Do you remember the blocks I did to celebrate the first day of Winter? Not that I like winter, but for me that means that the days get 1 more minute of sunshine from then on! Here are the two blocks I made using Paula Nadelstern's Fabracadabra Collection for Benartex: Winter Solstice Block (I've since removed those borders)  And, Here Comes the Sun ! (click the link and you can see the steps to make this block) Here Comes the Sun ! Paula's panels with the large kaleidoscopes also have smaller motifs at the selvedge ends. Let me show you what I did with those! Fabracadabra panel showing large and small motifs Some Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks made with 1-3/4" hexie papers Six GFG blocks with a fussy cut motif in the center Then I got to thinking about stars (since I'm a Block Star, ha ha). And I wanted to rotary cut some 6 pointed stars and here is what I got: Circle of Stars That center motif is one of the larger ones in the ...

I received an email last week from John of Maryland. He wanted my permission to display his quilt in a county fair this summer. That was super courteous of him and not necessary. Of course, I said YES! He used 99 of my 366 quilt blocks from my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar for the quilt center. He resized them all to a uniform 6". Quilter's Block-a-Day Calendar His inspiration was the Dear Jane Quilt (patterned from an historic quilt made in 1863: The Jane Stickle Quilt). He created some of his own outside triangle patterns and used some from the book by Brenda Papadakis. His sizing is unique (the Dear Jane blocks finish to 4-1/2" square). Let's see the Dear Jane quilt ( made by Jane Stickle in 1863 with 169 five inch squares, 52 border triangles, and 4 corner triangles) : Original Dear Jane Quilt And here's the Dear John Quilt! Dear John Quilt by Johncog of Maryland I am truly humbled and honored that John used 99 of my blocks in this quil...

For some reason, I'm stuck on hexagons. They are magical to me and I love the seemingly endless ways of putting together blocks with 60 degrees. Here are a few that I'm working on: I discovered that I could fussy cut [center a motif in a specific shape] the kaleidoscope printed images on the Paula Nadelstern Fabracadabra panels I have. I realized that they work beautifully with 1-3/4" hexagon papers. The companion fabrics create quite a striking "flame" stitch, don't they? Grandmother's Flower Garden with fussy cut center  Then I realized that I could make the motifs the center of a 6-pointed star. There are NO set-in seams; all straight seam sewing for this block. Magical, huh? Six pointed star with fussy cut center motif I used these panels in a previous post, Here Comes the Sun . The larger motifs are fabulous to play with and though they are technically octagons, I was able to turn them into hexagons. I made 6 different 6-Pointed Stars ...

Memorial weekend in Des Moines? That's where I'll be and teaching 5 classes at the Quilts of Valor Show . Let me show you the projects and if you're in town (or know of someone in that area), I'd love to have you consider taking one! Coffee Filter Mariner's Compass  - yes, you read that right! Thursday, May 26, 6 - 9 pm A wonderful new way to create the popular Mariner’s Compass, precise points and all.  Begin with a 100 cup coffee filter (20" diameter) as your base. Draw a few lines, foundation piece the center spikes, add a halo of flying geese and learn how to sew the curved background pieces to finish this stunning 32" Mariner's Compass quilt top.  Bring your own fabric, see supply list for details. Yes, they are 20" in diameter!  Don't you just love the grays for a background? With a halo of Flying Geese around the compass Ezekiel's Crown Friday morning (May 27) from 8:30 - 11:30 am Satisfy your desire to learn b...