Cockscomb from the collection of Lynn Evans Miller Mid-19th century Bettina Havig's version of Hospital Sketches #2 Virginia Cockscomb The Cockscomb is Block #2 in the Hospital Sketches BOM of fashionable mid-19th-century designs. See a post with a pattern at Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/02/hospital-sketches-2-robertson-hospital.html Late-19th century The popularity of this rather eccentric design is surprising. Attributed to Berks County, Pennsylvania How the pattern was handed around and any regional preferences are hard to figure out. You see it a lot in Virginia, but you also see it a lot in Indiana. The design wasn't published until 1900 or so, decades after quilters began using it. "When Patchwork Becomes an Art" by Rebecca Mosenfelder Simon Ladies' Home Journal, 1908. Simon called it The Olive Branch, a symbol of peace. This quilt, quite mid-19th-century, looks a lot like her example. The Ladies' Art Company also called it The Olive Branch. You could buy a finished block for 85 cents from them. I'll take 9. Collection of the Belchertown Historical Society From the Massachusetts project & the Quilt Index. It's also surprising to see how often it was used in samplers and friendship quilts. Here's an antique from Judy Roche's collection and her smaller copy. Dillow Collection in the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dated 1861, attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania From Julie Silber's inventory Most of these are from the mid-19th century when the pattern appeared. Even though I can't tell you much about its history I have a lot of photos. Since we like to look at quilts here are some pictures of the cockscomb and its variations: Four way symmetry dated 1859 from a Bonham's Auction Two way symmetry from Jeffrey Evans Auction in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (I think.) Various parts re-assembled From the collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum 20th century Another 20th-century version With the Vessel, Vine & Floral border, by Frances Shaw of Hagerstown, Maryland. West Virginia project and the Quilt Index. From Molly at Fourth Corner Antiques A Different flower at the base Jean Stanclift owns an antique that she copied for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative book Cranberry Collection. Jean's pattern is very much like one below from the Carlson Collection of Four-Block Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. IQSCM #2009.044.0007 As a border from a Pook & Pook Auction Addition.... Several quilt historians asked where the bird was. This one from Bill Volckening. See more about the bird: https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-forgot-something-bird.html Subtraction Below By Emily Johnson, North Carolina Project & the Quilt Index Links: Posts on the pattern https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-gawky-eagle-and-coxcomb.html Buy our Cranberry Collection book with Jean Stanclift's pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/504012298/cranberry-collection-quilts-for

Let's get stitching!Beginning January 1st, 2021! A WHOLE YEAR OF STARS!On the 1st of every month for 1 whole year Natalia will release a FREE YouTube video, teaching you step-by-step how to machine qu

Hospital Sketches Bock #3 Love Apple by Jeanne Arnieri Is it a pomegranate, a tomato or a peach? (A peach?) Detroit Free Press, 1932 This side view of a fruit was one of the very popular album quilt designs, whether single or triple. Variations are numbered 46 in my Encyclopedia of Applique The design for the Hospital Sketches BOM is most like #46.72, which Carlie Sexton named Temperance Ball in the magazine Successful Farming in 1923. Why Temperance Ball? Probably an echo of a 19th-century hymn to alcoholic abstinence, which references the popular idea of rolling a ball through the streets as a political demonstration. Keeping the ball rolling for the Whigs in 1840 Dutch Tile, 17th century, Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280202/tile/ The imagery and the symbolism is far older than the mid-19th-century quilt design. The tile shows the traditional view of a pomegranate, slit to show the seeds, a symbol of fertility for centuries. Hence, the name Love Apple. Pomegranate from Mountain Mist patterns mid-20th-century The Wade Hall collection at the University of Kentucky has a quilt made from that pattern. The block is one of the 19th-century patterns with many variations. Stitchers fit in what they could and what they liked. From online auctions Added more parts Until it became another pattern---fruit or flower? Triple or single? Both were fashionable. Mid 19th-century album from Weatherley, New Jersey, Collection of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum 2008.040.0086 Signature quilt mid-19th century The minimum Late 19th-century Topknot optional Dots always good. This may have been made from the Carlie Sexton design above. See the pattern for the Love Apple block in Hospital Sketches here: https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/03/hospital-sketches-3-love-apple-white.html

