I pay attention to the amount of sunlight we get each day. Or the lack thereof. Yes, I don't live in Alaska or Scandinavia. Still, November and December are too dark for me. I look forward to the shortest day of the year because that means that the days will be getting longer after that! How better to celebrate the Winter Solstice than to make a quilt block. Forget the pagan stuff swirling around this - I like the sun for the sunshine! I began with one idea and it morphed into another, mainly because of my available fabrics. I was looking for a bright orange and found it in the Benartex Fabricadabra Collection by Paula Nadelstern. And then I saw that I had the companion panels and my creative juices began to flow. Fabracadabra panel, one motif of three in a 42" cut I wanted a hexagon shaped sun (what's new about that, huh?) So, in order to capture the entire motif and not ruin the one next to it, I had to cut my freezer paper hexagon at 11" for a finis...

It was a challenge to find a winner for my Little Katerina blog post! The Random Number Generator kept giving me a number that came up with a "no-reply" comment post (several, if you must know). Then I found a LIVE email and sent her not one but two notices that she WON. Never heard from her. Gave her 4 days. Then I selected the 10th time and BINGO! My winner is Sally W of Vancouver, Washington. Congratulations, Sally! I have a new pattern with Keepsake Quilting catalog and Audrey discovered that the pattern was out of stock and wrote to me directly to buy one. She got it just in time to make her version for a baby shower gift. Isn't it lovely? Audrey's Butterfly Quilt: 34" x 34"  And here is how it appears in the catalog: My 1930s version of Storybook Butterflies Quilt And now for a quick gift you CAN make in time for Christmas. This is a link to a blog I follow - Geta's Quilting Studio . I am making one of these for my 3 daughters and ...

Yes, I have a lot of Christmas quilts. Remember, I've been sewing FOR A LIVING for 24 years and I'm only as good as my next quilt. Typically, I'm sent a new fabric collection by a fabric company and without them telling me what to do (those are my strict rules for playing), I let the fabrics tell ME what they want. No kidding! The following was a Blank Quilting collection called Holiday Splendor from 2010. I was in a Lone Star mood (and I still am, if truth be known) and so this fabric said: GIANT Lone Star. I had to piece bits of fabric together to make the borders fit. This was rejected by several magazines (what do they know?) and so I made it a workshop and called it "One Day Lone Star." Yes, in a 6 hour workshop you can get most of the center done. That's because everything is ROTARY cut using normal numbers! Star of Splendor - 35" Block, 48" x 48" Quilt. Quilted by Connie Gallant This quilt is fully patterned along with 12 others i...

Handmade Holiday: More Tutorials! These were featured in SewInLoveWithFabric's Christmas in July Blog Hop! If you want some great ideas, check these out. And check out link on my sidebar for those that were presented this past week. The links are also provided at the bottom of this post. Happy sewing! Santa Sack   by Chris from  Made by Chrissie D  using  Happy Holidays Snowmen Tree Skirt  by Debby from  Debby Kratovil Quilts  using  Homespun Holiday This little tree skirt has gone viral on Pinterest! Throw Pillow   by Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation using  Ornamental Splendor Wonky Star Placemats   by Kristen from  KD Quilts  using  Santa's Here Christmas Card Organizer  by Melissa from  My Fabric Relish  using  Frosty Forest Table Runner and Napkins  by   Nikki from  The Girl Who Quilts  using  Frosty Forest ...

Only in my dreams could I draw anything but stick figures. What? you say! Don't I design quilts and patterns and blocks and quilts (did I say quilts twice?) Yes, but most of what I do is squares and rectangles and I rely heavily on the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator on the computer. No EQ for me. Let me share with you a Nativity set that my middle daughter Hilary designed and made last year. While it's not finished, it brought me to tears because she draws things from scratch! She has two little boys and they helped her glue some of the pieces together. I think it would be a fabulous pattern set. She is a designer by trade (graphic design from Carnegie Mellon). But you have to have it INSIDE to get this sort of stuff to come out, right? Here are all the parts (yes, there are 3 sets for maybe future gifts) Here is the manger and calendar with all the little figures in their proper order. I mean - the star was the first thing on the scene, right? So, here's the order: ...

Happy Chanukah! Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. The first candle is lit. For us Christians, we light the second candle of Advent today. What a wonderful display of light to our - many times - dark world. I totally forgot to share a photo of a set of Chanukah gift bags I made and had published in the Quilting Arts Holiday 2015 magazine (on stands right now). Can I show them to you? Little Dreidel Gift Bags My own pic of the little bag Here is the paper pieced block (which I will make available as a pattern when the magazine goes off the newsstand): Foundation pieced dreidel I also made some bookmark and gift tag using little leftover pieces from this OLD piece of fabric. I think I made these at least 10 years ago. Book mark and gift tag If you want to see all the gorgeous holiday items in the magazine, click here:  Quilting Arts Holiday 2015 Let's all remember to bring light and peace in our everyday lives, treating everyone kindly and ma...

Little Katerina Collection by Benartex Fabrics Little Katerina fabrics by Benartex Today I share over at the Sew in Love with Fabric blog all about this new collection. And show how I used the main panel and made my own stacking dolls. Here is one set my husband brought home from the old Soviet Union about 20 years ago. What do you think? Can you name each one of them? You can win a fat quarter bundle of this group! Authentic Russian stacking dolls Check out what I've done with the Little Katerina panel: Sew in Love with Fabric Then come back here and name 3 of the 5 communist leaders (bad spelling is ok). And tell me what else I made using Little Katerina fabrics. You'll be entered in our contest for you to win a fat quarter bundle of this collection! Make sure I have your email! Contest is over Tuesday, December 8 at midnight (EST). Little Katerina panel

Welcome to the Wild Woods by Windham Fabrics Wild Woods by Daphne B for Windham Fabrics This is such a delightful and beautiful collection designed by Daphne B of Wild Apple. The images are so clear and the companion fabrics are a perfect blend of folk art and rich, woodsy colors. There also is a panel of critters that has given me several fun ideas. Here is a pic of that from the Windham site: Four of the six woodland creatures The first thing I did was to use the panel as "cheater's cloth" and isolate a square center for a quilt. I was sent 3/4 yard of the panel fabric (by 44" width), so that worked out to about 28" x 28". That left me with two vertical rows of animals for my second project. I cut four 2-1/2" strips each from 3 companion fabrics: 2-1/2" strips shown with my leftover vertical rows of images I sewed borders from the strips and added another companion fabric of brown trees. What do you think? This was the fas...