Block 2 Sees His Shadow, 6 more weeks of Block Designs

I love Ground Hogs day -- the holiday, not the movie.  Punxsutawney Phil has always had a special fascination for me.  Any critter who is a harbinger of weather, especially one who can predict the onset of spring in the midst of a bleak winter is on my A list.

So the February block is a bright and splashy floral design, so I naturally named it "Splash."  I just love how these bright colors cheer me up on a dreary ice and snow covered February day here in Kansas.

Note that the little dots around the flower center are French knots you will need to put in by hand after the block is complete.  Or if you would prefer something easy, use a fabric pen and draw the dots in.

Here is a slightly altered version of this block.  I left the blue outline edges off and spread out the block a little so it didn't look so crowded.  I prefer this look when combining the block in repeat patterns. I used this in the settings below.

All the blocks in this BOM finish to 8" squares and are patterned for fusible machine applique.  You may, of course, use whatever applique method you prefer.

You can download the free pattern for this block on my 2014 BOM page (see tab at the top of the page on the far right side.)  Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to get the free monthly bonus block.

I have had a lot of fun designing settings for these Fiesta blocks.  Here are a few of the settings I have come up with featuring this month's free block.

Splash and Drip 1

Splash and Drip 2

Splash and Drip 3

At the Cantina

Splash in the Fan

Splash Runner

Splash and Drip Runner

Splash and Drip at the Cantina

I get on a roll and can't stop myself.  I have so much fun with EQ7.  The problem is, which one of these settings do I make?  I want them all.  Do you have a favorite. Leave a comment and let me know your favorites.  I will pattern the one that gets the most votes.

I Am a Grandma!

Tuesday January 21, 5:05 pm Bryce Sterling Hanson was born to my adorable daughter in law and son.  Baby and mama are both well and grandma is over the moon.  Here is the proud new daddy.

I was lucky enough to be there and got to cuddle that newborn.  What a miracle!

Bryce Sterling Hanson
January 21, 2014

Pucker up Grandma, this kiss is for you!

Name for the 2014 BOM Selected and Winner Named!

Wow was this a difficult task!  I had planned to post the winner yesterday but I just couldn't decide so I took today to narrow down my list and try out each name. My final list had 22 suggestions.  Can you tell I had a time picking my fav?  Hahaha There were so many suggestions that I liked!  Some made me laugh, some made me scratch my head and go "where did that come from?"  The very best part, however, was all the wonderful stories people told relating what the quilt made them "see" or remember.  I loved those suggestions.

The tiles which inspired this quilt were made in the 1920's to the 1940's in California, for the most part, in the Spanish revival style.

Some were made by the American Encaustic Tiling Co. of Los Angeles between 1919-1933. They had plants in Vermon CA and Hermosa Beach CA.  They also had a plant in Zanesville, OH from 1875-1935, but their colors were not as bright and their patterns were not as elaborate as those made in CA.

Some tiles were made by Malibu Potteries in Malibu, CA 1926-1932.  They specialized in Spanish revival foral patterns with bright glazes.

Solon & Schemmel, San Jose, CA made tiles in this style as well from 1921-1936. They made "cuenca" (raised line) tiles with matte glaze colors in floral and geometric patterns.

Another CA company was the Tudor Tile Co. of Los Angeles, 1927-1939.  They used Matte glazes over smooth tiles in the Spanish-style.

Kraftile Co. from Niles CA, 1926-1997 made lots of tiles in this style, as did the Santa Monica Tile Co. from Los Angeles, CA.

At least one of the blocks in the quilt was inspired by tiles made by Flint Faience & Tile Co. of Flint, MI 1921-1933.  Flint's prize winning tiles were all made by hand.

Some of the Bonus Blocks, which are available to newsletter subscribers, are inspired by tiles from Spain, England, and Italy.  I think it is interesting that almost none of the tiles I researched were actually made in Mexico, but in the USA, mostly in California.  I found pictures of tiles all over the web, in books from the library, on ebay, Pinterest, and had some in my own collection.  And yes, I had to go to lunch at Chili's just to see their tables and takes some photos of my favorites! It really was fun to try to capture the style, color and joy expressed by these small ceramic wonders!

So what name did I finally choose?

Fiesta de las Flores which translates 

from the Spanish as Festival of Flowers.

The closest suggestion was "Fiesta de flora" by Anonymous on January 7!  

