Midnight Posies Block 7 now available

Wow, it is nearly August and I can hardly believe how quickly each month slips away. But its time to release Block #7 for my free BOM Midnight Posies. This block starts the 3rd row of the quilt and steps up the difficulty of the blocks just a little by adding some additional techniques.

The Carnation Block adds some bold red and gold to the quilt and introduces “Quick Corners” and “Flying Geese”. Both techniques are super easy and accurate. If you want to keep the carnation all red, choose a 3rd shade of dark red for center instead of the gold. It will really look like a carnation then. Or you might want a pink carnation and choose more pink or magenta colors for your carnation. Whatever you choose it will be gorgeous.

This simple block is essentially a nine-patch, and goes together very fast. Watch your color placement! As in all my blocks, it is the color placement and contrast which makes these blocks look more complicated than they actually are.

You can download the PDF pattern for this block here . I hope you enjoy this next block in the series. And as always, I would love to see your pictures!!!!

Back From Texas Retreat

I spent a wonderful weekend at the Cabin Quilter’s Retreat in Houston last weekend. What a wonderful place! Great new friends, great old friends (well, not THAT old) and wonderful eats, conversation and quilting. If you can still get a date, the retreats at the Cabin Quilter’s Retreat are first class. I worked on a set of swap blocks while I was there and put them up on the design wall behind me. It was fun the see the pattern emerge as I added more and more blocks to the wall.

One Afternoon the neighborhood Peacocks stopped by for a minute to munch on Four O’Clock seeds by the front door. This lovely lady posed for me as she was cooling off in the shade. I kept hoping I would see a flamingo but this is as close as it got to a tropical bird!

Now I am off to Ohio to visit with my dad for 2 weeks and get some serious work done on my next pattern. Thanks for coming along for a visit.

Beach Birdies Quilt

UPDATE: Kits are available for this quilt at Quilting Bits & Pieces in Eudora, KS. There are only a few left, so you probably better call them if you want one!

I finished the quilt top for the Beach Birdies panels and fabric (by Moda) and delivered it to the quilt shop yesterday. After a few glitches with the borders I finally got it all together. I used a narrow inner border with green and black to echo the dropped shadows and then added a Finney Flap and a 6” large border with Kaffe fabric.

I took this pic with my phone since I didn’t have my camera with me at the shop last night. I’ll post a better picture next week when I can get back to the shop with my camera.

What is a Finney Flap you ask? It is a little 1/4” flange, like piping only without the cording inside, between the inner and outer borders. You can see it better in this close-up.

It will be a while before I quilt it since it will hang in the shop for a while. I just love the Christmas Flamingos. I only had a few of the fabrics from this line to work with so I added a few of my own fabrics from my stash. I love using black pimatex. It is thin but has a high thread count. Much nicer than Kona black in my opinion. Here are the 4 fabrics I had from the Fabric line in addition to the panel.

I am patterning the design now and will have it available for sale next week. If you would like the pattern It will be available for download (email) for $5.00 or a print version (snail mail) for $8.00. I will only offer the pattern as long as the fabric is available. Let me know if you are interested.

I am working on a tote bag next and will post a pic as soon as I get that done. This has been so fun! Have a great Holiday Weekend.

Midnight Posies Block 6

I love the beginning of each new month – it means I get to post another new block for the Midnight Posies BOM! This month’s block is called the Star Flower Block. It is based on a simple friendship star with an extra blue violet triangle in each corner. It reminds me of a larkspur, the July flower of the month!

You can download the PDF instructions here.

You now have the patterns for the first two complete rows of the quilt. If you want to start assembling the blocks. . . . I know, I get excited and can’t wait to see how they look together . . . here are the directions for the sashing! You will want to save these instructions for later if you wish to continue assembling the quilt as you go. I will post complete sashing and border instructions along with the last block so you won’t miss out once all the blocks are made. Hope you enjoy this next installment of our BOM.

Cutting List for Sashing
Cut (5) 2” strips of black (WOF) for sashing
Cut (5) 5 ½” strips of black (WOF) for borders
• From the sashing strips, cut eight (8) pieces that are 9 ½” long. You will use these to join
the blocks together into rows.
• Make four rows of blocks with three blocks
in each row. Arrange the blocks as shown in
the illustration or create your own arrangement.
• From the remaining sashing strips cut three
(3) strips that are 30 ½” long. You will use
these to join the rows together.
• Press all sashing away from the blocks.