Pentagon Week, Day Five

I received a collection of fabrics in 2013 from Ana Griffin called Chinoiserie. One of the prints was so exotic looking. It's the one with that regal pheasant sitting on her cage. I still had some of it left.

I used it in this quilt which I gave to a neighbor who was given a cancer diagnosis. She was thrilled to have such a beautiful quilt to snuggle under. I used the pheasant print to set my One Block Wonder blocks.

I made this pentagon wreath last year and it was looking for a special motif for the center. I remembered that pheasant print. I stitched the wreath onto the centered print and then trimmed it away. Now it's ready to be attached to the green background square.

 

Pentagon wreath with the fussy cut pheasant in the center

Then I stitched it to the green square and trimmed away the excess from underneath.

Trimmed wreath

Here's my block! Now, what was I going to do?

13-1/2" pentagon wreath block

I pulled out more strips and decided to begin surrounding it as I've done with several other unique blocks, orphan blocks, etc. This is what I have so far. Strips and corner squares will be added until I'm pooped out!

Regal peacock centered in a pentagon wreath

And one more orphan block that I discovered some companions for. But I love this fussy cut center motif, don't you?

Hope you enjoyed Pentagon Week. I've got to think of some more themes. I kind of like these, don't you?

Pentagon Week, Day Four

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE quilts! I made it last year and shared it here. I was using the Fox Wood Collection by Becky Olmstead for Windham Fabrics. You can see one of my posts here. I fussy cut several of the forest animals and centered them in another pentagon wreath! Only this time, I used a hexagon for the center and 6 pentagons to surround it (that's because a hexagon has 6 sides!).

Hexagons and Pentagons from Fox Wood

8 blocks and two half blocks make up the center. Those borders were cut from fat quarters. Isn't this fun? I have this pattern in my Etsy store.

Fox Wood Forest Animals

Here's one of the blocks up close. Aren't those sassy looking geese?

Pentagon wreath with triangle corners

And one of the half blocks:

Goose half block

Here are some of those animals up close. I made 8 of these for the Marketing Director of Windham because she was SO taken with my quilt that featured them in such a cute way.

More animals from the Fox Wood

Tomorrow I have one last group of pentagon blocks and ideas. Hope you'll come back and see.

Pentagon Week, Day Three

You have to get creative when the only fabric cuts are fat quarters. I honestly don't mind. I am rather tired of single fabric borders. I finished this quilt center last Spring and I pulled it out on Sunday. I had to be careful with my cuts, but I was able to make it work. This was made using the Spellbound Collection by Katia Hoffman for Windham Fabrics. Click that link and you'll find an awesome Look Book, too.

Here's the center again:

Six Pentagon Wreath blocks using the Spellbound Collection

These are 13" blocks. The pentagon wreaths were made using English Paper Piecing with 2" pentagon papers. I cut up one of the panels (sku # 51961M-X) and had enough for those 3 horizontal sashing units. This way I was able to stagger the blocks for an interesting (and less boring) assembly. Here's a look at how I auditioned the six little panels. Yes, those panels are actually octagon shaped, but they work!

Now for the borders. The width was determined by those two navy/red strips at the top and bottom centers (5" height). Notice how I staggered the red and green prints on the sides: blue against the red blocks, red against the navy blocks. This has such a romantic feel to it!

I hope to quilt this in the next few days. Not sure what I'll do for the binding, but I think I can find something suitable in my stash.

Tomorrow, for Day 4, I have a few more pentagon creations up my sleeve. So, come on back and enjoy!

Pentagon Week, Day Two

I shared my steps to this lovely creation last Spring using the Spellbound Collection by Windham Fabrics. I upsized a block I created for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine a few years ago. Do you remember this block?

Pentagon Wreath

I used another center and background to make a second one. Fabrics for both of these are from a Paula Nadelstern collection by Benartex.

Pentagon Wreath

I truly became enamored with the English Paper Piecing of pentagon shapes. In fact, I began putting them into the kits for my students when I teach those workshops. Here is another ring of pentagons (for a wreath) that I made using 1-3/4" pentagons and the Kaffe Fassett Sunburst fabric. I shared this last May.

Sunburst Wreath

I added a 5-Pointed Star to the center and then appliquéd everything to a background square. The block is 13-1/2" and is waiting for some companion blocks or strips to be made into a quilt of some sort. I just pulled the block out of the closet and now I'm going to try and make some more of these using the same fabrics. . . if I still have some!

Sunburst Wreath with raw silk 5-Pointed Star

And one more wreath. This one was made with blenders for the pentagons and some Kaffe Fassett for those star points.

One more pentagon wreath!

I'm going to hunt down my EPP workshop supplies to see what I have in process. These blocks are looking for a permanent place in a quilt and I've got to find some companions.

Here's a sneak peek of what I mentioned at the top of this page: my Pentagon Wreaths using the Spellbound Collection. Click the link to see the steps. Then, click HERE to see how those wreath blocks morphed into the quilt center. Here's one of the 6 blocks I used to create the quilt center, but it's not a typical arrangement. Do you remember? Click the link to see it!

