The breadfruit is the symbol of abundance. To try your hand at fold, cut and sew appliqué you can use the breadfruit pattern. But what does it look like? Breadfruit Block : 18" The method for cutting out this appliqué block is to first do some paper folding. I shared some of those steps the other day when I showed the Lover's Knot. The Breadfruit block has an 18-1/2" background square. I also cut an 18" square of freezer paper for the appliqué design. We need to fold the template into 8ths. Look at these diagrams from Quilt Magazine 25 years ago (and they still work!) The key is to make sure your pattern is aligned as shown in Diagram 7. I'm going to show you my own folded sample. I folded my paper as shown in Diagrams 1-6. Then I cut out the paper template in the pattern and clipped it to the folded template material (I like to use Reynold's Freezer paper). Since I am going to stitch this by machine, I will remove the seam allowances in gray. If you want to ...

CLICK HERE   to view this on my blog and not in the Follow It newsfeed. I have been sewing with Benartex Fabrics for 25 years. It all began when I was an editor with Quilt Magazine. Fabric companies sent bundles of their fabric to our office and with the promise of us using it in a featured quilt, they agreed to take out an ad. What a novel idea, huh? The first quilt is one you've seen here many times, the Royal Star. Based on a vintage block, I converted it from templates to rotary cutting and paper piecing (those pointy points). Yes, she was a cover girl! Royal Star made with Fossil Ferns fabrics This was also the cover quilt for my first book. But, let's talk about the QuiltCon block, since QuiltCon is this coming week in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was given 6 fat quarters of the Superior Solids and asked to make a 12" block. I selected 4 of the 6 with a block from my new calendar in mind. Four Superior Solids for my block They insisted they wanted to be photographed ...

Today is January 27 and the featured block is Prairie Flower. This also appeared in my 2007 quilting calendar and I had several students make theirs in the larger 16" size. But first, my 4 block quilt in the 8" size as shown in the Quilter's New Perpetual Block a Day calendar: 4 block Prairie Flower quilt in Fossil Ferns  Don't you just love how those Fossil Ferns seem to glow? Here's a digital image I created and patterned for my Calendar Girls program in 2008. This uses 16 blocks in sets of 4 blocks each! 16 block Prairie Flower quilt Now for 2 more student quilts using the pattern above: What fun to put all these blocks together. They are simple and let the fabric do all the work! If you don't have your calendar yet: Check your local quilt shop for my calendar so you can have your own  Prairie Flower   blocks. You can find my calendar here, also: on  Amazon at  C&T Publishing and in  Barnes & Noble  stores

I am in the final editing stage of my 19th quilting calendar. Yes, that is NOT a misprint! I've designed 15 block a day calendars (which sit on your desktop) and 3 wall calendars of quilts. The next one is the C&T Publishing version due out in June of 2025. I'm working through the months with an eagle eye for any and all mistakes. This is a daunting task, for sure. I'm almost finished with the January blocks and Prairie Flower appears in the January 27 slot. Prairie Flower made in 2008 I selected a set of Fossil Fern fat quarters (from Benartex) and began cutting the patches for this four block quilt (with the thin sashings between the blocks). I wonder if I still have this quilt! Each of the four blocks finishes to 8". Because my new calendar doesn't use any templates (all patches are rotary cut), I had to make the green patches out of half-square triangles and squares (not that funky patch you see there). Let me show you a quilt made by another quilter who u...

A few years ago I randomly created some 2" EPP hexagons using some Michael Miller gingham fabrics. Then, I was inspired to recreate a version of an older quilt that I used when I taught EPP workshops. One of my students said this was her favorite quilt. Her name was Lori. So, I named the quilt "Lori's Garden Favorite." Easy enough! Lori's Garden Favorite I made the above quilt using some Benartex Fossil Ferns and some other Benartex collections for the borders. Yes, those borders don't "match." But, they work and that's what matters. Sometimes you don't have enough of a single fabric to have all 4 borders match. Who cares? I think this is more interesting. Here is one of the blocks up close: Single GFG variation block: 14" x 20" I still have the original quilt that I made 22 years ago with the same rectangle block, but this time I used sashing. I called it Grandma's Night Garden. It was published in Quilt Magazine and then it a...

I posted this earlier in the week. I took a bundle of 1/2 yard cuts and selected a few to use for borders.  Then I auditioned them against the 8 block quilt center (which is 52" square). I cut the strips at 6-1/2" width and kept the same print in the corner blocks (both sides). Until this gets quilted, I can only photograph it on my kitchen floor! (I really need to find a place in my small house to tack it onto a wall). 8 Block Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt: 64" x 64" No y-seams. No templates. Easy to machine piece. Here's one of those blocks up close: GFG Block finishes to 17-1/2" square I'm going to pull out my box of Fossil Ferns (by Benartex) and see what other blocks I can make using them and these very LARGE Kaffe Fassett prints. They go together SO well, don't they?

Mountain Mist was the "go to" company for both batting and patterns. One that I fell in love with is the Friendship Plume. What? You've no idea what I'm talking about? Let me show you TWO vintage and beautiful Friendship Plume quilts. Vintage Friendship Plume quilts I redrafted it into the size I wanted (I had to draw it myself - no pattern to trace!) and settled on a 15" size. Then, because I know my limits, I settled on making a pillow using my Fossil Fern collection. Friendship Plume in Fossil Ferns Then some other fabrics called to me and I made it again using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Both pillows have a flange (the floppy edge) which takes it up to 20" x 20". The back is one of those fold overs that allows you to slip your pillow form inside. Friendship Plume in beautiful autumn colors (link is for pdf pattern) Now to show you five blocks that I made and I'm selling! I only have one set, so first come first served! First, this is my freez...

I love large scale prints. I never chop them into little, tiny pieces! That's why fabric companies like to work with me because I make BIG blocks that sell more of their fabric! I shared some LARGE Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks I stitched by machine back in January. Do you remember? Granny's Garden  with Japanese Chrysanthemum and Fossil Ferns These use some Kaffe Fassett fabrics with Fossil Ferns. This first one is my favorite! It is 18" x 18" unfinished. I added those top and bottom strips of Fossil Fern background fabric to "square" it up. Remember, a hexagon is wider than it is high and I wanted these to be square. And another one in pinks: Single block in Pinks with light yellow Fossil Fern background I wasn't able to fussy cut the flowers, but I did need to use my window template of freezer paper because I was really close to being short of fabric! My freezer paper window template for fussy cutting (sort of) How about a really bright pink ...

I have boxes of class samples that I'm slowly going through, deciding which ones can be finished (since I'm retiring some classes). Royal Star is one of them. I made a yellow Royal Star in 2005 to show students how the blocks look from the wrong side - seams, pressing, sashing. I quilted it on Tuesday and bound it on Wednesday. She waited patiently for 15 years and now look at her shine! Yellow batik Royal Star : 34" x 34" The blocks and sashing units are the same size as my first one made in 2002. It was on the cover of both Quilt Magazine and my first book, Bold, Black and Beautiful Quilts. (New Etsy price of $4.99 for 8 page pdf of Royal Star  with printable pages for the paper pieced corners!) Royal Star : 49" x 49" I have featured this a few times here on my blog and shared some of the steps. Check out this post to see the paper piecing parts to the blocks. The black quilt was made using Fossil Ferns (by Benartex). Here are a few other...