Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials

NEW VRD Rose Card Patterns for September and VRD Cinnamon Stix Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you are enjoying this collection of VRD quilt tutorials to inspire you to leap back into quilting this fall. May these tutorials nudge you into making a quilt for someone special or maybe just for yourself.

We’ve got lots to do today, so let’s get moving.

First up, it’s the Thursday after the first Friday of the month, and you know what that means – NEW PATTERNS! Talk about fall inspiration!!!

Here’s the new collection of 5 VRD Rose Cards for September. Aren’t they super???

A collage of quilt pattern cards for September 2025, featuring designs titled Awestruck, Edwina, Pumpkin Parade, Besties, and Viroqua, each with vibrant colors and unique patterns.

Get the set of 5 print patterns HERE

(Patterns are also available individually both as print and digital versions)

Awestruck by Molly uses 5″ squares and finishes at 44″ x 60″. There are kits still available HERE featuring Tula’s True Colors collection while they last. Totally loving the name!

Melissa wows us with her Pumpkin Parade throw quilt. It uses yardage (or your stash!) and finishes at 45″ x 56″. We still have a few kits left HERE featuring Riley Blake Seasonal fabrics, so grab one before they’re gone.

Pat is back this month with her latest Tim Holtz Palette quilt pattern, Edwina, featuring the Indigo Palette. Edwina finishes at 45″ x 60″ and is fat quarter friendly. Kits are still available, but going fast, so get yours HERE.

Besties is my new throw-sized quilt pattern this month. It’s fat quarter friendly and finishes at 48″ x 64″. We have kits featuring Anna Maria’s Iconic collection (see below) still available HERE.

Colorful patchwork quilt featuring various floral patterns and vibrant colors arranged in a grid layout.

Besties in the Iconic Collection

Viroqua is Rachelle’s latest smashing mod pattern. It finishes at 42″ x 48″ and uses half yards and yardage (stash friendly!). There are kits still available HERE featuring Windham’s Sketchbook 21 collection (see below).

A patchwork quilt top featuring various fabric patterns arranged in a geometric design with triangles and squares, showcasing a mix of colors and textures.

Viroqua in the Sketchbook 21 collection (please disregard the 2 mistakes where we turned the HSTs the wrong way – it’s getting fixed as we speak)

Last, but certainly not least is this month’s new table runner, Beachcomber. I’m sorry I missed the deadline boat last month with this fun runner, but I think it’s not too late to have just a wee bit more summer before it’s officially autumn on September 22nd.

You can really use just about any fabric collection or your stash for this fun and clever runner. Beachcomber finishes at 18″ x 54″ and uses yardage. Autumn? Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? And the list goes on. Have you ever thought about making a 2 sided runner with 2 different seasons….here’s your chance!

A digital mockup of the Beachcomber quilt pattern designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney, featuring a colorful quilt laid out on a sandy beach with ocean waves in the background.

Get your digital Beachcomber pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

Now we’ve covered all of the new September patterns, which one will you make first?

OH! One last little thing about the new patterns – Melissa’s new Pumpkin Parade throw quilt is a fabulous companion to our best-selling Pumpkin Hollow table runner.

A quilted table runner featuring orange pumpkins on a white background with a checked pattern, accompanied by autumn leaves, titled 'Pumpkin Hollow' designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney for Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your Pumpkin Hollow digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE.

All right, moving on, let’s dive into this week’s quilt tutorial – Cinnamon Stix.

VRD Cinnamon Stix Quilt Tutorial

Cinnamon Stix is a great pattern for a favorite fabric collection. You can use a stripe or even a seasonal/novelty fabric in the long strips, so it’s really versatile. Then simply add your coordinating fabrics for the Stix, a sashing, and border. Cinnamon Stix is fat quarter friendly and finishes at a nice 46″ x 63″.

A vibrant quilt titled 'Cinnamon Stix' featuring horizontal stripes of various fabrics in warm autumn colors and patterns, framed by a green border.

Get your Cinnamon Stix digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

I promised you a few weeks ago that I was going to have another quilt featuring Hoffman’s Rodeo Dreams digital collection – well, here it is! Today we’re using the border stripe in the collection along with fun coordinates, including a few batiks.

A variety of fabric swatches in red, blue, and neutral tones arranged on a sewing table, featuring a western-themed border print with cowboys and horses, alongside a quilting pattern titled 'Cinnamon Stix'.

First up, we’re going to cut out the Stix for the 3 pieced Stix rows.

A rotary cutter and acrylic ruler on a cutting mat with the 'Cinnamon Stix' quilt pattern card by Heidi Cook.

Once we’ve gotten all of the Stix cut, we’re going to slap them up on the design wall so we can arrange and rearrange them until we’re happy with the fabric placement.

Heads up – because the Stix are cut different widths, each row might look a bit different, depending on how you arrange your Stix.

Fabric squares arranged on a design wall in a patchwork pattern, featuring red, white, and blue colors.

Now we’re happy with how the Stix rows look, so it’s time to sew them together. I like to sew them into pairs, then sew the pairs into quads, and so on until all the pieces are stitched together into a row. Then repeat for the next 2 rows.

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching layers of fabric together, featuring a mixture of light beige and patterned blue fabric.

Okay, all the Stix are sewn together into 3 rows. Lookin’ good!

Three rows of colorful quilt fabric blocks arranged on a design wall, featuring blue, red, and cream tones.

Next let’s work on prepping and cutting the Rodeo border stripe fabric. My pal (and cousin), Robin, is helping me out with this tutorial today – we’re working on it in her sewing room.

A person cutting fabric on a cutting mat with a rotary cutter, featuring printed rodeo scenes and decorative fabric borders.
Hey Robin!

Once the stripe is cut, we’re going to work on cutting the narrow sashing, which is this gorgeous blue 885 Dot batik. LOVE IT!

A rotary cutter is placed on a cutting mat with strips of navy blue fabric featuring white dot patterns, alongside a clear acrylic ruler for measuring.

Let’s sew the sashing to both sides of our pieced Stix rows.

A sewing machine stitching together several pieces of fabric, including a patterned pink fabric and solid blue fabric, arranged on a sewing table.

Now we’re going to lay out the sashed Stix rows with the stripe. My tip is to find the center of the sashed Stix row and the center of the border stripe. Then match and pin the centers together and pin outward towards the ends to keep the quilt nice and square. We’re ready to sew the rows together. And then we need to add sashing all the way around as our first border.

Close-up of a quilt with red, white, and blue fabric sections alongside a border stripe featuring cowboys on horseback.
Close-up of a sewing machine stitching together pieced quilt blocks on a patterned fabric surface, featuring red, blue, and white fabrics.

Yay! The center of the quilt is finished. Easy peasy!

A quilt featuring western-themed fabric panels depicting riders on horses and dogs, arranged in alternating striped sections of blue, red, and patterned fabric, displayed against a light-grey backdrop.

Okay, time to cut the final border, which is a wonderful red bandana print from the Rodeo Dreams collection. Then we’re going to sew it to the quilt. Yay!

A person cutting red bandana fabric with a rotary cutter on a cutting mat using a ruler for measurements.

And here it is – the finished Cinnamon Stix quilt top in Rodeo Dreams. Isn’t it really fun???

A colorful quilt featuring cowboy and rodeo-themed fabric, arranged in vertical stripes with red borders, displayed against a light backdrop.

Here it is outside for a straight-on shot. It was really breezy so we ended up taking the photo in front of one of Robin’s hubby’s farm toys so it blocked the wind, instead of in front of the old barn (our first choice). Thank you Mary Lee and Robin for holding the quilt and fighting the wind for me. Perfect!

Two people holding a finished quilt featuring horse and cowboy patterns against a construction vehicle background.

I bet you’re already thinking about border stripes in your stash (or something new at your local quilt shop) to use in this fun and fast VRD pattern. We’d love to see your Cinnamon Stix quilts on our VRD Facebook page.

Now that the top (or flimsy) is done, it’s time to layer it with batting and backing, quilt it, bind it, and lastly add a label. Eventually…..

Stay tuned next week for another great VRD tutorial.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

VRD Midnight Pathway Quilt Tutorial, High British Tea, and a Quilt Exhibit/Museum Tour

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you enjoyed last week’s tutorial, Morning Tea, with Molly. It was wonderful that she could stop by the blog and visit with you. Things have been super busy over there at the VRD shop in Grass Valley, CA, so she just hasn’t had a lot of extra time to hang out with us on the blog. What a great quilt she made, too, huh? Blue and white Australian fabrics – wow! If you missed last week’s Morning Tea tutorial, you can find it HERE.

High British Tea and a Quilt Exhibit/Tour

Last Friday, I was delighted to attend a High British Tea and Quilt Program/Tour at the Gibson House Manor Museum in Jamestown, PA. I was invited by my sister’s aunt-in-law (is this even a word???), Anita, to attend as her guest. Anita is not only a quilter, she also volunteers at the Museum.

The Gibson House Manor has had a very interesting history, indeed. It was built by a local doctor, William Gibson in the 1850’s. It is also known as the Mark Twain house because Mark Twain actually stayed there after the Civil War. He liked the house so much, he even included it in one of his stories! But even more interesting, it was a vital stop on the underground railroad with hidden secret rooms and so much more! You can visit the website HERE for more information.

Here’s the museum – isn’t it gorgeous???

The exterior of the Gibson House Manor Museum, featuring a red brick facade, large windows, and surrounding greenery.

Lucky me – not only was the new quilt exhibit debuting, the curator was giving a tour of the quilts, AND it was the monthly High British Tea day. What fun!

Here’s a few photos of the exhibit, showing some of the quilts on display.

