Our new designer this week is Arlene Ward of Designs by Arlene.  She has two popular series of redwork that focus on things that grandchildren do with their grandparents: “Me and Grandma” and “Me and Grandpa.”  

Me and Grandma Baking is one of the redwork blocks. 

There’s also Me and Grandma At the Fair, Baking, Churning, Feeding the Chickens, Going to Church, Having a Tea Party, In the Garden, Trimming the Tree (we are very busy, Grandma and me). We’re also Quilting, Sewing, Shopping for Fabric (we are kindred spirits!). Make one and frame it or use it as the focal point of a quilt. Make a few of your favorites and frame them for a grouping or use them to make a small quilt for your grandchild. Make all of them and create a beautiful quilt.

Can’t forget Grandpa – Here’s Me and Grandpa Fishin’

Look for Me and Grandpa Building Together, Camping, Playing Ball, Picking Apples, and Sailing.  A quilt made of these would make a great gift for your grandchild and for Grandpa too.

Arlene does not restrict herself to redwork; she has other projects also. If you have any energy left after all those activities with the grandkids, try this beautiful Fall Festival Table Runner.

And for Christmas, Peppermint Pinwheels is a 16″ X 40″ table runner.  Also included in the pattern are instructions for placemats.  These would make a great gift or keep them for yourself!  Change the fabric and you’ll have Pink Pinwheels, or Posie Pinwheels, or . . .

Have fun with all of Arlene’s designs and when you are finished, check out the rest of the quilt patterns at QuiltersWarehouse.com.

Well, sad to say, but summer is almost over and fall will be upon us before we know it. It’s time to add a bit of autumn decor to your home. These quilt patterns are just the start of what you can find with an autumn theme.

Delectable Autumn by Sew Many Visions has instructions for a mantle throw, a table runner and place mats.  The appliqued leaves seem to dance across the center of the table runner.  Batiks would really make the leaves come alive.

Autumn Star Pattern by Rachel’s of Greenfield has a block that is so versatile.  Make all three layouts in pretty fall colors and you’ll have a nice grouping for your wall.  Then make the same three in Christmas fabrics and you’ll have a head start on your Christmas decorating.  You’ll be ready to swap out the autumn and bring in the Christmas when it’s time. If you find you like making wall hanging sized quilts, this designer has lots of wall hanging patterns as well as several punch needle embroidery patterns.

Ok, you have the table covered, the mantle covered and wall hangings up.  Now for a lap quilt… Autumn Stars Lap Quilt by Kay Gentry looks like just the one.  Only 15 blocks, a couple borders and you are finished. 

When you finish all your Autumn projects you can curl up under this lap quilt while you browse your lap top for the perfect Christmas patterns and Christmas fabrics.  Before you know it we’ll be looking at Spring and Summer patterns and fabrics again.  Seems like each year goes by a little faster than the last.

Have you seen the new pattern, On Parade?  Some quilts, when you look at them you see that the designer selected just the right fabrics and color palette.  You want the pattern and you want to make that exact quilt or one very similiar.  But some patterns seem just right for lots of experimenting and are perfect for choosing your own special interpretation.  On Parade is one of those. 

 It looks perfect for fussy cutting fabrics for the squares and then coordinating fabrics in the same theme for the skinny outlined squares and of course another for the background.

Here’s an example…  The Duck Duck Goose for fussy cutting…

 Duck Duck Goose words for the outlined squares… All About Color Turquoise for the background.  Sooooo cute.     

 Charmin’ Sue - this fabric looks like it was made for this quilt.  Fussy cut for the blocks, and fussy cut this same fabric for the outlined squares. Then maybe a soft green for the background. 

How about a sewing themed quilt with Stash Management   red for the fussy cutting?  The outlined squares could be a fabric of meausuring tape.  And for the background, match one of the thread colors in the main fabric – it looks like there is a light blue, a lilac, a pink and a light green.

You could make a sports themed quilt with balls for the outlined squares, or an animal quilt with paw prints for the outlined squares, or a garden/flower quilt with leaves… someone stop me now!

