I always say: "The fabric makes the quilt!" If you sew with beautiful fabrics, you will end up with a beautiful project. I have always delighted in working with Benartex fabrics and have sewn with them since 2000 when I worked with Quilt Magazine. Why am I talking about that today? Because I have been chosen to be one of their Benartex Ambassadors for 2025! Oh, I get to be a STAR! I love to sew. I love to share my quilts. And Benartex is going to send me some beautiful fabrics to make it happen. (Well - they've been sending me fabrics for almost 20 years, so they're just going to keep it up!) I will keep you posted on how that works out. For now, my first date to share one of their 2025 collections is January 6. I've chosen one (and it was SO hard to narrow it down to one). For now, my brain is spinning on what to do. I remember when I got to sew with their Fossil Fern Collection in 2002. The fabrics told me to make an updated version of the vintage Royal Star

I emptied another workshop box a few weeks ago and found some fun border fabric to set my last 16 blocks/units together. I amazed myself to find that the leftover blocks would make a pleasing center, even though they are not all of the same fabrics! Red, green and blue prints for those backgrounds around the spiky paper pieced blocks. Sunflower Garden: 47" x 47"  The first quilt I made appeared in my last book (Paper Piecing Perfect Points, 2013). I called it Katie's Garden. Katie? A friend or relative? No. Just the name of the fabric collection from Benartex! Easy enough! I made a smaller quilt using 4 units (for one block). This uses the Gazebo Collection by Windham. Simple workshop sample I added some borders and quilted it and gave it away to some little kid. Side borders are chickens. Top and bottom borders are cats. I sure hope they get along and don't fight in front of the little kid! Gazebo Garden quilt: 40" x 40" Now, let's see the first quilt I

Yes, another "vintage" quilt from my quilting vault. This has been back and forth across the USA. I made the quilt in the early 1990s and then decided to give it to my step mother (who lived in California with my dad) in 1994. It's a Double Irish Chain. Double Irish Chain: 30" x 30" I hand quilted this one, too! I used a stencil for those cream blocks. I can't imagine how much time it took! Obviously, I just quilted diagonal lines along the squares. And notice that border - it's a beautiful piece of home dec fabric.  Close up of hand quilting I loved those pre-printed quilt labels with pretty flowers and unique shapes. I did NOT turn those curvy edges under; I simply interfaced it - stitched and turned and sewed it down. No handwork on the turning! Closeup of quilting and label For some reason, I ended up with this quilt when my dad passed away in 2004. I treasure it and it still amazes me that I did so much hand quilting! I need to put this out on displ

Yes, there are quotations around that word vintage. That's because it is something very old in my quilting history. I bought a fabric panel that mimicked a double wedding ring quilt sometime in the early 1980s. That puts it very close to 40 years old! The panel measures 32" x 42". I wonder what the quilt inspiration was for this! Double Wedding Ring printed panel quilt: 40" x 52" I started hand quilting it because that's what you did back then! I never heard of machine quilting, but soon discovered it and that's how I finished it. And I did some serious quilter's gymnastics with the backing and borders that I can't even figure out! Here's a closeup of the quilting. I actually hand quilted around all the melon shapes and little pink squares and hearts. I used my sewing machine to fill in the centers. Yes, I probably paid $1.99 for that center panel. And another $2 for the borders and backing. It's faded from all the years I've had it i

My Block a Day Calendar from 2007 still sits on my desk. I turn the pages each day to see some lovely blocks. Today is October 30 and the block is Wild Good Chase. Here is the stylized shot from Patricia Bryant who made every single one of my blocks! October 30: Wild Goose Chase, 10" Yes, there are a lot of triangles, but it goes together very well. Here is the FREE pattern for both sizes (10" and 15"). I took every calendar block and showed how 4 blocks look together. If you make four of the 15" Wild Goose Chase blocks, that makes for a 30" quilt center! Enjoy!

This is not just a Mariner's Compass, but it's Sassy! Why sassy? It has an extra ring of points that was supposed to fit but I measured wrong. I could almost hear them mocking me and my bad math. I made the top in 2011 and it waited 13 years to get finished! I had originally proposed it for my 3rd book, but Martingale didn't want it (so why quilt it?) Sassy Mariner's Compass: 36" x 36" This began with the center compass which is the basis for my Beginner's Mariner's Compass class. An easy 16" block with curves gentle enough for a novice quilter. Then the halo of points were supposed to connect to the center, but I didn't measure correctly and after I pieced all of them I discovered a 1" gap! Yikes!!! So, I had to add the red donut ring and voila! they all fit together. There is a lot of piecing, but because it's done on paper foundations, the points stay as points and my students were happy as clams to discover they had a compass they

