I came upon a pattern I designed for Windham Fabrics 16 years ago. I called it "Dancing with the Flowers". I used my photo corners appliqué patches to highlight large scale floral motifs in the centers. The fabrics were from the Modern Grace Collection. Here's a digital version: Dancing with the Flowers : 48" x 48"  Let me show you the two blocks and I think it will make a bit more sense. The blocks finish to 10" x 10". Block A has an extra appliqué in the center. Block B just lets the fabric do the talking. And this was made into a FREE pattern . The photo corners are raw edge appliqué. You can put just about any motif in the center. I did this with some bird fabric years ago: I made a second quilt with the leftover fabrics. I called it Modern Grace (clever, huh?) I used the appliqué flower template to cut out more patches and scattered them over the surface of the quilt. I taught this as a workshop in 2007, too! Modern Grace Check out the 4 page pdf ...

I keep coming back to my Princess Feather quilts. The first one I made was for Windham Fabrics in 2007. It is owned by them and hangs in a prominent place in their offices in New Jersey. Princess Feather with awesome longarm quilting by Leslee Evans of Atlanta I have almost 3 dozen of the large plumes leftover from when I taught this as a workshop. And 15 of the small ones. Wanna see? Leftover Princess Feather plumes for sale I also made one using Kaffe Fassett fabrics and it appears in my second book, Supersize 'Em Quilts (2009). Notice the slightly different assembly from the first one. Princess Feather #2 I spread out all my leftover, pre-cut large and small plumes, with the patterns and freezer paper templates, etc. What do you think? They are ready to go onto a background fabric. The one that comes with these plumes is tucked in at the bottom right. It's 32" x 32". Princess Feather pre-cut plumes, pattern and background fabric Just another of my various sets of ...

Mountain Mist was the "go to" company for both batting and patterns. One that I fell in love with is the Friendship Plume. What? You've no idea what I'm talking about? Let me show you TWO vintage and beautiful Friendship Plume quilts. Vintage Friendship Plume quilts I redrafted it into the size I wanted (I had to draw it myself - no pattern to trace!) and settled on a 15" size. Then, because I know my limits, I settled on making a pillow using my Fossil Fern collection. Friendship Plume in Fossil Ferns Then some other fabrics called to me and I made it again using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Both pillows have a flange (the floppy edge) which takes it up to 20" x 20". The back is one of those fold overs that allows you to slip your pillow form inside. Friendship Plume in beautiful autumn colors (link is for pdf pattern) Now to show you five blocks that I made and I'm selling! I only have one set, so first come first served! First, this is my freez...

(Please do not pass these patterns on to your friends. Invite them to come get their own copy from this blog site. Once my Ocean Breezes series is finished, these WILL NOT be available for free. These will be in my Etsy shop for sale. Thank you for respecting my copyright!) Another Wednesday, another Ocean Breezes block. Today I share the Whale. There are two blocks in the quilt and the whale points in two different directions. Let's see one of them. Ocean Breezes  Whale Block : 8" finished (make 2) I used raw edge appliqué for the two simple patches. I used the blue sea fabric to audition my machine zigzag stitch. Background fabric is different, but I wanted to make sure that my thread matched my fabric. I used freezer paper to trace my whale templates. First, the one who faces West (ie, left). Template traced from full size pattern Then, I needed to make a mirror image of the template for the one who faces East. The waves templates are also mirror images of each other. My fa...

This is an updated post I ran in 2014 when I was challenged to make something for Fall Quilt Market by Windham Fabrics. They had little scraps (actually 1/8 yard cuts) that were part of their upcoming Broken Stripes Collection. They're called "Strike offs" because the fabric mill wants them to approve the colors, etc, before they print thousands and thousands of yards! Aren't these beautiful?! Broken Stripes  Collection by  Windham Fabrics THEY SAID : Laura and I were just talking about you yesterday!  Do you remember all the mini quilts we had hanging in the booth at Spring Market (2014)?  We are hoping to do the same for this Fall and wondered if you would be interested in sewing a mini quilt for us with one of the new collections? Rules are 18 x 18 inches, and be as IMAGINATIVE as you want!  :) I SAID : Sure. Just send some companion fabrics (which I ended up not using). Solids from the  New Colonies  Collection See those samples in the first pictur...

Do you like owls? Of course, you hooooooot - I mean, of course you do! While I designed this pattern for Windham Fabrics 4 years ago, I didn't feature it in a blog post other than an afterthought. This little pattern is a perfect project for an upcoming baby. First, let's see the fabrics. Yes, you may not have these exact fabrics, but the pattern will work with just about any collection with primary colors. It's a Hoot fabrics And, remember, I shared those cute little tissue holders I made with these cute owl prints. Tissue holders You can make just 3 blocks and stagger them as shown here. The owl blocks are 12" x 12" finished. When the 2" squares are added, they are now 12" x 16" and can be staggered up and down. 3 Hooty Owl blocks And here's the full quilt and FREE pattern . What a Hoot! quilt : 54" x 66" When I've made this owl in another collection, my go-to method is raw edge appliqué. Let me show you that cute owl pillow I ma...

One more Double Wedding Ring (DWR) creation. This was made in February of 2020 and I finally got around to quilting it a few weeks ago. Modern Double Wedding Ring : 36" x 36" Do you remember the bright selection of fabrics? I had to make this using ONLY fat quarters. I am SO partial to bright colored fabrics. Pop Dots by Windham Fabrics I wanted to remake another quilt I had done for Benartex in 2016 using a collection called Sgrafitto.  Modern Double Wedding Ring : 36" x 36" I decided to add the little melon cutaways you get when you cut out the larger ones. I had so much fun spreading them out on top of the partially pieced center. Lots of large melons and little leaves My 11 page pattern in my Etsy shop includes several other DWR variations. I've been playing with this simplified shape for about 20 years. I've even had a few quilts published that only use the little center cutaways. Wanna see? This little table topper (17" x 17") was published ...