Garden Grove starts with the feel of a formal garden: individual floral and patchwork blocks set into a strong, repeating framework. The dark forest green lattice gives the quilt its structure, while the cream block backgrounds create enough open space for the applique and piecing to stand out clearly. What I like most about […]
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Some quilts begin with color, some with geometry, and some with a single visual idea that gives the whole piece its character. Little Boy Blue belongs in that third group. The embroidered blocks are the quiet center of the design: vintage-look boys set into small garden scenes, each one framed so the figures read almost […]
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Bougainvillea is a handmade 60″ square quilt built around linked diamond blocks in teal, rose, raspberry, coral, purple, soft green, and cream. The color placement shifts from stronger jewel tones toward softer pastels, giving the center more intensity while the outer areas feel lighter and quieter. The geometric diamond design gives the quilt a modern, […]
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This embroidered insect quilt combines a crisp blue, green, and white patchwork grid with six detailed embroidered insects: butterflies, a dragonfly, ladybug, bee, and beetle. The embroidered blocks interrupt the geometric patchwork just enough to make the bugs the stars of the quilt without turning the whole design into a novelty print. The quilt measures […]
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Having suitably aged this jelly roll, I searched for a pattern that would work with the ombre fabrics without relying too much on them for design. After a few weeks of searching, I settled on a design I’d used before, from a 1995 book by Evelyn Sloppy. Here’s the finished product: Closeup of the quilting: […]
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Many 40-strip jelly rolls — especially batiks, for some reason — include 2 strips of each fabric. For this one (Paradise Petals, by Island Batiks), I set myself a challenge: make two (small) quilts from the same fabrics, but in different styles.
Here’s the result.
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A design wall is a great tool for layout, especially for color placement — being able to step back and take a long view is a big help. But once the blocks are all arranged, how do you get a complex design across the room to the sewing table without mixing up the order?
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Usually I use batiks for color-shaded designs, but these Asian prints have been calling to me for a while.
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Rulers. All shapes and sizes. Rulers for cutting strips, for squaring up blocks, for cutting specific shapes … and for longarm quilting.
And they multiply like rabbits. How to keep them under control?
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Fabric and thread, of course. Rulers and other tools, certainly. But the real key is …Storage space.
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