Joy and Delight is a new pattern I designed with my Splendid Christmas line for Moda Fabrics. I wanted a quilt that showed off the fun mix of fabrics in a layer cake with decorative frameworks for the blocks. But I also quickly decided it was also a good format for alternating blocks of two fabrics- as shown below- my mistletoe greenery and poinsettias which pop nicely against the saturated red texture in the Splendid fabric line.

For an extra pop of wintery fun I decided to have graphic snowflakes surround the outer border. Afterwards I thought this could even be fun for 4th of July in reference to fireworks! The snowflakes are made with subcutting joined strips so they actually go together rather efficiently. There is something really satisfying about making a big pile of snowflake blocks!

I found the Stripology ruler from Creative Grids was a handy tool for making lots of smaller cuts in an efficient way!

And here are blocks with flying geese and framing in progress.

This is a scrappier looking version of the quilt- the original concept using the mix of a layer cake. On this one the framing around the squares is in two colors- red and green for Christmas- and the snowflakes are in a more olivey green. This is next up on my list to make!

Check out Joy and Delight along with the other three new patterns to go with Splendid in my shopify shop. Lets get some Christmas projects going!!

This group of patterns for Splendid needed a quilt with some larger sections to show off the poinsettias and cardinals without cutting them up to much. I liked the idea of vertical columns that showed a few of the prints with the pointsettias as the main center. 

To balance out the large panels, I liked adding smaller pieced blocks, arranged into elegant and lacy compositions, to form as a decorative top and bottom to the columns. Thin sashing, like window edges, run the length of the quilt. The result is a group of three columns, reminiscent of church windows, with light flooding through the stained glass images. They seem grand and ceremonial and festive for a celebration. 

Many thanks to The Felted Pear (Susan!) for helping me with this and making those flying geese and HST and assembling the ends!

Nature celebrates Christmas with Splendid. I feel like I can hear the jubilant song of either the church choir or the choir of birds out in the trees. This quilt pattern in mocked up into three color versions in the pattern- cream, red, and charcoal. Although this is shown with Christmas fabrics, I think it would be striking with other large scale prints, like the William Morris fabrics that Moda produces with rich jewel tones. 

There are four new patterns I'm sewing for Christmas quilts with Splendid. Check out this and the others: Joy and Delight, Cardinal's Christmas Wreath, and Showering Stars Table Runner and Pillows at my shopify shop.

I am so excited to share my new Christmas line with Moda Fabrics - SPLENDID. I know that if I want a project done for Christmas, it has to start early (plus my longarmer will thank me if I'm not giving her quilts at the last minute!). So even if its summer now, I'm getting my winter spirit on!

​Nature celebrates Christmas with Splendor! The pops of red signal the season is here. Red berries adorn the greenery. Bright Cardinals dance among snowy branches. Poinsettias bloom with deep and rich color. Intricate snowflakes add lace to the scenery. Everywhere nature is decorating with rich color and design.

See all the patterns at my shopify shop!

Splendid started shipping to shops in May 2019 so ask your local quilt shop if they have it! 
​Happy sewing!

There is something so focused and calming about the symmetry of a design that radiates from the center. The Faceted quilt is formed off a central diamond, radiating out in rows of light and dark. But one of the things I love about it is the unexpected play of smaller triangles within the larger rows.

I imagine the way light glints through cut crystal or diamonds. That was my inspiration for this quilt, the way light dances within geometric facets and angles. It scatters out triangular light patterns in pretty lacy patterns. 

Sweet Pea & Lily fabrics fell nicely into two groups to create the light and dark rows. Every so often and accent color adds an additional pop of color or pattern. I liked the play of purples and grays in the overall quilt and decided to use green as my accent within the quilt. 

The pattern uses Fat Quarters for the prints. Moda kitted Faceted so be sure to check with your local quilt shop if you are interested in making it in this fabric combination. The kit gives you some extra fat quarters so you have room to play plus leftovers for other projects.

Enjoy a diamond today and the light facets within! The larger size of half square triangle blocks makes this quilt go together relatively quickly. The Faceted pattern is available in local quilt shops and in both printed or digital pdf at my shopify shop. 

Want to see more patterns using Sweet Pea & Lily? Check out more of my quilt patterns that released with this line on my blog or at shopify! Happy sewing!

Happy to see that Sweet Pea & Lily fabric precuts have been arriving in shops! I thought it was a perfect time to share some more quilts that showed with the line at Quilt Market this past fall.

