Ring of Hexies  I've been very busy getting ready for the Quilting Live! Show in Atlanta September 11-14. I will be teaching 4 classes, one of which is free motion quilting. I played around with a sample that I started last year. I drew this Grandmother's Flower Garden using an orange Crayola marker (washable, of course). It sat for a year on the fabric! I quilted using the lines to tell me where to start and stop. Then I prayed a little prayer, submerged it in the bathroom sink in cold water and LOOK! No orange marker! Here is another view. This second picture is turned so that there are two hexagons at the top (notice the "v"). A very different look, huh? Same image, just turned I have been very inspired by Geta Grama in Romania who does gorgeous work with hexies and free motion quilting. She said that her sewing machine has a 10-1/4" opening. Mine is small, just like most domestics, with about a 7" opening. Hope you enjoyed seeing my lit...

Travel size pillow case for my grandson Miles using the 10,000 BC Collection from Benartex American Patchwork and Quilting (APQ) continues to work toward their goal of providing 1,000,000 (yes, that's ONE MILLION) pillowcases for charity. I've partnered with them with the generous assistance of Benartex Fabrics to make some of these. Yes, you can join in on the fun! First, I selected one of their  43 FREE pillowcase patterns from their web site. I selected the one that is similar to the one I've used for the past 10+ years. You can see my blog post tutorial here ( Pillowcase Tutorial ) for when I made some smaller pillowcases for my grandsons. If you scroll down on that page you will see how I rolled up the main fabric to fit into the hem for a NO EXPOSED SEAM finish. Really awesome. Here is the link at the APQ site for the free pattern I used for today's tutorial: Roll it Up (scroll down for the pattern and a video). Now, those of you who know me and...

Making pillowcases is so much fun Friday, August 22 is the GIANT blog hop for American Patchwork and Quilting to help reach their goal of 1,000,000 (that's one million) pillowcases for charity. I have partnered with Benartex and I have some fabulous fabrics to work with. I'll be making one for a boy and one for a girl. And I may even have a fabric giveaway . . . Make sure you come back for an EASY tutorial on how to make these without any raw edges inside. I include a link to the APQ site for the pattern along with a few dozen others! See you on Friday, right? The Star Spangled Banner USA stamp The week preceding the 200th anniversary (September 14) of the writing of the Star Spangled Banner by Frances Scot Key, I will have lots of fun things to share. Windham Fabrics has donated some fabric bundles and I have other Americana, patriotic fabrics that you will love! Giveaways are specifically for Americans (the giveaways will only be shipped stateside, sorry), but I...

Can you say "OLD"?!!! I love digging through my old files to see what I was up to, say 10 or maybe 15 years ago. Yikes! I made this quilt (long ago gifted to someone) using my Pfaff embroidery machine with digitized patterns for the Butterfly and Wreath. I used the timeless red and white for a simple 9 block quilt. Borders and binding and - you guessed it - DONE! Would you like the pattern for the little quilt (24" x 24") with 6" blocks? Of course you do! If you like redwork embroidery, this is for you. I don't have the Pfaff patterns, but I created my own for you to copy here. Butterfly Redwork Pattern Ignore the OLD links to my extinct website. This was many years ago. You know where I live today - right here or at my web site: Quilter By Design

Pillows made by Linda Winters of Buzzing and Bumbling Do you know Linda Winters ? I do! Well, we've never actually met but I've admired her work and amazing creativity in the blogosphere for a few years. She lives in Texas (where my husband yearns to live) and has a special affinity for orange! Even the background of her blog pages is orange! A few months ago I sent her some fabric from the Palm Springs Collection by Benartex and asked her to do something creative with it. I said I would do the same. She did; I didn't! But then I realized I could still show off her beautiful designer pillows here on my blog. Want to see them up close? Of course you do! Happy Hexie Pillow with center button Look at this fabulous hexagon pillow. She incorporated gray into the mix and cut and stitched the fabrics in such a wonderful pinwheel. I just love, love, love those dots! Improvisational piecing using gray as her neutral Isn't this a fabulous use of color? And ca...

Princess and the Pea Improv quilt Windham Fabrics had a fantastic quilt hanging in their booth at Spring Quilt Market. It uses the new Far, Far Away collection by the very creative Heather Ross. It was sewn by Anne Sullivan and I was asked to pattern it. Can you say "pull my hair out!" Pattern + improvisational piecing are oxymorons (go look up the word). Nell Timmer and I worked really hard to get this pattern workable for the end user. But it still is an improv quilt. Here are my own set of fat quarters (no, this is not a fabric giveaway. My daughter Audrey has claimed these for a quilt for baby Eva.) Far, Far Away Collection by Heather Ross The pattern is FREE and you can get it at the Windham Fabrics website: Princess and the Pea pattern Hope you enjoy it. All templates are full size for making the ladder, princess, bed posts, etc.

2015 Block and Pattern a day I can't believe I am still producing this calendar. I began in 2006. A few days ago I submitted the last files for the 2016 calendar (yes, I did!) We work 1-1/2 years ahead. A little story about how I got into this project. . . Christmas of 2003 and my youngest daughter Valery (then 17) bought the 2004 calendar for me. I have to say it was HORRIBLE in that there were no cutting directions (you had to use the resize mode, ie "scale at 163%") to get templates. The designer (who was very creative and had beautiful patterns) used Electric Quilt and the lines were so pixelated that it destroyed the beauty of her designs. I got on the phone and called the publisher (yes, I did) and told him I could do a better job. I submitted some artwork and he took me up on my offer. I did it for 2 years at a very lowball fee and then quit because of that. They wooed me back within a year (at a much better fee) and I have just published my 9th calendar (w...