Bring in the flowers! I love them all. Where I live the daffodils and crocus are in full bloom. My hostas are beginning to poke their heads through the dirt and my peonies have been thinned and are itching to burst into their hot pink flowers! My husband staked them last weekend. They get tall and need the support. And I even have a daffodil quilt block. It's part of my Memory Bouquet quilt made in early 2003 by me and my friends from Atlanta. It's also known as the Jonquil. Daffodil block from the Memory Bouquet quilt Here are a few other flowers from that quilt. It was published in Quilt Magazine in 2003 (with only 4 of the 20 blocks patterned). This first appeared in the Kansas City Star in the 1930s! This is a Lily of the Valley. Not sure where this block is in my closet. It was not part of the quilt set; just an extra one I came upon when I was an editor with Quilt. Lily of the Valley And another one, the Zinnia. There is a LOT of appliqué here! Zinnia Block And here are ...

I keep finding more animal quilts in my Quilt Vault. Roly Poly Circus Animals is from the Kansas City Star in 1923. The animals were designed as redwork embroidery. The blocks are 9" and there are 20 of them. A quilting friend designed and made this delightful quilt using 5 of the redrafts I had done in 2002. Roly Poly Circus Quilt The pattern has this and also all 20 of the original redwork designs (not scanned but redrafted, full size). Here is how they appear in a simple quilt as presented at their debut. These have been digitally redrawn by me and the pattern set is a 50 page pdf! Roly Poly Circus Animals Another quilt that I featured but had not put the pattern link for is the Garden Bouquet Quilt , originally appearing in 1932 in the Star. Here is a vintage quilt that was photographed for our magazine around 2002. Vintage Garden Bouquet I made 5 of the 25 blocks. Don't you just love those saucy little birds? My own Garden Bouquet Quilt You can also find the Memory Bouqu...

Contest is over and my two winners are: Ellen M. from Spain (digital copy of the pattern) Vivian O. from Pennsylvania (CD of pattern and this lovely, embroidered block) Many thanks to ALL who commented! More blocks from the Kansas City Star. This is a series called " Quilting Patterns and Motifs " which features 27 quilting motifs from 1930 to 1938. I redrew each of these stencils using Adobe Illustrator. They are NOT scans of the old newspaper clippings. This is an orphan block I got about 20 years ago when I was an editor with Quilt Magazine. The unknown maker decided to use it for embroidery. Lovely, huh? Kansas City Star Motif: November 21, 1934  The pattern fits a 6" square, so you can center it on a larger 12" background fabric: 6" motif embroidered These can be quilting stencils or embroidery patterns. Your choice. But, what do the other 26 motifs look like? I'm glad you asked. Here is my pattern cover (front) Designs ...

Fifteen years ago I asked - and got permission from - the Kansas City Star to redraft the vintage Roly Poly Circus animals. They had appeared in their newspaper in the 1930s and had been created by Ruby McKim. It took a LOT of hours to redraw these. I didn't just scan the newspaper copies. I drew every, single line in Adobe Illustrator! Here is a picture of the cover page: Roly Poly Circus Animals I created a 43 page booklet of these in easy to read pdf. I also partnered with an Atlanta friend who made the blocks in this quilt. This quilt is 33" x 47": Circus Quilt Blocks by Leslie Sausville Then I visited these blocks again for inspiration to offer this quilt in my 2012 Block a Day Calendar: Circus Time Quilt : 42" x 58" Block Size: 8" and 16" Visit my Craftsy page to read about this amazing collection of redwork patterns and to find the two bonus quilt patterns as shown here. Summer's coming and we all love to sit and stitch ...