Taking a cue from the vintage New York Beauty , I was inspired to simplify the piecing from templates to foundation paper piecing. This is a class I am teaching this summer at the MAQ in Gettysburg, Pa. I worked on this quilt, off and on, for 8 years. I finally admitted that it was best for me NOT to do the quilting and I gave it over to Jane Hauprich and her master machine work! New York Beauty: 35" x 35" There are 3 parts to this quilt: the center Dogwood Blossom blocks, the borders of Dogtooth units, and the corner LeMoyne stars. Let me show you a few vintage quilts. This first one has the same parts as mine. Can you imagine all those templates?! Orange and yellow New York Beauty And one in blue and brown and orange. More detail. Let's see some of the units for another color-way. I'm making this in Kaffe Fassett fabrics. These are the paper pieced Dogtooth units. It's certainly a lot easier to foundation paper piece these rather than work with templates. Look

The Lone Star is a traditional, vintage pattern that has universal appeal. From my early days as an editor with Quilt Magazine (1993-2007) we never ran out of beautiful options to feature in just about every issue. We had many loyal readers who would send us their lovely quilts to be photographed and then we patterned them. They came in all sizes and colors and had a wide scope of variations. I am back in the classroom teaching and this summer I am offering my One Day Lone Star class being held in Gettysburg, PA at the MAQ (Mid Appalachian Quilters) Retreat. Here is one from a recent student of mine from a 2019 One Day Lone Star workshop in Hershey, PA. Lisa G. wanted to add the bias strips (which we learned as a variation in class), but then decided to add these beautiful flowers. Lisa G's Lone Star And her creative addition to each corner Lisa's floral addition in each corner. I've made this quilt several times. It also appears in my  2012 Calendar of Quilts  on CD (wit

I blogged about a lovely butterfly collection by Windham Fabrics a few years ago named Meadow Whispers . It has BUTTERFLIES on several skus. I used a simple block design from my Colorburst Squares workshop which has 3 variations of the Cobblestone block. The butterflies of  Meadow Whispers Here is the fabric collection with those lovely butterflies on the left (3 colors). I was working with fat quarters only. I sewed until I exhausted myself (ha ha - I'm joking, of course). My method for making these is to stack 10-1/2" squares and cut them in pairs according to which one of the blocks I'm aiming for. My Colorburst Squares pattern simplifies it even further. Here are the 3 different blocks. Block 1 is the standard Cobblestone. Cobblestone Block #1: 10" finished And the second block: Notice that the center square is off-set. It still finishes to 10" Cobblestone Block #2 And the third block has the center square aligned with one edge. Cobblestone Block #3 I playe

Now we will see what can be done with a coffee filter from a Starbuck's (or other coffee shop that uses the 100 cup makers). My youngest daughter gave me a few from the coffee shop she was working at back in 2013 (I did make her ask her boss!) She called me one day from Atlanta and said, "Mom. Don't you do something with coffee filters in your quilting?" She was thinking of my Coffee Filter Fans classes. Coffee Filter Fans, now living with my dear Mother in Law When she sent me the photo of the coffee filters next to her hand, I had to gasp! These things are 20" in diameter. 20" coffee filters Let's see them in my own hands! Pretty big, huh?! I decided to draft a more complicated mariner's compass on one. I had to divide it into 8ths. The next photo shows two of these together (which make 1/4 of the compass). You can see my pencil drawn lines. One quarter of my 20" Mariner's Compass Here is how this section looks with the paper pieced ring o

Some small, some REALLY large! A coffee filter is nothing more than a paper circle. I've been intrigued with the sewing potential for almost 30 years. Here's the first one that I did some string piecing on. I cut the circle in half and used up some scraps.  And here it is from the back. I still take these with me to trunk show presentations! The first compass I drafted for a coffee filter appeared both in the pages of Quilt Magazine and also in my first book (Bold, Black and Beautiful, AQS 2004). Autumn Mariner's Compass. Block Size: 14" x 14". Quilt Size: 23" x 23" Drafting a compass has been around for hundreds of years. Take a look at the page I wrote for the compass quilt in my book. I made a larger one in green and it was the basis for a dozen or so workshops. We did not piece on coffee filters, but I took the concept and drafted the foundations on newsprint for my students. This appeared in my 3rd book (Paper Piecing Perfect Points). Block Size: 16

She's finished. Karen R. of my local quilt guild (Reston QU in Virginia) beautifully quilted this. I put the binding on. It is part of our charity quilt endeavors (probably will become a wheelchair lap quilt.) 7 Block Baby Blocks quilt: 38" x 40" I made these Baby Blocks the old fashioned way - with y-seams! You've seen these little blocks before. These are 4-1/2" rotary cut 60 degree diamonds. Single Baby Blocks Here is the y-seam from the back. You can see how the 3 seams come together in the center. Then the 1/4" where there is NO seam is spun. Lies flat that way. Baby blocks from wrong side. I squeezed the life out of that swirly fabric. I had to seam two diamonds - gasp! But, it works! This block measures 8" finished from flat side to flat side. I used 4-1/2" 60 degree triangles to set them together. Look closely and you'll see the seams in the multi-colored diamonds I used a mottled batik in a light print for those setting triangles. When