Today is December 1 and my block is Tessellating Star. This is one of my favorite patterns and I've made it into quilts several times. Here is the calendar block (with "tessellating" misspelled, but not by me!) Kathy M. (one of my faithful Calendar Girls) made her block using the Find Your Way fabrics from Benartex: Tessellating Star by Kathy M - 12" Here's the block as it appeared in my first perpetual calendar, stitched by Patricia Bryant: 12" Tessellating Star by Patricia Bryant Now let's see a few of the quilts I've made over the past 25 years! The first one was a challenge because I wanted each star to be a different fabric/print:. (Yes, the only photo was in my magazine). I remember distinctly placing each of the quarter blocks up on my design wall in my home when I lived in Silver Spring, Maryland! Multi-colored Tessellating Stars But, what really does "tessellating" mean? We think of the artist M. C. Escher and all his wonderful INT...

Numbers, numbers! I actually love numbers as a former high school math teacher. Numbers and formulas work. And quilters - we work with numbers all the time! Today is November 29 and the block for today is Four Patch in Nine. Leslie is one of my Calendar Girls and she used this fabulous Noteworthy collection by Windham to make her 12" block. Noteworthy fat quarters by Windham Fabrics Let's see her block for today: Four Patch in Nine: 12" Here it is in the calendar. Simple squares in 2 sizes with good contrast forming an X! Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Four Patch in Nine block. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

No, I'm not talking about toddler toys - I'm referring to a quilt block in my calendar: Building Blocks. Kathy M. (one of my Calendar Girls) made her block using the Find Your Way collection by Benartex Fabrics (designed by Lisa Ruble). Here are her fabrics first: Find Your Way fabrics And now her block: 12" Building Blocks by Kathy M. I also made this block last month using the Windham Fabrics Jolly Christmas collection: Building Blocks using Jolly Christmas fabrics Kathy also sent me a wonderful collage of her 6 blocks so far in my Calendar Girls adventure. 6 months of blocks from my calendar using the Find Your Way fabrics Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Building Blocks block. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

Today is November 27 and is also the American Thanksgiving Day! Lots of turkey and pumpkin pie at my house. And, no - we're not going to play Tic Tac Toe. That's the name of the calendar block today. Let's see what my friend Barb, one of my Calendar Girls, did with her collection of fabrics. She used some Insectarium and Watermark by Windham Fabrics Insectarium and Watermark She had several different prints than what's shown above. She captured some of the butterfly motifs in the squares: Tic Tac Toe by Barb R. Tic Tac Toe is a 12" block. It has some awesome possibilities for featuring special motifs, as you can see. Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Tic Tac Toe block. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

Moving Star? Aren't all stars moving out there in the universe, in those galaxies far, far away? Well, the name of our block today is Moving Star. It's a 12" block. Moving Star by Julia R. Julia does such precise piecing. Can you believe those points? And she featured the beautiful red flower in the center square on point. She has been using (and loving) the Duchess Collection by Windham Fabrics. Duchess Collection of fabrics It's always a delight to work with fabrics that were designed to go with each other, isn't it? Thank you, Julia for making such a lovely block in such lovely fabrics! Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Moving Star block. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

Look up in the air! It's a bird! It's a plane! No - it's the Flying Dutchman! This was the block for November 23 and I overlooked it (shame on me). My calendar girl Karen B. made a lovely one using her Insectarium and Watermark fabrics by Windham. She just used the Watermark blenders for this. A perfect use of six different colors. Can you see the pinwheel in the center? Flying Dutchman by Karen B. Flying Dutchman is a vintage inspired block. There are a LOT of triangles here and that means a lot of points, but Karen conquered those points perfectly, didn't she? Here's the same block but with a very different coloring using only three colors. It was made by Patricia Bryant using my 2007 Block a Day Calendar. If you don't have your calendar yet: Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Flying Dutchman blocks. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

