This week spring has sprung – the trees are blooming and some are even leafing out. There are daffodils everywhere and it is beautiful! There is much activity at the bird feeders and nests are being built. Spring inspires everyone to get busy.

Wrenovations complete, the Wren family has moved in and set up housekeeping! So I thought an appropriate choice for today’s focus would be “Wrented”. If you’ve ever wondered about the process of picture piecing, I’ve produced a few little wall hanging patterns to show you how fun and easy it actually is. “Wrented” is 24 x 24″, the design is charted with colors and numerical order of piecing listed, for easy straight seam sewing. Fat quarters work well for the background and birdhouse, the rest can probably be found in your scraps or stash!

INNOVATiONS #10856- “Wrented” – 24 x 24″ $9.00
Click on PATTERNS in the side bar to order.

The pattern sample quilted wall hanging is for sale, $300.00 Machine pieced and machine quilted. Email if interested.

Focus Friday on a Saturday this week, because, well, I forgot! I’m going to go for color this week with “Endless Possibilities”. The block is simple, only four seams! But the possibilities are endless!!

This pattern includes instructions and fabric requirements for a lap quilt, a wall hanging, place mats and a table runner. The photo shows the 60 x 63″ lap quilt illustrating the possibilities of a multitude of scraps, or possibly you would rather do planned design, with only a few coordinated fabrics. It’s all in the pattern. Possibly you will work small, possibly you will work large, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination!

“Endless Possibilities” – many possible sizes – $9.00
Click on patterns in the side bar to order.

The sample quilt is for sale, machine pieced and machine quilted, for $1250.00. Email for details. The wall hanging sample is also for sale, approx 49 x 37″, it can be seen on my website, listed above. You will be surprised at how different it looks!!

For today’s Focus Friday, I am showing you “The Northern Lily and the Southern Rose”. This bed size quilt was inspired by a talk by quilt historian Barbara Brackman, and pictured in one of her books. She talked about how the Northern women made utilitarian quilts for the Civil War soldiers which were long and narrow, small enough to carry but large enough to lie on or under. In an effort to keep Kansas a free state, ads were placed in northern newspapers to recruit settlers sympathetic to that cause to come west and settle Kansas. The quote in the border, included in the pattern, by Lucy Larcom from 1855 was from one of those ads. “Sister true, join us too, where the Kansas flows. Let the Northern Lily bloom, with the Southern Rose”.
This design is not meant to be an authentic reproduction of those quilts, but rather, a tribute to the women of old, who, in ways both quiet and bold, endured and participated in times of war. The central portion is reminiscent of the soldier’s quilts made by the women and the border holds appliqued roses and pieced lilies as well as the verse by Lucy.

“The Northern Lily and the Southern Rose”    80 x 94″
INNOVATIONS Pattern # 97309 $8.00.
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The cover sample quilt is machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted. It is for sale at $4,000.00. Email if interested.

Today for Focus Friday I will feature “Star Flowers”.  This is a variation on the old traditional Seven Sisters design. I found the old yellowed newspaper clipping in a box at Houston Quilt Festival and it came with the warning ” Experienced Quilters Only!” which only challenged me to make it easy enough for anyone, which I did!  I devised a way to piece it so that those points just happen. To finish it off, I designed the applique to mimic the shape if the stars and to me they resemble Clematis, one of my favorites. There is a LOT of applique, but the shapes are easy and can be done by hand or machine to compliment this popular bed quilt.

INNOVATIONS  94804  “Star Flowers”  86 X 106″   $9.00
click on PATTERNS in the side bar to order.

Pattern Sample Quilt for sale $2500.00 email for details

Focus Friday this week features “Little Houses On A Hillside�, a fun and easy wall hanging or kid’s quilt in a generous 48 x 60� size. Using an original 12� block, it goes together quickly to please the young or the young at heart. It is a true scrap quilt, so please use different fabrics for each of the twelve blocks!