Since I did not know who Anonymous is, I looked at all the entries which used "Fiesta" and found Fiesta Ole (LadyBugBetty), Fiesta Time (Lynn Jarzombeck), Mosaic Fiesta (Homemother) and Fiesta Tiles (Elayne Novotny and Judy M).  

I put their names on slips of paper and spread them on the floor.  Then Buster came in and sat on the winning entry in a truly random drawing. . . er. . . sitting.  Well, Buster doesn't really sit, he plops and rolls.

So the winner of the stack of Kaffe Fasset Fat Quarters 

(which Buster did NOT sit on) 

is Elayne Novotny!

Congratulations to Elayne!

And sincere thanks to all of you for the great suggestions.  It really was hard to choose, as I liked so many of the names you submitted.

My favorites included:  Mosaic Medley, Celtic Mosaic, Tiffany Tiles (just cuz of the great alliteration), Cashmina (fun to say), Hacienda, Isabella, Fiesta Ole, Fiesta Time, Azulejos (tiles in Spanish), Mexican Garden, Talavera Tiles, Majolica, I Dream of Mexico (this was a close third place), Spanish Tiles, Fiesta Tiles (I almost picked this one), Bella, Siesta, Enchanted Tiles, Ufloria (just sounds good), and Spanish Courtyard (a strong contender).

Thanks to all of you and enjoy making this Block of the Month Quilt!

Happy New Year and New Block of the Month!

Wow, it has been forever since I posted a new BOM.  The Vintage Sampler BOM took 2 years to complete and so many of you enjoyed those vintage 30’s applique blocks.  How many of you actually started that quilt??  LOL

If you missed any Vintage Sampler blocks they are now all available for purchase on my website.

Well, I finally finished my design for the new 2014 BOM and it is a bit different from my last one.  I hope you like it.  I am still tweaking the border and sashing, but it is pretty much done.

What I really need is a name!  So I have a pile of fat quarters all tied up in a pretty bow which will go to the person that suggests the winning name for my new Block of the Month Quilt.

Here is how this one works. Each block will be available for 1 month for free.  After 30 days a new block will be posted and the old one will be removed.  Past blocks may be purchased on my website for $3.50 each.  I will not honor any email requests for missed blocks.
Newsletter subscribers will also receive a link to the free block, plus a bonus block each month available only to newsletter subscribers.  The sashing and border blocks and instructions will only be available to newsletter subscribers.
Here is Block #1:


 I am doing my sample in batiks with a few prints mixed in.  I would love to see what colors and fabrics you will do yours in.  The blocks are 8” squares, and the finished quilt measures 43” x 53” – a nice throw size or large wall size quilt.
With the additional bonus blocks, subscribers will be able to make a much larger quilt.

Bonus blocks will not be posted on my blog or sold on my website.  They are available ONLY to newsletter subscribers.  Not a subscriber?  Click the button on the left and sign up.

Fine Print:  My work is protected by copyright.  You may make one copy for yourself for personal use only.  Absolutely no other use may be made of this pattern without the written consent of Morning Glory Designs.  Do not share copies with your friends, post on any digital media, print multiple copies, or any other form of distribution.  Your friends are welcome to download their own copy.  This pattern may not be used by guilds or small groups without permission.  I cannot continue to provide free BOMs unless these copyright conditions are met.  Thank you for understanding and cooperating.

Last free BOM link is open!

The Fan Flower link is now open.  This is block 42 and is the last in the Vintage Sampler series.  Whew!  It has been a blast to design and share this pattern.  One would think writing 42 block patterns would be a real task, and it was.  But I action wrote 126 patterns because I did three versions of each block.  OMG!

Thanks to all of my great followers and newsletter readers who have faithfully followed this BOM.  I am going to start a new one next month, and no hints will be given as I am still working out the details.

Once this BOM closes the whole Vintage Sampler quilt will be available for purchase as a complete pattern only, and the 12" and 16" versions of the block, available only to my subscribers, will no longer be available at all.

I am introducing two new patterns this month which will be available from my publisher: Quiltwoman.com.  They are made featuring the Jo Morton fabric line Dovetails I from Andover Fabric.

The first pattern is called Pave the Way.  It is actually pretty simple as it features plain background blocks and all the design is fusible applique!

The second pattern is called Temple and is a combination pieced and applique quilt using the same line of Jo Morton fabric.

If you are interested in being a pattern tester -- and have a high level of piecing and applique skill AND the time to complete a top in a relatively short time frame -- please let me know.  I have a lot of patterns which need to be tested before they can be published.

Stay tuned for more new designs.

