Category: Tutorials

2026 Small Project Summer Challenge · Rose Cards · Tutorials · Welcome Blog Post

Small Project Summer Challenge Week 2 and a NEW VRD Rose Card Tutorial – Tabitha Jane

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Happy 250th birthday to America!

A patriotic illustration celebrating America's 250th birthday with fireworks, a vintage red truck, and an American flag. The design features bunting, colorful stars, and the text 'Happy 250th Birthday America!' along with the years '1776' and '2026'.

I hope you are all set to enjoy the celebration this weekend for the 250th Birthday of the United States of America. I’m looking forward to the fireworks and all the different events going on.

Of course right now the weather is looking rainy, but I have hopes it will clear up and be a gorgeous weekend for everyone. We’re having a heatwave right now with temperatures in the mid 90’s. I am not a hot weather girl at all, so I will stay in the air conditioning and ride out the heat. Just hand me a bowl of ice cream – something with chocolate – and I’ll be happy as a clam. And cool. LOL!

We are wrapping up Week 2 of our Small Project Summer Challenge this week – our project is a VRD Tote bag. Here’s the info and schedule in case you need it.

Colorful graphic promoting the VRD Small Project Summer Challenge, featuring six weeks of project themes with images of a sewing machine, fabric items, and decorative elements. Each week lists a different project due date.
Promotional graphic for the VRD Small Project Summer Challenge, outlining how the challenge works and how to join.

Now let’s revisit Week 1 with a winner!

Week 1 Winner

Yay! It’s time to announce our first Small Project Summer Challenge winner!

Toss the confetti!

Cue the band!

And our Week 1 winner is………….

Susan L. from WV

Congrats, Susan!

Susan made a fun dog lover’s version of Fairhaven. This one really makes me smile because of all the canine fabrics. A fun fast make!

A colorful quilt hanging on a wall, featuring a patchwork design with red, navy blue, and floral patterns.

Guess what? Susan already donated her Fairhaven quilt to Project Linus!

Project Linus has been giving handmade blankets and quilts to kids since 1995. And in 31 years, they’ve given over 10 million blankets to children. WHOAH! You can find additional information or how to get involved on the Project Linus website HERE.

A colorful quilt titled 'Fairhaven' featuring various fabric patterns with pink and green tones, displayed against a pink background, along with a floral accent in the upper right corner.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

VRD Small Project Summer Challenge Week 2

Our Week 2 Challenge this week is for a VRD tote bag. Your tote bag project is due Friday, July 3rd by midnight EST.

We have 2 different VRD tote bag patterns or you could adapt a different VRD pattern into a tote bag. What a fun idea! I hadn’t thought of that until one of the participants asked me about it. Thanks for the great idea!

So……..my tote bag this week is Tabitha Jane. Have you made this one yet? It’s totally reversible, which means you get 4 looks with one tote bag. That’s uber cool, right?

So here’s my red, white, and blue version of Tabitha Jane!

A handmade tote bag with a red top section featuring small polka dots, and a navy bottom section with white star patterns. The bag has patterned straps.
A fabric tote bag featuring a pattern of red and blue flags on top and a solid navy bottom with white polka dots.
A tote bag with a star and stripe pattern, featuring a solid red striped bottom and handles.
A plaid and polka dot fabric tote bag hanging against a light-colored backdrop.

Like I said: 1 tote bag – 4 different looks! I can’t decide which side I like the best. Which one do you like?

It was really quick, perhaps 2 or 3 hours (including photography on my end) to make this super useful and fun tote. Tabitha Jane would be a great tote for yourself or for someone else! I can’t wait to make a few more, maybe one for each season? Did I mention it’s made out of fat quarters???

Graphic showcasing a reversible tote bag design by Tabitha Jane, featuring four different looks with vibrant patterns. The text highlights fabric requirements and the finished size of the tote, along with design credits for Nancy Lorene and Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

I also created a tutorial for you for Tabitha Jane. Now you’ve totally got to make one of these!

VRD Tutorial Tabitha Jane

Probably the hardest thing about this pattern is choosing your 6 FQs! Of course, you can absolutely make more than one of these totes so you can can choose 6, 12, 18….or more FQs. LOL!

I settled on these 6 patriotic FQs from Deb Strain’s America 250 Years collection by Moda Fabrics. What a surprise – I’m making red, white, and blue projects for the Summer Challenge. Ha ha!

A collection of six fabric pieces featuring patriotic patterns, including plaid, stars, and American flags, arranged on a green cutting mat.

Next up is cutting. I layered my FQs together so I only had to cut once. Do likewise if you feel comfortable, but cutting 1 layer at a time is perfectly okay too.

A piece of red fabric with a star pattern, layered with patterned fabric featuring American flags and stars, alongside a blue plaid fabric, on a green cutting mat with grid lines.
Four pieces of red fabric with a star pattern, arranged on a green cutting mat with grid lines.

Now to cut the other 2 FQs. And with that, the cutting is finished. Wow! That was quick!

A green cutting mat with a rotary cutter, a patterned fabric piece in red and white stripes with stars, and a clear quilting ruler placed on the fabric.

We’re going to make our straps first. Here are my 4 fabrics for my straps.

Four pieces of fabric in red, white, and blue patterns laid out on a cutting mat, featuring stars, stripes, and plaid designs.

To make the straps, the first thing to do is stitch the smaller strips together to make 4 long strips. I chose to sew matching strips together, but you can totally scrap this up if you want to. You do you.

After I stitch my strips together, I’m going to press the seams open.

Close-up of a sewing machine with fabric pieces laid out, featuring red fabric with black stars and light reddish fabric with a subtle pattern.
A collection of fabric strips featuring patriotic patterns, including American flags, stars, and plaid designs in red, white, and blue colors, arranged horizontally on a grey surface.

Next I am going to layer 2 strap strips right sides together (RST) and sew down both long edges to make my 2 straps.

A sewing machine on a table with three different pieces of fabric, including a red patterned piece and a plaid piece, along with a pair of orange scissors.
Close-up of a sewing machine with a piece of fabric being stitched, featuring a plaid pattern.
Three strips of fabric laid out on a gray felt surface, featuring patriotic designs in red, white, and blue, including stars and stripes.

