I gave an Atlantan friend 8 quilt tops that she offered to quilt and donate to a local charity. Judy D. sent me photos of 5 of them. I actually forgot about a few of these! Allow me to share them with you, along with a FREE pattern for one of them. The first is one of my leftover samples from a workshop I taught about 10 years ago! I called it Rainbow Strips and Curves. (You can even see the Rainbow Strips quilt .) This is the same picture frame curved corners as I use in my Photo Corners quilt . Rainbow Curves in browns and golds This is the Photo Corners quilt that also uses the same units. Check it out! Photo Corners Quilt . A great way to fussy cut a beautiful motif! Here's another leftover from my very popular Gretchen workshop. I have made this quilt almost a dozen times. I'm also teaching this for a Georgia guild in March (via Zoom). Gretchen Quilt This 3rd quilt uses some leftover log cabin blocks. But I didn't want it to be square (2 x 2 blocks). I set it in my 1...

 No one that I know likes snakes (whew!) But, they are part of God's creation (and I'd love to ask Him why He invented/created them) and we have to just stay clear of them, right? A vintage block called Snake Trail is included in my Quilter's Block a Day calendar . It is a variation of Drunkard's Path. Does that mean that snakes can get drunk? Forget that thought! Here is Patricia Bryant's version of Snake Trail. Can you believe she put that creepy plastic snake in there?! Snake Trail by Patricia Bryant Here is my own version: My own Snake Trail I received some fabrics from Benartex a few years ago that has actual snakes on it! I made a few charity quilts using it. Little boys like snakes, ok? Here's one of them. Here's a close up of the snake fabric. Take a deep breath. Put your coffee cup down! I still have a small piece of this left. I think any one of my 3 young grandsons would probably like it. But, not my granddaughter! Snake Trail is a 12" block ...

Today is January 15th. There are 3 famous people who have birthdays today. Martin Luther King, Jr. My favorite middle daughter named Hilary. And my favorite (and only) granddaughter named Eva. You could call this the perfect trifecta! When I designed the Quilter's Block a Day Calendar for Martingale, I figured I would put a birthday cake block on this day (Eva wasn't born yet; it was 2007!)  Here is my own block, which I set on point and quilted. I use it as a teaching sample for Beginning Machine Quilting classes. Birthday Cake block This block was made by Patricia Bryant of Australia. Birthday Cake block by Patricia Bryant of Australia Here is what a real birthday cake looks like! My husband bought it for me and we devoured half of it (with friends, of course!) Yum, yum! This is my digital block version. Digging through my files I found this quilt version from 2011. And this is the FREE pattern (to those who own the calendar). I designed this with the Arianna Collection by ...

Today is January 9th and the block of the day is Duck and Ducklings. This is a traditional block that has been in the quilt world for a really long time! Here is my 10" block with a mitered, striped border. I searched for it the other day and I guess I gave it away! Duck and Ducklings. 10" block Here is a page from a vintage catalog that is dated May 8, 1929! What do you think of this? Duck and Ducklings pattern by Ruby McKim. For the Calendar CD I created each block in 2 sizes. The other size for Duck and Ducklings is 15". I also include a rendition of what 4 of the blocks look like together, end to end. What to see that? Of course you do! I think you'll like the secondary pattern they create. Four Duck and Ducklings blocks You can find Duck and Ducklings with 365 other blocks on my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar CD .

 I forgot to post yesterday's block, Facets of Color. I have made 2 quilts using that pattern (and they appeared in my second book, Supersize 'Em Quilts, 2009). Here they are. The blocks are 18" x 18"! Facets of Color: 64" x 64" Table Runner: 29" x 49" This is also patterned in my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar CD . It is the same size as the blue one above. I colored it in browns. The blocks are a combination of paper piecing and traditional piecing. Here is a 3rd quilt in process. I started this in 2009. My youngest daughter bought that print fabric when she was stationed in Guam, but I am pretty sure it's got an American fabric company listed on the selvedge! The Facets of Color quilt pattern is one of 12 FREE quilts that are part of the Calendar CD . It was also the basis of a workshop I gave several years ago. Very fun to make such large blocks!

Today I want to share with you Prairie Flower which is the block for January 6 in my calendar. For those who own the calendar (either desktop or CD ), I will be giving you a pattern for a quilt which uses this block. This is a quilt I made 10 years ago using four Prairie Flower blocks. I love how those Fossil Fern fabrics play so nicely together! Prairie Flower is 8" in the desktop calendar and a 6" size is also included in the CD version . Prairie Flower 4 Block Quilt Here is a quilt that a student made. Isn't it lovely? She used four sets of four blocks following my 2016 Calendar Girls FREE pattern. The pattern only makes sense if you own the calendar! 16 Block Prairie Flower Quilt: 51" x 51" This is the Calendar Girls quilt that is patterned for you who own the Calendar CD . Prairie Flower 16 Block Quilt : 51" x 51" But, wait! There's a tip sheet for making this block. Do you want to see that, too? I will send it out to those in my database who ...