A quilt displayed on a wall featuring a pattern with red and blue diamond shapes on a white background, framed with a pink border.
A quilt with red stars and yellow leaf patterns draped over a bed, with a brown patterned border and a dark blue wall in the background.
A colorful quilt featuring a pattern of interlocking shapes in pink, yellow, and blue, displayed against a softly colored wall.
A quilt displayed on a wall featuring a geometric pattern with blue and beige fabrics, showcasing various triangles and squares.
A quilt displayed on a white wall featuring a pattern of red, cream, and green squares with a stitched design.
A blue and white quilt hanging on a wall, featuring a diamond and star pattern with geometric shapes.

You can see this lovely exhibit (and the museum!) until October. It’s called Quilted Layers: Piecing Together History and it is curated by Jill Mezaros. You can make reservations on the website to see the exhibit. While you’re there, you might want to take the Underground Railroad tour and maybe have High British Tea, which is usually the last Friday of the month. Yum!

Now let’s get started on this week’s quilt tutorial to help you restart your quilting this fall.

VRD Midnight Pathway Quilt Tutorial

Midnight Pathway is another great VRD pattern by our own Molly Cook. It finishes at a big 52″ x 72″ and makes a good-sized throw quilt. Want it bigger? Simply add a border.

To me, this pattern has a more masculine feel to it. It’s very straightforward without any extras. I think you’re going to like it!

A quilt titled 'Midnight Pathway' with dark blue and gray fabrics arranged in alternating horizontal strips, featuring intricate quilting patterns.

Don’t have this pattern yet? Then get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

Today we’re using a rich earthy fabric collection. This collection is called Into the Woods and is a Hoffman Fabrics digital fabric collection with companion batiks.

A collection of quilting fabrics laid out on a green cutting mat alongside a pattern card for the 'Midnight Pathway' quilt. The fabrics include various colors and patterns, while the card is clearly labeled with the quilt design details.

Sadly, this collection is an older one, so you might not be able to find it anymore. This time of year, though, you’re bound to find something with a fabulous autumn woodsy feel that would work equally well like the Jason Yenter collection Falling Leaves or maybe Deb Tucker’s Forest Flora collection.

The first thing we’re going to do is to cut a lot of strips from our prints.

Cutting fabric for the Midnight Pathway quilt tutorial, featuring a rotary cutter, ruler, and fabric swatches on a green cutting mat.
A cutting mat with various strips of fabric featuring a tree bark pattern, a rotary cutter, and a clear ruler used for quilting.

Then we’re going to cut more strips from our contrast fabric.

A rotary cutter and quilting ruler positioned on a green cutting mat, with strips of white fabric and a folded piece of fabric nearby.
A quilting workspace featuring a rotary cutter, a clear acrylic ruler, and cut fabric pieces laid out on a green cutting mat.

Once we’ve got all of our strips cut, we’re going to cut our strips into different sized pieces. It’s important to keep all the pieces from one strip together. I folded the smaller pieces inside the longer pieces so I wouldn’t lose them.

A collection of fabric strips in various patterns and colors, including light cream, earthy browns, and floral designs, arranged on a cutting mat alongside a rotary cutter and a ruler.

We’re heading to the sewing machine next so we can add contrast rectangles between the small and larger pieces of the strips. You could mix and match your pieces for a really scrappy look (or even shop out of your stash and scrap bins), but I’m sticking with the pattern and going to keep each original strip together.

As there are three different pieced strips, I’m going to sew the strips together in 3 sections, then I’ll sew all the sections together.

Close-up of a Janome sewing machine with fabric pieces and threading on the sewing table.
Close-up of fabric pieces being sewn together on a sewing machine, showing a mix of patterned and solid fabrics.
Fabric pieces and a pattern for the Midnight Pathway quilt arranged on a cutting mat.

I’m going to pin all the same pieced strips together to stay organized as I work on each group.

Two sets of fabric strips laid out against a patterned background, with contrasting elements visible.

Now that all my strips are pieced, the fun can begin! Time to arrange the strips on my flannel board. Because I have my strips already divided into 3 groups, I’m also going to work on sewing the pieced strips together into 3 sections.

You can really have some creative license with this design because you can arrange the strips any way you want! There are so many ways you can put these strips together, so make sure you play a little bit before you commit.

A patchwork quilt arranged with various fabric strips in earthy tones and patterns, displayed on a flannel board.

Okay, I’m happy with my first section, so I’m going to sew the pieced strips together – first into pairs, then into quads, then finally sewing the quads together into one section. This helps me to keep from mixing up the strips as I sew.

A partially completed quilt top featuring a variety of brown and blue fabric strips arranged in a modern design, displayed against a light-colored background.
A patchwork quilt top featuring a variety of earthy fabric strips arranged in horizontal rows, showcasing a mix of patterns and colors, including browns, creams, and soft greens.
A quilt top in progress featuring various fabric strips in earthy tones, including browns, creams, and nature-themed patterns, arranged in a modern striped design.

I added this piece of paper to the top left corner so I wouldn’t flip things all around as I went.

A close-up image of quilt fabric pieces showing a label that reads 'Top Section 1' with an arrow pointing up, indicating the arrangement. The fabric features earthy tones and patterns resembling autumn foliage.

Great! Time to move onto the second group of pieced strips. I’m going to continue using the same technique as I did with the first section (twosies and foursies) after I’ve decided how I want this section arranged.

A partially completed quilt top displayed on a design wall, featuring alternating strips of earthy fabrics in various shades of brown, cream, and teal, alongside printed fabric depicting a nature scene with deer.
A quilt top in progress featuring an alternating pattern of colorful fabric strips, with a mix of browns, greens, and patterned strips displaying foliage and deer.

Now onto the last section. Because the quilt top is getting so long, I’m pretty much standing on my head to arrange the last pieced strips. LOL! I can barely show you the entire quilt top now – my pressing counter is in the way and I’m running out of flannel board.

A partially completed quilt featuring a design of horizontal fabric strips in earthy tones including browns, greens, and creams, with a central vertical white section.
A quilt design featuring a variety of fabrics in earthy tones, arranged in horizontal strips, with white sections interspersed.

So I’m going to take the top outside for a photo so you can see the whole thing. And here it is! I really like how warm and cozy it looks and how any guy or gal would love it!

A patchwork quilt with alternating strips of earthy brown fabrics and light-colored fabric, laid out on green grass.

Now all I have to do is layer it with batting and backing (or fleece as I plan to do), quilt it, bind it, and put on a label. Ho hum…..I’ll be adding it to my mountain of projects that need finished, I’m afraid. Seriously, I have no idea how many flimsies (quilt tops) and layered quilts I have on my pile – so, what’s one more???

Fingers crossed I’ll get some time this winter to work on them. Of course, the more tutorials I do, the more flimsies I add to my teetering pile. What a delightful conundrum.

Bet you don’t have any WIPs or UFOs (works-in-progress or unfinished objects) in your sewing space, do you???

See you next week for another great tutorial and NEW September patterns!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Morning Tea Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

PSST!

Hey, it’s me, Molly!

Long time no see! I’m stealing the blog from Tricia this week – it’s been a while since I snuck in here and did a tutorial. Sorry it’s been so long, but things have been awfully busy at the VRD shop and I’ve been working hard to create new patterns for you, too.

I heard Tricia’s doing a bunch of tutorials to help everybody get back into quilting this fall, so I thought I’d add one to the mix – Morning Tea. Yup, another Tea quilt. LOL!

Anyway, let’s get back to today’s tutorial, Morning Tea.

VRD Morning Tea Quilt Tutorial

Here’s Morning Tea, designed by our very own VRD Rose Queen, Pat. It’s a fat quarter (18″ x 21″) friendly pattern plus you need to add a background fabric. And of course, it’s fast and fun!

A quilt design titled 'Morning Tea' featuring various shades of blue fabrics arranged in a patchwork pattern, with a light background and floral design at the top corner.

If you don’t have the pattern yet, you can get your print copy HERE or digital copy HERE

I wanted to play around with some of our Aboriginal fabrics in the VRD shop again and decided on this range of blues. Fun, huh? The squiggly light fabric towards the bottom of the photo is my background and the one in front if it is my binding.

A collection of Aboriginal fabrics in various colors and patterns, laid out on a green surface. The fabrics feature intricate designs, including circles and wavy lines, suitable for quilting projects.

Lucky you! We even have some kits left, and you can get yours HERE. Your kit comes with the fat quarters (FQs), background fabric, binding, and the pattern. I do have to say some of the fabrics have been discontinued but we did add some great replacements and they work perfectly too.

Let’s rock this quilt!

  1. First step is to divide your fat quarters into 2 piles. From the first group, we’re going to cut them into 2 different widths.
Two pieces of fabric with distinct Aboriginal designs, positioned on a green cutting mat with grid lines; one piece is wider and rectangular, and the other is a narrower strip.

2. From the remaining smaller group of FQs, you’ll cut the strips all the same width.

Two strips of fabric featuring a blue Aboriginal design, laid on a green cutting mat.

3. The background strips are all cut the same size by the width of the fabric, then we’re going to cut the long strips in half so our strips are the same length as our fat quarter strips. Genius!

Two strips of fabric with a squiggly pattern on a cutting mat, showcasing a quilting project.

4. Sew a background strip to each of the largest FQ strips. Next cut each of those strip sets into segments. I’m going to name these Unit A so we can keep everything straight as we go along.

An arrangement of two pieces of fabric on a green cutting mat, featuring one piece in a light color with dotted patterns and another in a dark color with vibrant Aboriginal-inspired designs.
Two fabric strips, one patterned in dark blue with circular designs and the other in white, placed on a green cutting mat with grid lines.