Cockscomb from the collection of Lynn Evans Miller Mid-19th century Bettina Havig's version of Hospital Sketches #2 Virginia Cockscomb The Cockscomb is Block #2 in the Hospital Sketches BOM of fashionable mid-19th-century designs. See a post with a pattern at Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/02/hospital-sketches-2-robertson-hospital.html Late-19th century The popularity of this rather eccentric design is surprising. Attributed to Berks County, Pennsylvania How the pattern was handed around and any regional preferences are hard to figure out. You see it a lot in Virginia, but you also see it a lot in Indiana. The design wasn't published until 1900 or so, decades after quilters began using it. "When Patchwork Becomes an Art" by Rebecca Mosenfelder Simon Ladies' Home Journal, 1908. Simon called it The Olive Branch, a symbol of peace. This quilt, quite mid-19th-century, looks a lot like her example. The Ladies' Art Company also called it The Olive Branch. You could buy a finished block for 85 cents from them. I'll take 9. Collection of the Belchertown Historical Society From the Massachusetts project & the Quilt Index. It's also surprising to see how often it was used in samplers and friendship quilts. Here's an antique from Judy Roche's collection and her smaller copy. Dillow Collection in the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dated 1861, attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania From Julie Silber's inventory Most of these are from the mid-19th century when the pattern appeared. Even though I can't tell you much about its history I have a lot of photos. Since we like to look at quilts here are some pictures of the cockscomb and its variations: Four way symmetry dated 1859 from a Bonham's Auction Two way symmetry from Jeffrey Evans Auction in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (I think.) Various parts re-assembled From the collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum 20th century Another 20th-century version With the Vessel, Vine & Floral border, by Frances Shaw of Hagerstown, Maryland. West Virginia project and the Quilt Index. From Molly at Fourth Corner Antiques A Different flower at the base Jean Stanclift owns an antique that she copied for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative book Cranberry Collection. Jean's pattern is very much like one below from the Carlson Collection of Four-Block Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. IQSCM #2009.044.0007 As a border from a Pook & Pook Auction Addition.... Several quilt historians asked where the bird was. This one from Bill Volckening. See more about the bird: https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-forgot-something-bird.html Subtraction Below By Emily Johnson, North Carolina Project & the Quilt Index Links: Posts on the pattern https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-gawky-eagle-and-coxcomb.html Buy our Cranberry Collection book with Jean Stanclift's pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/504012298/cranberry-collection-quilts-for

Hospital Sketches Bock #3 Love Apple by Jeanne Arnieri Is it a pomegranate, a tomato or a peach? (A peach?) Detroit Free Press, 1932 This side view of a fruit was one of the very popular album quilt designs, whether single or triple. Variations are numbered 46 in my Encyclopedia of Applique The design for the Hospital Sketches BOM is most like #46.72, which Carlie Sexton named Temperance Ball in the magazine Successful Farming in 1923. Why Temperance Ball? Probably an echo of a 19th-century hymn to alcoholic abstinence, which references the popular idea of rolling a ball through the streets as a political demonstration. Keeping the ball rolling for the Whigs in 1840 Dutch Tile, 17th century, Collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O280202/tile/ The imagery and the symbolism is far older than the mid-19th-century quilt design. The tile shows the traditional view of a pomegranate, slit to show the seeds, a symbol of fertility for centuries. Hence, the name Love Apple. Pomegranate from Mountain Mist patterns mid-20th-century The Wade Hall collection at the University of Kentucky has a quilt made from that pattern. The block is one of the 19th-century patterns with many variations. Stitchers fit in what they could and what they liked. From online auctions Added more parts Until it became another pattern---fruit or flower? Triple or single? Both were fashionable. Mid 19th-century album from Weatherley, New Jersey, Collection of the International Quilt Study Center & Museum 2008.040.0086 Signature quilt mid-19th century The minimum Late 19th-century Topknot optional Dots always good. This may have been made from the Carlie Sexton design above. See the pattern for the Love Apple block in Hospital Sketches here: https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/03/hospital-sketches-3-love-apple-white.html

Hospital Sketches Bock #3 Love Apple by Jeanne Arnieri Is it a pomegranate, a tomato or a peach? (A peach?) Detroit Free Press...