One of six Spellbound Pentagon Wreaths

See you tomorrow with the completion of this quilt top. Remember, it was all done using only fat quarters (and the 6 panel yardage for those centers).

Pentagon Week, Day One

What do you do when there's snow and ice outside? Oh. You live in Florida? I'm not talking to you!

We had a few days of the wintery mix and I got in the mood to finish more quilts. I even stitched a few from scratch (yes, I'm fast). Here is one I made from start to finish in 2 days (not full days, mind you). This is a combination of a few Benartex prints, one of which is Winter Games for those athletes in the center of 3 blocks. No y-seams, pieced very similar to my Twisted Hexagon quilts.

Yes, I know these are NOT pentagon blocks; patience!

Winter Games Swirling Hexies: 38" x 46"

Blocks are 12" high. The centers are 8" hexagons from flat side to flat side. I pieced it on Sunday, quilted it on Wednesday and bound it on Thursday.

Here is how I fussy cut that snowboarder. I used a window template made from freezer paper.

I surrounded the hexagon with six 8" 30 degree triangles. Someday I'll show how this is done. I realized too late that I didn't take any photos of that step!

NOW I'm getting to the pentagons (did you think I got sidetracked?)

This next one was pieced last year and I "rediscovered" it hiding in my closet (with about 4 dozen other quilt tops - easy to get lost in there!) This is a combination of English Paper Piecing for those pentagon centers and machine appliqué to get them stitched down on the background squares. I quilted and bound this on Thursday. This uses a wide variety of fabrics from Benartex, but mainly the Festive Chickadees Collection.

Pentagon Festive Chickadees: 44" x 44"

Here is one of these blocks up close before stitching. Isn't this so cute?!

Pentagon block parts

I digress again and I'm back to hexagons.

I taught a Zoom class 2 weeks ago called Fractured Jewels. The next day I got an idea on how to simplify the cutting and piecing and to make the blocks larger. I was able to cut and piece the entire quilt center in a few hours. I was working with a set of fat quarters and had to improvise for the side setting triangles. It works, I think!

Fractured Jewels Block: 16" high

Here are the 4 blocks I stitched from the fat quarters. I actually had some yardage from a previous quilt to use for the borders. It's next in the quilting lineup.

Fractured Jewels quilt top: 42" x 47"

There are no y-seams. You stitch two strips together and then cut pairs of 30 degree triangles into diamonds.

Someday I'll write the pattern. It was fun to update my smaller quilt (which was published in Modern Patchwork Magazine in 2014). This quilt was made using leftovers from making my Thousand Pyramids quilt - and that was made using charm squares!  Here that is:

Fractured Jewels

That's enough for now. I have another quilt waiting for binding. And 2 more layered with batting, waiting in the wings. So many quilts, so little time!

Tomorrow I'm sharing another pentagon creation that I've been able to get almost done (borders added). And everything was done with just a stack of fat quarters. See you then!

Another Beauty Adopted by a Family of Strips

I think it's so much fun to sew without having a real plan. No kidding! You've seen some of my quilts that were "adopted". This is a group of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. When I was getting ready to photograph it, this sassy little orchid wanted to join in. What could I say?!! I finished it last week.

Cameo panel surrounded by various happy strips: 44" x 44"

Do you remember the others? This was a 30 year old block that I used the Windham Fantasy collection to complete. Isn't this lovely?

Vintage Flower block surrounded by 2" strips

And then Fantasy decided they wanted to adopt another block. OK. I can do that, I said. This also was a vintage block that waited around for years.

First adoption - read about it here

And just one more. I made this appliqué elephant block several years ago. Nothing happened with it. Finally, he roared out and insisted that I put it into a quilt. What else could I do?

Minton Elephant: 44" x 47"

Now, I hope I've inspired you to dig around in your orphan block pile and consider this very easy way to make them into simple quilts. I found a few others and one in particular has finally run out of her patience. She has been an orphan for 30+ years and insisted I find some fabrics to wrap around her. I promised I would.

Yes, she has a slight imperfection. Can you see that "6A" in the lower right side? Some kid in her class took a permanent marker and wrote on her leg! I've got a few ideas on how to cover that. I'll keep you posted!

King's Crown Quilts

February 15 in my Quilter's Block a Day calendar features a traditional block called King's Crown. While we here in America don't have a king (but a president), it just calls to mind fairy tales and stories of long ago for us. Here is one of my King's Crown quilts from at least 10 years ago:

King's Crown with 16" blocks

It's the arrangement of the fabric in the corner squares that creates a secondary pattern. Here you can see the block's line drawing and the use of sashing. Notice the "D" squares are different colors.

Here is the first one I made about 15 years ago using an Asian inspired collection of gorgeous prints. The center square is a wonderful place to fussy cut a lovely motif.

Someday I may make another one. I have given away the 3 I've made. I'm sure someone is enjoying the beautiful fabrics!