2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 6 and NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns for May

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 6!

I must admit I’m a little sad that this is our final week of the Challenge, but at the same time I know all good things must come to a close. And this was certainly a GOOD THING! 6 more quilts completed! Done and done! And I wasn’t the only person who finished a quilt each week for 6 weeks, so that it totally incredible. For those of you who missed the Challenge or were unable to participate, I hope to repeat the Challenge in the fall, so stay tuned for the Fall edition 6 in 6 Challenge later this year.

YAY ME!!! With 6 quilts finished, now I can get back to the business of creating new tutorials for the blog as well as tackling some new fun projects I have on my list and I won’t feel that little bit of guilt for not finishing stuff first. Woohoo! It’s really amazing how completing 6 projects can really give you a burst of energy and inspiration. I really love that.

Of course, my week long vacation at Myrtle Beach has certainly filled up my creative bucket and I imagine I’ll be creating beach-inspired quilts for a while. Just thought I’d warn you. LOL!

How about I show off my Week 6 finish now?

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 6

Before I left on vacay, I did a little prep work so I could finish my Week 5 and Week 6 quilts while at the Beach. Last week I completed my mini version of Eclipses on the long ride to Myrtle Beach and on the way home back to good ol’ PA, I actually finished the binding on 2 table runners (including my Week 6 project) as well as hand stitched a set of Drunkard’s Path blocks. I was thrilled to be able to get so much sewing done on the way home.

All I needed to do for my Week 6 finish was to hand-stitch the binding on a second version of Molly’s Amen table runner pattern. I completed the first Amen runner for Week 4 and now this one for Week 6.

A colorful patchwork table runner featuring various fabric squares with text and designs, titled 'Amen' by Molly Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, set against a brick background.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

I modified this version of Amen by eliminating the narrow border around the rectangles. Instead, I used a large bold floral. I also made a few extra blocks to make the runner longer. I quilted it simply with an allover meander in red cotton thread. My backing was a blue floral fabric left over from another quilt. And the binding is a blue texture. All in all, I think it turned out well and I really love it. Although it’s floral, I could definitely use this in July to celebrate the 250th birthday of America.

My BEFORE photo: Here’s the runner quilted but not bound in 2024. It only took 2 years and a road trip to get ‘er done. LOL!

A colorful patchwork table runner featuring floral and geometric patterns, displayed on a blue wooden rocking chair.

My AFTER photos:

A colorful patchwork table runner featuring floral and geometric patterns, laid out on a grassy surface.
A colorful patchwork quilt featuring floral and geometric patterns, laid out on a grassy surface.

You know, I haven’t had much time to hand-stitch binding lately and I actually really enjoyed doing the hand sewing. I always have a few go projects ready to grab if I’m going to have time to stitch, but binding hasn’t been at the top of my list for a while. I’m hoping that I’ll put a little more effort into finishing those bindings, whether by hand or machine, going forward. Fingers crossed….

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 5 Winner

It’s time to announce our Week 5 winner!

Fiona M. from Ontario, Canada

HOORAY!

Way to go, Fiona!

Congratulations!

Here is Fiona’s version of Pocket Change. Isn’t it delightful? I just love the pink background. And the red coins really add a fun pop of color. The diagonal striped binding – perfect finish!

A colorful quilt featuring a patchwork design with various patterned blocks in red, green, blue, yellow, and pink on a light pink background.

Pocket Change is a fun and fast to make wall or baby quilt using 5″ squares. If you’ve never tried it before, now’s your chance. I’m thinking to raid some red, white, and blue 5″ square stacks to whip one of these up for July. Stay tuned….it’ll probably be a new tutorial soon.

Cover of 'Pocket Change' by Kate Griffin for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a colorful quilt design with rectangular fabric pieces in various shades of purple, green, and blue.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Now let’s take a peak at the newest VRD Rose Card patterns!

NEW VRD Rose Card Patterns for May

Usually I show off our new patterns the Thursday after the first Friday of each month – which would have been last week’s post, but instead last week I wanted to share my trip to the beach with you. So, here are this month’s newest patterns, a week late, but always right on time!

Collage of five quilt patterns for May 2026, featuring titles: BoBevlynn, LaRue, Main Street, Hors d'oeuvres, and Nautical. Each pattern is displayed with colorful designs and includes a price of $8.95 for the set.

Get all 5 print patterns HERE

Bobevalynn is Catherine of Running Doe’s latest mod star design. The quilt finishes at 48″ x 72″ and uses fat quarters plus yardage. You can find the kit HERE.

Hors d’oeuvres is Heidi’s new foodie quilt pattern. It is fat quarter friendly and finishes at a generous 65″ x 72″. You can find the kit HERE.

LaRue is Rachelle’s brand new mod quilt. It finishes at 52″ x 65″ and uses 5″ squares or fat quarters. (no kit available at this time)

Main Street is Pat’s latest delightful pattern. It finishes 45″ x 54″ and uses fat quarters. (kit sold out)

Nautical is Molly’s very timely newest design. It uses yardage and finishes at 48″ x 57″. You can find the kit HERE.

There is no table runner pattern for May. (Awwww, don’t cry….) Instead, there’s a brand new fun and flirty place mat pattern called Petal Pop. This is a fun mix and match fat quarter pattern, made in multiples of 2.

A colorful display of two quilted place mats featuring floral patterns and geometric designs, titled 'Petal Pop Place Mats', designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney for Villa Rosa Designs.

Get the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE

This month’s Seasonal pillow pattern is called Dot to Dot and it’s cuter than a little bug, that’s for sure! As you can see, little Miss Bailly is looking quite pleased with herself! She seems to really enjoy being the “star” of the pillow pattern photos! LOL! SHHH! Don’t tell her it’s really about the pillows, I don’t want her to be disappointed.

A decorative pillow featuring a red and black hexagonal design is displayed on a brown couch, accompanied by a small, fluffy dog resting beside it.

Get the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE

That’s 7 brand new patterns for you in May – place mats, an 18″ pillow, and throws. Which one will you make first?

Well, that’s it for me today. We’ll have one more challenge winner for Week 6 next time and we’ll also find out how many quilts were completed in 6 weeks. The anticipation is killing me and I can’t wait to find out the answer. Someone is going to win a prize for guessing the closest number to the total.

See you next week!

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 5…The Beach Edition

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 5!

Wow! Hard to believe we are already at Week 5. How’d that happen???

Week 5 is coming live to you from Myrtle Beach, SC. I came, I saw the ocean, and I’m toting home every blessed seashell I can find. LOL! And I’m wondering if I can tie a hot tub on the roof of the car on the way home…. I’m thinking probably not, but I can dream, right?

Yes, so far I’ve been spending more than my share of time in the hot tub, which is literally steps outside our condo patio door as we are on the pool level. Hot tubs make me very happy. Especially before and after a hard day of vacation. WHEW! If you know me at all, you’ll probably giggle when I tell you that I even did absolutely nothing for exactly ten minutes today. Whoah! That was such hard work for me. Not sure if I’ll be up to doing that again tomorrow.

Here are a few of my favorite photos so far:

A sandy beach with a clear blue sky, featuring beachgoers in the distance, grass dunes in the foreground, and a trash bin near a post.
Seeing the ocean for the first time.
Shadow of hands forming a camera shape on a rocky surface
A photo of me taking a photo of me.
A balcony view overlooking the beach with two white chairs and a railing, featuring a clear sky and ocean in the background.
The view from our condo patio.
Illuminated Ferris wheel at night with purple lights, surrounded by palm trees and a street view.
The Sky Wheel at Night
A serene view of a beach at sunset, with gentle waves lapping at the shore and a clear blue sky.
I was mesmerized by the foam.
A group of small birds walking along the shoreline, interacting with the gentle waves of the ocean.
Pipers.
A collection of various seashells scattered on a sandy beach.
Shells on the beach
A colorful sunset view with shades of orange and pink in the sky, partially obscured by a building.
Sunset
Four women posing in front of a large Hard Rock Cafe guitar sign on a sunny day.
The 4 of Us at Hard Rock
A woman standing on a surfboard in front of a large wave sculpture at Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, smiling and posing with her arms outstretched.
Yep, this is me!

I am having such a great time at Myrtle Beach and we’ve only been here for a couple days. We’ve been to Broadway at the Beach and down on the boardwalk. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I just love searching for shells on the beach! And I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the hot tub.

I’ve also done a little sewing, too. Today I sat outside on the patio and stitched some Drunkard’s Path quilt blocks by hand. I really enjoyed that. Really. And that surprised me because stitching by hand is slower than stitching by machine. Huh. Maybe, just maybe I am relaxing a teeny tiny bit, which is exactly what I needed to do.

Of course, I brought my laptop and my iPad along as well as some different projects I’ve been working on. But this kind of work isn’t really work, if you know what I mean. I love what I do for VRD as well as being a quilt designer. I just know I’ll be taking home a lot more than photos and seashells – I am recharging my creative batteries so I can keep on creating. And I’ve needed that for a while now.

And now……..quilt shopping!

WOOHOO! I had the opportunity to stop and shop at Quilting on the Beach, located here in Myrtle Beach, SC. What a delightful shop! And the ladies were really great!

Interior view of a craft and fabric store, showcasing various colorful craft supplies, fabrics, and sewing materials displayed on shelves and racks.
Interior of a craft studio with tables and chairs, featuring colorful wall hangings and quilt displays.
A display rack filled with various colorful fabrics and quilting supplies, showcasing organized stacks of patterned fabric, rolls, and packaged quilt kits in a craft store.
Shelves displaying various blue and purple fabric rolls in a craft store.
Interior of a fabric store featuring colorful fabric rolls on shelves, a central table with fabric bundles, and a variety of sewing supplies in the background.
Interior view of a fabric store featuring numerous colorful fabric bolts, a cutting table, and sewing machines. Shelves display various quilting patterns and designs.

And of course they had Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns – of course they did!

Display of various quilt patterns and designs shown in a retail setting, featuring colorful covers with titles such as 'Coffee Break,' 'Tradewinds,' and 'Silver Star' arranged in clear holders.

We really enjoyed searching for treasures in the shop! Oh my goodness – their selection of beachy and ocean fabrics was amazing. Here’s a selection of beachy fabrics I just had to get! Not quite sure what I’m going to create with them yet, but you’ll see it eventually. LOL!

A collection of colorful fabric bolts stacked horizontally, featuring various ocean-themed patterns including coral, fish, and starfish. The background shows more fabric bolts arranged neatly.

You can check them out on Facebook HERE – tell ’em Tricia @ VRD sent you!

Speaking of quilting, I also finished my Week 5 quilt right here in Myrtle Beach, out on the condo patio. I could get used to this vacation vibe thing.

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 5

This week for Week 5 I finished my half size Eclipses quilt. I made this quilt top back in 2024 for the Eclipse (you can find the tutorial HERE) but of course, it got folded and added to my to-be-finished pile and now 2 years later, it is finally time for Eclipses to shine.

Yeah, I’ve noticed that I seem to have about a 2 year lag in completing my quilt tutorial tops. Hmm. I’m going to need to work on that, I guess.

A colorful quilt titled 'Eclipses' featuring an intricate pattern of octagonal shapes in black, gray, orange, and blue. The quilt is framed against an orange background with decorative design elements. The design is attributed to Creative Sewlutions for Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Wanna see my Week 5 Finish???