The pattern contains twelve 2� finished size half square triangle papers, enough to make the 24 finished units needed to complete the quilt.

“Little Houses On A Hillsideâ€� – INNOVATIONS #04842 –
48 x 60� Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The cover sample wall hanging is for sale at $ 500.00. Email for details.

The groundhog says spring is coming and I am dreaming of my garden coming to life – will the Fairies still be there?

For today’s Focus Friday, let’s look at “Fairies In My Garden�, an enchanted gathering of fairies in the flowers. This 22 x 29� wall hanging is a combination of piecing and applique in my signature easy to do shapes. Don’t be afraid of the faces, they are in the pattern and easily traced with Pigma pens.

“Fairies In My Gardenâ€� – INNOVATIONS #01126 – approx 22 x 29â€�
Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The cover sample wall hanging is for sale at $250.00. Email for details.

This pattern has inspired two art pieces done in my pieced pictorial style. “Don’t Piss Off The Fairies�, 12 x 12� (sold)

and “Foxglove Fairies�, 42 x 41�, $3000.00.

These are one of a kind art quilts and are not in the pattern, but I will share them here for your viewing pleasure!

This might be a good time to focus on something really simple and easy, something you can even get the kids involved in on a snowy day, because this is a perfect beginner’s project! Just triangles, half square triangles, squares and rectangles, Fun Fish is quick and easy with three different fish swimming in 8� blocks.

So find fish fabric – fun, fabulous or funky – add water and make FUN FISH!

“FUN FISHâ€� – INNOVATIONS # 95106 – approx 42 x 49â€� Pattern: $8.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The cover sample wall hanging is for sale at $300.00. Email for details.

Yesterday evening was my presentation for the Topeka Art Guild, “Painting With Fabric” and there was a nice turnout. It had been postponed from a week ago when the roads were so icy and the weather cooperated this time! I even pulled some non-members in and away from the local quilt guild which was also meeting last night! Everyone seemed to enjoy it and I think it went well.

I am also enjoying my time auditing the watercolor class at Washburn U and even did my homework! As an auditor my work is not graded, but I hope to find the time to keep up and do the homework as it is such a nice opportunity to learn from a master.

I am also trying to find the time to get started on my next art quilt. I know what I want to do, but am finding it hard to get inspired to draw the scene that is in my head. At least I have gotten started with the drawing and pulling some fabrics off the shelf to try and help me decide which season of the Flint Hills to feature, the greens of summer, the colors of fall, or even another prairie fire.

At this time I am leaning toward fall. I find the fall color in the Flint Hills to be quite lovely; a quieter beauty than what I grew up with in New England, but still….beautiful!

On the business side of things, I got the sales tax filed last week, EARLY, yeah! but still have book work to do for regular taxes, got entries submitted for a few more shows and have had to spend time packaging patterns and shipping – that’s a good thing to have to do! But still, it all takes time.

I’ve been getting more orders lately for “Starburst” so I thought I would feature it today for Focus Friday.  I made the original version called Starmageddon” to be a contest quilt and it won some national awards including a second place at AQS, Paducah.  It was all hand quilted. It is a combination of two different star blocks in a unique setting to make it look like an explosion of stars.  I decided to include it in the pattern line, but I made a few changes to make it even easier. Of course the pattern tells you where to place the different colors to blur the lines between the easy blocks to make it look harder than it really is.

Starburst – INNOVATIONS # 01929  Approx. 72 x 84″   Pattern $9.00

Sample quilt, machine quilted in a stars pattern, $2000.00

If you are dreaming of summer or just need a project to brighten up your winter days, check out Poppy!

Have you always wondered how these picture quilts go together? Here is a fun project to learn the basics so you might even decide to go on and design something of you own! This one is all straight seam sewing, that goes together quickly in easy sections.

INNOVATIONS # 08754 Poppy! 24 x 24″ wall hanging pattern $9.00

Cover quilt for sale – $300.00

Workshop sample quilt for sale – $300.00