My new Pickledish Class - fabrics by Windham Yep. Bright colors. Ready for Spring. I've been playing with this block off and on for a few years. I initially was creating a Double Wedding Ring pattern for paper piecing, but then upsized the pattern, simplified the curvy parts and voila! Pickledish single block. 11-1/4" finished A traditional block in today's colors. I have proposed this for the Fall lineup of the Sewing & Quilt Expo. Paper piecing those wedges is very similar to my Coffee Filter Fans (also paper pieced - and yes, on coffee filters!) What do you think? Yes, I've still been adding onto the Double Wedding Ring blocks in 1930s prints I shared several weeks ago. I'm this far (not a good pic): Paper pieced wedges and some serious curved sewing Better picture of my DWR two blocks, still in progress  See the DWR unit below. Four units make a block, but only 7 units make 2 blocks when they are sewn together. Not an easy-peasy block t...

The Palm Block, aka Hosannah I love blocks with sharp points. And the historic, traditional Palm block is a perfect example of this. I have taught this as a class and also featured this in a variety of quilts that have been published in magazines and now in my new book: Paper Piecing Perfect Points. Since Easter is coming in a week, I thought I would show a few of my quilts made with this block. 10" Palm Blocks set on point The quilt pictured above was made with a collection of fabrics called Regency Dandy by Windham Fabrics. Tradtional reproduction fabrics used in a very non-traditional way. I love the bold prints and the use of the striped fabrics. These are 10" blocks and, set on point, are 14". One of my favorite quilts with renegade personality. OK. The connection with the Palm Block and Easter? It has to do with the triumphant entry of Jesus on the last week of his life and the use of palm leaves that were used by the crowds who waved them as he came th...

1930s Butterflies with authentic feedsack binding My oldest daughter Audrey turned 33 years old last week. Yikes! Where did the time go? My 3 daughters always think one of the others is my favorite. As a mother, I have no favorites, but I do say to Audrey: I've loved you the longest! She is enamored with all things vintage. She began digging through my box of feedsacks years ago and has already claimed all of my vintage quilts and recreations of vintage quilts. Whenever we find something like the butterflies square above, she says: Mom - will you make a pillow for me? Well, I know her husband Dani can't even find the bed at night because of all the pillows on the bed, so I turned this block into a table topper. I added NO batting, just a muslin backing and cut extra wide binding from AUTHENTIC feedsacks. This was birthday present #1. Yo Yos from c.1980, intended for place mats I came upon a whole set of these 4 x 5 row yo-yo placemats at a New England quilt show I w...

Hop is OVER. Winner is chosen: Shauna. Thanks to ALL for your lovely, wonderful comments! Blog Hopping today with other Nancy Drew fans, organized by Madame Samm and Carol of " Just Let Me Quilt " (hey, that's what I like to say, too). A BIG thank you, ladies, for all the work behind the scenes. We love you! First, I went shopping before the hopping. Quilt Taffy to the rescue! These are 5" squares. I really had no CLUE what to do, honest. I always wait until the fabric speaks to me. And I wasn't disappointed. Do you think Nancy looks worried that I might not come up with a plan? Where the heck am I going? I have been featuring blocks from my new book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points , and realized that one of the blocks has these Flying Geese spinning in a circle. I use an over-sized cutting template to cut the "geese" patches (so as to save on fabric, but also retain the angle for precision in my piecing). Well, sha-zam - I can get two pat...

Tanglewood Collection from Blank Quilting  Mr. Random Number Generator selected Debra from Maryland for winning this gorgeous collection in my Paper Piecing Monday post. She is double lucky because the first name drawn was a "no-reply" blogger and I honestly couldn't find her on the internet. Sigh! I had to go to the second selection. Congratulations, Debra (great name, btw). Tomorrow I draw for the winner in my Windham Wednesdays - Tasty post. The lucky winner will receive a fat quarter bundle of the luscious Cream & Sugar collection. Contest is over tonight at midnight. Cream & Sugar Collection by Ampersand Designs for Windham Fabrics OK. What's in store for next week? Two BLOG HOPS! On Wednesday I'm part of the Nancy Drew Hop and I have fabrics to giveaway. See . . .? Fat quarter bundle of 8 fabrics from Spin (Windham) On Friday I'm part of the Quilter's Gallery Hop and I have more fabrics to giveaway. And sometime in...