Indian TerritoryI Photoshopped all the Block 2 (Indian) posts from theFlickr page that were done in repro printsand sketched a quilt.A scrappy quilt. Every other block is rotated 90 degrees. 8320-15 I

Cockscomb from the collection of Lynn Evans Miller Mid-19th century Bettina Havig's version of Hospital Sketches #2 Virginia Cockscomb The Cockscomb is Block #2 in the Hospital Sketches BOM of fashionable mid-19th-century designs. See a post with a pattern at Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/02/hospital-sketches-2-robertson-hospital.html Late-19th century The popularity of this rather eccentric design is surprising. Attributed to Berks County, Pennsylvania How the pattern was handed around and any regional preferences are hard to figure out. You see it a lot in Virginia, but you also see it a lot in Indiana. The design wasn't published until 1900 or so, decades after quilters began using it. "When Patchwork Becomes an Art" by Rebecca Mosenfelder Simon Ladies' Home Journal, 1908. Simon called it The Olive Branch, a symbol of peace. This quilt, quite mid-19th-century, looks a lot like her example. The Ladies' Art Company also called it The Olive Branch. You could buy a finished block for 85 cents from them. I'll take 9. Collection of the Belchertown Historical Society From the Massachusetts project & the Quilt Index. It's also surprising to see how often it was used in samplers and friendship quilts. Here's an antique from Judy Roche's collection and her smaller copy. Dillow Collection in the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dated 1861, attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania From Julie Silber's inventory Most of these are from the mid-19th century when the pattern appeared. Even though I can't tell you much about its history I have a lot of photos. Since we like to look at quilts here are some pictures of the cockscomb and its variations: Four way symmetry dated 1859 from a Bonham's Auction Two way symmetry from Jeffrey Evans Auction in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (I think.) Various parts re-assembled From the collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum 20th century Another 20th-century version With the Vessel, Vine & Floral border, by Frances Shaw of Hagerstown, Maryland. West Virginia project and the Quilt Index. From Molly at Fourth Corner Antiques A Different flower at the base Jean Stanclift owns an antique that she copied for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative book Cranberry Collection. Jean's pattern is very much like one below from the Carlson Collection of Four-Block Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. IQSCM #2009.044.0007 As a border from a Pook & Pook Auction Addition.... Several quilt historians asked where the bird was. This one from Bill Volckening. See more about the bird: https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-forgot-something-bird.html Subtraction Below By Emily Johnson, North Carolina Project & the Quilt Index Links: Posts on the pattern https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-gawky-eagle-and-coxcomb.html Buy our Cranberry Collection book with Jean Stanclift's pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/504012298/cranberry-collection-quilts-for

Clay's Choice If you're looking for design inspiration, you might want to try starting with a traditional block and scrambling the units to make new blocks. Clay's Choice is a traditional block that is constructed from eight units. What if I play with how those units are arranged and colored? When you scramble blocks and make new ones, you can create any look you like, from modern to traditional and everything in between.

I am going to try designing with these two simple units. What if I combine the two units to make this four patch block? What if I combine the two units to make this four patch block?

Drunkard's Path & Nine Patch Two very simple blocks that I've played with before. I decided to play with them again. Maybe I'll find som...

Inspiration. Enjoy Happy Stitching Phillipa

I designed this 10"x10" block on a 5x5 grid; it is a 5 patch block. Part of the fun part of designing your own block is you get to co...

Jolly St Nick - Gift - Motif © 2012 Patricia E. Ritter PAPER: 5.5 inch Block DIGITAL (computerized quilting systems): Zip file includes: BQM, CQP, DXF, HQF, IQP, PAT, QLI, SSD, TXT, WMF and 4QB or PLT. Most designs also include a DWG, GPF, PDF, PNG and SVG.

