Tag: free quilt tutorial

Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

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

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

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

Get the set of 5 print patterns HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Besties in the Iconic Collection

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VRD Cinnamon Stix Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned next week for another great VRD tutorial.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

High British Tea and a Quilt Exhibit/Tour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VRD Midnight Pathway Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

VRD Augustina Quilt Tutorial – Perfect Summer Project

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

WHEW! If you’re like me, you are having a heatwave right now. 90’s every day. It even hit 100 on the thermometer on Monday! YIKES! I’m sooooo not ready for these temps. It’s like we went straight from 50’s to 90’s in a couple weeks.

90’s are definitely not normal for this time of year here in northwestern Pennsylvania. AND we have high humidity to go with the heat which makes me want to just melt into a puddle on the ground every time I have to step outside. I literally had to scramble on Sunday to get the window AC units in, but we’re all good now. I just don’t want to go outside anymore.

A woman in a floral dress appears distressed while crawling on a sunlit street, with water droplets visually distorting around her, creating an impression of melting.
I’m melting into a puddle………!!!!

Luckily my dungeon studio is still cool enough (sadly, it is not air conditioned) to work in comfortably. I have several fans on to keep the air moving, but when the heat finally infiltrates my space, it’ll get quite uncomfortable. That usually isn’t until August and September, though, but we’ll see what summer brings this year. Northwestern Pennsylvania is an interesting place to live – record amounts of snow and cold in the winter, a wet and cold spring, then – POOF! – record high temps in June. Only the strong survive……..

I finally got a little quality time with my sewing machine this week so I decided to put together a new tutorial for you. Augustina is a such great project for summer!

Of course Augustina is fast and fun – it’s a VRD pattern, but it’s also not so big that you feel like you’re wrestling an alligator while your body is dripping with sweat. I promise you, this quilt really is quick – I made the top in a couple hours and that included both cutting and photographing my step-outs for the tutorial. It’s a very satisfying afternoon project.

VRD Augustina Quilt Tutorial

Augustina is a great sized quilt for a small throw or a juvenile quilt. And this is a pattern you are going to turn to over and over again for a beautiful quilt with little effort, yet it looks like a million bucks (sorry, it’s late and I couldn’t think of another phrase to use). So don’t forget to get your own Augustina pattern if you don’t have it yet.

A vibrant quilt pattern titled 'Augustina' featuring colorful fabric blocks in shades of purple, yellow, and orange, with floral and geometric designs. The quilt is displayed on a warm orange background, showcasing its cheerful and lively aesthetic.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Let’s get started!

The first thing we need to do, of course, is round up our fabrics. Augustina is a fat quarter project, so you can march right over to your stash and find some coordinating fat quarters or you can use this project as an excuse to visit your local quilt shop to buy new fabric. Yeah, I know, we quilters really don’t need an excuse, but it is handy to have one anyway, isn’t it?

For this tutorial, I am using Flower Shoppe fabrics from our quilty friends over at Hoffman Fabrics. The flower fabrics are all amazing Hoffman digital prints – have you seen these in person yet? The colors are so bright and clear – I feel like I could pick these flowers right off the fabric. We’ve paired a few Hoffman batiks to balance out the gorgeous flower prints.

Please remember when using digital prints, that they do not react exactly the same as regular quilting cottons. Always start with a new needle in your machine so you are not pulling threads when sewing as well as a new rotary cutting blade so you are cutting cleanly through the fabric instead of sawing at it, which can damage the fibers.

A collection of fabric pieces featuring floral patterns, including sunflowers and roses, stacked with an Augustina quilt pattern booklet on a cutting mat.

Next up…..cutting.

SHHHHH! The secret of this quilt is that the pieces are big. Big pieces mean you don’t have to spend loads of time cutting little squares, rectangles, or triangles. Big pieces are a huge time saver! Big pieces also mean you can use bigger prints (when you use big prints in small pieces, the design gets all chopped up and you tend to lose what you loved about the print to begin with). Yay! Let’s GO BIG!

