I’m beyond excited! I felt honored to be chosen for Quiltfolk’s Cat issue. It’s amusing because I am a Chihuahua mom! But I think cats are cool!
The cat issue is full of beautiful cat quilts and cats!
The panel called Intricately illustrated Kitty is by Rubin Design Studio of eQuilter.com. I named my One Block Wonder quilt “Bedazzled”. The large hexagons are made with Studio 180 Design’s Star 60 tool. I call them Star 60 Spinners. My quilt measures 88″ x 71″. I am on page 106. Thank you Quiltfolk!
Elf & Dragon panel by Rubin Design Studio on eQuilter.com Panel measures 33″ x 44″.
I cut my strips 3.25″ to yield 5″ finished hexies. I created 10″ finished Checkerboard 60 units with my Star 60 Tool to be part of the dragon’s body.
The photo above is the quilt top stitched together, but no borders yet. Next I hide what needs hiding.
“The Elf’s song was heard through out the forest. The mossy earth began to shift. The dragon rose from beneath the leaves and mushrooms. The dragon would always come when the Elf called!
Can you find all my appliques’? The Elf and Dragon measures 90″ x 70″.
I’m having a great summer so far, and I hope you are too! My 13-year anniversary with WordPress is next month. I have logged over a million hits on If These Threads Could Talk!!!!
Spring began with a OBW Workshop at Amy’s Quilt Room in Uniontown PA. Then a OBW Workshop with the Long Island Quilt Society. Teri Butler and I had a blast at H&H in Chicago!
June had me in Idaho at The Quilt Crossing in Boise and Sew In Stitches in Pocatello.
I just got home from the Yankee Quilter in Seymour CT! I have met so many wonderful quilters this year! Thank you everyone!
Teri Butler of Mama Said Sew is now creating OBW Jackets among her other many talents.
Next week I’m off to Amy’s Quilt Room again for back to OBW workshops. Then Back to the Yankee Quilter! In September I’m at the Needle in a Haystack Retreat Center in Sherman NY. Then to Halfmoon Handwerks in Carlisle PA. I’ll end the year in November in Arkansas.
2025 has been pretty good, but 2026 is looking good too! I will be the keynote speaker and teaching at the New England Quilt Expo in Manchester, New Hampshire April 8 -11. I have been invited to teach at AQS Paducah April 22 – 25!
This is me on Buck, our first horse. In 1966 I was living in Las Vegas. I was in the 4H Club. Every year we participated in a parade down the Las Vagas Strip. I was such a tomboy. I once caught a wild mustang and brought it home. He was tearing up the corral so bad I had to set him free the next day. At least he had water and a meal.
Mystical Horse OBW measures 94″ x 71″. I cut my strips 3.25″ which yielded 5″ finished hexies, cut with the First Choice ruler. I included 10″ finished Framed 60 Units made with the Star 60 Tool and Island Batik fabrics.
My friend and fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor Terri Butler has challenged herself to make a OBW coat for every OBW that I make. She got hers done before me.
Terri and I did a thing! Terri Butler is my friend and fellow Studio 180 Design Certified Instructor. While we were at H&H Americas in Chicago we had an idea.
These two panels were created by Frond Design for Northcott Fabrics. Terri had it on her design wall and I have had them in my OBW stash for a couple of years. The normal thing would be to stitch the halves together and design around them. Why be normal? We decided to do what we do best. A One Block Wonder coat and quilt out of the same panels!
Terri chose the layout, quilted the individual sections and cut out the coat pieces.
Terri did such a great job with her interpretation of Daydreamin, I just love it. You can follow Terri at Mama Said Sew. Terri is a great pattern designer.
After aligning the 2 sets of panels, I cut 3.25″ strips that yielded 294 – 5″ finished hexies.
I didn’t want to just design what was expected. The words that kept creeping into my mind were mutual attraction, cross pollination. I decided to create a flower in the center that came from a seed dropped by a bird. My design wall is 106″ wide by 72″ tall. That’s why my OBW’s look like murals. I filled my design wall and still had 63 hexies left over.
Daydreamin measures 97″x 65″. The colors are just mesmerizing. We will share photo’s of the quilt and coat together soon.
No hexies were harmed during the construction of this One Block Wonder. The Supervisor was on the job.
