This week I want to feature a quilt made by Sylvie N. of Canada. She wanted to make something special for a friend and former work colleague who was moving. He collects old wooden birdhouses and she felt that my set of paper pieced birdhouses would be the perfect solution. Birdhouse Quilt by Sylvie N. of Canada I have made all of these birdhouses at one time or another. I have taught workshops on how to paper piece a variety of these. Here is one quilt where I combined birdhouses and fabric panels from the Home Grown collection by Benartex. This was the basis for a workshop a few years ago. Birds and Bees at Home Here's Sylvie's Country Cabin Birdhouse almost finished. She used the small size that I have on my Paper Piecing CD (117 Paper Pieced Patterns). Another quilt is from a student (or maybe a customer), sent to me in 2016. Nancy surrounded a beautiful panel with birdhouses. What do you think? I shared another quilt made with my Birdhouses back in June (here's the blo...

Last week I asked you to send me photos of quilts you've made from my workshops or even just a pattern. I got this beautiful rendition from Connie D. of the Annapolis Quilt Guild. She took my Modern Vortex Quilt class in 2016 and sent this to me to share here. Modern Vortex by Connie D. of Annapolis, MD I designed this quilt based on a vintage quilt made in red and white (I've shared it here before several times). I began teaching this workshop in 2013 for the Sewing Expo. I think I've taught it at least 2 dozen times. It's really a variation on a traditional Dresden Plate quilt. The one below was made using a 5" charm pack of squares. You can get two blades from each square! Charming Dresdens Here is another one in process. I only have this student's last name (Bernard). She knows who she is. I love it in the blues, too! Now, this one from Dawn P is a real treasure! She went to town and made 9 blocks! What a fabulous quilt this is. 9 Block Vortex Quilt by Da...

I've been busy stitching on those needed 120 hexagons (1" size) to create that Math Horizons magazine cover. Do you remember what it looked like? Here is a digital rendition of what I'll be making. Are you interested in sewing this along with me? Let me know and I'll consider making it a Sew-a-Long. There actually is a method for stitching this in rows and units. My guild friend Diane is brilliant and advised me how to do it!   Quilter's rendition of the Hosoya Triangle Let's see where I am now. First, I auditioned colors. I obviously didn't include the pink! Then I cut a LOT of fabric hexagons out of blue, green and yellow 1930s prints. This is because I already had quite a few stitched. I punched a hole in the center of my hexagon papers and pinned them in place. The Clover clips keep things from slipping. Then I got busy and stitched! I counted and cut. And stitched and cut some more. And some more parts: I'm creating units that should be manageable...

Here is the last block in the Ocean Breezes Block of the Moment. I hope you've enjoyed making these blocks and are near to completion on everything. If you'd like to share your own blocks, send the pics to me and I'll have a blog post or two next week about them! (send to: kratovil@his.com) We only make one of the Sailboat (whew!) and it's appliqué. Let's see it finished, and then I'll show you some steps. Sailboat from the Ocean Breezes quilt I use raw edge appliqué exclusively. But I am "religious" about the steps I take to ensure it looks nice to the eye. Here is my stitching on the mast up close. I first practiced on scraps so I could get my "zig" and "zag" to behave. Close up of stitching I also used the full size printed pattern underneath my 8-1/2" cream background square to assist me in lining up my patches. Once they were in the right place, I pinned, removed the pattern and then fused my patches in place. And here...

Here we are in August and in the Northern Hemisphere we are sweating! I'm thankful for Willis Carrier and his invention of the air conditioner! I hope you're ready for the color page of calendar blocks for August. Let's see a few of the blocks. August 6th (Saturday) showcases the Florida Jay block from the Laurel Wreath quilt . I actually made the block into a quilt! I gave this to a dear neighbor several years ago. The Florida Jay block from the Laurel Wreath quilt Here's the French Countryside block from February 2007. Lovely appliqué with the extra dimensional stitching. This block appears on Sunday the 8th. French Countryside Block: 10"  Then there's Golden Teardrops from November 2007. Here's the quilt first: Teardrops Quilt And the block that appears for August 30th. This is Golden Teardrops which finishes to 5"! Golden Teardrops Block: 5" And one more, a Dancing Autumn Leaves block. Dancing Autumn Leaves: 10" These are all digital bloc...

If you're looking for a LARGE block to showcase some beautiful prints, then the Woven Ribbon Star could be the answer. I first designed this 20 years ago and later it appeared on the cover of Quilt Magazine when I was an editor there. Here's a closeup of my most recent block before borders. Just squares and "normal" triangles. Woven Ribbon Star  block: 24" x 24" This was the center of my Galaxy of Stars quilt from 2006. This was a Block of the Month in years past. Woven Star at the center of my Galaxy of Stars quilt  Yes, it's a VERY BIG quilt! (the surrounding stars are a mere 12") Galaxy of Stars quilt: 80" x 80" Woven Ribbon Star  using some solid reading prints and a polka dot border. I gave this one to a new baby. Woven Ribbon Star . 24" block, 35" x 35" quilt And it's so easy to piece (with NO bias edges, either). Here are two more quilts made with those big stars. Again, black polka dots for the setting squares an...

(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...