Blogged here: secondhanddinosaur.blogspot.com/2014/06/ballet-shoes-pape... Pattern from Tartankiwi, who has fantastic paper piecing patterns. www.thetartankiwi.com/2014/06/new-pattern-release-ballet-... Two Kona Cotton pinks and an aqua colored Sketch

Cockscomb from the collection of Lynn Evans Miller Mid-19th century Bettina Havig's version of Hospital Sketches #2 Virginia Cockscomb The Cockscomb is Block #2 in the Hospital Sketches BOM of fashionable mid-19th-century designs. See a post with a pattern at Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/02/hospital-sketches-2-robertson-hospital.html Late-19th century The popularity of this rather eccentric design is surprising. Attributed to Berks County, Pennsylvania How the pattern was handed around and any regional preferences are hard to figure out. You see it a lot in Virginia, but you also see it a lot in Indiana. The design wasn't published until 1900 or so, decades after quilters began using it. "When Patchwork Becomes an Art" by Rebecca Mosenfelder Simon Ladies' Home Journal, 1908. Simon called it The Olive Branch, a symbol of peace. This quilt, quite mid-19th-century, looks a lot like her example. The Ladies' Art Company also called it The Olive Branch. You could buy a finished block for 85 cents from them. I'll take 9. Collection of the Belchertown Historical Society From the Massachusetts project & the Quilt Index. It's also surprising to see how often it was used in samplers and friendship quilts. Here's an antique from Judy Roche's collection and her smaller copy. Dillow Collection in the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dated 1861, attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania From Julie Silber's inventory Most of these are from the mid-19th century when the pattern appeared. Even though I can't tell you much about its history I have a lot of photos. Since we like to look at quilts here are some pictures of the cockscomb and its variations: Four way symmetry dated 1859 from a Bonham's Auction Two way symmetry from Jeffrey Evans Auction in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (I think.) Various parts re-assembled From the collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum 20th century Another 20th-century version With the Vessel, Vine & Floral border, by Frances Shaw of Hagerstown, Maryland. West Virginia project and the Quilt Index. From Molly at Fourth Corner Antiques A Different flower at the base Jean Stanclift owns an antique that she copied for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative book Cranberry Collection. Jean's pattern is very much like one below from the Carlson Collection of Four-Block Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. IQSCM #2009.044.0007 As a border from a Pook & Pook Auction Addition.... Several quilt historians asked where the bird was. This one from Bill Volckening. See more about the bird: https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-forgot-something-bird.html Subtraction Below By Emily Johnson, North Carolina Project & the Quilt Index Links: Posts on the pattern https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-gawky-eagle-and-coxcomb.html Buy our Cranberry Collection book with Jean Stanclift's pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/504012298/cranberry-collection-quilts-for

This pattern is for the MINI Flame Seeker. The quilt size is available separately or bundled with the mini. It is designed for the intermediate sewist with paper piecing experience and finishes at 24” x 15”. An alternate body design without the skull section is included, as well as a bonus pattern for the Seeker Skull alone in 4.5”, 6”, and 9” square sizes.
 This pattern includes: • Printable pattern pieces with a 1/4 seam allowance included • Directions and diagrams on how to piece the sections • Diagrams for coloring, noting fabric layout and sketching quilt designs • Bonus Seeker Skull pattern Directions on how to foundation paper piece are NOT included, but there are many wonderful tutorials online. My Take Wing Mini pattern is also great for beginners and includes complete step-by-step directions with photos. If you have any questions about the pattern or need any additional information, please don't hesitate to contact me through my website, lillyella.com. I hope you enjoy sewing this pattern as much as I enjoyed creating it! Share your projects with #flameseekerpattern and #lillyellastitchery!

Welcome to the first block in the 2017 Fat Quarter Mystery Quilt! All twelve, 15-inch finished-sized blocks, will be created from one 24-piece fat quarter

What Happens When You Offset Balkan Puzzle Blocks? I am enjoying winter and if it wants to hang around, that's fine by me. But for some reason, when I look at a Balkan Puzzle block colored like this I think of flowers and I want to plant a garden. The Balkan Puzzle flowers could be lined up in neat rows and columns. This is static and conventional. Although, I do like the pinwheels that are formed as secondary patterns. What if the Balkan Puzzle blocks are offset slightly? This has more movement and is quite playful. The negative shapes create added interest. What if the blocks are offset a little more? This has lost some of its movement and the negative shapes, between the flowers, are now diamonds. This is more airy and there is lots of space to do interesting quilting. What if the blocks are offset even more? This has even more room for elaborate quilting and the negative shapes between the flowers are more interesting again. When the blocks are offset so that only their corners touch, the result is a checkerboard of flowers. The design has again become static and conventional. But there is some nice space for some decorative quilting. Up to this point all the designs have been grid based. What if there is no grid? Then designs like this circle, or wreath, are possible. And the door is opened to a wide variety of exciting designs.