Solstice by Windham Fabrics debuted a few years ago and I have so loved working with the gorgeous prints. It was designed by Sally Kelly. A few of the 28 Solstice prints I revisited a tried and true pattern I designed 20 years ago which I call Spiro Glyphics. They are 6" blocks: one is paper pieced and the other is a simple appliqué circle (using a CD-ROM!) Still waits to be quilted. Spiro Glyphics: 40" x 40" Then I revisited a vintage pattern called Nosegay. This also is paper pieced. I quilted it a few weeks ago on my Handi Quilter Sweet 16. This sits in my closet awaiting a special person to give it to. And, my HQ machine counted the stitches to quilt this: 24,287!! Solstice Nosegay: 48" x 48" I was short of some fabric and pieced it for  one of the setting triangles. Wanna see? Pieced triangle! The most recent quilt is my Pentagon Wreaths. This quilt is 44" x 44" and those wreaths are English Paper Pieced. The center is a 2" hexagon and the

It's fun to finish a quilt and take a photo. That's the only way I "keep" many quilts. I've made hundreds and hundreds of quilts in the past 35 years and given away most of them. I only keep those I use for my teaching and trunk shows and also those I want to use to give to friends. 5 Block Gingham Garden: 44" x 46" The Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks were English Paper Pieced. Then I machine appliquéd them to four background rectangles. But the center of the 4 blocks was boring, so I added that pink one. Notice that in order to increase this to a usable size, I added the two pink print horizontal strips. Quilted by my guild friend and part of our charity quilt endeavors it went! Dancing Apples: 47" x 47" Apple themed fabrics used in off center log cabin blocks. Fun, huh? Delectable Mountains: 50" x 55" Delectable Mountains: 50" x 55" The floral print was left over from workshop samples from 10 years ago! No templates

I had some 45 degree diamonds left over from my Flying Swallows workshop. They reminded me of another swallows pattern that uses the same units: Swallows in the Window. Yes, a vintage block from the early 1900s and pieced using templates. I like to rotary cut my patches and that's what I did.  Hint: I will show you my latest creation using these fabrics (Romance, by Windham) as you scroll down. As you will see, I took poetic liberty with the hummingbirds and call them swallows. Romance Fabrics by Windham This Hearts and Swallows quilt is from 2001. I had to do a bit of fabric manipulation to make those diamonds behave in the corners, but it worked! Those little triangle points along the pieced border are like prairie points! Hearts and Swallows This would not be hard to make today. Those 4 corner units are really half Lone Star blocks! Let's see the vintage Swallows in the Window block that I'm talking about. There are NO y-seams in my version. Here is a digital version of

This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I designed a simple Ribbon block that appears in my upcoming Block a Day Calendar (June 2025 release). It is an October block. (My hot pink crochet yarn insisted on being in this photo!) Pink Ribbon Block: 14" x 14" Just simple squares and triangles and the shading of two pink prints from the Hugs and Kisses Collection of Benartex Fabrics. They do remind me of Valentine's prints, but pink is universal to me and it's my favorite color! Hugs and Kisses Collection from Benartex Fabrics I also made a Double Hearts Block (appears in the calendar). For some reason, I put it in the January lineup. Hey, but if you make it in January, then it's ready for Valentine's Day in February! Double Hearts: 16" x 16" I have raised money for the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure. I actually did the 3-Day, 60 mile walk in 2001 and survived! Also, here is a poster I designed for a group in Pittsburgh: I'm hoping to make a few

You've seen some of these Nosegay quilts before. They are based on the vintage pattern "Nostalgic Nosegay." What you see here is from 1937. How do you like those templates? Not me! It's easy to cut the diamonds, but the other shapes made me nervous. So, I converted the pattern to foundation paper piecing and left out the little buds that appear between the diamonds. Here is a simple vintage block with the buds in red. Vintage Nosegay block made with templates Here is how I foundation pieced my version. Each block will have 6 diamonds (with background) and a cone base. Foundation pieced Nosegay block parts And here are a few blocks using the Solstice Collection from Windham Fabrics. 12" Nosegay blocks I finished the quilt top about 2 years ago and finally quilted and bound it earlier this week. Allow me . . . 4 Block Nosegay Quilt : 48" x 48" All the fabrics in the center are from the Solstice collection, but I didn't have enough yardage for borders.

I've made several Storm at Sea quilts over the past 35 years. I taught the workshop many times in 2011 and 2012. But this most recent one is my favorite. I call it the "I Love You" version (a heart). Can you see it? Storm at Sea: 47" x 47" For my workshops I had decided to get the quilt kits laser cut by  John Flynn . They were awesome and when I handed them out to my students and they looked at all the perfectly cut patches (and NO cutting for them), they stood and clapped and cheered! I was a Rock Star (for a day).  Here are the blocks before I put them together in my Heart version above: Units ready to put into my  Heart Storm at Sea And here is the vintage pattern as given almost 100 years ago! Do you think you'd want to do it this way? Let me show you some of the other Storm at Sea quilts I've made. This first one is a tiny version with just a few units. It was my practice quilt to see how the laser cut patches go together so well. Small Storm at Se