! Janet's 4 Block Woven Ribbon Star And one more using Kaffe Fasset bold prints. Notice that my borders are the same color BUT not the same print. Yes, I give you per...

Today's calendar block is called Indian Trails. It's 15" x 15". I'm not sure when it first appeared on the quilting scene, but it's full of Flying Geese units. Here is the block: Indian Trails: 15" I've been involved in a Quilt Along with the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian for the past 5 months. This is a new thing for me since I've NEVER done a Block of the Month unless I am the one doing the designing - true! But, I was intrigued by the announcement and decided to take a look. It has been fabulous! You've seen my blocks in the past several months. They were all designed by Native/Indigenous Americans (aka, Indian). And we all know why our native Americans were called Indians, right? Christopher Columbus thought he landed in India - no kidding!  I shared my final quilt top a few weeks ago and I'm still thinking about how to quilt it. Yes, it will be by machine! These blocks were all designed by Indigenous Americans. Thes...

October 28's block is Wild Goose Chase. I posted about this last year with a gorgeous block stitched by my friend Julia. Here it is to see again. Wild Goose Chase! What? That sounds crazy, doesn't it? But Julia R. took it upon herself to chase them and make them line up perfectly! Will you look at those points? Wild Goose Chase: 12" Julia chose a lovely collection called Duchess by Windham Fabrics. What a special set of reds and blues and blenders. Fat quarters of  Duchess by Windham Fabrics There are 16 sets of Flying Geese in that block, and all done beautifully. The center is a perfect place to showcase a lovely print, too. I hope my calendar is on your holiday wish list. It's a quilter's gift that gives all year long. You can find my calendar: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

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...