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...

When I love a fabric collection, I like to squeeze the very last snippet of fabric from it. This Stacked Jewels quilt shows what I mean. Can you see what I did? Regency Dandy Stacked Jewels #2: 46" x 48" Here's a clue: check out the jewel patches below and compare with some of those in the outside rows. These were cut from 60 degree diamonds. I cut off one of the points in each. I made another quilt earlier in the year that uses the same jewels and different borders. I donated this to my local quilt guild. Same quilt center with the same number of patches. These borders are slightly wider. Regency Dandy Stacked Jewels #1: 48" x 49" OK. I'll give you a hint: 6 of the jewels in the first quilt are PIECED! I absolutely did not have enough fabric to cut whole jewels, so I pieced them together. Do you think the recipient will mind? Probably won't even notice! It's a finished quilt and will bring a smile to whomever gets it, I'm sure. I still have 2 qu...

Here's another quilt inspired by a vintage design. Ruby McKim published hundreds of patterns in the Kansas City Star in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. One is called Noon Day Lily (1929). I created my own quilt in the mid 1990s and it was published in one of our Quilt Magazine issues. This is the best photo I have of it. I named it Ruby's Lilies. The blocks are 12" square and the entire quilt is just 38" x 38". I have no clue where this is, but I'm sure I gave it away to a friend or family member! Ruby's Lilies: 38" x 38" A quilting friend shared a vintage quilt made with these Noon Day Lilies and she gave me permission to share it here. What a gorgeous quilt with SO much piecing and appliqué! Another name for this block is Carolina Lily. Vintage Carolina Lily quilt owned by Pepper Cory Here's my art as it appeared in the magazine. It's easier to see the structure of the Lily blocks. Ruby's Lilies I love to see how vintage quilts inspire our...

Oh, I'm not talking about tasty mountains! I'm talking about a vintage pattern that I took some liberties with. Here is the vintage block in multiples arranged in 6 different assemblies. This is from my magazine days, maybe late 1990s. Actually, the first time I saw this newer version was when Kathy Wierzbecki (from the staff of Martingale Publishers) did a demo at least 20 years ago. I thought it was SO clever. Here's one done in blues. I combined some un-pieced squares with four Delectable Mountains blocks. Delectable Mountains quilt. 26" center block The four blocks measure 7" high by 12" wide. The center floral square is 12". The four outside squares are 7". I sewed a LOT of those units without any idea of where I was going. Here is one idea up on my design wall. I still have the blocks and some finishing fabric. This will become a charity quilt before the end of the year! 9 Delectable Mountains blocks I made one several years ago using some Kaf...

I get most of my inspiration from vintage quilts. The Comfort Block is a perfect example. It is the September 6 block in my Quilting Calendar. Here it is as made by Patricia Bryant of Australia. She wanted to stay close to the colors I used in the digital version. September 6: The Comfort Block September 6: The Comfort Block, 9" Here's my own Comfort Quilt made 20 years ago with a lovely floral collection. This was published in one of our magazines. The Comfort Quilt: 70" x 70" Here it is as a flat shot before I had it quilted. I chose to cut out large flowers from one of the prints and appliqué them to the two opposing corners. 18" blocks And one more made by my friend, Jean Ann Wright (who was my senior editor at Quilt Magazine for 14 years). She made this for my 2009 book, Supersize 'Em Quilts. It's also an 18" block. The Comfort Quilt by Jean Ann Wright: 95" x 95" Just squares and rectangles made this a great way to showcase some lovel...