Well, not that kind of vintage. MY kind of vintage - quilts older than 25+ years. This is a repost from several years ago : Almost 30 years ago, a guild friend named Kathleen handed me a grocery bag full of fabric circles. These were no ordinary fabric circles. They were authentic 1930s Feed Sacks! It appeared that an anonymous quilter had cut them out, destined to be yo-yos. She thought I would be interested in playing with them. Holy cow! What a true find. This quilt uses a few of those circles, and they aren't yo-yos! It was HAND QUILTED! Still one of my favorites, for sure. Authentic Feed Sacks for Baskets I did make  a few yo-yos, but the circles were calling me to become something else. A few of the hundreds of circles made into yo yos I had just started working for Quilt Magazine and I was intrigued with Drunkard's Path blocks and quilts, but NOT by the traditional way to make them. This next quilt uses those feed sack circles and other solids. The outer pink print borde...

Yum, yum - watermelon! This is a repost from 2013 and the topic is still relevant. This post was for Benartex to feature some of their fabrics. The Fossil Ferns at the bottom of the page are still available. Watermelon Quilt from my book Bold, Black and Beautiful (AQS 2004)  Look at this absolutely marvelous quilt by  Ahh Quilting . Don't you just love that truck!? Watermelon Wedge quilt by  Ahh Quilting Seeing all those watermelon quilts and yummy watermelon food items, I recalled that I have made not one, not two, but three watermelon inspired quilts in my quilting career. The one on the top was made by a friend, Diane Leighton of Yuba City, California. It was a redo of my first quilt that I made with a white background: First watermelon quilt. 6" Blocks, 37" x 37" quilt Grilled Watermelon with Blue Cheese and Proscuitto in food! Looks like watermelon to me. Photo credit: Jennifer Davick, on  southernliving.com One last quilt I made so many years ago that I've...

 My Block a Day Calendar with Martingale has the Fool's Puzzle Block for today. It's a Drunkard's Path design. Take a look: Fool's Puzzle sewn by Patricia Bryant of Australia It is 12" in the calendar. I simplified the piecing by appliquéing the quarter circle to a background square cut to 3-1/2". Then the excess is trimmed away from under the curved patch. VERY easy!! I have made several Drunkard's Path quilts using this technique that I simplified over 30 years ago! Here is a basket block I made by machine about 25 years ago. She still waits to be made into something. Here's another from 25 years ago. I still own it. Authentic feed sacks in some blocks and the outer border. Feed Sack Love Ring Here's another one that I call Hawaiian Love Ring: So, no fooling! You can conquer these traditional curved blocks with simple raw edge appliqué. One more made with feed sacks. One of my absolute favorites and lives comfortably up in my closet. This is a Tr...

Quilt magazines are no longer the main way we quilters get our inspiration and instruction. But when I began writing and designing for Quilt Magazine in 1993, they really were the top dog! I loved all my quilting magazines. Do you remember Quilter's Newsletter? Big Sigh, right? We continued to ADD titles through the first 10 years. This is the premier issue of Appliqué Quilts (2000) and that's my quilt as the large center (Garden Flowers) and also the little Dutch Hearts Sampler at the top left. All by machine, of course! On the cover of the premier issue of Appliqué Quilts (twice) That single large pot of flowers on the yellow background was an extra block that I had cut incorrectly. There's a seam in the yellow square, but it didn't keep it from being on the cover! I added dogtooth borders and then my curved picture frame outer border took it to a nice size. All machine work, btw! Then here's another from 1997. Quilt Almanac, which we produced once a year. I have ...

Welcome to Day Four with circles. The first quilt here is made entirely of CASHMERE! I used some salesman's samples of wool cashmere and made this 54" x 82" quilt for my husband. I cut quarter circles from one sample and squares from another and then raw edge appliquéd them on using a buttonhole stitch. Wool Cashmere Quilt: 54" x 82" NO fusibles were used. NO interfacing. Just wool to wool. Yesterday, I forgot to show you how I trim from behind my appliquéd circles. I leave the interfacing in until they are stitched - it stabilizes the edges so they don't get wobbly. Trimming away behind appliquéd circle And we all are familiar with yo yos, right? These delightful little circles are fun to make and use as embellishments. These yo yos are made with authentic 1930s fabrics I helped my daughter design this project using a large yo yo quilt that we selectively took apart and then mounted on a canvas. It hangs above her bed. We used a bazillion pins to anchor thi...