We are a litigious society; lawyers, lawyers everywhere! Makes my head hurt, but I guess we need them to make sure the big and powerful don't trample on the little people. Yes, I've had to hire lawyers to look at the very complicated contracts I was given from publishers. The first Block a Day calendar I created was with a company called Accord Publishing. I received the 2004 calendar from my youngest daughter for Christmas and I was horrified at how primitive the work was. Cute designs but the execution was horrible. There were NO cutting instructions. You were supposed to just print the pages and cut the templates out!! 2004 Accord Block a Day Calendar I called the publisher and told him, "I can do better than that! I can do this the way it should be." He said, "OK. Prove it." This would involve 320 unique pages of art, patterns, instructions, etc! I sent him some sample files and then he said, "Can you supply a year's worth of files by our deadli...

I attended a very interesting seminar last week where representatives from the United States Patent and Trademark Office   spoke about Intellectual Property. There is real property (ie, your home, your car, your jewels) and then that which originates from your intellect. This covers Trademark, Patents and Copyright. Copyright is what matters to me because I own the rights to thousands of quilting patterns and files. Boomer in the Garden The above quilt was made 30 years ago and published in one of our Quilt Magazine issues. I did not invent that block called "Boomer." It is a vintage block in the public domain called Oklahoma Boomer. That is where 90% of my inspiration comes from. No one knows who thought this up in the first place. No one knows the original size or proportions to the pieces. My block is enhanced by ruched roses, yo-yos, ribbons and lace! If you want to make your own Boomer Block, go for it. But you CAN'T photocopy my pattern and distribute to all your f...

Two of my three daughters took years of music lessons. One played the flute (and competed all the way to the state level). The oldest played piano from the time she was in the first grade until college. You can bet I spent a lot of time waiting in my car while they had their 45 minute lessons each week! Music has always been freely played in my home. We love it! I designed  Opus One  for Windham Fabrics in 2018. You may have seen this already. I did a blog post in February 2017 about another quilt like this. But it's worth it to share again, right? Opus One  for Windham Fabrics I also made a REAL Opus One quilt. I quilted it and added borders but never shared it here. I gave this to a young man who was head of youth music at my church several years ago. His name is Brendan and yes - he loved it! Musical Stars using  Type Band  fabrics If you click on that Type Band link, you'll not only see the fabrics but can download another FREE pattern by Casey York. It look...

I was asked last week if there is a pattern for one of the quilts I shared last week. It actually is a variation of my  Diamonds to Jewels pattern . What quilt? you may ask. First the parts: Diamonds. 60 degree triangles. 30 degree triangles Here are the diamonds that we cut into jewels: Diamonds became jewels And how the jewels and triangles are joined: Joining one jewel with two small triangles Here's how they're assembled into rows. NO y-seams, of course. Who says a diagonal seam isn't a straight seam?! Assembling the parts into rows. Now, let me show you the quilt again. I used up the last of the Regency Dandy fabrics from Windham. Regency Dandy Jewels: 43" x 44" Here's a single page that would be an addendum to that  Scrappy Diamonds to Jewels pattern . Some of you may be able to figure it out without buying the pattern. It's pretty simple. But you do need to know the cutting size of each of the 3 parts! Just play around with some scraps and see how f...

I think you've seen most of these projects at one time or another. They all came from the Regency Dandy Collection by Windham Fabrics (2007). I realized that I was able to get 4 complete quilts from the collection and make a sample block for a 5th. Let's look at them! I made this fabulous Princess Feather in 2007. This was beautifully quilted by Leslee Evans of Maryland. It's a free pattern - just click that link below the photo. Princess Feather  - hangs in the Windham Fabrics office! Here's a little info about the collection and where the inspiration came from (click on the picture to make it larger to read the words). Then I was playing with the Palm/Hosannah blocks and came up with this: The Palm Quilt. 10" blocks. 60" x 60" quilt I also made a Thousand Pyramids quilt that appeared in Quilt Magazine back in 2007 or 2008. I had enough triangles to make a second quilt center. It sits in a box in my closet awaiting some border fabrics. Someday . . . Thou...

I created the  Beginner's Mariner's Compass  pattern about 15 years ago. Taught it many, many times. Used it for fabric companies; starred in my 3rd book (Paper Piecing Perfect Points) and generally strutted its stuff when I presented trunk shows for quilt guilds. She's retired! Beginner's Mariner's Compass . 16" block. 28" x 28" quilt And the very first one I made. Same size. Beginner's Mariner's Compass Here's what I did with some of my samples, which combined with other parts to other quilts. These were in the workshop box and all I had to do was add borders! The addition of the flying geese border was an option for another class. This is going to my guild's charity quilt endeavors. Around 40" x 40". Who Knew Nancy Drew? 34" x 34" And another one that is simpler. It's got some kids' prints (Royal Court) in the first round of borders. Mariner's Compass . 16" center block. 37" x 37" quilt...

This was a post from 2015, which I shared on the Benartex blog. Just some fun ideas using my 12.5" dresden ruler.  Warning! Put your cup of coffee down before you scroll any further! Sometimes my ideas get a bit zany and I only blame it on the fabric, of course. I received a lovely bundle of Fruit Salad fabrics by Benartex (2015) and the watermelon images jumped out at me. What do you think? Fruit Salad Collection by Greta Lynn for KANVAS and Benartex Fabrics What? You don't see watermelon? You see strawberries and blueberries and cherries? Hold on. I'm getting to the watermelon, because I WANTED watermelon and I tried to make this a watermelon quilt. That's why I think a few things went wrong (hence, the warning above). I like playing with my Vortex ruler (actually an 18 degree Dresden Plate ruler). I thought of the green watermelon rind, the white inner rind and the red fruit part and grabbed 3 fabrics. Actually, four. Let me show you how I auditioned the fabrics ...

Pulling out workshop boxes of classes I'm retiring. The challenge will be to put together various units from several different quilts, of which I have NO MORE fabric. I love these challenges the most! These all use the same ruler. It's a simple Dresden Plate wedge with a 12.5" height and extra lines for those angles at the top. Blue Plate Special is a simple Dresden Plate block. 20 wedges with an 18 degree angle. Those little orange points are prairie points! This was donated to my local guild's charity endeavors. (Hard copy pattern of this quilt is included with Buzz Saw and ruler .) Blue Plate Special : 43" x 43"; 30" center Buzz Saw appeared in Modern Patchwork Magazine (2014): Buzz Saw : 30" x 30" Orange Crush using the 60 degree lines on the dresden ruler. More on this version next week! Orange Crush: 41" x 41" and even Ten Points of Light, which my favorite youngest daughter begged me for. Uses the same 60 degree cutting angle ...