The weather has taken a decidedly wintry turn with freezing cold rain and icy conditions. Time to start thinking about a nice cozy quilt project to take you into winter. Here is just the thing to use up a lot of scraps!

Focus Friday for this week is “Scrapmagic Starsâ€�, a true scrap quilt made up of repetitions of just one 12â€� block. Even the border is just more blocks colored in such a way as to imply a border by concentrating more dark fabrics there. I’ve placed my lightest fabrics toward the center to make it ‘glow’. The corners of your blocks done in contrasting color make the stars appear like magic when the blocks come together! So fun and easy!!

Depending on the fabrics you choose, you can get a totally different look as illustrated by the baby quilt shown below.

The pattern contains instructions for five sizes.Baby-36 X 48�, Crib-48 x 60�, Full-72 x 84�,
Queen-84 x 96, King- 96 x 108

“Scrapmagic Starsâ€� – Pattern: $8.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The cover sample bed quilt is no longer available but the baby quilt, machine quilted, is $200.00. Email me for details.

Focus Friday for this week is “Cornflower Blues�.  This charming original 12� block design was inspired by Bachelor Buttons, I love blue flowers, but being a fantasy flower, it can be made in any color you like. Since it only takes three easily pieced blocks and a few half square triangle units ( Papers included in the pattern) it is quick and easy to make!

I used this pattern one year to make multiple versions for Christmas gifts, based on the individual likes and styles of the recipients and their homes.

Cornflower Blues – approximately 24 X 28â€� Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

Cover Sample quilt is for sale, machine quilted, $250.00 . Email me for details.

Since we had Veteran’s Day this week I wanted to feature a patriotic quilt for Focus Friday, but I used that one, “From The Ashes�, last month for 9/11. I decided to go with “Kitty Corner Cats� , not because it is patriotic, but because it is shown on the cover in red, white and blue. This wall hanging features easy applique, either by hand or machine, on an eye-catching pieced background of catty-wampus blocks.

Fun whether you choose to do it in the traditional or the hot contemporary color scheme, or something totally different to match your decor, cats and quilts always go together!

KittyCorner Cats – INNOVATIONS #02332 approximately 35 X 35â€� â€� Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

Both Sample quilts are for sale, machine quilted, they are $300.00 each. Email me for details.

Focus Friday for this week is “So Much Thread�, an easy introduction to picture piecing pattern that would be perfect for your sewing studio. Or your friend’s sewing studio! Quilters can never have too much thread!

It’s not too late to crank out some Christmas gifts with this quick and easy design, it’s all straight seams. Just choose three stripey effect fabrics for the thread, two shades of tan for the spools and a smidge of black, plus a background Presented with two different orientations it will be easy to choose the one that fits your space.

So Much Thread – approximately 46 X 25â€� or 28 X 41â€� Pattern: $9.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

Both Cover Sample quilts are for sale, machine quilted, they are $300.00 each. Email me for details.

“Goose on the Loose” is one of my earlier patterns that continues to be a best seller. Now at the end of October, I am reminded of how it came to be as the wild geese are flying overhead. They don’t stay in those nice orderly V’s as they are usually depicted, but rather they tend to ravel out into tangled skeins as they constantly switch positions, honking loudly at each other as they go. Usually a quilt gets named after it is finished, but this one had a name before it was even started. I looked for a block that would portray the vision, maybe with Flying Geese blocks, but instead I settled on Fox and Goose, which doesn’t even contain Flying Geese. Instead it is worked from half square triangle units and what can be easier than that! Half of the blocks have gray sky centers and half have autumn leaf colors and it is the way that they are sewed together that gives the effect of the geese straying from their formation. I love to make it so you have to really look for where the block is, makes people think it was harder than it really was! Of course that is all laid out for you in this very easy pattern.

The pattern contains instructions for both a wall hanging and a bed quit. There is only about half a box of patterns left and it will not be reprinted, so act fast if this is a quilt you would like to make.

Goose On The Loose – approximately 36 X 42â€� or 72 X 84â€� Pattern: $8.00
Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

Cover Sample quilt for sale, lovingly hand quilted, a steal at $400.00 Email me for details.