This is the Dashingly Divided quilt. My reason for designing this quilt was to create panels that could show off other needlework. I sit in the carpool line, waiting for school to let out, wanting a small project that travels well and can be done in small bits. I started becoming more interested in embroidery since it fit the bill of easily transportable and a small fun format. I wanted to create a quilt pattern that could frame up the smaller projects of embroidery into a bigger quilt.

I thought it would be interesting to pull some of the floral motifs from a fabric line to highlight with the embroidery. For the Sweet Pea & Lily line I made a circular design and a corner grouping of lily of the valley buds. I worked with chain stitch, back stitch, stem stitch and french knots but this could look good with satin stitch or others.  

I designed the lap sized quilt to have 9 large squares that could be used for embroidery, or applique, or floating other quilt blocks within. The large focal squares are divided by dashed lines that use prints for pattern play and interest to set off the needlework. These dashes can be made with mini charms, charm packs, or fabric scraps. The quilt could have a more modern, minimalist and clean look with plain color squares and all the color play happening in the dividing lines. 

After finishing this quilt, I realized how much it had a vintage feel. I have my original baby quilt with little embroidered animals made in a combination of embroidery and cross stitch. This reminds me of the marriage of pretty needlework, lap quilts and quilted love.  It feels fresh with the purple solid color background balancing the linear florals.

The printed pattern for Dashingly Divided has a page with the two flower diagrams that can be traced onto fabric for needlework. Check the website or store to see if new diagrams have been released for future fabric lines with new flowers.

Check my website or shopify shop for Dashingly Divided! Happy sewing!!

Harlequin is a quilt pattern I designed that uses Half Rectangle Triangles and I get quite a few questions about which ruler I recommend for it. The pattern does come with a paper template so you can make your own plastic template for cutting out the shapes. However, it is easier with a specialty ruler!

I love this quilt because it symbolizes collaboration and community to me. I had it pieced by Terry Bowman because she is more accurate and more experienced than I am and before Quilt Market we have a LOT of sewing to do in a small amount of time. So luckily for me, Terry was willing to help me out. We met at the Quilt Emporium and Lisa, the owner, also came to the rescue by getting her Bernina out of her car so we could sew up some samples in the back classroom. Lisa saw us figuring out the rectangle size that would make sense and she brought over the solution...the Creative Grids Kaleidoscope Triangle Ruler. It was a great moment of brainstorming and solutions coming together and that is a lot of what is so exciting about sharing the experience of sewing and quilting with others! Quilters are often collaborators in creative ways.

The ruler is the actual height of the pieces you cut for this quilt so it really works with the pattern well. Thank you Penny Haren for designing this lovely tool! Just like other Creative Grids rulers it has some circles of texture on the back to help hold fabric without slipping too.

Any time you are making a block that is new to you or different in trimming, etc, I suggest you make a sample block first. Some of my first samples are with my Blushing Peonies left over scraps and I am hoping to go back and make a nice springy version with pinks and oranges in my "spare time." You know how that goes... I did make this block first and make mistakes on the trimming and had to start a new one. So I'm serious when I recommend making a sample and measuring your block size end result before progressing on a pattern. It can make a big difference! Half Rectangle Triangles need to be trimmed up in a particular way so you have correct seam allowance to maintain your triangle points. 

If you want to buy this ruler, please check with your local quilt shop to see if they have it. Support those local businesses! If they don't have one you can find them online through other sellers and amazon. I'm looking forward to designing some other quilts that use this ruler because I really like the proportions of these diamonds. Hope this info is helpful! Happy sewing!

Check out the Harlequin pattern at my shopify store!

Layers cakes and Half Square Triangles. Fun and lacy borders. Meet "Emilia"!

This quilt uses Layer Cake 10" squares to make large triangles and reflected small triangles on the opposite side with the same print. I've grouped them into color blocks. If you don't have a layer cake to use, you may want to make your cutting easier to start by using Creative Grids Perfect10 Ruler (CGRPERF10) to make those nice sized starting blocks!

One of the distiguishing characteristics of Emilia is the borders. The half square triangles continue out into the side borders, using the sashing color, to make a lovely triangular lacy edge. It makes the whole quilt almost sparkle! Wouldn't this pink version be pretty in a girl's room? I focused on pink, green and lighter purple shades for this one. I used a chartreuse green for the sashings but a minty green would be pretty too.

Emilia is written for two sizes, a larger, 76" square or smaller, 55" square lap size. You can easily adapt the pattern to add more rows of blocks if wider sizes are needed. 

