Today is October 14 and the block today is the Tree of Temptation. Huh? What's that about? Do you remember the Garden of Eden scenario where there were two trees? The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? I'm not going to recount that here, but there actually are traditional quilt blocks that represent these. Here is my Tree of Life quilt from 30+ years ago. The dancing flowers surrounding the Tree of Life were from a Block of the Month from a local quilt store in Rockville, Maryland called G Street Fabrics. They were NOT easy. But I stuck it out, added some butterflies and then got the idea to put that LARGE Tree of Life in the center. I love this quilt and still own it. Can't remember the size . . . Tree of Life with Flowers Here is the Tree of Temptation block from my 2008 perpetual calendar. It's the same block (only bigger in a 24" size) in my new calendar. It was made by Patricia Bryant of Australia. Tree of Temptation: 12" Here is...

As a Benartex Sewcial Ambassador I have the privilege and joy to play (and design) with the latest and most beautiful fabric! Celestial Skies is right there and out of this world. Celestial Skies by Benartex When I requested the fabric I had a quilt in mind. Why a quilt and not a zipper bag or tote? I want to help Benartex to sell fabric and not scraps! Here is a quilt I made using a previous Benartex collection. I made it several years ago and was donated to my Reston Quilter's group for our charity outreach. Child's Diadem quilt using 12" blocks I had taken this vintage pattern, upsized it and converted the points to foundation paper piecing. Here's one of those blocks from 2010! 14" Diadem block A block is made up of parts, right? The center will be a square; here are the parts for the four corners, plus my printed foundations and 2 of my 4 Add-a-Quarter rulers. These are a MUST for paper piecing. I used a template to cut the odd shapes for the outside of th...

October 10, 11 and 12 feature three boats that we all remember from our school history classes: The Niña, The Pinta, and the Santa Maria - all associated with Christopher Columbus. These are simple quilt blocks in my calendar and I've shared this quilt I made over 30 years ago. I think it was a pattern in a magazine, though I can't remember which one. The fabrics were a Jinny Beyer collection to celebrate 500 years of "Discovery" (the name of the collection). My Discovery Quilt from 1994 Yes, we all know that Columbus didn't "discover" America, but he and his sailors saw it for the first time for them. Native Americans were living here for centuries before that! It's the boats I want to focus on today. Here is a small quilt I made using a Benartex collection about 25 years ago. 3 blocks with one used twice. 4 Boats quilt These are from my calendar in July. Read the post here.  These next ones are the 3 calendar blocks named for the Columbus Quilt: Th...

Today is October 9 and my calendar block is the Ocean Waves Variation. It's the perfect block to showcase a wonderful print or motif in the center. Here is a quilt I made with the same block, only this uses two sets of triangles around the center instead of one. This quilt was published in our magazine at least 25 years ago! Ocean Waves mini quilt And what does my calendar block look like? This is 12" finished. October 9 Ocean Waves Variation: 12" I am working on a set of blocks that I'm hoping to reveal soon which use a Christmas collection called Jolly Christmas. I took the Ocean Waves Variation block and put Santa in the middle! Ocean Waves Variation with Santa! There are many different ocean waves blocks, but the key is all those triangles! I really like that I can put an awesome print in the center, don't you? Check out my calendar in quilt shops or these big retailers: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

Today's block is called Ozark Maple Leaf. It's also my Reston quilt guild friend Kathy E.'s birthday - Happy Birthday, Kathy! I have made this many times before. In fact, it has another name: Spanish Tessellations. Tessellations? "What's that?" you may ask. That's when parts of one section interlock with another. Let me show you. This green and gold quilt was made 25 years ago and uses 4" blocks in sections that measure 8" x 8". Ozark Maple Leaf quilt: 22" x 22" I made it again using gold and black with a Christmas print border: My friend Kathy M. - one of my Calendar Girls - made the block and made an "oops" in one side. Can you find it? Ozark Maple Leaf: 12" block Here is her revised block. It was easy enough to fix because the error was on the outside. (Hint: just check out the colored corners.) Ozark Maple Leaf: 12" And one more of my OLD quilts using lots of blocks. You can see the tessellating leaves here:...

 "Retro inspired" - that's how Windham Fabrics describes Merry-Go-Round . What do you think? 23  Merry-Go-Round  fabrics One of the 23 lovely prints There is a large 108" backing that's got a Double Wedding Ring motif printed on it. Now, that's an easy way to get one of those quilts! My friend Julia R (one of my Calendar Girls and a quilt guild buddy) asked for a piece so she could teach her daughter how to hand quilt. I can't wait to see it! She'll be working with a 1 yard cut (36" x 44"). DWR cheater cloth Here's a simple DWR I made as a teaching sample several years ago using some 1930s reproduction prints. Many are Windham reproductions. I paper pieced the curved arches and then interfaced the edges to turn them under and appliquéd them to the cream background! The four corner half-square triangles gave me the straight edges! I have been sewing with the awesome 1930s reproduction prints for almost 20 years. This new collection is beg...

I hand pieced 24 of these Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks several years ago. Made with 3/4" hexagons. I had no clue what I was going to do with them. Then I saw a photo of fabric diamond backgrounds on another quilt. The light bulb went on! (My finished quilt is at the bottom of this page) Some of my 24 GFG units I measured and realized that I would need at least a 5-1/2" wide 60 degree diamond to fit these hexagon flowers. I can do that - I can cut one. And that's what I did. Wanna see? No templates! Now you know what to do with those diagonal lines on your acrylic rulers. I cut 5-1/2" strips of the white fabric. Then I trimmed the left side to a 60 degree angle. Now I can measure across every 5-1/2" and cut a diamond! The diamonds measure 5-1/2" from flat side to flat side in both directions. Cutting 60 degree diamonds This is what my little GFG blocks look like from the back before I take the papers out. The punched holes are so that I can get the...