Upcoming Class . . . Circles of Geese My Geese Have the Blues I began making circles of Flying Geese several years ago using my own paper pieced patterns. And then made them into quilts which also became options for my book "Paper Piecing Perfect Points." My publisher only chose one, the above quilt not on that list. But I love this quilt because of the various fabric textures (especially the wild circles/bullseye fabrics in the center). Zoo Animals with Geese Ring (just a quilt top center) The publisher didn't want this one, either. Sigh. But here is the one they chose for the book. I made this several years ago and fussy cut a lovely toile for the center and then again for the four corners in the border. Toile Garden Medallion Ooops! One more with a full circle in the center: Yakkity Yak Dinosaurs And here is a variation of this ring of geese which I made to add to a large Mariner's Compass. I upsized the whole thing and, yes: this ...

One more Christmas quilt from long ago I found this picture from about 10 years ago. I gifted it to someone and I sure hope they are enjoying it for the holidays (can't remember who I gave it to). I realized that I have the pattern in pdf format and you can piece the 4" blocks either in the traditional way by rotary cutting patches or try your hand at paper piecing. The pattern is written for using fat quarters. Don't you just love the way the shapes interlock. That's what "tessellating" means. Enjoy! Free Tessellating Leaves pattern

Diadem Quilt from my Supersize 'Em Quilts book As I was looking at the quilts on my wall this morning, in the quiet of the early hours, I realized that I was gazing at a few of my Christmas quilts. The one pictured above is called Diadem because, well, that's the name of the traditional block! The center fabric is a large 10" finished patch so you can feature a beautiful large scale print. And the corners are paper pieced for a 14" finished block. One Day Lone Star (a workshop I teach) All rotary cut patches. This was sewn in the hopes of having it "picked up" by a magazine a few years back. No one picked it up, so I took it on the road. I love teaching this class because many students actually can finish most of the center star in a day. Don't you just love that awesome floral print I used for the background? This was a collection from Blank Quilting called Holiday Splendor. I had some leftover fabrics and used them to create my Magic Triang...

Classic red and cream basket of blooms Anyone who knows me knows that I do NOT hand applique, so when I found a pile of Baltimore Album blocks for sale I immediately grabbed them. Did I say they were NOT hand appliqued? Oh, sorry about that. These are printed panels that only replicate beautiful, traditional blocks and boy did I have fun with them! Beautiful blue urn with a classic pineapple and pomegranates I pulled colors from the panels: green, blue, mustard, deep crimson and cream. I searched my stash and found perfect fabrics to make Dogtooth triangles. These were tricky as the panel size could not be divided evenly into thirds. I fudged it - so don't look closely at the triangle points as they touch the panel - I lopped off points. But hey - I'm not into perfect, are you? A lovely wreath, book and bird. Have you ever seen a bird with a book in real life? Stop looking at the lopped off points! Look at the beautiful urn of flowers! And how will they look...

Block a Day Calendar Martingale is my book and calendar publisher and they feature 5 wonderful quilting calendars that will be sure to please any discriminating quilter. One of them is my own perpetual Quilter's Block a Day Calendar (both desktop and on CD). You can see all five calendars here: Stitch This! Blog by Martingale There are 3 wall calendars of quilts and two desktop calendars of blocks (mine and Judy Hopkins). You can see mine here. You can also see ALL THE BLOCKS as contained in the calendar by visiting my web site. Yes, you can see all 366 of the blocks and their size (you just don't have access to the cutting instructions). This way you can decide for yourself if it's a value (which I think it is, btw).       Quilter’s Block-a-Day Calendar by Debby Kratovil Well-known author Debby Kratovil has been an avid block-pattern designer and collector for many years. Her perpetual calendar includes 366 pieced and appliquéd block patterns that...

