Solstice by Windham Fabrics debuted a few years ago and I have so loved working with the gorgeous prints. It was designed by Sally Kelly. A few of the 28 Solstice prints I revisited a tried and true pattern I designed 20 years ago which I call Spiro Glyphics. They are 6" blocks: one is paper pieced and the other is a simple appliqué circle (using a CD-ROM!) Still waits to be quilted. Spiro Glyphics: 40" x 40" Then I revisited a vintage pattern called Nosegay. This also is paper pieced. I quilted it a few weeks ago on my Handi Quilter Sweet 16. This sits in my closet awaiting a special person to give it to. And, my HQ machine counted the stitches to quilt this: 24,287!! Solstice Nosegay: 48" x 48" I was short of some fabric and pieced it for  one of the setting triangles. Wanna see? Pieced triangle! The most recent quilt is my Pentagon Wreaths. This quilt is 44" x 44" and those wreaths are English Paper Pieced. The center is a 2" hexagon and the ...

You've seen some of these Nosegay quilts before. They are based on the vintage pattern "Nostalgic Nosegay." What you see here is from 1937. How do you like those templates? Not me! It's easy to cut the diamonds, but the other shapes made me nervous. So, I converted the pattern to foundation paper piecing and left out the little buds that appear between the diamonds. Here is a simple vintage block with the buds in red. Vintage Nosegay block made with templates Here is how I foundation pieced my version. Each block will have 6 diamonds (with background) and a cone base. Foundation pieced Nosegay block parts And here are a few blocks using the Solstice Collection from Windham Fabrics. 12" Nosegay blocks I finished the quilt top about 2 years ago and finally quilted and bound it earlier this week. Allow me . . . 4 Block Nosegay Quilt : 48" x 48" All the fabrics in the center are from the Solstice collection, but I didn't have enough yardage for borders....

I discovered a photo in one of our old magazines (Quilt Magazine, Spring 2005) of a vintage Nosegay/Bride's Bouquet quilt. I scanned it the other day and here she is in all her old time glory! Bride's Bouquet Quilt: 59" x 76" The blocks are 12" and when we ran the pattern, we included templates - lots of them (5 different ones!) Would you like to see what they look like? Nosegay Templates! Does this make you want to run and make one of these? Not me! If you would like to try your hand at making one of these quilts, I've just published a 12 page pdf in my Etsy shop. Go check it out and see all the photos! Old Fashioned Nosegay . NO templates, just easy foundations for paper piecing.  And I keep the fabric waste to a minimum; as you can see, the 45 degree diamonds can be cut (oversized) using your standard ruler! Cutting the diamond patches for foundation piecing Thanks for giving me the chance to share my Nosegay quilts!

I'm back with my last 2 Nosegay quilts. I think I'll show you the best one first! I was inspired to make this from a 2010 magazine. They had pieced some Bride's Bouquet blocks (like these) and cut up a pre-printed panel of Baltimore Album motifs. I remembered I had some similar panels languishing in my closet. Nosegay blocks set with pre-printed motifs When I gave this to my longarm quilter and told her it was destined for a charity quilt, she was shocked. She first thought that was ALL hand appliquéd. Ha! Not from my hands. Maybe you have some of these long ago printed motifs. Pull them out and make some blocks to go with them. Here is the last set of my blocks. I made them using some Kaffe Fassett prints. 12" Nosegay block set on point (pieced cone)  I was short on that green striped fabric and had to piece it. So what? Piecing a stripe like this - you really can't see the seam can you? And how does the wrong side of this paper pieced section look? Wrong side of ...

I had enough fabric leftover from Monday's quilt to make a 2 block wheelchair quilt. They were just too pretty to sit in the workshop box alone. What do you think? 2 Block Nosegay quilt: 27" x 44" I donated this to my local guild's charity endeavors. Remember, a 12" block set on point is 17"! I made some more blocks with a collection by Windham called Solstice. Here are the units that are paper pieced and trimmed before joining together. Notice the base "cone". Units for one Nosegay block The cone utilizes a stripe and I needed to make sure it would be oriented correctly. I rough-cut the patches using an oversized piece of freezer paper. Rough cutting the cone base And several blocks: And my final quilt top. All I had for the blocks and center were fat quarters. I used a different collection for the outside borders. Solstice Nosegay quilt top: 48" x 48" I'll be back on Friday with my last 2 Nosegay quilts. Here's a teaser for one ...

This vintage pattern was traditionally made using templates. I converted it to foundation paper piecing about 15 years ago. I look for the lines and the obvious units and go from there. What is the Nosegay, you may ask? Notice my latest blocks here on a design wall. Do they look like stars missing a point or two? Several Nosegay blocks in process Compare the star block below with those above. Yes, there are two star points replaced with a base cone. 8 Pointed Star (Lone Star) using the Solstice Collection by Windham Fabrics A traditional Nosegay block has inserted "buds" between the star points as you can see from this yellowed newspaper page from 1937. And an elongated cone. It is set on point. And look at those templates!! Here is one I found on Pinterest in real fabric. Let's see one of the first quilts I made using my foundation piecing of the block. I did take out those little inserts. This is from 2008. Old Fashioned Nosegay: 12" blocks. 47" x 55" qui...

In the Northern Hemisphere today is the longest day of the year - Summer Solstice - when the daylight hours seem like forever (and we love it). Windham Fabrics released a gorgeous collection of fabrics called  Solstice  in late 2020 that really captivated my quilter's heart! Here are just a few of the prints designed by Sally Kelly. Solstice has 28 prints! I used those fabrics to make another of my Spiroglyphics quilts (see mine done in batiks here). I donated this to my local quilt guild's charity endeavors. No borders! SpiroGlyphics quilt: 30" x 30" I put my Solstice blocks all together last summer. Same center as the quilt above; I added inner and outer borders. I just love this! Waits patiently to be quilted. Solstice SpiroGlyphics quilt: 40" x 40" But, along the way, I made another quilt. This is my Nosegay quilt using Solstice. I had to get creative with the setting square and triangles since I only had fat quarters! I also dipped into my Fantasy Colle...

Today is the longest day of the year - Summer Solstice - when the daylight hours seem like forever (and we love it). Windham Fabrics released a gorgeous collection of fabrics called Solstice in late 2020 that really captivated my quilter's heart! Here are just a few of the prints designed by Sally Kelly. Solstice has 28 prints! You can see the blocks I made in last year's blog post . Simple Square in a Square and Circle blocks. In case you haven't seen my SpiroGlyphics quilt, here is a recent finish which I donated to my local guild's charity endeavors. I used all my samples from the workshop (since I've retired it). Isn't this fun?@ SpiroGlyphics quilt: 30" x 30" I put my Solstice blocks all together last week and this is what I came up with. Same center as the quilt above; I added inner and outer borders. I just love this! Solstice SpiroGlyphics quilt: 40" x 40" But, along the way, I made another quilt. This is my Nosegay quilt using Solst...