Explore Elettaria's 390 photos on Flickr!

What Happens When You Offset Shoo Fly Blocks? Part 2 Who says that quilt blocks always have to be lined up in row...

Snail's Trail Log Cabin Snail's Trail and Log Cabin are two blocks that are made in a similar way. You start at the center and work your way out. I wondered, what if these two blocks were paired up? So I set out to find out. What if I join a Snail's Trail and a Log Cabin block to make a unit? Then what if I make a second unit, rotate it, and join it to the first to make a large block? What if I repeat this large block to make a quilt? What if I invert the colors that I used in my first attempt by replacing them with complementary colors? What if I make a large block the same way I did in my first attempt, by try different colors? What if in the first row I mirror-image the large blocks from side to side? What if I repeat the first row in the remaining rows? What if I use the first row from the last attempt but I change the background colors to black And grey? What if, instead of repeating the rows, each row is the mirror-image of the previous one? What if I make a unit and a mirror-image unit and join them to make a large block? What if I repeat the large blocks to make a row? What if each succeeding row faces the opposite direction? What if I use the large block from the last attempt and color it differently? What if I orient it horizontally then flip each block in a row 180 degrees? What if each row is the mirror-image of the preceding one? What if I place four units around a center square to make a large block? What if I then repeat that block to make a quilt? I like the way these two traditional blocks look together. I expect that they could be used in some very interesting ways that I haven't even thought of. Perhaps you can think of some.

Appliqued GAR badge, detail of a remarkable Pennsylvania Civil-War commemorative quilt. The quilt is attributed to Sarah Bright Anderson Lea (About 1833-1918.) Collection: Sewickley Valley Historical Society. They date it as 1890 based on the stars in a flag on the reverse side. The center is an appliqued window with Victorian woodwork and flower pots on the sill. Lady Liberty is at the top under a shower of stars. The bearded men look to be late-19th century dignitaries. More embroidery under the sill shows a camp of tents with scenes of army life. Detail of the left hand side. Above the window is a stuffed eagle with more figures. Along the sides are regimental patches. The symbols were a popular identification image at Grand Army of the Republic reunions. Souvenir flag from a Chicago reunion in 1900 Souvenir GAR bandana Flags with corp badges also decorated G.A.R. halls. The family and the museum speculate that the quilt was made "in connection with a celebration or commemoration sponsored by the G. A. R." Sarah's husband Benjamin Franklin Lea (About 1843-February 15, 1918) was a private in Company A, 101st Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment. Allegheny City is the North Side, north of Pittsburgh's Allegheny River He joined G. A. R. Post No. 162 in Allegheny City north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 19, 1889. He and Sarah lived in the Fineview neighborhood in the municipality of Allegheny City that was absorbed by Pittsburgh in 1907. "Dinner in the Grove" Reunion of the 101st and 103rd Pennsylvania Volunteers 1904 The flag of the 101st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers The battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac is recalled at the center bottom of the quilt. Benjamin (and presumably Sarah) is buried in Union Dale Cemetery in Pittsburgh. They died within weeks of each other in early 1918. See more about the quilt here: http://www.sewickleyhistory.org/index.php/9-uncategorised/87-civil-war-narrative-quilt

We’ve worked through a lot of EQ techniques- here’s how to do an FPP block!

