Where did July go? The summer is flying by so fast.
As July winds itself out of this year’s calendar, I’ve finished or am close too finishing three quilts that took months to make–because the blocks were challenging or involved intense sewing. I worked on each a bit here and a bit there as a mood or inspiration stuck. “Flower Pop” was one of those quilts.
(See https://louisaenright.com/2026/07/13/flower-pop-quilt-is-finished/)
My pineapple quilt “Bright and Beautiful” is done. I’ll post all the information when I’ve mailed this quilt to its destination in mid August. I used a 10 1/2 inch pineapple ruler to make this quilt–and the fabrics all came from my solid stash.
“Umbrellas,” a pattern from Rachel LaBour (Stitched in Color) is loaded on the longarm. Today I’ll finish setting up the quilt and will start the actual quilting. Rachel named this block “Spinny,” but one of my friends said the blocks look like umbrellas, so… (I still want to try the alternate color idea: warm in the center and cool on the outside. Maybe just 4 blocks for a table topper…)
My second quilt from Bonnie Hunter’s “Patches and Pinwheels” is quilted, trimmed, and bound. I’m sewing down the binding at night while watching tv. This pattern is free on Bonnie’s blog (quiltville.com). See the top banner to access her free patterns. All the fabrics came from my stash or my 2-inch cut square bins, and I will donate this quilt.
The design wall now has some room to breathe.
On the right is “Cross Tile” from Emily Dennis (Quilty Love). This 14-inch block makes up FAST. I am really liking the medium grey background (Kona Titanium) as it makes the quilt softer and less graphic than white or off-white). It will be 5 rows long and 4 wide, or a nice lap size quilt. Trust me that blocks and the crosses are getting moved around a lot as I make each new block. That’s part of the creative fun.
On the upper left are the completed blocks from Leila Gardunia’s 8-inch Scrappy Stars patterns. I am foundation piecing these using Tara Faughnan’s folded paper method–so no ripping out papers and the ability to use the paper pattern multiple times. (The circle block is one I designed for fun.) Leila G. has 25 patterns in this PDF download for $12. This morning I printed out the blocks I have not yet used. I just cut out each block’s center part as I can reuse the paper side pieces over and over.
I’ll set up this block later below today, and I’m making these when I just want to play and take a break from other projects.
Hmmm… Note that Leila Gardunia has now released patterns for very pretty scrappy diamonds. See leilagardunia.com
On the lower left of the design wall: Bonnie Hunter released her 2026 “leader/ender” block this July. She called it “Tulip Swirl,” and it is chewing up my smaller stash remnants as it is fast and easy to cut and sew. There are so, so many ways to use this block, and Bonnie has some really good ones in her FREE pattern (Quiltville.com, look at the tabs at the top of the blog.)
Warning: this block is like eating potato chips. You can’t just eat one…
I chose this larger block arrangement, which finishes at 18 inches. One could separate it with sashing, but I sort of like the secondary patterns that emerge when these larger blocks go together–see below.
Secondary patterns emerging:
Each “Tulip Swirl” block can be made from a light and dark 2 1/2-inch by 6-inch rectangle layered together–if one uses a half-square triangle ruler to cut the two needed half-square triangles (see below next to the bright yellow ruler at the toe left of the picture). I’ve also been using that ruler to cut the two 2.5-inch squares. Note: pay attention to the pressing directions as they work to make all butt together.
The pile at the bottom is waiting to be cut, and I try to cut up about 10 a day to have work ready for a leader/ender need. (There are several makers of this half-triangle ruler–one cuts the needed triangles from strips, so when layered one gets two pieces ready to be sewn together.) Note: The white and orange fabrics to the right are part of a block set-up for another Scrappy Star.
So that’s it, folks.
Have a great rest of the week.
Louisa Enright's Blog 