One more Double Wedding Ring (DWR) creation. This was made in February of 2020 and I finally got around to quilting it a few weeks ago. Modern Double Wedding Ring : 36" x 36" Do you remember the bright selection of fabrics? I had to make this using ONLY fat quarters. I am SO partial to bright colored fabrics. Pop Dots by Windham Fabrics I wanted to remake another quilt I had done for Benartex in 2016 using a collection called Sgrafitto.  Modern Double Wedding Ring : 36" x 36" I decided to add the little melon cutaways you get when you cut out the larger ones. I had so much fun spreading them out on top of the partially pieced center. Lots of large melons and little leaves My 11 page pattern in my Etsy shop includes several other DWR variations. I've been playing with this simplified shape for about 20 years. I've even had a few quilts published that only use the little center cutaways. Wanna see? This little table topper (17" x 17") was published ...

Yes, indeed! I made my 3 daughters eat their veggies every night. Wish I hadn't been such a tyrant, but hey - they're healthy and now eat most vegetables without finger wagging. Do you remember my Carrot blocks from a few years ago? I made them using some fat quarters of Bedrock (by Windham Fabrics). Aren't they sweet? Five Carrot Blocks I selected 3 fabrics of  Bedrock  for my simple block. Of course there's a real orangey - orange! I decided to make a version of my Eat Your Carrots pattern. Fabrics selected for my Carrot blocks I printed my carrot pattern (for foundation piecing) five times. It will finish to 6". I pulled a Summer sky blue print and used that for my setting triangles. I selected a second cream for the border strips. And here is my quilt center. What do you think? Eat Your Carrots , 25-1/2"x 25-1/2" I quilted it a few weeks ago and then pulled out the only bunny I still have here in Grandma's house. She is actually mine, given to me...

Sometimes I get to make a quilt more than once or twice. I have used my Fractured Jewels pattern in that way. Yes, there is a FREE pattern , but some of it is improvisational. Does that make you nervous?! Here is the center to my first quilt made in 2013 using some solids by Windham Fabrics. It is a spiral Log Cabin. Center of my Fractured Jewels quilt This is a FREE pattern at their website. Here is the quilt before it was quilted. Check it out as it appears at their website . Very simple quilting. The little bits of irregular size are where the improvisation occurs. Then I went on to make it again for Windham. It hangs in my oldest daughter's house. Same concept as the one above - a spiral Log Cabin. Fractured Jewels Spiral Log Cabin And THEN I went on to make it for Benartex using some of their batiks. This appeared in their 5th issue of Modern by the Yard digital magazine. Go check it out for the FREE PATTERN ! This link will take you to their 2017 blog post and you will click...

Bedrock is an awesome blender that goes well with just about any fabrics. It also plays well with itself! Here is a stack of some skus - obviously, I've made some serious dips into the dozens of beautiful colors. Right now, there are 70 prints/colors in this collection! Bedrock I've had these since they made their debut in 2018. Let me show you my most recent finish. You may remember my tortured approach to stitching a gingham (or Buffalo Plaid) quilt using 2-1/2" strips. My first post in April 2019 My second post in May 2019 with the quilt top These are the 4 colors I chose: Four colors for my Gingham Quilt She's quilted and I hope to give this to a young man I know who loves black, red and white. Yes, that is PIECED and not printed squares. Buffalo Plaid (Gingham) Quilt: 48" x 48" Here she is languishing in my backyard on the deck.  Gingham Quilt just chilling in the sunshine And the back also uses some Windham Fabrics from several years ago that have a m...

I keep finding more animal quilts in my Quilt Vault. Roly Poly Circus Animals is from the Kansas City Star in 1923. The animals were designed as redwork embroidery. The blocks are 9" and there are 20 of them. A quilting friend designed and made this delightful quilt using 5 of the redrafts I had done in 2002. Roly Poly Circus Quilt The pattern has this and also all 20 of the original redwork designs (not scanned but redrafted, full size). Here is how they appear in a simple quilt as presented at their debut. These have been digitally redrawn by me and the pattern set is a 50 page pdf! Roly Poly Circus Animals Another quilt that I featured but had not put the pattern link for is the Garden Bouquet Quilt , originally appearing in 1932 in the Star. Here is a vintage quilt that was photographed for our magazine around 2002. Vintage Garden Bouquet I made 5 of the 25 blocks. Don't you just love those saucy little birds? My own Garden Bouquet Quilt You can also find the Memory Bouqu...