Cockscomb from the collection of Lynn Evans Miller Mid-19th century Bettina Havig's version of Hospital Sketches #2 Virginia Cockscomb The Cockscomb is Block #2 in the Hospital Sketches BOM of fashionable mid-19th-century designs. See a post with a pattern at Civil War Quilts: http://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2019/02/hospital-sketches-2-robertson-hospital.html Late-19th century The popularity of this rather eccentric design is surprising. Attributed to Berks County, Pennsylvania How the pattern was handed around and any regional preferences are hard to figure out. You see it a lot in Virginia, but you also see it a lot in Indiana. The design wasn't published until 1900 or so, decades after quilters began using it. "When Patchwork Becomes an Art" by Rebecca Mosenfelder Simon Ladies' Home Journal, 1908. Simon called it The Olive Branch, a symbol of peace. This quilt, quite mid-19th-century, looks a lot like her example. The Ladies' Art Company also called it The Olive Branch. You could buy a finished block for 85 cents from them. I'll take 9. Collection of the Belchertown Historical Society From the Massachusetts project & the Quilt Index. It's also surprising to see how often it was used in samplers and friendship quilts. Here's an antique from Judy Roche's collection and her smaller copy. Dillow Collection in the International Quilt Study Center & Museum, dated 1861, attributed to Fulton County, Pennsylvania From Julie Silber's inventory Most of these are from the mid-19th century when the pattern appeared. Even though I can't tell you much about its history I have a lot of photos. Since we like to look at quilts here are some pictures of the cockscomb and its variations: Four way symmetry dated 1859 from a Bonham's Auction Two way symmetry from Jeffrey Evans Auction in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (I think.) Various parts re-assembled From the collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum 20th century Another 20th-century version With the Vessel, Vine & Floral border, by Frances Shaw of Hagerstown, Maryland. West Virginia project and the Quilt Index. From Molly at Fourth Corner Antiques A Different flower at the base Jean Stanclift owns an antique that she copied for our Sunflower Pattern Cooperative book Cranberry Collection. Jean's pattern is very much like one below from the Carlson Collection of Four-Block Quilts at the International Quilt Study Center & Museum. IQSCM #2009.044.0007 As a border from a Pook & Pook Auction Addition.... Several quilt historians asked where the bird was. This one from Bill Volckening. See more about the bird: https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/i-forgot-something-bird.html Subtraction Below By Emily Johnson, North Carolina Project & the Quilt Index Links: Posts on the pattern https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-gawky-eagle-and-coxcomb.html Buy our Cranberry Collection book with Jean Stanclift's pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/504012298/cranberry-collection-quilts-for

You Can Make Quarter-Of-Nine Block Quilts Starting With Calico Puzzle Blocks

Learn how to make a storm at sea quilt block using the AccuQuilt Go! cube and their triangle in a square die. It's easier than you think!

Do you remember THIS mini-quilt? Finally, I made a pattern of cassette tape block being a part of this quilt. / Pamiętacie ten mini-quil...

I am going to try designing with these two simple units. What if I combine the two units to make this four patch block? What if I combine the two units to make this four patch block?

a wire quilt. (via quiltwarehouse)