5. Sew the remaining background strips between the small and the medium FQ strips. Subcut them into segments. These strip sets, I’m naming Unit B.

Three pieces of fabric in various shades of blue, including a patterned piece, a light backdrop, and a textured fabric, displayed on a green cutting mat.
Two quilt fabric strips arranged on a cutting mat, featuring a mix of dark and light patterns, with a vibrant green fabric visible at the bottom.

6. Are you following along? Because now we are going to sew our A and B units into blocks. Taking 2 of unit A and 2 of unit B, sew together with As on the outside and Bs in the middle. You’ll need to flip the last 2 units.

A quilt block layout featuring the letters A and B in various blue shades, with some blocks flipped.
Close-up view of a quilt featuring vibrant Aboriginal fabric patterns in shades of blue, black, and white, with intricate designs and stitching.

7. You will now make a reversed block with 2 more of each A & B units, turning the last 2 units as shown.

A visual representation of a quilt block layout, featuring blue and white squares, labeled with letters 'A' and 'B' indicating different fabric units.
Close-up of a quilt featuring a variety of blue Aboriginal fabric patterns arranged in a patchwork design.

8. You should now have the same number of each block. Time to play! You can lay your quilt out just like the pattern or you can play around with the layout and create some fun variations.

Here’s the original layout.

And here’s some cool variations to try out.

I bet you can even come up with your own block arrangement, so have fun!

9. When you’ve decided how you want to arrange your blocks, it’s time to sew the blocks into rows and then sew the rows together into the quilt top.

For my Morning Tea quilt, I’m going to stick with the original layout. Totally loving how it turned out!

A quilt featuring a patchwork design with various shades of blue, turquoise, and white, arranged in a square pattern.

10. Next up – layer, quilt, bind, and label your quilt.

Don’t forget to post your quilts on our VRD Facebook page or tag us on Instagram, #villarosadesigns. We love seeing your creations!

Thanks for stopping by and sewing with me!

Next week, Tricia will be back with another great tutorial for you.

That’s it for me.

Until next time —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Later,

Molly

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

VRD Tea With Mara Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

After our super fun Let’s Design a Quilt series (if you missed it, please check out the right side bar on the blog to find all of the links for the series) wrapped up last week, I promised a new group of tutorials to jump-start your autumn quilting.

You know how this time of the year is filled with local fairs and such right before the kiddos go back to school? Well, this week we’re off to the rodeo! Yippee!

Four cowboys riding horses during a rodeo, raising their hands in excitement, with dust kicking up in the background and an audience visible in the stands.

Have you ever been to a rodeo? I have a vague memory of going when I was a kid. My Grandma (my Dad’s mom) was always crazy about horses and always had at least a couple on the farm (my Grandpa always had his cows). I spent a lot of time on the farm as a kid as my grandparents’ farm was just down the road from our house. I have lots of good memories on the farm from when I was a kid. Baby animals were probably my favorite. Of course, running through the fields at midnight in the summer chasing down stray cows or horses was always fun, too. Good times.

Let’s slap our cowgirl (or cowboy) hats on our heads, put on our boots, and get started!

VRD Tea With Mara Quilt Tutorial

Tea With Mara is designed by Deanne of Creative Sewlutions, one of our talented VRD designers. This quilt finishes at a generous 58″ x 72″ and it can handle those large prints we are so loathe to chop up. Use printed panel squares……or not down the center. Sew many options……..sew little time!

A colorful quilt titled 'Tea with Mara' featuring a patchwork design with floral and butterfly patterns, highlighting various shades of pink, blue, and purple.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

PSST! Don’t forget, patterns always ship free, so grab a few more while you’re perusing the VRD patterns at the online shop.

For today’s tutorial, I’m using fabric from our friends over at Hoffman. It’s a digital-printed collection called Rodeo Dreams. When I saw this collection, I loved it! Maybe because it brought back fun memories from my childhood? So I’m letting you know right now that you’ll be seeing a couple more tutorials featuring Rodeo Dreams.

Just a quick word of caution when using digitally-printed fabrics – start with a brand new needle because if your needle is dull, you run the risk of damaging the fabric and we certainly don’t want to do that.

A selection of quilting fabrics, including blue and red bandana prints, a brown print, and a fabric featuring cowboys on horseback, alongside a digital pattern for the "Tea With Mara" quilt tutorial.

The first fabric I’m going to cut is the running yardage of the rodeo vignettes. I’m very glad I have a ruler the same size as the required block size in the pattern so I can fussy cut the squares easily and accurately.

A cutting mat featuring a quilting ruler over fabric with a rodeo scene, alongside a tutorial card for the 'Tea with Mara' quilt pattern.

Having the right sized ruler makes it a lot easier to fussy cut these vignettes than trying to cut strips and then cutting the strips into squares. This type of fabric makes strips and squares kind of tricky because the vignettes aren’t all the same size nor do they line up in a perfect grid.

Love quilting rulers! Boy, they do make quilting so much easier, faster, and more accurate.

Mostly, I rely on my 6×24 and 6×12 rulers for cutting, but it’s always a great idea to have a collection of square rulers in the most common sizes, which are not only good for fussy cutting, but also for squaring up blocks.

A set of clear quilting rulers in various sizes, featuring measurement grids and markings, placed on a white background.
This basic ruler set includes rulers in common sizes

The only problem with fussy cutting is that your fabric will look like Swiss cheese when you get all done! LOL! Check mine out below. I can still fussy cut more pieces out of the fabric, but there is definitely more waste doing it this way than cutting strips into squares. Just something to think about if you’ve never fussy cut before.

A layout of quilting fabric featuring rodeo scenes, displayed on a flannel wall alongside various quilt blocks.

Now I’m finished making Swiss cheese, it’s time to cut the rest of my fabrics. Loving this red bandana print – it looks like the real thing (digitally printed, of course)!

A rotary cutter and quilting ruler positioned on a cutting mat, with a vibrant red bandana print fabric and a quilt pattern titled 'Tea with Mara' by Creative Sewlutions.

Here are all my fabrics cut and ready to sew.

A collection of quilting fabrics including a red bandana print, a blue bandana print, a brown fabric, and a fabric featuring a cowboy chasing a calf, with a quilt pattern titled 'Tea with Mara' visible.

But before I start sewing, I’m going to lay out all of the pieces on my flannel wall. I want to make sure I like the placement of the rodeo vignettes before I commit to their positions permanently.

Quilt blocks arranged on a flannel wall, featuring red, blue, and brown fabrics with a rodeo theme and floral patterns.

I really like the nice big pieces in this quilt, even if I have to layer pieces on the floor because the quilt is going to be longer than my flannel wall. It’s going together surprisingly fast, though.

Of course, you don’t have to fussy cut your fabrics like I did – you could use any fabric you wanted for the center squares. Or you could even scrap this quilt up and use some of your stash. Such a versatile pattern – I could totally picture this quilt in a great collection of fall or harvest fabrics! Hmmmmmmmm….

You could even add a 6″ finished border, which would make the quilt a big 70″ x 84″!

Now I’ve got all my pieces up on the flannel wall. I switched a couple of the rodeo vignettes around, but other than that, I think it’s ready to sew. I like how it looks.

A colorful quilt layout featuring horse and rodeo-themed fabric squares, with red, blue, white, and brown patterned blocks arranged in a grid pattern on a design wall. A cutting mat and quilting ruler are visible in the foreground, along with a pattern card labeled 'Tea With Mara.'

Yippee-ki-yi-yay! Let’s sew this little dogie together! I really like how the fabrics alternate in placement from side to side – it definitely helps to keep your eyes moving around the quilt. The red and blue bandana fabrics really make this quilt in addition to the rodeo vignette squares. LOVE IT!

A quilt with alternating squares of red, white, blue, and brown fabric, featuring images of rodeo scenes.

And here it is outside on the clothesline. All I need is a horse or 2 grazing in the backyard, right? I’ll be binding this quilt with the dark blue batik you see in the fabric and pattern photo way up at the beginning of this tutorial. I think it will frame the quilt nicely.

A colorful quilt with red, blue, brown, and white squares, featuring rodeo-themed prints, hanging on a clothesline in a grassy field.

Now to get this quilt top layered, quilted, bound, and labeled…….some day, anyway. Right now I’m going to add it to my teetering pile of flimsies and UFOs. I’m hoping to make a good-sized dent in that pile this fall and winter. It’s just been way too hot this summer to machine quilt and do binding.

Here’s to autumn with its warm days and cool nights. And the brilliant colors of the season…. I can’t wait!

See you next week for another great tutorial!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Quilt Play · Quilting Partners · Tips and Tricks

Let’s Design a Quilt: The Drunkard’s Path Block

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

What’s shakin’? Me, just sitting here thinking about which quilt block we’re going to feature today to wrap up our Design a Quilt series. I’m kind of bummed that today’s the final post in this series, but it is true that all good things must come to an end. That makes sense, because, if they didn’t then we would never have the opportunity to find new good things.

I’ve also been thinking about how you, dear readers, can utilize what we’ve covered in this series. The biggest thing that occurs to me, of course, is designing your own quilts using common quilt blocks. Common quilt block designs (like Nine Patch, Irish Chain, Four Patch, Sawtooth Star, etc., etc.) would most likely be considered in the public domain.

Want to find public domain quilt block designs? Just Google it! Pretty much all quilt block designs (and everything else in print) from publications before 1923 are considered public domain. Another idea is to look up quilt block history to see if the blocks were used before 1923. You can also invest in a quilt block reference or 2.

My favorite reference is Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

Cover of the book 'Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns' compiled by Barbara Brackman, featuring various quilt block designs.