The PRIZE winning bed quilt, made from batik fabrics and free motion machine quilted in swirls and maple leaves can be seen in the Large Quilts Gallery on my website.  It is also for sale.

I found out that “Splash” was awarded the Award of Excellence for Piecing, and also Honorable mention in the Pictorial wall quilts category at LaConner, WA and will stay on for the Best of Festival show through Nov 22.

The reception last evening at the Buttonwood ArtSpace in KC for the Visions Of The Flint Hills show was very nice and quite well attended. I was pleased and surprised to discover that “Grasslands” was awarded Second Place in the “Other” category!

There were a LOT of entries and the work was excellent. I even saw some other textile work, some pieced photos printed on fabric, some quilted and embellished with stitching, some woven work and even a hooked rug! But the majority, of course, was paintings and photography, with a few sculptural works. AND, I was pleased to note, the Topeka art scene was well represented!  By the time we left there were already some sales. Definitely worth a look if you are in the area!

Topped off the evening with dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack – Yum! – but SO noisy!

“After The Storm”, currently showing at The Topeka Art Guild Gallery has been awarded First Place in the annual “Kansas” show!! Especially gratifying because it is an all media show with some very nice work.

The judge left comments and here is what she had to say about this piece:

“Quintessential Kansas weather. Stitches define cloud movement, rain. turmoil – feel like the buildings are huddling against the ground, trying to protect themselves from the storm.”

Just received notice that “Jesse At The Lake” showing at the Asheville, NC Quilt Guild show got Second Place and “Splash” at the LaConner quilt show has also won an award, but so far I don’t know what. All in all, a pretty good week!!

This afternoon we will drive to KC, MO to the opening reception for Visions Of The Flint Hills where I have three pieces on display and for sale to benefit Flint Hills research.

On Friday, I finished the quilting on this new piece and blocked it. On Saturday, I trimmed it to size and prepared the sleeve and the documentation tag, which meant I had to come up with a name. “After The Storm” won out.  The finished size is 39.5 x 24″.

I love to see this fleeting vision when after the storm everything is clean and sparkling, the sky is still dark but the sunlight comes in and lights the foreground against the dark storm clouds. It was a lovely fall day here, so I sat out on the deck to do the hand work and listened to my Art History lectures on the tape recorder. Perfect! I met the deadline and will enter it into the next Topeka Art Guild show with the Kansas theme later today.

The wild sunflowers are still blooming like crazy so I think today I will feature another sunflower pattern!

I love combining piecing and applique together, I think it only enhances both techniques. Here I have used a simple log cabin type block set on point for the background of the appliqued sunflowers. The starting square of the log cabins is the brown center for the sunflowers, so all you have to applique is the simple shapes of the petals and the leaves! And to make it even better you do the applique on the pieced log cabin strips before they are sewn together so you are not working on the bulk of the whole top. I do try to make things easy for you!

INNOVATIONS 01327 Log Cabin Sunflowers
approximately 77 x 96″ $8.00 Click on Patterns in the side bar to order.

The sample quilt featured in the cover photo and pictured above is also for sale. It is heavily free motion machine quilted using a variety of threads including some metallic. The backing is a nice plaid that repeats the colors on the front.
$2400.00 Contact me to purchase.

This year, probably because of all the rain, the wild sunflowers have been extra lovely. In the roadsides and in the fields, they are a delightful vision to brighten our days and remind us fall is just around the corner.

So in light of that and the fact that on my recent trip to the Kansas City Guild, my Sunflower Patch pattern was one of my best sellers,  I decided that today it should be my featured pattern for Focus Friday.

SUNFLOWER PATCH

Approximately 70 x 85 ”      $8.50       Click on Patterns in the side bar to order

A bright and sunny pieced quilt, quickly made from only twenty pieced 15″ original design blocks.  I used two different black and white prints to effectively set off the scrappy yellow and brown flowers – but imagine it with a scrappy blue or cream background instead!

SUNFLOWER PATCH sample quilt
Machine pieced and free motion machine quilted  The backing is also scrappy, created from a variety of green and gold and sunflower printed fabrics.  $1500.00. To purchase, email me.