Today is a special day for Americans as we celebrate our sweet land of liberty and especially as we celebrate 250 years of growing into that liberty for ALL. I can't imagine how noisy the fireworks will be tonight . . . I've made several Americana quilts in my 40 years of quilting. Here is one from LONG ago. I even hand quilted it (what did I know?) the photo is from 2014, but I stitched this in the mid 1980s! It's the same concept in the next 2 quilts. I put stars in the top left corner and the stripes are wavy. I made this quilt almost 20 years ago using a reproduction coverlets collection from Windham Fabrics. It was designed by Leslie Sonkin (marketing director for Windham at the time) and I stitched and then patterned it. American Beauty : 43" x 53" I also used the design to work with another collection by Windham (Stars and Stripes): Stars and Stripes : 42" x 50" Click on the links to get the patterns - FREE! Yes, I've shared it here before but...

Yes, it's still January and I put a Double Hearts block in this month and not in February! Why? Have no clue. Double Hearts: 16" (not 8" - that's a draft copy) I used a collection by Benartex Fabrics called Hugs and Kisses. Hugs and Kisses fabrics by Benartex But, just think: if you make it in January, then you are ready for Valentine's Day in February! Let's see how I made it. First, the center (which measures 8"): Center of Double Hearts Then I moved on to the outer heart. When I was finished, my hot pink crochet project insisted it be in the photo! Double Hearts: 16" x 16" This would make a sweet pillow or the center of a larger quilt. I have a good bit of those fabrics remaining. I think I will pull this block out and hang in my sewing room as I get ready for Valentine's Day (whatever that means, right?)

I had a request yesterday from someone for my Hearts on Fire quilt pattern. I realized I didn't have it up at my Etsy shop, so I reactivated it. Do you remember this? All raw edge appliqué using batiks. Hearts on Fire : 46" x 63" I made this quilt almost 25 years ago. I donated it for a charity fund raiser (never doing that again!) and I truly hope the new owner treasures it. Here are a few of the steps I took when I made a smaller quilt using some Benartex fabrics: Five block Hearts on Fire What's fun is that when you cut out the larger hearts, you get a small heart as a bonus! A left and right half-heart with bonus tiny heart halves Then, as you cut using freezer paper as your template, you can get another set of small hearts out of the fabric rectangles. Here is a single block from the front after stitching. The rectangle halves are stitched FIRST, and then joined with the center vertical seam. Single heart block Here is a closeup from the back. Yes, I clipped awa...

Web sites. Blogs. Facebook. Now Instagram. What's a quilter to do? I started in print media (quilt magazine editor) 32 years ago. No web presence for a few years. Then everything exploded! I was the one to get our magazine group to create a web presence in 1997 - and they were kicking and screaming! Where am I going? Did you know I have an Instagram identity? It all doesn't make much sense to me, but I came kicking and screaming. I'm not interested in spending hours making silly videos, but I have been uploading hundreds (probably thousands) of beautiful quilt photos to cyberspace for all these years. @quilterbydesign is where you can find me. But I'm not sure if I even wrote that correctly! Slashed Hearts Slashed Hearts was designed in 2007. This quilt is about that old. I've been busy uploading some Valentine's themed quilts to Instagram. Several years ago you could only upload photos from your phone to Instagram. I said, "NO WAY." I like to type de...

February. The month for love and hearts. Did you know this is National Heart Month? A dear friend from my Atlanta days bought a packet of hearts and didn't know what to do with them. She saw some inspiration in a quilt shop the next year and decided to play around with putting them on a single piece of fabric. It appeared in my second book, Supersize 'Em Quilts (2009). I like her super wide binding - it looks like a thin border. FREE pattern is in the link. Jeweled Crazy Hearts  by Jan Jolly: 42" x 42" I took this idea and made it into a workshop in 2009. Students received pre-cut squares with fusible webbing on the back and a heart template. Then they were to place them in one or two arrangements on a large piece of background fabric. We used raw edge machine appliqué to stitch them down. Here are a few versions. This next photo is of REAL fabric. Dancing Hearts Table Runner: 20" x 29" I made one in 1930s fabrics. Actually, two. These photos are a bit fuzzy...

I designed a workshop class based on some digital patterns I had published in Quilt Magazine. Just a simple heart shape could dance across a large, plain background piece of fabric. This was a popular class in 2009 and 2010 for the Sewing Expo. I actually made kits for my students! The hearts were backed with fusible webbing and the students could decide how they wanted to express themselves based on a few ideas I gave them. This first one is what I call Dancing Hearts. Dancing Hearts with 16 heart appliqués The next one was a sample I showed with the same 16 hearts making four little groups. I had white and black backgrounds. This was on black. Added borders and gave it to some lucky child. Dancing Hearts: 20" x 29" Then I used some 1930s fabrics for a table runner. I cut out a LOT of these hearts! I used them to make some cards. Then I used some for two runners: And more hearts and a longer table runner which uses 32 hearts. What looks like a border is actually extra wide b...

Another day, another quilt or two on a magazine cover. Here is my Noah's Ark quilt which began as a round robin with other quilts on America Online (probably 1997). I made the center ark. Then someone added the animals and Noah and then the subsequent borders. I recently donated it to the Childen's Nursery at my church. It hangs for all the children to see! Noah's Ark quilt Here is the center: I made Noah's ark and the sky, clouds and background. Here's the magazine cover of Big Block Quilts Issue #58. Noah's Ark quilt on the cover of Big Block Quilts #58 Here's one more cover with 2 quilts. The Sunbonnet Sue quilt was somewhat monotonous but it was always a popular one to feature. You can see my Sunbonnet Sue single block mini-quilt in my Etsy shop. She is very similar to this one. And my 9 Block Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam quilt is fun, too! Quilt Almanac 2005 The Hearts on Fire quilt at the bottom right was first featured in this magazine. It was the ...

I truly love these sparkling blenders. And they really DO sparkle! Here's a sneak peek at my Christmas in July post as I needed to pre-wash my Fairy Frost before combining them with the Minky. They were a little worried, but I assured them they would be fine in the washer - just a little bath before bedtime! Fairy Frost about to get a bath! I made 6 large Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks with that first set of matching Fairy Frost and Gingham Play. Aren't these yummy? Candy with no calories! Here are my blocks from the back. You can see how I stitch these hexagons. And my papers were cut from a variety of card stock that I had. Blocks from the back And aren't they beautiful from the front? Still unsure how I'm going to combine them with the others that used the Cotton Couture for the centers. It will eventually come to me! In the meantime, I was busy stitching some little hearts. These are called jewels and two jewels make a heart. I'm auditioning them on so...