Here is a fun quilt I made and had published in a Fons and Porter magazine in 2010! While the fabrics are no longer available, I'm sure you can find and use just about any fun novelty print for this quick and easy kid quilt. Playful Pups : 38" x 41" There are five 10" blocks made using those sets of four pups in the attic window setting. Then I added some rectangles of floating dogs on black so that I now have a 3 x 3 block setting. Adding the different borders gives this a fun feel - and also, I didn't have enough of any one fabric! If you do a search on my blog here for "magical mitering" you will find several lessons with lots of pics to help you with the 3 page pattern. I just did a lesson last week - Magical Mitering - so you can start there. Can I show you one other quilt I made with this fun collection? I've since given it away. This uses a different colorway for the doggies. Playful Pups #2 Here is the panel. Isn't it cute? I realized I

I shared these quilt tops in June and my local longarm quilter finished them and I put the binding on. They are sure to delight 3 little kids for sure! Do you remember the fabrics? Little circus animals and sweet prints! Rumble by Windham Fabrics (2015) Check out the link and you will see how I constructed the quilts. I made the fabric do all the talking! Here they are quilted and bound. 4 Blocks with large center squares surrounded by triangles 3 Nine Patch blocks with extra strips Four Nine Patch blocks with sashing They all measure about 38" x 38" and are perfect for a baby or toddler. You don't have to be fancy for little kids' quilts - just go with some fun novelty prints and they will be thrilled. These quilts make me smile and I hope they do for you, too!

I created this Magical Mitering Lesson 10 years ago and never published it here on the blog. I thought you'd enjoy this easy technique that I developed 25 years ago. I still use it when I want that extra special diagonal border treatment in the four corners of my quilt. Lovely garden themed fabrics: Savannah Collection by Benartex One of my most requested techniques is that which I refer to as "Magical Mitering." The Savannah Collection is perfect for this in that I will treat groups of 4 small panels as a "window" unit. For example:  Two sections of 4 small panels Two groups of panels with "attic window" strips Each set of 4 panels measures 9-1/2". I commend Benartex on making sure that the black sections between each panel measures 1/2" so that I didn't have to destroy one panel to cut out another. I was able to get the required 1/4" around the outside. I cut the two contrasting strips (yellow and black prints) at 2-1/

I can still remember my very early quilting years when I signed up for my first class (probably 35 years ago). It was with a "famous" teacher, well known for her lovely designs and charming personality. In preparation for the workshop we were to cut 60 strips 3-1/4" x wof. That was a LOT of fabric and it was very costly for me. But, I did what I was told. Sample of pre-cut strips (not the ones for this class) We didn't have much information other than a description of the quilt. Remember, this was before the internet. I really didn't know what we were going to make! Came the day, the class and the project - yuck! But I had all of these 3-1/4" strips, right? 195" worth = 5-1/2 yards! I learned a very valuable (and painful) lesson: Always cut and sew a sample block BEFORE cutting out all your fabric!  If you don't like the first block, you won't like 24 of them.  If there's an error in the construction or templates - you discover that BEFORE y

Last day with this magazine issue from early 2007. Quilt Magazine #73 surprised me with all it contained of mine! You can bet that helped pay down the college loans that we had for our  3 daughters. Page 82: Chain of Squares is based on a vintage block called Asian Mosaic, but it is sewn in rows, so it's hard to see the block. Chain of Squares: 64" x 64" Here are the two different colored blocks: Asian Mosaic (Chain of Squares) blocks I left the best for last - my Galaxy of Stars quilt . It was a BOM here on my blog in 2015. The blocks are no longer available, but you can the entire pattern with all the blocks in my Etsy store . She made the cover (for which I was paid a generous bonus; no other magazine gave me anything for making their covers!). Here she is both as shown in the magazine on page 54: Galaxy of Stars quilt : 80" x 80" And as seen flat against a wall: Galaxy of Stars quilt The center block (Woven Star) is a whopping 24" x 24". There are

Day Four. Same magazine issue! Here are 2 more quilts to inspire you. This is Garden Walk for Windham Fabrics. I used a traditional appliqué pattern of a basket and some dancing leaves. Dancing leaves? Garden Walk: 9" blocks. 48" x 48" quilt Here is a digital photo of the quilt: Assembly Diagram as it appeared in magazine Let's see one more quilt. This is a set of 6" paper pieced Palm blocks that I set into a pillow. I used some lovely batiks in Autumn colors. Not sure where this pillow is now, but it was fun to make. Palm block pillow with flange: 24" x 24" You can find my Palm quilt pattern in my Etsy shop for 7" blocks. Paper piecing is easy using pre-cut strips. This is how my quilt appears: Paper pieced Palm quilt . 7" blocks set on point Yes, I have the last 2 quilts to share tomorrow. And I'll still be in the same magazine issue!

 Here we are on Page 64 with the Gretchen Quilt. This is an updated version of the vintage block from the 1930s. Here is how it ran in the Kansas City Star: Page from the Kansas City Star, 1932 How do you like those templates? I certainly didn't and decided to work some magic with my rotary cutter. Now we cut out two sizes of squares and trim them after adding the small triangles. This is what I got: Red, black and White Gretchen quilt : 9" blocks. 61" x 70" quilt This became a popular workshop and I still teach it. Students are always shocked at how easy it is to make and how we work our magic with the rotary cutters! Check out that link to see several other quilts in a variety of fabrics and colors, like this one in Kaffe Fassett prints: The Gretchen Quilt : 48" x 48" Back to an earlier page called "Shopping the Net" which described the NEW activity of shopping online. Remember, this was almost 20 years ago and it was like the Wild West. Page 16