Month: July 2026

Tara Faughnan just released her patterns from this past year’s Blocks3 online class, which I took. As always, I was engaged and challenged.

“Garnish” became this table topper–which feels like spring to me.

Inspired by this table topper idea, I made this piece from the leftover triangles cut from the XO quilt blocks. But I digress from today’s topic…

Pillars might be my favorite–and I may return to this idea and make a piece that is slightly bigger. But this one fits so nicely under a vase of flowers.

Star Brite feels like July 4th to me.

“Shift” is small like “Pillars” and maybe I will swap them out soon. Tara’s method of machine sewing hexagons is…ingenious and easy, but does need to be surrounded by the stars so this method would always form straight lines.

This form of “Shift” might be good as a table topper as it is a bit bigger. Who knows?

“Crosswalk” became stretched canvases. I kept these two and they are hanging in my quilt room:

Three of these were gifts and one will be a gift.

Tara had a guest designer for one month, Jen Carlton Bailly, who named her project “Shattered.” Bailly’s method involves curves, and her line of templates come in many sizes.

I made three pieces: two I put on stretched canvas, and they are hanging here. One went into my recent improv quilt.

And:

This piece went into the improv quilt:

So, that’s a wrap for Blocks3.

Will I do Blocks4? I haven’t decided.

But in reviewing this year’s work, maybe I will.

The Charleston Modern Quilt Guild challenged us to make a patriotic postcard as a gift for another participating member, whose name we each drew in secret. The recipient was to be a surprise until we mailed the postcards in July–for America’s celebration of our 250th birthday as a nation.

I had such fun choosing a pattern and patriotic fabrics. I mailed mine in an envelope to protect it.

And here’s what arrived in the mail for me. Along with a quilted notecard saying the maker guessed I would support citizens taking the time to vote.

If I am recalling our instructions, all the postcards will be shared at our July meeting. And I can already tell you they each will be clever and fun to see.

“Flower Pop” is one of the prettiest quilts I’ve ever made, if I do say so myself.

The pics don’t do it justice. The colors are so rich, and the texture of the quilting just works so well. The pattern is from Sew Kind of Wonderful and involved a speciality ruler and a fairly intense learning period to get the feel of the pattern and the ruler.

It took me a fairly long while to make it as I would choose colors for each block as I went along, and sometimes I needed to just see how the colors were working together before I added another block. Of course, blocks got moved around rather a lot along the way. And a blog reader helped me think outside the box of the pattern and mix up the tall and shorter flowers. In the end, color drove the block placement, not the size of the flowers.

The backing is “Tomales Bay” by Katie O’Shea from Art Gallery Fabrics. The panto is “Check and Chase” by Hermione Agee. And the cotton thread I used is Mustard, from Signature threasds. The quilt is a good lap size at 56 by 75.

The binding is from my stash of solids. I wanted a soft color that wouldn’t draw the eye away from the quilt itself, and I think this soft dull green works well.

Here we go into another week. It has been hotter here, but the topical pattern of late afternoon thunderstorms is in place alongside the heat. We’ve gotten something like 8 inches in a span of 4 or 5 days. The grass and plants are so happy and lush and our ponds are almost full again.

Have a great week everyone!

I had such fun making these color-drenched placemats for a friend.

I alternated solids and prints in diagonal rows–using 2-inch squares from my bins.

The backs are all from the same fabric as I had enough of that fabric on hand.

Here’s my friend with her placemats. She recently bought a new home in this area and told me she “needed more color” in it. I knew she liked blue, but didn’t know she also likes yellow, so the placemats’ backing was an accidentally good choice for her.

My friend is my DIL’s mother, so my DIL and my son had both of us mothers over for a sweet gathering of the four of us–and so that I could gift the placemats.

And we’re off into another summer week.

It’s hot here, and so far no thunderstorm in the late afternoon to feed plants and grass. Maybe today…

My six placemats are done, and I’ll post a pic when they are gifted.

“Flower Pop” (Sew Kind of Wonderful) is having its binding sewn on at night. I’ve almost finished two sides. I am really really loving this quilt.

“Bright and Beautiful” is on the longarm.

The design wall is…happy, and so am I.

On the bottom left, the Bonnie Hunter “Patches and Pinwheels 2” top is done. I have a backing for it. On the upper right, Rachel LaBour’s “Spinny” that I’m calling “Umbrellas” is growing–it has become more of a primary project at this point. I bought a backing for it the other day. It will be 4 rows by 4 rows. I may not add a batting as it is…heavy. I’m still tempted to make a warm center with cool borders as a table topper, but time will tell.

On the top left are my growing number of Lelia Gardulnia’s “Scrappy Stars,” each with a different foundation pieced center. I make one, then kit one, and sew it when the mood strikes. (I use Tara Faughnan’s foundation piecing method, so no paper to rip out.)

Under “Umbrellas” is a trial block for Quilty Love’s “Cross Tiles.” It’s a big block and this quilt will make up fast when I really get cranking on it. I saved one of my Tara Faughnan’s palettes to use in this quilt, and I can add from my stash if needed.

Bonnie Hunter released her 2026 “leader/ender” project the other day: “Tulip Swirl.” She does that in July. It’s a free pattern on her blog: quiltville.com.

Of course I had to make the 4-inch trial block. And then, of course I had to make more of them. Bonnie explored so many ways to combine this block–I’m not yet sure which one I’ll choose, or if I’ll go with the stars and use a sashing to unify the project. I’ll make some blocks first. They are so easy–just 2 half-square triangles and 2 squares cut from two 6-inch rectangles, one light and one dark. Each block can use up a lot of small scrap pieces, so that’s a win-win for me. (The pattern has pressing instructions which are needed to best combine the block with others.)

Have a good week everyone!