I wasn’t kidding when I said I lovd those birds!!! Got carried away and made these, plus the 9 I entered in the Lotto!!! Still hoping to win more……like I told Sophie, I’m just being greedy!!!!...

I have been going crazy making birds but mostly for myself.  I decided they were just the thing to populate random places in my own bird trap block inspired quilt top (for about  four months now I have been obsessing on the African-American quilts in the Belger Arts Center collection.  These three birds are quite a bit smaller than this months Block Lotto bird, the smallest began with  2″ squares to make the 1/2-square triangle body.  My...

I surfed past this quilt on allpeoplequilt.com and immediately saw a design idea for this month’s blocks.  If you follow the link to the directions for the Lemon Bars quilt, you’ll see the dimensions for the rectangle is different than ours, but the idea could be easily adapted.  To make a 16-inch block using the February lotto block, you’d need two steps blocks + one 6 inch square (finished size) + one 9 inch square + 1 inch...

Last weekend, I had an idea to make some scrappy-with-a-lot-of-purple pillow shams for my big square European-style pillows to go with this scrappy-with-a-lot-of-purple quilt. I thought to make something from half-square triangles (since there are a lot of those also in the Buckeye Beauty blocks of the quilt) and remembered this quilt that Karin made from our lotto blocks from the Scrappy Triangle blocks she won a year ago. I loved her...

I have a confession to make. I made a new quilt top. I’m not supposed to as long I’m behind on my 2013 UFO goal, but what the heck? It’s my rule. What happened is this…..Sophie issued the directions for our new Block Lotto for March. The block was simple, it had to incorporate gray and white, and another color of our choice. I was going through my scraps. This particular tub, has pinks, purples and blues. My intent...

Don’t mean to be a blog hog, but couldn’t figure out how to include 2 pictures in one post.     In the same trip, I picked up a copy of  Quilt-it . . . Today , which had a modern-style quilt called “modern dash,”  by Deanne Quill composed of a few solid rectangles against a background that reads solid.  But I think the layout could work for the Steps block as well if one wanted to show off machine quilting skills (which...

Did I mention that I LOVE this month’s block?  So much so that I saw possibilities for it everywhere.  I went to North Carolina to see my niece play in an All-Star basketball team for her league (she was GREAT!). My ever-patient brother agreed to stop by Jo-Ann’s where I saw a photo of the black and white table runner (apologies for the worse than usual picture, it was way up high).  It seems a variation of the  Step block, but with...

I have really enjoyed seeing all the quilts the last couple months from the Hot-Crossed 9-Patch lotto blocks.  I couldn’t resist putting them side by side and all on one page to enjoy one more time to enjoy: From Michelle (left) and Julie P (right) I stole Julie’s quilt photo from her blog because I loved this image of it. And two from Laurina All cool and each quilter made it their own, or in Laurina’s case, made it her own...

Peaches and Dreams is a free quilt pattern from Judy Laquidera, available on her Patchwork Times site. It is made from 12 inch blocks that contain one large rectangle and three small ones. If you wanted to use our March blocks in a similar layout, you could make 18 inch blocks, using three lotto blocks and one large 9-inch by 18inch rectangle.   I would probably start with a center cut at 3-1/2 by 8-1/2, add 2 rounds with 2-1/2 strips on the...

Earlier today I took a photo of this quilt. I pieced the blocks in a workshop almost 5 years ago and finished the quilt a few years ago in Texas.  Last night I sewed a hanging sleeve on it and today, I realized I’d never taken a photo of it. As I looked at it, hanging at the other end of the studio, I thought how a couple of the low volume fabrics could have been better chosen.  Today they seem so obviously wrong.  How did I miss that?...

I received email from Kim with this photo.  She said it reminded her of the “log cabin rose” block we made during our liberated year.  She took the photo at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show in Hampton, VA.  The quilt is My Secret Garden, made by Shelley Stahl. (I have no idea why this image is displayed side-ways in the post–I’m guessing it’s that pesky problem with some iPhone photos– but if you click it, it will open in a...

If you like strings, are interested by the rectangular proportions of the blocks we’re making this year, but aren’t crazy for hearts, check out these scrappy herringbone blocks Michelle is making on Quilting Gallery. The proportions are slightly different (her rectangles finish at 3-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches).  If you like the look of string fabric but struggle with making strings on foundations, there’s a good tutorial in her post,...