Summer Sizzle! Buzz Saw using my 12-1/2" Dresden Plate ruler The latest issue of Modern Patchwork (Summer 2014) arrived yesterday with the return of my 3 little projects that are featured on its pages. The little projects were hot and sweaty because the dang UPS man NEVER knocks on the door when he drops a box on my front porch. When I found it, they were crying for a sip of water and some air conditioning. I opened the box, pulled them out and laid them on the spare bed to calm down. I found my two author issues inside and WOW! what a truly fabulous magazine! Hot off the press filled with awesome projects! Buzz Saw (a Flirty 30 pattern) is one of my fun quilts using the Raj Collection from Windham Fabrics. Those are 12-1/2" wedges of fabric with my special method of adding the sharp blade tip. We had to use templates in the magazine, but my upcoming workshop (see the Georgia Quilting LIVE ! schedule for September) includes the multi-sized template for my studen...

Easy yarn bag with a Grandmother's Flower Garden block Did I start with cut hexagons? Love these colors! Not for a GFG block! I use rectangles: they're quicker to cut and give me extra fabric on the back of the template. I'm showing this hexagon because it is the center of another project. I used my friend Jean Ann Wright's Hexagon Trim Tool (Checker) to make some awesome blocks: Hexagon Log Cabin block - 8" high How did you make those blocks, Debby? They look really difficult! Well, I used Jean Ann Wright's Hexagon Trim Tool (by Creative Grids) which makes the strips turn out perfect. Looks complicated, but all these lines mean something on the ruler: Hexagon Trim Tool by Jean Ann Wright I started by squaring up the sides of six blocks. Then I didn't like what I would get. It was too boring and predictable. Each block gets four 30 degree triangles Here's one I made using some Honeystone Hill blenders, where I squared up the ...

Winter Tidings Collection by Blank Quilting  Yes, it's true: fabric companies release their holiday fabrics in the hot summer! But it is fun to play with such happy colors and to "see" a cardinal in the summer (which I tend to confuse with robins anyway). This Happy Hexie Table Runner is one of my new patterns with Cut Loose Press . They are quilt shop exclusive and very affordable ($3.99)! Yes, can you believe it? I have sewn this table runner 6 times and I hope this is the last one! Now I just need to quilt it (hopefully, next week). It is going on a trip to be displayed at an Open House for quilt shop owners. Happy Hexie Table Runner - 29" x 54" Those hexagons are so easy to cut out using a 60 degree ruler. You really don't need a funky template. Those rulers can cut just about any size hexagon (and half-hexagons, 60 degree triangles, 60 degree diamonds, and even those 30 degree diamonds if you want to square up the sides). Truly, my favorite...

Constitution Oak Pattern : 64" x 64" Constitution Oak is a very old, traditional pattern. The appliques are large and easy. I designed this quilt several years ago for Windham Fabrics as a pattern to go along with their Farmer Fancy Collection in association with the National Museum of the American Coverlet. I visited this Museum a few years ago and was amazed at all the gorgeous antique coverlets they have hidden inside a rather dilapidated re-purposed elementary school. While you may not have any coverlets in your stash or find any to buy, it's easy enough to make this quilt using your favorite prints. You can download the pattern with full size templates for the applique here: Constitution Oak While you're at it, take a look at the Regal Eagle quilt I also made with a coverlet collection: Regal Eagle appears in my 2014 wall calendar Regal Eagle was picked up by a magazine a few years ago and then they went bankrupt and I was never paid (they publish...

10,000 BC Collection from Benartex Fabrics Today is Technique Tuesday at the Benartex blog ( SewInLoveWithFabric ). I took some of these bright fabrics and turned them into a few things for my grandsons. You can't have enough pajama bottoms! Or pillow cases (I'm auditioning fabric) Check it out today . I show step by step directions (with pictures, of course) on how to make a pillowcase with almost NO raw edges. Neat tricks are easy and quick.

Pot of Blooms Today, where I live (the DC area) it is rainy, gloomy, and muggy. I needed something to brighten up my surroundings. I turned to some happy quilts. When I taught classes in the Intown Quilters shop in Atlanta, there were so many wonderful fabrics by Lake House that begged to become happy quilts. This one almost made itself - the blooms just wanted to dance on that Spring-green background. I cut them out and fused them over those awesome striped stems and those pots? Guess what? They're half hexagons - oh, yes they are! This is on the cover of my 2014 wall calendar. I think it's the quilt for May (I lose track). But do you remember what else I did with these large flower motifs? I used the center leaf shaped template that's part of my EZ Double Wedding Ring pattern set. I cut out all those teardrop shapes and surrounded a bold bloom with a black/white batik. Fused, appliqued, done. That's my kind of block! From a blog hop last year - Twist wit...

New fabrics with my paper pieced rendition of the traditional Rising Sun block Thursday and Friday I am off to visit the Eternal Quilters (aren't we all?) guild in Glen Burnie/Severn Maryland. We have all day Friday to play with fabric and learn about paper piecing (do NOT roll your eyes, do you hear me?) They have selected the Casablanca Sunrise quilt from my book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points. (Yes, I showed this a few weeks ago). I enjoyed using two different yellows for the "blades" in the fan and then setting it on point. The students will learn how to set blocks on point and the easy formula to do so (yes, it involves math - I told you NOT to ROLL your eyes!) Casablanca Sunrise quilt using the Casablanca Collection by Blank Fabrics  Well, what happens when you make more than one block? Let me show you. (Sorry that the picture isn't as bright as a sunrise, but I think you get the idea). This quilt uses FOUR blocks, but because of the way I have turned...

Beautiful designs on the floor of the Plaza Hotel The location of the floor doesn't matter. What I found amazing was to see the HUGE floor in the hotel lobby covered in this intricate pattern. You know how much I love hexagons. This design is even older than the hotel (100+ years). Yes, I was here. Old Spain left a lot of beauty. This was the beginning of my trip, before I sweat bullets walking the streets. I wonder how many tiles are in that floor? And to think they probably cut out each hexagon by hand. Where were their hexagon rulers, huh? Oh, yes. There was even a wall sign created using these hexagons. The "old" man in the picture is my first husband, who was as tired, hot and sweaty as I was. Hexagons on the wall, too! That's it. I only blog about quilt-related matters.  Hope you enjoyed another version of hexagons. They are timeless!