1776 panel designed by the Morris Group for QT Fabrics measures 38″ x 32″. This beautiful Eagle panel will be in shops Fall 2025.
The 1776 fabric line offers everything needed to create your own 1776 quilt. You can finish it in time to celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday in 2026.
I chose 5 coordinating fabrics to add to my story. I choose fabrics before I know what my design approach will be. The flags with the light blue background ended up on the back of the quilt.
I used Deb Tucker’s First Choice Rulers to cut my strips 3.25″ wide, yielding 5″ finished hexies. The stars were created using the Star 60 Tool by Deb Tucker. I started placing my hexies on the top section first.
Numbering the rows keeps everything organized. Once I attached the top and bottom sections, I stitched the hexies on the left into rows. It shows how much the rows shrink when stitched together.
The photo on the left shows the quilt top together without borders. On the right the borders have been added, but not yet tweaked.
1776 measures 75″ x 66″. I wanted to make the eagle’s wings look larger than they were. As if their strength created air currents that actually moved the stars.
The Enchanted panel is designed by the Morris Creative Group and brought to us by QT Fabrics. In quilt shops now.
When I first saw this panel I thought of the song “Castles in the Sky” by Ian Van Dahl, 1999. I thought that I would try to design around the castle as if it was floating.
I always say “the fabric starts talking to me” while I’m make the hexies. I cut my strips 2.75″ wide to yield 4″ finished hexies. I did not use the borders when I cut my strips. I ended up with 210 hexies.
I knew I wanted to add Hollow Cube 60 units. I started designing, trying to figure out where I would place them, and what would they represent. I thought I would add them as part of the sky. Suddenly, while designing, the words “Middle Earth” settled in my brain. I used the Star 60 tool, and the Hollow Cube 60 Technique Sheet. I made a 12″ Hollow Cube 60, with 4″ hollow cube 60’s inside it. The area below the White Tower would represent the Shire where the Hobbits lived. The Hollow Cube 60’s are Hobbit Houses!
The White Castle in Lord of the Rings is the greatest city of Gandor. The citadel of Minas Tirith is a towering, fortified community built into the side of the White Mountains.
SO, Middle Earth was the inspiration for my design. I used QT Fabric’s Aura line of blenders for my cubes and the blue half hexies surrounding the castle.
It always amazes me how much the rows shrink when stitched together,
Enchanted measures 63″ x 66″. The Enchanted panel is in store now.
I am teaching at The Quilt Crossing in Boise Idaho in June. The owner of the shop is a fan of my work. She commissioned a One Block Wonder from me last year. Laura really loves Halloween and made an offer on QT Fabric‘s “Creepin it Real”.
I accepted her offer. She had 7 more “Creepin It Real” panels. These panels would enable me to make it again.
It is fun to see the differences. With the first “Creepin It Real” I cut my strips 3.75″ for 6″ finished hexies. With “Creepin It Real 2″, I cut my strips 3.25″ for 5” finished hexies. That gave me 31 more hexies than I had with the first one. The first “Creepin It Real” measures 90″ x 70″. The second “Creepin it Real” measures 74″ x 74″. Even though I had extra hexies, I did not use them all.
My new favorite ruler for cutting out my hexies is Deb Tucker’s First Choice Rulers.
TIP: I tried something different this time. Once I attached the top section, I attached one row from the left section. It was much less bulky determining where the bottom section should be attached. Then I added one row from the right side. Once the remaining left & right sections were stitched together, it would be easy to attach them to the center section.
I’m just so happy that I still have a “Creepin it Real” in my collection. I’m Looking forward to meeting Laura in June.
I unlocked the door and stepped into the room. The full moonlight shone through the window, illuminating a small table with a beautiful blooming bouquet of flowers. I saw the vase reflected on the French doors. I stepped onto the balcony and looked to my right and saw the Eiffel Tower lit up above the rooftops.
I always try to find the story the fabric is telling me. The Blooming Bouquet panel designed by Suzanne Allard and QT Fabrics transported me to Paris.
The colors were so vibrant I didn’t want to distract from them. I added Star 60 units in pink (31244P), blue (3144B) and gold (31244O). I used coordinating fabrics of purple (31244V) on the left and green (31244H) on the right.
I used the rest of the fabric for the quilt backing. Blooming Bouquet measures 82″ x 65″. Blooming Bouquet will be in quilt shops September 2025.
If These Threads Could Talk 