On the home front, the kitties are as crazy as ever.

Clear evidence that they are possessed!

Buffy is sitting on Buster's tail and Buster is sitting with his feet on either side of Buffy giving her a back rub, looking like a total dweeb.

And Rockie, our yellow lab, trashed my office yesterday while I was gone in an effort to climb onto the table behind a set of boxes where the cat food is hidden.  We had just filled the cat food canister and Rocky ate the whole thing.  When we got home his stomach was bulging and the cat food was GONE.  The most damning evidence, however, was the complete chaos he made of my office knocking things down in his attempt to get at the highly ingenious secret location of the cat food. . . not so secret anymore.  Damn dog!

Rocky eating watermelon.

This weekend I had a great time vending at the Nightime Needlers Quilt Show in N. Kansas City, MO. What a great group of quilters and wonderful quilts.  Here is my booth:

And here are a few of the great quilts in the show:

Ok, hope your weekend is going great and you are enjoying this wonderful fall Kansas weather!

Vintage Sampler BOM Complete this Month

It has been nearly 2 years of working on this applique quilt and I am so ready to get it assembled and on to the quilter.  My blocks are done and I am doing a bit of embellishing and will assemble the complete top in the next few weeks.

I just marvel at the productivity of several of my blog and newsletter readers who have been making some amazing renditions of this quilt.  Check out these quilt by Betty King:

 This fabulous quilt is made using the 16" blocks which were available for free to my newsletter subscribers.  I love your colorful frames around the block and simple setting triangles to finish it off.

 What a great way to use 15 of the blocks.  Notice she made 2 different versions of the basket block  and set them on point across the top as a pillow fold.  Very creative, and some great quilting too!

 This is Betty's most recent quilt suing some of the last series of blocks.  She sure love those green borders!  But what a fun way to showcase just 9 blocks in a great lap quilt.

 This adorable on-point setting using the 12" blocks from the newsletter.  They are just adorable and the cross-hatch quilting really is nice with the motion of the blocks.

Those 16" wreath blocks just really pop in this setting.  Notice how she used different color backgrounds in the blocks.  So creative and beautiful.  So far Betty has 5 completed quilts from this BOM!!  That has got to be a record,  and I bet she has more coming since she made all 42 of the blocks in all 3 sizes for a total of 126 blocks + several duplicates that appear here and there.  And she wan't afraid to play with different colors than the ones I selected, and I just love her choices.  Way to go Betty!!

I am done with the top for my version of Flower Dance which was featured as a Block of the Month and my local quilt shop.  I am pleased with the final quilt but it turned out HUGE.  They have kits available for this quilt (all batiks!) if you want to make this quilt.  It includes all the fabric for these 16" blocks plus all the sashing and border fabric, and the binding fabric for a 101" x 101" quilt!  You can contact Quilting Bits & Pieces in Eudora, KS at 785-542-2080 or bitsnpieces@sunflower.com

OK, here is the latest kitty update.  Those dratted cats are just about as crazy as a siamese can be, and they are pretty much working on all 9 of their lives!

Happy Quilting!

I just returned from Oconomowoc, WI (yes, it really is spelled like that ) where I taught EQ7 classes at the Machine Quilting Today show.  Go on, just try to pronounce that.  I had to ask a local for the correct pronunciation.  I was only able to stay 2 days so I missed the quilt show and vendor mall.  Drat.  But it was a fun trip, and now that husband Bruce is retired I have a driver and porter to haul my stuff around.  Ahhhhh!

The best news of all, is that my darling new daughter-in-law Jess is pregnant!  I am going to be a grandma at last!  She and son Eric are expecting in late January and we found out this week it will be a boy!  They are doing the nursery in a woodland theme (of course, daddy Eric is a big hunter and fisher dude) so I will have to get busy on an appropriate woodland themed quilt.

Eric sent me this picture of Jess last week on an outing to Sams Club.  I laughed so hard.  I know just how she feels!

Jess caught in the Candy aisle at Sams

Been working on my Flower Dance quilt and it is nearly done.  I have a couple in-progress pictures from the last retreat I was at in Houston in July.  This picture is before I put the sashing in.

This picture is after I stared adding the sashing.  I don't have a DONE picture yet. but should post one shortly.  Just putting on the last border this weekend and then it goes to the Quilt Shop to help sell kits.

There are three more BOM blocks up on the BOM page so be sure to get the free ones while they are available.  There are only three more blocks to go after these and we will be done.  Whew, it has been a long 21 months!!!!  LOL