Here’s my BEFORE image:

A colorful quilt featuring geometric patterns with yellow, orange, gray, and navy blue fabrics arranged in vertical strips.

And here’s my AFTER image:

A colorful quilt draped over a blue lounge chair by a pool with ocean views and a no smoking sign in the background.

You knew I was going to take it with the ocean in the background, didn’t you? Tehehe……

Here’s a close up:

A vibrant quilt displaying geometric patterns in shades of orange, yellow, gray, and blue, folded on a blue lounger.

I used a selection of Hoffman Batiks for my half-size version of Eclipses for the front and binding. I chose a fun blue industrial-looking fabric for the backing and I machine quilted with blue cotton thread in a whimsical loop and zigzag design, which I think add a nice texture to the quilt, or it will once I launder it and the quilt puckers. This week I hand-stitched the binding down in the car on the way to Myrtle Beach and I finished sewing the hanging sleeve down out on the patio, overlooking the ocean.

And while I’m here at Myrtle Beach, Pat, Leann, and Catherine of Running Doe are in Chicago at the H&H Show. I can’t wait to hear all about the show and all new exciting things going on or coming soon in our quilt universe. You can check in with Catherine on Facebook HERE to see what’s happening at the H&H show.

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 4 Winner

Well, I guess it’s time to announce our Week 4 winner!

Deedee F. from Colorado

Wowee!

Way to go, Deedee!

Congratulations!

Here is Deedee’s fun version of Star Spangled, just in time for the big 250th birthday celebration on July 4th this year:

A colorful quilt titled 'Star Spangled', featuring red and blue stripes with white stars and polka dots, designed by Running Doe Quilts for Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Well, that’s it for me this week. I’m going to go back to my vacation now. See you next week from back home in good ol’ Pennsylvania.

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 4, Guess How Many Quilts Extended, and a Much Needed Vacation

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 4!

I’m getting kind of excited to see how many quilts we finish together at the end of Week 6. Aren’t you???

Last week people had the opportunity to make a guess at the number of quilts we will finish. And the closest guess (or actual guess) will get a surprise something something in the mail after the challenge. I’m going to extend the quilt guess contest into this week because I just didn’t get a chance to post the blog on Facebook last week so others could join the fun.

So if you were thinking about jumping in with your best guess last week, you have one more week to leave a comment.

Guess How Many Quilts Will Be Finished?

How many quilts do YOU think will be finished by the end of the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge?

Leave your best guess in the comments on this blog post for a chance to win a little prize at the end of the challenge!

Here’s how it works:

  • Anyone can participate, not just the Challenge participants
  • One guess per person, please
  • Leave your best guess in the blog comments (not Facebook)
  • Entries close before next week’s post goes live
  • International friends are absolutely welcome to join in the fun 🙂

You’ll find the comment link just below the blog post title (location may vary a bit depending on your device, so you might need to do a tiny bit of exploring).

If you have trouble finding the comments, you can email your guess to tricia@villarosadesigns.com and I’ll add yours to the list.

Just be sure I have a way to contact you in case you win!

So… what’s your prediction?

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 4

Wanna see my finish for Week 4?

I just didn’t get the quilt that I wanted to finish done this week, so I substituted a little table runner instead that only needed binding. I’m not entirely sure why I never quite finished this runner, but now it’s done. And done.

After last week’s catastrophe with the marching band (tehehe) – we’re just going to need a simple drum roll today.

Drum roll please……………

For Week 4, I completed my little Christmas Amen table runner. I had already machine quilted it a few years ago when I had a mini quilt retreat with my friends Leslie and Cathey at Cathey’s lovely cottage in Maryland. Wanna read my post about my Maryland trip? You can find it HERE. But for some strange reason I don’t even know, I never actually finished it with binding.

The poor little thing has sat there dejected all this time, waiting and hoping. Well, those sad days are over, because my version of Amen is finally completed. YAY!

A decorative quilted table runner featuring various colorful patchwork pieces and printed fabrics with text, titled 'Amen', designed by Molly Cook for Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Amen is a really cute little runner. If you want it longer, it’s very simple to make more blocks, you’ll just need more fabric (and sadly, none of us ever has enough fabric, do we??? LOL!). It’s a great runner to feature small printed panel rectangles or your favorite novelty print.

My BEFORE photo:

A patchwork table runner featuring red and green Christmas-themed fabrics, including vintage trucks, trees, and festive patterns, laid out on a wooden surface.

I have a thing for vintage red trucks. I think they remind of my Dad, who was a self-employed auto mechanic for over 50 years. He’s retired now, but I think he really misses the connection with both the cars and his customers. So red truck Christmas fabric – I’m there. You don’t even have to call me twice.

I machine quilted Amen with an allover loop design (one of my favs!) using red 100% cotton thread. I actually machine quilt my quilts with the same thread I piece with. I have an entire rainbow collection of quilting thread, all tucked into a little Ikea cart with drawers on wheels. I think I’ve talked about my thread collection before, so I won’t bore you with the details. I chose a textured green fabric for the binding and machine stitched the binding down. Of course, I added a label, too.

My AFTER photo (with a little AI magic because it rained all day and I can’t get outside to take my photo):

A colorful quilt displayed as part of a quilt challenge, featuring festive patterns in red, green, and white. The quilt is hung on a clothesline against a neutral background, with stacked quilts and decorative elements nearby.

I think it turned out pretty cute, don’t you? Have you ever made Amen? If not, maybe now’s the time to try this little runner pattern.

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 3 Winner

Lucia L. from Ohio

Wahoo!

Way to go, Lucia!

Congratulations!

Here’s Lucia’s quilt finish for Week 3, Sky Diamonds. Just love those yummy sherbet-y fabrics!

A quilt titled 'Sky Diamonds' featuring a geometric pattern of diamonds in blue, orange, and yellow fabrics, displayed outdoors against a snowy backdrop.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Great finish, Lucia! Keep going – don’t stop now, you are on a roll!

SHHH! I can’t tell you how many quilt finishers we had for Week 3, but I will say it was more than the week before. Just a little hint……..

A Much Needed Vacation

I have to admit I’ve been a bit preoccupied (and maybe a bit scatter-brained) this week because I’m leaving on vacation on Saturday, as in 2 days from now.

YIKES! I’m not even packed yet!

I’m headed to Myrtle Beach with my quilty pal/cousin Kim (Hey Kim!) and her 2 friends. I am so incredibly excited – I can barely contain myself. This will be my very first time seeing an ocean. Yes, seriously. I’ve seen lakes and rivers and even the St. Lawrence Seaway, but I’ve never been to the ocean. I will finally get to mark this one off my bucket list. We’ll be there for about a week, staying in a condo right there on the beach. Our condo is on the pool and hot tub deck. Nice…..So if you’re looking for me any day next week at say 10 PM, you’ll find me in the hot tub. AHHHHHH!

A beach-themed image featuring the text 'Going to the Beach!' with a sign that reads 'sunshine saltwater and sew much fun!' surrounded by a straw hat, beach towel, flip-flops, and seashells on the sand.

It’s funny what you worry about when you’re getting ready to leave on vacation – a much need and long anticipated vacation. The thing that’s been on my mind the most is swimwear. I know that sounds funny, but really – how many swimsuits does one take to the beach??? With lots of advice, I’ve settled on 3. I think. Sigh……I guess we’ll see. I’ve order so many things from Amazon recently, I’m not even sure anymore.

Tuesday night at our April quilt guild meeting, I started my packing list for my trip. Clothes……snacks……tech stuff…….sewing projects……meds, etc. I think it’s like 4 pages. Robin and Mary Lee were rolling their eyes and laughing at me while I made my lists. What’s wrong with lists??? I’m always afraid that I’ll forget something vital, so having a list to refer to and to – GASP! – check off is a real lifesaver for me. If that makes me weird, well, that’s okay. At least I won’t be forgetting my swimsuits, not a single one.

Keep getting those VRD quilt finished, folks! You have until the end of Friday May 1st to finish your Week 4 quilt. I know you can do it – let’s get even more quilts finished this week

If you haven’t been able to complete a quilt yet for the Challenge, maybe Weeks 4, 5, and 6 will be your weeks. It’s such an awesome feeling to complete a project that’s been waiting or even to begin and finish that project in a week – we want everyone who signed up to participate to experience that feeling with us. Sew……..go sew!

Well, that’s it for me this week. I’ll see you right here next time from the beach. Maybe even from the hot tub. We’ll see.

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Just Quilty Stuff · Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 3, Guess How Many Quilts Contest, and Shopping Local

rosecards13 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 3!

I hope you’ve been spending some time over on our VRD Facebook page, where the inspiration is absolutely overflowing! Every time I pop in, I get completely sidetracked by all the wonderful quilt finishes made from our 700+ VRD Rose Card patterns. My “MAKE” list just keeps growing… and growing… and growing! Keep those beautiful quilts coming—I love seeing every single one.

I want to do a great big SHOUT OUT to everyone who has finished a quilt during the Challenge so far! Out of everyone who joined, nearly half are crossing the finish line—and that’s amazing for a challenge like this!

If you’ve got a quilt that’s this close to done, this is your week—let’s see how many more we can push across the finish line for Week 3!

As I mentioned above, we are now in Week 3 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. And wow… you all have been busy!

  • Week 1: 28 quilts finished
  • Week 2: 26 quilts finished

We’ve completed a grand total of 54 quilts in just 2 weeks! 🎉 TOGETHER! Yay Us!

Isn’t that amazing?? And the best part… we still have Week 3 wrapping up tomorrow, plus three more weeks to go. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see where we land by the end!

Guess How Many Quilts Will Be Finished?

So here’s a little fun idea to celebrate all this amazing progress…

How many quilts do YOU think will be finished by the end of the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge?

Leave your best guess in the comments on this blog post for a chance to win a little prize at the end of the challenge!

Here’s how it works:

  • One guess per person
  • Leave your guess in the blog comments (not Facebook)
  • Entries close before next week’s post goes live

👉 You’ll find the comment link just below the blog post title (location may vary a bit depending on your device, so you might need to do a tiny bit of exploring).

If you have trouble finding the comments, you can email your guess to tricia@villarosadesigns.com and I’ll add yours to the list. Just be sure I have a way to contact you in case you win!

The person with the closest guess (or exact guess… you never know!) will win a fun little prize at the end of the challenge. 🎁

And yes—our international friends are absolutely welcome to join in, too!

So… what’s your prediction?
Are we headed for 75? 100? Even more? I can’t wait to see what you think!

Remember…..you only have 7 days to get your guesses in the comments (or emailed to me) so put on your thinking caps and leave your best guesses in the comments!

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 3

Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but I just finished the binding right before I sat down to write today’s blog post. But you know what????? When I did it doesn’t matter, though, as much as the fact that I have another finished quilt! WOOHOO!

Please cue the entire marching band – wait where is percussion? And what are the Color Guard doing? And is that the drum major having a meltdown? Oh my, what a catastrophe……

Sigh……I guess we’ll just continue without the band.

For Week 3, I finished my version of Angel Face. Angel Face is another one of my 2024 blog tutorial projects that just never got finished. Hmmm. This seems like a real pattern with me, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what quilt finishing challenges are for, huh? You can find a tutorial for Angel Face HERE.

A quilt design featuring a grid of stylized illustrations of women's faces, accented with pink and black fabric. The title 'Angel Face' and 'Villa Rosa Designs' are displayed prominently.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Here is my Angel Face BEFORE photo:

A colorful quilt draped over a chair, featuring floral patterns and a mix of green and pastel colors, resting on a wooden deck.

You may have noticed I made some changes when I made my Angle Face version. Instead of a single fabric for the large squares, I alternated 2 different fabrics (I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I used them both. Easy peasy.). And I added an outer border using one of the frame fabrics because my quilt needed just a little bit more something. I think it turned out really pretty with the lovely Hoffman digital fabrics paired with a really cool colorful batik.

PSST! You’ve probably noticed I use a lot of Hoffman fabrics here on the blog. In a nutshell, VRD partners with other companies out there in the quilt o’sphere. I work with Hoffman a lot (Hi Sandy!), so I very happily use their fabrics for many of the tutorials for the blog.

My quilty pal, Mary Lee, literally rolls her eyes at me these days (I see you, Mary Lee!) when I make yet another quilt using Hoffman fabrics – particularly their batiks – because in the past I was always very “take it or leave it” about batiks in general while a lot of my friends were totally wild about batiks (including Ms. Mary Lee). Now I get it, Mary Lee.

Anyway, here is my Angel Face AFTER photo:

A colorful quilt with floral patterns draped over a rustic wooden bench. The quilt features squares of various floral designs and is bordered with a gray patterned fabric.

What do you think of the purple striped binding? I’m not sure. Is it too much? I had a really tough time finding something I liked with the soft colors of the quilt so I decided to just go a little bold for the finish. It does pull out the purple in the quilt, that’s for sure.

I free motion quilted my quilt on my domestic machine (Janome 8900) with an allover big meander in a soft aqua cotton thread. I used a fun grey print fleece on the back, no batting. And finished it off with the maybe-too-bold purple stripe for the binding. And yes, I added my label, too, because a quilt isn’t finished until there’s a label on the back. I know a lot of quilters do not add labels to their quilts for a variety of reasons, but I know personally from collecting antique quilts that 100 years from now someone will want to know who the maker was, especially if it’s a family quilt. So add a label and make a little history, too.

Here’s a close up of the quilting and my purple striped binding. Meandering is totally one of favorite machine quilting patterns!

Close-up of a quilt featuring a textured gray fabric with a swirling pattern, edged with a pink and white striped binding, alongside a patchwork design of floral and textured fabrics.

How about a winner now?

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 2 Winner

Kat S. in Indiana

YIPPEE!

Drop the balloons from the ceiling now!

Congratulations, Kat!

Here’s Kat’s Week 2 Quilt Finish:

A colorful quilt featuring various shades of blue, green, and purple fabrics arranged in a patchwork design, with floral and geometric patterns.

Kat’s awesome quilt is the Honey Bouquet pattern. (Did anyone notice that it’s blue??? Anyone??? Blue and white is one of my absolute favorite color combinations in case you didn’t already know that.) Really, I use a random number generator to pick the Weekly winner, I promise you. It was just kismet that it was blue.

As you take a look at Kat’s quilt, you might notice that she used a different layout than the sample quilt on the front of the pattern. And it’s really fun – I love the movement in her quilt. Way to go, Kat!

Colorful quilt design titled 'Honey Bouquet' by Villa Rosa Designs featuring various floral and geometric patterned fabric squares.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

So what quilt are you finishing for Week 3 of our Challenge??? You have until Friday, 4/24 midnight EST to post your before/after photos on our VRD Facebook page or email them to me at tricia@villarosaquilts.com. Can’t wait to see them!

You know…..if you signed up but life’s gotten in the way of completing quilts so far for the Challenge, maybe this will be your week! We’re in this together!

Shopping Local

Last Friday, I had an errand to run to one of our local quilt shops, Sew Frannetastic. SewFran is a very unique quilt shop located outside Woodcock Township (near Saegertown) in good ol’ Pennsylvania. It’s unique because it is a quilting and sewing consignment shop – YES! You read correctly – it’s a sewing and quilting consignment shop!

When Franne and James opened a few years ago in a different location, I’d never heard of such a thing, but was of course intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? Now I’m a regular customer and every time I go, I find some wonderful treasures I would have never found anywhere else.

A display of neatly arranged fabric bolts on wooden shelves, showcasing a variety of colors and patterns, including greens, blues, and neutral tones, in a fabric store.
Image from Sew Frannetastic on FB

The exciting thing is that the shop is currently expanding because they are simply bursting at the seams with merch. And it’s not just sewing and quilting – you can find yarn along with crochet and knitting patterns and supplies as well as paper crafting and I hear that painting will be coming soon, too. When our local Jo-Ann’s closed last year, our community was left in the lurch for crafting supplies. And several of our local quilt shops have closed, too. So it’s really exciting that SewFran is creatively filling the quilting/craft store void. And we quilters and crafters couldn’t be more thrilled!

A colorful illustration of three cheerful women sitting in a red Jeep, promoting quilting with signs. The background features a quilt shop with a vibrant outdoor setting and directional signs for various quilting-related activities.
A little AI magic……..

I mentioned I had an errand to run out to SewFran and of course it was a great opportunity for a little quilty road trip – a FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip). All of a sudden, I had Robin riding shotgun and Mary Lee was ensconced in the back seat of my li’l red Jeep and we were on our way. The 3 of us did some serious damage to the banking industry while we were there, then of course, we just had to grab some lunch because shopping makes us ravenous.

We went to lunch at a small locally owned restaurant in Cochranton, PA called Parkside. The food was good and the company was even better.

A plate featuring a sandwich filled with beef, melted cheese, and sautéed onions, accompanied by a side of golden French fries.
Image from Parkside’s FB page

After lunch, we rounded out our local shopping event by heading to an adorable little gem of a shop in Cochranton called HennyPenny’s that had a little bit of everything tucked into cute little nooks and crannies. I grabbed a few new-fangled tea bag holders that perched on the edge of your tea cup for my Mom as well as some books and a quilt magazine. The shop featured new handmade items, gift ideas, clothing, housewares, cookbooks, collectibles, books, and more. Oh, by the way, it has a super fun chicken theme!

Interior of a quaint retail shop featuring vintage and decorative items. A round table with a pink checkered tablecloth is in the center, surrounded by shelves filled with various goods. Chandelier lights hang from the ceiling, and 'LOCAL' is displayed on the wall.
Image from HennyPenny’s FB page

If you’re ever in my neck of the woods here in Northwestern PA, you should check out these super friendly and fun locally owned businesses.

What local gems do you have in your community?

Well, that’s it for me this week. I’m off to do some quilting for Week 4.

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 2 and 10 Tips for Fast Finishing

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 2!

I’m super excited to be hosting (and participating in!) our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. It’s been such a great motivator for me to start moving some quilt tops out of my to-be-finished pile and into my DONE pile… and that’s a big win in my book.

One thing I’m noticing already is how much easier it feels to focus on one quilt at a time instead of staring at my whole teetering stack of UFOs. (Because let’s be honest… those unfinished projects have a way of quietly judging us from across the room. Yours do that too, right? )

I’ve been having sew much fun seeing all the amazing finished quilts popping up on Facebook and in my inbox. Keep them coming! One of my favorite parts of this challenge is seeing what everyone else is working on. It’s so inspiring to watch these quilts come together… and it’s definitely keeping me motivated too.

Ready to see my Week 2 finish???

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 2

Drum roll please…………………

Pacific Grove is my Week 2 finish. I made the Pacific Grove top for a tutorial here on the blog a while back (yeah……just found it on the blog and it was from 2024, sheesh!). You can find the Pacific Grove tutorial HERE.

A colorful quilt design featuring butterfly patterns, titled 'Pacific Grove', created by Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Here is my BEFORE photo:

A colorful floral quilt featuring a variety of flower patterns framed with purple fabric.

My version of Pacific Grove, featuring gorgeous digital floral prints from our friends over at Hoffman, is like looking through a pretty framed window at a gorgeous flower garden. I just really love it. I wish I had finished it sooner, but…………..Life always gets in the way, doesn’t it?

And here’s my FINISHED Pacific Grove quilt!

A colorful quilt with floral patterns in various shades, bordered by a purple frame, hung outdoors against a natural background of trees and grass.

Love how it turned out! I machine quilted it using a medium purple 100% cotton thread in a big open meander allover design which looks good on anything and is quick to quilt, too. I used a marbled purple fleece for the back, no batting. And I machine-stitched my binding again. I think I’m getting a little better at the corners. I figured out that if I folded the fabric the opposite way I normally do for hand-binding, it doesn’t get caught while I’m machine stitching the corners. Huh. Live and learn.

Just have to share another photo of my quilt. I wanted you to be able to see the pretty purple fleece on the back. And the great texture the big open meandering makes on the fleece. Have you ever tried using fleece on the back of a throw quilt instead of batting and backing?

A colorful floral quilt draped over a black chair in a garden setting.

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 1 Winner

Our Week 1 winner for the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge is…

Kim C. in Washington

Woohoo!

Throw the confetti! 🎉

Congratulations, Kim!

Here’s Kim’s Week 1 finished quilt:

A colorful quilt displayed against a wall featuring a zigzag pattern with various shades of blue, green, yellow, and brown.

Kim’s quilt is the Rail Fence pattern.

A colorful quilt design featuring a 'Rail Fence' pattern, incorporating various shades of blue, green, brown, and beige fabrics. The quilt is framed with a light green background and includes the designer's name, Melissa Milligan, and the brand Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

So what quilt are you finishing for Week 2 of our Challenge??? You have until Friday, 4/17 midnight EST to post your before/after photos on our VRD Facebook page or email them to me at tricia@villarosaquilts.com. Can’t wait to see them!

10 Tips for Fast Finishing Quilts

After Week 1, I know a lot of you are already feeling that little spark of momentum… and maybe also realizing that finishing quilts can sometimes take longer than we’d like. We start with the best intentions, and then life, perfectionism, or just plain overwhelm sneaks in.

So for Week 2, I wanted to share some of my favorite tried-and-true tips to help you get your quilts across the finish line a little faster. These aren’t about cutting corners… they’re about quilting smarter, keeping things manageable, and actually enjoying the process from start to finish.

Let’s do this! Together.

1. Machine stitch your binding

Yep, we’re skipping the hand stitching. It’s faster, it’s sturdy, and honestly… most people will never flip your quilt over to check. I’m one of those people who sews it to the front and then flips it to the back, but some of my pals prefer sewing the binding to the back and flipping it to the front. There is no wrong or right way to machine stitch your binding. Do what feels the most natural to you.

2. Learn to machine quilt your own quilts

Straight lines, wavy lines, loops… it all works. The goal here is finished, not heirloom show judging. It sure beats waiting your turn at the long arm quilter’s to get your quilt quilted.

If your new to machine quilting, take a class or pair up with a friend who is already doing it. Start out with smaller projects until you feel comfortable and then move on to bigger projects.

For myself, I still send my really big quilts off to the machine quilter while I do my own machine quilting for my throws and smaller projects.

Trust me, if I can machine quilt, so can you. Just remember 3 little words – practice, practice, practice. (Check out our 2025 Beginner Free Motion Quilting Series over on the right side of the blog.)

3. Keep your quilting simple

This is not the time for feathers and custom everything. Save that for another quilt. Today, we finish. My favorite 2 go-to allover quilting designs are meandering and loopy loops. These designs go with everything and they quilt quickly.

Check out our Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners: Quilt as Desired HERE.

4. Press as you go (yes, really)

I know, I know… but skipping this step will come back to haunt you later. A quick press now saves a lot of “why won’t this line up?!” later. And it’s a lot easier to quilt individual blocks and make them behave than saving all the quilting to the end and then trying to get all the blocks to behave. Trust me…..blocks can get very unruly at times (I should know…….I am guilty of saving my pressing to the end now and then).

You can find some help with pressing HERE.

5. Square it up before adding your binding

Crooked quilt tops lead to cranky bindings. A quick trim makes everything behave so much better. I never skip this step, ever because who wants quilts that ripple when there isn’t any breeze? I use a big square ruler on each corner to square up my corners first, then I use a long ruler to straighten the sides so everything is nice and square. I even double check by folding my quilts either on the diagonal (square quilts) or into fours (rectangular quilts) to make sure my corners and sides are even.

Squaring up questions? Get help HERE.

6. Use spray baste, fusible batting, or less pins if you pin baste your quilts

Less pinning, less wrestling, more quilting. Your back (and your patience) will thank you later. I prefer pin basting, but I do not over pin. I take the time to make sure my quilt backing/batting (or fleece) is taped down to my table/flat surface so it’s flat and taunt before I place my quilt top on the batting/backing. Then I use pins sparingly to keep everything together, maybe a pin every 10-12 inches. I first pin diagonally, then horizontal and vertical and finally I add any extra pins if needed to keep things nice and square.

Find out more info on layering quilts HERE.

7. Don’t over-quilt it

Dense quilting is lovely… and slow. Looser quilting still looks great and gets you to the finish line faster. If you’re not sure how loose you can make your quilting design – take a look at the batting you are using. The package will tell you how far apart you can quilt that particular batting.

Quilting bigger takes less time and actually uses less thread is an important lesson I shared with my students when I taught Free Motion Quilting.

8. Batch your boring tasks

Cut all your binding strips at once. Wind extra bobbins. Prep your label ahead of time. Future you will be delighted. Listening to some music or your favorite audio book also makes those boring tasks move a little bit faster.

9. Go with a slightly wider binding for machine stitched bindings

A 2½” strip is more forgiving and easier to catch when stitching down by machine. When I hand-stitch my binding, I cut my strips at 2 1/4″ wide, but I’ve found that the little extra in a 2 1/2″ binding for machine stitching makes a huge difference. With the 2 1/2″ cut binding, I find I have just what I need to wrap my binding to the other side and to catch it with my machine stitching.

10. Work in short, focused bursts

Set a timer, sit down, and just start. Even 30 minutes moves you forward… and forward is the whole point. Not perfect. Forward. I’ve found this technique to be really helpful when I am feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to do. So set the timer and quilt. You will be amazed at how much you can get done.

And a bonus tip or two-

Instead of a zig zag stitch or straight stitch for machine stitching your binding, try using a Triple Zig Zag stitch (also sometimes called a multi-step zigzag or 3-step zigzag). It’s stitch #11 on my Janome Memory Craft 8900QCP. Molly Cook (Big shout out to Molly!) shared this tip with me a couple years ago, and this is the stitch I use for machine binding. I also match my thread color to my binding, too.

    Finally……………………A Little Reminder

    Finished quilts don’t come from perfection… they come from momentum. Done is cozy. Done is usable. Done is something you can actually enjoy.

    Well, that’s it for me this week. I’m off to do some quilting for Week 3.

    PSST! What VRD quilt will you finish for Week 3???

    Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @ VRD

    2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

    6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 1 and NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns for April

    rosecards4 Comments

    Hello Quilty Friends!

    Happy Thursday to you!

    I’m really excited to kick off the first week of our Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. I decided not to attempt to do both a new tutorial and finish my Week 1 quilt this week. I know my limitations and there just wasn’t going to be enough time to do both. But, never fear we’ll get back to some wonderful new tutorials after we complete our 6 in 6 Challenge. Besides, this week I get to share with you our New April patterns. Yay!

    I’m also thrilled to say that over 50 brave quilters are joining me for our 6 in 6 Challenge. Just imagine – if 50 people completed 1 quilt each week during the 6 week Challenge that would be a total of 300 quilts finished! WOWEE! Wouldn’t it be really amazing if that happened??? I’ll keep track of everyone’s finishes and give you a total number of quilts completed at the end of the Challenge.

    If you are posting your before/after photos on Facebook, please say they are for the 6 in 6 Challenge and include the week number. Also, if your FB name is different from the name you provided when you signed up, please let me know or I won’t know who you are. This will help me tremendously as I want to make sure that everyone who is completing their quilts on time gets in the weekly drawings.

    One of our participants emailed and asked if it was okay to change the size of VRD quilts for the Challenge. Absolutely! As long as the pattern you are using is a VRD Rose Card.

    So, everyone who signed up to participate – let’s do this! Together.

    6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 1

    Whew! Just finished the binding on my Week 1 quilt. Seriously, I kid you not. Right before I sat down to write this post. The good news is – it’s done!

    I chose Dusk Delight as my Week 1 quilt. It was from a blog tutorial a while back, you can find the tutorial HERE. Gulp……the tutorial was actually from June 2024. Sheesh! About time this quilt got finished.

    A quilt design titled 'Dusk Delight' featuring a grid of colorful squares and rectangles in various shades, set against a light pink background. The design is attributed to Villa Rosa Designs and includes a decorative floral border.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

    Dusk Delight is a really fun pattern using 2 1/2″ strips and a coordinating fabric. It would be a really cool design featuring a favorite novelty fabric, too. One important thing you would need to consider, though, is that the fabric for the long sashing strips is cut horizontally and pieced together. That means if your fabric design runs vertically, you would need additional fabric so you could cut your strips vertically.

    Okay, here’s my BEFORE photo showing my Dusk Delight quilt top featuring a Bali Pop and a batik companion from Hoffman Fabrics.

    A colorful patchwork quilt hanging outdoors, displaying various shades of blue, green, and white fabrics arranged in a grid pattern.

    Now here is my AFTER photo showing my finished Dusk Delight. Woohoo! The weather was nice enough to take my After photos outside today, which was great. Our spring weather has been a bit weird so far. We had 86 degrees a couple days ago, then the temps dropped to the 30s (with snow showers) with a low of 14 degrees last night. BRRR! Today is in the 50s and tomorrow will be back up in the 70s. It’s like Mother Nature just can’t make up her mind which season to throw at us.

    A colorful quilt hanging outside, displaying a pattern of squares in shades of blue, teal, and gray.

    I used a royal blue solid fleece on the back, no batting. I machine quilted with a large meander allover to keep things simple. Besides, when I quilt on fleece I do prefer keeping things simple as the fleece has a lot more stretch than the quilt top does. I used a bright turquoise 100% cotton thread on the top and bottom. And a really dark blue batik for the binding, which I attached with machine. I’m getting better with machine binding the more I do, but I still struggle to make my corners neat, though.

    I had to go digging for a binding fabric because I couldn’t remember what fabric I had originally set aside for the binding way back in 2024. LOL! Usually I try to keep the binding fabric tucked inside the quilt top, but somehow along the way the quilt and binding parted ways. That’s okay, though, because I utilized my stash to find a suitable replacement. What’s a stash for anyway???

    Here’s a close up of the back of my Dusk Delight, showing my machine quilting. Please ignore the lint…..

    Close-up of a dark blue fabric with a quilted texture featuring a pattern of wavy lines.

    So, what VRD quilt did you finish/make for Week 1? You have until Friday 4/10 midnight EST to complete your quilt and either post a before/after photo to our VRD Facebook page or you can email photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

    Speaking of VRD patterns……….

    NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns for April

    I know, I know – I don’t have to say it, but somehow I just have to. I LOVE the Thursday after the first Friday of every month because that’s when I get to show off all the new monthly patterns. Yippee!

    It does seem a little ironic, though, doesn’t it that this is Week 1 for our 6 in 6 Challenge with the intent to finish VRD UFOs and here I am enticing you with the NEW April patterns. Ho hum…….that’s my job – to help you complete quilts so you can make new ones without feeling guilty.

    Without any more teasing, let’s check out the new patterns!

    Collage of five quilt pattern cards for April 2026 featuring Allspice, Melrose, LaValle, Crackled, and Turnkey designs, available for $8.95.

    Get all 5 April quilt print patterns HERE

    Allspice is Heidi’s latest pattern! I really like the big and little stars and would love to make it in patriotic fabrics. You can find a kit with the same fabrics as the pattern HERE.

    LaValle is Rachelle’s newest mod quilt design. Love the cool colors against the white background, it feels really beachy to me.

    Melrose is Pat’s latest offering. I really like how the fabrics are arranged from light to dark, accentuating the V shape. Imagine this one in shades of blue and white (my fav)……. You can find a kit featuring Yellow Sky fabrics HERE.

    Crackled is Molly’s new pattern. I love how the light blue strips really pop against the darker fabrics, don’t you? You can find a Crackled kit featuring Kaffe fabrics HERE (and it’s amazing!).

    Turnkey is Catherine at Running Doe’s latest mod quilt design. I think this one looks super fun to make. It could be totally scrappy or more controlled. You can find a kit for Turnkey featuring the same fabrics as the pattern cover HERE or a kit with Sun Moments fabrics HERE.

    YES, there is more!

    Our latest table runner is called Serenity and I know you’ll be incredibly surprised to see that it’s blue and white (you know how much I LOVE blue and white). I used fabric from Moda’s Larking collection for this runner. Truly, the fabric inspired the pattern name because it really is serene. And the fun thing about this runner pattern is that you can use panel squares in place of the big center square and/or the smaller squares. I love patterns that give you options.

    A wall-hanging quilt titled 'Serenity' featuring various blue and white fabric patterns, displayed against a wooden backdrop, accompanied by a vase of flowers and neatly folded quilts in a basket.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your Print pattern HERE

    You can find a kit for Serenity featuring Daydreams fabrics HERE.

    Now for our April Pillow Pattern – Garden Wishes. Isn’t it adorable? I mean the pillow, not the dog. Yes, Bailly my 3 year old Shih Tzu is adorable, too (and she knows it!). Bailly enjoys posing for photos. As you can see her fur is long and pretty wild right now but next month she’ll be sporting a shorter ‘do.

    Are you following along each month with the seasonal pillows? Just think – if you are, then in January 2027, you’ll have 12 months of fun seasonal pillows! How awesome is that??? If you haven’t started (or finished) your pillows for January-March, there’s still plenty of time to get caught up. I’d love to see your pillows on our VRD Facebook page.

    A small dog sitting on a couch next to a decorative pillow featuring a colorful flower pot design, with the text 'Garden Wishes Pillow' above it.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    You might remember that Heidi and Molly (3 Aunts Quilt Shop, the former VRD quilt shop in CA) are featuring each month’s seasonal pillow pattern as a block of the month project. So, if you missed any of the earlier months, you can find available kits HERE.

    Each kit includes the pattern and the fabric for the 18″ pillow front. And the kits are only $10! Better grab yours before they’re gone.

    This month’s Garden Wishes kits are:

    Kaffe

    Tonals

    Tula

    What fun we have here at VRD……patterns, fabrics, cute little dogs, and more.

    Well, that’s it for me this week. I have to get started on my Week 2 quilt for next week.

    I’m looking forward to checking out all the great finishes on Facebook, too. So get your Week 1 quilt finished by Friday midnight to get your name in the Week 1 drawing.

    Until next week —

    Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @VRD

    2026 Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

    6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Begins and a NEW Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial Series: Charlie

    rosecardsLeave a comment

    Hello Quilty Friends!

    Happy Thursday to you!

    Woohoo! Today begins our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge, are you ready??? There’s still time to join the fun. Let me tell you all about it.

    Promotional image for the '6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge' by Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a stack of colorful quilts against a blue sky background with text detailing the challenge.

    The Challenge Dates:

    Week 1 Quilt due by Friday 4/10 midnight EST

    Week 2 Quilt due by Friday 4/17 midnight EST

    Week 3 Quilt due by Friday 4/24 midnight EST

    Week 4 Quilt due by Friday 5/1 midnight EST

    Week 5 Quilt due by Friday 5/8 midnight EST

    Week 6 Quilt due by Friday 5/15 midnight EST

    The Rules and All the Details of the Challenge:

    Each week for 6 weeks, participants will post before/after photos of weekly UFOs to our VRD Facebook page or if you prefer, you can email the photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

    I will post my before/after photos on the blog, villarosaquilts.com, each week and I will try to post them on the VRD Facebook page as well.

    All quilt tops/projects must be VRD patterns – this is the VRD blog, after all. Quilts must be quilted and bound to be eligible for prize drawings. No size requirements (I have UFOs from snack mats up to large throw quilts). It doesn’t even have to be a quilt – we have some great accessories, table runners, place mats, and snack mats. Projects can be in any stage of UFO from a stack of fabric and a pattern to a pile of blocks to quilt tops to projects needing quilt or even just binding and a label. The idea is to simply finish VRD projects so we can feel great about starting new ones.

    Each week, I’ll draw a name randomly from those participants who posted before/after photos by each weekly deadline. The winners will get a surprise quilty good in the mail after the Challenge ends. Goodies might be from me or from one of our lovely quilting partners.

    This Challenge is open to all, but please note that International winners will receive a selection of VRD digital patterns.

    PSST! You can even use the next six weeks to make a NEW VRD quilt each week (or any of the 6 weeks) if you want – hey, maybe you don’t have any unfinished VRD tops just sitting around. So go ahead – pick your favorite VRD pattern and get moving. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to get some of your holiday sewing done early??? I am not quite that organized, I’m afraid, but maybe you are.

    You might be wondering what happens if you don’t post a before/after photo for a weekly Challenge or you miss the deadline. It’s pretty simple – your name won’t go into that week’s prize drawing – that’s okay because life gets busy. I’m not kicking you out of the Challenge, though – feel free to participate in any or all weeks. Your name will go into each weekly drawing that you complete a project and post your before/after photos before the weekly deadline.

    Seriously, I want to encourage all of you as well as myself to finish projects, not to stress about them. LOL!

    I think that’s all the important info. I hope I’ve answered any questions you had. If not, feel free to email me.

    Wanna join me in this Challenge?

    Send your name and email address to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com to officially join the challenge and be eligible for weekly prizes. Your name and email will only be used for this Challenge, I promise you.

    So, the Challenge begins….now. Your Week 1 Finished Project before/after photos are due by Friday, April 10th midnight EST. Post them on our VRD Facebook group or you can email them directly to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com if you prefer.

    Time to get quilting and slash your stash of VRD UFOs! And don’t forget to have some fun, too.

    HEY! maybe you can challenge your quilty pals to do the Challenge with you? A few of mine are participating, so why not ask yours? Just sayin’……..

    All right, let’s check out this week’s Spring into Spring tutorial, Charlie.

    Spring into Spring VRD Quilt Tutorial Series: Charlie

    Today’s tutorial is Charlie, a quick fun panel pattern. It finishes at 44″ x 64″. But of course, you could always add another border to make it larger if you want to. A 6″ border (strips cut at 6 1/2″) would finish at 56″ x 76″.

    A colorful quilt featuring a pirate ship, playful sea creatures, and various patchwork patterns, designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney for Villa Rosa Designs.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Let’s get going on this cute quilt!

    1. The first thing we always start with is our fabric. Today we’re using a super cool digital fabric collection from Hoffman called Crafty Cats. It’s fun and bright with some great rainbow 24/7 Solids and Linen coordinates.

    An assortment of colorful fabric pieces laid out on a cutting mat, featuring a vibrant patterned fabric with cat illustrations in the background.

    Don’t you just love love love the cat print? Guess what?!? It’s running yardage, NOT a panel.

    Have you ever thought about using a favorite novelty fabric instead of a printed panel? As long as you cut the fabric to the right size, novelty prints work beautifully in panel quilt patterns. Just a great tip from little ol’ me.

    2. I must admit I’m a little nervous to cut the running yardage to the correct size the pattern calls for because it is just too easy to make a mistake. So wish me luck as I measure and measure again before cutting.

    A colorful fabric featuring cat designs laid on a cutting mat, accompanied by a rotary cutter and a clear ruler for measuring.
    A rotary cutter and scissors on a cutting mat with colorful cat-themed fabric being cut with a ruler.

    Whew! Got it! I didn’t think I could love this fabric any more, but I totally do now it’s cut and up on the design wall so I can see it properly.

    A vibrant and colorful fabric featuring a repeating pattern of stylized cat faces in various colors and expressions.

    3. Now I’m going to cut the yellow border strips. I’ll need to cut 2 different widths for the 2 yellow borders – the inner border and the outer border. I’ll piece strips/cut them to the right size when I’m ready to actually sew them onto the quilt. So I’m going to set them aside for right now.

    Two pieces of yellow fabric with a transparent ruler and a rotary cutter on a cutting mat.

    4. Time to cut out the bright and happy squares for the middle border now. I like to layer a couple fabrics when I cut strips and then cut my strips into squares. If you’re comfortable doing that, go right ahead, but if you prefer cutting a single fabric at a time, that works great too.

    A cutting mat featuring a green fabric square, a transparent ruler, and a rotary cutter, arranged for quilting or sewing projects.
    A rotary cutter and clear ruler are placed on a cutting mat with a piece of green fabric laid out for cutting.
    A rotary cutter lies on a cutting mat with two green squares of fabric, one partially cut.

    Okay, here are all my squares, cut and ready to sew.

    A stack of colorful cloth squares in various shades including pink, red, green, and blue, arranged on a cutting mat with a grid pattern.

    5. Everything is cut out and ready to sew now. I need to measure my cat fabric center in order to cut my side yellow borders to the right length. Then I’ll pin it to the center fabric edge, matching up the centers and the ends to keep everything nice and square. And off to the sewing machine to stitch the yellow border strips to the sides.

    A colorful fabric with a pattern of cats in various artistic styles, bordered by a yellow fabric strip. Pins are used to secure the pieces on a cutting mat.
    A sewing machine stitching a vibrant fabric featuring colorful cat motifs alongside a plain yellow fabric.

    6. Next I need to head to the iron to press my seams. Today I’m sewing at my quilty pal, Robin’s house. Our friend Mary Lee, and my big sis, Tracy came to hang out too. It was a fun little impromptu get together. With snacks. You have to have snacks.

    You’ve got to love the pink cowhide print ironing board cover, right?

    An iron resting on a colorful, patterned ironing board with a strip of yellow fabric.

    7. Here’s the cat center with the side borders in place.

    A colorful fabric panel featuring a repeating pattern of cats in various colors and styles, bordered with a yellow edge.

    8. Now to measure, cut, sew, and press the top and bottom borders. So far, so good. Yay!

    A colorful fabric panel featuring a repeated pattern of cartoon animals, framed with a yellow border.

    8. The next border is made up of all those fun bright squares. I want the squares to be totally random – not in a specific arrangement – so I’m going to lay out the squares. I’m excited because those bright squares are really going to bring out the colors in the cat fabric!

    I’m only going to work on the side squares first. A funny thing happened – I was laying out and wouldn’t you know it but somehow unconsciously I began to lay out the right side to match the same sequence as the left side. Thanks, Mary Lee, for pointing that out to me. I didn’t even notice what I was doing! So after much shuffling and rearranging, the layout finally looks random. Which is quite amusing, since it wasn’t really random at all. LOL!

    A colorful quilt with a patchwork of vibrant fabric strips surrounding a central collage of various patterns and images.
    A colorful quilt hanging on a wall, featuring a central panel with vibrant, patterned fabric surrounded by a bright yellow border and accented with squares of various colors along the sides.

    9. I’m going to sew the left row of squares together, press the row, and then sew it to the left side of quilt. Then I’ll sew the right square row together and add it to the right side of the quilt before I head back to the iron to press all the seams.

    Oh dang! When I sewed the square rows to the sides I discovered that I made a mistake when I cut the length of the cat fabric way back at the beginning. Apparently I cut the length about an inch short so my square rows were slightly longer than the framed center. (Here I smack my forehead…..)

    No reason to panic, though. I matched the centers of the square rows to the center of the side yellow borders and I simply trimmed off the excess half inch or so at the top and bottom. Maybe not the most elegant solution, but it was quick and worked well and you probably wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t told on myself.

    An ironing board covered in a pink cow print fabric, with several fabric swatches in pastel colors including pink, green, blue, and purple laid out on top.
    A cutting mat with colorful fabric pieces and a rotary cutter on top. The fabric features vibrant prints, including animals, and various solid colored fabric strips laid out in a patchwork pattern.
    A colorful quilt hanging on a wall, featuring a vibrant pattern of mixed floral and artistic designs surrounded by a bright yellow border and pieced colorful stripes.
    An ironing board with a colorful fabric patchwork spread across it, next to a steam iron. The fabric features various patterns in vibrant colors, and the ironing board cover has a pink and white design.

    10. Easy Peasy. Time to lay out the top and bottom square rows and sew the rows to the quilt. It’s coming together now. Those bright squares really compliment the center cat fabric. This quilt is going to make me smile.

    A colorful quilt or fabric panel displayed against a neutral backdrop, featuring a vibrant inner pattern surrounded by a multicolored border.

    11. Next I’ll add the outside yellow borders. I had to piece these strips together before measuring and cutting them to the right length. Then I sewed them to the sides and pressed them.

    WHEW! Finally I added the top and bottom borders. I had to add a little bit to the ends of these border strips, as well, to make them fit the width of the quilt.

    A flat lay of a quilting project featuring a yellow fabric piece being pinned to colorful patchwork fabric on a cutting mat.

    12. And done! Here it is. My finished Charlie quilt top. Yay! What a fun pattern that will showcase pretty much any fabric from panels to novelty fabrics. It turned out really fun!

    A colorful quilt hanging on a wall, featuring a bright green border with multiple colored squares. The center displays a vibrant pattern with various colorful designs, surrounded by a cozy room setup including a shelf with fabric and a cup on a table.

    I hope you’ll give Charlie a try. It was a really fun pattern to make. Maybe I’ll finish this one during the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge…. We shall see, though, I have sew many VRD UFOs to complete and it will be hard to decide which ones to finish first.

    I hope you will join me and the other 25 quilters who are participating in the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Together, we can get to the finish line with some of our VRD UFOs. 6 isn’t a scary number. Each of us can make a commitment to finish 6 quilts. Even if we have stacks of UFOs. 6 is doable. If each of the 26 of us completed 6 UFOs, that would be a total of 156 completed quilts. In 6 weeks. WOWZER!

    We CAN do this together.

    Stay tuned next week to see which VRD UFO I am going to finish first. See you then!

    Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @ VRD

    Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

    Spring into Spring Tutorial Series: Pretty Posies, 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Invitation, and a Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (FART)

    rosecards2 Comments

    Hello Quilty Friends!

    Happy Thursday to you!

    We literally have SEW much to do today, so I’m going to jump right in with both feet.

    I’m really excited to be hosting the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks challenge on the blog again! If you didn’t get the chance to participate last fall in the challenge, you’ll want to join us next week!

    6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge

    A stack of colorful quilts with various patterns, featuring text promoting the '6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge' and the website 'villarosaquilts.com' set against a blue sky background.

    Here’s how the whole 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks idea got started last fall:

    With my teetering stacks of unfinished quilt tops (or flimsies), I decided some kind of serious intervention was required. Hey – what if I challenged myself to complete one quilt a week? What if I made myself accountable by posting a before and after photo each week? It sounded a little daunting to me, but I was up for a new challenge last fall. Then I had one of those why not? moments – why not invite all of you to join me? And a fun new blog challenge was born.

    So here’s the schedule of events and all the info:

    The Dates:

    Week 1 – 4/10

    Week 2 – 4/17

    Week 3 – 4/24

    Week 4 – 5/1

    Week 5 – 5/8

    Week 6 – 5/15

    The Rules and All the Details of the Challenge:

    Each week for 6 weeks, participants will post before/after photos of weekly UFOs to our VRD Facebook page or if you prefer, you can email the photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

    I will post my before/after photos on the blog, villarosaquilts.com, each week and I will try to post them on the VRD Facebook page.

    All quilt tops/projects must be VRD patterns – this is the VRD blog, after all. Quilts must be quilted and bound to be eligible for prize drawings. No size requirements (I have UFOs from snack mats up to large throw quilts). It doesn’t even have to be a quilt – we have some great accessory, table runners, place masts, and snack mats.

    Each week, I’ll draw a name randomly from those participants who posted before/after photos by each weekly deadline. The winner will get a surprise quilty good in the mail after the Challenge ends. Goodies might be from me or from one of our lovely quilting partners.

    This Challenge is open to all, but please note that International winners will receive a selection of VRD digital patterns.

    PSST! You can even use the next six weeks to make a NEW VRD quilt each week if you want – hey, maybe you don’t have any unfinished VRD tops just sitting around. So go ahead – pick your favorite VRD pattern and get moving. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to get some of your holiday sewing done early??? I am not quite that organized, I’m afraid, but maybe you are.

    You might be wondering what happens if you don’t post a before/after photo for a weekly Challenge or you miss the deadline. It’s pretty simple – your name won’t go into that week’s prize drawing – that’s okay because life gets busy. I’m not kicking you out of the challenge, though – feel free to participate any or all weeks. Your name will go into each weekly drawing that you participate in.

    Seriously, I want to encourage all of you as well as myself to finish projects, not to stress about them. LOL!

    I think that’s all the important info. I hope I’ve answered any questions you had. If not, feel free to email me.

    Wanna join me in this challenge?

    Send me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com to officially join the challenge and be eligible for weekly prizes. Your name and email will only be used for this Challenge, I promise you. Then get sewing! And don’t forget to have some fun!!!

    Okay, let’s move on to our new Spring tutorial for this week.

    Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial: Pretty Posies

    Pretty Posies is totally a perfect table runner for spring with its slightly tossed sweet blooms. I just love the perky yellow centers of the flowers – to me, they look like a little springy hello. 🙂

    A quilt titled 'Pretty Posies' featuring large colorful floral patterns, hanging on a tree branch in a natural setting. The quilt design incorporates pink, red, and yellow flowers, with a black and white floral border.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    1. Our first step is always to gather up our fabrics. Today I’m using lovely sample fabrics from our quilty pals over at Hoffman Fabrics. SHHH! This fabric isn’t even available yet, so you’re getting a sneak peak!

    It’s an upcoming new collection called Blushwing and there are some lovely sweet 1895 Watercolors batik fabrics and a fun 885 Dot batik, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Blushwing!

    A collection of fabric pieces in various colors and patterns, including floral designs with birds and solid colors, spread out on a crafting surface.

    2. Let’s get started at my cutting station (which doubles as my pressing station, too). There’s some simple cutting to do for this runner – cutting strips then cutting the strips into rectangles and squares. There’s nothing difficult or tricky with the cutting, just follow the instructions on your pattern. Instead of showing cutting images for each fabric, I’m just going to show you all the pieces cut and ready to move on to sewing.

    Various fabric pieces arranged on a pink cutting mat, including a long strip of white fabric, a square of reddish fabric, and a small yellow square with a polka dot pattern.

    3. Now we’re headed to the sewing machine. We are going to use the Stitch and Flip method to add a triangle to each corner of the flower squares. I’ve been calling this method the “flippy corner” method for a while now, but I recently discovered it is called more often the “Stitch and Flip” method, so I’ve decided to use this more common name going forward so I don’t confuse anyone (or myself).

    One corner of each flower will have a yellow triangle while the other 3 corners of each flower square will be background fabric triangles.

    Let me show you how the Stitch and Flip method works.

    Layer a small square RST (right sides together) on one corner and draw a diagonal line. Then sew on the line. Cut off the excess fabric about 1/4″ away from the sewn line.

    Close-up of fabric pieces, including a pink floral pattern and a yellow polka-dotted square, placed on a sewing machine table.
    Close-up of two pieces of fabric being sewn together, one with a floral pattern in pink and the other a yellow fabric with polka dots. A ruler is visible in the background for measurement.
    A workspace featuring a pair of orange-handled scissors, two yellow fabric triangles, and a pink patterned fabric piece, all set on a cutting mat with a ruler.

    We will repeat the Stitch and Flip method to make background triangles for the other 3 corners of each flower square.

    A partially sewn octagonal patchwork piece made of various fabrics, including pink and yellow, on a sewing table with measuring tools.

    3. Back to my cutting and pressing station to press open all of the Stitch and Flip triangles.

    A note about pressing: I suggest you press the triangles for 2 of the flower squares for each complete flower (you need 4 matching flower squares for each complete flower) towards the triangle and the other 2 towards the flower square. This will make sewing the flowers together a lot easier as the seams will nestle.

    A stack of fabric pieces in various colors and patterns, including blue, pink, and yellow, arranged on a pink cutting mat with measuring grid.
    A sewing workspace featuring an iron next to a blue hexagonal quilt piece with floral patterns, set on a gray pressing mat.
    A stack of colorful quilt fabric pieces in various patterns, including shades of red, blue, yellow, and floral designs, on a gray cutting mat.

    4. Back to my sewing machine. I’m going to lay out and sew each flower together with the yellow triangles towards the middle to create the flower center.

    I’m going to sew the top 2 squares together and the bottom 2 squares together. Then I’m going to sew the top section and the bottom section together to make a complete flower.

    A quilt block featuring four patterned octagons in shades of pink with a central yellow diamond surrounded by white fabric, placed on a gray felt surface.
    A close-up view of a sewing project showing four hexagonal fabric pieces arranged in a pattern, with pink floral fabric and a yellow center piece, placed on a sewing machine table.

    5. Sigh……back to the iron to give the blocks a nice press.

    A blue and white hexagonal quilt block with a yellow center, placed on a gray fabric surface next to an iron and scissors.
    A collection of colorful quilt blocks made from various fabrics, including floral and solid patterns, arranged on a soft surface.

    6. Next we’re going to add the half sashing to each flower block. This is what creates the movement in the runner. It’s one of my favorite easy peasy techniques.

    Back to the machine. First we add a background strip to the side and then we add the second background strip to the top. A quick press and our blocks are finished.

    A sewing workspace featuring a pile of fabric pieces arranged in the shape of a flower, with blue and yellow patterns, set against a backdrop of quilting tools and a quilting machine.
    A patchwork quilt block featuring four large red octagons arranged around a small yellow square center on a light patterned background.

    7. Yay! Time to sew the blocks together. Sooooo, back to the machine. I think I’m starting to feel a bit like a pogo stick. My cutting and pressing station is near my sewing area, but I have to get up and go around the corner of my shelf unit in order to cut or press. Sigh…..I definitely need to take some time and do a little rearranging to make it easier to go from one to the other.

    Because I am using 3 blue fabrics and 2 pink/mauve fabrics, I already knew how I wanted to lay out the blocks. You, however, might need to explore some different options until you find the arrangement you like the best. Flip and turn the blocks however you like.

    A fabric quilt with five large floral blocks arranged in a row, featuring colors of blue, pink, and a floral pattern, set against a pastel background.

    8. Now it’s time to cut border strips. Do you cut all your fabrics before you start a project or do you cut as you go along? When I have a border on a project, I usually wait until after I get the center made before I cut my border strips.

    Isn’t this just the prettiest fabric for the border? So soft and gentle.

    A stack of fabric strips featuring a pastel design of doves and floral patterns, placed on a pink cutting mat with a rotary cutter nearby.

    9. I like to measure my quilt before I cut the border strips to size, even if a pattern gives the measurements. I just like to be on the safe side. So I measured my runner through the center both horizontally and vertically to get my final border sizes. I’m going to sew the borders to the short ends first.

    I really love how the border pulls out the center blue floral flower, don’t you?

    A quilt panel featuring a series of five floral patterns in varying colors including blue, pink, and green, with yellow accents in the center of each flower.

    10. All right, now I’m going to pin my long borders to the runner. I would imagine every quilter has their own method for doing this step. For me, I begin by pinning the center of the border strip to the center of the runner side. Then I smooth each side of the border towards the end of the runner, where I pin the corners of the border strip to the corners of the runner. Finally I add a few more pins between the center and the ends to help keep everything lined up. What’s your method for sewing on long borders?

    A patchwork quilt segment featuring blue, pink, and floral patterned fabrics with pinned sections ready for assembly.

    VOILA! A finished Pretty Posies runner top. I just love how it turned out. Perfect for Spring.

    A patchwork design featuring four large flower motifs in pink, red, and blue against a light floral background.

    Now to layer it with batting and backing. Machine quilt it. Bind it and add a label.

    WHEW! I think it’s time to take a break from sewing and go shopping!

    A Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (FART)

    On Saturday, friends Robin, Mary Lee, and I piled into my cute little red Jeep Compass and went on a fun laughter-filled FART to one of our area shops. Quilter’s Cupboard is located in Seneca, PA. Big SHOUT OUT to owners Shirley and Brenda!

    Their shop is cozy and welcoming. You step inside the shop to see rows of colorful bolts of fabric and a wall filled with notions, patterns, and fabric panels. One of my favorite firs tstops are their precut shelves with assorted precuts, fun little goodies, and precut patterns. I of course grab some 5″ squares and 2.5″ squares.

    The hallway boasts more bolts of fabric with tons of great rulers on the opposite wall. The first room has seasonal fabrics and flannel. The hallway then branches left into a large bright classroom with many samples gracing the walls with the kits nearby and ample space to have classes. The right branch of the hallway leads to an exit and another room filled with ByAnnie patterns and supplies with the most amazing (and inspiring) samples. I grabbed a new ByAnnie pattern, some mesh, and zippers. We’ll see if I get brave enough to tackle that project.

    By the way, the shop is totally crazy about Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns! They have VRD samples galore as well as fantastic kits for all of their samples and of course VRD Rose Card patterns.

    A display stand showcasing various quilting patterns from Villa Rosa, featuring designs such as 'Tea for 2', 'Lantern Hill', 'Love Cats', and more. A red basket with additional pattern booklets is also visible.

    Here are some of the super VRD samples on the walls.

    A wall hanging quilt featuring various nature-themed fabric squares including images of animals and birds, bordered with a dark brown fabric and yellow highlights.

    Gridwork with a few adaptations. Get your digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

    A colorful quilt hung on a wall, featuring a patchwork design with blue, yellow, green, and floral patterns.

    Pavers – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Colorful quilt featuring beach-themed blocks with umbrellas, beach chairs, and seaside illustrations, arranged in a diagonal pattern against a yellow and light blue background.

    Dinomite – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    A colorful quilt featuring a geometric pattern with shades of teal, navy, green, and white, displayed on a wall.

    Sisterhood (I totally love this colorway, don’t you?) – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Here’s a great selection of VRD table runners!

    A display of colorful quilts on a table, showcasing various patterns and fabrics, with sewing supplies and patterns arranged nearby.

    From left to right:

    Merry Trees – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

    Poinsettia – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

    Lil Umbrellas – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

    Bespoke (2 options shown) – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

    Pumpkin Hollow – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

    And seasonal snack mats!

    Two handmade quilted placemats displayed on a wooden surface. The top placemat features a green and plaid patchwork design with shamrocks, while the bottom placemat showcases a bee and beehive pattern in black, yellow, and white.

    Top: Shamrock – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Bottom: Buzzy Bee – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Or get all 12 Seasonal Snack Mat Patterns HERE.

    What fun trip! Mary Lee spent the most and Robin spent the least. After we shopped, the three of us headed over to The Log Cabin restaurant for lunch.

    Last stop was to Ollies to poke around to see what interesting and fun things we could find. Beside, Mary Lee had never been there before.

    All in all, our FART was a welcome break from the minutia of our every day activities. And spending time with quilty pals is always a good time. When was your last FART?

    WHEW, that’s it for today’s post. Don’t forget to join me for the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge which begins next week.

    See you then!

    Sew. Laugh. Sew Some More. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @ VRD

    Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

    Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial Series: VRD Rose Card Pattern Honey

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    Hello Quilty Friends!

    Happy Thursday to you!

    Spring literally starts a few days, which is probably why we have snow on the ground again and it was like 16 degrees last night. BRRR! Regardless, I’m definitely thinking spring! So I thought it would be fun to leap into some fun spring quilt tutorials to get me into the spirit even if the weather doesn’t cooperate with the season.

    I’m also thinking it’s time for a spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Anyone up for that? I did a 6 in 6 last fall and we had great time. It was incredible to finish one VRD quilt a week for 6 weeks. 6 completed quilts at the end. Which was rockin’ awesome! Especially considering all the tutorial sample tops that I’m accumulating. LOL! So……who’s in? I’m thinking to start this the first week of April, 2 weeks from now. It would last for 6 weeks. Right now, I’m just putting feelers out to see who wants to join me for this 6 in 6 challenge? I figure if I do this challenge twice a year in spring and fall, we can all get up to 12 quilts finished in a year.

    There are a few rules, though, I’d better mention –

    1) Quilts must be made from VRD patterns

    2) You must post a before and an after photo on our Facebook page or email them to me if you’re not on FB to be entered in the weekly drawings

    3) Anyone can participate

    4) If you don’t have stacks of VRD UFOs like I do, no problem – you are welcome to make new VRD quilts/accessories to participate

    I think that’s pretty much it for the rules to get started.

    If you’re interested, you have 2 weeks to email me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com. I promise your email address will only be used by me to notify you if you win a prize.

    Now….on to our first Spring into Spring VRD quilt tutorial!

    VRD Quilt Pattern Tutorial Honey

    There’s nothing like a new table runner to add a touch of spring to you space! Have you ever made Honey before? If not, you’re in for a treat because this runner goes together quick as bunny and looks great in just about any group of fabrics you want to use.

    A patchwork quilt with a mix of floral and checkered patterns in yellow, blue, and black, displayed on a dark background with the title 'Honey' and credits to Tricia Lynn Maloney from Orphan Quilt Designs.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

    Let’s get started!

    1. Time to gather up our fabrics. I’m using lovely sample fabrics from our quilty pals over at Hoffman Fabrics today. SHHH! This fabric isn’t even available yet, so you’re getting a sneak peak!

    It’s an upcoming new collection called Nesting Hour and there are some lovely sherbet-y 1895 Watercolors batik coordinates, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Nesting Hour!

    A collection of various fabric swatches in floral and solid colors, arranged on a cutting mat with sewing tools in the background.

    2. All right! Let’s get some cutting done. First, I’ll cut strips for the block centers and then I’ll cut the strips into squares.

    A rotary cutter and a clear acrylic ruler placed on a floral printed fabric, with a pink cutting mat underneath.
    A stack of fabric pieces with a floral pattern on a pink cutting mat, next to a yellow quilting ruler.

    3. Next I’ll cut the strips for the frames and then subcut the strips into the needed smaller pieces.

    A rotary cutter and a transparent quilting ruler are placed on a floral fabric, set against a pink cutting mat.
    A cutting mat with a transparent quilting ruler placed over a light blue fabric strip and a rotary cutter nearby.

    4. All the pieces are cut, organized by shape, and ready to sew. Yay!

    Three pieces of fabric with floral designs laid out on a pink cutting mat.

    5. We’re headed to the sewing machine to make the blocks. I’m going to sew the short strips onto opposite sides of the center square. When I’m sewing the same step over and over, I really love chain piecing because it saves both time and thread.

    Close-up of a sewing machine stitching together colorful fabric pieces with floral patterns, accompanied by neatly stacked fabric squares on the side.

    6. After I sew the matching short strips to opposite sides, I’m headed over to the ironing station to press my block so far before adding the next strips. I don’t always press in the middle of sewing a block together, but today I am because I want the blocks to turn out really crisp.

    A piece of fabric with floral patterns laid on gray felt, alongside a stack of assorted fabric swatches and an iron.

    7. Then back to the sewing machine to add the long matching strips to opposite sides of the center square to complete the frame for each block.

    Close-up view of a sewing machine with fabric pieces being stitched together, featuring floral patterns and pastel colors, on a quilting mat.

    8. And back to the iron to press the completed blocks so they will be nice and crisp. I’ve noticed that when I press blocks on my wool pressing mat, I don’t have to use pressing spray to get sharply pressed blocks.

    Right now I have an 18″ x 60″ mat on my 24″ X 60″ ironing station. My Dad designed and made the ironing board for me years ago. My lovely big board sits on top of an Ikea Kallax 8 cube shelf on casters and it’s the perfect height for me!

    The 18″ wide mat just seems too narrow for me now, so I’m thinking of upgrading. I see mats are now available in 22″ x 60″ and 24″ x 60″, which is really great. Maybe I won’t run off the edge anymore. Definitely worth thinking about now if they have the exact size I need.

    A square fabric patch featuring floral designs laid out on a work surface, with an iron and additional fabric pieces beside it.

    9. Yay! My blocks are all pressed!

    A stack of quilt fabric squares in various floral patterns, including a central square featuring a dark background with floral designs.

    10. Next up is putting my blocks up on my design wall so I can rearrange them. Here’s a few photos showing how I’m moving things around. Sometimes this step takes more time than I’d like, but it is a really important one because nobody wants a visually lopsided quilt.

    A patchwork layout featuring a series of floral squares surrounded by solid-colored borders in a variety of pastel shades.
    A patchwork quilt layout featuring floral and pastel fabric squares arranged in a grid pattern.

    11. Here’s the arrangement I decided upon. Then it was back to the sewing machine to sew the blocks together. Next up with be layering, quilting, adding a label, and binding…….sometime.

    A quilt layout featuring a series of fabric squares arranged in a grid pattern. Each square has a floral print center surrounded by solid pastel colors. The layout includes a mix of peach, beige, and blue fabrics.
    A colorful quilt layout featuring floral patterns with squares of light pastel colors and dark floral prints.

    I really like how it turned out, don’t you? So soft and fresh. I can’t wait for the fabric to be available in quilt shops come September 2026.

    Your homework for the next couple weeks is to decide whether you want to join me in a Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Drop me an email (tricia@villarosadesigns.com) if you want in. I’ll post more info next week.

    Let’s get quilting and finishing together! YEAH!

    See you right here next week for another Spring into Spring tutorial.

    Sew. Laugh. Sew Some More. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @ VRD

    Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

    NEW March VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns and Wrapping Up the 2026 Winter Olympics with the Arctic Flame Quilt Tutorial

    rosecards2 Comments

    Hello Quilty Friends!

    Happy Thursday to you!

    I hope you’ve gotten the chance to watch some of the Paralympics this week. I have, and the athletes are so so inspiring. I’ve never seen anyone work harder than they do. I am truly at a loss of words to describe how I feel watching and cheering the athletes on.

    In honor of all Olympic and Paralympic athletes, today I’m doing a tutorial for Arctic Flame, which I really felt embodies the whole Winter Olympic theme. So stay tuned after the NEW patterns for the tutorial.

    OH! Before I forget, I want to say HI to all of our new subscribers. We’re glad to have you aboard the VRD ship. I’m Tricia, your Cruise Director.

    Now, let’s cue the marching band and let the balloons fly to celebrate the new March VRD patterns!

    NEW March VRD Quilt Patterns

    Hard to believe another month of 2026 has passed and it’s time for another collection of new patterns. I think you’re going to LOVE this month’s patterns. When I saw all of them, I was really amazed by the creativity of our designers. They are bright, bold, visual, and fun.

    Dang! I’m not sure which one I want to make first.

    Argh! Guess I’ll just have to add ’em to my mile long list that just keeps getting longer. I don’t think I’ll ever reach the end of the list, though.

    A promotional image featuring five quilt pattern designs for March 2026 from Villa Rosa Designs. The patterns are titled Dacada, Serpentine, Maraschino, Up & Away, and Wanderlust. The graphic highlights the patterns and indicates that all five cards are available for $8.95.

    You can get all 5 print patterns HERE

    Dacada is Rachelle’s latest modern design and it almost leaps off the pattern. I wonder what it would look like with black or navy background instead of white? It finishes at 48″ x 60″ and is fat quarter friendly. You can find a kit featuring Bold in Bloom batiks HERE.

    Serpentine by Molly is a fast and super fun strippy quilt that you can make in a wink. I love that you can use a favorite novelty fabric in her pattern. It finishes at 40″ x 60″ and uses yardage. You can find a kit featuring the same fabrics (Dressmaker) that Molly used HERE or a kit using batik fabrics HERE.

    Up & Away is Tamara’s new pattern and it is as sweet as can be. It features a horizontal panel – 23″ and up so it gives you lots of options. With a 23″ panel, it finishes at 41″ x 49″, which is a lovely size for a baby quilt. Using a 36″ panel, the size would be approximately 41″ x 61″ which would be a small throw quilt. You can find a kit with the same fabrics Tamara used (Let’s Go on an Adventure) HERE.

    Maraschino is Pat’s March pattern and it couldn’t be more fun. It finishes at 45″ x 54″ and uses fat quarters and a little bit of yardage. You can find a kit with the same fabrics Pat used (Red, White, and Sweet) HERE.

    Wanderlust is Creative Sewlutions’s latest modern design. It finishes at 49″ x 63″ and uses yardage. I’m itching to make this one out of my stash with an awesome pop of color.

    But wait – we’re not done yet!

    Here’s my March Table Runner, Be Square. The center blocks are great for using your favorite fun novelty fabrics, printed panel squares, or even stray quilt blocks. It’s a very versatile design. And it goes together really fast.

    A colorful quilted table runner featuring square blocks with floral patterns on a red background, titled 'Be Square' by Tricia Lynn Maloney. The design includes white spaces between the colorful squares.

    Get the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE.

    And last, but certainly not least, is the third Pillow pattern in the 2026 Seasonal Pillow Series. It’s called Spring Blooms. This pillow design would look great in so many different color combinations! What would your favorite combination be?

    Guess what? My Mom claimed this pillow for herself even before it was finished! Moms can be like that sometimes…….LOL!

    And a star is born! My cute little Shih Tzu girl, Bailly, is always happy to pose for me. Isn’t she a cutie?

    A decorative pillow titled 'Spring Blooms' displayed on a green couch, with a small dog sitting beside it.

    Get your digital pattern HERE or your Print pattern HERE.

    3 Aunts Quilt Shop is doing a Block of the Month with the Pillow series this year and you can find the new Spring Blooms kits below:

    Kaffe Fabrics

    Tonals

    Tula Fabrics

    They still have some kit options available for Happy Hearts (Jan) and Good Luck (Feb) available HERE if you haven’t made yours yet.

    All right! What an awesome collection of patterns for March! Which one are you going to make first?

    Now let’s dive right into our tutorial for today – Arctic Flame.

    VRD Arctic Flame Quilt Tutorial

    Are you familiar with the Arctic Flame pattern? It’s an oldie but definitely a goodie! This is one of Pat’s clever designs.

    I’ve always wanted to make Arctic Flame, but for some reason I thought it looked kind of daunting and…I just didn’t. So, I keep coming back to it and then telling myself “someday.” Have you ever felt that way about a pattern?

    Well, someday has finally come. I chose to do the Arctic Flame tutorial today in celebration of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. The pattern name just sung for me and seemed to embody the spirit of the games. And I had just the perfect fabrics to use – wait ’til you see them!

    A vibrant quilt design titled 'Arctic Flame' by Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a colorful pattern with floral motifs and zigzag elements on a brown background.

    Get your Digital pattern HERE or your Print pattern HERE

    1. Time to gather up our fabrics. The fabrics I’m using today are from an older Hoffman digital collection called Starry Nights. I’ve had these fabrics hanging out for a while and now they’re ready to shine! Just wait until you see what I’ve got planned for the mountain and trees running yardage print.

    Various fabric pieces displayed on a cutting mat, featuring a scenic landscape design with trees, alongside solid and patterned fabrics in shades of blue and green.

    2. Next up we’re cutting our light and dark fabrics into squares. Easy peasy.

    A rotary cutter placed on a cutting mat next to pieces of beige fabric and a measuring ruler marked with grid lines.
    A rotary cutter, rectangular ruler, and cut fabric pieces on a cutting mat with a grid pattern.
    A stack of colorful fabric squares in shades of green next to a stack of beige fabric squares, placed on a cutting mat with a rotary cutter and ruler.

    3. Another easy one – cutting the strips for the sashing. Please note that my binding will be the same fabric as the sashing which will give the quilt a wonderful finish (that is when I quilt and bind it in 2099). Do likewise if you want – just make sure you have enough fabric for both.

    A rotary cutter and a clear ruler on a cutting mat with blue and dark patterned fabric pieces, including a cut strip.
    A collection of blue patterned fabric strips arranged on a cutting mat with measurement markings.

    4. Now for the piece de resistance – the mountains and trees theme fabric. Oh my goodness! I’m almost afraid to cut into it.

    Do you have issues when trying to cut large pieces of fabric for a pattern? Well, let me tell you a little trick that I use – I use 2 rulers end to end to create the right size because I don’t have any gigantic quilt rulers to work with.

    In the photo on the left, I’m using a 15″ square paired with my favorite 6″ x 12″ ruler to get the correct fabric width.

    In the right photo, I’m using a 6″ x 26″ and my 6″ x 12″ ruler again to get the correct length.

    PSST! I really do try to use the same manufacturer when using multiple rulers for a project so the measurements will more likely be the same, but sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have available. And I’m definitely taking the time to triple check my math before cutting.

    In the bottom photo, I used my Frixion pen to mark which section the cut piece was so I didn’t get the pieces mixed up. I used TL for top left, TC for top center, TR for top right and so on.

    A cutting mat displaying a clear quilting ruler, marked with grid lines and measurement scales, alongside additional cutting tools and materials.
    A workspace with a cutting mat, various rulers, and scraps of paper and fabric scattered across the surface.
    A white fabric with light creases and stains, lying on a gray surface, accompanied by a black pen.

    5. Okay, we’re going to make some Half Square Triangles (HSTs) with our light and dark squares. Oops! I’m just rereading the instructions on the pattern and I realized I did the tutorial slightly different. Let me explain – the pattern calls for you to cut the squares on one diagonal and then sew dark and light triangles together to make HSTs.

    My usual method, shown here, gets the same results, but is slightly different. I layer my light and dark squares RST and draw a diagonal line with my Frixion pen. Then I sew 1/4″ away from both sides of the line. Finally I cut on the line to make my 2 HSTs.

    Same results, but I have found making HSTs this way eliminates sewing on the bias which can make the units stretch or do other funky things.

    You do you, though – whichever method works the best for you.

    A workspace showing various fabric squares, including printed and solid colors, with a ruler and a pen for cutting and measuring fabric.
    A square piece of light fabric, partially stitched diagonally, placed on a gray cutting mat with grid lines.
    Two triangular fabric pieces cut from a beige fabric, placed on a cutting mat with grid lines, alongside a stack of green patterned fabric squares and a black pen.

    6. We’re off to the iron now to press all of the HSTs open. Looking ahead at how we’re going to assemble the HSTs, I am going to err on the side of caution and press half my blocks to the dark and half to the light. Don’t forget to cut off all those little annoying ears after you are done pressing.

    A collection of fabric pieces in various shades of green and beige, arranged in a pile on a pink and white patterned surface.
    Cut fabric pieces for quilting, featuring a green and blue patterned triangle next to a light beige triangle, with small scraps of fabric and threads scattered on a cutting mat.

    7. Now let’s sew those HSTs together into larger units of 4 HSTs. Having the seams pressed to both light and dark is going to make this a lot easier than if they were all pressed to the dark (which is what I normally do). I laid one of the units out on one of my small flannel boards so I wouldn’t get confused while sewing them together (Hey! Wanna make your own small flannel board? Check out this tutorial!)

    A close-up of a fabric quilt block featuring a geometric design with dark green and blue patterns alongside cream-colored fabric squares. The background is light-colored quilt batting.

    8. Now that we know how to assemble the larger units, let’s sew them together, following the layout on the flannel board above. First, I’m going to sew the top 2 HSTs together. Second, sew the bottom pair together. Third, sew the top pair to the bottom pair. I often skip pressing until the end when I’m putting together a block or unit, but please press each step if you need to. Because I pressed the HST seams to both the right and the left, it’s a snap to nestle my seams to achieve good crisp points.

    Two quilt blocks featuring a geometric design with green and blue fabric on a light background.

    9. Now that the 4 HST units are sewn and pressed, we are going to sew 2 of those units together into a big 8 HST unit. This was really a lot easier to put together so far than I thought it would be. Yay!

    A quilt block featuring a zigzag pattern with dark green and blue prints complemented by light beige fabric.

    10. Next step is to sew the sashing strips on according to the pattern. I am definitely pressing all of my sashing strips to the dark side (Huh….and it’s not even May 4th yet).

    Close-up of a sewing machine working on a quilt with colorful fabric pieces, featuring shades of green and blue, on a light-colored background.
    An iron placed on a colorful quilt block featuring green and blue fabric patterns, with unfinished quilt pieces on a sewing surface.
    A close-up of an iron positioned on a piece of fabric featuring a forest pattern, with a gray pressing surface underneath.

    11. Now it’s time to lay everything out on my design wall before I can sew the sections together. WHEW! This is where I’m really glad I wrote fabric positions in the corners earlier so I don’t get the large pieces mixed up.

    A patchwork quilt in progress featuring layered fabrics with mountainous and forest designs, arranged in a pattern of alternating colors and shapes.

    12. I need to sew all the pieces in each section together before I can sew the 3 vertical sections together. OH NO! I ran into a little unexpected problem with the bottom of my quilt –

    I LITERALLY RAN OUT OF THE TREES/MOUNTAINS FABRIC. Because I wanted to arrange it vertically instead of cut random or scrappy. It’s an out of print fabric and no longer available and I have to complete the top now. Ugh! What’s a quilter to do? Improvise, of course.

    Sadly, I can’t show you my solution yet because the quilt is too long and is hiding behind my cutting and pressing station. You’ll have to wait until the end when I show the entire quilt.

    A partially completed quilt featuring a forest and mountain design, with shades of blue and green fabrics arranged in a zigzag pattern.

    13. Now I’m going to sew the 3 vertical sections together. And suddenly the quilt came together like magic! I have no idea why I felt intimidated by it for so long. Silly me.

    I really love how the sashing frames the center sections – it’s almost like looking out a window at the Alps in Italy, isn’t it?

    A creatively designed quilt featuring soft, blended colors depicting mountain landscapes and forest silhouettes with a geometric zigzag pattern at the bottom.

    14. And here’s the completed Arctic Flame quilt top. Please forgive the rocks anchoring the corners of the quilt top, but it’s a typical windy March day here in northwestern Pennsylvania.

    Can you see my solution for running out of the trees/mountain print? The bottom center piece. I found a dark mottled fabric in my stash to place there. It works, doesn’t it? It really does. As the bottom of the center middle section is dark, like it’s fading into the shadows, the dark mottled fabric continues the shadow idea. What are your thoughts on my design decision? Have you ever run into a similar situation when you ran out of fabric and had to improvise? What did you do?

    A patchwork quilt laid out on grass, featuring designs of blue and green mountains and forest landscapes.

    I really love how Arctic Flame came together and how the HST sections now mimic the mountains in the digital trees/mountain fabric by our friends over at Hoffman’s.

    Hoffman’s sometimes creates landscape running yardage for their digital collections. Here is a great one from the current Stag and Stone collection:

    A watercolor pattern featuring birch trees and evergreen foliage in muted tones of gray, white, and hints of gold, creating a serene forest scene.

    Stag and Stone

    Wouldn’t this print be gorgeous in the Arctic Flame pattern? What would you choose for the light and dark fabrics for the HSTs and the sashing?

    Who knows? Maybe Arctic Flame will be your next quilt project.

    As the Winter Olympics and Paralympics draw to a close, so does our Olympic celebration here on the blog. Stay tuned next week to see what mischief I’m cooking up for you next.

    See you right here next time!

    Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

    Always,

    Tricia @ VRD