I have always drawn the most inspiration from vintage and traditional quilt patterns. Flying Swallows is one of those. There are several variations of both pieced and appliqué blocks, but I'm talking about the one based on an 8 Pointed Star, as seen here by one I created in 2002 for Quilt Magazine. Flying Swallows, 2002 I have designed a few digital quilts since then for a few fabric companies. Here's one I used for Blank Quilting in 2008: Flying Swallows using the Fun Dip Collection This was a class I was supposed to teach in 2020 for the Sewing Expo. Nope - all cancelled! I'm sitting on all the printed patterns, but I also have them as digital pdfs in my Etsy shop. Here is one of my class samples: Flying Swallows . 24" center. 38" x 38" quilt Oh. Don't get nervous! There aren't any y-seams, I promise! Here is another of my class samples. I made it in bright colors. First - the 45 degree diamonds.  45 degree diamonds in bright colors Let's see t...

This blog will no longer notify you anytime I post something new by July 2021. It's something that Google/Blogger has devised, unfortunately. I am working on a new way to move that notification over to another email service. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, enjoy the beauty of this quilt. It's homage to all the birds that start chirping in my backyard at 5 am! And it's a true scrap buster. Why not pull out your own abandoned scraps and make a Log Cabin Birdhouse! "What?"you say. I don't know the size! You can make it any size you like, of course. This was an improvisational quilt - I just built it as I went along. Come back tomorrow and I will feature some flying swallows - a quilt, that is! A vintage block made up in today's fabrics.

I am teaching with the Road 2 California the 3rd week of May. Four workshops and three lectures. One of my lectures, Shortcuts from a Short Woman , is one that is very popular. I think I've presented it several dozen times. Since I'm creating new projects all the time, each presentation is never the same. Here is a photo snapped a few years ago by a guild. I was a bit slimmer then! My Shortcuts lecture includes about 4 dozen quilts and all sorts of process steps. The date and time? Friday, May 21rst at 10 am California time. It lasts one hour. What will I be talking about? As a quilt magazine editor for 14 years, I have made and published several hundred quilts! This is a trunk show bursting with tips, tricks, shortcuts and a variety of innovations that will satisfy any quilter. I demonstrate traditional blocks made with non-traditional methods. With 3-4 dozen quilts I show quick ways to create otherwise difficult blocks and finishing techniques: taking out the y-seam on Lone ...

Warp and Weft  by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of  Modern Quilt Studio  debuted in early 2019. These fabrics are not your ordinary cottons that are surface dyed, but are wovens with colored threads. As soon as I saw them I knew just what I'd like to stitch with them. My tried and true " Yikes! Those Stripes " pattern is a go-to anytime there are fabrics such as these in my studio. I featured these when they first came out and I came upon the blocks hanging in my closet the other day. I think I need to make some more. Let's see what I said about them 2+ years ago: First, the fabrics. I separated out the clear colors (many brights) from the grays. I have plans for those grays - on another day. Crayon colors from the  Warp and Weft Collection   And I added the red plaid to the grays and darker blues: Grays and blues with a single red from the  Warp and Weft Collection One thing I did notice about these fabrics is how soft to the touch they are! They have a ...

I have a winner: Susan L. of Connecticut. Congratulations, Susan. Thanks to everyone who left a comment. Stay tuned for more fabric giveaways! Storybook VIII (that's 8 in Roman numerals, btw!) is the sweetest reproduction 1930s collection. Believe it or not, there are 52 different prints/skus. It came out several years ago and I have many of the prints. But the one that tells a story is the one that tells a story! I was able to get 3 sets from the yard of fabric and decided to NOT make another quilt for my granddaughter (and her mother thanks me). I took the 7 panels and machine stitched them to card stock so she and her brother Javier can actually read them as a book. What do you think? Storybook VIII panels The 7 panels are NOT the same size. That's because they were printed in a random arrangement on the yardage. Notice the pink card at the top right with the dancing bunny. I had to cut triangles off the corners because it couldn't be cut square (or the bunny would have...