Meet the Quilter Who Made 366 Quilt Blocks in 2016

Meet Patricia Bryant—Australian quilter extraordinaire who gave herself a challenge: make every block in my Quilter’s Block-a-Day Calendar. That in itself would be a feat. But Patricia went one step further: she decided to sew a block for 366 days in a row. One block for each day in 2016.

And guess what? SHE DID IT!!! It's a great interview as she tells what motivated her to take on such an impressive challenge.

Patricia Bryant, Australia

I've been sharing about this since January 1 and hope to upload every single one of the amazing blocks Patricia has created. You can read about her story at the Martingale blog: Stitch This! Many of you have asked what she's planning on doing with the blocks. She's not sure, but here are ALL the blocks in one pile!

All 366 blocks from my calendar. Can you believe it?!!

Here is one of Patricia's favorite blocks from April: Eight Hands Around

Go read the whole story. You will find it fascinating, I'm sure!

New Quilt Along This Week

Get ready for a fantastic - and FREE - Quilt Along with Sew in Love with Fabric and Benartex.

It begins on Thursday and will be featuring 3 new collections. Mine is Moon Flower by Kanvas Studio. Let me show you my fabrics:

Moon Flower by Kanvas Studio

 Take a visit to today's post at Sew in Love with Fabric to see the quilt all three of us designers will be interpreting with our 3 distinct collections.

Don't you just love these timeless red, white and black fabrics?

Here are the basic fabric supplies and schedule, and on Thursday you will see what all three quilts will look like (in digital format).

Hope you can join us!

Quilter's Block a Day Calendar, Week 5

Many of you have asked about putting all of these blocks into one quilt. My answer: GO FOR IT!

You also were wondering about grouping the blocks by size. The back of the calendar lists the blocks alphabetically, but not by size. Guess what? Since I'm the author and designer of the entire calendar, I had to keep things straight myself and I have a spreadsheet that organized them. I put the blocks in SIZE ORDER and it's available for FREE. It's a multi-page pdf (not an Excel spreadsheet).

Here are the blocks for this week. We finish out January with 3 blocks, the first of which is Windmills. Take a close look at that lovely blue and white plate with a painting of an old windmill, perhaps from The Netherlands?

January 29: Windmills, 12"

 January 30: X Puzzle

January 30: X Puzzle, 9"

 January 31: Winter Stars

January 31: Winter Stars, 16"

Now on to February

February 1: Balkan Puzzle. Holy Cow! More of those GIANT ants!

February 1: Balkan Puzzle, 8"

 February 2: Prairie Queen

February 2: Prairie Queen, 9"

 February 3: Calico Puzzle Variation

 February 3: Calico Puzzle Variation, 12"

 February 4: Cobblestones. I absolutely love that beautiful print in the center of the block, don't you?

 February 4: Cobblestones, 12"

You can download the Block a Day Calendar Size pdf and use it to organize your blocks from 6" to 20". You will see on the multi-page file that the date is listed in the 3rd column (with the year as "00"). This way you can find the block easily in the calendar.

Thanks again for stopping by! Happy Sewing.

Another Set of Hexie Blocks from The New Hexagon Perpetual Calendar

This is my process for making the January 26 block from Katja Marek's Hexagon calendar.

18 diamonds cut for my six Baby Blocks

This block is what I would call a traditional Baby Blocks. I begin with a lot of diamonds. Each block uses 3 diamonds and I will be making 6 blocks. Put on your math hat: what is 3 x 6? 18 diamonds! I am using all Kaffe Fassett fabrics for the diamonds.

Then what's next? I cut 120 degree triangles from my background fabric:

Oversized 120 degree triangles

Instead of English Paper Piecing (EPP) these, I have cut out patches VERY close to the size used in the calendar. This will have the SAME result, just slightly larger (ie, about 1/4").

I join two of these odd sized triangles to each of my diamonds. Hey! What's that little dot at the top of that diamond? That's how I will know where to stop stitching when I put all three of these sections together. You'll see.

Two triangles joined to a single diamond

Here are the 3 diamonds I selected for one block. Yes, I know. There's a y-seam about to happen. There actually is no other way to stitch this one. But we're going to get back to that little black dot.

Three sections to my Baby Blocks

The marked dot tells me where to stop stitching:

Stitch from the raw outside edge to the dot

Now what?

Sewing the 3 diamonds just UP TO the marked 1/4" dot. Then you can "spin" the center join

And from the front?

Trim, leaving 1/4" seam

Let's see another:

This is the Baby Blocks upside down

I made a total of 6 Baby Blocks. Then, I added a triangle to 3 of the 6 sides. I used one blue fabric for 3 of the blocks and a second blue print for the other three.

Adding triangles

And, how does it all look? Here is my wreath of Baby Blocks.

My wreath of Baby Blocks!

My plan for this one is to turn it into an awesome table topper. I love looking at all these delightful, colorful Kaffe Fassett prints, don't you?

Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam

Yes, they still are going strong!

Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam Sampler Quilt

This popular quilt ran in the Keepsake Quilting catalog. Made with Windham Fabrics 1930s reproduction prints and solids, it was a best seller.

"Have a Heart" Sue

The appliqué block is composed of four 8" log cabin blocks put together so that the white logs create a space for the appliqué patches. What do you think of "Have a Heart Sue"?

And there's "Have a Heart Sam"

This is all raw edge appliqué (of course!). Sam has his ever-present hat. And then there's Overall Sam . . .

Overall Sam

One more Sue block:

Windy Sue

OK. Where can you get the Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam pattern? At my Craftsy store, of course!

Keepsake Quilting catalog no longer carries it. This is SO scrap buster happy. You don't need to have a stash of 1930s reproduction prints. Solids work so well for the appliqué patches.

Can we see the blocks? Ah, yes. Now it makes sense!

Four 8" blocks together, ready for the applique patches

The Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam pattern includes all the cutting and stitching for the log cabin blocks and FULL SIZE patterns for all 9 blocks!

I have this quilt hanging in my living room and get to enjoy it every day. Hope you enjoyed the show.

Quilter's Block a Day Calendar, Week 4

Yes, there are more. I hope you are enjoying seeing so many blocks. I spent the better part of a year creating this calendar with the companion CD. 2017 marks the 10th anniversary of my calendar and it still is selling.

Quilter's Block-a-Day Calendar

January 22, Road to California

Let me say something about this. I am in California teaching at the Road to California Quilt Show RIGHT NOW! How did I know to put this block in the week when Road2CA always happens? I didn't even know about the show when I designed this calendar. I think it's one of those serendipitous things, don't you?

January 22, Road to California: 8"

 January 23, Sawtooth Squares (what's with that LARGE ant?!!)

January 23, Sawtooth Squares: 8"

 January 24, Snake Trail. I don't like snakes. Good thing that's a plastic one, right?

January 24, Snake Trail: 12"

 January 25, St. Gregory's Cross - wow. Is that really a statue of St. Gregory?

January 25, St. Gregory's Cross: 18"

 January 26, Tea Leaf Variation. Have no idea what "Vegemite" is. Obviously, a product of Kraft Foods. Maybe only available in Australia?

January 26, Tea Leaf Variation: 8"

 January 27, Totem Pole

January 27, Totem Pole: 6"

 January 28, Twinkle Star

January 28, Twinkle Star: 12"

This is the end of Week 4 in the calendar. And we still have a few days left in January. Such a long month!

More of Those Hexagon Blocks from Katja's Calendar

Do you have yours yet?

Yes, I'm back with some more blocks from Katja's calendar. I absolutely love working with hexagons and all things based on the 60 degree angle. This next block combines two units I have used for over 20 years in various projects. My Seven Sisters quilts (pattern on Craftsy; click the link) use one of those:

My Seven Sisters quilt

Can you see the units? I think it's easier when you see one of the stars. First, the parts:

Diamonds and triangles

For a lovely star:

Seven of these make up the Seven Sisters quilt

Now let's see the January 17 block from Katja's calendar done in Kaffe Fasset fabrics:

Three of those diamond/two triangle units

I started out with a different fabric for those 3 half-hexagons and I really didn't like it:

It's always good to audition your fabrics before you sew all the seams!

And I made another one using that beautiful Sgrafito Collection by Benartex:

January 17 block in the Sgrafito Collection

Thanks for stopping by!

Quilter's Block a Day Calendar: Week 3

I love what Patricia B. of Australia did with my patterns. She brought them to life with her choice of fabrics. But, it's beyond amazing how she photographed each one of them. And she did this every. Single. Day, of 2016.

Here is the 3rd week of blocks made by Patricia:

January 15, Birthday Cake

January 15, Birthday Cake: 12"

January 16, Indiana Puzzle Variation

January 16, Indiana Puzzle Variation: 12"

 January 17, Ladie's Aid Block

January 17, Ladie's Aid Block

 January 18, Louisiana

January 18, Louisiana

 January 19, Patch as Patch Can

January 19, Patch as Patch Can

 January 20, Patience Corners

January 20, Patience Corners

 January 21, Right Hand of Friendship

January 21, Right Hand of Friendship

I hope you enjoyed seeing this set of 7 blocks. Hope to be back next Sunday for another set. Thanks, Patricia!