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 ...

You've seen this sweet little Boomer before, all dressed up and hanging out in my garden. I've added her to my new calendar, too. This is a vintage block first published by The Ladies Art Company in 1898. Boomer in the Garden The full name of this block is Oklahoma Boomer. Not sure why an Oklahoma settler was depicted like this for a quilt block, but I think it's really cute. I made this quilt over 30 years ago and still own it. If you look at the border, you will notice that it is not typical quilting fabric but actually decorator fabric! I sewed with what I had on hand and there was a designer fabrics outlet a few blocks from my house in an industrial neighborhood and I loved to visit and find big, bold prints for my quilts. I think it adds to Boomer's appeal. Don't you just love her eyelet lace skirt? I hand quilted this, too. Yes, those are ruched roses and yoyos and buttons and pieces of ribbon (the flower stems).  Here's another vintage quilt with 3-D rose...

I am a city girl. I've always lived in the 'burbs and never out in the country. Maybe you live in peaceful surroundings without the sounds of cars and sirens and screaming kids next door playing basketball at 10 o'clock at night! My calendar block today is Country Lanes (July 11). It's 10" and uses only squares and rectangles. Here's the set of fat quarters of the Moonlit Collection by Windham Fabrics that Susan B. selected: Moonlit fat quarters And here's Susan's Country Lanes block: Country Lanes by Susan B. I also have some of the  Moonlit  fabrics. I love how they are in between a print and a blender. What do you think? My set of the  Moonlit  fabrics. My new calendar is in stock and you can get it from  Amazon  at 20% off and $3.99 shipping! What are you waiting for?

Today is   Yesterday was July 9 and two of my Calendar Girls decided to make the yummy Pineapple block (12"). I FORGOT TO POST THIS - YIKES! Dora L. is having such a good time sewing with Windham's Noteworthy fat quarters. 10 Fat quarters of Noteworthy Here is what the designer, Terri Degenkolb, said about her inspiration for these: We all need a pick-me-up from time to time. A word of affirmation or a word of encouragement. Positive vibes are good for the soul. As I was reflecting on this, I started jotting down active words that were just, well, positive. And because I love to create my own lettering, I let the words speak and come to life. My hope is that these fabrics will inspire you in a positive way! ;~ Terri Degenkolb Dora was able to capture some of these inspiring words in her July block: Imagine, Peace, Encourage, Smile, Giggle, Hope. Isn't this just the happiest fabric? July 9: The Pineapple Block by Dora L. Another Calendar Girl, Julia R., has used the Dutches...

Today is July 7 and 3 of my Calendar Girls chose the same block to stitch. Remember, they get to sew whatever they want, they don't have to tell me ahead of time, nor do they have to tell the others. For some reason, the Shoefly Variation spoke to all of them. From my new calendar ! Check it out on Amazon. Shoefly Variation: 12" Dora L. sent hers to me first. She used the Noteworthy Collection by Windham Fabrics. First, let's see her fabrics: Noteworthy Collection  that Dora is using Here's her block. You can read some of the words (which makes it "noteworthy", right?) 12" Shoefly Variation by Dora L. Now for Karen B.'s interpretation. She used the Insectarium and Watermark Collections. You can see Karen's June block and full fabric collections here: Alaska Homestead . (I also sewed the Alaska Homestead) Shoefly Variation by Karen B. And a really fun one with a fussy cut motif in the center by Kathy G. She also captured one of the other animals ...

Today is July 4 and we Americans celebrate freedom and liberty. Parades, cookouts, red white and blue, too! My calendar block for today is - you guessed it - Hey, Hey USA. Check out that Amazon link - there's a 20% discount and only $3.99 shipping! I thought I was creating it as I had several years ago for Windham Fabrics. Alas, I didn't. Can you tell the difference? Hey, Hey USA calendar block: 18" Here is an actual quilt block I stitched several (10!) years ago using my original pattern and some Christmas fabrics. Can you see the extra stripes! Hey, Hey USA in Christmas fabrics: 18" Since this is the week for the Uncorked fabrics , I stitched my 18" block with them. It was so happy to get to visit with my two mandavillas on the deck. 18" Hey, Hey USA hanging out with my flowers My sister Janet, who lives in Idaho, is one of my Calendar Girls and she stitched this block in a very clever use of fabrics, don't you think? I never would have considered st...

Today is July 2 and the fourth day of featuring  Uncorked .Yes, I have another block from my calendar. It's the Four Bars Block. It's 8" x 8" like the block from yesterday. Four Bars: 8" I made it using Uncorked and I'm running out of the light yellow for the background! Yikes! And I can't find a suitable substitute in my stash. Four Bars: 8" I think it would be a fun scrap block with 4 different colors and prints in the center. Then changing up the outer squares and rectangles. And then tilting the blocks 90 degrees in relation to each other as you place them block to block! Here's one more quilt made several years ago using the  Uncorked  fabrics, plus some Kaffe Fassett, some Benartex prints and probably some other vendor. These are my Metropolitan Home Star paper pieced blocks. If you do a search here on this blog, you will find quite a few variations of this. Metropolitan Home Star quilt center: 56" x 56" This is the vintage inspir...

July 1 already! New month, new block, new calendar ! The one for today is an 8" Triangles and Bars. (Scroll to the bottom to see another quilt made using  Uncorked .) Triangles and Bars: 8" Yes, I'm still working with these gorgeous blenders. They are STILL available and are from Windham Fabrics. They're called Uncorked . If you look closely, you'll see why! Uncorked by Windham Fabrics I've made several quilts already using them, and I needed a red, blue, gold and cream today. I found them for this simple block! I made two blocks with the blue and red in different patches. Same center triangles. I just counted how many of the 366 blocks in my calendar are 8" - there are 34! Two Triangles and Bars blocks: 8" I like to see how 4 blocks look together. Sometimes you have to rotate and recolor them. Here is a simple way with 4 Triangles and Bars blocks: Four 8" Triangles and Bars blocks: 16" And for a quilt I've made with  Uncorked , here is...

 More squares, more patches, another quilt. Take a good look at the texture created with the tiny specs of gold and mottled color. This really is such a clever way to make a blender! If you click the link for Uncorked , you will find several FREE patterns to make! But, let's see one of my quilts made using some blues. Disappearing Dresdens 18 degree dresden ruler and Uncorked I still teach my Modern Vortex workshop and I made some blades using the blue and light grey in Uncorked. But I ran out of the blue (sort of - another story)  and decided to take a cue from a few other quilts that feature parts of a block "disappearing." Click that link ( Disappearing Dresdens ) and you'll see a few steps to this quilt. It's almost a magic trick, but much easier! Yes, that's another border using fat quarters. I've done this so often that I almost prefer it to a slab of a single fabric. Why not try it yourself?