Oh goody (not really)….Time to turn both straps right side out (RSO). This is one of my least favorite things to do when sewing bags. Usually I fold my strips in half and then in half again to avoid having to turn things RSO. But these straps are pretty wide, so here goes……

I am using a large safety pin (Yup, one of my quilt basting pins) to turn my strips RSO. The pin gives me something to hold onto as I turn the strap.

An assortment of fabric strips with patriotic patterns, including American flags and stars, pinned together with a safety pin, placed on a textured surface.
Close-up of two pieces of fabric: one patterned with red and blue stars on a cream background, the other in a solid red with small speckles, partially sewn together.
A close-up image of patterned fabric featuring American flags and stars, with additional fabric pieces in the background including plaid and star-patterned fabric.
A fabric-covered sword or sword-like object lying on a gray surface, surrounded by additional fabric pieces featuring patriotic patterns.

Now I need to press my straps flat.

A close-up view of fabric strips featuring red, white, and blue patterns, including American flags and a plaid design, laid out on a gray felt surface.
Three fabric strips featuring patriotic patterns, including American flags, stars, and plaid designs, laid on a textured background.

I’m going to sew close to both sides of each strap. This is for 2 reasons – 1st because it will keep the straps flat and 2nd because the stitching will help stabilize the straps as we did not add any interfacing or batting.

I’m also going to add more stitching down the middle of each strap for even more stabilization. And I’m going to use one of the zillion special stitches on my sewing machine to make it fun. I chose this cute star and decided to use variegated thread.

After I finished the straps, though, I wish I had used a solid navy blue thread instead of the variegated because the stars would have shown up better. Oh well…….

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching a fabric strip decorated with red stars and blue patterns.
Two strips of decorative fabric with red, white, and blue patterns, one featuring stars and the other with plaid and stars, laid on a gray surface.

Time to work on the body of the tote now. I’m going to sew the smaller rectangles to the top and bottom of the large rectangles to make 2 bags. The finished bag doesn’t have any interfacing or batting, so if you want to add any to make your bag sturdier, now would be the time to add it. But I’m going to continue without adding any stabilizer for this one.

When I make a project for the first time, I like to follow the directions pretty close so I understand how it all goes together. Then if/when I make another one, I might choose to make changes or adapt the pattern.

Close-up of fabric pieces featuring red, white, and blue patriotic patterns as well as quilting stars, alongside a sewing machine.
Two fabric panels displayed side by side, featuring various patterns including plaid, stripes, polka dots, and stars in red, white, and blue colors.

I’m going to fold each bag body section in half with RST so the top and bottom edges match. Then I’m going to sew down both sides of the tote for both pieces. When you turn them RSO, don’t forget to push out the corners and give the bags a press.

Assorted pieces of fabric featuring patriotic patterns, including American flags, a checkered design, and a star print.
Close-up of a sewing machine with fabric under the needle, featuring a light gray patterned material. The machine is positioned on a work surface, with measuring lines visible in the foreground.
A selection of four fabric swatches featuring various patterns: a light blue plaid, a red and white striped fabric with stars, a solid red fabric, and a navy blue fabric with white floral designs.

All that is left is to assemble the bag parts and the straps.

If desired, you can fold under the tops of the bags as the next step before placing one bag inside the other with wrong sides together, but I prefer doing the top seam allowance after 1 bag is already inside the other bag because I find I can get the top seams lined up better.

I’m going to turn one of the bags inside out again and place it inside the other bag (which is RSO) so that the wrong sides are facing towards each other. Smooth the bags out and line up the side seams.

I like to work with one bag at a time as I fold and press the seam allowance to the wrong side of the bag. Next I’ll match the top edges as I fold the 2nd bag seam allowance towards the wrong side and press. I pin generously to keep the bag tops lined up.

Two pieces of fabric with star patterns, one in red, white, and blue, and another in gray and red stars on a white background, laid on a gray surface.
Close-up of a sewing project featuring red fabric with black star patterns, pinned to a blue fabric with red and white stripes, on a gray felt surface.
A piece of red fabric with a star pattern, pinned with colorful fabric clips for sewing, partially layered with a contrasting fabric featuring stripes and stars.
A piece of red fabric with a pattern of stars and small flowers, pinned to a striped fabric and a blue patterned fabric underneath.

Before I sew the top of the bag, though, I need to insert my straps and pin them. I used my ruler when I pinned the straps between the 2 bags so that everything would be neat and square.

A close-up of a cutting mat with a ruler on top, featuring a patriotic fabric printed with American flags. A sewing needle and pins are also visible.
A close-up view of a quilting workspace featuring red, white, and blue fabric with American flag designs, a cutting mat with measurement grids, and pins holding the fabric in place.
A close-up view of a partially assembled tote bag featuring a red fabric with stars, decorated straps with star patterns, and colorful pins securing the fabric pieces on a gray surface.

The last thing to do is to sew around the top of the bag close to the edge. I then zigzagged around the top of the bag to give the straps a little more support. Apparently, I forgot to take a few photos of this step. LOL! Sorry about that.

Anyway, here is my finished bag (again). All 4 sides.

A handmade tote bag featuring a red and navy polka dot design with star-patterned straps.
A tote bag featuring a patriotic design with red, white, and blue colors, including American flags and polka dots.
A patterned fabric tote bag featuring a star design on the top section and horizontal stripes on the bottom.
A fabric tote bag featuring a plaid design on the top half and a striped pattern with small dots on the bottom half, hanging against a textured background.

What a super fun tote bag! Hmmmmm……..I’m thinking these would make great “gift bags” for Christmas. A gift within a gift.

Small Project Summer Challenge Week 3 Next Week

Next week for Week 3 of our Small Project Summer Challenge, we’ll be making pillows/pillow covers. We have some really fun VRD options for you! You can find both digital and print pillow patterns HERE.

Garden Wishes

Parade Day

Spring Blooms

Good Luck

Dot to Dot

Happy Hearts

Belinda Jane

Louisa Jane

Your pillow project is due by midnight July 10th EST.

Enjoy your 250th celebration this weekend!

Until next week!