Timber & Leaf Collection by Sarah Watts (Blend Fabrics, 2012) My oldest daughter Audrey enjoys sewing with me. (Never quilts, btw. One can only hope.) She comes over from time to time with an idea and digs through my stash and we work out the details using my 40+ years of sewing experience. You may remember this time last year when I created a few things from this awesome fabric collection: An apron for Audrey from the fox fabric, which she loves! More fox fabric with the tree rings print My "go to" pattern for a flanged pillow. Added a simple bow. Simple tote, pattern from my favorite magazine Stitch Audrey wanted to make a flanged pillow for the nursery for our upcoming 3rd grandchild (her first baby, a girl). She pulled out the Timber and Leaf Collection and here is what we came up with: We chose a soft gold for the flange so the bears would pop! We made two of these pillowcases for her own bed and squeezed out the last of this gray print ...

Fowl Play Collection by Benartex Fabrics Contest is over and Joyce is my winner of the fat quarter bundle with 6 of the chicken panels. Congratulations, Joyce! I get to rock out again in the hen house with the Fowl Play fabrics I used a few weeks ago in a tutorial for Benartex. These are just so much fun, as you can see in the stack above: little chicks, chicken wire, chicken scratching and BIG hens with names from REAL chickens from a REAL chicken farm. There's even a border print with chickens on a wire which I used at the top and bottom of this table runner. Table runner using my Arrowheads "tilt" template You can see what I did here: Rock out in the Hen House I wanted to revisit these fabulous chicken and rooster panels and do something very different. This time I chose those with the blue chicken wire backgrounds. Same chickens with a blue background Then I did something radical (at least I think so). I ignored the square shape and cut them out...

Yes, I have not one, not two, but THREE projects in here The latest issue of Modern Patchwork is on newsstands NOW. How can a 60-something quilt designer, in love with traditional patterns, create something to appeal to modern quilters? Why, use some of the newest fabrics and think outside the box. I love the refreshing, clean (not busy) and simple designs that our younger quilters are bringing to the quilt world. Here are my 3 projects that you will find in this magazine , on newsstands now: The Improv Adventure quilt was made using the Windham Fabrics Gees Bend Collection of solids. The hexagon kitchen ensemble was made using the Windham Fabrics Bella Collection by Lotta Jansdotter. Improv Adventure - a fun class that I've taught that helps students step outside the box 3 Hot Pads, strip pieced using a 60 degree ruler (lined with batting) Four block table runner using same technique as the hot pads I think the straight line quilting is a modern appeal. I lo...

The Dori Collection by Benartex Contest is over: Sharon of Phoenix, Arizona won the fat quarter bundle of Dori fabrics. Congratulations, Sharon! New fabrics to play with. I revisited a pattern I designed last year for another Benartex Collection which appeared in the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine Issue 5. Come with me to the Sew in Love with Fabric Blog (Benartex) to see what I made with these. Here's a sneak peek: Is that a curve? Do you really want me to sew a curved seam? Yes, I show you how to not only sew a curved seam but how to fussy cut a beautiful flower: Oooh! What a lovely flower. How do I get it in the center of that circle? Here's my giveaway: 4 fat quarters in the blue fabrics: 4 Fat Quarters from the Dori Collection Just leave a comment for me here. Tell me you've visited the Benartex blog to see my tutorial and your HONEST thoughts about piecing curved patches. If you are not a Blogger, you must leave your email or you come ...

What can I say? A mother of three daughters finally has a set of boys and now I can make non-girlie things! Miles is 3 years old today! Favorite activity when they come visit grandpa? Cruising in the wheelbarrow, just this past weekend! My two little grandsons (1 and 3 years old, this week)  Another favorite activity? Playing in the big "bubba" truck! One big boy and two little boys in the truck bed. "Can I drive now, grandpa?" So, you know I had to make trucks and things with wheels for the little boys. Pam Rocco's patterns from a past issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine I was going to make a quilt like Pam's and then realized that I didn't have the energy to put an entire quilt together. Plus, I wanted something for both boys to share. Why not over sized postcard versions of these cars, trucks and buses? Well, why not!! You can see Pam's quilt - and get the free pattern at the QNM site - and my early blocks here: The...