I am so proud of myself - to find homes for 5 more orphan blocks AND to make someone smile. These are for Meals on Wheels and I've had such fun making them. Just a few strips and scraps to finish and a single fat quarter for the back - even the batting uses up all the extra pieces from my stash. The first is from my paper piecing birdhouse workshop. Isn't this so cute? This 60s A Frame is from a pattern set I offer on Etsy - Big Birdhouse Bonanza Patterns. 60s A-Frame  - 10" tall Little chickadees from my English Paper Piecing. The center is the "Debbie" block from Katja Marek's hexagon book. Little Chickadees Another EPP block from that book and this is called "Marilyn." Don't you love all that Kaffe Fassett fabric? The center red is called Bullseye - wonder why? Marilyn block with the Bullseye fabric in the center And using up some Sgraffito leftovers (the name for some Benartex fabrics). This was rotary cut and sewn. Triangles and diamonds to...

I really don't like this time of year when it gets dark so early. And next week on November 1 and 2 we all get slammed with a sunset at 5pm or so. I finished a quilt top I began 15 years ago based on a modified vintage Rising Sun pattern. I converted it to paper piecing and made a few small quilts with my first try. I call this first one Casablanca Sunrise. That's because the fabric collection was named Casablanca! The vintage Rising Sun block has a quarter circle base. I used a triangle. Casablanca Sunrise: 31" x 31" And in deep reds from 2014: It became a workshop and I made some more samples. This next one I named Milady's Fans and added another round of these paper pieced blocks. Milady's Fans: 7" blocks; 28" x 28" center And how about orange? I tweaked the 7" paper piecing pattern and began another journey. This time I call it Glorious Sunrise (yet, I love seeing the sunrise every morning since I'm up at 5:30 am). Yes, I tweaked it...

I have a LOT of teaching samples. For 17 years I was teaching for the Sewing Expo (OSQE) and I needed to create 4-5 new workshops each year! Yes, you read that right. At one time, I had 40 of my workshop boxes in my garage and closet floor, stacked neatly with all sorts of samples. Some of my Chobani yogurt boxes of samples Circle of Stars was a variation of my larger Double Hexie Star . I used some small motifs from the awesome Paula Nadelstern Fabricadabra Collection. Circle of Stars (in center) Here's a single star of the six I made (no y-seams, of course). Fabricadabra Star I gave that center panel to my quilt guild and one of the members who works on the charity quilts made it larger with the inner borders and the dogtooth triangles. It's beautiful! Another large block that became a charity quilt is one of my samples from the Sassy Mariner's Compass workshop. I had many variations of this and it also appeared in my 3rd book. Here is my workshop sample: Sassy Mariner...

My Snow Crystals quilt was a hit Monday night when I spoke with a local guild, sharing my tips and tricks and quilter's shortcuts. Most of my quilts are vintage inspired and this was no exception. Take a look at the pattern page from the Kansas City Star in 1930. Would you like to use those templates? And sew y-seams? NO, not me! Page from the Kansas City Star Also notice that this is NOT four blocks but one. There are what seem to be 4 stars, but what's with the fifth star in the center? How did the designer think this up? Very clever, right? I made my own Snow Crystals quilt about 20 years ago - again, vintage inspired. Snow Crystals  - 24" block; 33" x 33" quilt Yes, these star units are paper pieced, but they can easily be rotary cut. I created a photo lesson for Quilt Magazine to go along with the quilt. (Yes, it says Windmill Star, which is another name for the star block). Here is the coloring chart which is a MUST for this pattern!  Snow Crystals  found...

I emptied another workshop box a few weeks ago and found some fun border fabric to set my last 16 blocks/units together. I amazed myself to find that the leftover blocks would make a pleasing center, even though they are not all of the same fabrics! Red, green and blue prints for those backgrounds around the spiky paper pieced blocks. Sunflower Garden: 47" x 47"  The first quilt I made appeared in my last book (Paper Piecing Perfect Points, 2013). I called it Katie's Garden. Katie? A friend or relative? No. Just the name of the fabric collection from Benartex! Easy enough! I made a smaller quilt using 4 units (for one block). This uses the Gazebo Collection by Windham. Simple workshop sample I added some borders and quilted it and gave it away to some little kid. Side borders are chickens. Top and bottom borders are cats. I sure hope they get along and don't fight in front of the little kid! Gazebo Garden quilt: 40" x 40" Now, let's see the first quilt I...

I created a pattern and taught the Starfish workshop several times in 2022. Then I was left with 10 hardcopy patterns languishing in the box. I have retired the class and want to empty that workshop box! Pattern includes FREE postage (in USA). This is my unfinished workshop sample. I only had fat quarters so I had to get creative with my borders! The four 8" units are paper pieced, for a center block of 16". Starfish using Norma Rose fabrics: 44" x 44" These are part of my  Hanukkah Star Fish quilt . First, the Star Fish blocks (which are paper pieced). Paper Pieced  Star Fish  units I wanted to make those blocks again, but this time in Christmas fabrics. I printed and cut out my foundations. I pre-cut my fabrics and labeled them. Ready to go! That little chicken pin cushion is for Quality Control. Star Fish  parts ready to go! And here is where I went with it. Only 4 units this time. I decided to set it on point with those pieced setting triangles. No hocus-poc...

 Oh, calm down. Not THAT kind of rattlesnake. Why would I do that to you? Some of this is a repost from 7 years ago because I've revisited my box of paper pieced rattle snake blocks this weekend. I rarely use anyone else's pattern (I don't get paid to do that), but I took a class 20  27 years ago with the Karen Stone paper pieced Rattlesnake pattern as the feature. I made a quilt out of flannels and it somehow fell into the hands of my daughter who used it for the dog to snuggle in. Want to see that? Original Rattlesnake quilt I used this pattern, published in 1996: Karen Stone's Rattlesnake pattern I have made a variety of units since that first quilt, some made with batiks. These will be stitched into background units to become 10" blocks: Batik paper pieced units This is what the unit looks like from the paper side after trimming: Single foundation Here are some of the batik blocks on my design wall. 10" Rattlesnake blocks being auditioned on my design wall...

Pickle Dish gets its name from the cut glass dish used to serve, well, pickles! This was a popular 1930s pattern that was only for those who could stitch accurately and weren't afraid of templates and curved seams. You don't believe me? Ha! Pickle Dish pattern in Kansas City Star October 28, 1931 Here is my first Pickle Dish quilt using a collection by Windham Fabrics. I began this quilt in 2013 (can you say ELEVEN YEARS?) Traditional Pickle Dish Yes, I paper pieced those points in the arcs! There was no way I would attempt templates. Yes, this was made in 2013. Paper pieced arcs Here are some arcs I made the same way for another quilt. Pickle Dish paper pieced arcs Then I made one using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. My second Pickle Dish quilt I made this into a workshop and made more and more samples. I have decided to retire the workshop, so that means I need to use up all the samples and throw away the storage box (you've seen those Chobani yogurt boxes I use to store my ...