Sew. Laugh. Celebrate. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2026 Small Project Summer Challenge · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Small Project Summer Challenge Week 1 and a NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Tutorial – Cabin Fever

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you ready for our Small Project Summer Challenge? I know I am! I can’t wait to see what everyone is making for Week 1 – a quilt under 50″ square. I’ll be checking Facebook out eagerly to see everyone’s projects, so make sure you get a photo of your completed Week 1 project onto the VRD Facebook page before Friday, June 26th midnight EST. Or you can email me your photo at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

Colorful promotional graphic for the VRD Small Project Summer Challenge featuring sewing themes. It lists six weeks of projects with due dates: Week 1 - Quilt smaller than 50" x 50", Week 2 - Tote Bag, Week 3 - Pillow, Week 4 - Scarf, Week 5 - Table Runner, Week 6 - Snack Mat Duo.
A colorful promotional graphic for the VRD Small Project Summer Challenge, featuring sewing-themed illustrations and details on how to join, including weekly photo submissions and prize eligibility.

So far I have 34 folks signed up for our Summer Challenge. I am thrilled and welcome each and every one of you with a great big hug! A BIG high-five to those of you who already participated in one of the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenges…and a super special welcome to those of you signing up for a VRD Challenge for the first time. Be prepared to laugh a lot and be inspired by everyone’s projects for the next 6 weeks. Not only are you creating some fun small projects that make great gifts for yourself or someone else on your gift giving list, each week that you complete the weekly challenge, your name goes into a random weekly drawing. Prizes will be shipped after the Challenge is over.

Wanna see my Week 1 Project???

Tricia’s Summer Challenge Week 1 Make

I’ve always wanted to make Cabin Fever by Running Doe Quilts for VRD. Log Cabin quilts are some of my many favs so when I hatched the Summer Challenge, I just knew I had to make Cabin Fever……finally.

A woman holds a colorful quilt titled 'Cabin Fever' in front of a rustic wooden backdrop, showcasing its vibrant patterns and designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

And since it’s summertime as well as the 250th birthday of the USA, I simply had to use patriotic fabrics, of course. LOL!

Sooooooo, here’s my Patriotic Cabin Fever!

A colorful patchwork quilt featuring red, blue, and white fabrics with floral and star patterns, displayed outdoors against a grassy field with trees in the background.

I think it turned out really cute and I plan to hang it in the living room over the sofa just as soon as I get a chance to do it.

And here’s a fun photo I just had to take on my cute little red Jeep Compass. It was a perfect day with the gorgeous summer sky and fluffy clouds, about 75 degrees. And all the green in the background. Welcome to NW PA!

A colorful quilt displayed on the hood of a red car under a blue sky with fluffy clouds and green trees in the background.

I used a 100% cotton variegated red, white, and blue Aurifil thread to quilt it in my usual loopy design. The binding is a navy blue solid and I machine stitched it on. I think I’ve finally gotten the hang of that now – it saves me so much time these days, although I still like the look of hand-stitched binding better.

You might notice that my blue strips at the top and bottom are actually 2 similar blue prints sewn together in the center of the strip. I was using a collection of fat quarters and a couple pieces of coordinating yardage to make my Cabin Fever quilt. I didn’t plan out the fabric very well and then I ended up not having enough of 1 blue fabric to use for the top and bottom, so I improvised. I ended up piecing 2 very similar fabrics to make the strips long enough for the top and bottom of the quilt. But, you know what? I think it turned out pretty well and it looks intentional, not random.

How about a tutorial for Cabin Fever?

VRD Cabin Fever Quilt Tutorial

I started with a leftover collection of Moda Star Spangled FQs plus a few coordinates as you can see here. But my blue FQs weren’t complete as I’d used some of them in another porject.

A collection of folded fabric pieces featuring various patterns, including polka dots and stars, in red, white, and blue colors, arranged on a cutting mat.

I started with the center square. I cut my pieces as I sewed, do likewise of you want. Or you can cut everything out at once before you begin sewing. You could even cut multiple quilts out at once.

I chose this really pretty light floral print for the center because I didn’t want it to be a quilt that necessarily screamed patriotic, but I wanted my quilt to be patriotic. Does this make any sense at all?

A square piece of fabric with a floral pattern featuring red, blue, and white flowers on a light background, placed on a cutting mat.
A rotary cutter positioned on a red polka dot fabric square, with a transparent ruler placed over it, resting on a cutting mat with grid lines.

Then I sewed the red strips to the top and bottom of my floral square.

A patchwork fabric piece featuring a floral pattern with red and blue flowers on a cream background, bordered at the top and bottom with solid red fabric with white polka dots.

Time to cut and add the side strips next.

An arrangement of red, white, and blue fabric pieces, featuring floral patterns and star designs, placed on a cutting mat.
A quilt square featuring a floral print center surrounded by red and blue patterned borders with polka dots and stars.

Next up are top and bottom strips. You’ll notice that the strips get wider for each top/bottom or sides round. I think that’s part of the magic in this pattern. Going bigger means less strips and less piecing to get to the desired size which translates into a faster project. Yay!

A patchwork of colorful fabrics, including red, blue, and white patterns, showcasing floral designs and polka dots arranged on a cutting mat.
A patchwork quilt design featuring red, white, and blue fabrics with floral patterns and stars, arranged in a rectangular layout.

Side strips again. This quilt is coming together really fast!

A close-up of colorful fabric squares, featuring a mix of red and blue patterns including checks, floral designs, and stars, laid out on a cutting mat.
A colorful quilt block featuring a mix of red, white, and blue fabrics with various patterns including polka dots and floral designs.

Last, but not least are the final top/bottom strips. This is where I ran into trouble. LOL! I wanted dark blue at the top and bottom, but I didn’t have enough of a single fabric. So, I improvised by piecing 2 similar fabrics together for the top/bottom strips. I took a few extra minutes to line up the center seams so they matched and looked intentional. And I flipped the bottom strip so the same fabric wasn’t on the same side. I think it turned out pretty well in the end.

A close-up view of three fabric pieces, featuring a blue fabric with white stars, a solid blue patch, and a floral print in red and white, arranged on a cutting mat.
A colorful quilt top featuring a central floral pattern, surrounded by varying patterns of red, blue, and pink fabric.
A handmade quilt displayed on a wall, featuring a patchwork design with red, white, and blue fabrics, surrounded by a blue border.

Voila! The finished quilt top!

A colorful quilt featuring red, white, and blue fabrics with various patterns, displayed on a white wooden wall. A vase of fresh flowers and a decorative star are placed on a wooden table in front.