For those of you who may not have heard of Barbara Brackman – she is probably the most well-known quilt historian in the USA, if not the world. Her book is meticulously researched and includes a reference section with original publications for the blocks in the book. Believe me, you will never run out of inspiration – there are over 4000 blocks in the book!

Another oldie but goodie block reference is The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America by Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger. This book was published in 1935 and is actually in the public domain itself. It includes A LOT of old pieced and appliqued quilt blocks and quilts along with historical notes. You might be able to find a used copy as its out of print, or I’ve included a link to an e-book version above.

Cover of 'The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America' featuring floral designs and decorative borders.

What does all this mean, really?

If you want to sell quilts, the best way to do that is to design your own instead of using someone’s copyright-protected pattern, which, as we’ve previously explored, has the potential to cause you legal issues down the road.

Want to be a quilt designer?

Create/sell your own patterns?

Design quilts for quilt magazines?

Write a quilt book?

Easy peasy, use public domain/common quilt blocks to create your own designs. Then your designs would be copyright protected, too.

Huh. Kind of mind-blowing, isn’t it? That doing something so simple – and FUN! – can become your own copyright-protected work.

Just something for you to think about….

Let’s move on to today’s block: Drunkard’s Path.

Let’s Design a Quilt: The Drunkard’s Path Block

Here is a basic Drunkard’s Path block unit.

A basic Drunkard's Path quilt block unit featuring a red semicircle on a white background.

The Drunkard’s Path block has a very interesting and rich history with roots in ancient Egypt. The block was popular with the Underground Railroad and the Women’s Temperance movement in the US. For a more and detailed history, please check out this article on the AccuQuilt blog: A History of the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Patterns.

Today, we are going to explore some of the interesting ways you can arrange this humble block unit, add sashing or not, and using color to tweak the design.

Before we can design a Drunkard’s Path quilt, we need to explore some of the many many different Drunkard’s Path variations. Believe me, these ideas are just the tip of the iceberg.

Here are a few books to explore more Drunkard’s Path designs.

Cover of the book '65 Drunkard's Path Quilt Designs' by Pepper Cory, featuring multiple quilt designs in various colors and patterns.
Get the book HERE
Book cover of 'A New Spin on Drunkard's Path' by John Kubiniec, featuring a quilt design in red and white with a pattern of curved shapes and geometric accents.

Get the book HERE

Here are different ways to arrange the units in a 2 x 2 layout. Which one is your favorite?

A Drunkard's Path quilt block unit featuring a grid layout with red semicircles on a white background.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block featuring a layout of red curves on a white background arranged in a 2x2 grid.
A quilt block design featuring a large red circle on a white background, arranged in a four-square layout.

Okay, let’s try a 3 x 3 grid.

A Drunkard's Path quilt block featuring a layout of red and white curved sections arranged in a 3x3 grid.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring a pattern of red and white curved shapes arranged in a 3x3 grid.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring a 2x2 grid with alternating red and white curved shapes.

Now let’s see what a 4 x 4 grid looks like.

A quilt block design featuring a 2 x 2 grid of large red circles on a white background.
A quilt block design featuring a repeating Drunkard's Path pattern, consisting of alternating red and white sections arranged in a grid layout.
A quilt block design featuring alternating red and white curved segments arranged in a 2x2 grid pattern, creating a wave-like effect.
A quilt block design featuring a repeating Drunkard's Path pattern with alternating red and white curves.
A quilt block design featuring a grid pattern with large red circles on a white background.

So I think you get the idea about the endless possibilities of the Drunkard’s Path block unit. Why don’t you try a 5 x 5 grid or a 6 by 6 grid to see what you can create?

Now let’s play with the color arrangement by swapping reds and whites in order to create new and different designs from the ones above.

A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring red and white curved shapes arranged in a grid pattern.
A quilt block design featuring a Drunkard's Path layout with alternating red and white sections, showcasing four circular shapes in each quadrant.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block featuring red and white fabrics in a four-square layout with curved designs.
Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring alternating red and white sections arranged in a circular pattern.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring alternating red and white curved shapes arranged in a 3x3 grid.
Quadrant quilt block featuring a Drunkard's Path design with alternating red and white sections.

Let’s add more colors to our blocks, shall we? That way we can get even more interesting variations. You can see how adding more color can change a block design or even add a secondary design. Never underestimate the power of adding more color.

A geometric quilt block design featuring a mix of red circles, black shapes, and white backgrounds with a central gray square.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring a bold black and white layout with a prominent red circle at the center.
A colorful Drunkard's Path quilt block featuring a blue center surrounded by red circles, with alternating white and blue shapes creating a dynamic pattern.
Abstract quilt block design featuring red and black shapes arranged in a circular and square pattern.
A Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring a blue semicircle on a red and white background, arranged in a 2x2 grid.
A quilt block design featuring a pattern of red circles on a black and white grid.

Okay, now it’s time to create quilt designs using some of the variations above! Let’s start with this bird variation.

A quilt block design featuring a Drunkard's Path pattern with red and white curved sections arranged in a 2x2 layout.

I like this bird quilt arrangement very much, but I don’t love how all the birds are facing the same way.

A quilt design featuring a repeating Drunkard's Path block pattern, alternating between red and white colors.

Let’s turn the birds in different directions. Hmmm. I only see a small difference here. Let’s keep going.

A digital quilt design featuring the Drunkard's Path block in a repeating pattern of red and white colors.

Better with sashing and sashing squares, but I’m still not too excited by it.

A quilt design featuring a repeated Drunkard's Path block pattern in red and white colors arranged in a grid layout.

Okay, let’s remove the sashing and turn the birds some more to see what happens. AHA! Yes, this is more like it.

A quilt design featuring a Drunkard's Path block arrangement with alternating red and white shapes, creating a dynamic pattern.

I think we can call this a finished design. Let’s add some fabric. It would definitely make a bold 2 color quilt as long as you have strong contrast between the colors like the red and white example above. But let’s add more than 2 colors.

Yup, this one rocks. I’m using fabrics from QT’s American Spirit collection. I took a chance and flip flopped the fabrics in the centers and it really sets this design off.

A quilt design featuring the Drunkard's Path block, arranged in a repeating pattern with red, blue, and cream fabrics, creating a visually appealing layout.

Now let’s try a different Drunkard’s Path block variation from above.

A quilt block design featuring a circular blue shape in the top left and bottom right sections, against a backdrop of alternating red and white squares.

I like this interesting block arrangement, especially with the checkerboard behind the blue circles. Very 3-D. But I bet we can tweak it to change it from an okay quilt to a WOW quilt.

A quilt design featuring a checkered pattern with red and white squares and blue circles in the center.

Just a quick turn of some blocks and we get this design with lots of movement. Kind of fun, huh?

A quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of red, white, and blue blocks with circular shapes in blue and white against a red background.

Let’s add some fabric to this one. Can’t wait to see it! Here’s a selection of yummy Hoffman batiks. This super mod design has a lot going for it!

A quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of pink circles on a black and white grid background, with a copyright notice for Tricia Lynn Maloney, Orphan Quilt Designs.

Let’s play with another block.

A quilt block design featuring a central gray square surrounded by red circles and black curved shapes on a white background.

All right, let’s see what this block looks like in a quilt. Gosh, I’m really liking this one. It reminds of a tile floor. But I think we can tweak it a bit to make it outstanding.

A colorful quilt pattern featuring alternating blocks with red circles and black shapes on a white background, arranged in a grid format.

YES! This is the finished design. Adding sashing and sashing squares was just the tweak I needed, which added a wonderful secondary design.

A colorful quilt design featuring a repeated Drunkard's Path block layout with black, red, gray, and white colors.

Yippee! Time to add fabric! I think this design is spectacular!

A quilt design featuring pink floral blocks and circular motifs on a dark background.

Let’s do one more!

A graphic illustration of a Drunkard's Path quilt block design featuring a red circle, black and white geometric shapes.

Let’s see how this variation plays in a quilt. I really like this design – it makes me think of Halloween bats flying in front of a full moon. But I think we can tweak it a bit more.

A quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of the Drunkard's Path block, showcasing red, black, white, and gray colors arranged in a grid layout.

Let’s try sashing again. Sometimes this is the way to go and sometimes it isn’t. This one improves with sashing, definitely! I love the diagonal movement the design has now. What do you think?

A geometric quilt design featuring alternating black, white, and red blocks with curved patterns, arranged in a checkerboard layout.

Only thing left to do is to add FABRIC! I’m using assorted Hoffman batiks again and I played up the Halloween moon idea by making the background grey like twilight. Totally loving this!

A quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of Drunkard's Path blocks in gray and dark blue with orange accents, arranged in a grid layout.

Sadly, that wraps up our 5 part Let’s Design a Quilt series. I have had SEW much fun with this series. I hope you did too. I can envision adding more to this series down the road. Maybe I will focus on on-point quilt designs….

If you missed any posts in the series, you can find them all right here:

Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

Playing with the Spool Block

Playing with the Courthouse Steps Block

Playing with the Sawtooth Star Block

Playing with the Farmer’s Daughter Block

See you next week – time for some new VRD tutorials to jumpstart your Autumn quilting when the kiddos go back to school.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Quilt Play · Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

NEW VRD Patterns for August and Let’s Design a Quilt: The Farmer’s Daughter Block

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome! We have lots of fun stuff to do this week, so we’re just going to dive right in.

First up, today is the Thursday after the first Friday, which means – NEW PATTERNS! Yay!

Collage of five quilt pattern covers titled 'August 2025 Patterns in a Set!' featuring designs named Grated, Lady Banks, Jolene, Jasper, and Snap Shot. Each cover showcases different quilt designs and colors.

