Tag: fabric

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

VRD Busy Bee Quilt Tutorial and Hoffman’s New Fall 2025 Project Catalog

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Yep, it really is Thursday today. Bet I surprised a lot of you on Monday with our special VRD Announcement about upcoming changes (good ones, I promise you!). If you missed Monday’s VRD announcement, you can find it HERE.

Before I dive into this week’s inspirational quilt tutorial, I wanted to take a minute and share Hoffman’s Fall 2025 Project Catalog with you. I’m sure you’ve noticed I use a lot of Hoffman collections for our blog tutorials by now. We work closely with our friends over at Hoffman to inspire you by pairing new Hoffman fabrics and our easy breezy VRD Rose Card patterns.

Please enjoy the catalog and don’t forget to visit your local quilt shops to request these new upcoming Hoffman fabric collections and, of course, Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns.

Lots of wonderful inspiration in this catalog, isn’t there? Which one(s) did you fall in love with and are adding to your “gotta make” list???

Now let’s make a quilt!

VRD Busy Bee Quilt Tutorial

Are you ready for a super fun tutorial today? Busy Bee is an oldie, but a really great goodie! I know you’re gonna love it!

Colorful quilt design featuring various fabric patterns in shades of red, green, and navy, with a title 'BUSY BEE' and branding 'Villa Rosa Designs'.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

First things first, let me show you the fabric I’m using today for Busy Bee. You’ll notice right away that these fabrics don’t exactly have an autumn vibe going on, but I couldn’t resist these gorgeous fabrics when I was looking through my stack of quilt kits to choose my next victim….er, tutorial project. LOL!

Seriously, though, aren’t these fabrics divine??? This older Hoffman collection is called Blush Garden. It’s possible you still might find some bolts at your local quilt shop or at your favorite online shop, but somehow I doubt it as it’s just so yummy. Sorry……

Busy Bee is a fat quarter (FQ) pattern which means you only need FQs for the quilt top. No background, no borders. Busy Bee is stunningly simple and goes together like greased lightning!

A collection of colorful fabrics arranged on a sewing table, featuring various floral and abstract patterns, along with a pattern booklet titled 'Busy Bee.'
Psst! You might notice that my Busy Bee pattern looks different from the cover front above. Yep, my pattern is an older cover front. Sometimes we freshen up covers as fabric styles and trends change over the years.

Before we can get to the sewing, we have to cut our fabrics. You need to divide your FQs into 2 equal stacks.

With the first stack, we’re going to cut our FQs into strips and then into fat rectangles and squares.

A cutting mat with a rotary cutter and floral fabric pieces for quilting. A ruler is positioned on top of the fabric, indicating measurement marks.
A cutting mat with floral fabric squares and a clear quilting ruler placed on top for cutting fabric.

Moving on to the second FQ stack, we’re gong to cut skinny rectangles and squares.

A cutting mat with a yellow rotary cutter and a green ruler next to a stack of fabric pieces, including a white square.
A cutting mat with a floral fabric strip and a rotary cutter, alongside a ruler marked with measurements.

Here are all our pieces ready to sew. And that’s it for cutting for the whole quilt top. I just love patterns like this, don’t you?

A collection of quilting fabric pieces in shades of pink and floral patterns, accompanied by a Busy Bee quilt pattern booklet on a green cutting mat.

Time to sew!

We’re going to sew 2 assorted fat rectangles together to make Block 1. I divided them equally into 2 piles and set them to the left of my machine so I could just grab the 2 top rectangles and feed them through the machine to chain piece them. If I didn’t like the combination or had 2 of the same on top, I just grabbed another one off one of the piles. Sew simple.

Do you chain piece your pieces together? Chain piecing is when you keep feeding/sewing pieces together through your sewing machine without cutting the thread in between the units. It saves both time and thread.

Fabric strips arranged on a sewing machine ready for quilting.
A close-up of a sewing machine with a pink fabric strip being sewn. Surrounding the machine are various fabric pieces in floral patterns, laid out on a cutting mat.