I have been waiting and waiting to post this quilt on April Fool's Day...then I realized that this year, it fell on Easter Sunday. So, this April Fool is a double one - a trompe l'oeil , posted on the wrong day! *I would like to encourage you to read to the bottom of this post before Googling and clicking links you find online.* I did NOT design this quilt; I saw it online a good many years ago, and it has been on my bucket list all those years. It's a fabulous design, the brainchild of Ukrainian quilter Mezhibovskaya Valery Vadimovna, who blogs under the name lerusisik. You will notice I did not add any live links to her site as I normally would do. There's a reason... Lerusisik designed this quilt as part of a guild challenge on twisted log cabin blocks. They had 6 months to complete the challenge, and she came up with this brilliant design which she called "Through The Lens." Amazingly, it did not win the challenge. (? must have been some pretty strong competition in that guild!) She next entered it in a math contest (didn't win that either) and then decided to submit a picture of her quilt to a German magazine, Lena's Patchwork, who developed a pattern, and featured it on the cover. As happens, people began making the quilt and submitting it to shows and winning prizes, with no credit given to Lerusisik. They claimed the design as their own.I know how hurtful that is, and Lerusisik became quite upset about the whole thing. Earlier this year when I began my version of her quilt, I tried to revisit her website, with not very good results. My McAffee program refused to let me on the site, saying there was malicious code. I tried from a different computer, and Windows Defender gave the message, "Whoa - are you sure you want to go there? " Clicking a link from a saved sketch in Word gave the message, "this site contains viruses, click at your own risk." Hmm...I got brave (or stupid) and clicked it anyway. I got to the main page ok, and everything seemed fine, so I decided to try a link to Barbie doll clothes (that sounded innocent enough, right?) I ended up on a porn site. So...draw your own conclusions, but for these reasons I am not posting any live links to her site, and if you Google and click, do so at your own risk. I am not going back. Despite all of this, I still wanted to make the quilt! Originally, she had shared her working sketch, done in Corel Draw, on her site for readers to download (with permission), and I had saved that sketch. That's what I used to work from: In hindsight, I should have taken the time to draw this out in EQ8. It may not be obvious, but if you study the sketch, you will see that some of the blocks cannot be pieced as drawn. There were many last minute adjustments in strip sequence as I went. As you see in the magazine cover above, the original had multi-coloured centres but I chose to go with just 3 colours for the quilt: black, white, and Canada Red Kona cotton. I think the high contrast in colours helps add to the 3-D effect, and I like how clean and crisp the colours look together. There are only 4 square blocks in the entire piece (the corners), and these measure 4". The strips range from 1/2" to 1/8" wide, many of them curved. It was a nightmare to piece. I wasn't sure where all these pieces would fit in the final puzzle! I've done a fair bit of patchwork in my day, but this was truly difficult. About 6 blocks in, I decided I couldn't do it. I set it aside for a couple of weeks while I thought on it. It occurred to me that the piece is symmetrical side to side and top to bottom, so once I had the first quadrant of 9 blocks figured out, that would be the worst of it, as the shapes would repeat after that. I think I can, I think I can... Amazingly, as the blocks grew, the centre popped up right away. These are the sewn blocks before joining...which took another week or so to ponder. Since the blocks were all different sizes...how could I possibly join them in rows? It couldn't be done. I thought back to the Global Warming quilt I did last year, and a light bulb came on! I needed to join the centre blocks in a circle, and then insert them into the outside blocks, like sewing a sleeve in an armhole. There was a small fly in the ointment, as perhaps you can see below: No? Look here; there are gaps in the corners, where square meets round. I cut 2 triangles of black and 2 of white and hoped it would work. It did! :) About this time, Polly came along to shatter the illusion! The quilt is by no means perfectly made. There are strips that don't match up at the joining of the sphere to the background, but I did my best, and the illusion still works. Interestingly, I recall reading on Lerusisik's site that she also had issues figuring out how to join her blocks and finally sewed them together by hand, using an EPP method. I added a very simple border of black and white blocks and strips, which help add to the movement of the whole piece. It is quilted very simply using Aurifil white, black and red thread. All of the stitching is done in the ditch, so as not to detract from the fabric. This is far and away the most challenging patchwork project I've done. I cannot say I enjoyed making it, but I sure as heck enjoyed finishing it! If you would like to try your hand at this...I wish you the best of luck. Thank you, Mezhibovskaya Valery Vadimovna, for your very brilliant design. Beth of Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium has kindly invited me to display the quilt at her shop later this spring. I'll keep you posted on when that will be (I think we need to decide first who is climbing the ladder to hang it...).

I have a few exciting teaching announcements and a ton of planning, prepping, stitching, retreating, drawing, and scheming ahead of me. I will make this post picture heavy and hopefully brief. I have been invited to teach at some very exciting shows in 2016 and I couldn't be more excited! QUILTCON FEB 2016 To start the year I will be at Quiltcon in Pasadena teaching, all hands on classes. I had an amazing time in Austin and am really looking forward to February. MQX APRIL 2016 In April I will be teaching at MQX in New Hampshire. New England will be gorgeous in April and I am looking forward to returning as a teacher instead of a student. I am teaching two hands on classes as well as some lecture/demo classes. To sign up for my classes click here. MQS MAY 2016 In May I will be off to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to teach at MQS, registration is not open yet, but should be in the upcoming weeks! SMQG 2015 But hey! 2015 isn't over yet and I am thrilled to be hosted by the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild for a drawing/ modern whole cloth design workshop. Join me Sunday, November 15th, 2015 from 10:30-4:45 at Tukwila Sew and Vac Click here to register, there are 5 spots left and registration is open to the general public now. WORKSHOPS!! YAY! Shown below are a few examples of what my Compositional Drawing/Whole cloth design class will look like. I am teaching this class at Quiltcon, MQX and at Tukwila sew and vac with SMQG. The photos below are samples that I have been making for my Broken Wreath and Ghost Shapes lecture/demo classes at MQX and MQS. Here, I used contrasting blue thread, definitely out of my comfort zone but it's a great exercise and the designs can really pop out. Shown below is quilting on one of the samples that I marked out in my whole cloth design class, this technique quilts out pretty fast and has been a very liberating way for me to look at quilting. And Voila! I've said it before but making class samples always opens up new doors for me. This style of quilting has inspired me to start working on a whole cloth (type) design, that's really not a whole cloth at all. Here are a few photos of my latest project which I will go into more detail as I figure out what I'm actually doing. The design is inspired by the stitch and flip triangle which is sprinkled through a lot of Katie Pedersen's work. I took her magic numbers class and was amazed at the possibilities that exist within this format. I am approaching this project with the intentions of doing it entirely on the longarm so there will actually be no stitch and flip anything, all of the piecing will be raw edge appliqué but the design is certainly inspired by Katie's work, which you can find in her and Jacquie's fabulous book, Quilting Modern. Off to get my week going, thanks for taking the time to read and I look forward to meeting some of you in my classes in the months to follow!! xo

