Wow! Hard to believe we are already at Week 5. How’d that happen???
Week 5 is coming live to you from Myrtle Beach, SC. I came, I saw the ocean, and I’m toting home every blessed seashell I can find. LOL! And I’m wondering if I can tie a hot tub on the roof of the car on the way home…. I’m thinking probably not, but I can dream, right?
Yes, so far I’ve been spending more than my share of time in the hot tub, which is literally steps outside our condo patio door as we are on the pool level. Hot tubs make me very happy. Especially before and after a hard day of vacation. WHEW! If you know me at all, you’ll probably giggle when I tell you that I even did absolutely nothing for exactly ten minutes today. Whoah! That was such hard work for me. Not sure if I’ll be up to doing that again tomorrow.
Here are a few of my favorite photos so far:
Seeing the ocean for the first time.A photo of me taking a photo of me.The view from our condo patio.The Sky Wheel at NightI was mesmerized by the foam.Pipers.Shells on the beachSunsetThe 4 of Us at Hard RockYep, this is me!
I am having such a great time at Myrtle Beach and we’ve only been here for a couple days. We’ve been to Broadway at the Beach and down on the boardwalk. We ate at Hard Rock Cafe. I just love searching for shells on the beach! And I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the hot tub.
I’ve also done a little sewing, too. Today I sat outside on the patio and stitched some Drunkard’s Path quilt blocks by hand. I really enjoyed that. Really. And that surprised me because stitching by hand is slower than stitching by machine. Huh. Maybe, just maybe I am relaxing a teeny tiny bit, which is exactly what I needed to do.
Of course, I brought my laptop and my iPad along as well as some different projects I’ve been working on. But this kind of work isn’t really work, if you know what I mean. I love what I do for VRD as well as being a quilt designer. I just know I’ll be taking home a lot more than photos and seashells – I am recharging my creative batteries so I can keep on creating. And I’ve needed that for a while now.
And now……..quilt shopping!
WOOHOO! I had the opportunity to stop and shop at Quilting on the Beach, located here in Myrtle Beach, SC. What a delightful shop! And the ladies were really great!
And of course they had Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns – of course they did!
We really enjoyed searching for treasures in the shop! Oh my goodness – their selection of beachy and ocean fabrics was amazing. Here’s a selection of beachy fabrics I just had to get! Not quite sure what I’m going to create with them yet, but you’ll see it eventually. LOL!
You can check them out on Facebook HERE – tell ’em Tricia @ VRD sent you!
Speaking of quilting, I also finished my Week 5 quilt right here in Myrtle Beach, out on the condo patio. I could get used to this vacation vibe thing.
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 5
This week for Week 5 I finished my half size Eclipses quilt. I made this quilt top back in 2024 for the Eclipse (you can find the tutorial HERE) but of course, it got folded and added to my to-be-finished pile and now 2 years later, it is finally time for Eclipses to shine.
Yeah, I’ve noticed that I seem to have about a 2 year lag in completing my quilt tutorial tops. Hmm. I’m going to need to work on that, I guess.
You knew I was going to take it with the ocean in the background, didn’t you? Tehehe……
Here’s a close up:
I used a selection of Hoffman Batiks for my half-size version of Eclipses for the front and binding. I chose a fun blue industrial-looking fabric for the backing and I machine quilted with blue cotton thread in a whimsical loop and zigzag design, which I think add a nice texture to the quilt, or it will once I launder it and the quilt puckers. This week I hand-stitched the binding down in the car on the way to Myrtle Beach and I finished sewing the hanging sleeve down out on the patio, overlooking the ocean.
And while I’m here at Myrtle Beach, Pat, Leann, and Catherine of Running Doe are in Chicago at the H&H Show. I can’t wait to hear all about the show and all new exciting things going on or coming soon in our quilt universe. You can check in with Catherine on Facebook HERE to see what’s happening at the H&H show.
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 4 Winner
Well, I guess it’s time to announce our Week 4 winner!
Deedee F. from Colorado
Wowee!
Way to go, Deedee!
Congratulations!
Here is Deedee’s fun version of Star Spangled, just in time for the big 250th birthday celebration on July 4th this year:
I’m getting kind of excited to see how many quilts we finish together at the end of Week 6. Aren’t you???
Last week people had the opportunity to make a guess at the number of quilts we will finish. And the closest guess (or actual guess) will get a surprise something something in the mail after the challenge. I’m going to extend the quilt guess contest into this week because I just didn’t get a chance to post the blog on Facebook last week so others could join the fun.
So if you were thinking about jumping in with your best guess last week, you have one more week to leave a comment.
Guess How Many Quilts Will Be Finished?
How many quilts do YOU think will be finished by the end of the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge?
Leave your best guess in the comments on this blog post for a chance to win a little prize at the end of the challenge!
Here’s how it works:
Anyone can participate, not just the Challenge participants
One guess per person, please
Leave your best guess in the blog comments (not Facebook)
Entries close before next week’s post goes live
International friends are absolutely welcome to join in the fun 🙂
You’ll find the comment link just below the blog post title (location may vary a bit depending on your device, so you might need to do a tiny bit of exploring).
If you have trouble finding the comments, you can email your guess to tricia@villarosadesigns.com and I’ll add yours to the list.
Just be sure I have a way to contact you in case you win!
So… what’s your prediction?
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 4
Wanna see my finish for Week 4?
I just didn’t get the quilt that I wanted to finish done this week, so I substituted a little table runner instead that only needed binding. I’m not entirely sure why I never quite finished this runner, but now it’s done. And done.
After last week’s catastrophe with the marching band (tehehe) – we’re just going to need a simple drum roll today.
Drum roll please……………
For Week 4, I completed my little Christmas Amen table runner. I had already machine quilted it a few years ago when I had a mini quilt retreat with my friends Leslie and Cathey at Cathey’s lovely cottage in Maryland. Wanna read my post about my Maryland trip? You can find it HERE. But for some strange reason I don’t even know, I never actually finished it with binding.
The poor little thing has sat there dejected all this time, waiting and hoping. Well, those sad days are over, because my version of Amen is finally completed. YAY!
Amen is a really cute little runner. If you want it longer, it’s very simple to make more blocks, you’ll just need more fabric (and sadly, none of us ever has enough fabric, do we??? LOL!). It’s a great runner to feature small printed panel rectangles or your favorite novelty print.