I hope you’ll give this fast and fun small quilt a try sometime. It really is a great summer make. It is a super wall quilt (I’ll show you when I actually get it up on the wall) or a wonderful table quilt – perhaps for a summer picnic – or as a lovely quick baby quilt. Use your stash or use it as an excuse to go shopping at your local quilt shop.

Next week for Week 2 of our Summer Challenge is a TOTE BAG. We have 2 different VRD tote bag patterns to chose from: Olivia Jane or Tabitha Jane. Olivia Jane uses 5″ Charm squares while Tabitha Jane uses FQs.

Here’s a fun tutorial for Olivia Jane where I show you some of the adaptations you can add to your Olivia Jane tote.

Image showcasing three views of the Olivia Jane Charm Square Patchwork Tote, featuring colorful patchwork designs and information about tote construction using 18 five-inch squares.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Promotional poster for a reversible tote bag by Tabitha Jane, featuring four colorful bags with different patterns, fabric requirements, and construction details.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Well, that’s it for me this week!

Enjoy your Small Project Summer Challenge sewing and I’ll see you next week right here!

Sew. Laugh. 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

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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)

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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

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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

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Whirlaway Quilt – A Blue and White Quilt Tutorial Just For You

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

PSST!  Did you hear???

Punxatawney Phil (the groundhog extraordinaire) saw his shadow on Monday, February 2nd, which means 6 more weeks of winter.  Like that’s a big surprise this year, right?  

Have you ever attended the spectacle in Punxatawney?  I have not, but when I was an early childhood educator in a former life, I would get up early and watch it on TV as I always planned some fun things for the kiddos.  Now?  I tend to agree with all the fun and silly memes on Facebook.  MY favorite showed a wolf in a winter landscape and said something like “The groundhog saw his shadow – 6 more weeks of winter.  So I ate him.”  Succinct. Punchy. Perfect. Huh. That’s winter for you.

As promised last week, I’m back with my Blue and White quilt tutorial featuring Pat’s Rose Card pattern, Whirlaway.  Have you ever made Whirlaway?  It’s a really fast and fun quilt.  Perfect for beginners.  And it looks great in any fabric combination, even fabrics right out of your scrap stash.  And the best part – it’s fat quarter friendly so it’s a fantastic pattern to use up some of those delicious fat quarter bundles gathering dust on your storage shelves because they’re just too pretty all tied up with a ribbon to cut them up.  Well, now you can.  The alternating squares give you plenty of space to enjoy the fabrics and Whirlaway handles large prints like a dream.  So what are you waiting for???  Grab your fabrics and the Whirlaway pattern and make a quilt with me.

Before I begin the tutorial, though, I have a quick question for you, dear readers.  Which tutorial format do you prefer?

  1. Each step numbered with the written instructions first followed by the image(s)
  2. Each step numbered with the image(s) first followed by the written instructions
  3. Steps are not numbered, with the written instructions first followed by the image(s)
  4. Steps are nit numbered, with the image(s) first followed by the written instructions

I would appreciate you weighing in on this because I seem to go back and forth among these different options and I would like to make the tutorials as useful and easy to follow as I can.

On to the Whirlaway tutorial we go!

VRD Whirlaway Quilt Tutorial

A colorful quilt design titled 'Whirlaway' by Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a patchwork of various blue and patterned fabrics, framed with decorative borders and a white rose illustration.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

As I mentioned above Whirlaway is fat quarter friendly and uses a single background fabric to unify everything together. It finishes at a very nice 54″ x 72″, which is a great throw-sized quilt. Of curse, you can add or subtract blocks to make it larger or smaller. Or you can out an outer border. If you added a 6″ finished border, the quilt would become 66″ x 84″ which would work on a twin sized bed. Just remember that if you decide to make more blocks or add an outer border, you will need additional fabric.

Let’s gather up our fabrics now!  

Today I am using yummy batik fabrics from our friends over at Hoffman Fabrics.  This is an older collection called Aurora, which probably long gone.  I am totally in love with the range of colors – medium blues to brighter blues to deep blues to a touch of purple just for fun.  I’m using one of my favorites – Hoffman’s Ocean Aquatic Dot Batik – for my background. I find myself using the lighter Dot Batiks as backgrounds and I love love love the darker ones for binding.

A collection of various blue and green fabric swatches laid out on a table, accompanied by a pattern booklet titled 'Whirlaway'.

Now that we’ve gathered everything up, we are ready to begin cutting out fabrics.  For Whirlaway, we are cutting 2 different sized squares from our FQ’s and that’s it.  Fast and simple.  Easy peasy.

I like to layer 3-4 fabrics at a time when I cut. Do likewise if you feel comfortable, but don’t feel like you have to. Whether you cut one fabric at a time or multiples, we’ll all get to the finish line. Here you can see that I cut my fabric into strips and then cut my strips into squares. Efficient and accurate.

A rotary cutter rests on a cutting mat with green and pink gridlines, beside a piece of fabric featuring blue fern patterns.
A cutting mat with a vibrant blue and teal fabric featuring a botanical pattern of leaves and ferns. A bright yellow rotary cutter is positioned on the mat next to the fabric.
A stack of fabric squares featuring a dark background with blue-green fern and leaf patterns, alongside a larger piece of the same fabric design, laid out on a pink cutting mat.

We only need to cut the smaller size squares from the background fabric. Again, I cut the strips first then cut my strips into squares.

A rotary cutter and a green quilting ruler placed on a pink cutting mat with polka-dotted fabric.
An assortment of fabric squares and a rotary cutter placed on a pink cutting mat with measurement grid lines, indicating a sewing or quilting workspace.
A cutting mat with a transparent ruler and a rotary cutter, alongside several folded pieces of fabric with a light blue polka dot pattern.

Next we’re going to make a stack of Nine Patch blocks.  Yay! You have some options to consider for your Nine Patch blocks. It’s like being a guest quilt designer for your very own project!

A). You can use only 2 fabrics for each Nine Patch – the background fabric and 1 of the FQ’s.

A mosaic of blue and green abstract shapes arranged in a grid pattern, with some squares remaining blank.

B). You can use 3 fabrics for each block – the background fabric, 1 FQ square for the center square, and a 2nd FQ for the 4 corners

A collage of six different blue and teal patterned fabric swatches, featuring abstract shapes and floral designs.

