I thought it might be fun to see the top 10 blog posts of 2019 and what was most exciting to my followers. While I don't have tens of thousands of followers, I do have a few thousand who visit each week to get quilt-y ideas and lots of patterns. Here is my countdown for 2019, ending with the post with the highest numbers of visits. NUMBER 10 : February 12 - Free Pattern Day: Frosted Blocks This is a fun post that showcases not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE quilts of mine that use the same technique. Check out the most recent one: Frosted Blocks for Windham Fabrics Candy Cane Lane: Frosted Check out the link next to the date to see the other four quilts. Such a fun way to showcase some novelty prints. NUMBER 9 : July 17 - Hanukkah in July and Free Pattern The Dreidel block is part of the Cookie Cutter Block of the Month series and you can make this for next year! I made three! Three 10" Dreidel blocks NUMBER 8 : August 4 - Cutting Hexagons f...

I have always loved the Fairy Frost blenders and have used them for several years. There are SO many colors and the texture with the flecks of gold and silver are unrivaled for a special touch of "bling" for your quilts. I received a fat quarter bundle of some older fabrics ( the zigzag prints, 5+ years old) from a gift exchange a few weeks ago. I was stumped (me? stumped?) as to what I should do with them. I pulled 6 FQs of Fairy Frost and what do you think? Looks like a pretty good start, if I do say so myself. But I am still thinking. . . Fairy Frost auditioning with some older prints Remember my Fairy Frost lineup for my Starfish quilt ? I had some Michael Miller Hanukkah fabrics that needed some bling. I think these worked very well. 6 fat quarters of Fairy Frost for my Starfish Quilt Do you remember this pic from November? I paper pieced using these 7 fabrics (the white is the background). Paper Pieced Starfish blocks And last year I used this sa...

This is a post from 2008 (that's 12 years ago!). I love hexagons and working with pre-cut strips. These are called "Fat Rolls" and they are 5" strips. I'm sure you can find some fabrics in your own stash that you can cut into 5" strips. These plaids are from Windham Fabric's Basics Collection (2012) of plaids, checks, dots and stripes - awesome fabric staples. Timeless geometrics that should be in everyone's stash. Hexagon Pinwheels Quilt : 44" x 48" I made this quilt for  Windham Fabrics  in 2008 and it is still available as a FREE pattern download . While they no longer sell these "Fat Rolls", which are like Jelly Rolls on steroids (5" strips instead of puny 2-1/2" strips), it is easy to cut your own strips from your own stash. I remember first hearing about them from the Marketing Director and I thought, "Fat Rolls? Isn't that something I have around my waist?" Everything is straight seam sewing...

No. I didn't inherit these. Nor did I find these in an antique store. I made them decades ago (how's 40 years for a few of them? That's vintage, right?) I've been married for over 42 years and began making holiday ornaments to decorate our home from the very first year. As I unpacked my Christmas box a few weeks ago, I marveled that I still had some of these. This goose pillow was a free pattern at a local fabric store (Minnesota Fabrics). They had a special demo day in late November with samples, a stage presentation, and a FREE multi-page booklet of all the lovely Christmas projects and gift ideas. I remember how excited I was to get out of the house and leave my husband with two babies while I slipped away for 2 hours to be inspired in my favorite craft: SEWING! I made one for me and one for my mother in law. Christmas Goose from 1980-83 I did all sorts of needle crafts. Embroidery was one. This little angel dates back to the mid 1980s, too. I don't thi...

In 2019, the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere occurs on Saturday, December 21, at 11:19 p.m. EST. I'm getting ready and want to let those short days of Fall know that I'm not going to take it any more. I want more of the sun and I'm going to get it! You've seen this quilt here before when I first blogged about it in 2015 . I quilted it last month and it's ready to hang and wag it's finger at those dark days. And shine and shine from it's place on my wall. Winter Solstice Quilt: Here Comes the Sun!  26" x 28-1/2" Do you remember when I showed you how this was pieced so that there are NO y-seams? Just because it's a hexagon does not mean I have to have set-in seams. Everything was cut based on that center hexagon from Paula Nadelstern's Fabricadabra collection. That hexagon was cut using my multi-sized 60 degree triangle ruler. It will finish to 10-1/2". No y-seams here! Those triangles are based on t...

I shared this two years ago and I think you'll enjoy the back story of how this quilt came into my hands. You can get this pattern FREE at the P and B website as a download. While I don't think you can get this done before Christmas, you can download it for next year! Snow Play  is a sweet quilt with a Row by Row flavor. The Winter Friends Collection is very traditional with snowmen, stars, pine trees and lots of red and green. Here is a picture of the finished quilt as it hung in my house for a few minutes. My good friend Connie Gallant longarm quilted it for P and B and I put the binding on. Snow Play  quilt by Gina Gempesaw for P & B Textiles Quilt Size: 54" x 66". Block Size: 9" Let's see the special quilting Connie used: Beautiful quilting by Connie Gallant on the  Snow Play  quilt Now, how in the world did this quilt make it to my house? I didn't sew it. But neither did anyone else! This had to meet a deadline for photography ...

This has run twice in the past (2014 and 2017) and is still worth repeating. Especially if it's FREE! I'll let you read the post and see if you agree. I created this from one of my OLD calendar patterns and also used it as a workshop demo.   I have a lot of new blog followers who may never have seen this quick and easy Christmas tree ornament. Quick sewing 8 dove ornaments with Audrey "Hi, mom. Can you help me? I need 8 dove ornaments for a Christmas exchange next week." Oh, sure. I'll put my magician hat on and wave my magic wand and voila! - 8 quick ornaments. Lucky for me I had a Santa sack of various crafts sitting in my hall closet (honest) that I had pulled out last week looking for something. In there is my trusty Dove Ornament pattern. And I even had a sample ornament to remind me of what they look like. I did the fusing. Audrey did the cutting out. I quick stitched the gold thread on the outside. I was shocked to see I still had some gold cordi...

The Christmas countdown is on … and we ( Benartex Fabrics ) are here to help you with fun, festive and fast projects that you can finish before the holidays! Join us on our Facebook page and Instagram account December 12th through the 23rd for our “12 Days of Christmas – Quick Gift Project Hop”. Today I'm the first designer out of the box and am featuring the  Toadily Cute  fabric collection. We all are looking for some quick ideas for last minute gifts. I will be sharing two today. This blog post is photo heavy, but I think you'll enjoy seeing all the  Toadily Cute  things I made! The first one is something you've seen here before: Tissue holders using the  Toadily Cute  fabrics Tissue Holders! I have made dozens of these in the past 20 years. I tweaked the original pattern so the little tissue packs fit better (I added 1/2" or so). But you want to see the pictures, don't you?!! First, the fabrics. The one on the bottom is a border print t...