Today is August 1 and my sister Janet decided to make two of the same block, Alpine Cross, from my new calendar. Here's how it appears in print: Alpine Cross: 10" She didn't want it in the 10" size so she enlarged it. And she liked it so much, she made two! Alpine Cross #1 Here's her second one: Alpine Cross #2 I really like the way she staged them for photography! She has a plan to use them with some other blocks she made from my calendar in the same fabrics. Can't wait to see what she makes!

 I've designed and sewn many, many quilts which feature houses. It was natural for me to include one in my new calendar. My friend Diane L. made one using her Windham Grounded collection . 8" House Block for July 31 Here's what her full collection looks like: Fat quarters of Grounded fabrics How about a few of my house quilts (though not made with this particular block)? Grandma's House with Benartex fabrics Another quilt made using some Paula Nadelstern fabrics. Little houses. And this next quilt features 3 blocks from February in my calendar. You will see it again! This is a house sampler I made for Quilt Magazine in 2001. I think that's enough house quilts, but I'm sure I have several others. I'll be back with those, I promise!

My new calendar has 3 easy to piece boats, with the first one today (July 28). I have made these boats a few times before, with the first being a quilt I stitched using some Benartex fabrics almost 20 years ago! This appeared in one of our quilting magazines when I was an editor. Little Boats quilt I remade the blocks in 2021 using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Each is 8" in the calendar. These are a bit different in size. I had a blog follower make 6 boats into a lovely small quilt: Boats quilt by Ann Hollingsworth Here's the boat for today: And for tomorrow: And for Wednesday, the 30th: These are perfect for a Summer runner or wall quilt, don't you think? Check out your local quilt shop for my new calendar. If you can't find it there, then go get it on Amazon.

 Maybe they're wedding bands. Or some other rings. But this vintage pattern is a bit of a twist and turn with fabrics to create an illusion. What do you think? It can be streamlined, but that wouldn't work for the calendar page. I decided to do my own streamlining so I could feature a lovely motif in the center. I used the Bright World Collection by Windham Fabrics. Of course, not all of them! Bright World Collection by Windham Fabrics Here's the first quilt I made using Bright World. It was a Spirals challenge for my local quilt guild: Spirals Quilt I wanted to feature a lovely floral in that large center of my Interlocked Rings block: Interlocked Rings using Bright World: 16" It is not a hard block to make and my plan is to make a few more. It would be fun with a novelty print in the center, too!

Yes, there are a LOT of variations of the Flying Geese Block. Today's block was created by Diane L. (one of my local Calendar Girls). Here are the fabrics she chose to work with for the year. Yes, those are 20 fat quarters of lovely Grounded by Windham Fabrics . So many possibilities - and she surely won't run out of fabric! Diane's 20 fat quarters of Grounded Here's the block from my calendar : I worked out the math so that cutting those squares so they sit on point is accurate. Not hard - you have the lines on your rulers - trust me! And here's Diane's block: Flying Geese Variation: 12" Check your local quilt shop first when looking for my calendar. I support local quilt shops and I hope you do, too. Of course, I understand if you aren't close to one, so check out Amazon  - they carry it. I pulled out my fabrics and made the same block the other day. I really like how the fabric prints play with each other. I asked my Russian stacking dolls what they ...

Two of my Calendar Girls chose today's block to stitch up: Ribbon Star. First up is Kathy M.'s block using the Find Your Way Collection by Lisa Ruble for Benartex Fabrics. Ribbon Star by Kathy M. These are the fabrics that Kathy chose: Find Your Way Collection Dora L. also chose Ribbon Star. She used the Noteworthy Collection by Windham Fabrics. And here's Dora's block: Ribbon Star by Dora L. Here's the block from the calendar: It seems that  most of my Calendar Girls like the 12" blocks. They want to make sure all their blocks fit together for their final project.

I found this on the giveaway table at my local quilt guild's weekly Bee in 2020. It looked so sad. It was crumpled up and I honestly thought it was weeping. I walked over and whispered, "Are you all right? Do you need something? Can I help you?" She sighed BIG and said, "I'm alone. I know I'm ugly, but my fabrics are beautiful and my maker did the best she could, but I'm wonky and my seams aren't straight and I need some help!" I recognized the beautiful fabrics as those of Jinny Beyer. This was NOT an easy block to piece and I totally understood how hard it must have been for the maker. I turned it over and saw the "adventurous" stitching. (This photo shows the pieced corners removed) I grabbed the weeping star and assured her I would make her beautiful again! I found out who put it on the table (Suzanne; it was in her mother's stash) and then I went home. The first thing I did was introduce her to my sewing room and assure her it ...

Today is July 20th and one of my Calendar Girls decided to make Zig Zag Triangles for her July block. Her fabric collections from Windham are: Insectarium: And Watermark: Watermark Here is the block Barb made: I like how she featured that sweet print in the center and corner squares, don't you? Here's the 12" block from the calendar: More blocks, more fun with fabric, right?!

Yes, those little 5" pieces of fabric that you probably have stacks of in your sewing studio. We can't resist them, especially when they are color coordinated. I've shared lots here before, but what I want to share today is my latest quilt in the Benartex Fat Quarterly Magazine . These are from the Modern Vintage Collection : Modern Vintage: Treasured charms Here's the cover of the magazine: Summer issue of the Fat Quarterly magazine I was invited to make a quilt using these charms and some larger pieces in the collection. Here is what I made. I call it Dancing with the Flowers. I cut the charms and used the Stacked Bricks layout. Dancing with the Flowers: 40" x 40" You saw the quilt I made using some of the leftover fabrics and my paper pieced birdhouses. Most of the fabrics are also Benartex in the birdhouses. I call this "For the Birds." For the Birds (still waiting to be quilted) Here's another beautiful quilt done by Lisa Ruble. She has wo...

I hope you enjoyed the Benartex Christmas in July webinar today. If you missed it (and my feature of this quilt), check out their Facebook page and their YouTube Channel . Chickadees in the Trees: 50" x 50" using Jackie Robinson's " A Winter's Day" Collection Chickadees in the Trees: 50" x 50" You must own a copy of my Quilter's New Perpetual Block a Day Calendar in order to get the patterns for the 3 blocks used in this quilt (2 trees and the center Star). Check your local quilt shop first. Then check Amazon. ****Fabric Requirements, Cutting and Assembly can be found here: Chickadees in the Trees . Here's a look at the fabrics I used from the Winter's Day Collection and the Equinox Bronze. Here is the Assembly Diagram (which is also in the 3 page pattern link above). Of course, you can make this in any fabrics you wish. But I think you'll love seeing Jackie's fabrics at the Benartex web site - check it out !

Sometimes we make errors. Sometimes they're BIG errors. But the good part is that we can fix them! My new calendar has 3 blocks in December for Hanukkah. One of them slipped through with some serious cutting errors. Let's see 3 of them and then get the FREE pattern : December 4 Four and Nine Block: 16" I remade it using the Golden Harvests fabric by Benartex.  Four and Nine Block in blues and golds Then I have the Jerusalem Block for December 6. It's 10". Here is how it looks in the calendar. I decided that the center needed something exciting so I added my 6" paper pieced dreidel. Jerusalem Block with  paper pieced dreidel  in center. Do you remember my Dreidel Bags that appeared in Quilting Arts Magazine a few years ago. That's the block I used for the center of this! Dreidel gift bags using 6" paper pieced dreidel block The Star of Hope is our FREE block . It's the December 5 block and I got it ALL WRONG in the calendar. The patches are wrong ...