C) 5 assorted FQ squares and 4 background squares to make fun scrappy blocks

A collage of blue patterned fabric swatches featuring abstract shapes, floral designs, and textures.

I chose option C. Surprised?

What’s your process for making Nine Patch quilt blocks?

I like to make all of my Nine Patch blocks at once, using chain piecing, without stopping to do any pressing in between.  I have found this to be the most efficient way for me to make a bunch of Nine Patch blocks in the shortest possible time.  I am all about finding the quickest, easiest, most successful – LAZY – way to quilt and sew.  That attitude has earned me the nickname, “the Lazy Quilter” amongst my friends.  LOL!

Let me share with you how I do it.

First, I need to know the number of Nine Patch blocks required for the quilt.

Now it’s time to sew a FQ square and a background square together.  I need to make pairs 3x the number of blocks required for the project.

Close-up of two fabric squares placed on a sewing machine surface, one with a blue sunflower pattern and the other with a light speckled design.

Once I have all of the pairs sew together, next I’m going to add a third square to each pair.  The first group will have a background square on each side of a FQ square and I need to make 1 of these rows for each block, so I will need to make the same number as the number of blocks I need for the quilt. Gosh, I hope this isn’t confusing……

Three pieces of fabric arranged side by side on a sewing table, featuring patterns in light blue, dark blue floral, and a speckled design, with a ruler for measurement.

When that is done, I will sew a different FQ square together with each remaining pair. If I did the math right (YAY MATH!), I will have 2X the number of blocks for this row as I will use 2 of them for each Nine Patch block.

A piece of fabric divided into three sections: the left section features a blue floral pattern, the middle section is a plain light fabric with small blue dots, and the right section shows a darker blue pattern with floral designs. The fabric is placed on a sewing machine and a ruler is visible in the foreground.

Then it’s time to sew 3 rows together (a  background-FQ- background row between 2  FQ-background-FQ rows) into a scrappy Nine Patch block. I sew 2 rows together and then after I’ve done that, I go back and add the third row to make me a big passel of Nine Patch blocks all at the same time.

A close-up image of a sewing machine with fabric swatches arranged in a patchwork layout. The swatches feature various shades of blue and green patterns, including floral designs and abstract textures.
A patchwork of blue and white fabric squares arranged on a sewing machine table, with various patterned fabrics in shades of blue and green.
A pile of colorful fabric squares in various shades of blue, arranged in a patchwork design, located next to a sewing machine.

Whew – that was really fast!  Now all of my Nine Patch blocks are finished.  I can press the blocks at this point, or if I’m feeling really brave or pressed for time, I’ll save the pressing until the whole quilt top is finished before I press the whole thing.

I’m feeling brave so let’s skip the pressing for now.  I have found that batiks usually behave themselves better than standard quilting cottons because of their denser weave so I feel pretty confident that the quilt will still turn out well.  Besides, this is a very forgiving pattern with Nine Patches alternating with big squares.  I guess it all really depends on your personal comfort level.  If you need to press, then by all means, press.  No judgements here, just quilts.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, then you might already know how much I adore simple quilt blocks like Nine Patches. Here are a few past blog posts about Nine Patch quilt blocks you might find interesting:

Quilt Block Basics — Four Patch and Nine Patch

Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

All right, time to put all the blocks and squares up on my design wall and play switcheroo with them until I’m happy with the arrangement of the blocks. I am trying not to have any squares of the same fabric touching, but we’ll see how well that’s going to work out for me.

I seriously didn’t have much trouble getting the blocks to play nice with their neighbors. WHEW! Sometimes this part of making a quilt takes longer than the actual cutting and sewing, but not today.

Voila! Here is my blue and white Whirlaway arranged and ready to sew together. Please note, I had to lay the quilt blocks and squares out sideways to fit on my design wall.

A colorful quilt in progress, featuring a variety of blue and teal fabrics arranged in a patchwork design with white squares.

WOOHOO! Now it’s time to sew the blocks into rows.

You really can make this lovely quilt top in a weekend or even a day if you’re in a hurry.

A sewing machine stitching together colorful fabric patches in shades of blue and white.

Here we are, almost done! Rows are stitched and now it’s time to sew the rows together.

A patchwork quilt featuring various shades of blue and patterned fabric squares, arranged in a checkered design.

And finally, here is my finished Whirlaway quilt top. I really like how it turned out, don’t you? It’s very wintry and perfectly appropriate for this Polar Vortex weather pattern we’ve been stuck in.

I really love how the purple adds a lot of interest to the quilt.

A quilt featuring a patchwork design with various blue and teal fabrics arranged in squares and rectangles, some adorned with floral patterns.

Now I’ll have to add it to my to-be-quilted pile. Sigh……you know the towering teetering pile that would be taller than me if I stacked all of them in one pile for real? Yup, that one.

Well, that’s it for me this week. Let me know your thoughts on your preferred tutorial format, please. And I’ll adapt my format to whichever one seems to be the most popular.

Stay warm and stay busy. Spring will come someday. I think.

See you right here, next time!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

NEW January 2026 VRD Rose Card Patterns, a NEW Seasonal Series, and a Tutorial for an Envelope Pillow Back

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you ready for a FUN and exciting new year of quilty goodness here on the VRD blog? We’re working on all kinds of cool ideas for 2026, including another 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge, lots of new patterns (as you probably already know we release 5-7 brand new patterns each and every month), and lots of other great stuff. You just need to hang out every Thursday with us to see what’s up.

Speaking of new patterns, I’m excited to share with you our brand new January patterns. If you’ve been hanging out with us for a while, then you probably already know that I totally live for the Thursday after the first Friday of every month. If you’re new to the blog, first – WELCOME, we’re SEW glad you’re here – and second, our new monthly patterns are released on the first Friday of each month. Here on the blog, I love to share our new monthly patterns on the Thursday post following Pat’s reveal of the new patterns on the first Friday. Whew! I hope that makes sense.

Cue the confetti and the music! Here they are!

Promotional image for January 2026 quilt patterns, featuring five designs: Elroy, Gateway, Felicity, Go Fish, and Star Anise, each with a description and the price of $8.95 for the set.