Browse the other quilt patterns to find another quilt that allows you to use your imagination.  Back to this ones – let’s see… snowmen with snowflakes… fish with bubbles… boats with anchors…

While browsing quilt patterns and different designers, I came across Cabbage Rose by Barbara Bradenburg. WOW! She has so many beautiful projects. Her quilts look like they belong at a country estate surrounded by beautiful things. She has books, patterns for quilts, pillows, bags, pillowcases, table linens and more. Many of her patterns include more than one project.

Dandelions is a perfect example. There’s patterns for two totally different quilts and for several pillows. They all look great together and would add a lot of comfort to your family room.

From the family room, move to the kitchen or dining room…

Company’s Coming is a book with projects that include table runners, placemats, and napkins. After you get the table dressed, make the throw quilt.

If you want just quilts, the book Meadow Rose has several. There are both pieced and appliqued quilt patterns. They are of varying sizes and pillow patterns are included. As the name suggests the emphasis is on flowers.

The quilts is this book have varied looks to them and a few different color palletes but each one is prettier than the one before it.

And there has been a kitty sighting! Kitty Girl & Kitty Charmer are cute little kitties that you can make over and over and each one will have it’s own personality.

There are so many more designs and patterns, including some Christmas stockings and aprons and bags. Check out Barbara Brandenburg‘s home page. You can browse through all of her quilts. Be careful… once you get there you’ll spend lots of time looking around!

Are all your quilts comprised of straight cuts… strips, or squares or triangles?  You can make some stunning quilts with simple cuts.  But have you ever wanted to try a pattern with curves? Elisa Wilson of Elisa’s Backporch Designs makes sewing curves easy.  She takes the fear out of curves.  She has designed a complete line of curve templates made of plastic acrylic that make cutting your curved pieces easy too.  The templates have a quarter inch seam allowance built in. 

When you purchase a template set there is usually a pattern included that will get you started.  You can use your rotary cutter with these templates to cut your fabric. 

Here’s one example of Elisa’s patterns… Chocolate Go Round is made with the 3 1/2″ Drunkards Path, 2 charms packs and your favorite background fabric.  Here’s a chance to play with color.  Keep the dark sections but in the lighter sections use slightly darker shades as you go from the center to the outer edges of the quilt.  Or make the colors change as in a rainbow.  Or slightly darker from the center to the outside and the dark sections slightly darker from the outside in.  Play with it!!

Watch Elisa’s video “Cutting 20 Fat Quarters” on YouTube.  She’ll show you how to get the most out of your fat quarters using both the 8″ and the 3″ templates.  The 3 1/2″ template works perfectly on charm packs.

When you are finished cutting, you can sew your curved pieces together WITHOUT pins.  Watch Elisa’s video “Sewing Crazy Curves Without Pins” on YouTube.  Once you try it you’ll wonder why you waited so long to make a quilt with curves.  You’ll be amazed at your talent!

A little over a week ago the staff and friends of Quilters Warehouse and Prairieland Quilts gathered to spend a day sewing quilts for Project Linus.  It seems quilters are always quilting for others.  You can only use so many quilts for yourself and who would want to stop quilting?!  So most quilters quilt and give.  Look at all these quilts! There were about one hundred quilts made and collected to give to the local branch of Project Linus.

Project Linus will accept quilts any time of the year so feel free to make one up and donate.  Since the quilts aren’t large it’s a good project to get things rolling again if you’ve hit a slump.  A small quilt is also a nice break when you are working on a large or complicated quilt that you just can’t seem to finish.  Finishing that small quilt gives you a sense of accomplishment and some renewed energy to go back and tackle a big project.  Here’s a few quilt patterns that are just the right size for Project Linus. 

Bento Box is a quick and easy quilt and it’s fat quarter friendly. 

Hopscotch Too is another quick, easy quilt. This one is fun, too, but watch your s’s… it’s a “stack, slice, switch, and stich” project.  Try saying that just once without messing up, let alone five times fast!

It’s A Breeze it just that.  And you can make it any temperature breeze you like… warm, cool, hot, cold or how about sizzling just to be different.  This quilt looks great with a monochromatic color scheme.  AND the pattern comes with instructions for lots of sizes, not just a kid size.

Making one of these quilts to donate is a good test run to see if the pattern will work as a gift for the next lucky half-pint relative or friend.