I received a collection of fabrics in 2013 from Ana Griffin called Chinoiserie. One of the prints was so exotic looking. It's the one with that regal pheasant sitting on her cage. I still had some of it left. I used it in this quilt which I gave to a neighbor who was given a cancer diagnosis. She was thrilled to have such a beautiful quilt to snuggle under. I used the pheasant print to set my One Block Wonder blocks. I made this pentagon wreath last year and it was looking for a special motif for the center. I remembered that pheasant print. I stitched the wreath onto the centered print and then trimmed it away. Now it's ready to be attached to the green background square.   Pentagon wreath with the fussy cut pheasant in the center Then I stitched it to the green square and trimmed away the excess from underneath. Trimmed wreath Here's my block! Now, what was I going to do? 13-1/2" pentagon wreath block I pulled out more strips and decided to begin surrounding it as I...

This is one of my absolute FAVORITE quilts! I made it last year and shared it here. I was using the Fox Wood Collection by Becky Olmstead for Windham Fabrics. You can see one of my posts here . I fussy cut several of the forest animals and centered them in another pentagon wreath! Only this time, I used a hexagon for the center and 6 pentagons to surround it (that's because a hexagon has 6 sides!). Hexagons and Pentagons from Fox Wood 8 blocks and two half blocks make up the center. Those borders were cut from fat quarters. Isn't this fun? I have this pattern in my Etsy store. Fox Wood Forest Animals Here's one of the blocks up close. Aren't those sassy looking geese? Pentagon wreath with triangle corners And one of the half blocks: Goose half block Here are some of those animals up close. I made 8 of these for the Marketing Director of Windham because she was SO taken with my quilt that featured them in such a cute way. More animals from the Fox Wood Tomorrow I have ...

You have to get creative when the only fabric cuts are fat quarters. I honestly don't mind. I am rather tired of single fabric borders. I finished this quilt center last Spring and I pulled it out on Sunday. I had to be careful with my cuts, but I was able to make it work. This was made using the Spellbound Collection by Katia Hoffman for Windham Fabrics. Click that link and you'll find an awesome Look Book, too. Here's the center again: Six Pentagon Wreath blocks using the Spellbound Collection These are 13" blocks. The pentagon wreaths were made using English Paper Piecing with 2" pentagon papers. I cut up one of the panels (sku # 51961M-X) and had enough for those 3 horizontal sashing units. This way I was able to stagger the blocks for an interesting (and less boring) assembly. Here's a look at how I auditioned the six little panels. Yes, those panels are actually octagon shaped, but they work! Now for the borders. The width was determined by those two na...

I shared my steps to this lovely creation last Spring using the Spellbound Collection by Windham Fabrics. I upsized a block I created for Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine a few years ago. Do you remember this block? Pentagon Wreath I used another center and background to make a second one. Fabrics for both of these are from a Paula Nadelstern collection by Benartex. Pentagon Wreath I truly became enamored with the English Paper Piecing of pentagon shapes. In fact, I began putting them into the kits for my students when I teach those workshops. Here is another ring of pentagons (for a wreath) that I made using 1-3/4" pentagons and the Kaffe Fassett Sunburst fabric. I shared this last May. Sunburst Wreath I added a 5-Pointed Star to the center and then appliquéd everything to a background square. The block is 13-1/2" and is waiting for some companion blocks or strips to be made into a quilt of some sort. I just pulled the block out of the closet and now I'm going to try...

What do you do when there's snow and ice outside? Oh. You live in Florida? I'm not talking to you! We had a few days of the wintery mix and I got in the mood to finish more quilts. I even stitched a few from scratch (yes, I'm fast). Here is one I made from start to finish in 2 days (not full days, mind you). This is a combination of a few Benartex prints, one of which is Winter Games for those athletes in the center of 3 blocks. No y-seams, pieced very similar to my Twisted Hexagon quilts. Yes, I know these are NOT pentagon blocks; patience! Winter Games Swirling Hexies: 38" x 46" Blocks are 12" high. The centers are 8" hexagons from flat side to flat side. I pieced it on Sunday, quilted it on Wednesday and bound it on Thursday. Here is how I fussy cut that snowboarder. I used a window template made from freezer paper. I surrounded the hexagon with six 8" 30 degree triangles. Someday I'll show how this is done. I realized too late that I didn...

I think it's so much fun to sew without having a real plan. No kidding! You've seen some of my quilts that were "adopted". This is a group of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. When I was getting ready to photograph it, this sassy little orchid wanted to join in. What could I say?!! I finished it last week. Cameo panel surrounded by various happy strips: 44" x 44" Do you remember the others? This was a 30 year old block that I used the Windham Fantasy collection to complete. Isn't this lovely? Vintage Flower block surrounded by 2" strips And then Fantasy decided they wanted to adopt another block. OK. I can do that, I said. This also was a vintage block that waited around for years. First adoption - read about it here And just one more. I made this appliqué elephant block several years ago. Nothing happened with it. Finally, he roared out and insisted that I put it into a quilt. What else could I do? Minton Elephant : 44" x 47" Now, I hope I've i...

I have made quite a few quilts with a heart theme. Some date over 20 years back. One of my favorites (just a few years old) is one from a Benartex Collection called "Oh, Fudge." Can you see why? This was made using a set of 10" squares. I Love You Quilt Last April I made some greeting cards for my mother in law who didn't have any stationery to use for her friends. She was in lockdown in her apartment and I used some hearts and cardstock for these. What do you think? I used fusible webbing and just ironed it onto the cards. Single card with 2 hearts I got carried away. She was delighted! I had these lovely plain cards with matching envelopes for at least 20 years. What was I waiting for? For these, that's what! Cards for my sweet mother in law This next quilt was from my first book, 2004. These were pre-cut hearts that I bought from the Keepsake Catalog in 2002! Jeweled Keepsake Hearts I made these Woven Hearts and gave them as Christmas gifts. Woven Hearts I th...

I think I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. It's February and, where I live, it's also snowing outside - bleak, gray and dreary. But I remembered this lovely dimensional Wild Strawberries mini quilt I made over 15 years ago. To be fair, I didn't make the center block - that was part of a Quilt Magazine contest in the 1990s when our readers sent in their own blocks in the hopes of winning a prize. We didn't get around to using the blocks for our magazine projects until the early 2000s. I think this block wins the prize for being so sweet and intricate and filled with little bits of whimsy. Those are stuffed strawberries, bits with all sorts of embroidery and tiny white flowers. The basket has hand stitching and, just so we don't confuse our fruit, the maker labeled her work "Wild Strawberry." Wild Strawberry block I added borders and then slipped in some prairie points between the block and the borders. Isn't this the cutest? I added a thin re...

I must love this pattern because here I am making ONE more! This was part of a workshop I taught for a few years and also appeared in my 3rd book, Paper Piecing Perfect Points.  Here is the pattern as I taught it a few years ago for the Hershey Quilt Show. I call it " My Geese Have the Blues ." Everything is stepped out in the 11 page pdf. I truly love these colors! Each of those 4 blocks/units is 12" x 12". Sashings are 2". My Geese Have the Blues : 38" x 38" I also love it in the bright, primary colors as seen here. Don't you love those dancing jungle animals? Geese at the Zoo Here's the one from my book. It's rather sedate and with ho-hum colors. One of my daughters asked for it and I gladly gave it to her. Yes, that center circle is quite large but I did NOT set that into the circle of geese. I simply interfaced it and then machine appliquéd it to the quite large center hole! I wanted to capture the lovely image of that lady and I did ...