You can get all 5 print patterns HERE

(patterns are also available individually as both digital downloads and printed patterns)

Elroy – Rachelle Handmade is back with this clever star-worthy fat quarter friendly quilt that finishes 48″ x 60″. So grab your favorite FQ collection and this quilt go together in a jiffy.

Felicity – Here’s another super quick fat quarter patterns from Pat. It finishes at 42″ x 54″ and makes a fun throw or kids’ quilt.

Gateway – This is Molly’s latest panel quilt design. It finishes at 42″ x 62″, which is a nice small throw or even a large wall quilt.

Star Anise – Heidi’s new design this month is a fab graphic star pattern. It finishes at 58″ x 58″ and makes a good-sized throw. You could add another row at the bottom to make this quilt longer if you wanted to and it would be the right size for a Quilts of Valor quilt.

Go Fish – This cutie was created as a child’s quilt for a new baby in my cousin’s family. It finishes at 46″ x 52″ and uses fat quarters.

Because of the holidays, I didn’t get a runner finished in time for January, but I have something else for you this month!

New Seasonal Series for 2026

I hope you enjoyed the Seasonal Snack Mat Pattern Series from 2024-25 as much as I did. It was really fun to come up with a new design for each month of the year.

Cover image featuring 12 seasonal snack mats with various designs, including Woolly Mitten, Dear Heart, Shamrock, Independence Day, Buzzy Bee, Little Shroom, and more, all displayed in a colorful grid format.

Did you know we have all 12 Snack Mats together in a print collection now? You can find it HERE.

Hey! How about another Seasonal Series for 2026???

Great idea – it just so happens that this month we’re kicking off a new Seasonal Accent Pillow series. The patchwork pillow covers will finish at 18″ square and can be used as small wall or table quilts.

WOOHOO!

This month’s Pillow is called Happy Hearts.

My furbaby, Bailly, decided she wanted to be in the photo with the pillow. To be fair, I did use her favorite chair. LOL! Silly Bailly.

A decorative pillow with a heart design sits on a pink couch, accompanied by a small, fluffy dog.

You can find the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE

I hope you are as excited about this new series as I am. By now, you’ve probably noticed that I tend to create a lot of seasonal and holiday patterns. I wonder if that comes from living my entire life here in northwestern Pennsylvania where we can have all 4 seasons in one day. Yeah….maybe.

To jump-start your Year of Seasonal Pillows, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you how I like to finish the backs of my accent pillows. Yep, there are lots of different ways, but my absolute favorite is the Envelope Pillow Back.

Read on for a quick tutorial.

Envelope Pillow Back Tutorial

Have you ever made a throw pillow and wondered how to finish the back? Maybe you added that unfinished pillow top to your stash of UFOs and forgot all about it.

Let me show you my favorite method for finishing a pillow top with no zippers. Yep – you heard me right – no zippers! And that’s a good thing, too, as I am terrible at sewing zippers.

I layered my pillow top with batting and lining fabric and machine quilted it. Then I squared it up to 18 1/2″ x 18 1/2″. Now we’re ready to rock and roll!

A close-up view of a quilting project showing a variety of pink and red fabric squares arranged in a geometric pattern, with batting visible underneath.
A cutting mat with a transparent ruler and rotary cutter, featuring a patchwork design of hearts in red and pink fabrics.
Close-up of a quilt featuring a heart pattern with red and pink fabric pieces, set against a light background with quilting stitches.

I chose these cheeky pink snowflakes for the back of my Happy Hearts Pillow since we’ll still be having snow for Valentine’s Day around here.

I decided to cut my 2 backing pieces of fabric 12 1/2″ x 18 1/2″ so that I would have a 6″ overlap. There aren’t any real rules for how much overlap to have on an Envelope back, but if you don’t have enough, you’ll know it because the opening on the back will bulge out, exposing the pillow insert. Better to have a generous overlap than not enough.

A cutting mat with pink fabric featuring white snowflakes, alongside a transparent quilting ruler marked with measurements.

Next, I’m going to press a 1/4″ hem along an 18 1/2″ side on BOTH of the backing pieces.

An iron next to a piece of pink fabric with a snowflake pattern, resting on a grey ironing board cover.

Then we’ll fold it over one more time so that the raw edges will be sandwiched in the hem. You can pin them in place if needed, but since I pressed them, they’ll hold up while I sew.

A piece of fabric featuring a pink and white snowflake pattern, with pink bias tape laid on top, on a textured surface.

Alrighty, now we’re headed to the sewing machine to sew down the hem on both sections.

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching a decorative pink fabric with snowflake patterns.
Close-up of a pink patterned fabric featuring white snowflake designs with visible stitching along the edges.

Our next step is to layer one of the back sections right sides together (RST) with the pillow cover, lining up the outer edges with the hemmed edge towards the middle. This time I’m going to pin generously because I really don’t want anything moving out of place.

A close-up view of a quilt showcasing various patterned fabrics, including pink, red, and white materials, with quilted designs and a folded section revealing different fabric textures.
A piece of pink fabric with snowflake patterns is pinned to a quilt, surrounded by sewing tools and materials.

So far, so good. Let’s layer the second backing section now, again with the hemmed edge towards the center, overlapping the hemmed edge of the first section. I pinned everything into submission.

A close-up of pink fabric with a white snowflake pattern, folded and pinned for sewing.
A square piece of pink fabric with a floral pattern, pinned down on a workspace with various craft supplies in the background.

Back to the sewing machine to sew all the way around, using a 1/4″ seam allowance.

A sewing machine with a pink fabric piece featuring a floral pattern, pinned with colorful clips, under bright lighting.

I want to take a minute and share a really good tip about sewing corners – I learned this great idea from a fellow quilt guild member years ago.

When you are a few stitches from where you plan to stop and turn the corner, pause and turn your project 45 degrees and stitch a couple stitches, then turn it the rest of the way and continue sewing on the new side. These couple of stitches give your corner a little ease and room for turning. You’ll actually end up with neater corners when you’re turning things right sides out if you do this.

Oops – you caught me – I just sewed over my pin instead of pulling it out. Call the Quilt Police!

Close-up of a sewing machine foot, with pink patterned fabric being prepared for stitching, and a pin holding the fabric in place.
Close-up of a sewing machine with pink fabric featuring snowflake patterns and a blue sewing pin, showing the needle and presser foot in action.
Close-up of a pink fabric with a floral pattern and visible stitching on the edge.

