I have created several Baltimore Album type quilts in my 30+ years of quilting. I say "type" because I have used printed panels (often called "cheater's cloth") for the glorious motifs. Here is one of the first I made about 25 years ago. The date of 2014 was for when I posted about this on my blog. This goes back to my Quilt Magazine days of probably 1998! These little panels were easy to set on point and capture the red and green in the setting fabrics and borders. Then in 2011 I came across some other printed panels, this time much larger. I can't even remember who the designer was. I cut them out and decided to surround them with Dogtooth units. I had to put my math teacher hat on because this was going to require some serious calculating. The blocks (center motifs) will finish to 10". I wanted 3 dogteeth on each side. My 60 degree triangles were cut at 3-3/8" high. I made a mistake with the first batch and couldn't use them. This red block ...

More parts explained! Here's my quilt example and a few more defining terms. Once we stitch a block (pieced or appliqué), we can "tilt" it so the points of the four corners are North-South-East-West. Today I want to talk about BLOCKS ON POINT. Here is a simple, single block that is turned 45 degrees. I call it Four Buds and it's from 2002. I think I paper pieced this. Four Buds Mini Quilt Here's what the block looks like before it was turned on point: Four Buds Block The addition of four CORNER triangles cut from TWO squares sets this block as shown above. There is a formula for doing this and I've shared it here several times before. You can find it again further down this page. What about setting a block not quite on a 45 degree turn? I call this my Tilt. These squares use a different angled triangle. If you have a Tri Recs ruler set in your sewing room, the Recs ruler is what I'm referring to. "Rec" refers to half a rectangle. ...

Baltimore Album "Cheater Cloth" quilt Oh, I dream of having a real Baltimore Album quilt. I've even blogged about it last year at this time with my cheater panels (see post here ) This little quilt was made at least 10 years ago and I bought a small panel of pre-printed blocks, set them on point with that deep, rich red fabric, and added a triple strip border. Love this little quilt and it actually hangs in my kitchen year round. It was featured in one of Quilt Magazine's special issues and I know that made her happy! One of my Baltimore Album blocks Maybe I'll go looking for that UFO box and play around with them. I just love those rich colors, don't you?  I have a few more quilts in my Christmas Quilt vault. Hope to show you some more.

Classic red and cream basket of blooms Anyone who knows me knows that I do NOT hand applique, so when I found a pile of Baltimore Album blocks for sale I immediately grabbed them. Did I say they were NOT hand appliqued? Oh, sorry about that. These are printed panels that only replicate beautiful, traditional blocks and boy did I have fun with them! Beautiful blue urn with a classic pineapple and pomegranates I pulled colors from the panels: green, blue, mustard, deep crimson and cream. I searched my stash and found perfect fabrics to make Dogtooth triangles. These were tricky as the panel size could not be divided evenly into thirds. I fudged it - so don't look closely at the triangle points as they touch the panel - I lopped off points. But hey - I'm not into perfect, are you? A lovely wreath, book and bird. Have you ever seen a bird with a book in real life? Stop looking at the lopped off points! Look at the beautiful urn of flowers! And how will they look...