Several years ago I did a blog post using the Knitty Kitty fabrics by Benartex. I fussy cut a few of the leftovers and used them for the centers of some Grandmother Flower Garden (GFG) blocks. These use 2" hexagons. I had several I made up into kits for my students in my English Paper Piecing classes. I had two leftover blocks that were waiting for a home. Knitty Kitty GFG Block parts I made a few things with these sweet fabrics ( click this link and go to see the blog post). Just to be perfectly clear: I do NOT know how to knit, only crochet. But yarn is yarn and so we all can live together in peace. Some of the Knitty Kitty fabrics (2013) Here is a shot of the fabric with these sweet kitties. I wish I still had some . Knitty Kitty print One of the two leftover blocks I had made. One more kitty in the center My daughter Audrey asked me if I had a kitty quilt I could give to the daughter of a woman she knew. I am not a cat person, but you can be...

Contest is over and we have a winner! Home Grown  by Nancy Halvorsen are the featured fabrics at the Sew in Love with Fabric blog today. Nancy's fabrics and quilts have always appealed to me because I love happy, bright, cheerful patterns and colors and these did not disappoint. I asked for a bundle of fat quarters and a half yard of the main print. Home Grown fabrics  by Nancy Halvorsen This collection centers around an awesome set of panels - one large and four smaller ones. I feel like I got lucky in that the four smaller panels finish to 10"! Panels from the Home Grown collection I took a few days to let these percolate in my head and they finally whispered: "We want   birdhouses to go with us. Can you make some birdhouses?" Of course! I have a set of upsized  10" paper pieced birdhouses  that would go perfectly with these. My 60s A-Frame : 60's A-Frame: 7-1/2" x 10" Beginner's Birdhouse : Beginner's Birdho...

"Hi, mom. I'm wondering if you can make something for our German Shepherd Rescue group for a fundraiser. Do you have anything, maybe coasters or placemats? I'll pay you!" (from my favorite youngest daughter in Atlanta) And I laughed and I laughed. Are you kidding? I had scraps of dog fabric and went to work. And, no, she's not paying me. 3 sets of Dog Coasters You can have the simple pattern for the Doggie Paw block here. This is a png file. When printed it should come to 5" (finished size is what you see). Everybody's computer is different and since I don't have a free spot anymore with Craftsy, this is all I can do at the time. You can tell your printer to scale the size and I hope it works for you. I used fusible webbing and matching thread for the machine appliqué. 5" (finished) dog print block The print hexagons are English Paper Piecing 2" papers. Stitched and then placed on 5-1/2" background squares and zigzag stitc...

I just discovered an awesome web site with some great background and bio info on these amazing quilters from Gee's Bend. I've shared my adaptations of 8 of the quilts here before. The fantastic thing about this site is that there are a lot of quilt pictures and quilts attributed to the various quilters. The site is called The Gee's Bend Quiltmakers . Just to get something straight (because I've had some snarly comments about my right to pattern the quilts): Windham Fabrics went to great lengths and a year of negotiations to partner with the Gee's Bend Collective in order to create a set of solid/batik fabrics (about 2 dozen colors) AND got permission for me to pattern 8 of the quilts that THEY AGREED TO. The Gee's Bend quilters own the rights to the original quilts. They were improvisational. I own the rights to the adaptations, the patterns that were created. The Gee's Bend Collective received royalties from the sale of the kits (fabrics plus patt...

This post appeared several years ago when I featured the  Avignon Collection  by Benartex. I revisited a pattern I've used several times. This uses my Photo Corner technique which was the focus of a workshop about 10 years ago called Rainbow Strips and Curves. Here is the first quilt I made with this. Yes, very bright, I know! Rainbow Curves Then I wanted to fussy cut some holiday birds and make them the focus of the blocks. These are my Holiday Birds . I like that the birds aren't dead-center, but are arranged "organically" inside the frame. What do you think? Four Block Christmas Birds : 9" blocks Now, you may be thinking: I can't think of Christmas. It's only February! But think about some of those awesome prints in your stash that are just begging to be centered within these photo corners. I'll wait while you go dig them out. Are you back? Let's move on to a non-Christmas set of bird blocks, shall we? What kinds of birds might ...