It's April   and I have another set of blocks from my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar. There are 30 blocks in TWO sizes, along with complete directions for one quilt! The free quilt pattern is Dancing Double Cross (12" block from April 6; 63" x 63" quilt). Dancing Double Cross FREE pattern with April Blocks I made a full size quilt from the Nonsense Block (yes, that's the traditional name for this). Here is my No Nonsense Jane quilt using the Jane Collection of fabrics from Blank Quilting. Block Size: 15". Quilt Size: 60" x 60" No Nonsense Jane Quilt In my calendar it is the April 18 Block. Would you like the free pattern for this quilt? Why not? You can get it at my Craftsy store FREE. I made it for Blank and I own all the rights to it. This is a fabulous way to feature a wonderful large scale print. For those who would like to see ALL of the April blocks, click the links below and they will take you to the weekly reveals of ...

Butterfly Dance by Windham Fabrics arrives in quilt shops in April. Not only are there butterflies, but some pretty sweet dragonflies are featured in both a light and dark print. Butterfly Dance by Sally Kelly for Windham Fabrics But, fabrics are really just blobs of material without a plan in mind, right? Windham sent me the 23 sku set of fat quarters and the challenge was on. Remember, a fat quarter is 18" x 22" and you are limited to making something small. NOT! I revisited one of my oldie-goldie patterns which I affectionately call Metropolitan Home Star . I first saw this in a 1982 Metropolitan Home magazine and tore out the page. I have carried it with me through several house moves and I eventually laminated it so it wouldn't be shredded. Here is the vintage quilt that inspired me. Vintage quilt from the 1920s I've made this quilt multiple times. In fact, it was featured on the cover of my second book, Supersize 'Em Quilts (Martingale, 2009)...

I've made several. More than several - close to a dozen! Only one (ok, two) used the dreadful y-seam to join the outside triangles and squares with the 8-pointed Star diamonds. Let me show you what I've done over the years. I didn't realize I had so many until I began teaching (again) my Big Block Lone Star workshop. Let's see that one first. The block is a whopping 29" square; with borders, 41" x 41". This is ALL rotary cut and sewn with NO y-seams. The trick is in those light setting squares and triangles. 29" Lone Star using Nordic Holiday fabrics by Amanda Murphy for Benartex Let's see one of my even bigger blocks. This pattern is available in my Craftsy store and shows two different colorways. It also includes the pages of step by step notes from my workshop (all illustrated) should you wish to avoid y-seams. Star of Splendor. 35" center Lone Star Block Also included with this 8 page pdf is a large Lone Star I made using ...

It's a good feeling to finish a quilt - all the way to the binding. I quilted these 3 quilts in January and prepared the binding. They were staring at me from the studio closet and I finally finished them (two yesterday). The first one was from a tutorial I had here on my blog: Benartex's Matthew's Monsters in the Machine . You can see my steps. Here is the front: Matthew's Monsters in the Machine  And I used the story panel for the back. Story panel works well for the back Here is a quilt I designed and made in 2008 - yes, I did! I finally put those blue borders on, quilted and finished it. The block is 18", and though it's a small quilt, it will serve as a workshop sample. I'm motivated to make a 4 block quilt. This is paper pieced in four sections and then is set into the curved background. Divided Diamonds I love to piece my quilt backs. It helps me use up various leftovers. Divided Diamonds back And the third quilt is a variat...

I have shared the following quilts in the past here on my blog. I wanted to revisit them and show them all in one place! I have a Pfaff embroidery machine that is able to stitch out some Sunbonnet Sue blocks. I made these almost 20 years ago. I used reproduction 1930s fabrics to go with the blocks and then the border is an authentic feedsack print from the 30s. This was published in one of our quilting magazines. These are machine embroidered Sunbonnets. A LOT OF THREAD! The quilt above uses authentic feedsack in the border. The blocks are embroidered with a bazillion stitches each (maybe 14,000). But I truly love this little quilt. I used to work for Quilt Magazine (1993-2007) as the Special Projects Editor. I came across all sorts of patterns. We loved featuring Sunbonnet Sue quilts. Here's a bed quilt I made for publication using a public domain pattern. All the Sues are the same; just dressed differently. I wish I owned this, but alas not. I'm sure someone is ...

I'm not one to be partial to one designer over another, but Lotta Jansdotter has captured my attention for several years with her clean lines, modern colors and happy patterns. Her latest, Lemmikki , is no exception. Windham sent me a fat quarter bundle of Lemmikki and I decided to revisit a previous post and change it up a bit. Lemmikki Collection by Lotta Jansdotter for Windham Fabrics I separated the grays from the colors: Colors for my project today  I'm saving the grays for a future project. Not sure what, but the fabrics will tell me what they want! Grays for a future project I had a sense that these colors were similar to two previous collections from Windham: Aria by Kelly Ventura  and Hand Maker by Natalie Barnes . I pulled out the fabrics and did a quick perusal and decided I was right. I even emailed the Marketing Director for Windham and asked if these 3 designers had chosen the same "paint chips." No. Just that they must be partial to ...