I made this quilt 25 years ago and it now lives with a happy owner. I have no idea how I came up with this arrangement of triangles, folded hexagons and grosgrain ribbon, but I think it's cute! Bright Triangles and YoYos There's that bug border again! I must have purchased a few yards of it, because it appears in more than one quilt. I'm not sure how that green grosgrain ribbon will wash up, but I did machine stitch it down to the black background. The folded hexagons have yoyos in the center and the whole thing is delightfully 3-D! I blogged about this quilt in 2016 and gave out a FREE PATTERN for the folded hexagons. I have no idea where the pattern and art for this quilt is in my thousands of computer files. Not sure about the size either, but some little kid has enjoyed it (now an adult, right?) Check out the blog post and you'll find the link for the folded hexagons, too! And what a fun way with those 60 degree triangles!

Thousand Pyramids uses what's called a dogtooth unit with equilateral triangles. But, what if you elongated those triangles? Again, they zig zag, but what sharp teeth you have! I made these units several years ago with one of my paper piecing patterns and put them aside. They are from my New York Beauty workshop. Zig Zag Shark's Teeth: 33" x 44"  Here are some of the units using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. They are still waiting for a quilt to live in: New York Beauty Shark's Teeth Let's get back to the Dog Tooth units for our Thousand Pyramids, ok? Why do I go off on these rabbit trails?  Dogtooth units can surround a beautiful Baltimore Album block Triangles surround a printed panel These are NOT hand appliquéd - they are printed panels from at least 15 years ago. I used the same triangles as are in the Thousand Pyramids quilts. I had to be very careful of my math! Here are 4 blocks: Now for the last Thousand Pyramids quilt for this week. I made this in 2014...

. . . and a free pattern! (Read to the bottom) Here is Day Two of my Thousand Pyramids quilts (and some variations). This next quilt was made about 18 years ago. This baby is probably in college now! Thousand Pyramids using all prints Here is the quilt lying flat on my carpet before putting the binding on. Notice that each triangle is a print and is not alternating with a plain or light "blah" fabric. There is a zig zag look to it, but the triangles are lined up with each other from row to row. Thousand Pyramids flat to better see the rows Now, just to shake things up a bit, here's a photo of a quilt made using the SAME triangle shape where they form a hexagon. I called this Hexagon Pinwheel. Very different look, right? But they are horizontal rows of 60 degree triangles, just colored differently! Hexagon Pinwheels This is from a collection that came as strips of 5" x 42" plaids. They called them "Fat Rolls." The triangle template is included, but it...

I love triangles, especially 60 degree ones. I have made several quilts in the Thousand Pyramids pattern as seen by this first one from 2001. These are 60 degree triangles and they appear to zig and zag across the face of the quilt. Bright triangles alternating with a light yellow print, then surrounded by a rainbow inner border and some great bug border print! Bright Triangles with Dragonflies Border   This next quilt was made with more novelty fabric. These are the same rows, but they are staggered so that they make a zigzag with the light dotted fabric. Both quilts use a 5-1/2" triangle. They are pieced in horizontal rows. One row has the solid colors with the triangle tip at the bottom; the next row has the solid triangles with the tip at the top. And the solid triangles are NOT aligned with each other as in the quilt above. Fun, huh? Zig Zag Safari baby quilt with matching pillows Thousand Pyramids is a vintage pattern that is supposed to use 1,000 different patches of fabric...

I discovered a photo in one of our old magazines (Quilt Magazine, Spring 2005) of a vintage Nosegay/Bride's Bouquet quilt. I scanned it the other day and here she is in all her old time glory! Bride's Bouquet Quilt: 59" x 76" The blocks are 12" and when we ran the pattern, we included templates - lots of them (5 different ones!) Would you like to see what they look like? Nosegay Templates! Does this make you want to run and make one of these? Not me! If you would like to try your hand at making one of these quilts, I've just published a 12 page pdf in my Etsy shop. Go check it out and see all the photos! Old Fashioned Nosegay . NO templates, just easy foundations for paper piecing.  And I keep the fabric waste to a minimum; as you can see, the 45 degree diamonds can be cut (oversized) using your standard ruler! Cutting the diamond patches for foundation piecing Thanks for giving me the chance to share my Nosegay quilts!

I'm back with my last 2 Nosegay quilts. I think I'll show you the best one first! I was inspired to make this from a 2010 magazine. They had pieced some Bride's Bouquet blocks (like these) and cut up a pre-printed panel of Baltimore Album motifs. I remembered I had some similar panels languishing in my closet. Nosegay blocks set with pre-printed motifs When I gave this to my longarm quilter and told her it was destined for a charity quilt, she was shocked. She first thought that was ALL hand appliquéd. Ha! Not from my hands. Maybe you have some of these long ago printed motifs. Pull them out and make some blocks to go with them. Here is the last set of my blocks. I made them using some Kaffe Fassett prints. 12" Nosegay block set on point (pieced cone)  I was short on that green striped fabric and had to piece it. So what? Piecing a stripe like this - you really can't see the seam can you? And how does the wrong side of this paper pieced section look? Wrong side of ...

I had enough fabric leftover from Monday's quilt to make a 2 block wheelchair quilt. They were just too pretty to sit in the workshop box alone. What do you think? 2 Block Nosegay quilt: 27" x 44" I donated this to my local guild's charity endeavors. Remember, a 12" block set on point is 17"! I made some more blocks with a collection by Windham called Solstice. Here are the units that are paper pieced and trimmed before joining together. Notice the base "cone". Units for one Nosegay block The cone utilizes a stripe and I needed to make sure it would be oriented correctly. I rough-cut the patches using an oversized piece of freezer paper. Rough cutting the cone base And several blocks: And my final quilt top. All I had for the blocks and center were fat quarters. I used a different collection for the outside borders. Solstice Nosegay quilt top: 48" x 48" I'll be back on Friday with my last 2 Nosegay quilts. Here's a teaser for one ...

This vintage pattern was traditionally made using templates. I converted it to foundation paper piecing about 15 years ago. I look for the lines and the obvious units and go from there. What is the Nosegay, you may ask? Notice my latest blocks here on a design wall. Do they look like stars missing a point or two? Several Nosegay blocks in process Compare the star block below with those above. Yes, there are two star points replaced with a base cone. 8 Pointed Star (Lone Star) using the Solstice Collection by Windham Fabrics A traditional Nosegay block has inserted "buds" between the star points as you can see from this yellowed newspaper page from 1937. And an elongated cone. It is set on point. And look at those templates!! Here is one I found on Pinterest in real fabric. Let's see one of the first quilts I made using my foundation piecing of the block. I did take out those little inserts. This is from 2008. Old Fashioned Nosegay: 12" blocks. 47" x 55" qui...