A few weeks ago I featured diamonds in quilts. Today I want to feature jewels. Neither of what I'm talking about are precious gems (though I do consider my fabric stash precious). I've made a few designs and called them jewels - Fractured Jewels. The fabric is "chopped up" in small pieces, like this first one: Fractured Jewels using the Colonies Collection by Windham Fabrics Here it is hanging in my daughter's apartment several years ago. It was low so my granddaughter could see it! Fractured Jewels I made this using solid fabrics from the Colonies Collection from Windham about 15 years ago! I patterned another one using the same fabrics (and it's still a FREE pattern at their site). Fractured Jewels : 54" x 54" Then I created another concept based on a vintage pattern (Thousand Pyramids), using the leftovers from the Thousand Pyramids. First, the Thousand Pyramids quilt using 5" charm squares (solids). This appeared in the Modern Patchwork Mag...

No kidding! I have a block in my calendar named Puss in Boots. I didn't make this up! It's a traditional block. My Calendar Girlfriend Kathy G. used her collection of Under the Canopy by Windham Fabrics to make it. Under the Canopy fabrics by Windham Here's how it appears in the printed calendar: Now let's see how Kathy's block looks. She was able to capture a fantastic forest scene in the center A square and then added a few leaves, a pinecone and a small gourd. Beautifully done, Kathy! Puss in Boots by Kathy G. Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own Puss in Boots block. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

I have a local thrift shop very close to my house. I stop in from time to time and a few months ago discovered something that made my heart stop. This amazing Santa quilt made of 49 log cabin blocks that finish to 2-1/2"! Can you imagine piecing all those logs? Log Cabin Santa: 22" x 22" And look at that sweet appliqué. Such a humble Santa face. What shocked me was the price - $1.00. Yes, that's one dollar! Do you know how many dozens of hours it took for the maker to create this? Maybe 30 or more! Have no idea who made it. Unfortunately, it was probably in someone's estate and the family members didn't want it. I did discover a signature (sort of) on the back. It says "YAS '89. Log Cabin Santa quilt by YAS 1989 Well, if YAS is looking down from quilter's heaven, she is smiling to know her Santa quilt was rescued. I sent it on to my two great nieces - Judy (3) and Alice (6 months) so they can enjoy it. And what does Santa say? "Ho Ho Ho and ...

The Quilt Builder Christmas Card Deck Yes - a box of Christmas quilt blocks! This is a fun, new addition to the other series sets by C&T Publishing. 40 blocks with all sorts of helpful diagrams on how to arrange into quilts, runners and pillows. But, the best part is that the block is offered in several sizes from 6" to 36"! Sample cards with cutting directions I found some fun blocks to sew and decided on the "Ho" block (for a Ho Ho Ho quilt). Let's see one of those blocks. I simplified the several squares that make up the vertical strips - I made them rectangles (quilter's privilege, of course). 12" Ho block for a Ho Ho Ho One of the designers of the deck, Gailen Runge, made several quilts using the blocks. Here is her candle banner: Candle Banner by Gailen Runge Fun motifs can be pieced with squares and triangles and rectangles: Trees, Santa Belt and Hat, Elf Shoes, Grinch's Heart (no kidding). Words like Joy, Ho Ho Ho, and Joy. Candles, Star...

Today is November 17 and the calendar block is Twenty-Five Patch. It is one of the two blocks that make up the Irish Chain quilt! Here is the block made up by Susan B. Isn't this so cute with her turkey? Twenty-Five Patch by Susan B. Here's my quilt from early 2000 which uses the same 25-Patch, only in a smaller size. It appeared in my first book, Bold, Black and Beautiful (2004). I was enjoying the embroidery unit on my Pfaff sewing machine and was able to capture two motifs stitched in pink in the large un-pieced section of the Domino Chain. Double Irish Chain: 31" x 31" Yes, those are small blocks (4-1/2")! The blocks in my calendar are much larger (10"). Let's see them. Twenty-Five Patch: 10" And the block for tomorrow, November 18 is Domino Chain: Domino Chain: 10" Now, let's see a REALLY old quilt I made in the early 1990s (ignore the date stamp there). That was when I was still hand quilting. I hadn't discovered machine quilting...