Nine Patch This is obviously a Nine Patch block. I've placed it in the middle of a grid. What if I try filling the empty grid squares around the Nine Patch block in many various ways? The best way to

These little pincushions are the perfect gift for any quilter friends. Each one is like…

I designed this 10"x10" block on a 5x5 grid; it is a 5 patch block. Part of the fun part of designing your own block is you get to color it any way you please. The other part is seeing what happens when you do: Of course, you don't have to design your own block. You can always try coloring traditional blocks nontraditional ways. That's fun too.

Read LazyDays Catalogue Summer 2019 by Tildasworld on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

Snail's Trail Log Cabin Snail's Trail and Log Cabin are two blocks that are made in a similar way. You start at the center and work your way out. I wondered, what if these two blocks were paired up? So I set out to find out. What if I join a Snail's Trail and a Log Cabin block to make a unit? Then what if I make a second unit, rotate it, and join it to the first to make a large block? What if I repeat this large block to make a quilt? What if I invert the colors that I used in my first attempt by replacing them with complementary colors? What if I make a large block the same way I did in my first attempt, by try different colors? What if in the first row I mirror-image the large blocks from side to side? What if I repeat the first row in the remaining rows? What if I use the first row from the last attempt but I change the background colors to black And grey? What if, instead of repeating the rows, each row is the mirror-image of the previous one? What if I make a unit and a mirror-image unit and join them to make a large block? What if I repeat the large blocks to make a row? What if each succeeding row faces the opposite direction? What if I use the large block from the last attempt and color it differently? What if I orient it horizontally then flip each block in a row 180 degrees? What if each row is the mirror-image of the preceding one? What if I place four units around a center square to make a large block? What if I then repeat that block to make a quilt? I like the way these two traditional blocks look together. I expect that they could be used in some very interesting ways that I haven't even thought of. Perhaps you can think of some.

Connie B is using Morris prints Half of 49 blocks is 24-1/2, and here it is mid week after Block 24. According to my math we are half way there. Cynthia H. I took some screenshots off our Flickr page so you can get an idea of how others are progressing. Breezypoint I've grabbed these over the past few months so most of you are probably even further along now. I did a little PhotoShopping on some of them, cropping them, squaring them up and brightening the light. Carolyn Georgann I took this photo myself and PhotoShop can't fix out of focus. Craktpot There are some great color ideas in play here. Flobis31 has hers sewn together too. KrisLovesFabric: Purples and gold... LindaQuilts--- purple and gold in different shades NoraQuinlan, Yet another take on the violet with the British green and white. PassionPatchwork Setting it together with a counterchange frame--- alternating dark and light borders on the blocks. Rosemary is recalling a cheery 1930s look. Spiral is using the American gold theme Becky's got her green blocks sewn together with a pop of pink. Dustin's going to do a medallion, grouping all his different colorways in areas. I have the last Saturday on my calendar as August 3. Congratulations to all who are keeping up!

Susan J Lapham works improvisationally creating intricate quilts that are inspired by her experiences and family.