Now for Block 2 – we’re going to sew 3 assorted skinny rectangles together to make a Triple Rail Fence block. Again, I divided my strips equally into 3 piles and put them to the left of my machine. First I sewed 2 rectangles together from 2 of the 3 piles, leaving the last pile for last. Then I added a 3rd rectangle to all the pairs, making sure each Rail Fence block had 3 different fabrics.

Close-up of a sewing machine with a piece of fabric featuring floral patterns being sewn alongside a solid fabric.

Time to head over to the ironing board to press all of my blocks flat.

A variety of colorful quilt fabric pieces laid out on a cutting mat with an iron in the background.
A stack of fabric pieces in various floral patterns and colors, arranged on a gray felt surface.

All righty, all the blocks are sewn and pressed, so now we’re going to put them up on the design wall so we can play switcheroo until we’re happy with the block arrangement.

The layout is an easy one for because we’re just going to alternate the blocks.

Take a look at some of my swaps. See how the dark reds are accumulating at the lower right corner of the photo at the left. In the middle photo, I swapped some blocks around and it’s starting to look a bit better, but we’re not quite there yet. And then the photo at the right looks the best of all. Often, arranging the blocks takes longer than sewing the whole top together, especially if you’re making a Villa Rosa pattern!

A quilt in progress featuring a patchwork design with floral and textured fabric pieces in shades of pink, green, and cream, displayed on a light background.
A patchwork quilt design showcasing a variety of floral and patterned fabric pieces arranged in a grid layout, featuring pink, green, and beige tones.
Quilt blocks arranged in a design wall, featuring floral and patterned fabric pieces in pink, green, and white.

Now that I’m happy with how the blocks look, we’re going to add a border of squares all the way around the blocks. Huh! Bet you were wondering what we were going to do with all those squares (besides add them to our 5″ square stash).

A colorful quilt top made of various fabric pieces in shades of pink, green, and white, arranged in a patchwork design.

Guess what?!? Now it’s time to swap the squares around until the quilt looks just right (are you feeling a little bit like Goldilocks, ??? LOL!).

Take a look at some of my swap outs below. You might wonder why I went ahead and laid out my border of squares before I sewed the blocks together for the quilt center. I was afraid to sew the blocks together in case I would need to tweak them again once I laid out the border squares.

A patchwork quilt top featuring various fabric squares and rectangles in shades of pink, green, and floral patterns, arranged in a visually appealing layout.
A quilt top featuring a patchwork design with floral and abstract fabric pieces in shades of green, pink, and maroon, arranged in an alternating pattern.
A quilt top layout featuring various floral and patterned fabric pieces in shades of green, pink, and mauve, arranged in a patchwork design.

Okay, I’m happy with the blocks and outer squares layout, so I’m going to sew my blocks into rows and then sew the rows together.

A close-up view of two pieces of fabric placed under the needle of a sewing machine, with a floral-patterned fabric on the left and a solid light fabric on the right.
A sewing machine at work, stitching together multiple fabric pieces with a focus on a green patterned fabric surrounded by pink and light-colored fabrics.

The center of the quilt is now sewn together. OH NO! Somehow I flipped a block at the bottom right corner of the quilt center! Sheesh! How’d I manage to do that?!?

A partially completed quilt top featuring a variety of floral and patterned fabrics in shades of pink, green, and white, arranged in a block design on a light background.

Oh well, don’t panic! We can fix this. We have 2 options – either leave it alone and continue or else take a break to rip out the corner of the quilt and sew the blocks back together. Can you guess which option I chose?

Yup, time to grab my pal (and my enemy – I guess that makes him my frenemy, doesn’t it?), Jack the seam ripper. Do you have a favorite seam ripper? Mine is by Clover. In my humble opinion, it’s simply the best seam ripper ever. Don’t have this one? You can find it HERE. Let me know what you think.

A Clover seam ripper, displayed in packaging, designed for easily cutting threads.

Anyway, time to rip!

Close-up of two fabric pieces with floral and abstract designs laid next to a sewing machine, highlighting the quilting process.
A sewing machine with floral fabric pieces positioned next to a seam ripper tool on a workspace.

Ugh! Look at all the threads bits! Ripping out stitches is definitely NOT my favorite thing to do, but it’s necessary sometimes. And besides, Jack really enjoys himself when we do.

Close-up of several fabric pieces in shades of pink, with threads visible on one piece.

Now I can resew the block into the quilt. This time, I’m making sure it’s turned the right way.

Close-up view of colorful quilt patches with floral patterns being sewn together with a sewing machine.
Close-up of a quilt made with various floral and patterned fabric pieces, showcasing shades of pink, beige, and green, with visible stitching elements.

Okay, disaster averted, thank goodness. I’m still not a fan of the mauve rectangle touching the dark red one, but unless I want to do a ton more ripping and resewing, I’ve decided I can live with it. What do you think? Should I have ripped out the other block, too?

Quilt top featuring an assortment of floral and patterned fabrics in shades of pink, green, and cream, laid out in a patchwork design.

Moving on……..time to sew my squares into rows and then I’ll sew them to the quilt center. Fingers crossed I don’t get any of them mixed up. I’m going to sew the top and bottom squares together first and then I’ll sew them to the top and bottom of the quilt center.

Showcasing a colorful quilt top made from various fabrics in pink, green, and floral patterns, arranged in a harmonious patchwork layout.
A patchwork quilt top featuring a mix of floral and geometric patterned fabric pieces in shades of pink, green, and cream, arranged in a grid layout.

Next I’m going to sew the side border squares together and then I’ll sew them to the sides of the quilt center.

And here is the completed Busy Bee quilt top (or flimsy). Isn’t it really beautiful? LOVE LOVE LOVE these fabrics!

A patchwork quilt top featuring an assortment of floral and patterned fabric squares in shades of pink, green, and white, arranged in a mosaic style.
A completed quilt top featuring a patchwork design made of floral and textured fabric squares in shades of pink, green, and white, displayed against a light background.

Let’s take it outside in natural light to see the fabrics sparkle (instead of my dark sewing dungeon). Love it sew much! Can’t wait to finish this one.

A vibrant quilt displayed outdoors on a clothesline, featuring a patchwork design in shades of pink, green, and white.

Of course, after you get the flimsy finished, it’s time to layer it with batting and backing and quilt it. Then bind it and add a label. Hopefully soon.

Well, that’s it for me this week. Try to get a bit of sewing in this week.

See you next week!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Curated Rose Card Pattern Lists · Just Quilty Stuff · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

What Can You Do with 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs?

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Here we are at the end of May following Memorial Day and the “unofficial” beginning of summer and I’m still waiting for spring to stick around for more than a couple of days in row here in NW PA. We actually did have 2 nice dry days in the 60s/70s but now we’re back to cold and rain again. It’s been a real challenge to get the lawn mowed and keep it that way, not too mention getting my small gardens shipshape all while dodging rainstorms and cold temps. Most likely, at the rate we’re going, summer will just land suddenly with hot weather out of nowhere. Sometime in December. 2035. I personally prefer a gradual build up to summers and winters, however; Mother Nature sure has her own agenda these days.

I thought it would be fun to talk about magical 2.5″ squares today. If you read last week’s post about my shop hop around Chicago with Pat following the H&H Show, you may have noticed I bought quite a few 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs (see my photo below). And you might have wondered what the heck I was going to do with all of that eye candy besides tucking them away or dropping them into a canning jar on a shelf to look sew adorable.

A collection of colorful fabric squares and charm packs arranged on a surface, showcasing various floral and geometric patterns.
Here’s a recap from last week’s post showing my goodies from our Chicago shop hop. Note the pile of Mini Charm packs.

A Little Background

I suspect you know all about 5″ Charm packs and how much fun they are (whether you actually use them or you just collect them), so let’s start there and backtrack our way back to 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs.

Three mini charm packs displayed on a light gray background, featuring colorful fabric designs and packaging.

Moda Fabrics is responsible for gifting us with the 5″ Charm Pack, which contains on average 40-42 5″ squares of fabric from a single collection. Thank you Moda! Of course, many fabric companies also offer 5″ square packs and each company calls their 5″ pack by a different name because “charm packs” are synonymous with Moda, even though as quilters, we use the term “charm packs” to describe pretty much any 5″ pack manufactured by any fabric company. Yep, it’s all a little’s a bit confusing.

Hey! Here’s a fun little tidbit perfect for Jeopardy – Moda coined the phrase “Charm Pack” as a nod to Charm Quilts of the past. A true Charm Quilt was said to contain no duplicate fabrics and quilters often exchanged squares of fabric with other quilters to have enough unique pieces to make their quilts. You can find an interesting historical article by Barbara Brackman HERE about Charm Quilts.

Are you wondering why I started out with 5″ square packs? It’s quite simple really, and includes a bit of math! Yay! MATH!

What is a 2.5″ square, but exactly 1/4 of a 5″ square. That means if you cut a 5″ square through the middle both vertically and horizontally, you get 4 – 2.5″ squares. There, I said it – math! (If you know much about me, you probably already know how much I love quilt math.)

It’s not completely clear who actually came up with the 2.5″ square pack idea, as several companies have been producing them for a long time, but Moda certainly comes to mind. I think all of the 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs I bought recently were from Moda. If Moda didn’t invent the whole 2.5″ idea, they are certainly the most well-known manufacturer of the 2.5″ Mini Charm Pack. Moda really was on the forefront of the development of precuts way back when with their Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Turnovers, Dessert Rolls, and more exploded onto the quilt scene.

Now that you know a little bit of background, let’s sashay our way back to those delightful 2.5″ squares.

2.5″ Mini Charm Pack Fun

So, you might be wondering what I do with with my 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs besides hoard them.

Here are some of my favorites:

  1. EPP Hexies – of course! 2.5″ squares are perfect for using the English Paper Piecing technique to make hexies which I then use to make a variety of small projects (I make small projects because I just don’t think I have enough patience to make a classic
  2. Pin cushions
  3. Doll quilts
  4. Table runners
  5. Snack mats
  6. Bags

As you can see, I do lots of different things with them. Maybe you do, too. If you love 2.5″ squares, please share what you like to use yours for in the comments. 🙂

If you haven’t tried EPP and you are interested in learning more, please check out the class offerings at your local quilt shop or look up some tutorials online.

But Wait – there’s MORE!

VRD even has some Rose Card patterns featuring 2.5″ squares! Did you ever doubt that for a second??? LOL!

VRD 2.5″ Square Rose Card Quilt Patterns

A quilted table runner featuring colorful fabric squares and a prominent design with the word 'Amen,' created by Molly Cook for Villa Rosa Designs.

Digital or Print pattern

A rolled quilt titled 'Blueberry Cobbler' featuring a patchwork design in blue and cream colors, displayed on a wooden surface.

Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt titled 'Color Box' featuring various patchwork squares on a dark background, displayed outdoors.
Digital or Print pattern

A vibrant pink snack mat featuring a heart design, displayed on a wooden surface, with the title 'Dear Heart Snack Mat' prominently displayed at the top.
Digital or Print pattern

A quilted table runner featuring a modern design with various colored squares, set against a natural backdrop of grass and trees, with a prominent orange border and leaf motif.

Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt titled 'Lollipop' featuring a playful geometric design, displayed against a natural background.
Digital or Print pattern

A quilted wall hanging titled 'Nana's Aprons' featuring three colorful apron designs made from various fabric squares, displayed against a blue background.
Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt design titled 'Piccadilly' by Tamara Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a pattern of black, white, and pink squares in a checkerboard layout.
Digital or Print pattern

A vibrant quilted table runner titled 'Sugarplum,' featuring a mix of red, green, and pink 2.5" squares adorned with holiday-themed patterns, placed on a snowy background.
Digital or Print pattern

Cover of a quilt pattern titled 'Turkish Delight' by Heidi Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring colorful 2.5 inch squares arranged in rows, surrounded by floral accents.
Digital or Print pattern

I hope you enjoyed this list of fun 2.5″ square Rose Card patterns. Remember, VRD doesn’t charge shipping for patterns, so anytime is a good time to add a few more patterns to your collection. And don’t forget to join our Facebook Group and show off your VRD quilts and be inspired by the projects of others. Hope to see you there!

Have a great week.

Until next Thursday –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Shows and Trade Shows · villa rosa designs

Yummy Breakfast and a Quilt Shop Hop in Chicago after the H&H Americas Show

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

There was more I wanted to share with you last week about the H&H Americas Show, but I ran out of time. LOL! So I thought I’d continue with “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say.

Right across from our VRD booth was the Oliso booth. I’m sure you know what Oliso is, right? They create really amazing irons for quilting that actually lift up so you won’t scorch your fabrics. Well, when I wasn’t busy talking to all the wonderful folks who stopped by our booth, I must admit that I was eyeing their gorgeous irons. They come in super yummy colors – pink, blue, yellow, and lavender.

At the end of the show, I just had to go over to their booth to chat and before I knew it – a brand new blue Oliso iron was going back home to Pennsylvania with me. Huh…. How’d that happen??? (Eye roll here.)

Turquoise Oliso iron with an auto-lift feature for quilting, shown from the side.

I haven’t taken her out of the box yet (yes, she is a “her”), but will be doing that very soon, I promise you. Just as soon as I find my pressing station – I seem to have lost it somewhere. Has anyone seen it?

I think a wild band of pixies tossed my sewing studio when I was in Chicago at the H&H Show. At least, that’s what I’m telling people.

Another fun thing I brought home was a bottle of Made By Hand gel lotion, made by Mary Ellen Products, who is also the maker of Best Press. I’m looking forward to giving it a try – just as soon as I find it again. It’s supposed to help sore fingers and arthritis, too.

A bottle of Made By Hand hand therapy gel from Mary Ellen Products, labeled with benefits including relief for nicks and scratches, soothing for swollen hands, and softening dry skin.

Breakfast

After the show was over on Friday, it didn’t take us long to pack up and head out.

The funny thing is, when I’d made my travel plans, I thought the H&H Show lasted longer than it actually did (found this out later), which accidentally gave Pat and I an extra day before we both headed back home in opposite directions on Sunday. So Pat suggested we go out to breakfast and on a shop hop on Saturday! Yay!

She totally had me at breakfast! And quilt shops – joy oh joy!

Let’s start with breakfast!

Exterior view of Gail's Carriage Inn, featuring a green roof, brick facade, and a sign displaying the restaurant's name.
image from the website

We went to Gail’s Carriage Inn, which wasn’t far from where we were staying. Gail’s is known for their iconic “spuds” which is an omelet with your choice of fillings totally encased in hash browns. Is your mouth watering yet?

But wait! There’s more!

How about a duo of the lightest fluffiest buttermilk pancakes on the side?

Plate of a crispy hash brown omelet encased in hash browns, served with fluffy buttermilk pancakes on a side plate, with a glass of Dr. Pepper in the background.

Yup, that is exactly what I had for breakfast……….and leftovers for dinner. What can I say????? It was totally amazing! Pat had a lovely scramble and somehow managed to clean up her plate.

After dropping my leftovers back at the house, we were off on our Shop Hop adventure.

Shop Hop

The first quilt shop we visited was Sew on Central.

Exterior view of Sew on Central quilt shop, featuring a green awning with the shop's name prominently displayed, along with decorative elements and entrance.
image from the website

Sew on Central was right in the middle of everything in Evanston. Located in an active busy downtown, the shop had a bright and fun vibe. In fact, when we stopped in, there was a kids’ sewing class going on in the back of the shop. It wasn’t a huge shop, but it was a hive of activity and it totally made me smile. I even heard a Mom ask her kiddos if they wanted to sign up for sewing camp in the summer. How awesome is that??? What a way to bring new quilters into the world of quilting and sewing!

Our second shop was Quilter’s Heaven .

Exterior view of Quilter's Heaven shop, featuring large windows displaying colorful quilts and sewing supplies, with a sign indicating the store's name and contact information.
image from the website

Quilter’s Heaven was a traditional quilt shop located in a shopping center in Northbrook. In addition to fabric and supplies, it featured sewing machines, long arm quilting services, and classes.

Our next stop was Linda Z’s Sewing Center.

image from the website

Linda Z’s was a really unique shop as it had been in business for over 50 years. The shop was 2 stories and even had an elevator with quilts hanging in it to enjoy (of course!) as you zipped up to the second floor or came down again – cool! This shop featured sewing machines as well as a large classroom for teaching – including classes in sit down long arm quilting. Wow! And did I mention the FABRIC???

Check out their rainbow batik wall below – the batiks even had their own room on the first level!

A colorful display of fabric rolls organized in a vibrant gradient from red to yellow and green shades in a quilt shop.

Amazing, right? The second floor had A LOT more fabric, including a selection of garment fabrics, too. I mention this because of the cosplay stuff at the H&H Show.

Our last quilt shop was Warman Cozy.

A cozy quilt shop entrance featuring a glass door with the words 'Warman Cozy Quilt Shop' and a decorative blue chair on the porch. A small black dog sits in front of the entrance, adding charm to the scene.
image from the website

Warman Cozy (don’t you love the play on words???) is a wonderful quilt shop tucked into a quiet corner of the Ice House Mall in Barrington.

Right across the walkway was a really cool antique shop and we just had to stop in and admire the antiques for a few minutes before stepping into Warman Cozy. Warman Cozy was a bright and modern shop with a thoughtfully curated selection of modern fabrics along with lots of sample projects to inspire you. I certainly had too much fun in this shop. LOL!

I really enjoyed our Shop Hop, because not only did I get to drool over fabric, but I also got to spend time with Pat. And I added lots of fun stuff to my already-overflowing stash back in gool ol’ Pennsylvania. But, isn’t that the whole point of a shop hop – to buy fabric? Tehehe………..

Check out my shop hop goodies below. I found some great yardage along with fat quarters and a bunch of 2.5″ mini charm packs. Mini charms are hard to come buy in my area, so when I see them, I snap them up. I like to use them to make EPP hexies with. Of course, I have no idea what those hexies will turn into, though.

A vibrant collection of quilting fabrics and mini charm packs scattered on a crafting table.

Now I need to get busy and and turn that beautiful fabric into finished projects. I wonder how long that will take?

I hope you get a little time to work on a new project this week, as well as an old one. I’d love to hear what you’re working on in the comments. 🙂

Have a great week.

Until next Thursday –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

NEW VRD April Rose Card Quilt Patterns and A Fabulous Catalog by our Quilting Partner, QT Fabrics

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Guess what today is??? It’s the Thursday after the first Friday in April, which means………..NEW PATTERNS!

If you are a new blog follower, you might not know that at Villa Rosa Designs, we add 5-7 NEW Rose Card patterns each and every month, all year long. New monthly patterns are usually launched the first Friday of the month on VRD’s Fry-Day Live event online. You can find Fry-Day Live events HERE most Fridays at 4:00 PM Pacific Time (7 PM Eastern time).

With 5-7 new patterns every month, that adds up to between 60-84 NEW patterns every year – WOW! Then add those to our over 700 patterns already in print! It’s almost mind-boggling. We really do have something for everyone!

I know you’re anxious to see this month’s patterns, so here they are –

Collage of five new quilting pattern cards for April 2025, including Butterfield, Dakota, Havenwood, Cadott, and Turtle Soup, featuring colorful quilt designs.

Get the set of 5 print cards HERE

As usual, our talented VRD designers do not disappoint!

Butterfield is by our own Rose Queen, Pat, uses a collection of fat quarters and goes together really fast. You can find the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE. We also have Butterfield kits (includes the pattern) featuring Tim Holtz Palette Yellow fabrics.

Dakota is also by Pat and is a quick to make fat quarter quilt. You can find the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE. And we have Dakota kits (includes the pattern) featuring Victory Garden fabrics.

Havenwood, designed by Rachelle, is Jelly Roll or scrap friendly. It works up fast with your favorite quick piecing techniques. You can find the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE. We have Havenwood kits (includes the pattern) featuring the Sweet Melodies collection (below).

A colorful quilt featuring a patchwork design with various patterns and fabrics, arranged in blocks of different colors including red, blue, yellow, green, and floral prints.

Havenwood in Sweet Melodies

Cadott is also by Rachelle and is a fun modern quilt with A LOT of visual appeal. It uses yardage or your stash. You can find the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE. Sorry, no kits for this one.

Turtle Soup by Heidi features a theme fabric or border stripe – and what a fun name! You can find the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE. Sorry, the kits are already sold out.

But Wait………there’s more! (Tehehe, you know how much I love writing this.)

Our NEW April Table Runner (by moi) is called Window Boxes. You can use panel squares or fat quarters for this pretty runner pattern.

Cover of the quilt pattern 'Window Boxes' featuring a quilt with hexagonal shapes in yellow, turquoise, and pink fabrics, surrounded by floral prints, set against a peach background.

Get the Digital pattern HERE or the Print pattern HERE.

That’s it for the new patterns this month. Which one are you going to make first??? I can’t wait to see your April projects on our VRD Facebook Group.

Now let me tell you about QT Fabrics and VRD.

Quilting Partner – QT Fabrics

As many of you already know, Villa Rosa Designs has made lots of connections with other companies in the quilting industry in recent years. We call them our Quilting Partners. You can find our Quilting Partners over on the right side of the blog towards the top.

Are you familiar with our pals over at QT Fabrics? They are an employee-owned and operated company and have been in business for a long time. You can find QT fabrics at your local quilt shop AND you can check out VRD’s QT Fabric offerings on our website HERE.

We’ve been partnering with QT Fabrics for a while now and I’m really excited to share with you their recent publication featuring our Rose Card patterns and QT’s newest fabric collections, which will be out in quilt shops this Fall. Aren’t you the lucky ones to get a sneak peak???

Here’s the PDF version of the wonderful catalog that QT put together featuring ALL VRD Rose Card patterns paired with their new 2025 Summer Collection, which will available this fall.

I definitely have some of these on my to-do and look forward to sharing new tutorials here on the blog featuring some of these fun designs and fabrics. Woohoo!

VillaRosa_Friends_QTINK_Summer25Flip-1Download

If you’d rather check out the really cool digital Flipbook version, you can find it HERE.

I hope you found a lot of inspiration in this catalog – maybe some new-to-you patterns and/or great upcoming fabric collections. If you see a collection you love, ask for it at your local quilt shop – the fabrics will be available this fall. All of the featured patterns in the catalog are available on our website, villarosadesigns.com.

Well, that’s it for me. Take care and do something fun this week.

Until next time –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Just Quilty Stuff

Spring Cleaning the Quilter Way; Or, A Fabric Yard Sale!

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Spring has sprung! Happy Spring to you!

Image from http://openclipart.com

Now that it’s officially spring, I am starting to feel that old familiar seasonal “spring cleaning” itch. I definitely feel more motivated right now to actually do a little purging and clutter control in my home and, naturally, in my studio, too. Maybe the longer daylight hours are helping too.

One of my local quilt shops, Fox’s Sew and Vac (BIG SHOUT OUT to all my Foxy friends!), provides a wonderful reason to clean out my constantly expanding stash. Every year, Fox’s sponsors a “Fabric Yard Sale,” usually in February or March. Of course, we missed a couple years due to the Pandemic, but this year’s sale was the biggest I’ve ever participated in!

So, what exactly is a “Fabric Yard Sale”?

Fox’s Sew and Vac is located in one of our shopping malls and they are able to reserve the hallway outside their shop entrance to host their “Fabric Yard Sale.” Due to space limitations, they only have a certain number of vendor spaces, but this year they were able to accommodate 20 vendors! I was lucky to be one of the last vendors before spaces were gone. They charged a very reasonable fee for a space and another small fee for a table. You can bring your own tables, which I have done in the past, but it is so much easier these days to just pay the extra fee and have a table there waiting for me as well as a chair or two.

Once I signed up this year — which was later than I normally would due to a time conflict that was cancelled in the end — I got to work sorting through my fabrics, precuts, notions, patterns, books, and whatever else I had hanging around. I measured my yardage, rolled and wrapped it with a rubber band and added a piece of masking tape with the fabric amount and the price (hey, I used what I had on hand). I went through my fat quarters and organized them into baskets. I even readied a basket of vintage feed sack quarters to take along in case anyone was looking for vintage fabrics. I also gathered a selection of books and patterns.

Here’s a photo of some of my stuff headed to the sale.
My style is Early Flea Market, of course. LOL!

My friend Mary Lee (Hey Mary Lee!) shared my space with me. Her stash management program is very different from my “it looks like a flea market threw up” chaos — when she finds a pattern that she likes, she makes her own quilt kits by gathering up all the fabrics for the pattern along with the pattern itself. Then she puts everything in the same bag. This way, when she’s ready to make something new, Mary Lee just has to grab a “kit” and start cutting and sewing. Anyway, Mary Lee weeded her kit collection out and parted with a group of kits she decided she wasn’t ever going to make.

All too soon, set up day for the sale arrived. We were able to set up on Thursday and the sale ran both Friday and Saturday. After we carted everything inside and started laying out our table, we discovered that an 8 foot table wasn’t big enough to lay everything out in an orderly fashion. Things were a little jumbled on our table, but that was okay. Sorry, but I never even thought of taking photos….

Late Friday morning, the sale was swamped! Really! Every table had people crowded around. Then it thinned out and we all started shopping each other’s stuff. Sigh…..occupational hazard.

These 3 photos are courtesy of Fox’s Sew and Vac, and show happy shoppers looking for great deals on fabric and such.

Here’s my list of info for you if you are planning to participate in a Fabric Yard Sale:

  1. The more vendors, the less $$ you will make.
  2. As you sell, so shall you buy…..
  3. You need to price your items competitively or you will be taking home what you brought (plus whatever you bought)
  4. Bring some kind of table covering — even if your table looks like Early Flea Market (like mine did), a table covering under your items just makes it look nicer. Use quilts if you can as they are, naturally, attention-grabbers.
  5. Bring lots of small bills ($1s and $5s, mostly) for change and be prepared to change a $20 when someone wants a fat quarter for $1.
  6. Bring plastic shopping bags to put purchases in.
  7. It’s best to have another person with you, but if you have to do your sale alone, make sure someone stops to give you a lunch break. Of course, the folks at Fox’s were happy to watch our tables so we could dash to the bathroom (and maybe grab a yard of fabric we spied across the hallway).
  8. Packing your fabrics, patterns, books, and other items in plastic bins, baskets, and crates makes moving things in and out and keeping your table organized a lot easier than having yardage and fat quarters spilling all over the place.
  9. Bring something to do when things aren’t busy. I always bring a couple magazines, a book, a quilt with binding to be hand-stitched, or even my EPP hexies. Of course, you’re bound to make some new friends and rediscover some old pals, so expect lots of chatting and laughing going on.
  10. Bring something to drink and a snack or two — chocolate is always a good choice.

I am guilty of #2 on my list above…….but not as guilty as some, I will say. Here are my awesome finds:

Mostly I stuck to fat quarters, but I did buy a couple larger pieces. I also got a great deal on a stack of Block magazines. And, believe it or not, but one of the other vendors had whole vintage feed sacks for sale. I bought 5. Shhhhh……don’t tell anyone my deep dark secrets.

I can definitely see my studio looking a little better without all the stuff I pulled out and had piled and stacked anywhere I could find a little space until the sale. When the Fabric Yard Sale was over, I sorted my stuff and decided to donate about half of what I brought home to my local Humane Society secondhand shop. Now to find somewhere to store the stuff I decided to keep (at least for now) as well as the new stuff I brought home. Again — occupational hazard.

Fabric Yard Sales are just an excuse for quilters to gather, share ideas, catch up, make new friends, laugh and gossip. Oh, yes — they also keep quilting fabrics and supplies in circulation.

Well, that’s it for me today. Good luck with your own Spring Cleaning.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Clean. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD