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?

I'm keeping track of my quilt finishes for my local guild's charity outreaches. It may seem like a lot (34 so far in 2024), I still haven't made a dent in my stash of unfinished quilts/tops (still about 4 dozen) or workshop samples of class I'm retiring! Hard to believe, but I've been actively making quilts as a profession for 32 years, so that's the way I describe it to my fellow quilters! Buzz Saw with renegade blade: 39" x 39" My Buzz Saw class was fun and my students enjoyed working with a long dresden plate template (12-1/2"). These were some of the samples in my workshop box and I only had 19 fabrics for the blades and the orange one had to fill in the gap. And I guess the light blue on at the top is a renegade, too! Here's another Dresden plate quilt. I used the Fiesta Collection by Windham Fabrics and captured one little sugar skull in the center. Lots of guitars and doves and cheerful motifs here. Fiesta Sugar Skull Dresdens: 46...

I pieced a backing for this quilt made several years ago. It is 55" x 55". I call it Disappearing Dresdens because I ran out of the black and red prints and had to make dresden plate blades from the white background fabric! Disappearing Dresdens: 55" x 55" There is one whole block (top right), two 3/4 blocks, one half block and one 1/4 block. But you still see dresdens, don't you? Here's a close up of the center of the quilt which measures 40" x 40". This quilt is going to be quilted and donated to our local charity endeavor that provides warm quilts to those who sit in those freezing hospital rooms getting chemo infusion. I'm sure it will be enjoyed! I made a smaller one in blues and white. I wasn't planning on only having this many units - it's all I could squeeze from the blue fabrics! How do you like my clever borders? That's what happens when you only have fat quarters to work with. Blue and White Disappearing Dresdens I have a...

This is a repost from 2 years ago. I know the quilts will bring a smile to you! Today is Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) and is a celebration with parties and food in many Latin American countries. I remember many of my Mexican friends and school chums in California having fun with this day. I now have a finished quilt to celebrate the holiday. Yes, I KNOW these are fabrics that celebrate another holiday (Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos). Artistic license, ok? I'll check in with Windham to see if they mind! Fiesta  Pentagon Wreaths: 40" x 44" Do you remember my Sugar Skulls from 2020? While the fabrics may not be available in your local quilt shop, you may find something similar online. I love these from Windham called  Fiesta . If you click the link under the photo you can see the steps to this Dresden Plate block. Fiesta Sugar Skull Dresdens : 46" x 46" Back to the Sugar Skull wreaths. I had made one of my Pentagon Wreath blocks using another fussy cut Sugar Skull....

This little quilt went to live in a new home. Was a silent auction item last weekend. Husband was horrified that I would give up such a lovely quilt. I'm sure hoping the new owner loves all the KF/Brandon/Philip fabrics. Made with charm squares and a simple dresden ruler.   Charming Dresdens  (with ruler) Most dresden rulers are multi-sized. Here's mine with an 8" height. My dresden ruler (comes with Vortex pattern also) I chose to work with charm squares and got two wedges from each 5" square. Here are 80 dresden blades. (I used the 5" horizontal line on my acrylic ruler). Charming Dresdens PDF pattern (no ruler; paper template included) Then, I pieced them together in groups of 5 and added the triangle to the bottom (well: a 3" square with a diagonal sewing line). Finishing the base with a triangle I made 16 blocks with a variety of solid shot cottons for those triangles. 16 Mini Dresden "fans" ready for the background I placed them on white Fai...

I taught my Modern Vortex class last Saturday and really wowed my students when I showed them how they can use their dresden wedge ruler with border prints to create some fabulous blocks. Here is a quilt I made a few years ago and since have given it away to some little girl. The border print fabric has to be at least 20 years old! Dresden wedges and border print Because you have to flip-flop the ruler, you are cutting for two blocks to get one. What did I do with the remaining four units (four quarter units = a full circle)? Another fun quilt, that's what! Five units for a swirly quilt center Wait a minute! Where did that extra 5-wedge quarter block come from? I honestly can't remember, but it sure makes for a fun quilt! Here's my Modern Vortex quilt. We strip piece the 18 degree wedges. Modern Vortex quilt One more quilt using my dresden ruler and some border prints.  20 wedge block using a border print I had made these blocks over 10 years ago and then finally put the...

I am making it my quilting priority to finish a LOT of my workshop samples. I have a wonderful outlet for everything and the bonus is that I don't have to quilt them myself! My local guild has a fabulous member who longarm quilts our quilts when they are used for our charity endeavors. This is the very last of my Buzz Saw samples. As you can see, I had to use a "renegade" blade (orange) to complete the 20 blade center. I used an older Windham Fabics collection called Raj. This quilt will be a bright spot for some little child (I hope)! Raj Buzz Saw : 39" x 39" My ruler is an 18 degree Dresden wedge that has a height of 12-1/2"! That makes for a large center. It has both 30 and 60 degree diagonal lines on it fork cutting the wedges (no templates). Buzz Saw ruler (no templates needed; these were used in the magazine)  Here is the first Buzz Saw I made. It appeared in an issue of Modern Quilts (2014). I went on to teach this as a workshop about a dozen times....

This was a post from 2015, which I shared on the Benartex blog. Just some fun ideas using my 12.5" dresden ruler.  Warning! Put your cup of coffee down before you scroll any further! Sometimes my ideas get a bit zany and I only blame it on the fabric, of course. I received a lovely bundle of Fruit Salad fabrics by Benartex (2015) and the watermelon images jumped out at me. What do you think? Fruit Salad Collection by Greta Lynn for KANVAS and Benartex Fabrics What? You don't see watermelon? You see strawberries and blueberries and cherries? Hold on. I'm getting to the watermelon, because I WANTED watermelon and I tried to make this a watermelon quilt. That's why I think a few things went wrong (hence, the warning above). I like playing with my Vortex ruler (actually an 18 degree Dresden Plate ruler). I thought of the green watermelon rind, the white inner rind and the red fruit part and grabbed 3 fabrics. Actually, four. Let me show you how I auditioned the fabrics ...