Emilia was designed to show with the Sweet Pea & Lily collection, which is shipping in March 2019 to quilt shops. But since I have Dandi Annie here...and its in stores now, I thought it would be fun to take a look at how Emilia might look in some summer Dandelions! These computer renders are some color play to look at the pieced blocks and how the quilt changes looks with the sashing and border colors. 

I think I am partial to this darker gray border. I would use Moda Bella Solids Graphite 202  for this. I think the Moda Bella Solids Gray 83 would be nice for the sashings and border triangles.

This makes me think of a sunny summer farmhouse day! Moda Bella Solids Baby Yellow 31 and Maize 273 work nicely together with this line.

And back to grays with a lighter version of border. I like having a slight difference to white so the inner triangles pop and sparkle more. Moda's Bella Feather is a lovely very very pale gray, close to white.

Emilia can be found in local quilt shops or at my shopify shop. I hope you have some fun with half square triangle love and border play with this one! Happy sewing! For more ideas for Sweet Pea & Lily or Dandi Annie, take a look at more patterns...

Jelly Roll-friendly and quick to piece, this Showering Stars quilt is full of drama!

I knew with the Sweet Pea & Lily collection for Moda Fabrics (ships in Feb/March 2019) I wanted a quilt that used deep purple to enhance the theatrical nature of the purples in the prints. One thing I enjoy with this group is the purples are in both cool and warm purples. I needed to find the right deep purple to show off their splendor.

I have now fallen in love with Moda Bella Solid PRUNE 238. Its rich and vibrant and LUSCIOUS! Its the glorious deep purple/plum color as the background. Did I mention I bought a bolt of it? Not sure what I'm doing with the rest but I can't wait to use it as an accent to other prints.

But what would Showering Stars look like reversed, with a light background? I haven't made it this way (yet) but thought I'd give some computer inspiration for other colorways.  I used a soft gray in the star points and dashes to let the colors in the star trails feel more colorful and sparkly.

And going all-out color with this turquoise background and light green star points. Completely different look but all of these are using the same Sweet Pea & Lily prints in the star trails.

This quilt was my main booth image at the Houston Quilt Market this past fall. It was fun to have such a different color play with this collection! One part I like is the greens and grays still transition through from previous collections. 

Check your local quilt shop for the Showering Stars pattern, along with Sweet Pea & Lily fabrics! Patterns are also available at my online shop if your local shop is not carrying it. 

Find a falling star and make a wish! And check back for more Sweet Pea & Lily quilts!

Gibby by Laurie Simpson and Rolling Stone by Jo Morton. I love how fast and easily Gibby went together. Since the pieces were 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" I had plenty of leftovers from other blocks to use!  Rolling Stone was also fast due to the smaller size and easy piecing.

With Dreamy by Sherri McConnell I knew I could use more leftovers and go really scrappy...or take some shortcuts on making my blocks by sewing some strips and subdividing them. 

First I gathered some 2 1/2" strips and combined them in groups of three and joined them.

Then by lining up my Creative Grids ruler on the 2 1/2" line I could sub-cut these. Then 3 rows became my 9-patch squares. I am a big fan of Creative Grids due to that extra 1/2" side for easy lining up and measuring for cutting with seam allowances (or flip to the other side to measure from a solid inch). When making multiple blocks some steps like this can really save some time.

Are you sewing along with Moda Blockheads too? Join the facebook group and sew along!

I've been busy doing more catch up on the Moda Blockheads 2 project! When the week calls for an applique block, Corey Yoder does an alternate block that is pieced. Due to my time constraints, I went for the pieced block. Applique just takes me longer and I have a few hand sewing projects in progress now, so pieced it is!

This Happy Scrappy Baskets pattern was so fun to make. I love simple patchwork blocks and enjoyed making it into this charming basket. Corey also has a pattern for a whole quilt with this one and it looks delightful! You can check it out here! The fabrics I used for this one were a combination of Poppy Mae, Blushing Peonies and Dandi Annie.

This 18 inch block "Mountain Climbing" was a block pattern from Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters. More details on her blog. It did take me awhile to make all the half square triangles and I tried doing a group of 4 or 8 each night. When I have lots of triangles to trim, I use a rotating mat and that really helps to streamline the trimming. The light spotted fabric here is from Dear Mum and I liked adding some solid white triangles too for a little additional pop of lightness.

And more on the catch up list- Blocks 13- Patchwork Flower designed by Corey Yoder, Block 25 Oshkosh Star by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings, and Block 22 Economy Path by Laurie Simpson. Big flowers, tiny stars and delightful plus signs...each block has been so enjoyable to make each week. The catch up continues and I only have two more blocks to go and I will be completely caught up! 

​Want to join along? Visit the facebook page to get started!