More quilts to go with my 3 Colorburst Squares blocks in the calendar this week. The most recent was made using some Brandon Mably houses and some blenders called Bedrock from Windham Fabrics: Mabley's Houses: 40" x 50"  Here's the first quilt I made with this pattern using batiks Colorburst Squares: 62" x 72" Another one using a Windham collection from years past (Meadow Whispers): Meadow Whispers: 50" x 60" One more with the same fabrics! Yes, I squeezed a lot from that line. All these blocks are the same (from Wednesday - Blocl #1). And the last one is a digital image I did for a fabric company: Check out my pattern in my Etsy shop . And, don't forget to get your calendar (if you don't have one already) - C&T Publishing shop .

Today is April 16 and I resized one of my Kimono patterns to 12" x 14" - not a square! Why? Well, because it looks better that way! Here is the block as I made it last year using a blender collection by Benartex called Equinox. Kimono: 12" x 14" Let me show you my 3 kimono quilts - yes, three! But, first, a tiny postcard I created about 20 years ago where I actually cut out those fabric shoe motifs and added them to the front. Isn't this cute? Tiny kimono postcard Here is the first quilt I stitched with the very simple Kimono block (12" x 14"). I created this for a class I taught in Atlanta almost 20 years ago! Bamboo Garden Kimono quilt : 43" x 56" Then I used a wonderful Asian inspired collection by Windham Fabrics called Sashiko: Four block Kimono quilt Then I made nine blocks using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I was stumped on how to make my fabric stretch for those borders and then decided to add those squares on point! No piecing! 9 Bloc...

CLICK HERE   to view this on my blog and not in the Follow It newsfeed. Today is February 16 and the calendar block is Double Geese. I made this several months ago and almost forgot it! But it was quacking really loudly in the closet and I had to let it out! The fabrics are SO glorious, aren't they? I used some of my Kaffe Fassett prints and they did not disappoint. Double Geese: 18" x 18" With such a large block you can use large scale prints (as you can see). They won't be chopped off into little, tiny pieces. Those five squares are cut 6-1/2". My Flying Geese units are 3" x 6" and are wonderful to show off those "wavy" prints. I pieced a few dozen of these without a plan in mind. Then - voilá - this block appeared! I have these leftover. 3" x 6" flying geese units with nowhere to go Now for another block to beg me to make it using the rest of these units. I'll wait for them to call to me from the drawers where they are sleepin...

. . . and they're NOT from my calendar, but inspired by Katja Marek's "The New Hexagon Perpetual Calendar." I don't have a photo of her block, but it's fairly simple with triangles, diamonds and half-hexagons. For me, it was easy to convert this to rotary cut and machine piece! I decided to make it in a 12" (high) size. Here are some units before the final seams: January 17 Block  I stitched them all together and then made a small table topper using another set of fabrics. I had still one more block in mind, this time in browns using the Sgrafitto Collection by Benartex: This was an orphan block for several years and I turned it into another one of those Meals on Wheels placemats the other day. Here it is: Placemat: 15" x 17" Now I'm on the hunt for the block at the top of the page. It would make another lovely placemat, right?

If you like big blocks, you will like this 24" Woven Star as the November 5 block (today). I first made this about 20 years ago, simplifying a common block pattern. It appeared in Quilt magazine (when I was an editor) with this cute doggy! Woven Star quilt  I simplified it by removing the templates and making it with rotary cutting. I added the woven effect by making strong contrast between the colors. Let's see some more quilts. Center Woven Ribbon Star in my Galaxy of Stars quilt Woven Ribbon Star (24") as the center of a child's quilt Same star, different borders My sister Janet (who has the calendar) chose to make FOUR of these large blocks and use sashing and no borders. Very lovely! Janet's 4 Block Woven Ribbon Star And one more using Kaffe Fasset bold prints. Notice that my borders are the same color BUT not the same print. Yes, I give you permission to do the same! Woven Ribbon Star using Kaffe Fassett prints I offer the 24" star in my Galaxy of Stars...