My BEFORE photo:
I have a thing for vintage red trucks. I think they remind of my Dad, who was a self-employed auto mechanic for over 50 years. He’s retired now, but I think he really misses the connection with both the cars and his customers. So red truck Christmas fabric – I’m there. You don’t even have to call me twice.
I machine quilted Amen with an allover loop design (one of my favs!) using red 100% cotton thread. I actually machine quilt my quilts with the same thread I piece with. I have an entire rainbow collection of quilting thread, all tucked into a little Ikea cart with drawers on wheels. I think I’ve talked about my thread collection before, so I won’t bore you with the details. I chose a textured green fabric for the binding and machine stitched the binding down. Of course, I added a label, too.
My AFTER photo (with a little AI magic because it rained all day and I can’t get outside to take my photo):
I think it turned out pretty cute, don’t you? Have you ever made Amen? If not, maybe now’s the time to try this little runner pattern.
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 3 Winner
Lucia L. from Ohio
Wahoo!
Way to go, Lucia!
Congratulations!
Here’s Lucia’s quilt finish for Week 3, Sky Diamonds. Just love those yummy sherbet-y fabrics!
Great finish, Lucia! Keep going – don’t stop now, you are on a roll!
SHHH! I can’t tell you how many quilt finishers we had for Week 3, but I will say it was more than the week before. Just a little hint……..
A Much Needed Vacation
I have to admit I’ve been a bit preoccupied (and maybe a bit scatter-brained) this week because I’m leaving on vacation on Saturday, as in 2 days from now.
YIKES! I’m not even packed yet!
I’m headed to Myrtle Beach with my quilty pal/cousin Kim (Hey Kim!) and her 2 friends. I am so incredibly excited – I can barely contain myself. This will be my very first time seeing an ocean. Yes, seriously. I’ve seen lakes and rivers and even the St. Lawrence Seaway, but I’ve never been to the ocean. I will finally get to mark this one off my bucket list. We’ll be there for about a week, staying in a condo right there on the beach. Our condo is on the pool and hot tub deck. Nice…..So if you’re looking for me any day next week at say 10 PM, you’ll find me in the hot tub. AHHHHHH!
It’s funny what you worry about when you’re getting ready to leave on vacation – a much need and long anticipated vacation. The thing that’s been on my mind the most is swimwear. I know that sounds funny, but really – how many swimsuits does one take to the beach??? With lots of advice, I’ve settled on 3. I think. Sigh……I guess we’ll see. I’ve order so many things from Amazon recently, I’m not even sure anymore.
Tuesday night at our April quilt guild meeting, I started my packing list for my trip. Clothes……snacks……tech stuff…….sewing projects……meds, etc. I think it’s like 4 pages. Robin and Mary Lee were rolling their eyes and laughing at me while I made my lists. What’s wrong with lists??? I’m always afraid that I’ll forget something vital, so having a list to refer to and to – GASP! – check off is a real lifesaver for me. If that makes me weird, well, that’s okay. At least I won’t be forgetting my swimsuits, not a single one.
Keep getting those VRD quilt finished, folks! You have until the end of Friday May 1st to finish your Week 4 quilt. I know you can do it – let’s get even more quilts finished this week
If you haven’t been able to complete a quilt yet for the Challenge, maybe Weeks 4, 5, and 6 will be your weeks. It’s such an awesome feeling to complete a project that’s been waiting or even to begin and finish that project in a week – we want everyone who signed up to participate to experience that feeling with us. Sew……..go sew!
Well, that’s it for me this week. I’ll see you right here next time from the beach. Maybe even from the hot tub. We’ll see.
I hope you’ve been spending some time over on our VRD Facebook page, where the inspiration is absolutely overflowing! Every time I pop in, I get completely sidetracked by all the wonderful quilt finishes made from our 700+ VRD Rose Card patterns. My “MAKE” list just keeps growing… and growing… and growing! Keep those beautiful quilts coming—I love seeing every single one.
I want to do a great big SHOUT OUT to everyone who has finished a quilt during the Challenge so far! Out of everyone who joined, nearly half are crossing the finish line—and that’s amazing for a challenge like this!
If you’ve got a quilt that’s this close to done, this is your week—let’s see how many more we can push across the finish line for Week 3!
As I mentioned above, we are now in Week 3 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. And wow… you all have been busy!
Week 1: 28 quilts finished
Week 2: 26 quilts finished
We’ve completed a grand total of 54 quilts in just 2 weeks! 🎉 TOGETHER!Yay Us!
Isn’t that amazing?? And the best part… we still have Week 3 wrapping up tomorrow, plus three more weeks to go. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see where we land by the end!
Guess How Many Quilts Will Be Finished?
So here’s a little fun idea to celebrate all this amazing progress…
How many quilts do YOU think will be finished by the end of the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge?
Leave your best guess in the comments on this blog post for a chance to win a little prize at the end of the challenge!
Here’s how it works:
One guess per person
Leave your guess in the blog comments (not Facebook)
Entries close before next week’s post goes live
👉 You’ll find the comment link just below the blog post title (location may vary a bit depending on your device, so you might need to do a tiny bit of exploring).
If you have trouble finding the comments, you can email your guess to tricia@villarosadesigns.com and I’ll add yours to the list. Just be sure I have a way to contact you in case you win!
The person with the closest guess (or exact guess… you never know!) will win a fun little prize at the end of the challenge. 🎁
And yes—our international friends are absolutely welcome to join in, too!
So… what’s your prediction? Are we headed for 75? 100? Even more? I can’t wait to see what you think!
Remember…..you only have 7 days to get your guesses in the comments (or emailed to me) so put on your thinking caps and leave your best guesses in the comments!
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 3
Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but I just finished the binding right before I sat down to write today’s blog post. But you know what????? When I did it doesn’t matter, though, as much as the fact that I have another finished quilt! WOOHOO!
Please cue the entire marching band – wait where is percussion? And what are the Color Guard doing? And is that the drum major having a meltdown? Oh my, what a catastrophe……
Sigh……I guess we’ll just continue without the band.
For Week 3, I finished my version of Angel Face. Angel Face is another one of my 2024 blog tutorial projects that just never got finished. Hmmm. This seems like a real pattern with me, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what quilt finishing challenges are for, huh? You can find a tutorial for Angel Face HERE.
Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE
Here is my Angel Face BEFORE photo:
You may have noticed I made some changes when I made my Angle Face version. Instead of a single fabric for the large squares, I alternated 2 different fabrics (I couldn’t decide which one I liked better, so I used them both. Easy peasy.). And I added an outer border using one of the frame fabrics because my quilt needed just a little bit more something. I think it turned out really pretty with the lovely Hoffman digital fabrics paired with a really cool colorful batik.
PSST! You’ve probably noticed I use a lot of Hoffman fabrics here on the blog. In a nutshell, VRD partners with other companies out there in the quilt o’sphere. I work with Hoffman a lot (Hi Sandy!), so I very happily use their fabrics for many of the tutorials for the blog.
My quilty pal, Mary Lee, literally rolls her eyes at me these days (I see you, Mary Lee!) when I make yet another quilt using Hoffman fabrics – particularly their batiks – because in the past I was always very “take it or leave it” about batiks in general while a lot of my friends were totally wild about batiks (including Ms. Mary Lee). Now I get it, Mary Lee.
Anyway, here is my Angel Face AFTER photo:
What do you think of the purple striped binding? I’m not sure. Is it too much? I had a really tough time finding something I liked with the soft colors of the quilt so I decided to just go a little bold for the finish. It does pull out the purple in the quilt, that’s for sure.
I free motion quilted my quilt on my domestic machine (Janome 8900) with an allover big meander in a soft aqua cotton thread. I used a fun grey print fleece on the back, no batting. And finished it off with the maybe-too-bold purple stripe for the binding. And yes, I added my label, too, because a quilt isn’t finished until there’s a label on the back. I know a lot of quilters do not add labels to their quilts for a variety of reasons, but I know personally from collecting antique quilts that 100 years from now someone will want to know who the maker was, especially if it’s a family quilt. So add a label and make a little history, too.
Here’s a close up of the quilting and my purple striped binding. Meandering is totally one of favorite machine quilting patterns!
How about a winner now?
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Week 2 Winner
Kat S. in Indiana
YIPPEE!
Drop the balloons from the ceiling now!
Congratulations, Kat!
Here’s Kat’s Week 2 Quilt Finish:
Kat’s awesome quilt is the Honey Bouquet pattern. (Did anyone notice that it’s blue??? Anyone??? Blue and white is one of my absolute favorite color combinations in case you didn’t already know that.) Really, I use a random number generator to pick the Weekly winner, I promise you. It was just kismet that it was blue.
As you take a look at Kat’s quilt, you might notice that she used a different layout than the sample quilt on the front of the pattern. And it’s really fun – I love the movement in her quilt. Way to go, Kat!
So what quilt are you finishing for Week 3 of our Challenge??? You have until Friday, 4/24 midnight EST to post your before/after photos on our VRD Facebook page or email them to me at tricia@villarosaquilts.com. Can’t wait to see them!
You know…..if you signed up but life’s gotten in the way of completing quilts so far for the Challenge, maybe this will be your week! We’re in this together!
Shopping Local
Last Friday, I had an errand to run to one of our local quilt shops, Sew Frannetastic. SewFran is a very unique quilt shop located outside Woodcock Township (near Saegertown) in good ol’ Pennsylvania. It’s unique because it is a quilting and sewing consignment shop – YES! You read correctly – it’s a sewing and quilting consignment shop!
When Franne and James opened a few years ago in a different location, I’d never heard of such a thing, but was of course intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? Now I’m a regular customer and every time I go, I find some wonderful treasures I would have never found anywhere else.
Image from Sew Frannetastic on FB
The exciting thing is that the shop is currently expanding because they are simply bursting at the seams with merch. And it’s not just sewing and quilting – you can find yarn along with crochet and knitting patterns and supplies as well as paper crafting and I hear that painting will be coming soon, too. When our local Jo-Ann’s closed last year, our community was left in the lurch for crafting supplies. And several of our local quilt shops have closed, too. So it’s really exciting that SewFran is creatively filling the quilting/craft store void. And we quilters and crafters couldn’t be more thrilled!
A little AI magic……..
I mentioned I had an errand to run out to SewFran and of course it was a great opportunity for a little quilty road trip – a FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip). All of a sudden, I had Robin riding shotgun and Mary Lee was ensconced in the back seat of my li’l red Jeep and we were on our way. The 3 of us did some serious damage to the banking industry while we were there, then of course, we just had to grab some lunch because shopping makes us ravenous.
We went to lunch at a small locally owned restaurant in Cochranton, PA called Parkside. The food was good and the company was even better.
Image from Parkside’s FB page
After lunch, we rounded out our local shopping event by heading to an adorable little gem of a shop in Cochranton called HennyPenny’s that had a little bit of everything tucked into cute little nooks and crannies. I grabbed a few new-fangled tea bag holders that perched on the edge of your tea cup for my Mom as well as some books and a quilt magazine. The shop featured new handmade items, gift ideas, clothing, housewares, cookbooks, collectibles, books, and more. Oh, by the way, it has a super fun chicken theme!
Image from HennyPenny’s FB page
If you’re ever in my neck of the woods here in Northwestern PA, you should check out these super friendly and fun locally owned businesses.
What local gems do you have in your community?
Well, that’s it for me this week. I’m off to do some quilting for Week 4.
I’m really excited to kick off the first week of our Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. I decided not to attempt to do both a new tutorial and finish my Week 1 quilt this week. I know my limitations and there just wasn’t going to be enough time to do both. But, never fear we’ll get back to some wonderful new tutorials after we complete our 6 in 6 Challenge. Besides, this week I get to share with you our New April patterns. Yay!
I’m also thrilled to say that over 50 brave quilters are joining me for our 6 in 6 Challenge. Just imagine – if 50 people completed 1 quilt each week during the 6 week Challenge that would be a total of 300 quilts finished! WOWEE! Wouldn’t it be really amazing if that happened??? I’ll keep track of everyone’s finishes and give you a total number of quilts completed at the end of the Challenge.
If you are posting your before/after photos on Facebook, please say they are for the 6 in 6 Challenge and include the week number. Also, if your FB name is different from the name you provided when you signed up, please let me know or I won’t know who you are. This will help me tremendously as I want to make sure that everyone who is completing their quilts on time gets in the weekly drawings.
One of our participants emailed and asked if it was okay to change the size of VRD quilts for the Challenge. Absolutely! As long as the pattern you are using is a VRD Rose Card.
So, everyone who signed up to participate – let’s do this! Together.
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 1
Whew! Just finished the binding on my Week 1 quilt. Seriously, I kid you not. Right before I sat down to write this post. The good news is – it’s done!
I chose Dusk Delight as my Week 1 quilt. It was from a blog tutorial a while back, you can find the tutorial HERE. Gulp……the tutorial was actually from June 2024. Sheesh! About time this quilt got finished.
Dusk Delight is a really fun pattern using 2 1/2″ strips and a coordinating fabric. It would be a really cool design featuring a favorite novelty fabric, too. One important thing you would need to consider, though, is that the fabric for the long sashing strips is cut horizontally and pieced together. That means if your fabric design runs vertically, you would need additional fabric so you could cut your strips vertically.
Okay, here’s my BEFORE photo showing my Dusk Delight quilt top featuring a Bali Pop and a batik companion from Hoffman Fabrics.
Now here is my AFTER photo showing my finished Dusk Delight. Woohoo! The weather was nice enough to take my After photos outside today, which was great. Our spring weather has been a bit weird so far. We had 86 degrees a couple days ago, then the temps dropped to the 30s (with snow showers) with a low of 14 degrees last night. BRRR! Today is in the 50s and tomorrow will be back up in the 70s. It’s like Mother Nature just can’t make up her mind which season to throw at us.
I used a royal blue solid fleece on the back, no batting. I machine quilted with a large meander allover to keep things simple. Besides, when I quilt on fleece I do prefer keeping things simple as the fleece has a lot more stretch than the quilt top does. I used a bright turquoise 100% cotton thread on the top and bottom. And a really dark blue batik for the binding, which I attached with machine. I’m getting better with machine binding the more I do, but I still struggle to make my corners neat, though.
I had to go digging for a binding fabric because I couldn’t remember what fabric I had originally set aside for the binding way back in 2024. LOL! Usually I try to keep the binding fabric tucked inside the quilt top, but somehow along the way the quilt and binding parted ways. That’s okay, though, because I utilized my stash to find a suitable replacement. What’s a stash for anyway???
Here’s a close up of the back of my Dusk Delight, showing my machine quilting. Please ignore the lint…..
So, what VRD quilt did you finish/make for Week 1? You have until Friday 4/10 midnight EST to complete your quilt and either post a before/after photo to our VRD Facebook page or you can email photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.
Speaking of VRD patterns……….
NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns for April
I know, I know – I don’t have to say it, but somehow I just have to. I LOVE the Thursday after the first Friday of every month because that’s when I get to show off all the new monthly patterns. Yippee!
It does seem a little ironic, though, doesn’t it that this is Week 1 for our 6 in 6 Challenge with the intent to finish VRD UFOs and here I am enticing you with the NEW April patterns. Ho hum…….that’s my job – to help you complete quilts so you can make new ones without feeling guilty.
Without any more teasing, let’s check out the new patterns!
Allspice is Heidi’s latest pattern! I really like the big and little stars and would love to make it in patriotic fabrics. You can find a kit with the same fabrics as the pattern HERE.
LaValle is Rachelle’s newest mod quilt design. Love the cool colors against the white background, it feels really beachy to me.
Melrose is Pat’s latest offering. I really like how the fabrics are arranged from light to dark, accentuating the V shape. Imagine this one in shades of blue and white (my fav)……. You can find a kit featuring Yellow Sky fabrics HERE.
Crackled is Molly’s new pattern. I love how the light blue strips really pop against the darker fabrics, don’t you? You can find a Crackled kit featuring Kaffe fabrics HERE (and it’s amazing!).
Turnkey is Catherine at Running Doe’s latest mod quilt design. I think this one looks super fun to make. It could be totally scrappy or more controlled. You can find a kit for Turnkey featuring the same fabrics as the pattern cover HERE or a kit with Sun Moments fabrics HERE.
YES, there is more!
Our latest table runner is called Serenity and I know you’ll be incredibly surprised to see that it’s blue and white (you know how much I LOVE blue and white). I used fabric from Moda’s Larking collection for this runner. Truly, the fabric inspired the pattern name because it really is serene. And the fun thing about this runner pattern is that you can use panel squares in place of the big center square and/or the smaller squares. I love patterns that give you options.
You can find a kit for Serenity featuring Daydreams fabrics HERE.
Now for our April Pillow Pattern – Garden Wishes. Isn’t it adorable? I mean the pillow, not the dog. Yes, Bailly my 3 year old Shih Tzu is adorable, too (and she knows it!). Bailly enjoys posing for photos. As you can see her fur is long and pretty wild right now but next month she’ll be sporting a shorter ‘do.
Are you following along each month with the seasonal pillows? Just think – if you are, then in January 2027, you’ll have 12 months of fun seasonal pillows! How awesome is that??? If you haven’t started (or finished) your pillows for January-March, there’s still plenty of time to get caught up. I’d love to see your pillows on our VRD Facebook page.
You might remember that Heidi and Molly (3 Aunts Quilt Shop, the former VRD quilt shop in CA) are featuring each month’s seasonal pillow pattern as a block of the month project. So, if you missed any of the earlier months, you can find available kits HERE.
Each kit includes the pattern and the fabric for the 18″ pillow front. And the kits are only $10! Better grab yours before they’re gone.
What fun we have here at VRD……patterns, fabrics, cute little dogs, and more.
Well, that’s it for me this week. I have to get started on my Week 2 quilt for next week.
I’m looking forward to checking out all the great finishes on Facebook, too. So get your Week 1 quilt finished by Friday midnight to get your name in the Week 1 drawing.
We literally have SEW much to do today, so I’m going to jump right in with both feet.
I’m really excited to be hosting the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks challenge on the blog again! If you didn’t get the chance to participate last fall in the challenge, you’ll want to join us next week!
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge
Here’s how the whole 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks idea got started last fall:
With my teetering stacks of unfinished quilt tops (or flimsies), I decided some kind of serious intervention was required. Hey – what if I challenged myself to complete one quilt a week? What if I made myself accountable by posting a before and after photo each week? It sounded a little daunting to me, but I was up for a new challenge last fall. Then I had one of those why not? moments – why not invite all of you to join me? And a fun new blog challenge was born.
So here’s the schedule of events and all the info:
The Dates:
Week 1 – 4/10
Week 2 – 4/17
Week 3 – 4/24
Week 4 – 5/1
Week 5 – 5/8
Week 6 – 5/15
The Rules and All the Details of the Challenge:
Each week for 6 weeks, participants will post before/after photos of weekly UFOs to our VRD Facebook page or if you prefer, you can email the photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.
All quilt tops/projects must be VRD patterns – this is the VRD blog, after all. Quilts must be quilted and bound to be eligible for prize drawings. No size requirements (I have UFOs from snack mats up to large throw quilts). It doesn’t even have to be a quilt – we have some great accessory, table runners, place masts, and snack mats.
Each week, I’ll draw a name randomly from those participants who posted before/after photos by each weekly deadline. The winner will get a surprise quilty good in the mail after the Challenge ends. Goodies might be from me or from one of our lovely quilting partners.
This Challenge is open to all, but please note that International winners will receive a selection of VRD digital patterns.
PSST! You can even use the next six weeks to make a NEW VRD quilt each week if you want – hey, maybe you don’t have any unfinished VRD tops just sitting around. So go ahead – pick your favorite VRD pattern and get moving. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to get some of your holiday sewing done early??? I am not quite that organized, I’m afraid, but maybe you are.
You might be wondering what happens if you don’t post a before/after photo for a weekly Challenge or you miss the deadline. It’s pretty simple – your name won’t go into that week’s prize drawing – that’s okay because life gets busy. I’m not kicking you out of the challenge, though – feel free to participate any or all weeks. Your name will go into each weekly drawing that you participate in.
Seriously, I want to encourage all of you as well as myself to finish projects, not to stress about them. LOL!
I think that’s all the important info. I hope I’ve answered any questions you had. If not, feel free to email me.
Wanna join me in this challenge?
Send me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com to officially join the challenge and be eligible for weekly prizes. Your name and email will only be used for this Challenge, I promise you. Then get sewing! And don’t forget to have some fun!!!
Okay, let’s move on to our new Spring tutorial for this week.
Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial: Pretty Posies
Pretty Posies is totally a perfect table runner for spring with its slightly tossed sweet blooms. I just love the perky yellow centers of the flowers – to me, they look like a little springy hello. 🙂
1. Our first step is always to gather up our fabrics. Today I’m using lovely sample fabrics from our quilty pals over at Hoffman Fabrics. SHHH! This fabric isn’t even available yet, so you’re getting a sneak peak!
It’s an upcoming new collection called Blushwing and there are some lovely sweet 1895 Watercolors batik fabrics and a fun 885 Dot batik, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Blushwing!
2. Let’s get started at my cutting station (which doubles as my pressing station, too). There’s some simple cutting to do for this runner – cutting strips then cutting the strips into rectangles and squares. There’s nothing difficult or tricky with the cutting, just follow the instructions on your pattern. Instead of showing cutting images for each fabric, I’m just going to show you all the pieces cut and ready to move on to sewing.
3. Now we’re headed to the sewing machine. We are going to use the Stitch and Flip method to add a triangle to each corner of the flower squares. I’ve been calling this method the “flippy corner” method for a while now, but I recently discovered it is called more often the “Stitch and Flip” method, so I’ve decided to use this more common name going forward so I don’t confuse anyone (or myself).
One corner of each flower will have a yellow triangle while the other 3 corners of each flower square will be background fabric triangles.
Let me show you how the Stitch and Flip method works.
Layer a small square RST (right sides together) on one corner and draw a diagonal line. Then sew on the line. Cut off the excess fabric about 1/4″ away from the sewn line.
We will repeat the Stitch and Flip method to make background triangles for the other 3 corners of each flower square.
3. Back to my cutting and pressing station to press open all of the Stitch and Flip triangles.
A note about pressing: I suggest you press the triangles for 2 of the flower squares for each complete flower (you need 4 matching flower squares for each complete flower) towards the triangle and the other 2 towards the flower square. This will make sewing the flowers together a lot easier as the seams will nestle.
4. Back to my sewing machine. I’m going to lay out and sew each flower together with the yellow triangles towards the middle to create the flower center.
I’m going to sew the top 2 squares together and the bottom 2 squares together. Then I’m going to sew the top section and the bottom section together to make a complete flower.
5. Sigh……back to the iron to give the blocks a nice press.
6. Next we’re going to add the half sashing to each flower block. This is what creates the movement in the runner. It’s one of my favorite easy peasy techniques.
Back to the machine. First we add a background strip to the side and then we add the second background strip to the top. A quick press and our blocks are finished.
7. Yay! Time to sew the blocks together. Sooooo, back to the machine. I think I’m starting to feel a bit like a pogo stick. My cutting and pressing station is near my sewing area, but I have to get up and go around the corner of my shelf unit in order to cut or press. Sigh…..I definitely need to take some time and do a little rearranging to make it easier to go from one to the other.
Because I am using 3 blue fabrics and 2 pink/mauve fabrics, I already knew how I wanted to lay out the blocks. You, however, might need to explore some different options until you find the arrangement you like the best. Flip and turn the blocks however you like.
8. Now it’s time to cut border strips. Do you cut all your fabrics before you start a project or do you cut as you go along? When I have a border on a project, I usually wait until after I get the center made before I cut my border strips.
Isn’t this just the prettiest fabric for the border? So soft and gentle.
9. I like to measure my quilt before I cut the border strips to size, even if a pattern gives the measurements. I just like to be on the safe side. So I measured my runner through the center both horizontally and vertically to get my final border sizes. I’m going to sew the borders to the short ends first.
I really love how the border pulls out the center blue floral flower, don’t you?
10. All right, now I’m going to pin my long borders to the runner. I would imagine every quilter has their own method for doing this step. For me, I begin by pinning the center of the border strip to the center of the runner side. Then I smooth each side of the border towards the end of the runner, where I pin the corners of the border strip to the corners of the runner. Finally I add a few more pins between the center and the ends to help keep everything lined up. What’s your method for sewing on long borders?
VOILA! A finished Pretty Posies runner top. I just love how it turned out. Perfect for Spring.
Now to layer it with batting and backing. Machine quilt it. Bind it and add a label.
WHEW! I think it’s time to take a break from sewing and go shopping!
A Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (FART)
On Saturday, friends Robin, Mary Lee, and I piled into my cute little red Jeep Compass and went on a fun laughter-filled FART to one of our area shops. Quilter’s Cupboard is located in Seneca, PA. Big SHOUT OUT to owners Shirley and Brenda!
Their shop is cozy and welcoming. You step inside the shop to see rows of colorful bolts of fabric and a wall filled with notions, patterns, and fabric panels. One of my favorite firs tstops are their precut shelves with assorted precuts, fun little goodies, and precut patterns. I of course grab some 5″ squares and 2.5″ squares.
The hallway boasts more bolts of fabric with tons of great rulers on the opposite wall. The first room has seasonal fabrics and flannel. The hallway then branches left into a large bright classroom with many samples gracing the walls with the kits nearby and ample space to have classes. The right branch of the hallway leads to an exit and another room filled with ByAnnie patterns and supplies with the most amazing (and inspiring) samples. I grabbed a new ByAnnie pattern, some mesh, and zippers. We’ll see if I get brave enough to tackle that project.
By the way, the shop is totally crazy about Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns! They have VRD samples galore as well as fantastic kits for all of their samples and of course VRD Rose Card patterns.
Here are some of the super VRD samples on the walls.
What fun trip! Mary Lee spent the most and Robin spent the least. After we shopped, the three of us headed over to The Log Cabin restaurant for lunch.
Last stop was to Ollies to poke around to see what interesting and fun things we could find. Beside, Mary Lee had never been there before.
All in all, our FART was a welcome break from the minutia of our every day activities. And spending time with quilty pals is always a good time. When was your last FART?
WHEW, that’s it for today’s post. Don’t forget to join me for the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge which begins next week.
Spring literally starts a few days, which is probably why we have snow on the ground again and it was like 16 degrees last night. BRRR! Regardless, I’m definitely thinking spring! So I thought it would be fun to leap into some fun spring quilt tutorials to get me into the spirit even if the weather doesn’t cooperate with the season.
I’m also thinking it’s time for a spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Anyone up for that? I did a 6 in 6 last fall and we had great time. It was incredible to finish one VRD quilt a week for 6 weeks. 6 completed quilts at the end. Which was rockin’ awesome! Especially considering all the tutorial sample tops that I’m accumulating. LOL! So……who’s in? I’m thinking to start this the first week of April, 2 weeks from now. It would last for 6 weeks. Right now, I’m just putting feelers out to see who wants to join me for this 6 in 6 challenge? I figure if I do this challenge twice a year in spring and fall, we can all get up to 12 quilts finished in a year.
There are a few rules, though, I’d better mention –
1) Quilts must be made from VRD patterns
2) You must post a before and an after photo on our Facebook page or email them to me if you’re not on FB to be entered in the weekly drawings
3) Anyone can participate
4) If you don’t have stacks of VRD UFOs like I do, no problem – you are welcome to make new VRD quilts/accessories to participate
I think that’s pretty much it for the rules to get started.
If you’re interested, you have 2 weeks to email me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com. I promise your email address will only be used by me to notify you if you win a prize.
Now….on to our first Spring into Spring VRD quilt tutorial!
VRD Quilt Pattern Tutorial Honey
There’s nothing like a new table runner to add a touch of spring to you space! Have you ever made Honey before? If not, you’re in for a treat because this runner goes together quick as bunny and looks great in just about any group of fabrics you want to use.
1. Time to gather up our fabrics. I’m using lovely sample fabrics from our quilty pals over at Hoffman Fabrics today. SHHH! This fabric isn’t even available yet, so you’re getting a sneak peak!
It’s an upcoming new collection called Nesting Hour and there are some lovely sherbet-y 1895 Watercolors batik coordinates, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Nesting Hour!
2. All right! Let’s get some cutting done. First, I’ll cut strips for the block centers and then I’ll cut the strips into squares.
3. Next I’ll cut the strips for the frames and then subcut the strips into the needed smaller pieces.
4. All the pieces are cut, organized by shape, and ready to sew. Yay!
5. We’re headed to the sewing machine to make the blocks. I’m going to sew the short strips onto opposite sides of the center square. When I’m sewing the same step over and over, I really love chain piecing because it saves both time and thread.
6. After I sew the matching short strips to opposite sides, I’m headed over to the ironing station to press my block so far before adding the next strips. I don’t always press in the middle of sewing a block together, but today I am because I want the blocks to turn out really crisp.
7. Then back to the sewing machine to add the long matching strips to opposite sides of the center square to complete the frame for each block.
8. And back to the iron to press the completed blocks so they will be nice and crisp. I’ve noticed that when I press blocks on my wool pressing mat, I don’t have to use pressing spray to get sharply pressed blocks.
Right now I have an 18″ x 60″ mat on my 24″ X 60″ ironing station. My Dad designed and made the ironing board for me years ago. My lovely big board sits on top of an Ikea Kallax 8 cube shelf on casters and it’s the perfect height for me!
The 18″ wide mat just seems too narrow for me now, so I’m thinking of upgrading. I see mats are now available in 22″ x 60″ and 24″ x 60″, which is really great. Maybe I won’t run off the edge anymore. Definitely worth thinking about now if they have the exact size I need.
9. Yay! My blocks are all pressed!
10. Next up is putting my blocks up on my design wall so I can rearrange them. Here’s a few photos showing how I’m moving things around. Sometimes this step takes more time than I’d like, but it is a really important one because nobody wants a visually lopsided quilt.
11. Here’s the arrangement I decided upon. Then it was back to the sewing machine to sew the blocks together. Next up with be layering, quilting, adding a label, and binding…….sometime.
I really like how it turned out, don’t you? So soft and fresh. I can’t wait for the fabric to be available in quilt shops come September 2026.
Your homework for the next couple weeks is to decide whether you want to join me in a Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Drop me an email (tricia@villarosadesigns.com) if you want in. I’ll post more info next week.
Let’s get quilting and finishing together! YEAH!
See you right here next week for another Spring into Spring tutorial.
It’s hard to believe it’s Week 4 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge already, isn’t it? How many of you have been following our VRD Project Finishers on our VRD Facebook page? I know I have! I really love how supportive everyone is on the VRD FB page, too, it’s a great place to hang out if you’ve never visited before.
I’m really hoping this “finish 1 project a week” concept will stick with me and I’ll continue after the Challenge is over because I literally have STACKS of flimsies (quilt tops) waiting impatiently to get quilted, bound, and finished. I think it would be a great accomplishment for me (or any of you) to shrink those stacks of unfinished projects before the end of the year.
Wouldn’t it be awesome to jump into 2026 with a plethora of new project ideas without the guilt of that sad stack of unfinished projects sitting there, judging us? Besides, finishing projects will make more room in our quilting spaces for new projects!
Okay, how about our Week 3 Challenge winner now (selected using a random number generator)?
Congrats to Robin M!
Prizes for our Weeks 1-3 winners will be in the mail shortly, so enjoy your quilty surprises sponsored by our good friends over at QT Fabrics. Thank you, QT!
Now we’re ready to jump into our Week 4 Challenge!
6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Week 4
My finish this week was a really fun one – Helix by our talented VRD designer, Molly Cook. Have you ever tried this pattern before? Helix is fat quarter friendly and finishes at a nice 50″ x 66″. You could add a border all around to make it larger if you wanted to.
It is definitely a more challenging project – I would consider it more intermediate/advanced. There’s a lot of matching points and seam intersections in this one. The finished quilt is gorgeous, though, with its eye-catching geometry. A very cool quilt.
When I searched for this tutorial on the blog, I discovered – gasp! – it was from 2023! Huh. How time flies! You can find the Helix tutorial HERE.
If you’ve never made this one before, I really do suggest you check out the tutorial because all those intersecting points can be a challenge if you’ve never done them before.
Here’s my BEFORE photo:
Apparently when I took the photo back in 2023, it was a really windy day!
And here is my AFTER photo:
See the interesting plaid markings showing through the quilt (the sun was behind the quilt when I snapped the photo)? That is courtesy of the fun blue/teal plaid fleece on the back. Yep, another fleece-backed throw with no batting – just the way I like ’em! Fleece-backed throws are perfect all year around as they are lightweight yet cozy and soft.
I’m really pleased with how this quilt turned out. The crisp white background was the perfect companion to set off all of the blues, greens, teals, and turquoises. I quilted it with my usual allover meander, but this time I used a very subtle variegated thread, Seamist by YLI. I thought, why not? My Helix has a lot of white space so I thought the variegated thread in blues and teals (I swear there’s a bit of green and lavender, too) would really compliment the quilt. I love how it turned out, but the thread color variations were very very subtle.
I found a blue fabric in my stash that had narrow white lines to give it a subtle plaid look for the binding. I machine stitched the binding on to save time and it definitely went better than last week – my corners were much neater on this one. And of course, I added my label dated 2025, even though I started the quilt in 2023. It’s the end that counts, not the beginning.
Yay! Another finish from my towering stack of UFOs. Hmmm. Which one will I finish next?
Quilting Cats
I’m going to change the subject in honor of National Cat Day (October 29th).
How many of you have a kitty partner in crime when quilting (or knitting, crocheting, garment sewing, crafting, etc.)?
Right now as I type this post, my furry buddy, Griffin (age 4), is sprawled across my desk. Only recently has he started doing that again. I love it, but sometimes we end up playing tug o’ war over my mouse pad area. LOL! He really really likes to stretch out pretty much across my whole desk top. Sometimes when I’m trying to use my mouse (which I do A LOT), Griffy will claim my mouse pad and mouse (and sometimes my hand) as his. Silly boy. Of course, as he sprawls over my desk, he knows I just can’t resist scratching him in his favorite spots. Smart boy!
Here’s my handsome Griffy. You can see that he has control of the mouse pad in the photo. ARGH! We take turns winning our game of tug o’ war. LOL!
I have another cat, Pip, but at 15, she doesn’t come downstairs to my studio dungeon anymore. She is our upstairs diva. Then there’s Bailly, my 3 year old Shih Tzu. She’s a heartful, but also a handful. And she thinks she’s a cat.
So Happy National Cat Day to you and your furry feline companions. Maybe they’ll help you (or hinder you, depending on their mood) get your project finished for next week’s Week 5 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge.
See you right here next week for more VRD fun and Week 5 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge.
How are you this fine Thursday? Getting some quilts finished, I hope?
I’ve been having a great time checking out the finished quilts for Week 1 of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. It’s almost like, in 1 week, I’ve completed a lot of quilts! Yay! But I didn’t actually have to do all the work. To me, that’s a perfect scenario!
So, if you finished a quilt for Week 1, pat yourself on the back and get ready to repeat this week!
And our Week 1 drawing winner is…………… Jill S.
Want to get in on the action? It’s not too late – just email me at tricia@villarosadesign.com to join for the remaining 5 Weeks of the Challenge.
I knew I wasn’t going to have a lot of extra time this week, so I decided to tackle one of my table runners UFOs for Week 2, Steppin’ Up.
Don’t have Steppin’ Up yet?
Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE
My Before Photo (layered and ready to quilt):
My After Photo (Done and Done!):
I made this Autumn version of Steppin’ Up a few years ago when my Friday Quilt group did a whole year of VRD Table Runners. Of course, I made the top as a class sample and never finished it. I don’t remember the name of the collection anymore as the fabrics were left over from another project from way back when. Of course, if you want to make an Autumn version yourself, now’s the time to gather up a gorgeous selection of warm fall fabrics.
I backed it with a neutral backing fabric and a layer of thin cotton batting. I free motion quilted it with an allover loop design (one of my absolute favorite designs which also quilts up really fast – you can see how I do loops HERE). I machine stitched the brown tonal binding on and guess what – it actually turned out pretty well. Last, of course, I added a label.
Have you ever made Steppin’ Up? It’s a really fun one if you haven’t. You can actually arrange the blocks in a lot of different ways to make your runner your way.
So, what are you finishing for Week 2? You have until Friday at midnight to email or post your before/after photos of your Week 2 projects to be entered in our Week 2 drawing.
October VRD Accessory Challenge
Speaking of my Friday group, this past week for our October meeting, we had a group challenge reveal – VRD Accessory patterns. Have you ever made any of our really fun Accessory patterns? You can find all of them HERE. I’m excited to tell you that we are going to be adding NEW Accessory patterns going forward. In fact, I’m working on a few ideas right now.
So, my quilty pals rose to the October Accessory Challenge. Check out their makes, below. Of course, they all rolled their eyes at me when I started snapping pictures because they just knew I was going to show off their projects on the blog. Sorry, not sorry…….
Gaynel made the Olivia Jane pattern. Gaynel discovered that Olivia Jane was the perfect tote to hold a 12”x 12” rotating cutting mat.
Mary Lee made Catrina Jane, a 2 Pocketed VRD Rose Card Pattern Keeper. You can’t tell in this photo which shows the inside, but her outside fabric is a really cool African batik, which is more like an embossed fabric than the usual batiks we are familiar with.
Robin made the Dinner Party Place Mats. She did alter them a bit by making 4 identical mats instead of swapping the fabrics in each place mat. Find the digital pattern HERE or the print pattern HERE.
Donna made not only 1, but 4 tote bags using the Tabitha Jane pattern. Here is the one she made herself. The other 3 will be holiday gifts. Good thinking, Donna!
There would no way at all I could choose a favorite from their projects because in my book, they are all winners because they finished their projects, so everyone got to pick out a fat quarter as a prize.
I hope these fun Accessory projects will inspire you to make some of your own – HEY! You could even make some as part of our 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge – we have 4 more weeks to go yet. You could make some great holiday gifts, or maybe a little something something for yourself.
Okay, time to get back to work on your Challenge projects. And mine too.
I hope you all enjoyed the last month or so of new VRD quilt tutorials to help you jumpstart your Fall quilting. I certainly did, but now I’ve added 6 more quilts to my unfinished quilt stack. Oh no! I think that stack is going to topple over any day now, unless I do something quick! How about you? Do you have a stack of VRD quilts waiting to be finished?
If you missed any of the recent VRD tutorials, you can find the links below:
With my teetering stacks of unfinished quilt tops (or flimsies), I decided some kind of serious intervention was required. What if I challenge myself to complete one quilt a week? What if I make myself accountable by posting a before and after photo each week?
It sounds a little daunting to me, but I’m up for a new challenge this fall. After all, in the last 6 weeks, I made 6 new flimsies, so maybe I should make a plan to finish them, right?
Now to decide how many weeks I think I can manage…….hmmm, how about 6 weeks? Sounds reasonable, I think. I hope. Fingers crossed.
The Dates:
Week 1 – 10/9
Week 2 – 10/16
Week 3 – 10/23
Week 4 – 10/30
Week 5 – 11/6
Week 6 – 11/13
The Rules:
Each week for 6 weeks, I will post a photo of the unfinished top as well as a photo of the finished quilt (quilted and bound [by hand or machine]) on the blog and on the VRD Facebook page.
All quilt tops must be VRD patterns – this is the VRD blog, after all.
No size requirements (I have flimsies from snack mats up to large throw quilts).
Wanna join me in this challenge?
Send me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com to officially join the challenge and be eligible for weekly prizes. Your name and email will only be used for this Challenge, I promise you.
Each week, I’ll draw a name from those participants who posted before/after photos to win a little quilty surprise. Might be from me or from one of our lovely quilting partners.
Before/After photos must be posted by each week’s date, listed above, so your name goes into the weekly drawing.
This Challenge is open to all, but please note that International winners will receive a selection of digital patterns.
PSST! You can even use the next six weeks to make a NEW VRD quilt each week if you want – hey, maybe you don’t have any unfinished VRD tops just sitting around. So go ahead – pick your favorite VRD pattern and get moving. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to get some of your Christmas sewing done early???
I think that’s all the important info.
So who’s with me? Send me your info and I’ll add you to my participant list. Then get sewing! And don’t forget to have some fun!!!
Now that our Challenge is LIVE, let’s take a break for some reading. Am I procrastinating already? Maybe…..
Great Quilt Mystery Reads
Mysteries are my favorite book genre, and recently while I was perusing available mystery ebooks at my online library to find my next read, I found a promising title called Quilt City Murders by Bruce Leonard, so I decided to give it a try. Here’s a brief description from Amazon:
Quilter Hadley Carroll thinks her life can’t get any worse after being demoted from reporter to newspaper courier and having her fiancé, Matt Ackerman, dump her without explanation. But then, while chucking a sack of newspapers into the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky—known as Quilt City—she finds Matt’s body snagged under the transient dock. She knows she’ll never find peace if she doesn’t figure out why he left her and who killed him, so she gets to work. As QuiltWeek Paducah, the largest quilting event in the world, approaches, then fills the small town with 30,000 textile connoisseurs, quilters turn up dead. Paducah’s mayor tries to instill calm as citizens panic, protests flare up, and visiting quilters flee by the thousands. Despite grieving the loss of Matt, Hadley perseveres, strengthened by her troubled upbringing and aided by her weekly quilting group. She uses her investigative skills and impressive intellect to solve the murders, to bring peace back to her hometown, and to get a good night’s sleep—finally.
I was intrigued by the cover as well as how a male author would approach quilting. And it won a Best Mystery Award in 2022 from NIEA, which stands for The National Indie Excellence Award. I checked it out.
It took me a few chapters to get into it, but when everything started to roll, I simply could not put it down and I raced right to the end – whoa! Reading this book was like being on a train picking up speed while going downhill, seriously!
The characters surprised me by how realistic and well-rounded they were. I especially connected to the narrator, Hadley Carroll, because she is an imperfect character with a lot of baggage, just like the rest of us. And of course, Hadley has a dog named Trapunto (don’t you just LOVE this name???). As well as a quirky weekly quilt group.
Such a good read, so I couldn’t wait to check out book 2, Panic in Paducah. Even better than the first book! Actually held my breath in a few places, not kidding. Love how the characters keep surprising me, just like real people. I also find Hadley’s personal struggles to be realistic, especially when we all live in a world of imperfect people.
Then I couldn’t wait to check out book 3 – Measure Once, Cut Twice
Oh no! Things just keep getting more and more complicated for Hadley in the third book. And Hadley is under more pressure than ever before as she races to help everyone with everything without losing herself to the chaos.
And then I went on to read Book 4 – Proving a Negative. Only the first 3 books were available at the online library, so I eagerly downloaded Book 4 and 5 from Amazon. I just finished this book yesterday and it was an amazing read, just like the first 3. I burned right through it in a couple days, reading every spare minute I could – the past few days have been busy ones, too, with me driving parents to their appointments here and there.
I will say each book is getting more intense than the previous one, which is probably why I can’t put them down. I’m really hooked. The author, Bruce Leonard, is fantastic! I love how quilting is woven into the story, but the story isn’t necessarily centered around quilting. I find the story lines to be realistic and relevant. And I absolutely love how the characters are evolving in each book.
Up next is Book 5 – Safety Second. This is the 5th out of 5 books, so I’m not sure if it’s the final book in the series or else just the most current. I hope the author continues writing for this series, because it’s really one of the best I’ve read for a while and I’ve read A LOT of mystery books over the years (if you didn’t know, I was a librarian for 11 years).
I probably won’t start it today because I’m writing the blog and doing work stuff today, but hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to dive back into Hadley’s Paducah. Now that I’m starting Book 5, the characters are like old friends and I can’t wait to see what everyone will be up to in Book 5. If this is the final book of the series, I wonder if Hadley will get her happily ever after…….or not.
Look for these books at your local library, ask for them through Interlibrary loan at your local library, purchase them at your favorite bookseller, or use the Amazon links above.
By the way…….there’s even a companion Cookbook – Quilt City Cookbook. What fun! I haven’t ordered it yet, but I probably will after I finish Book 5, Safety Second. I love that the cookbook is even talked about in the books as Hadley writes it and then utilizes the recipes.
Villa Rosa Quilts 