Get your print pattern set HERE.

I know I say it every month, but our VRD designers are totally outstanding! Every month, they exceed the previous month’s designs. Let’s take a look at each pattern this month.

Grated by Heidi

Colorful quilt design titled 'Grated' by Heidi Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a variety of fabric patterns arranged in a grid layout.

Grated uses a stack of fat sixths (which are between a fat eighth and a fat quarter, measuring 12″ x 21″) or 10″ squares. This is a big quilt measuring 65″ x 75.” There are still kits available, which feature Klimt fabrics like the pattern cover. You can get your Grated kit, which includes the pattern, HERE.

Lady Banks by VRD (Pat)

A quilt design titled 'Lady Banks' featuring a patchwork of various blue and grey fabrics, set against a light blue background. The quilt consists of squares and rectangles with floral and textured patterns. The design is framed by a dark border with the names 'Lady Banks' and 'Villa Rosa Designs' displayed prominently.

If you are following along with the Tim Holtz Palette collections then Lady Banks is for you. It features the blue palette and finishes at 45″ x 60″. You can find the kit (including the pattern) HERE.

Jasper by Running Doe Quilts (Catherine)

A colorful quilt named 'Jasper' featuring a variety of patterns in blue, green, yellow, and red fabric blocks, displayed against a brick wall background.

Catherine is back with 2 new mod patterns this month! Jasper is FQ friendly and finishes at 36×48, which makes a nice baby quilt or lap quilt. You can find the kit HERE featuring the Camp Canine collection at Running Doe Quilts.

Jolene by Running Doe Quilts (Catherine)

A colorful quilt named 'Jolene' featuring a pattern of alternating squares and checkered designs in shades of pink, green, and yellow, displayed against a textured white wall.

Jolene is Catherine’s second quilt this month. It uses FQs and finishes at a generous 63″ x 84″. You can find the kit HERE at VRD featuring the Thirty-One collection or HERE at Running Doe Quilts featuring the Camp Canine collection.

Snap Shot by Molly

Quilt design titled 'Snap Shot' featuring images of wildlife, including deer and a bear, with a mix of earthy colors and fabric patterns.

Snap Shot is another one of Molly’s creative panel quilts. It is FQ friendly and finishes at a nice 45″ x 54″, which could be a wall quilt or a throw. Sorry, but VRD is out of Snap Shot kits already.

Apologies, but there is no table runner this month. Stay tuned for next month’s runner!

SEW, which NEW pattern are you going to make first?????

Now let’s turn our thoughts to our ongoing Quilt Design series.

Let’s Design a Quilt: The Farmer’s Daughter Block

Colorful quilt block design featuring a central orange square surrounded by red, blue, yellow, and green pieces in a symmetrical pattern.

Here is the traditional Farmer’s Daughter block. According to Barbara Brackman, this block was first published in Clara Stone’s 1906 booklet, Practical Needlework: Quilt Patterns, which was part of a needlework booklet series by C. W. Calkins & Co. in Boston. Of course, like most quilt patterns, it was probably being made long before it was published. One of our readers suggested this block last week and I just couldn’t resist it. Thank you, dear reader! I hope I do the block justice for you!

Yikes! See how the four corners of the block feature set-in seams? Well, the first change to this block we are going to make is to change the four corners to be much friendlier by using Half Square Triangles (HSTs) instead of set-in pieces. Ahhhh! That’s more like it!

A colorful quilt block design featuring a central red square surrounded by blue triangles and yellow squares, with green squares at the corners.

Now we’re ready to play — er, design! Let’s put Farmer’s Daughter blocks in a quilt. Huh! When you set the blocks side to side, you lose the block and a whole new design emerges. Pretty cool!

Colorful quilt design featuring a geometric pattern with star and diamond shapes in red, blue, green, yellow, and orange.

Now let’s add some sashing to see what that looks like. Neat-o! Sashing shows off the block. I just love the secondary design where the block corners (with the green squares) meet the sashing squares. Both designs have a lot of movement already and I haven’t done anything except the HSTs.

A colorful quilt design featuring a repeating star pattern with red, blue, orange, and green shades set against a yellow background.

Wowzer! Look what happens when I change the colors to black, grey, white, and red. I’d call this a finished design right now, wouldn’t you???? It almost has a 3D effect. Cool beans!

A quilt design featuring blocks with star-like shapes in red, gray, and white against a black background, creating a geometric pattern.

Here’s the same design, but I changed the red to white. Holy cow, Batman! It’s really eye-catching and the black negative space is just itching for some really cool machine quilting.

A quilt design featuring alternating blocks composed of black, white, and gray geometric patterns, arranged in a grid layout.

Here’s the same design again, but I changed the grey to red. Oh my! It just about leaps off the screen. Just by playing around with the colors.

This is only ONE of sew many reasons why I love my Electric Quilt 8 software. I can tweak some tiny little thing and if I don’t like it, I can go back or keep tweaking. If you haven’t ever tried EQ8, you really should. It is a total game changer for quilters everywhere!

A quilt design featuring a bold pattern of alternating red and black shapes arranged on a black background, with white squares creating a checkered effect. The design includes intricate geometric shapes that resemble a stylized star or flower.

Now let’s add some fabric. I’m using lovely blue batiks from Hoffman’s 1895 Watercolors collection. That’s the one! LOVE IT!

That’s a wrap for this design!

A quilt pattern featuring interconnected blue and white blocks set against a dark background, creating a geometric design.

But wait! We’re not done yet. Let’s go back to the block and split the corner sections into 2 colors, instead of just 1 color. I also changed the center square to blue, which gives it an interesting pinwheel design in the center.

A colorful quilt block design featuring a star shape with blue, red, and yellow triangles, set on a white grid background.

Let’s see what it looks like in a quilt. Hmmm. Not very interesting. At least not yet.

A quilt design featuring a repeating star pattern with red, blue, and yellow colors on a white background.

Let’s add some sashing. I’m gong to introduce black for the sashing squares. Better, but no way near finished. Let’s keep going.

Quilt design featuring a repeating star pattern with red, blue, yellow, and white colors, arranged in a grid with black sashing.

Let’s flip the black and white for the sashing and sashing squares. WHOAH! I am loving this sashing idea – it is incredibly graphic! But now we need to tweak the blocks some more.

A colorful quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of star blocks in red, blue, yellow, and white, set against a black background. The blocks are arranged in a grid with alternating black and white sashing.

Before we work on the blocks some more, it needs a border to frame it. It just looked a bit unfinished without it, don’t you think?

A quilt design featuring a grid of colorful star blocks on a black background, incorporating blue, red, yellow, and white fabrics.

That’s it! Okay, on to the blocks. Let’s swap the blue and yellow in the 4 corners back to 1 color, red. And change the blue center to white so it repeats the white sashing square. I love how graphic it is. Your thoughts?

Quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of star blocks in red and white against a black background, with a modern geometric layout.

One more tweak. Let’s change the center square in the blocks to black. Yup! That’s it! Love the plus sign in the center of the blocks! This design has a clean modern look yet it feels traditional, too. It is totally the best of both worlds.

A patterned quilt design featuring alternating red and white blocks on a black background, showcasing a geometric star motif.

All right! Let’s add some fabric. Again, I’m using batiks from Hoffman’s 1895 Watercolors collection. I did make one more tweak by changing the sashing squares to match the plus signs. Don’t you just love it in pinks? The black has a slight bluish tinge for added interest. Again, it has a bit of a 3D effect. Done and done!

A vibrant quilt design featuring a repeating star pattern in pink and purple hues, set against a dark blue quilt background with white borders separating each star.

Do you remember where we started? A Classic Farmer’s Daughter block.

How far we came just by changing the colors, playing with the fabric placement, and adding sashing/border.

How are you going to explore these ideas with your quilts???

A colorful quilt block design featuring a central orange square surrounded by red squares and blue triangle sections, with green and yellow corner pieces.

Well, that’s it for me for our 4th week in our Let’s Design a Quilt Series. If you missed any posts, you can catch up here:

Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

Playing with the Spool Block

Playing with the Courthouse Steps Block

Playing with the Sawtooth Star block

Sadly, next week we are going to wrap up our Quilt Design series. Next we’re going to do some new tutorials, just for you. Sew stay tuned!

See you on the flip side!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Play · Quilting Partners · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

A Sneak Peek, Our Shoofly Challenge, and Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with the Sawtooth Star Block

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

The forecast for today is sum-sum-summertime with a strong chance of quilting! SEW much to do today, so let’s get started.

Before we jump into this week’s Quilt Design adventure, though, I want to share a fun SNEAK PEEK with you from our friends over at QT Fabrics. You might recall that VRD has been working closely with QT to pair their new fabric collections with our patterns. Here is our latest collaboration:

Image featuring the logos of QT Fabrics and Villa Rosa Designs, highlighting their collaboration for Fall 2025 collections.

You can check out the catalog HERE.

These upcoming fabric collections are being shown to quilt shops right now and will ship in late 2025/early 2026. If you see something you like — ask for the collection (and VRD patterns, of course) at you local quilt shop.

Churn Dash Challenge Winner

As part of my Quilt Design series last week, I offered up a challenge to you – see what you could do with the Churn Dash block.

First, I want to thank those of you who shared your ideas, creations, blocks, and quilts.

And the winner is………………………..

Lisa from KY

Lisa won with her charming Churn Dash quilt, below, featuring multiple sizes of her Churn Dash blocks with the added fun of novelty farm panels and prints inside each block. Way to go, Lisa!

A colorful quilt featuring various farm animal-themed blocks framed with bold borders in different colors, displayed against a brick wall.

Log Cabin Inspiration

Folks were really inspired by last week’s Courthouse Steps block quilt design party and suggested we stay in the Log Cabin zone. Thank you for those suggestions, but I want to keep addressing different kinds of blocks to maximize your inspiration when it comes to designing quilts. There are entire books written about Log Cabin blocks and quilts and a few blog posts just can’t do the topic justice, I am afraid.

In lieu of more Log Cabin blocks, here is a short list of Log Cabin books for you to explore. I tried to choose a variety to show you here on the blog, but believe me – there are tons more out there just waiting to inspire your next Log Cabin quilt.

A colorful quilt featuring curvy log cabin blocks and a floral border, showcased outdoors in a natural setting.
Find it HERE
Book cover titled 'Log Cabin Improv: Quilts with a Twist on Tradition' by Mary M. Hogan, featuring a colorful patchwork quilt design made of various Log Cabin blocks.
Find it HERE
Cover of the book 'Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts' by Judy Martin, featuring colorful quilt designs including traditional log cabin patterns.
Find it HERE
Cover of the book '101 Log Cabin Blocks' featuring various log cabin quilt block designs and patterns.
Get it HERE
Cover of the book 'Creative Log Cabin Quilts' displaying a quilt with various Log Cabin block designs in a garden setting with flowers and a wooden fence.
Find it HERE

After enjoying your Log Cabin comments and quilt photos, it occurred to me that I have not done a Star block yet……..so today’s the day!

The Sawtooth Star Block

I chose an oldie, but a goodie for today – the Sawtooth Star.

Sawtooth Star is known by many names and has a lot of different variations. Apparently, it first appeared in print in the 1880’s or 1890’s in popular publications such as Farm and Fireside Magazine as well as in the Ladies Art Company catalog in 1895. The Sawtooth Star block was block # 5. Like most quilt blocks, however; Sawtooth Star blocks were probably being made long before they ever appeared in print.

Here is our classic 2 color Sawtooth Star block.

A simple quilt block design featuring a red Sawtooth Star pattern with a solid center and white background.

So, let’s make a quilt. Here are 20 blocks set side by side. This makes a lovely classic 2 color quilt, but of course we’re not going to stop there.

A quilt layout featuring a repeating pattern of red Sawtooth Star blocks interspersed with white squares.

Here it is with sashing in between the blocks. Again, super classic. I do like how the sashing gives the stars room to breathe, plus this layout would be a lot easier due to not having to match up all those points. Win, win….

A quilt design featuring multiple Sawtooth Star blocks in red and white, arranged in a grid pattern.

Let’s go back to our block and tweak it a little bit, shall we? Let’s change the solid center block into an Hourglass.

A quilt block design featuring a Sawtooth Star pattern in vibrant red and white colors, arranged in a grid layout.

Here are the blocks set side to side. I find it interesting that I’m not seeing the stars so much now, but rather, all the triangles seem to jump out at me now. And I see “V” shapes, too. Huh.

A quilt layout featuring red Sawtooth Star blocks arranged in a grid, alternating with white squares.

Let’s tweak the block again by adding Half Square Triangles (HSTs) in the 4 corners.

Quilt block pattern featuring a red and white Sawtooth Star design.

Okay, now let’s set the blocks side by side in a quilt. Wow! There is so much more movement – almost to the point of being distracting. Really cool, though.

Quilt pattern featuring a repeating design of red and white Sawtooth Star blocks arranged in a grid layout.

Let’s add a 3rd color to the blocks now.

Classic Sawtooth Star quilt block design featuring red, blue, and white fabric triangles arranged in a star pattern.

Here is the same layout as above, but with the added 3rd color. It looks totally different and not as dizzying.

Quilt design featuring a pattern of Sawtooth Star blocks in red, white, and blue colors arranged in a grid layout.

What if we add sashing again? Cool – we now have a Shoofly block where the sashing square meets the blue HSTs – this adds a lot of interest to the design. Liking this, but not quite there yet. Let’s keep tweaking.

A quilt design featuring a classic Sawtooth Star block layout in red and blue, arranged in a grid with white spaces between the blocks.

I think the blocks look a bit heavy, so I’m going to lighten them up a bit by changing the inner blue triangles back to white. Yep, liking this one more.

A quilt design featuring multiple Sawtooth Star blocks arranged in a grid pattern. The stars are colored in red and white with blue squares in between, creating a striking contrast against the white background.

I’d call this a finished design, so let’s add some fabric. Here it is featuring fabrics from QT Fabrics’ American Tapestry collection.

A quilt design featuring a repetitive pattern of Sawtooth Star blocks in red and navy, with a neutral background and small star accents.

It’s a bit too vertical for me, though, so let me make one more tweak by alternating the direction of the blocks. Yes, I think that does it. This one’s a wrap!

A quilt featuring a repeating Sawtooth Star block design in red and white, with dark blue star-patterned corner pieces and a light beige background.

But wait – I’m not done yet. I’m having way too much fun to stop now. Let’s go back to our block and tweak it a bit more by adding blue triangles on the sides only.

Illustration of a Sawtooth Star quilt block featuring red and blue triangular segments arranged around a central white square.

Here’s our updated block set side to side in a quilt. You totally lose the star block, don’t you? I like the horizontal repetition of the triangles, too.

A quilt design featuring a pattern of interlocking red, blue, and white triangles arranged in a grid layout, with a central diamond shape in white.

Let’s add fabric! Here it is using the QT fabrics from American Tapestry again. Love it, yet……

Quilt featuring a repeated pattern of red, white, and blue fabrics arranged in a geometric design with star motifs.

One more tweak……let’s rotate every other block. Yup, that’s the one. Finished. Great movement – I can’t even see the stars now, can you?

A colorful quilt featuring a Sawtooth Star design with red, white, and blue fabrics embellished with stars, arranged in a grid pattern.

Do you remember where we started? A classic 2 color Sawtooth Star.

A graphic illustration of a classic Sawtooth Star quilt block, featuring a central square in red surrounded by triangular points in red against a white background.

YAY! This has been another fun quilt design adventure! Sew glad you came along.

If you’ve missed any posts in our Quilt Design Series so far, you can catch up below:

Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

Playing with the Spool Block

Playing with the Courthouse Steps Block

Stay tuned for next week when we explore another block in our Let’s Design a Quilt series. Any thoughts on another great block to explore?

See you next time!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Play · Tips and Tricks

Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with the Courthouse Steps Block

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you ready to play with another quilt block? Yippee! Me too. This really is SEW much fun for me to do and I think it’s also helping me to think more “outside the box.” I’ve definitely noticed more designs popping into my head lately. 🙂

If you’ve missed our Quilt Design Series so far, you can catch up:

Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

Playing with the Spool Block

I was a little disappointed that no one was brave enough to suggest a quilt block in the comments on last week’s blog post. Please consider letting me know what your favorite block is or another block suggestion to design with as I’m planning to do this mini series on designing for a few more weeks. Do you really want me to have all the fun of picking out all the blocks?

So I asked my quilty pal, Mary Lee (Hey Mary Lee!) for a block suggestion. She thought for a few seconds and then suggested either Churn Dash or Courthouse Steps. I thought both were good options. Churn Dash (image 1, below) is another Nine Patch variation while Courthouse Steps (image 2, below) is a variation of a traditional Log Cabin block. Because we’ve already done 2 Nine Patch blocks, I zoomed in on her Courthouse Steps suggestion and immediately began to wonder what we could do with it.

A digital illustration of a Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring a central square surrounded by rectangles and triangles in a light teal color.
Image 1 – Churn Dash block, also known as Hole in the Barn Door and Monkey Wrench
A quilt block design featuring a central pink square with gray and white rectangles surrounding it, arranged to create a geometric pattern.
Image 2 – Courthouse Steps block

Homework!

Since I’m going to focus on the Courthouse Steps block today, I’m assigning all of you readers “homework” — see what you can do with the Churn Dash block (image 1, above).

You can share your “homework” on our Facebook Page, in the comments (although I’m not sure if you can upload images), or you can email them to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

I’d love to share your ideas on next week’s blog or upcoming posts if we have a big response. I hope you will take a little time and play – er, I mean design a quilt – along with me. Hand drawn, EQ, or Adobe images are great, please use a .jpg or .pdf format atat no more than 300 dpi.

Who knows????? There might even be a prize or 2…. US and International friends can play along, so go get started – right after you finish reading this post, that is.

The Courthouse Steps Block

Let’s learn a bit about the Courthouse Steps block. As I mentioned earlier, it’s a variation of a Log Cabin block. According to Barbara Brackman in the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, it was originally called White House Steps and appeared in print circa 1890 in the first Ladies’ Art Company catalog, which included 272 patterns. White House Steps was block #221. Of course, that doesn’t mean the block just suddenly appeared in the 1890’s. rather, that was the first known version in print. Quilters may have been making the block much sooner than the 1890’s.

A Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring a central pink square surrounded by alternating gray rectangles.
White House Steps block
A graphic representation of the Courthouse Steps quilt block, featuring a central pink square surrounded by alternating gray and white rectangles.
Courthouse Steps block

The Courthouse Steps block we are familiar with today uses color a bit differently than the White House Steps version, above. Interestingly enough, “Courthouse Steps” isn’t even mentioned in Barbara Brackman’s book. I wonder if it’s a regional term used for the block? Does anyone know this block by another name? Just curious. I did find the block in Electric Quilt 8 software (which is based on Barbara Brackman’s book), but it is considered a foundation pieced block and does not include any historical information.

Doing a quick Internet search, I discovered a post on Suzy Quilts about Courthouse Steps blocks with a touch of history and wonderful examples of Gee’s Bend quilts. Check it out HERE.

Alright! Ready to get designing???

The Courthouse Steps Block

So, here’s our block again. Take a good look at it – what do you see? A central square with rectangles radiating from the center square both horizontally and vertically. That’s it! Simple, but very effective, very geometric, and very graphic.

Illustration of a Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring a central pink square surrounded by gray and white rectangles.
Courthouse Steps block

Let’s put the blocks side by side with all of the blocks going the same direction. Okay, this is fun. And it would make an awesome scrappy quilt, wouldn’t it?

A digital mockup of a Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring pink squares, grey and white rectangles arranged in a geometric pattern.

Let’s turn the blocks sideways and see if we get something different. Pretty much the same thing, just different direction.

Pattern design of the Courthouse Steps quilt block featuring alternating shades of gray, pink centers, and white accents in a geometric layout.

Let’s alternate every other block next. Huh. Better. Definitely more movement in this one, wouldn’t you agree? I almost detect a bit of a curvy look happening, which is interesting with a square block.

A quilt design featuring alternating Courthouse Steps blocks in shades of gray, pink, and white arranged in a grid pattern.

Now I think I’d like to see what happens when I group the blocks in 4’s. That’s interesting.

A digital quilt design featuring multiple Courthouse Steps blocks arranged in a grid pattern with a mix of gray, white, and pink colors.

Let’s add fabric to see what happens, shall we? I’m using Lori Holt’s warm and homey Riley Blake collection, Autumn. I can almost smell the apple pie…..

A patchwork quilt featuring a Courthouse Steps block design with a variety of colorful fabrics arranged in a grid layout.

I want to tweak the blocks one more time. In this example, I turned alternating rows which then gave me an interesting boxed effect in rows 2 and 4.

A colorful quilt design featuring the Courthouse Steps block, showcasing a mix of fabrics in varying patterns and colors arranged in a geometric layout.

Whoah! Stop the bus! Here was the basic idea behind my VRD Rose Card pattern, Boxed In (hence the name), although it’s not totally the same. I wasn’t even thinking about any of our VRD patterns when playing with Courthouse Steps, but – there it is. LOL!

A quilt design titled 'Boxed In' by Tricia Lynn Maloney, showcasing a colorful patchwork pattern with various fabrics arranged in geometric blocks on a table.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Okay, let’s go back to our Courthouse Steps block and tweak it a little bit by changing the width of some of the rectangles. I left the side rectangles the same, but I made the top and bottom rectangles narrower.

Diagram of the Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring a central pink square surrounded by gray rectangles.

Let’s use the first setting from above to see how the blocks plays in a design. I really think this looks pretty cool and it reminds me of paper lanterns.

A digital representation of a Courthouse Steps quilt block design featuring a central pink square surrounded by white and gray rectangles, arranged in a grid layout.

Let’s tweak the color a little bit. Again, I’m using a couple prints from Lori Holt’s Autumn collection. WOW! What a mod yet classic 2 color quilt! Love it!

A digital quilt design featuring a Courthouse Steps block layout in brown and turquoise colors, arranged in a grid pattern, with a light grid background.

Cool! Check out this block arrangement! It’s the same layout as our previous 2nd design, above.

A quilt design featuring a Courthouse Steps block pattern in brown and light blue color scheme.

Hmmm. I just don’t feel that’s it totally complete yet, so let’s add another fabric to see what happens. In this example, I’m using some lovely Hoffman 1895 Watercolors batiks. Love it!

A quilt design featuring a central pink pattern framed by dark and light gray rectangles, creating a geometric composition.

Just….one….more….tweak. As you can see, designing a quilt can get kind of addicting. Yup. But, I think you’ll agree with me that this is the final design. I changed the block directions a bit, changed the black centers to grey, changed the black background to a light grey and added more fabrics from Hoffman.

I think it’s perfect now.

A digital quilt design showcasing alternating blocks of the Courthouse Steps pattern in shades of pink and gray, framed by light blue fabric strips.

There’s not much else I can say………except I’m very satisfied with this final design. Seriously. Sometimes it takes just one more try to get where you want to. And I’m not just talking about quilt design, you know.

What would you do to tweak the Courthouse Steps block to create your own design?

Don’t forget to do your homework for next Thursday! I’ll see what I can find in the prize department while you play with the Churn Dash quilt block to see what you can come up with.

Ta! Ta!

Until next time –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Quilt Play · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with the Spool Block

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

What a fun blog post last week! It was great to share a little bit about my quilt design process with you. It was such fun, we’re doing it again this week, but with a different quilt block.

Before even starting this post, though, I must admit I cheated a bit and began playing with this week’s quilt block. Let me tell you – it never fails to amaze me how a simple block can create such amazing designs.

Here’s last week’s post if you missed it:

Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

Are you ready? Let’s design a quilt together!

The Spool Block

According to Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, this specific Spool block appeared in the book, Polly Prindle’s Book of American Patchwork Quilts by Alice Gammell in 1973. Of course, it wasn’t really a new block in 1973, but this simplified Nine Patch version appeared in Polly Prindle’s. Previous versions included set-in seams as well as 4 small Spools in a single quilt block. Today, though, we’re going to start with Polly Prindle’s version.

Cover of 'Polly Prindle's Book of American Patchwork Quilts' by Alice Gammell featuring quilts displayed on a decorative rack, accompanied by a bouquet of colorful flowers.
Polly Prindle’s Book of American Patchwork Quilts
Image from Amazon
Cover of 'Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns' by Barbara Brackman featuring various quilt block designs.
Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns
Image from Amazon
A quilt block design featuring a 3x3 layout with red and cream colors, showcasing a Spool block pattern with alternating triangles and squares.

As you can see, our Spool Block is a Nine Patch block with a 3×3 layout. Of course, we’ve added some Half Square Triangles (HSTs) to create the Spool shape.

Time to Play!

The first thing we’re going to do is to simply our Spool block by using flippy corners instead of HSTs for the top and bottom of the spool. This tweak would actually save time when piecing the blocks for a quilt without changing the overall design. And we all know that saving time is golden in the quiltmaking process. The tweak also cleans up the look of the block by removing some of the seams.

A diagram of a Spool quilt block featuring a 3x3 layout with red and white fabric sections.

Let’s see what a quilt looks like using just this block, shall we? This design shows the blocks all pointing in the same direction. Hmmm. I like it, but I think we’re just getting started with the Spool block today.

A quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of red and white spool shapes arranged in a grid layout.

Let’s try alternating the block directions. Better, but not there yet.

Patchwork design featuring a grid of red and white spool quilt blocks arranged in a 3x3 layout.

Next up – let’s alternate block direction by row. Better and better! I really like the play between the different block directions. Reminds me a little bit of the vertical and horizontal strips I added to last week’s classic Nine Patch block.

Quilt design featuring a repetitive pattern of spool blocks in red and white.

Let’s add some fabrics to this one. I’m using a few prints from Moda’s Acorn Hollow collection. This layout definitely has some potential. I’m not usually a big fan of 2 fabric quilts, but I am liking the crispness of the design with only the 2 fabrics.

A quilt layout featuring a Spool block design in a 3x3 arrangement with orange and white color scheme.

Okay, let’s go back to our Spool block again. Instead of it being a 2 color block, let’s make it a 4 color block with a black center.

Colorful spool block design featuring a central black square surrounded by sections in red, orange, blue, and green.

Huh. Intriguing. Let’s see how it looks in a quilt. This is the same layout as our first red/white layout above. What a difference color can make!

Now let’s alternate the block directions. This is the second red/white layout above.

Colorful quilt design featuring a repeated Spool block pattern, arranged in a grid format with red, orange, green, blue, and black elements.

I like it, but with so many colors, you kind of lose the interesting design. Let’s back off on colors a little bit by adding more neutrals. Not loving it, but I do like the diagonal thing happening.

Colorful quilt design featuring a repeating block pattern with red, blue, black, white, and yellow sections arranged in a grid layout.

Not quite what I was expecting. Let’s tweak the colors some more. I’m going to use red, black, white, and grey which is one of my favorite colorways when I’m trying to perfect a design. I like working with these colors because of the strong contrast. I also changed the center square to black, so I get an interesting black shape in the blocks now – kind of looks like a megaphone to me.

A quilt design featuring a pattern of interlocking Spool blocks arranged in a 4x4 grid, showcasing vibrant colors of red, black, white, and grey.

Let’s rearrange the blocks to see what happens. This is interesting. It has a lot of movement.

Colorful quilt design featuring a repeating pattern of red, black, gray, and white shapes arranged in a geometric layout.

Let’s add some fabric now to see what it looks like. Here it is in 4 Hoffman batiks. I like it – it has a woven effect which keeps my eye moving over the design.

A quilt design featuring a Spool block layout, showcasing a combination of dark brown, teal, and light brown fabrics arranged in a repeating pattern.

Let’s play with the block arrangement a little bit more. I think there’s another better option still out there. We just have to play a bit until we get there. Almost there.

A quilt design showcasing multiple Spool blocks arranged in a 4x4 grid, featuring a combination of brown, teal, and dark purple fabrics.

I think it needs just one more thing tweaked. I’m going to reintroduce the 5th fabric in the block for the center squares. Yup! Got it. This is the one! A beautiful finished design! LOVE the 3-D effect. Lots of movement. Tons of interesting things going on.

Quilt design featuring a repeating Spool block layout in shades of teal, brown, and black, displaying a 3x3 pattern with various fabrics.

Do you remember where we started? A simple Spool block.

Quilt design featuring alternating red and white diamond shapes arranged in a grid pattern.

An here’s where we ended. Still a simple Spool block, but so much more!

A vibrant quilt design featuring a Spool block layout, with a mix of teal, brown, and dark purple fabrics arranged in a grid pattern.

Isn’t quilt design a fascinating journey? For me, it’s a lot of “what if?” questions. Also, I’m not afraid to make something really ugly – I can always delete it, right? And sometimes “something ugly” just needs another tweak or 2 to become something amazing.

I hope you give designing a try. I think you’ll be surprised at how fun it it. Whether you use graph paper and a pencil or Electric Quilt 8 software, I think you can come up with something that’s truly your own, something you love.

Stay tuned next week for another fun quilt design adventure! Any suggestions on a simple quilt block you’re just dying to see turned into an interesting quilt design? Leave a comment and tell me!

Until next week –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

2025 Let's Design a Quit Together Series · Quilt Play · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

NEW July Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Quilt Patterns and Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Hope you are enjoying these lazy, hazy, crazy days of summertime. Me, still making my summer to-do list. Ha Ha!

We’re just going to jump right in today because I’ve got some fun stuff for you. Yippee!

First up – NEW July patterns.

NEW July VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns

I just love the first Thursday after the first Friday of every month because it means NEW VRD patterns.

A collage of five new quilt patterns titled 'Happy Daze,' 'Fondue,' 'Snowdrop,' 'Ixonia,' and 'Willow,' each displayed with colorful designs. The text reads 'July 2025 Patterns in a Set!' with a price of '$8.95'.

Here’s the set of 5 patterns. As always, our talented VRD designers do not disappoint! You can get the print set of 5 HERE (they are also available individually as print patterns too) or you can get the digital patterns individually below:

Happy Daze features a panel (or substitute a novelty print if you wish) in a fun modern setting. Quilt kits are still available HERE, but get yours ASAP because they’re going fast.

Fondue is also a panel quilt with a very interesting and unique setting. We still have a few quilts kits left, so get ’em HERE while they last.

Snowdrop uses your favorite collection of fat quarters. This is Pat’s latest pattern in her Tim Holtz Palette patterns. You can get the kit HERE.

Ixonia is Rachelle’s latest mod quilt. It also uses fat quarters.

Willow is a super versatile pattern – use a single fabric for the centers, panel squares, or even quilt blocks! We kitted it up with the Playgrounds collection (see below), get your kit HERE.

A colorful quilt featuring blocks with vibrant floral patterns, bordered by a black and white checkerboard design.
Willow kit in Moda’s Playgrounds collection

And here’s this month’s table runner, Bubblegum. It uses a collection of fat sixths, but works equally well with leftover Jelly Roll strips or your stash.

A colorful quilt named 'Bubblegum' designed by Tricia Lynn Maloney, featuring a patchwork layout with vibrant patterns, displayed against a textured black brick background.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

I know it’s summer and most of us don’t quilt as much, but I think these new patterns will inspire you. Besides, VRD patterns go together like greased lightening. Make one in a weekend or even a day.

Why not get your quilty friends together for a summer sew day? You could each have a quilt top done at the end of the day and enjoy some overdue friend time, too.

Next up – let’s play with the Nine Patch block and design a quilt together.

Let’s Design a Quilt Together: Nine Patch Blocks

Nine Patch blocks were on my mind the other day. Why? Because I was thinking about antique quilts and Nine Patch blocks are one of the oldest quilt block patterns as well as one of the most humble. Have you ever gone to see an antique quilt display or perused a book about antique quilts? If you have, I bet you’ve seen A LOT of Nine Patch quilts.

I started wondering what kind of interesting designs I could create from the historic humble Nine Patch. Then it hit me – this would be a really fun blog post idea. So here we are.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about my quilt design process. Here’s the last post I did: Let’s Design a Quilt Together — A Peek into My Quilt Design Process. In it, I used a Shoofly block as inspiration.

If you’re interested in designing your own quilts, there are several ways to do so.

1. Graph Paper

Graph paper, a pencil, and a calculator are often a designer’s first tools for creating one of a kind quilt designs. I started out with this, but quickly found I didn’t have the patience for figuring everything out all the time. I still draw lots of doodles with blocks or setting ideas, but these aren’t my primary design tools anymore.

And guess what?!? Even graph paper for quilting has evolved over time! There are many different options available these days for quilters such as quilter’s graph paper books. Some even include stencils and other goodies to help you in your design process, like C&T’s QuiltGenius Design Tool kit.

The QuiltGenius Design Tool Kit, featuring stencils, graph paper, and a booklet for quilt design.

Get your QuiltGenius kit HERE.

2. Design Workbook

A design workbook with prompts and space to draw is a step up from plain old graph paper. Last year I actually created such a workbook because I got tired of losing all my little scraps of paper when I came up with a new idea. Now I can keep all of my ideas in one place.

Colorful hexagonal quilt design featuring flowers in pastel shades with a central green hexagon, overlaid with the text 'Plan Design Quilt' and 'Tricia Maloney Orphan Quilt Designs'.

Get your copy HERE

3. Electric Quilt 8 Software

Electric Quilt 8 software by the Electric Quilt Company is a fantastic design program! I couldn’t do what I do without it. Seriously. One of the great things about this program is all the support out there so you can learn how to use it. The EQ website offers tutorials, classes, and even fun design challenges. There are books galore available to teach you all the ins and outs of the program. And EQ is always coming up with new add-ons to enhance your design capabilities.

Packaging for Electric Quilt 8 quilt design software, featuring a colorful geometric design on the front, with a computer screen displaying quilt patterns and instructions included.

Get your EQ8 HERE

So now we’ve talked about the 3 top ways to design quilts, let’s play with Nine Patches using EQ8, of course!

A Nine Patch quilt block featuring a pattern of red and white squares arranged in a 3x3 grid.

Here is our humble Nine Patch block. It uses 9 squares all the same size in a 3 square across by 3 square down layout. Easy peasy.

A colorful grid of quilt squares featuring orange, pink, blue, turquoise, red, gray, green, purple, and yellow in a 3x3 layout.

This block is a Nine Patch, too. Nobody ever said you had to use only 2 fabrics for a Nine Patch block. The 3 across by 3 down is what makes it a Nine Patch. And my personal philosophy is the more fabric, the better!

Time to play — er, design. To me designing is playing with blocks, colors, fabrics, shapes. I ask myself a lot of “What if?” questions as I go along.

What happens if we make our Nine Patch block rectangular instead of square?

A colorful Nine Patch quilt block design featuring seven squares in various bright colors: orange, pink, blue, teal, red, gray, green, purple, and yellow.

It’s still a Nine Patch, only it’s elongated. Let’s see what this block looks like in a quilt.

A colorful Nine Patch quilt block design featuring a grid of squares in various vibrant colors including red, blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, orange, and grey.

Hmmm. It doesn’t really do anything for me, but it would make a nice simple scrap quilt, wouldn’t it? Let’s add some sashing.

A colorful quilt design featuring a grid of Nine Patch blocks in various colors, separated by white sashing.

Okay, I’m liking this one better. Now I can see the individual blocks. But it’s still basically a decent scrap quilt. Let’s try taking away the sashing and adding plain alternate blocks instead.

A colorful quilt design featuring a Nine Patch block layout with vibrant squares in various colors arranged in a grid pattern.

This one’s okay, too, but it just doesn’t quite do it for me, either. I could use a cool novelty for the alternate blocks and use coordinating fabrics in the Nine Patch blocks. Let’s try that.

A colorful quilt design featuring a pattern of patches in various colors and floral prints, arranged in a grid layout.

Here is our design using Moda’s collection Acorn Hollow. I like it, but something is still missing. What do you think we need?

Let’s go back to our elongated Nine Patch block and try splitting some of the rectangles into 2 pieces so we can add more fabric.

A colorful Nine Patch quilt block featuring various squares in red, pink, white, orange, yellow, green, blue, and light blue arranged in a 3x3 grid.

Okay, that’s interesting, but now I think I want to split the other 4 patches horizontally to add movement.

Yay! Now we’re getting somewhere. I like the look of our Elongated Rainbow Nine Patch block. Like I said, designing is all about playing and exploring. Ask those “What If?” questions and you’ll be surprised where they will take you in your designing.

A colorful Nine Patch quilt block design featuring rectangular and square patches in various colors, including red, pink, white, orange, yellow, green, and blue, with black as a dominant background.

Let’s try our block in a quilt setting now.

A colorful quilt pattern composed of a grid layout featuring vertical and horizontal rectangular blocks in various vibrant colors, interspersed with black and white checkered squares.

Now that is starting to look like something. I really love the diagonal thing going on with the black rectangles. Hmmm. Let’s keep going. It still needs tweaking.

Colorful nine patch quilt layout featuring vibrant rectangles in blue, red, green, yellow, and orange, arranged against a black and white background.

With a little flip flopping and switcheroo, I discovered this layout. I am loving the elongated Four Patches in black and white that showed up when alternating blocks were turned upside down. What are your thoughts on this design?

Let’s try it in real fabric this time.

A colorful quilt design featuring a variety of rectangular and square blocks in pink, gray, and white, arranged in a patterned layout with black borders.

LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I am using a selection of Hoffman’s 1895 Watercolors batiks in pink and grey with solid black and white here. I added the solid black binding to frame everything nicely as well as accent the black in the blocks. Now it’s a finished design. And it started with a humble little Nine Patch block.

Well, that’s it for me today. I hope you enjoyed coming along on a quilt design adventure with me. After showing you how much fun I have designing a quilt, I thought maybe this would make a fun new series for the summer. What do you think? Would you like to see more of this in maybe a 4 or 5 part series using different quilt blocks as the inspiration? Any suggestions on blocks you’d like to see (think simple and pieced, though)?

See you next week, right here at Villa Rose Quilts.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Design. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD