Same Pattern, Different Looks – A Quilt Guild Block of the Month (BOM)

June 19, 2025June 18, 2025 rosecardsLeave a comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

In a few days, it will be officially summer! This got me thinking about a music lyric: “Summertime and the living is easy” and I decided to find out a little bit about it. So here I go down the rabbit hole for a few minutes. LOL! I discovered the lyric is from the song Summertime from the opera Porgy and Bess by Gershwin which debuted in 1935. It was originally sung by Abbie Mitchel.

I can hear the song in my head, but I’m not sure who sang the version I am most familiar with because apparently, tons of artists have sung it over the years. Yikes! Here is a wonderful version by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Enjoy!

Here’s to a little “Summertime and the living is easy” for all of us.

I was planning to do a fun summer tutorial for this week, but I have been using my sewing time to work on new July VRD patterns for you instead.

Let’s talk about Block of the Month (BOM) projects, instead.

Have you ever participated in a BOM? Have you finished them? The reason I ask is that over the years, I’ve not only participated, but I’ve organized BOMs and I must admit I haven’t finished all of them.

BOM Fun

Let me tell you about the current BOM I am participating in at my quilt guild, Free Spirit. Our program coordinator, Lauren (a retired quilt shop owner), organized a new BOM for our guild earlier this year. Lauren was inspired by The Civil War Diary Quilt by Rosemary Youngs and The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion book by Laurie Aaron Hird.

Cover of 'The Civil War Diary Quilt' book by Rosemary Youngs, featuring quilt block patterns and an illustration of a woman in historical dress.

Cover of The Farmer's Wife Homestead Medallion Quilt book, featuring a colorful quilt design with intricate patterns and texts related to pioneer woman stories.

Each month, Lauren selects a block from each book. One block is easy and the second block is more advanced. We have the option to make one block each month or both of them.

My favorite part of the BOM is that at our meeting, when Lauren presents the 2 new block each month, someone reads the letter that accompanies each block aloud to the group. As a former children’s librarian, I really LOVE that concept – story time for adults! YAY! Last month, I was the guest reader, which was so lovely as I hadn’t read aloud for a long time. Sure, we all know kiddos enjoy being read too, but so do adults. Maybe you’ll incorporate this idea into one your guild programs.

Each month we bring our completed blocks to the guild meeting and put them up on the wall so everyone can see each other’s blocks. I am always very excited to see everyone’s blocks side by side. It’s really interesting to see how people interpret a block pattern in their own unique way using their own fabrics.

So I thought we’d do the same thing on the blog today. It can be quite inspiring as well as a learning experience to see different people’s versions of the same pattern. I’m going to share with you my blocks, Robin’s blocks, and Mary Lee’s blocks. BIG shout out to Robin and Mary Lee, my quilty pals, who were okay with sharing their blocks with you.

**Block 1: Simple Blessings from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)**

A quilt block featuring a star pattern with dark blue and reddish-brown fabrics, centered around a plain white square.

A quilt block featuring a star pattern with blue and brown fabric, and a central cream square.

Block 2: Sun Rays Quilt from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)

A patchwork quilt block featuring a central beige square surrounded by star-like green and tan points, arranged in a traditional quilt pattern.

Patchwork quilt block featuring a star design in shades of brown and beige, with a red center.

**Block 3: Bitter Enemy from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)**

Quilt block featuring various triangular and square shapes in a muted color palette, showcasing different fabric textures.

Patchwork quilt block featuring a design with triangles in red and cream against a striped brown background.

**Block 4: Star in the Window from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)**

A quilt block featuring a star design in the center surrounded by alternating green and red geometric shapes against a beige background.

A colorful patchwork quilt block featuring star and striped patterns in red, yellow, and blue fabrics.

**Block 5: Yankee Papers from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Easy)**

A quilt block featuring a geometric design with brown, cream, and light blue floral fabrics arranged in a diamond pattern.

A quilt block featuring a geometric pattern with brown, gray, and yellow fabrics arranged in a pinwheel design.

**Block 6: Church from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Advanced)**

Quilt block featuring a brown diamond shape in the center, surrounded by a pattern of cream and light yellow squares.

A quilt block featuring a central brown diamond surrounded by patterned squares in red and cream tones.

Unfortunately as of posting, Mary Lee hadn’t made her 7 and 8 blocks yet.

And here’s where things start to get interesting – look what happens with Robin’s and my blocks. Up until now, we were all following the block instructions, but things change with block 7. Robin continues to create her blocks following the instructions, but I begin adapting the blocks so that they blend better with my other blocks.

Block 7: Puss in the Corner from The Farmer’s Wife Homestead Medallion (Easy)

A patchwork quilt block featuring a combination of muted brown, beige, and patterned fabrics arranged in a quilt-like design.

A square quilt block featuring a mix of blue and cream fabric patterns, arranged in a cross design with floral and geometric prints.

**Block 8: Southern Flags and Patriotism from The Civil War Diary Quilt (Advanced)**

A patchwork quilt block featuring a yellow star on a blue background, combined with red and tan striped fabric to represent a stylized American flag.

A quilt block featuring a design of dark blue stars on a cream background, surrounded by a checkered pattern.

Let’s take a look at each person’s group of blocks so far. Now you’ll be able to not only see the color scheme, but also the theme.

Mary Lee is using her stash of Daiwabo fabrics for her blocks to create a classy understated elegance. (Daiwabo fabrics are Japanese taupes.) Although each block has its own group of fabrics, the fabrics are repeated in more than one block for a lovely cohesion.

A collection of six quilt blocks displayed on a fabric background, featuring various designs and colors in muted tones.

Robin is using a great collection of Civil War fat quarters for her blocks to create a traditional 19th century look. I just love how she uses the lighter busy prints as backgrounds, don’t you?

A collection of nine quilt blocks arranged in a grid, featuring various patterns and colors, including stars, stripes, and geometric shapes.

Me, I’m using a big bag of blue and cream scraps with some additional fat quarters to add variety for my blocks. It definitely has a Modern Farmhouse feel going on, I think.

Nine quilt blocks arranged on a fabric background, featuring a variety of blue and cream patterns in traditional quilting designs.

We have 2 more months of blocks in order to complete the set of 12 BOM blocks for the guild. Then it will be time to figure out how we want to lay them out and complete them because how we finish the blocks is completely up to each of us. I have a pretty good idea right now as to what I want to do, but that could change based on the upcoming blocks. I think completed quilt tops using our BOM blocks will be a post coming down the road so you can see how our projects turned out.

I hope you have a lazy crazy living easy summer!

That’s it for me this week, see you next time!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · villa rosa designs

Antique Quilt Block Fun and More

December 5, 2024December 4, 2024 rosecards6 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

One of my favorite things to do when I go anywhere is to be on the lookout for antique and vintage quilt blocks, fabrics, and other textile goodies. I haven’t talked much about my super secret life as a textile collector on the blog, so I thought today would be a great opportunity to share that side of me with you.

I started out as a collector and an appreciator of antique and vintage textiles long before I became a quilter, so those early roots in textiles are still with me and are actually pretty strong. Instead of a collector, though, maybe I should call myself a curator of my own textile museum. Yep, I really do have that many textiles in my possession. And I do really enjoy adding more to my antique and vintage stash whenever I can.

Sit back and enjoy my new playthings!

Hand-Crafted Santa

Here’s my adorable Santa made out of a couple circa 1870’s/1880’s quilt blocks. I don’t know if any of you have ever been to Una’s booth at Quilt Festival in Houston? She creates the most amazing Santas using antique quilts, tops, and blocks. This cutie is my second Santa. Last year, I brought home my first Santa, which was created from lovely indigo and white quilt blocks circa 1900/1910. I haven’t started my holiday decorating yet, though, so he isn’t out of storage yet. Now they will be good company for each other. And they are a fun addition to my textile collection, don’t you think?

Feed Sack Doll

Isn’t she a little darling??? She is from the 1930’s or 1940’s and was handmade by some sweet mama or grammy for a lucky child. The pink floral body is actually made out of a feed sack and the face/hair is hand-painted. I think she is in marvelous condition, considering she’s almost 100 years old now. I just love her chubby legs!

I found this little sweetie at Quilt Festival in my friend, Tenny’s booth, Tenny Roche’ Vintage. You can find Tenny on Facebook HERE or visit her Etsy shop HERE where you’ll find all sorts of intriguing vintage items.

I have a deep interest in feed sacks, having started seriously to collect them during the pandemic. I now have crates and crates of them — I just love these wonderful colorful patterns and colors! So what’s a girl to do with all those feed sacks?

Write a pattern showcasing them, maybe?

Yup, did that! I used lots of feed sack bits and pieces out of my vintage stash for the blocks in this runner. It was a really fun project! You can find the digital Nana’s Aprons HERE or the print Nana’s Aprons HERE.

Or maybe write a book?

Yup, did that too! A couple years ago, I wrote and self-published my first feed sack book, Feed Sacks: A Collection of Vintage Feed Sack, Sugar Sack, Grain and Feed Bag Prints and Designs Volume I. I wanted to preserve and document the actual fabric patterns of the feed sacks, so what better way to do that than to put them into a book that I could share with other feed sack and textile enthusiasts?

WHat’s really exciting is that right now I’m getting ready to launch my second feed sack book, Volume 2, hopefully later this week. The first volume has over 1000 feed sack prints and designs while my new book will have another 1400+ prints and designs. Wow! And I’m just getting started on this very dear-to-my-heart project because I have lots more feed sacks to document.

Antique Quilt Blocks

At Quilt Market and Festival, one of the first things I like to do when I get the chance away from the VRD booth is to visit all of the antique quilt and textile vendors. They pretty much now all know me by name. LOL! I also scour flea markets, second hand shops, antique shops, etc. whenever I go anywhere in the hopes of finding more textile goodies. Here, I’ll show you what I found at Quilt Market and Festival as well as some from my Mom’s birthday trip to Ohio Amish country.

I’ve loved antique and vintage quilt blocks for a long time now — I started collecting them long before I ever actually knew how to quilt. I was totally hooked on learning to quilt once I saw how antique fabrics in garments made it into the quilts of the time. After that, I paired up my love of antique and vintage textiles with my love of quilting.

In fact, my very first quilt book was called Orphan Block Quilts, and I showed how I could feature both antique quilt blocks and modern quilt blocks in the same quilt design. If you’ve noticed my byline on my VRD patterns — Orphan Quilt Designs — my first book is what started the whole orphan quilt thing for me. That being said, I LOVE adding antique and vintage orphan blocks to my textile menagerie.

Humble quilt blocks like Nine Patches and Four Patches are some of my favorite blocks because they are often the first blocks a quiltmaker makes and boy, have I come across some delightful wonky blocks over the years that I suspect were early projects or rejects from quilters of the past. I love them all!

I wanted to show the Nine Patch block below all by itself because it has such wonderful fabrics in it. Can you guess how old it is (answer below the photo)?

I cannot pinpoint an exact date, but I would say second half of the 1800’s. The turkey red fabric really fascinates me — the colors are so bright. The center blue and brown stripe is also a very interesting fabric.

Indigo and white is probably the most classic color combination for quilts and I’m always on the lookout for them. I also really like indigo and double pink, so I am always happy to find those, too. Maybe someday I’ll put together a book filled with examples of antique and vintage indigo.

Scrappy quilt blocks are a lot of fun. Sometimes I shake my head at the fabric combinations quilters put together, but they also make me smile. Besides, the scrappier the blocks are, the more interesting they seem to be, particularly with their wonderful treasure troves of fabrics.

In opposition of the scrappy blocks above, below are some nice examples of organized blocks with thoughtful fabric choices.

Check out these cute Bow Tie blocks from 1890’s-1910’s. Red and black fabric combinations, like the block on the right, were very popular in the 1890’s and were sometimes called Garibaldi prints, which were named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, an important Italian leader who often wore a red shirt with a black kerchief, as did his men and followers.

I found a couple of very antique blocks that were truly orphan blocks because they were the only ones of their kind that I found. I know you will agree that they are pretty special.

The first Leaf block could actually date from 1840-1870. WOW! Do you see the little dots on the red fabric? Whatever metallic mordant used to dye the fabric actually ate through the colored dots, so where you see dots, they are actually tiny holes. Isn’t it quite fascinating that this little block has so much to say?

The second Monkey Wrench block is a traditional poison green (called poison green because it was originally dyed with arsenic — just a little bit of quilt history trivia for you) and double pink combination which was popular in the 1870’s. You can’t tell by the photos, but these blocks are only around 6 or 7 inches.

Another great find was a lovely set of signature blocks from 1935. Signature blocks have always been an interesting challenge to me because I like to actually research the names on the blocks.

I remember one time I had a stack of signature blocks and did the research only to find a living relative. The blocks were so much more meaningful to her than to me just as a collector and history buff, so I gave them to her. I imagine she probably finished then into a quilt to honor her mother, grandmother, mother in law, and other relatives and friends found amongst the embroidered names on blocks in the collection.

Another fun find was this great set of blocks from the 1940’s/1950’s, which I found at the Plaid Sheep Company shop in Berlin, Ohio. The fabrics are just so bright and colorful and busy, I can’t help but love them. And the blocks are really big, too, so I could actually turn the 18 blocks into a nice-sized quilt. Hmmm. Maybe.

I even found some stray redwork blocks at Quilt Market.

In Millersburg, Ohio on my Mom’s birthday trip, my sister found a a delightful children’s quilt with embroidered blocks in pink and blue. She messaged me a photo in case I was interested and the rest is history. Sun Bonnet Sue, Overall Sam, Cupie dolls, flowers, bears, dogs, and other motifs adorn this sweet quilt, below.

The last quilty treasure I have to share with you today is a tiny little doll quilt. I found this one in an antique mall in Berlin, Ohio. The maker dated the quilt on the back, but sadly there is no name, only an initial.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at some of my recent textile goodies.

That’s it for me! Take care and remember to label your quilts so someone someday can research you.

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Label Your Quilts. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

12 Quilts of Christmas Winners and a Weekend Girls’ Trip to Ohio Amish Country

November 28, 2024November 27, 2024 rosecards9 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Originally, I was planning to have ham because I’m not wild about turkey. Then, wouldn’t you know it, but my father brought home a turkey — change of plans. Huh. I am hoping to put the turkey in the crock pot, which is so much easier and a lot moister, in my opinion. Hopefully the turkey will actually fit into the crock pot…..fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I want to take a moment and congratulate our 2 winners from the recent blog drawing for 2 sets of our brand new beautiful 12 Quilts of Christmas Rose Card pattern collection.

12 Quilts of Christmas Winners

Throw the confetti! Cue the band!!

Special Congratulations goes out to Heidi from CT and Barb from NE.

Thanks to everyone who commented on your favorite holiday traditions. I so enjoyed reading them and wish I could send each of you a prize……… If you didn’t win, though, it’s not too late to grab your own set of the 12 Quilts of Christmas patterns HERE.

PSST! I’ve been itching to share my recent trip after getting home from Houston earlier this month, but I had already planned to wrap up Quilt Market and Festival for last Thursday’s post, so my trip to Ohio had to wait until this week.

Ohio Amish Country

A few days after I got home from Houston, I asked my Mom what she wanted for her birthday (which at the time was about a week and a half away). She thought about it for a moment and then answered, “I’d like to get away.”

It wasn’t quite the answer I thought I was going to get, but as I knew she hadn’t gone on any vacations since before the Pandemic, I decided to talk to my sister and see if we could figure something out together. So I told my mom, “Okay, let me see what I can do.”

Later that night, I messaged my sister and asked her what she thought about taking our mom on a mini vacation the weekend of her birthday (her birthday was going to be on a Saturday). My sister, Tracy, surprised me and jumped right onboard with my idea.

We tossed around a few places that wouldn’t be too far for us to go for a weekend. I suggested Findley Lake, NY or maybe Berlin, OH. Within a few days, my sister sent me a hotel reservation and our trip was on! For real!

We were off to Millersburg and Berlin Ohio, in the middle of Ohio’s Amish country in five days. Woohoo! I’d been there once on a bus trip and had loved the area, Tracy had driven through there a few times but had never really spent any time there and our Mom had never been there.

We left late Friday afternoon, as my sister had to work. Mom rode shot gun and I was the puppy wrangler in the backseat.

Oh?!? Didn’t I mention it??? We took my pup, Bailly, along on our girls’ week end! It was a three hour or so drive until we got to Millersburg to check into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, which was pet friendly. Bailly did very well, considering she usually gets anxious on car rides, even though she really loves to go places. She’s a Shih Tzu — she doesn’t have to make sense.

The next day, Saturday, we were off to explore Berlin, which was only about 6 miles from Millersburg. Our first stop was a coffee shop for my sister as she needed to get her coffee drink to function, LOL!

There was a really cute kids’ metal truck outside the coffee shop. While Tracy went in to get her coffee I.V., I took Bailly for a little walk and we went to check out that little red truck. Anyone that knows me, is probably shaking their heads about now because they know how much I like red trucks.

Then I had the brilliant idea to take a photo of Bailly in the truck. Great idea, but it didn’t work well because she was just too little. Sweet little dear — when you weigh a whopping 12 pounds, everything is pretty much too big for you. So I posed with her and my sister snapped the photo.

After my sister was caffeinated enough, we headed to a couple big buildings with signs that read “Antiques Mall” and “Craft Mall”. Goody, goody. I hope they didn’t have a problem with small little furry girls in shopping carts……

What a shock when we got over to the buildings and there wasn’t a soul there+. We drove around, looking a for another entrance, but both buildings looked abandoned. So, we headed to a cute shop across the road called the Plaid Sheep Company. We figured it was some kind of gift shop, maybe with crafts, and I was hoping perhaps they’d have some wool yarns as my sister did a little knitting now and then.

But guess what????? It was a QUILT SHOP!!!! I sure was surprised as I wasn’t planning to go to any quilt shops (although there are quite a few in the area) because it was my Mom’s weekend and I expected we’d be busy going to antique shops, gift shops, and maybe some second hand shops, too.

Another wonderful surprise was that just as soon as I walked into the shop (about the same time I realized we’d walked into a quilt shop), I spied antique quilt blocks. Yippee! I snapped those blocks up as fast as I could. By then I imagine Mom and Tracy were rolling their eyes at me.

Plaid Sheep Company was a homey delightful shop with loads of finished samples and corresponding patterns, lots of kits, wool fabrics, cotton fabrics, and precuts. There were fun gifty items that kept my Mom occupied. I passed Bailly off to my sister before I dove right in (the shop welcomed my little lady). What fun!

I really enjoyed all of the project samples that each had a number which directed you to a column of patterns where you could find the pattern for the sample. Easy piezy! I was admiring some lovely bags towards the back of the shop and when I turned around the corner of the display, I couldn’t help but stop and stare!

There right in front of me was a nice neat row of 8 Villa Rosa table runner patterns! Hah! My sister and Bailly came around the shelf after me and asked me what I was “cackling” about. All I could do was point. She burst out laughing too and said she was going to go tell the person up at the register that I was with Villa Rosa. Fun, exciting, and embarrassing all at once. LOL!

I finished up my looking and shopping, checked out, and we headed on our way to see what other mischief the four of us could get up to……

After visiting a couple antique shops and stopping by the Guggisberg Cheese Chalet — home of the original Baby Swiss Cheese (Bailly and I stayed in the car while Tracy and Mom went into the cheese shop, but I popped in after they came back to the car).

Earlier in the day, Bailly had discovered how much fun the back window was, especially for people watching. At the Cheese Shop, there was a group of young women who were walking by and they saw Bailly in the window. One of the girls asked the others if they thought the dog was real and then Bailly moved and scared them! Hah! Silly Bailly.

Then we headed back to the hotel to figure out where to eat for Mom’s birthday dinner. I had volunteered to stay in the room with Bailly so Mom and Tracy could go to a nice Amish restaurant and they could just bring me something back. But Mom would have nothing to do with that! She wanted to eat dinner with all her girls, so Tracy and I made a food run down to the Millersburg Hotel and Tavern to grab steaks and seafood. We ended up eating dinner in the dining area of the hotel. Together. That evening, we just hung out in our room and laughed and talked. Bailly was exhausted and she napped. It was a really special day.

On Sunday, after we’d checked out of the hotel, we spent some time exploring Millersburg and found this amazing antique shop in downtown Millersburg, Village Antique Emporium. We were happily surprised to fnd it open on Sunday. It was three stories of antiques and collectibles! OH MY!

Talk about crazy — Tracy and Mom even found this interesting Talon display in the shop.

Which was really quite bizarre as our hometown of Meadville, PA is where the “hookless fastener” was invented and home to the Talon Zipper Company. How strange to travel into another state and find collectibles from your own hometown…….

Then, it was time to head back home. Back to good ol’ Meadville.

What a really fun adventure — a true girl’s weekend, something we’d never done before. I don’t know why. We are already planning to go back to Millersburg and Berlin in the spring and want to spend an extra day there so we can get into even more trouble together.

Well, that’s it for me this week. Save me a piece of pumpkin pie — just make sure it has lots and lots of whipped topping!

*Here we all are — my Mom (center) and her girls (Bailly is the small furry one*…….)

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Colton’s Point, Maryland — My Quilt Retreat with Cathey and Leslie

August 22, 2024August 21, 2024 rosecards10 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

As I write this post, I am still in Colton’s Point, Maryland with 2 of my (I want to say oldest here, but I don’t mean ages, I mean the number of years we’ve known each other) quilty pals, Leslie and Cathey.

I must confess that I am having a wonderful time here! Colton’s Point is a very special hidden treasure right on the Potomac River, it’s about 1.5 hours from Washington D.C. and a couple hours from Baltimore. Of course, we’re not here during any festivals or events, so it’s been quiet and peaceful — 2 things I’ve been craving for quite a while now. Too bad Leslie and I are only visiting Cathey and her husband, Bryon for 4 days — 4 days is barely enough time to unzip my suitcase, let alone unwind completely. Then again, not sure I could ever truly unwind completely, even if I tried — I don’t think it’s in my nature. LOL!

It was about a 7 hour drive to get to Colton’s Point from northwestern PA. Of course, Leslie and I do not live in the same area anymore, so we met about halfway in between. My sister, Tracy, kindly drove me to meet Leslie and then we were on our way! I rode shotgun and Leslie drove. I totally could not believe her car was getting 48.3 miles per gallon on average! Wowzer!

Here is Cathey and Bryon’s adorable cottage (it’s bigger than it looks as it is quite deep). It has a wonderful beachy vibe and is very welcoming.

One of the coolest things about their home is that mere steps away from their cottage is Cathey’s lovely quilt studio. This is, of course, where we definitely will be spending A LOT of our time together on our little “quilt retreat.”

Don’t you just love her barn quilt out front??? Cathey brought it all the way from PA when they moved here.

It didn’t take the 3 of us long to settle back into sewing together, although it’s been simply ages since our last quilt retreat experience. We certainly had a lot of catching up to do!

I know I packed too many projects to bring with me, but I wanted to be prepared. And I really wanted to do some free motion quilting — I have way too many unfinished tops, or flimsies, right now — so I brought along 3 table runners and my Whirly Bird top from last week’s summer tutorial to machine quilt. If you missed the Whirly Bird tutorial, you can find it HERE. I also brought a challenge project for the 3 of us — I think I’ll talk more about this project in next week’s post, though — I also brought several quilt kits in case I had time to do any cutting and piecing.

Luckily, Cathey has the same model of machine as I do — a Janome 8900 — so quilting on her machine felt a lot like quilting on my machine, although no 2 machines ever feel quite the same. In fact, Cathey is the person who got me into Janome machines, when she bought her first Janome 6260, it was such a nice machine, I had to get one too. Later she upgraded to a 8900, and so did I.

Here I am sitting on Cathey’s studio front porch, just chilling for a few minutes.

Here is Cathey, working on cutting out some projects.

Here is Leslie working on a second version of a quilt she designed several years ago.

Here is the view from where I am sitting in front of Cathey’s 8900 while I machine quilting Whirly Bird.

I think I’ve mentioned before that Cathey is a quilter/designer and is the owner of Cathey Marie Designs.

And after a long hiatus from quilting when life happened, Leslie is getting back into quilting once again.

And you all know little ol’ me. LOL!

Cathey, Leslie, and I have all designed quilts for magazines, too.

We’ve been trying to figure out when we first met and Leslie thinks it was 2007. Both Leslie and Cathey were relatively new quilters when we met on a bus trip to Chautauqua Institution in New York for Quilting Around Chautauqua. Cathey and I had met in the summer when I was seated behind her on the bus for our local Shop Hop. It was both our first Shop Hop. Those meetings led to many Shop Hops and quilting road trips, along with some quilting retreats (and staying in a cottage at Chautauqua for Quilting Around Chautauqua with our quilty pal, Mary Lee — HEY MARY LEE!) sprinkled in for good measure. But as things happen, life got in the ways and over time we didn’t spend as much time together. How wonderful to spend 4 days together quilting, sewing, catching up, and eating (yep, who can forget eating??).

The Potomac River….and Quilts!

We walked down to the river just to take it in, but we didn’t have a lot of time to soak it all in, as thunder started to rumble in the distance and before we arrived back at the cottage, it had started to rain.

What really amazed me was how wide the Potomac is right here at Colton’s Point! I could barely see the land on the other side of the river (which just so happened to be Virginia). I tried to find out how wide the Potomac was at Colton’s Point but could only find that the widest section was around 11 miles across and that was farther down towards Chesapeake Bay.

Do you see the little island there on the right beyond the pier? That is St. Clements Island, which is where the first settlers to Maryland landed in the 1600’s. Of course, back then the island was something like 10 times larger!

You can find the St. Clement’s Island Museum Campus down near the river. And on the museum grounds is a lovely Little Red Schoolhouse, built in 1820. We were able to go right into the schoolhouse, which is used for school field trips and events. It was like stepping back in time to Little House on the Prairie……

As a former children’s librarian, I was thrilled to see a Little Free Library right outside the Little Red Schoolhouse!

The next day, Bryon kindly shepherded Leslie and I back to the river, this time out on a pier, to witness the sunset. I was a little apprehensive walking out on the boardwalk to the pier, but I really wanted to have a front row seat for the sunset. Mother Nature did not disappoint! Not at all! My, what a sight! We also went to see the sunset again Wednesday night.

Tuesday night’s sunset.

Wednesday night’s sunset.

And on Wednesday afternoon, I wandered back down to the pier for more photos, taking the 2 runners I quilted, Whirly Bird, and the Discovery top I had just completed (stay tuned for a Discovery tutorial next week).

Here is my Whirly Bird quilt from last week’s tutorial! I haven’t added the binding yet, but it still looks beautiful. Being down at the river was really peaceful — I felt like I was the only person in the world for a little while, which really was priceless. I felt like I could really breathe here.

Get your own print Whirly Bird HERE or digital Whirly Bird HERE.

Here are 2 of the 3 table runners I brought with me to machine quilt. The one on the right is Molly’s Amen runner and the runner on the left is a variation of Amen.

You can get your own print Amen HERE or digital Amen HERE.

And here is my Discovery quilt top. I did a couple photos down at the river, but I think the autumn colors looked better on the picket fence in front of Cathey’s cottage.

Get your print discovery HERE or your digital Discovery HERE.

Sadly, Leslie and I are heading home in the morning, but we will be back. Soon.

Just one more photo…………

Well, that’s it for me this week! Stop back next week for a final Summer Tutorial.

Until then —

Sew. Laugh. Road Trip. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Stories · Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Berry-Licious Quilt Table Runner Tutorial

June 20, 2024June 19, 2024 rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Hope you enjoyed last week’s post about the quilt show I attended. I’m still smiling. 🙂 If you missed last week’s post, you can go HERE to see the fun slideshow I created with some of the amazing quilts on display at the quilt show.

Before we get to this week’s tutorial, Berry-Licious — which is lots of fun and very timely — let me tell you a little bit about the inspiration for this table runner. In my area of Northwestern PA, we always look forward to late spring/early summer for a lot of reasons, but one of my favorites are the local strawberries, which are only available for a few weeks in June. Yum, yum, yummy!

When I was a kid, my older sister and older cousins (I was too little) all worked at a local strawberry farm, picking berries. They would meet in town at like 6 AM, and someone from the farm would pick up the kids and drive them to the farm outside of town. Horrors! The kids actually road in the back of the truck to the farm! Then the kids would pick berries for hours, and got paid per quart that they picked. My sister only did it once because it was such hard work, but my older boy cousins did it every summer all through high school and were often the best pickers. The work only lasted 2 or maybe 3 weeks right after school was out for the summer. If you were a teen in my area, this was kind of a rite of passage. I don’t remember if when I was old enough to pick berries, kids didn’t do it anymore or if I just wasn’t interested, but picking strawberries was a rite of passage I never did.

Strawberries have always been one of my favorite fruits, though. When I was really little, we even had a tiered strawberry patch in the backyard. My Mom (Hey Mom!) would make the most delicious strawberry jam and we’d enjoy that all winter long. If I close my eyes I can almost taste it and my mouth is watering, just remembering….

Ahhhh, good times.

VRD Berry-Licious Table Runner Quilt Tutorial

Have you made Berry-Licious yet? It’s a fun and very satisfying runner. You can grab your very own Berry-Licious Rose Card print pattern HERE or digital pattern HERE.

In the sample runner on the pattern, I used a fun collection of plaids, dots, and geometrics in delicious bright red for the strawberries.

For my tutorial example today, I am using fabric from the Garnet Glow Batik Collection by our pals Hoffman California-International Fabrics. Fun fact — did you know Hoffman’s been around since 1924???

Aren’t they just delish? The peachy fabrics makes me think of a strawberry not quite ripe yet.

I just love seeing how different fabrics look in the same pattern, don’t you? That’s one of my absolute favorite things about our VRD Facebook group.

Check out these Berry-Licious runners made by Renay Trolinger (Hi Renay!) in our VRD FB group! Aren’t they just too much fun??? I especially love the runner on the left — you know, the one with all the attitude. Great work, Renay!

Let’s get this tutorial going, shall we?

After I cut all the pieces for the runner, I layered my large green and background squares to make Half Square Triangles (HSTs) for the leaves on the stem. Layer those squares right sides together (RST), draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner, sew on both sides of the drawn line, cut apart on the drawn line, and press the HST open (I like to press my seams to the darker fabric, but that doesn’t always work all the time).

Then like magic you get 2 HSTs! You’ll need to make 10 HSTs. Don’t forget to trim off those little dog ears on the corners!

Wait! We’re not done with those HSTs yet. Now we’re going to use the small background squares to make “flippy corners” — yes, I’m using the professional term here — on the green triangles of our HSTs.

Layer a background square RST on the corner of the green triangle. Draw a diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the opposite corner on the background square. (Yup, LOVE my Frixion pens, especially the Fineliner ones. This red one has been my favorite for a while now and shows up on almost everything.)

Sew ON the line this time and cut 1/4″ away from the line. Open and press. Repeat with all 10 HSTs.

We’re still not done with these HSTs! Tehehe……

Now we need to sew a background rectangle to the top of each HST, but we need to make 5 left side leaves and 5 right side leaves (simply turn 5 of the leaves so they are mirror images).

Whew! Last step with the HST’s for now!

Sew a left leaf and a right leaf together with a green stem in between. Strawberry tops are done!

Now we’re going to make our strawberries — yum, the best part of the runner!

We’re going to make 2 small flippy corners on the top corners and 2 large flippy corners on the bottom corners. Repeat for all 5 strawberries.

Now let’s add the stems to the tops of the strawberries! Make 5 blocks.

Isn’t this just the cutest yummiest quilt block ever??????

Now the blocks are done, let’s put them together into a runner. You actually have 2 options — you can flip the second and fourth blocks upside down like I did in the original runner on the pattern front or you could have all the strawberries going in the same direction. Which way do you like better?

Which one do you think I chose?

The flipped block version. I just love how the blocks look arranged this way. Take a look at the “negative space,” isn’t it interesting?

Maybe when I go to quilt it, I’ll play around with those cool shapes created by the strawberries and stems. How would you quilt it? My original version was quilted with loopy loops.

I had some fabric left over so I made this fun little wall quilt or pillow — I haven’t decided yet. It’s about 21″ square, so it could go either way. What do you think?

Well, that’s it for me for this week. I hope you enjoyed this truly scrumptious (anyone know what movie this phrase was in???) Berry-Licious runner and I look forward to seeing yours on Facebook soon.

Come back next week to see my next summer tutorial! Hmmm…..what should I do next???

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Eat Strawberries. LOTS of Strawberries. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

December 2023 Accessory Sew Along · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

Villa Rosa Designs Accessory Rose Card Pattern December Sew Along Week 2 — Savannah Jane and Our NEW VRD Patterns for December

December 7, 2023December 6, 2023 rosecards1 Comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you ready for another fun Accessory pattern project for Week 2 of our December Sew Along? Of course, I also have the NEW December Rose Card patterns to share with you, too. Lots of great fun this week.

So, how’s your holiday shopping and preparations coming along? I am happy to say that I’ve gotten started a bit this last week. I put up the outside Christmas decorations and lights (not that I do a lot of decorating, but at least we’re not a dark house for December). I don’t have that much more Christmas shopping to do, but I do still have some Christmas sewing and makes to get done. I haven’t started decorating inside yet nor have I started baking or wrapping gifts. Guess I’d better get to it, huh?

Speaking of gift gifting, I think you’re going to love Savannah Jane, our wonderful and quick Week 2 Sew Along project.

Did you order your set of 5 patterns for the December Sew Along yet? There’s still time for you to jump in and sew along with me.

Or you can save the projects for when you’re ready to do a little fun sewing after the hustle and bustle of December. I will add the December Sew Along to the right side of the blog so you can find the posts whenever you’re ready to sew. That’s definitely one of the cool things about an online Sew Along, you can do it anytime you’re ready, even in the middle of the night wearing your pajamas and eating a bowl of ice cream.

Get your pattern set HERE.

If you missed it, you can find the December Sew Along Week 1 — Amanda Jane — HERE.

Here’s Molly’s version of Amanda Jane! Don’t you just love her mod fabric choices??? isn’t she just rockin’ this Amanda Jane apron with style?

Thanks for sharing your project, Molly!

Savannah Jane

VRD December Sew Along Week 2

Savannah Jane is a sophisticated gal with an artsy streak.  She just loves this wonderful and versatile pieced scarf -- she can add an artsy touch to her wardrobe without breaking the bank.  Savannah Jane can make this scarf in about an hour, so it's a snap to whip up a new scarf for any occasion or outfit.  Shhh!  Don't tell anyone, but she's made at least a dozen already.  And when she meets her gal pals for lunch, they ooohhh and aaahhh over her latest scarf creation.  Savannah Jane just smiles because she knows something they don't -- they are all getting their own one of a kind scarf for Christmas.

Your Sew Along Challenge this week is to make your very own Savannah Jane pieced scarf!

That’s right — this week, for Week 2 of our December Sew Along, you need to have your pattern pack in hand. Grab your supplies and create your own one of a kind totally you Savannah Jane pieced scarf. Bet you can’t make just 1 (wink, wink)….

Please make sure to join us on the Villa Rosa Facebook page to share your project this week and to check out the projects of your fellow VRD enthusiasts. The “social connection” is what makes sew alongs SEW much fun! Show us your fabrics! Any tips or hints for construction? Anything you need help with or don’t understand? Did you customize your project? Maybe you’re making 10 of them for Christmas! Please share because we ALL want to see your Sew Along “sew and tells.”

Villa Rosa Designs Facebook Page — you can use this link to take you to the VRD Facebook page. Make sure you are signed into your Facebook account and on the VRD page you can “like” us to join in the fun. The more folks that join in, the more fun it will be!

Now, I’ve never made a pieced scarf before, so I was pretty excited to give Savannah Jane a whirl. And guess what??? If you like Savannah Jane, you’re going to LOVE her sister, Inessa Jane. Inessa Jane is an Infinity scarf!

Get Inessa Jane HERE

Tricia’s Savannah Jane Sew Along Project

Let me show you my Savannah Jane pieced scarf! Or should I say scarves??? I’ve already made 2 and have plans to make a couple more for holiday gifts. And maybe even one for myself. LOL!

I chose this charm pack for my Savannah Jane scarf. Don’t you just love the yummy colors? I have a special someone in mind for this one already!

The instructions are simple to follow and Savannah Jane goes together in about an hour! Nice — my kind of project!

Here you can see my squares all sewn together into 2 long long strips! I sewed them together randomly, just making sure not to put two like colors together.

I pressed all my seams in the same direction, pressing first on the back and then also on the front so those seams would stay as flat as possible. Who wants a lumpy scarf??? I even used a little of my favorite Best Press.

Are you familiar with Best Press? My favorite scent is Peaches and Cream, it’s so yummy (No, I don’t drink it, silly you for wondering that!). Of course, if Peach isn’t your scent, there are lots to chose from, including an unscented one which is perfect if you’re sensitive to scents. I’ve personally tried most of them and found Peach to be the scent for me.

Find Best Press HERE.

Anyway, after my seams were all nice and flat, I was ready to sew my 2 long long strips together on both sides — basically making a long tube with both ends open. I layered them right sides together, offsetting the ends.

Yay! Here it is all ready to turn right side out.

Ta Da! Here’s my scarf partially turned right side out. It reminds me of a snake shedding its skin — ick — not my favorite image, I can assure you.

Whew! All turned right side out now. Time to flatten the tube with the long seams centered on the front and back of the scarf so you see the offset piecing effect. Isn’t that the coolest thing? Sew clever! Sew easy! Sew beautiful! Especially with these batik fabrics!

Let’s finish the ends now. I folded them under about 1/4″ or so and tried to make each end as straight as possible, which meant I had to do a little fiddling as I pressed the ends flat.

At this point you could hand-sew the openings closed if you didn’t want to see any stitching, but I opted for simple and quick, sewing a straight line across the ends about 1/4″ in from the edge, back-stitching at each end.

Another thought would be to try out some of the wonderful fancy stitches on your sewing machine to finish your edges — that would add a little bit extra something something to your scarves. Or maybe just a edgy modern serged effect? Bet you can come up with even more finishing ideas for your scarves!

Done! In about an hour, no less. LOVE IT!

It was such a fun and quick project, I knew I had to make another one. Like I said, bet you can’t make just one….

Hmmm…..I’m thinking I might need to make 2 or 3 more for Christmas, too. Now that I have this great go-to pattern, it’s going to be loads of fun to personalize my fabric choices for each recipient.

It’s also easy to customize if you need a shorter or longer scarf. Use a charm square pack or cut your own squares from your stash — it’s all up to you.

I’m thinking a flannel charm pack might just be the ticket for my own scarf for this winter. Now to hunt down some squares! Where did I put that flannel charm pack???

VRD NEW December Rose Card Patterns

Now that we’ve had some fun with Week 2 of our December Sew Along, it’s time to show off our newest patterns!

Aren’t they awesome! Every month just gets better and better. Our designers are simply the best! You can get the set of 5 new patterns HERE.

I promised a new table runner pattern for December, too. Sorry we didn’t have enough time to get one out for last month, but I think you’ll like my December runner. It’s fun and very fast. I chose a background fabric with metallic stars and assorted grey fabrics for the strips.

Get your own Frosted Window Panes runner HERE.

VRD NEW Project Updates

Before I close this post, I wanted to take a moment and update you on the projects we’ve been feverishly trying to get done for you.

Quilts of Honor (Quilts of Valor) Collection — this wonderful set of 12 VRD patterns sized just right for your Quilts of Valor donation quilts will be out very soon. You’re going to want this collection! And a portion of each purchase will be donated to the QOVF.

12 Quilts of Christmas — Sadly, we’re a little bit behind schedule with this one, but it should be out soon as well, just in time for Christmas. This collection features 12 brand new Christmas-themed quilts designed just for you by our talented VRD designers.

2024 Blog Hop — The 2024 Blog Hop is going to be pushed back a little bit to February/March as we’ve been working so hard on the other projects.

Okay, now it’s your turn!

Time to get your pieced scarf made this week (between Thursday December 7th and Thursday December 14th) and share it on the VRD Facebook page. I’ll see you there and I can’t wait to see what you make and hear your Savannah Jane sewing story! Let’s add where you’re from, too! It’s lots of fun to see where all our VRD friends hail from!

See you next Thursday for Week 3 of our December Sew Along.

(PSST! If you’re one of those work ahead kind of folks — our Week 3 project is Catrina Jane which will officially begin next Thursday, December 14th. Feel free to have at it, but please don’t post any of your photos or progress on Catrina Jane until after next week’s blog post. Between now and then, let’s focus on our Week 1 project Amanda Jane and our Week 2 project Savannah Jane. Thank you!)

See you on the VRD FB page!

Sew. Laugh. Get your Merry on. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

December 2023 Accessory Sew Along · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

Villa Rosa Designs Accessory Rose Card Pattern December Sew Along Week 1 — Amanda Jane

November 30, 2023November 29, 2023 rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you all geared up and ready for our fun December Sew Along? It’s not too late to join us if you haven’t gotten your Sew Along pattern set yet. You can get the set of 5 patterns HERE for the special price of $8.95.

This week, we are kicking off Week 1 of our December Sew Along with our Amanda Jane pattern.

Amanda Jane

VRD December Sew Along Week 1

Amanda Jane is a super busy and hard-working gal.  It's hard enough to find time in her crazy life to spend some quality time doing her favorite hobbies and interests, so losing important items like her scissors and measuring tape are totally out of the question!  Amanda Jane has it all covered in her cute and sensible work apron featuring 7 pockets!  Hello supplies!  And good bye wasted time looking for notions.  Amanda Jane loves her work apron sew much, she just might make a different one for each day of the week, just because she can!  And one for each of her crafty besties for the holidays, too!

Your Sew Along Challenge this week is to make your very own Amanda Jane work apron.

That’s right — this week, for Week 1 of our December Sew Along, you need to have your pattern pack in hand. Grab your supplies and create your own one of a kind totally you Amanda Jane apron.

Please make sure to join us on the Villa Rosa Facebook page to share your project this week and to check out the projects of your fellow VRD enthusiasts. The “social connection” is what makes sew alongs SEW much fun! Show us your fabrics! Any tips or hints for construction? Anything you need help with or don’t understand? Did you customize your project? Maybe you’re making 10 of them for Christmas! Please share because we ALL want to see your Sew Along “sew and tells.”

Tricia’s Amanda Jane Sew Along Project

I’m really excited to show off my Amanda Jane apron!

I had this adorable gnome Christmas fabric in my stash — it’s been begging to be made into something fun — and I thought it would be an awesome starting point for my apron! Not sure where it came from originally, but it is totally too cute NOT to use.

Who’s gonna rock Christmas in her apron this year, yeah??!!

Next I paired some coordinates straight outta my stash. What do you think? I wasn’t sure about the green, but I tried some other greens and this was the one that looked the best. Besides, I’m going to use the green on the back, so it really doesn’t have to be perfect. The teal was a complete no-brainer. And it had to have red polka dots, am I right here?

Hmm. I think I’ll use the red as the main fabric instead of the gnomes. And the gnomes as the big pocket so I’ll get to see more of the gnome fabric, because it really is all about the gnomes. The green definitely works as the back. Finally, the teal would make a great strap. What do you think? Oh! Then I’ll have a red pocket and a green pocket on the front. Cute. Let’s do this!

Well, I’d better stop chit chatting and starting cutting out my pieces.

Okay, I’m back. I got everything cut out, which wasn’t too hard, but I did have to dig out my really big square ruler to rotary cut my large pieces.

Here’s my gnome pocket, folded and ready to go. I’ve got the smaller pockets cut from leftovers of the red and green pinned and ready to stitch onto the gnomes.

You know, if you wanted even more color and fun, you could raid your scraps to find some coordinating fabrics for the smaller front pockets. Wink, wink. Just sayin’……

I know, I know…..I’d better get back to work. Can’t wait until I have a fun apron to use soon.

I think it would be great for wrapping gifts this holiday season. I’m always losing my scissors and tape in piles of paper…. What are you going to do with your apron?

Now I’ve got my big gnome pocket layered on my red dot fabric. I don’t know if you can see in the photo, but I’ve already got my sewing lines marked to create the large large pockets. I think it’s cool that one of the sewing lines goes right through the middle of my little red polka dot pocket to divide it into 2 smaller pockets. Nice! Now all the stuff I cram into the red pocket is less-likely to fall out when I bend over while wrapping.

Tags! Tags, anyone? I’ll know exactly where to find ’em when I need them. And I can tuck a pen or two in my handy dandy apron, too. Wow! I’m going to be the Inspector Gadget of Gift Wrapping this year!

Next I layered my apron front and back Right Sides Together (RST) and sewed along the bottom and the sides. Fingers crossed, I sewed relatively straight…. The I turned it right side out, smoothed and pressed the edges. And for a nice finish, I stitched about an 1/8″ inside the outside edge on both sides and the bottom of the apron.

Moving on to the strap — my goodness, that is a lot of strap. I think I could wrap my little house up in this strap. Wow! This step took me some time, but I nailed it!

AHA! Here I pinned my layers together with the apron sandwiched in between the long folded edges of the strap. To find the center of the apron, I folded it in half and marked the center top. Then I folded that long long strap in half and found the center, too. Finally, I matched up the centers and pinned that crazy strap into submission.

That strap seemed to have a mind of its own, though — it kept slithering away from me. Ugh! I think I need MORE PINS!

Huh! It worked! I got the apron pinned into the strap folds, sewed it, and it all worked. And it looks so so cute. Really! And it wasn’t difficult, once I got the hang of it. Take that, you crazy strap!

The final test — does it fit???

It fits! It actually fits me AND the strap wraps around my body back to the front just like in the photo on the front of the pattern — I won’t have to be a contortionist to tie it in the back, like most aprons! Awesome! I’m no skinny Minnie either — I’m a plus-size kind of gal and it fits me perfectly! I am thrilled.

Okay, now it’s your turn!

Time to get your apron made this week (between Thursday November 30th and Thursday December 7th) and share it on the VRD Facebook page. I’ll see you there and I can’t wait to see what you make and hear your Amanda Jane sewing story! Let’s add where you’re from, too! It’s lots of fun to see where all our VRD friends hail from!

See you next Thursday for Week 2 of our December Sew Along.

(PSST! If you’re one of those work ahead kind of folks — our Week 2 project is Savannah Jane which will officially begin next Thursday, December 7th. Feel free to have at it, but please don’t post any of your photos or progress on Savannah Jane until after next week’s blog post. Between now and then, let’s focus on Amanda Jane. Thank you!)

See you on the VRD FB page!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

quilt market · Quilt Stories · villa rosa designs

Villa Rosa Designs Quilt Market NEWS, Quilt Festival, and the Quilt that Followed Me Home

November 2, 2023November 1, 2023 rosecards9 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

As I sit and write this post, sadly, Quilt Market is over. I must apologize that I did not pop onto the blog to talk about anything going on here at Market in Houston, TX. But it just all went so fast!

Working in the VRD booth was lots of fun! I just loved chatting with folks when they stopped by the booth and I spent a lot of time hustling to pack up patterns (we all did!). And time just zipped by. By the end of each day, I put on well over 10,000 steps and I was plumb worn out.

I also must admit that I only took maybe 2 photos during the whole of Quilt Market. Sad, sad, sad, I know. It’s okay, you can roll your eyes at me, I don’t mind….

Here’s a photo of Market looking down from the second floor back in the good ol’ days before the Pandemic.

Here’s an old photo of the VRD booth from 2018. This year’s booth was set up a little different, but still had all the same components — current quilts on display, fat quarter bundles and kits, and our patterns (of course).

One of the very best things about Quilt Market is getting out there and networking with real people. It was great meeting lots of new folks and catching up with people I work with online so we could actually meet face to face.

Of course, it’s also a great time to connect with old friends. I had lunch with my pal Cathey Laird from Cathey Marie Designs. Catherine of Running Doe Quilts (one of our VRD designers) stopped by — it was so nice to see her again. I also met our newest VRD designer, Deanne Moore of Creative Sewlutions. An old quilt guild friend, Sondra Raby of Art Quilts by Design, was here doing demos and I at least got to say hi as she was running off for her next demo. I caught up with Christa Watson of Christa Quilts, a favorite machine quilter, author, and fabric designer and Vanessa Goertzen of Lella Boutique, who is also a fabric designer and author. This is what Quilt Market is all about — meeting people and making connections. If you ever have the opportunity to attend a Quilt Market, I totally say “Go For It” — you won’t be sorry.

Although Market is over, the good news is that we’re rolling right into Quilt Festival and I promise to take lots of photos, including of the VRD booth, too. If you’re coming to Quilt Festival here in Houston, TX, don’t forget to stop and shop at our Villa Rosa Designs booth #801. You won’t believe the “dump” table which is piled sky high with fat quarter bundles. Oh. My. Goodness. It’s a quilter’s paradise.

One of the coolest things about Festival, besides that it’s my first one, is that I finally get to meet Villa Rosa Designs designers Molly and Heidi Cook (it’s Heidi’s first Festival too) in person! Yay! Oh, the mischief we could get into together…. Sigh…..poor Pat.

And here’s a really funny thing — my friend, Gaynel, from my neck of the woods, is coming to Festival on Friday. What a long way for us to come just to meet for lunch, huh? LOL!!!

Now, let’s move on to some awesome announcements we made at Market about what’s NEW at VRD!

Villa Rosa Designs NEWS

I am happy to share some great new stuff coming soon with Villa Rosa Designs with you!

Designer News

Kate Griffin will be returning to Villa Rosa Designs. Some of her wonderful patterns are coming out of retirement, so stay tuned for more information….

Deanne Moore, designer of Creative Sewlutions patterns, is joining the VRD Family! Check out her 2 patterns coming in November, Oh Henry and Messages. You can visit Deanne’s website HERE.

New Pattern Collections

Coming in November, we will have 2 brand new exclusive 12 pattern collections!

We are delighted to announce we are partnering with the Quilts of Valor Foundation to bring you a collection of existing VRD patterns that meet the size requirements for QOV quilts. A portion of every sale will be donated to QOVF.

We will also be offering a brand new “12 Quilts of Christmas” pattern collection just in time for the 2023 holidays! This collection will feature 12 new holiday patterns for projects ranging from table runners to place mats to throw quilts and more featuring designs of many of our wonderful VRD designers.

Coming in 2024

Back by popular demand!

Coming in January/February 2024, we will host our second Fast and Even More Fun Blog Hop. More information to follow soon!

The Quilt that Followed Me Home

You know the saying — “what happens at Quilt Market (or wherever you are), stays at Quilt Market”? Nope, not this time — this story is meant to be shared.

Every time I attend a Quilt Market, the first place I literally visit besides our Villa Rosa Designs booth is Quilts from Mulberry Lane and my friends Carolyn and Don Springer. You can visit their website HERE.

I think I met these dear folks way back at my first Market in 2010 when my first book, Orphan Block Quilts, debuted (psst — this was also when I met Pat Fryer, our VRD Rose Queen, and you know how that turned out).

As most of you know by now, I personally LOVE antique and vintage quilt and textile stuff, so of course I found my way to Mulberry Lane. Anyway, when I stopped to check in with Carolyn and Don, they couldn’t wait to tell me about this interesting quilt that had found its way to them. The quilt had opened feed bags on the back of it and one of the bags was still very easy to read. They knew of my love for feed sacks and knew I’d be interested. Sadly, there was no provenance.

It really warmed my heart that they thought of me! They are such kind people. Don showed me the quilt back first. What an interesting find, for sure. I’d heard of people using opened feed bags for utility purposes such as quilt backs, sheets, underwear, etc., but I’d never really seen it in person. Until now. Then Don finally showed me the front and it had humble Snowball blocks in plaid and stripe shirtings with a few Indigos thrown in for good measure set side by side. I’m thinking perhaps circa 1920’s-1930’s. As a reference point, I have my grandpa’s Nine Patch quilt which was made by his mother when he was a young man and it also features shirtings and such. Very similar quilts. Also as a reference, printed design feed sacks weren’t available until the late 1930’s.

It definitely needed a good bath, but Don said they were concerned about washing it because of the printing on the back feed bags and they were concerned it might fade or wash out. It’s well-loved with typical wear and tear and could use a new binding. But all in all, this quilt still has a lot of love to give.

The Springers gifted this quilt to me. I was so so touched by their desire to put this quilt into the hands of someone (me) who would love and cherish it. We named him Harold (I have a quirky habit of naming everything).

Then the weather turned chilly here in Houston and Harold fulfilled his purpose once again and warmed me during the cooler nights — I definitely did not bring any cooler weather clothing with me (by the way, Wednesday morning we had 8 inches of snow on the ground at home in Pennsylvania — way way too early). Thank you Harold! And thank you to my dear friends, the Springers, for their kind generosity.

Now to figure out how best to get Harold back home to Pennsylvania….

I did grab a few quilt blocks and feed sacks from the Springers, too. Adding to my stash, of course because one can never have enough stash. I bought the blocks because they had feed sack fabrics or other interesting vintage fabrics in them.

Here I come, Quilt Festival!

See you next Thursday right here. Same place, same time —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

A Sisterhood of Quilters Who Can’t Get Enough Villa Rosa Design Rose Card Patterns

August 3, 2023August 2, 2023 rosecards6 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday!

Week after week, I’ve been showing the wonderful, fast, and fun to make Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns. Patterns are great, but I got to thinking it would be fun to share photos of some of these rockin’ Rose Card patterns with you.

I have an amazing group of quilters that LOVE LOVE LOVE VRD Rose Card patterns. We meet once a month at our local quilt shop from March through December — we skip January and February because winters here in NW PA can be a little unpredictable. We call it a class, but it’s more like a quilt slumber party every month with friends, snacks, and quilts. If you’re a VRD enthusiast and you have friends who are also hooked on Rose Cards, then why haven’t you created your own VRD group??? Just sayin’….

Let me tell you about my VRD group. We’ve actually had this group going for a really long time. In the past, we did sampler quilts, small projects, rulers, and many other topics. We’ve always welcomed new quilters into our midst and most return to the group year after year.

There are so many things I love about this group of women. They welcome newbies in and take them under their wings. Everyone helps everyone. We share quilting tips and tricks as well the joys and sorrows of our lives. We laugh, eat, and catch up every month. When I was laid up after getting my knee replacement, one of the group even stepped up and led the June project. I am humbled and inspired by this group of strong women. We are so much more than simply a “class” — we are a sisterhood of quilters.

Last year (2022) after a couple years of requests by several in the group, I finally agreed to do a year of Rose Cards. So in 2022, we did a “Year of Table Runners”. It was a lot of fun and really whetted everyone’s appetites for more. So for this year (2023) we are doing a “Year of Panels and Novelty Fabrics”.

I thought it would be fun to share some of the incredible work being made by these extraordinary women. So here’s to my ladies — Mary Lee, Sherry, Gaynel, Robin, Kim, Lisa, Anita, Debbie, Jean, Donna, Missi, and our fearless shop owner, Gail.

Sit back and enjoy the quilt show!

Table Runner Rose Cards You See in the Photos Above:

Belle Amie

Coffee Break

Dapper

Ice Jam

Lattice

Leaf

Peppermint & Holly

Pinwheel Picnic

Unfurled

Whirly Bird

Panels and Novelty Rose Cards You See in the Photos Above:

Amen

Bohemia

Daring Spirit

Hypnotized

Let’s Eat

Splendor

Rose Card projects yet to come — Baby Goose, October Sky, and Season’s Greetings

I really hope you enjoyed these wonderful wonderful quilts! And I hope you find inspiration to make and finish your own Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card quilts. Or maybe try a new VRD pattern…..

Keep on quilting and I’ll see you next week!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia

Designer Spotlights · Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

VRD Designer Spotlight Interview with Molly Cook

June 1, 2023June 3, 2023 rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I am sew excited to be interviewing Molly Cook, who is not only a VRD designer, but also works at the Villa Rosa Designs quilt shop in Grass Valley, California. Molly is actually part of a designing trio called the Cook Family, which is made up of Molly, sister Heidi, and Mom Tamara.

Molly Cook, standing in front of a version of her Vineyard VRD Rose Card pattern.

Tricia: Hey Molly! Thanks for taking some time to chat on the blog today.

Molly: Hello!

Tricia: Ready?

Molly: Sure, let’s get to it.

Tricia: How did you meet Pat Fryer, the owner and “Rose Queen” of Villa Rosa Designs, or how did you become part of the VRD family of designers?

Molly: I met her at a guild meeting and she saw my show and tell that I designed by myself.

Tricia: How did you discover quilting? How long have you been quilting?

Molly: My Grandma started teaching her grandkids to sew around the age of 10, so I’ve been sewing for 11 years.

Tricia: What’s your favorite quilt block(s)?

Molly: Any block that’s simple! LOL!

Tricia: I hear you — I love easy blocks, too. How did you make the leap from being a quilter to becoming a quilt designer?

Molly: I’ve been sewing for community service for years. Working with what I had, I ended up improvising on patterns.

Tricia: That’s really cool, Molly! Can you tell us a little bit about your design process?

Molly: I just gather fabric and lay it out and see how things fit together.

Tricia: What is your favorite/least favorite part of the quilt-making process?

Molly: My favorite is designing patterns and sewing them together. My least favorite thing is binding.

Tricia: I totally agree with you. Binding is definitely my least favorite part of the quilt making process, too. What are your top 3 favorite quilting tools?

Molly: My top 3 quilting tools are my rotary cutter, my rulers, and my scissors.

Tricia: I’m not sure I can pick just three favorite tools! LOL! What are you working on now? Any new patterns in the works? Can you give us a sneak peek?

Molly: I have a couple of new patterns in the works. I’m working on writing them up and making them easy to understand.

Tricia: Here are Molly’s VRD Rose Card patterns to date. You can find them HERE.

Tricia: Wow, Molly! You are one prolific designer! And there’s lots of variety in your patterns. Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve designed?

Molly: My favorite pattern would be Lickety Split, but Brickwork almost ties with it.

Tricia: What’s your favorite book?

Molly: I love Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti books.

Tricia: Type of music/musician?

Molly: Christian music.

Tricia: Movies and TV?

Molly: Lord of the Rings movies and I’m a Marvel Superhero girl!

Tricia: That’s so cool! What do you do when you’re not quilting/designing?

Molly: When I’m not quilting, you can find me reading a book, babysitting, or crocheting.

Tricia: You stay busy, don’t you? Do you have any advice to quilters who want to become quilt designers?

Molly: Just dive in. Find fabrics you like and go for it. Don’t start with a complex pattern — you won’t enjoy quilting if it’s got a lot of pieces or is hard to follow with all it’s instructions.

Tricia: That’s super advice, Molly! It’s been great chatting with you. Thanks sew much! We all look forward to seeing those new patterns you’re working on really soon.

Molly: Thank you for having me on the blog!

There you have it, Quilty Friends!

How cool is it to get to know the quilt designers behind your favorite VRD Rose Card patterns?

Awesome Applesauce! Molly is going to be our guest blogger next week while I take a few weeks to get my knee replaced and begin the recuperation process.

Well, that’s it for this week. Be sure to tune in next week to see what Molly has in store for you!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD