6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Quilt Challenge Week 3, Guess How Many Quilts Contest, and Shopping Local

April 23, 2026April 22, 2026 rosecards13 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Welcome to Week 3!

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.

A quilt design featuring a grid of stylized illustrations of women's faces, accented with pink and black fabric. The title 'Angel Face' and 'Villa Rosa Designs' are displayed prominently.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Here is my Angel Face BEFORE photo:

A colorful quilt draped over a chair, featuring floral patterns and a mix of green and pastel colors, resting on a wooden deck.

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:

A colorful quilt with floral patterns draped over a rustic wooden bench. The quilt features squares of various floral designs and is bordered with a gray patterned fabric.

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!

Close-up of a quilt featuring a textured gray fabric with a swirling pattern, edged with a pink and white striped binding, alongside a patchwork design of floral and textured fabrics.

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:

A colorful quilt featuring various shades of blue, green, and purple fabrics arranged in a patchwork design, with floral and geometric patterns.

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!

Colorful quilt design titled 'Honey Bouquet' by Villa Rosa Designs featuring various floral and geometric patterned fabric squares.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

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.

A display of neatly arranged fabric bolts on wooden shelves, showcasing a variety of colors and patterns, including greens, blues, and neutral tones, in a fabric store. — *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 colorful illustration of three cheerful women sitting in a red Jeep, promoting quilting with signs. The background features a quilt shop with a vibrant outdoor setting and directional signs for various quilting-related activities. — *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.

A plate featuring a sandwich filled with beef, melted cheese, and sautéed onions, accompanied by a side of golden French fries. — *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!

Interior of a quaint retail shop featuring vintage and decorative items. A round table with a pink checkered tablecloth is in the center, surrounded by shelves filled with various goods. Chandelier lights hang from the ceiling, and 'LOCAL' is displayed on the wall. — *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.

Sew. Laugh. Finish. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

Spring into Spring Tutorial Series: Pretty Posies, 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge Invitation, and a Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (FART)

March 26, 2026March 25, 2026 rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

We literally have SEW much to do today, so I’m going to jump right in with both feet.

I’m really excited to be hosting the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks challenge on the blog again! If you didn’t get the chance to participate last fall in the challenge, you’ll want to join us next week!

6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge

Here’s how the whole 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks idea got started last fall:

With my teetering stacks of unfinished quilt tops (or flimsies), I decided some kind of serious intervention was required. Hey – what if I challenged myself to complete one quilt a week? What if I made myself accountable by posting a before and after photo each week? It sounded a little daunting to me, but I was up for a new challenge last fall. Then I had one of those why not? moments – why not invite all of you to join me? And a fun new blog challenge was born.

So here’s the schedule of events and all the info:

The Dates:

Week 1 – 4/10

Week 2 – 4/17

Week 3 – 4/24

Week 4 – 5/1

Week 5 – 5/8

Week 6 – 5/15

The Rules and All the Details of the Challenge:

Each week for 6 weeks, participants will post before/after photos of weekly UFOs to our VRD Facebook page or if you prefer, you can email the photos to me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

I will post my before/after photos on the blog, villarosaquilts.com, each week and I will try to post them on the VRD Facebook page.

All quilt tops/projects must be VRD patterns – this is the VRD blog, after all. Quilts must be quilted and bound to be eligible for prize drawings. No size requirements (I have UFOs from snack mats up to large throw quilts). It doesn’t even have to be a quilt – we have some great accessory, table runners, place masts, and snack mats.

Each week, I’ll draw a name randomly from those participants who posted before/after photos by each weekly deadline. The winner will get a surprise quilty good in the mail after the Challenge ends. Goodies might be from me or from one of our lovely quilting partners.

This Challenge is open to all, but please note that International winners will receive a selection of VRD digital patterns.

PSST! You can even use the next six weeks to make a NEW VRD quilt each week if you want – hey, maybe you don’t have any unfinished VRD tops just sitting around. So go ahead – pick your favorite VRD pattern and get moving. Wouldn’t this be a great opportunity to get some of your holiday sewing done early??? I am not quite that organized, I’m afraid, but maybe you are.

You might be wondering what happens if you don’t post a before/after photo for a weekly Challenge or you miss the deadline. It’s pretty simple – your name won’t go into that week’s prize drawing – that’s okay because life gets busy. I’m not kicking you out of the challenge, though – feel free to participate any or all weeks. Your name will go into each weekly drawing that you participate in.

Seriously, I want to encourage all of you as well as myself to finish projects, not to stress about them. LOL!

I think that’s all the important info. I hope I’ve answered any questions you had. If not, feel free to email me.

Wanna join me in this challenge?

Send me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com to officially join the challenge and be eligible for weekly prizes. Your name and email will only be used for this Challenge, I promise you. Then get sewing! And don’t forget to have some fun!!!

Okay, let’s move on to our new Spring tutorial for this week.

Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial: Pretty Posies

Pretty Posies is totally a perfect table runner for spring with its slightly tossed sweet blooms. I just love the perky yellow centers of the flowers – to me, they look like a little springy hello. 🙂

A quilt titled 'Pretty Posies' featuring large colorful floral patterns, hanging on a tree branch in a natural setting. The quilt design incorporates pink, red, and yellow flowers, with a black and white floral border.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

1. Our first step is always to gather up our fabrics. Today I’m using lovely sample fabrics from our quilty pals over at Hoffman Fabrics. SHHH! This fabric isn’t even available yet, so you’re getting a sneak peak!

It’s an upcoming new collection called Blushwing and there are some lovely sweet 1895 Watercolors batik fabrics and a fun 885 Dot batik, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Blushwing!

A collection of fabric pieces in various colors and patterns, including floral designs with birds and solid colors, spread out on a crafting surface.

2. Let’s get started at my cutting station (which doubles as my pressing station, too). There’s some simple cutting to do for this runner – cutting strips then cutting the strips into rectangles and squares. There’s nothing difficult or tricky with the cutting, just follow the instructions on your pattern. Instead of showing cutting images for each fabric, I’m just going to show you all the pieces cut and ready to move on to sewing.

Various fabric pieces arranged on a pink cutting mat, including a long strip of white fabric, a square of reddish fabric, and a small yellow square with a polka dot pattern.

3. Now we’re headed to the sewing machine. We are going to use the Stitch and Flip method to add a triangle to each corner of the flower squares. I’ve been calling this method the “flippy corner” method for a while now, but I recently discovered it is called more often the “Stitch and Flip” method, so I’ve decided to use this more common name going forward so I don’t confuse anyone (or myself).

One corner of each flower will have a yellow triangle while the other 3 corners of each flower square will be background fabric triangles.

Let me show you how the Stitch and Flip method works.

Layer a small square RST (right sides together) on one corner and draw a diagonal line. Then sew on the line. Cut off the excess fabric about 1/4″ away from the sewn line.

Close-up of fabric pieces, including a pink floral pattern and a yellow polka-dotted square, placed on a sewing machine table.

Close-up of two pieces of fabric being sewn together, one with a floral pattern in pink and the other a yellow fabric with polka dots. A ruler is visible in the background for measurement.

We will repeat the Stitch and Flip method to make background triangles for the other 3 corners of each flower square.

A partially sewn octagonal patchwork piece made of various fabrics, including pink and yellow, on a sewing table with measuring tools.

3. Back to my cutting and pressing station to press open all of the Stitch and Flip triangles.

A note about pressing: I suggest you press the triangles for 2 of the flower squares for each complete flower (you need 4 matching flower squares for each complete flower) towards the triangle and the other 2 towards the flower square. This will make sewing the flowers together a lot easier as the seams will nestle.

A stack of fabric pieces in various colors and patterns, including blue, pink, and yellow, arranged on a pink cutting mat with measuring grid.

A sewing workspace featuring an iron next to a blue hexagonal quilt piece with floral patterns, set on a gray pressing mat.

4. Back to my sewing machine. I’m going to lay out and sew each flower together with the yellow triangles towards the middle to create the flower center.

I’m going to sew the top 2 squares together and the bottom 2 squares together. Then I’m going to sew the top section and the bottom section together to make a complete flower.

A quilt block featuring four patterned octagons in shades of pink with a central yellow diamond surrounded by white fabric, placed on a gray felt surface.

A close-up view of a sewing project showing four hexagonal fabric pieces arranged in a pattern, with pink floral fabric and a yellow center piece, placed on a sewing machine table.

5. Sigh……back to the iron to give the blocks a nice press.

A blue and white hexagonal quilt block with a yellow center, placed on a gray fabric surface next to an iron and scissors.

A collection of colorful quilt blocks made from various fabrics, including floral and solid patterns, arranged on a soft surface.

6. Next we’re going to add the half sashing to each flower block. This is what creates the movement in the runner. It’s one of my favorite easy peasy techniques.

Back to the machine. First we add a background strip to the side and then we add the second background strip to the top. A quick press and our blocks are finished.

A sewing workspace featuring a pile of fabric pieces arranged in the shape of a flower, with blue and yellow patterns, set against a backdrop of quilting tools and a quilting machine.

A patchwork quilt block featuring four large red octagons arranged around a small yellow square center on a light patterned background.

7. Yay! Time to sew the blocks together. Sooooo, back to the machine. I think I’m starting to feel a bit like a pogo stick. My cutting and pressing station is near my sewing area, but I have to get up and go around the corner of my shelf unit in order to cut or press. Sigh…..I definitely need to take some time and do a little rearranging to make it easier to go from one to the other.

Because I am using 3 blue fabrics and 2 pink/mauve fabrics, I already knew how I wanted to lay out the blocks. You, however, might need to explore some different options until you find the arrangement you like the best. Flip and turn the blocks however you like.

A fabric quilt with five large floral blocks arranged in a row, featuring colors of blue, pink, and a floral pattern, set against a pastel background.

8. Now it’s time to cut border strips. Do you cut all your fabrics before you start a project or do you cut as you go along? When I have a border on a project, I usually wait until after I get the center made before I cut my border strips.

Isn’t this just the prettiest fabric for the border? So soft and gentle.

A stack of fabric strips featuring a pastel design of doves and floral patterns, placed on a pink cutting mat with a rotary cutter nearby.

9. I like to measure my quilt before I cut the border strips to size, even if a pattern gives the measurements. I just like to be on the safe side. So I measured my runner through the center both horizontally and vertically to get my final border sizes. I’m going to sew the borders to the short ends first.

I really love how the border pulls out the center blue floral flower, don’t you?

A quilt panel featuring a series of five floral patterns in varying colors including blue, pink, and green, with yellow accents in the center of each flower.

10. All right, now I’m going to pin my long borders to the runner. I would imagine every quilter has their own method for doing this step. For me, I begin by pinning the center of the border strip to the center of the runner side. Then I smooth each side of the border towards the end of the runner, where I pin the corners of the border strip to the corners of the runner. Finally I add a few more pins between the center and the ends to help keep everything lined up. What’s your method for sewing on long borders?

A patchwork quilt segment featuring blue, pink, and floral patterned fabrics with pinned sections ready for assembly.

VOILA! A finished Pretty Posies runner top. I just love how it turned out. Perfect for Spring.

A patchwork design featuring four large flower motifs in pink, red, and blue against a light floral background.

Now to layer it with batting and backing. Machine quilt it. Bind it and add a label.

WHEW! I think it’s time to take a break from sewing and go shopping!

A Fabric Acquisition Road Trip (FART)

On Saturday, friends Robin, Mary Lee, and I piled into my cute little red Jeep Compass and went on a fun laughter-filled FART to one of our area shops. Quilter’s Cupboard is located in Seneca, PA. Big SHOUT OUT to owners Shirley and Brenda!

Their shop is cozy and welcoming. You step inside the shop to see rows of colorful bolts of fabric and a wall filled with notions, patterns, and fabric panels. One of my favorite firs tstops are their precut shelves with assorted precuts, fun little goodies, and precut patterns. I of course grab some 5″ squares and 2.5″ squares.

The hallway boasts more bolts of fabric with tons of great rulers on the opposite wall. The first room has seasonal fabrics and flannel. The hallway then branches left into a large bright classroom with many samples gracing the walls with the kits nearby and ample space to have classes. The right branch of the hallway leads to an exit and another room filled with ByAnnie patterns and supplies with the most amazing (and inspiring) samples. I grabbed a new ByAnnie pattern, some mesh, and zippers. We’ll see if I get brave enough to tackle that project.

By the way, the shop is totally crazy about Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns! They have VRD samples galore as well as fantastic kits for all of their samples and of course VRD Rose Card patterns.

A display stand showcasing various quilting patterns from Villa Rosa, featuring designs such as 'Tea for 2', 'Lantern Hill', 'Love Cats', and more. A red basket with additional pattern booklets is also visible.

Here are some of the super VRD samples on the walls.

A wall hanging quilt featuring various nature-themed fabric squares including images of animals and birds, bordered with a dark brown fabric and yellow highlights.

Gridwork with a few adaptations. Get your digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

A colorful quilt hung on a wall, featuring a patchwork design with blue, yellow, green, and floral patterns.

Pavers – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Colorful quilt featuring beach-themed blocks with umbrellas, beach chairs, and seaside illustrations, arranged in a diagonal pattern against a yellow and light blue background.

Dinomite – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

A colorful quilt featuring a geometric pattern with shades of teal, navy, green, and white, displayed on a wall.

Sisterhood (I totally love this colorway, don’t you?) – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Here’s a great selection of VRD table runners!

A display of colorful quilts on a table, showcasing various patterns and fabrics, with sewing supplies and patterns arranged nearby.

From left to right:

Merry Trees – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

Poinsettia – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

Lil Umbrellas – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

Bespoke (2 options shown) – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

Pumpkin Hollow – get your digital pattern here or your print pattern HERE

And seasonal snack mats!

Two handmade quilted placemats displayed on a wooden surface. The top placemat features a green and plaid patchwork design with shamrocks, while the bottom placemat showcases a bee and beehive pattern in black, yellow, and white.

Top: Shamrock – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Bottom: Buzzy Bee – get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Or get all 12 Seasonal Snack Mat Patterns HERE.

What fun trip! Mary Lee spent the most and Robin spent the least. After we shopped, the three of us headed over to The Log Cabin restaurant for lunch.

Last stop was to Ollies to poke around to see what interesting and fun things we could find. Beside, Mary Lee had never been there before.

All in all, our FART was a welcome break from the minutia of our every day activities. And spending time with quilty pals is always a good time. When was your last FART?

WHEW, that’s it for today’s post. Don’t forget to join me for the 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge which begins next week.

See you then!