I’m also going to cut across all 4 of my corners to reduce the bulk which will help those corners to turn out neatly. Be careful NOT to cut through your stitching.

Close-up of pink patterned fabric with scissors cutting the edge on a gray felt background.

Since my inside edges are going to be unfinished, I think I’ll take a little extra time to zig zag around the outside before turning things right sides out. This will just help to keep things neat and tidy so they don’t fray. If you have a serger, you can easily serge around the outside edges. And if you know how to use your serger, somebody please teach me – mine is still new in the box three years after purchase…….

Close-up of a pink fabric with a floral pattern, partially sewn, placed on a sewing machine.

Okay, let’s turn this pillow cover right sides out through the Envelope Back opening. Yippee!

Close-up of a quilt featuring a pink and red pattern. The quilt is partially on a sewing machine with quilting lines visible, and colorful fabrics can be seen in the background.
A piece of pink fabric with white snowflake patterns, laid out flat on a sewing table.

I’m going to take a little time to press things really well and smooth my edges so the pillow back won’t be showing around the front edge of the pillow. Much better.

A pink fabric featuring white snowflake patterns, laid out on a workspace.

Time to pop an 18″ pillow insert into my now-completed pillow cover.

A pink pillowcase with a snowflake pattern next to a white pillow on a craft table.
A pink pillow with white snowflake patterns, resting on a crafting table surrounded by fabric scraps and sewing tools.

And here is the completed Happy Hearts pillow with Envelope Pillow Back. Done and done. I think it turned out pretty well!

A decorative quilted pillow featuring a heart pattern in shades of pink and red against a light background.

Well, that’s it for me this week.

Hope to see you here again next Thursday for more VRD fun! Bring a friend!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Free Quilt Blocks and Patterns · Just Quilty Stuff · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

A Christmas Gift For You – A Little Holiday Quilt Pattern and Tutorial to Bring You Joy and Holiday Gift Idea #3

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

And Happy December!

A snowy forest scene featuring tall evergreen trees, with the word 'December' prominently displayed in the center.

Huh! I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that all of a sudden it’s December. Sew much to do and sew little time……

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really excited about December starting. My quilty cuz, Kim (Hey You!), and I both purchased Quilty Christmas Advent Boxes last year in 2024, but we were both a bit disappointed so we decided to create boxes for each other this year instead of hunting around to find another one we liked. What fun!

It’s been a blast picking out fun things for Kim. Of course, I panicked at the end of November because I wasn’t ready yet! LOL! But in a flurry of wrapping paper and covered in tape, I got all 25 items wrapped up and they all fit inside the box.

We met a a local restaurant on Saturday and exchanged our boxes. Kim’s box for me was a fun surprise – the goodies in the box were all stacked up (and wrapped in Christmas sloth paper) – they didn’t fit inside the box and were sticking out all over. Joy oh joy! She didn’t even bother with a lid. Oh my! What fun December is going to be – enjoying a little Christmas every day – both the giving and the receiving as well as the sharing.

In addition to Kim’s box, I also created a box for each of my parents. I had to hustle to get all of their goodies (that’s 50 gifts) wrapped in 1 day on December 1st before dinner so we could start our December tradition on the right day. Wow! I was so tired after all of the wrapping that I didn’t put numbers on everything like I should have. Oh well, Mom and Dad will just have to reach in and pull one out to open each day until Christmas Day instead of having to hunt through their boxes every day for the right number package. And by the way, everything fit nice and neat inside their boxes and the lids closed perfectly. Just sayin’, Kim…. LOL!!!

A Gift For You

When I was trying to decide what to do this week on the blog, I had a brilliant idea – why not create a special little holiday quilt for you, our readers and VRD friends? Without you, there would be no VRD. We appreciate you each and every day. Thank you for loving VRD as much as we do.

I decided to call the little quilt I created for you, Quilt Joy. It is a happy little thing and I am looking forward to quilting and binding it. I already have someone as the recipient.

So, let’s make a quilt together!

Quilt Joy Little Quilt Tutorial

Colorful patchwork quilt design featuring a grid pattern in red, green, and white.
Quilt Joy, a little quilt by Tricia Maloney, finishes at 24″ x 24″

Quilt Joy Free Pattern Download

Little Joy quilt pattern Dec 2025Download

The first thing we need is our fabric, of course! For this little sweetie, I’m using a 5″ charm pack from my stash. Because I’ll need some more red, I’m adding a 2.5″ charm stack, too. And a background fabric. I’m going to make my little Quilt Joy in traditional red, green, and white, but you can make yours in any color combination or even really scrappy.

If you celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanza, you can totally use special colors for your celebrations.

I think I’ll make a blue, white, and silver one for January – but that’s getting a little ahead of myself, isn’t it?

A stack of fabric pieces including a charm pack with holiday patterns and a white fabric, placed on a green cutting mat.

Cutting doesn’t take much time at all! I promise. I cut my 5″ charm squares into 4 – 2.5″ squares. Zip Zap Zoop – done!

Red fabric pieces cut into small squares on a cutting mat with measurements.
A variety of fabric pieces laid out on a cutting mat, including red patterned squares, green squares with pine tree designs, and strips of white fabric.

Now let’s make some Nine Patch blocks. Easy peasy.

A collection of red and white quilt blocks arranged on a crafting surface, showcasing various patterns and textures.

In one of my Nine Patch blocks, I added a green square in the center. This block will be in the center of my quilt.

Two completed Nine Patch quilt blocks featuring a mix of red and white fabrics, with one block incorporating a green Christmas tree print.

Okay, now let’s sew 3 blocks together with sashing in between the blocks. We need to make 3 rows.

Three rows of Nine Patch quilt blocks in red and white fabrics, featuring holiday patterns.

Next we need to use 3 sashing strips along with 2 green accent squares to make a sashing row. Make 2 rows.

Two strips of white fabric with green checkered patches sewn in the middle, resting on a light-colored fabric background.

Now we are going to sew the sashing rows between the block rows. Isn’t this looking sew sew cute???? I am just loving this little cutie!

A quilt block featuring a festive red and white nine-patch design with various Christmas-themed fabrics and green accent squares.

Add a border strip to each side of the quilt.

A patchwork quilt block featuring a grid pattern in red and white fabric, with various Christmas-themed prints and patterns.

Now sew a green accent square to each end of the 2 remaining borders. Then sew to the top and bottom of the quilt.

A patchwork quilt featuring red and white squares in a Nine Patch pattern, with seasonal holiday-themed fabrics.

Isn’t it just too adorable for words???? And in the classic traditional of Villa Rosa Designs, you can put the quilt top together in a few hours, including the cutting.

Here’s Quilt Joy for our friends who celebrate Hanukkah:

A colorful quilt design featuring a grid pattern with alternating squares in shades of blue, yellow, and white.

And here’s Quilt Joy for our friends who celebrate Kwanza:

A colorful quilt pattern featuring red and green squares arranged in a checkerboard design, set against a black background with a red border.

Happy Happy December to You!

Holiday Gift Idea #3

For the past few weeks, I’ve shared a fun gift idea at the end of the blog for you. My Holiday Pick this week – #3 – is hot off the press – literally!

A colorful collage showcasing 12 seasonal snack mat designs by Villa Rosa Designs, featuring various patterns and motifs suitable for different occasions throughout the year.

Get yours HERE

Many of you have been waiting for the collection of all 12 Seasonal Snack Mats from 2024/2025 to be released as a set and it is finally here – just in time for the Holidays! YAY! I am SEW excited!!!

Please note that at this time, it is only available as a print collection; however, each Snack Mat pattern is available individually as a digital pattern as well as a print pattern. Don’t forget – shipping is always free on patterns at VRD.

I hope you enjoy each and every day of December this year. Please take a few moments every day to enjoy the season.

See you right here next week for more VRD fun in December.

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge – Week 3 and a Fun VRD Snack Mat Tutorial

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

How are you this fine October Thursday? My thoughts are definitely turning towards cozy quilts, good books, and hot tea right now as the October winds howl outside, swirling the leaves in mini cyclones around the yard.

I’ve been really enjoying our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge and I hope you’ve been tuning in to the finished projects on our VRD Facebook page. If you signed up for the Challenge, please make sure to write that your before/after photos are for the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge so we can all ooooh and ahhhh over your completed project (this also makes it easier for me to note who finishes a project each week during the Challenge).

I’ve heard that it takes about 30 days to build a new habit so if we finish 1 quilt each week for 6 weeks, hypothetically we are building a new habit. At least, that’s my hope, anyway. LOL!

Before we get much further, though, let’s all congratulate Mary Q as our Week 2 winner. Yay you, Mary! Keep up the great work!

I wonder who will be our Week 3 winner next week??? Maybe Y O U ????

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 3

For Week 3, I chose to complete one of my recent blog tutorial quilts from last month – Busy Bee. I was sew in love with the Hoffman digital fabrics I used for my tutorial that I just had to finish this one as part of the challenge. Busy Bee is fat quarter friendly and finishes at 45″ x 54″, which is a nice kids quilt, baby quilt, or small throw. If you want it bigger, you can easily add more blocks or an outer border (or both).

If you missed the Busy Bee tutorial, you can find it HERE.

A colorful quilt design titled 'Busy Bee', featuring various fabric patterns including floral, geometric, and handwritten text, set against a light green background. The quilt is bordered at the bottom with a decorative design and includes the logo 'Villa Rosa Designs'.

Don’t have Busy Bee yet?

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

Here’s my BEFORE photo:

A patchwork quilt hanging on a clothesline, featuring a mix of floral and patterned fabric squares in shades of pink, green, and white.

Here’s my AFTER photo:

A cozy quilt featuring a patchwork design with pink, green, and floral patterns, draped over a chair outdoors.

I backed my quilt with a lovely dusty rose textured fleece and free motion quilted the quilt with an allover meander design in a pretty pink thread.

I had a question recently on the blog about using fleece on the back of quilts, so I thought I’d address it here. I do not use batting when I use fleece on the back. I generally only use fleece on the backs of my throw quilts, although my quilty cuz, Kim, is using her fleece scraps on the back of her table runners and smaller projects, too. As for quilting a fleece backed quilt, I try to stay away from designs that cross over because the fleece is really stretchy and the quilt top isn’t (or at least it shouldn’t be) and crossing over lines potentially runs the risk of getting pleats and folds at intersections. I find wiggly line and meandering my designs of choice when quilting fleece backed quilts.

For more tips when quilting fleece, you can check out a blog post HERE from a few years ago.

The binding is Riviera, a Dot batik from our quilting partner, Hoffman , and it’s the absolute perfect finish. I stitched the binding on by machine again to save time. It turned out okay, but a few of my corners had minds of their own and were trying to do the salsa. Sheesh! I even had to rip one out and force it into submission. Corners can be so tricky!

A colorful batik fabric design featuring a blend of deep reds, purples, greens, and pinks with a dotted pattern throughout.
Riviera Dot batik from Hoffman

Now to decide which quilt to finish for Week 4……..

FUN VRD Snack Mat Tutorial

Recently, Chris from Needlepointers.com reached out to us to share a really fun idea and tutorial using our VRD Snack Mat patterns and I’m thrilled to share it with you. If you haven’t ever checked out Needlepointers.com, you should! Chris and her daughter Annette have been sharing craft tutorials and projects for the last 20 years on their website.

If you’re like me, you’re on the lookout for fun and fast Holiday gift ideas because the holidays are almost upon us. Snack Mats, of course, are an AWESOME quick and easy gift idea and as a bonus, each pattern makes 2 Snack Mats. You can find all the VRD Snack Mat patterns HERE. Snack Mat patterns are available in both digital and print formats.

Thanks, Chris, for sharing this GREAT IDEA with us!

Have you made anything fun using any of our VRD patterns and put together a tutorial online? We’d love to see it.

Please note that if you are thinking about creating a tutorial of your favorite VRD project (or you’ve done one already):

  1. You may show the front of the pattern, but never the back where the instructions are
  2. Do not give any cutting dimensions or measurements out verbally or in writing as part of your tutorial

Please keep in mind that all VRD patterns are protected by copyright law. Thank you for kindly respecting our VRD designers, their creativity, and their hard work.

Well, I’d better get to work on my Week 4 Challenge Project. I’ll show it off next week. You’d better get yours going, too.

See you then.

Have a great week. Get SEW much done!

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD