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Recently, my sister-in-law showed me a tin full of blocks that her grandmother had sewn many years ago. The pieces were all cut with scissors and either pieced by hand or by machine. The pattern pieces were from a newspaper. My sister-in-law had no clue what to do with them all and for years had been holding on to them. And then – you probably guessed it – I offered to do something with them. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! None of the blocks laid flat.

The sizes of the pieces varied. I knew there was no ...

A bin full of 3 1/2″ squares – what to do? A scrappy of course! Two and a half inch squares were cut from a large piece of a light gray print that was used for a backing. One small square was placed on the larger square and sewn from corner to corner of the smaller square on the solid line as shown below. A 1/4″ cut was then made as indicated by the dashed line below. The second picture shows how the completed block finishes.

There are various layouts that can be made with these blocks – I chose ...

Haven’t been here in a while. This Spring in the Piedmont has been an absolute joy. The high heat hasn’t set in yet and the mornings have been lusciously cool. Much of my time has been in the garden – planting annuals, transplanting, weeding, weeding and more weeding! It’s a joyful time for me especially when I’m enjoying my morning coffee on the porch taking in all the flora and fauna and listening to the cheerful bird sounds.

I do make it into the sewing studio though. Little by little I continue to work on the Christmas ...

Finishes are so rewarding! The blocks were all completed at two different retreats. It’s sewing that doesn’t require much concentration, leaving me available to socialize and have fun. Having completed the needed number of blocks at the second retreat, I brought them home to add to the blocks already put together from the first retreat.

It is 7 x 8 blocks 8″ finished. I added 2 inch borders making it an acceptable size to be sent to Snuggled in Hope Quilts where it will be quilted. The binding will also be sent along with the quilt top.

What ...

Time to try to empty the 1 1/2″ string container a bit. I really enjoy string quilts, although it is a LOT of sewing. I chose to do a block with a focused center. Each block is 8 inches finished. I drew the center piece on paper and used it for a pattern to cut out from a black with white polka dot fabric that I’ve had forever. The center was then placed in the center of each block, corner to corner. Hint: I used a glue stick to set the center piece on each foundation block. No ...

There is a bin of yardage in my studio that is for donation quilts. Why not a big scrap scrappy?! I saw a picture of this quilt online and decided it was perfect. Unlike my usual crazy haphazard just cut and sew, I drew the quilt out – the center strips had to be going in particular directions. The triangles were cut, the green strips cut, then the sewing began. This step took a while.

A group of us are meeting twice a month at a nearby church and I’ve designated those days for donation quilts. Quilting with friends and ...

The Carnival of Color quilt pattern free from Free Spirit Fabrics has long been on my bucket list. The pattern shows the quilt made with Kaffe fabrics. Although I have enough of those and love them, I wanted to make this quilt with something different. One day while standing in front of my fabric closet, staring, I had one of those Ah Ha! moments. I pulled all my Anna Maria Horner fabrics and the few Jane Sasamon fabrics from the shelves. The black and while border around the focus blocks and the binding is an Amy Butler fabric. How ...

Several years ago I saw a friend’s quilt that I fell in love with and absolutely needed to purchase the kit. After scouring the internet, I got what I believed to be the very last one available. Why then have I waited so long to attack it? Well…it has 30 different fabrics, 30 different blocks with a total of 50 blocks. the quilt will finish at 76.5″ x 76.5″. I wanted to be in a place with very few works in progress and few distractions.

I am finally attacking this project and here’s how I ...

One of the challenges when I was an Island Batik ambassador in 2017 was “Creative Borders.” I chose to do a fall pumpkin themed table topper of my own design. It was one of those creations that just took shape as I went – no plan, no pattern. It has turned into one of my favorites and ever since has been on my dining room table in October until Thanksgiving!

Here are the center of the quilt and one of the appliqued corners:

Much time is now being spent with fall yard work. The leaf falling is in the early stages ...

Not much sewing at home these days. I did go to a quilt retreat at the beach a few weeks ago and managed to get a fair amount of sewing done, despite the call of the ocean! Where I sat I had a full view of the ocean and it was just so wonderful.

I started this scrappy that is now on my home design wall. Hubby and I were at the beach last week and I’m headed out of town again next week, so this won’t get finished for at least a couple of weeks. I’m ...

Recently, while digging through a fabric bin of precuts, I came across a bundle of black and gold fabrics together with coordinating fabrics. I slashed the squares into triangles and began sewing them into half square triangles. No real plan – just wanted to sew. Sometimes this method works for me, sometimes it doesn’t, but luckily it did this time!

As I put them on the design wall, the plan changed several times. A central block soon became key. Finally I had the look I wanted and sewed it all together. I even quilted this one myself!

The center block ...

“Not starting something new.” Repeat: “Not starting something new.” HA!! I enjoy doing intricate blocks, choosing colors, patterns, but sometimes I just want to sew without having to give it much thought. And, I have a ton of narrow strips ranging from 1 1/2″ to 1/2″. Thus, this strip quilt was born.

I first cut the base from a lightweight white fabric. There was absolutely no interest in doing these blocks on paper because I didn’t want to remove the paper after sewing! What really inspired this quilt was the pile of solid purple strips I had ...

The Quilt. What do you get when you combine your orphan blocks? A quilt – Adoption! Some time ago I put my orphan blocks on the design wall and started to put them together. And then the mood changed and I put it all away. I resurrected this project and voila – a quilt!

I used pieced black and white borders and sashings to help bring it all together. The key for me to make this happen was to let go of being overly particular and just go ahead and sew. This quilt reminds me somewhat of the style of Freddy Moran ...

A tutorial for a different way to do a square in a square block popped up while browsing Pinterest one day and I thought I’d give it a try. Place two squares of equal size on top of each other, right sides together. Then sew all four edges using a 1/4″ seam. Mark from corner to opposite corner then the next corner to corner. Carefully cut the “x” being sure to not cut into the seam. Fold out each cut section, press, and voila! there’s your block! It’s not a true square in a square as ...

There are seven bins full of batiks in my studio, one of which is scraps. From the book “Scrap=Basket Bounty”, I chose the Snippets pattern to make use of the scraps. The cuts are 1 1/2″ squares and 1 1/2″ by varying lengths. There are 80 blocks with 16 pieces in each – in all 1,280 pieces! Here is the first round of piecing:

Then another. Chain sewing makes for quick work, but I’ll admit to getting bored part way through and switched to another project.

Finally, there were blocks to put on the design wall ...

At the April retreat, participants put together this simple block.

One of the retreaters suggested I put the blocks together this way so as to not have to match seams. Great idea!

I found this layout boring, so I decided to have some fun with slashing the blocks.

Four of the slashed blocks made this cool design:

Here are all the blocks put together. Note that there is a secondary design.

It now needed something more and it wasn’t wide enough. Back into my bin of donated fabrics to add two side borders.

A Hospice flimsy – yeah! It is ...

Melee the quilt is finished! I have, however, changed the name to “Vibrance” which is much more positive. This was made from blocks I had put away for some time. The blocks were cut up in varying shapes and sizes and put on the design wall with a minimal plan.

It was back from the long arm quilter last week and I couldn’t wait to add the binding. Yes, there were extra “corners,” but they were easy. This ...

At Christmas I gifted several memory creations to a family. There was a lot of shirting left that they did not want back. It is my son’s girlfriend’s family, and he asked if I would please take the leftovers and make a quilt. Did I say “no” to my son? Of course not! I got on it very soon after!

There were a lot of pockets that I wanted to use. There was also a nice variety of shirt fabrics. Without a full plan, I appliqued the pockets onto gray and dappled gray non-shirt fabrics. I then set ...

This April I’ll be heading to two quilt retreats. Not having any works in progress to take with me, I got busy prepping for the first retreat. Two charity quilts were prepped – baby quilts, 36 inches by 36 inches using 3″ finished squares. I even have the backings and bindings ready to travel. It would be a hoot to come home with two completely finished projects!

My next endeavor is for the quilt pattern “Snipits.” I raided my batik bins – oh so many, many batiks. I don’t usually prewash my quilt fabrics, but I do with batiks. It ...