Christmas Door - Lap Quilt - featuring Holiday Lodge by Deb Strain 2018.
One of the greatest things of finally getting your first house is decorating the front door for the holidays. The size of the panel blocks in Deb’s Holiday Lodge line were perfect for a door. I included options for each of the panel color ways so customers could choose the one that best suited their home.
Christmas Bears - Wall Quilt - featuring “Holiday in the Pines” by Holly Taylor 2012.
Holly Taylor’s fabric always has a lovely outdoorsy theme to it. This is the first quilt that I designed with these roaming bears. This pattern is nicely balanced between the pieced background and border and the appliqué. Like the three bears in the woods, “just right!”. Goldilocks and the third bear are having porridge back at the cabin.
Christmas at the Cabin - Lap Quilt - featuring “Holiday Lodge” by Deb Strain 2018.
This pattern design tells you 4 things about me: I like white backgrounds, I like to include lettering in my patterns, I like houses and cabins and I like this particular bear and dear who have appeared in several of my patterns. Also for every line that I work with that has a panel, I like to design at least one pattern that does not use the panel. This give shops another opportunity to keep selling the coordinates when the panels are no longer available.
Celebrate Family- Lap Quilt - featuring “Modern Farmhouse” by Barb Cherniwchan 2021.
I love star blocks. The large center showcases the fabric and the block itself signifies joy and happiness. They are easy to make and look great when you combine them in different sizes. It is not surprising to me that this has been the most popular pattern for my new fabric line which was released this month! The pattern uses the Modern Farmhouse panel so there is no appliqué required!
Candy Stripes - Lap Quilt - featuring “Aspen Frost” by Basic Grey 2013.
Basic Grey has the cutest Christmas Fabric every year if you are looking for something a little less traditional. On point settings like this one look more complicated than they are, especially when they have a pieced sashing between the blocks. The red and white sashing reminded me of peppermint candy so that is where the quilt pattern got its name. Moda has just released pictures of Basic Grey’s Christmas fabric for 2021, called Hustle and Bustle (super cute), and it would work really well with this design.
Candlelight - Table Runner - featuring “Delightful December” by Sandy Gervais 2016.
Remember when the trend was to fill your old wood burning fireplace with candles? Lots of home dec shops sold all sorts of candle holders and this table runner was my version of that. It was published in the October 2016 edition of Fons & Porter quilting magazine.
Canada Travels - Lap Quilt - featuring “True North” by Kate & Birdie 2018.
It is always fun for me when I get to design a pattern with a Canadiana theme. This design features Highway 1, the main highway that travels from east to west across Canada. True North was so successful that True North 2 by Kate & Birdie was introduced in 2020. I have also shown a FabSwitch version of Canada Travels to show how different a design can look in different fabrics.
Campin’ - Lap Quilt - featuring “Smore Love” by Eric & Julie Comstock 2013.
One of my favorite quilts. I love the owl, car and trailer which are appliqué versions of the artwork on the fabric. This was not a big seller. Maybe it was the color and not many people are into teal quilts. I definitely have to get this on FabSwitch so that you can play with different fabrics. Every quilt show and trunk show I attend, I bring this sample and lots of these patterns and I always bring most of the patterns back home. What do you think?
Cake Blooms - Table Runner - Layer Cake 2010 This is the Layer Cake version of the 3-D Blooms table runner which I showed on Day 36.
I like the colors on this runner better and the scrappy look of it created by using a Layer Cake. ( A Layer Cake is a bundle of 42 - 10” squares and contains at least 1 piece of each fabric in a fabric line.) There is enough fabric in the Layer Cake to build the front and back of the table runner. The first photo of the runner is from 2020 and the second photo was used as my cover photo for the pattern which I took in 2010. I like to think that my photography skills have improved a little bit. The key for me now is taking photos outside with natural lighting and using my phone instead of trying to figure out how to work my husband’s camera. Like yesterday’s quilt, this pattern also lives in the discontinued box.
By the Fireplace - Lap Quilt - featuring “Aspen Frost” by Basic Grey 2012.
I thought that this quilt was really cute with the teddy bear and gifts under the tree that just comes in the on right side of the quilt. I put a fireplace in the back center and built in some perspective with the gifts coming out to the sides of the quilt. Unfortunately it was not a great seller and now lives in the discontinued box.
Buzzin’ Around - Lap Quilt - featuring “Bee Grateful” by Deb Strain 2020.
Deb is known for her beautiful bee inspired fabric lines and Bee Grateful is the most recent group. This fabric is in stores now so if this pattern inspires you, buy your fabric now while you still can. This is the first quilt I have designed with the half bees as borders around the blocks and there is no appliqué. There are three other patterns using Bee Grateful on my website and on Etsy - Sweet as Honey, Honey Cakes and Farmer’s Market.
Buzz Buzz - Lap Quilt - featuring “Bee Joyful” by Deb Strain 2018.
This cute lap quilt features Deb’s beautiful artwork in the framed panel blocks surrounded by pieced bees in the sashing. Moda made this into one of their boxed kits and it sold pretty well. Yay! Writing this now, I look back on 2018 as a pretty good year with all of us naïve to the upcoming pandemic. The fabric is named Bee Joyful. I believe we all need to be joyful when we can because you never know what is around the corner.
Butterfly Summer - Lap Quilt and Table Runner- featuring “Woodland Summer” by Holly Taylor 2013.
I can’t remember the first group that did it, but it was around this time that started putting out fabric lines which combined regular cotton prints with batiks. Batiks are great for appliqué because they do not fray as easily as regular cotton. As a result, you can use batiks with fusible web on larger quilts without worrying about them looking as worn around the edges after washing. Holly Taylor had incorporated butterflies into her fabric design so that is how I ended up with blue and red butterflies which I must admit, I have never seen. It was also around this time that I started including multiple projects in one pattern to give customers extra value.
Butterflies in the Meadow - Twin Quilt - featuring “Meadow Friends” by Deb Strain 2011.
Meadow Friends was a really cute juvenile fabric line. I designed two quilts with it with the 3 to 8 year olds in mind. This one with pink, green and blue butterflies and flowers and Turtles in the Meadow with green, yellow and blue turtles and dragonflies. It would be cute to appliqué the name of the child on one of the rows and brighter if you changed the brown to white. I use a lot of white in my quilts now because I like the way it showcases the prints and allows the block and appliqué detail to stand out.
Bunnies in the Park - Large Lap Quilt - featuring “Bluebird Park” by Kate & Birdie 2013.
Just like real bunnies in the wild, you have to look hard to see the bunnies hiding in the grass. This was such cute fabric and the design of the quilt was inspired by the artwork on the fabric. It would be a really cute quilt for a young girl and would look totally different if you made the bunnies in white or black so they stand out more.
Box of Chocolates - Lap Quilt - featuring “Modern Farmhouse” by Barb Cherniwchan 2021.
This is the first of 8 patterns that I designed for my very own fabric line! Woot Woot! (Thank you Clothworks!) Box of Chocolates uses a 10” square pack and the Modern Farmhouse Panel so there is no appliqué! This pattern is currently available for purchase as a paper pattern, or a digital PDF pattern, and you will see the fabric show up in stores this month!
I will be breaking my no fabric rule on my website and putting together some kits with my fabric! I will keep you posted when they are available!
Bouquet of Irises - Lap Quilt - featuring “Audra’s Iris Garden” by Brannock & Patek 2014.
Irises are beautiful and this fabric was beautiful and this quilt was not. Say no more - the pattern is discontinued.
Bon Voyage - Lap Quilt - featuring “Printemps” by 3 Sisters 2013.
This pattern was inspired by a display in an outdoor fashion mall just outside of Paris and it began my design fascination with trunks and vintage suitcases. The quilt is shown in three different fabric combinations. I think they illustrate really well just how different a quilt can look when you switch the fabrics from the original. In 2013, I launched my free app “FabSwitch” which is located online at app. fabswitch.com. It allows customers to “switch” out the original fabrics in many of my patterns with their own choices and then print out a color picture and new fabric requirements list. You can upload fabrics from your stash or use the preloaded fabrics in the app. Check it out!
Blue Rhapsody - Large Lap Quilt - featuring “Spa” by Deb Strain 2012.
This is the first quilt that I designed with really large appliqués. It was inspired by an area rug we used to have by our front door until the cat decided to destroy it. Blue and white is such a classic combination and Deb’s fabric really made this design. Well its Day 40 and we are still on the “B” Quilts! Lots more quilts to show.
Blue Door - Lap Quilt - featuring “Towne Square Quilts” by Kathy Schmitz 2011.
I have always had a fascination with doors and have designed a few quilts featuring doors or inspired by doors. Whenever we travel, I always end up with a bunch of door photos including this one showing me in front of this other blue door. The picture was taken on March 18/18 in Howth, Ireland which is just outside of Dublin. It is the entrance to Balscadden House where WB Yeats lived from 1880- 1883. We were shown the door on a walking tour given by the man with the red beard and leprechaun hat that my husband and I met at a hotel bar next to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin.
Blue Christmas - Lap Quilt featuring “North Woods” by Kate Spain 2016.
I fell in love with this beautiful Christmas fabric by Kate Spain. The colors were so soft and soothing and a nice contrast to the hectic Christmas season. I wanted to design something that had a traditional theme but with cleaner lines to give it a modern look. I think this pattern would look pretty with blacks and silvers.
Blossoms Lap Quilt - Fabrics from Michael Miller Fabrics 2008.
This is my very first commercial quilt pattern. It includes pin tuck borders, cathedral window details, a border flap and appliqué. I put so much effort into the design and then I quilted it on my regular sewing machine and ruined it. I stitched in the ditch and it pulled the fabric in the direction of the sewing for each seam. I was too embarrassed to include it on my website and too frustrated to pick out the quilting. Maybe one day I will remake it. (Probably not)
Blooms Table Runner featuring “Fresh Flowers” by Deb Strain 2010.
This table runner is another example of me trying to do something different! Not a big success but it sold over 100 patterns so some people liked it! There are two versions of this pattern - this one using yardage in two color ways and another version using a layer cake which sold twice as many (Cake Blooms is coming up on Day 48) The petals are made with fusible fleece and the center of each flower is a covered button.
Bliss Wall Quilt featuring “Various Batiks” 2017.
This pattern was developed for Elephant’s Walk by Printfresh Studios for Clothworks but I do not have a photo of it in those fabrics. The sample shown was made from my stash as an example for my free app, app.fabswitch.com. I will get more into that in few days. The appliqué mandala is a larger version of the center of another quilt I designed in 2015. I have also made Bliss in black, white and grey which is hanging on the wall at my daughter’s apartment.
Birds in the Garden Lap Quilt featuring “Noteworthy” by Sweetwater 2016.
I love the bright fun colors in this fabric group. The prints are crisp and look great with a white background which gives the design more a modern yet folksy look. Perfect combo to brighten up your home for spring and to welcome in the summer sun. I definitely think this is a happy quilt...it makes me happy.
Billboards Lap Quilt featuring “Explore” by Deb Strain 2017.
The first thing that I thought of when I saw Deb’s Explore panel was vintage travel posters and then billboard signs. If you haven’t had the chance to explore the mountains, then you must put it on your bucket list. You don’t even have to get out of your car to see deer, bears, elk, moose. The tranquility of waking up next to a lake, watching the fish jump and the birds fly is one of the most calming experiences I have ever had. And the stars at night...amazing.
Best Time Ever! Wall Quilt featuring “Oak Grove Lane” by Kathy Schmitz 2017.
These are the last two projects included in this pattern. The first is a wall hanging which you can personalize for your family or place that you visited. The second is Kathy’s embroidered pillow which she designed to help me support the Red Cross. So cute for your cabin or RV! The “Woody” and canoe shown in the wall-hanging are showing up tomorrow in a different setting with new fabrics. Stay tuned.
Best Time Ever! Runner featuring “Oak Grove Lane” by Kathy Schmitz 2017.
Table runners are great projects for gifts. Celebrate that memorable camping trip with friends or family with a personalized version of this runner. Gift a runner to make a promise to go on a trip together when the world returns to normal. Mountains, trees, lakes, family, friends...best time ever.
Best Time Ever! Coasters featuring “Oak Grove Lane” by Kathy Schmitz 2017.
These coaster were really fun to make. The appliqué shapes were fused on and then the whole circle covered with iron-on vinyl to make them waterproof. No sewing around the tiny shapes required!
Best Time Ever! Lap Quilt featuring “Oak Grove Lane” by Kathy Schmitz 2017.
In the summer of 2017 there were terrible wildfires in my province. One of the fires raged around our cabin which has been in our family since the 1940’s when my grandpa bought the property for 50 cents an acre. Many cabins and buildings on the lake were destroyed but our cabin was spared despite the fire coming within 100 meters of our front door. I designed Best Time Ever! as a fundraiser for the Red Cross and 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the pattern is donated to the Red Cross in Canada or the US, depending on where the customer lives. There are 5 projects in the pattern including a cute embroidered pillow designed by Kathy Schmitz. The next few days will be devoted to showing Best Time Ever!
Best Friends featuring “Woof Woof Meow” by Stacy Iest Hsu 2017.
I love Stacy’s art so I had to repeat her dog and cat from her fabric as appliqués on this chain quilt. The appliqué pieces are nice and big and easy to work with. This quilt has a happy home with the organizer of the CQA show in Vancouver, BC a few years ago who had to have it and bought it off the wall of the booth! I always hope when I design a pattern that it will make someone really happy.
Bee Inspired featuring “Bee Inspired” by Deb Strain 2017.
Just in case you missed the opportunity to make a wall hanging for your sewing room in 2015, this was your second kick at the can. I absolutely loved the gorgeous monarch butterfly fabric on this border. And more vintage suitcases! What a clever idea! Deb’s newest bee fabric is in shops now and is called “Bee Grateful” and the patterns won’t be posted for a bit. The new ones are “Buzzin’ Around”, “Farmer’s Market”, “Honey Cake” and “Sweet as Honey”.
