Today is St. Patrick's Day and I'd like to share some lucky quilts with you! You've seen a few of these before, but I truly love revisiting them again and again. The first one is the oldest and I still own it. The label says 1994, but I know I made it several years earlier. All hand quilted! Yes, that's decorator fabric for the border! Irish Chain quilt early 1990s Here is one I made using the embroidery unit on my Pfaff sewing machine to add those little butterflies. It appeared in my first book (2004). I think I still have this somewhere. Black and Pink Irish Chain: 31" x 31" Here's a beauty sent by one of my Calendar Girls and she has it as a backdrop for a block she stitched later in the month. I just had to add it today! Diane L. quilted this herself. Irish Chain by Diane L. And, finally, my Irish Cross and Chain from years ago: Irish Cross and Chain Wishing you a very lucky St. Patrick's Day!

Today is November 17 and the calendar block is Twenty-Five Patch. It is one of the two blocks that make up the Irish Chain quilt! Here is the block made up by Susan B. Isn't this so cute with her turkey? Twenty-Five Patch by Susan B. Here's my quilt from early 2000 which uses the same 25-Patch, only in a smaller size. It appeared in my first book, Bold, Black and Beautiful (2004). I was enjoying the embroidery unit on my Pfaff sewing machine and was able to capture two motifs stitched in pink in the large un-pieced section of the Domino Chain. Double Irish Chain: 31" x 31" Yes, those are small blocks (4-1/2")! The blocks in my calendar are much larger (10"). Let's see them. Twenty-Five Patch: 10" And the block for tomorrow, November 18 is Domino Chain: Domino Chain: 10" Now, let's see a REALLY old quilt I made in the early 1990s (ignore the date stamp there). That was when I was still hand quilting. I hadn't discovered machine quilting...

Yes, I'm a grandma, but I wasn't when this quilt was made. I was using a 2007 collection by Benartex and decided to capture the playful feel of the fabrics and to cut out the words and add them to the top of the quilt. This was in my Galaxy of Stars magazine issue.  To Grandma's House We Go I was making a trip to California (from Atlanta, where I lived at the time) to visit family and my flight was delayed due to tornado activity in Colorado. I spent the night in the airport, but I had this quilt in my overnight bag (I was taking it to my sister who WAS a grandmother at the time) and I pulled it out and it was my pillow! Smart, huh? One other quilt that was in that magazine issue was made using Springs Fabrics. This is a variation on a Double Irish Chain. I called it Chain of Squares (but my editor renamed it!) Asian Mosaic (Double Irish Chain): 64" x 64" Here is the single block as I have it in my Quilter's Block a Day Calendar: And one more. I made this usin...