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...

 This is a block that I've made into quilts several times. Home Circle is vintage inspired and I love it in the large 15" size. Here's how it appears in my calendar. I designed a quilt for Benartex using their Crazy Daisy Collection in 2011. It was a digital quilt and they featured it on the back cover of several magazines. You could write in and get the printed pattern! I made it using some awesome Michael Miller marbles (no, not the kind you scoot around on a table!) Michael Miller Home Circle quilt : 60" x 60" Here are the blocks scattered on my deck: Five 15" Home Circle blocks And here's the last one I made using some orange Kaffe Fassett fabrics. This was quilted by Jeanne C. of my quilt guild and donated to our charity endeavors. Home Circle: 45" x 52" And I had this in my 2007 Block a Day calendar with Patricia Bryant making this block: 15" Home Circle block made by Patricia Bryant Now I want to make some more! They are SO easy ...

 Today is August 21 and the calendar block for today is Double T. I made one and so did Dora L., one of my calendar girls. My block wanted to hang out with the flowers! 18" Double T block And Dora wanted to audition some novelty fabrics in hers. Having a large 18" block gives so much space to prints! Dora's Double T Block Making just a few of these will give you a quilt in a hurry! What fun, right?

I never could win at playing cards, not even the kids' games! I just smiled as I held a zillion cards in my hand as someone banged their last card down on the table and won. Big sigh. But, I sure can sew Card Tricks. That's the name of the block today and about 20 years ago I simplified the piecing from a lot of triangles to squares and rectangles. Here is the block with those triangles from my 2007 perpetual calendar. Isn't this a fun way that Patricia Bryant staged this? Card Trick by Patricia Bryant of Australia Here is one made by someone who purchased my No Tricky Card Trick pattern. As you can see, there are not a lot of triangles. This is the way the calendar block appears. No Tricky Card Trick  block by Jocelyne Normandin Here's a quilt I made several years ago using my larger block (12-3/4") It was fun to dig into my Kaffe Fassett scrap piles. If you look at this another way, you can see several hearts, can't you? No Tricky Card Trick (12-3/4" bl...

 I love to feature beautiful motifs in the center of blocks. This fabric collection is at least 15 years old and is from Blank Quilting. It's called "Days to Remember." I had yards and yards of it for some workshops I taught over those years. Here is one block where I captured an awesome motif: Twisted Hexagon block This Twisted Hexagon block can be made in all sorts of sizes (my Etsy pattern  captures a 5-1/2" high motif; this is cut 7-1/2"). All I had to do was adjust the size of the half hexagons. Half hexagons cut with a standard 60 degree triangle ruler Here is one of the quilts I made with the leftovers. My local guild needed some longer quilts and so I added the top and bottom borders as you can see here. Days to Remember Twisted Hexagon charity quilt: 55" x 67" But I didn't chop up all the sweet motifs. I used some for the border of this quilt with leftovers from a class I taught in 2012! Winding Ways the easy way. Winding Ways quilt I...

So many blocks. Not enough time to make them all - but we'll try, won't we?! How about selecting a few blocks and building quilts around them? Of course - let's go! Cover for the Quilter's New Perpetual Block-a-Day Calendar Let's begin with a few May blocks for one quilt idea.  Colorburst Squares 1, 2 and 3 are featured in these quilts. Yes, I've made this several times. I love these blocks because they're so simple and cause your eyes to swing back and forth because the center squares swing back and forth! This is a variation of the Cobblestone block (like the first round of a log cabin). Colorburst Squares with 16 blocks These appear on May 13, 14 and 15. They are 10" blocks. Here is a much larger quilt. Colorburst Squares with 30 blocks (10" size) How about some florals? And no borders - she's done when she's done! These use the Meadow Whispers Collection by Windham Fabrics. Colorburst Squares with 30 blocks in florals Here's one don...