Dresden Plate blocks have always looked super time consuming, so I was delighted to find these going together quickly. After my rough start, that is. My first tries were too big, the fans reached way up past the top trim and did not meet the right side edge. Quite a lot of investigation followed, beginning with careful checking of my seam allowances and ending with some Illustrator geometry.  When I re-drew the fan template 1/8″ shorter...

Actually, what has happened to this whole year? 2016 has just flown by. I will only have this one entry into the drawing for September. The dark areas in the red fabric are a very dark red, not black. I checked the colors in the selvedge before using. I have already mailed the Split 9 Patch I made in August and managed to make 4 Barn Doors for my Sampler.  Gee, that sounds so organized; if only the rest of my days were so...

There has been so little time for sewing for the past 2 months, surely I have sprung a leak somewhere. I did manage to sew up this month’s blocks for my sampler plus one for an entry. Look at the transparent holes that magically appeared—a whole quilt would look like purple and white squares set on point covered by a webbing with holes in...

Every month I struggle to make my pieces meet perfectly and the edges straight and tidy. And then this month we have the Bullseye, the perfect block for me. No careful cutting needed, no points to match, perfectly straight edges. I am in love!  After a false start using some unqualified fabrics, I quickly remade those and present my 10 blocks for the drawing. I made them using the Sneak Peak instructions and before reading the official download...

Well, these went together quickly! Scrounging around for a lot of greens was fun too. Here are 3 sets from me for donation. Below that is my rainbow sampler...

Too late for the sneak peak and without inspiration for a title, I post without fanfare these 5 butterflies for donation: And below is my block for the Rainbow Sampler. I was delighted to see the secondary pattern formed when these are set solid. Notice that they have to be tail to tail (or head to head) in order for the sky parts to form into even triangles as the head sky is larger than the tail...

We are having a very early spring bloom here in Mississippi. The last freeze usually comes around March 25th and often catches the azalea buds. Not this year, both the azaleas and the blooming trees are already fully open. In my sewing room some violets have blossomed too. Below is my Rainbow Sampler block for March. So glad I started with them because this seemingly easy pattern gave me fits. When I concentrated on the centers, the edges were...

Being a lover of precision points and edges, I paper pieced all of mine. After the first one or two, they only took 30 minutes each, including cutting the pieces. I cut up a bunch of them and assembling one was perfect for something to do while waiting for dinner to cook itself. I am donating these 5. Jude’s Feb 6th post of 3 blocks, where the top block was shifted 1/2 way, was quite intriguing. Later Julianne showed a photo with...

Posted yesterday to Andra & Cathy. I feel so virtuous to have that done already!

My 7 little hatchlings are for donation as time for quilting is in scarce supply here. Ignoring that completely, I hope to make Sophie’s Rainbow Sampler this year and am very happy with my first block. That light fabric is rather old and I am very fond of it. The difference in weight doesn’t look nearly so odd in...

Yesterday I mailed blocks to Marianne and Teresa. Congrats to all the winners, I loved these wonky strips.

This pattern is so great I got busy and sewed the borders on my 9 Patch Plaid quilt just to declare myself eligible again! In my experience, the plain, scrappy mish-mash quilts are the most used, most loved and best remembered. Here are my eight entries: These were quickly assembled as I already had my scrap containers out and 4 decades of pieces were strewn everywhere. A dear friend had brought over about 50 t-shirts commemorating time spent...