In the photos, below, we’re cutting our accent fabric into strips and then into rectangles.

A rotary cutter, a cutting mat, and a ruler placed on top of a blue marbled fabric in preparation for cutting.
A rotary cutter, cutting mat, and ruler placed on a green cutting mat with yellow grid lines, with a strip of fabric in the background.

Below, we’re cutting our FQs into strips and then into 2 different sized rectangles.

A rotary cutter and ruler placed on a floral fabric with orange poppies, laid on a green cutting mat, ready for cutting.
A rotary cutter rests on a floral fabric featuring orange poppies, positioned on a green cutting mat marked with measurements.

VIOLA! Cutting done. Easy peasy. Here’s all the pieces we need to make Augustina.

A selection of colorful quilting fabrics featuring vibrant floral patterns, including poppies and roses, arranged on a green cutting mat with a ruler and rotary cutter nearby.

Before we can sew Augustina together, we have to lay out our fabrics. I’m going to put them up on my handy dandy flannel board which consists of a flannel-backed table cloth clamped to the tops of my fabric storage unit doors. As I’ve mentioned before, this idea came from my pal, Mary Lee. Kudos to you, Mary Lee! It’s a great option if you don’t have a spare wall to put up a more permanent quilt wall solution. I can simply take it down when I need access to my yardage stash. I’ve actually had this tablecloth for years now, so it’s even an economical option.

A colorful quilt top featuring sunflower and poppy floral patterns, laid out for sewing with a light blue background and various fabric strips.
A layout of quilt fabric pieces showcasing bright floral patterns including sunflowers, poppies, and abstract designs, arranged in vertical strips with a green cutting mat below.

Hmmm……I think I need to move some fabrics around.

A colorful quilt top layout featuring floral fabrics in various patterns and colors, arranged in vertical stripes.
A vibrant patchwork layout of floral fabric squares and rectangles arranged in vertical rows, showcasing bright colors like red, yellow, and green against a light background.
A colorful quilt top layout featuring floral and patterned fabric swatches, arranged on a design surface with green cutting mat underneath.

After several switcharoos, I think I’m happy with the layout now.

Let’s sew!

This quilt is sewn together in vertical rows. I took my time, only taking one vertical row off of my board at a time. I worked from the top down to sew the pieces together. It doesn’t matter whether you sew your strips top down or bottom up, just be consistent with all of your rows or else you might get your fabrics out of kilter.

A sewing machine with colorful fabric pieces, including floral and orange prints, laid out for stitching.
A partially assembled quilt top featuring colorful floral fabrics in various patterns and colors, arranged in vertical strips against a crafting workspace.

Okay, all the fabrics are now sewn into vertical rows.

Vertical strips of colorful floral and solid fabrics are laid out for a quilt project, with a cutting mat visible below.

Now I’m going to sew the vertical rows together into pairs. As this quilt has an odd number of rows, the last row will have to hang out all by itself for a while.

Vertical strips of colorful floral fabrics arranged on a flannel board in preparation for quilting.

Next, I’m going to sew the first 2 pairs together into a foursome. Then I’ll sew the third pair and the last row together into a trio.

Two vertical quilt sections showcasing a colorful patchwork of floral and solid fabrics on a cutting mat.

One last seam to sew the 2 sections together and the Augustina top will be finished. Fast as can be! There isn’t a lot of matching seams, but you do want to make sure your accent pieces are relatively even-looking across the quilt.

And here it is! Our completed Augustina quilt top.

Colorful quilt top featuring floral and solid fabric blocks arranged in a vertical pattern.

Although it was hot, I decided to take Augustina outside for a glamour photo. Sigh…….it was a little breezy out and I couldn’t get a photo with it hanging nicely for you. Bummer. But I do love how it looks surrounded by all the green – the flowers look like they are about to burst right off the quilt! That’s digital fabric for you – the number of colors that can be printed on fabric is phenomenal and creates stunning designs.

A colorful quilt featuring floral patterns and various fabrics, hanging on a clothesline outdoors with green grass and trees in the background.

And that’s it! Finito! Next I need to layer, quilt, and bind it…….someday, anyway.

If you’re looking for another great summer quilt pattern, check out the Jubilee tutorial from a few weeks ago. It’s also a super go-to project.

That’s it for me today, gotta go have me some summer……..in the air conditioning. LOL!

See you next week, same time same place —

Sew. Laugh. Stay Cool. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Jubilee Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Warm temps are here……..finally! Maybe a bit too much too fast, but I’ll take it! The sun is shining, the sky is blue, it’s actually warm in the upper 80s, but there’s a nice breeze to make the heat tolerable. Believe it or not, I’m sitting here in shorts and a t shirt as I write this blog post. Last week, I was wearing a fleece jacket and long pants. Oh, the difference a week can make. I hope you are having some nice weather wherever you are, too.

I thought we’d kick off the gorgeous weather here in my little corner of the world with a fun quilt tutorial.

VRD Jubilee Quilt Tutorial

Let’s make Jubilee today. It’s a super fast and fun fat quarter quilt and it’s a great option when you need a quilt in a hurry. Looks great in just about any fabric. Perfect for summer quilting. Make it in the afternoon and still have time for dinner and s’mores around the campfire in the evening.

A vibrant quilt titled 'Jubilee' featuring an assortment of patterned batik fabrics in earthy tones of brown, turquoise, and black, designed by Villa Rosa Designs.

Get your digital Jubilee pattern HERE or your print Jubilee pattern HERE

The first thing we need is fabric! YAY FABRIC!

Today I’m using batiks from the Sweet Shoppe collection by our friends at Hoffman Fabrics. Aren’t these fabrics yummy? I can’t wait to see how the quilt turns out!

A collection of colorful batik fabrics arranged around a Jubilee quilt pattern, showcasing vibrant colors and intricate designs.

Of course, we need to do some cutting before we can sew. Let’s get to it.

In the left photo, below, you can see how many layers I’m cutting at once. I find batiks to be great for layering for cutting as the fabric is finer. When I’m cutting thick or slippery fabrics, I only cut one layer at a time.

A rotary cutter and acrylic ruler placed on a colorful batik fabric, with quilt pieces arranged beside them.
Close-up of fabric and quilting tools on a cutting mat, featuring a rotary cutter and a clear ruler positioned on colorful batik fabric.

Let’s get the rest of the fabrics cut. For Jubilee, we only need 2 different shapes, which is one thing that makes this quilt go together so quickly. Wow! That was fast!

A cutting mat with a ruler and rotary cutter positioned over a fabric strip featuring colorful floral patterns.
Colorful batik fabric pieces laid out on a cutting mat with a grid pattern.

Time to start sewing the strips together so we can make strips sets and then we’ll cut the strip sets down into the block size we need.

I like to set all my strips to the left of my machine while I sew. Then I select strips randomly to sew together, making sure I don’t grab 2 of the same strip. We want these strip sets to be as scrappy as possible.

A colorful assortment of batik fabric strips in various shades and patterns, arranged on a work surface.
Close-up of a sewing machine sewing colorful batik fabric strips.

Once I’ve sewed 2 strips together for the required sets, I then go back and add the third strip to all of the sets. I find it more efficient to complete each step for all the pieces at once before moving onto the next step.

Sewing colorful fabric strips together at a sewing machine for a quilt project, with scissors nearby.

Once our strip sets are sewn together, it’s a good idea to press them before we begin cutting out the blocks.

Do you struggle with which way to press your seams on the back of your blocks? Me too. More often than not I end up flipping the seams in the other directions when I go to assemble blocks. Oy vey!

The good news with Jubilee is that it doesn’t matter which way you press your seams because the blocks do not line up and the seam do not cross – another reason why Jubilee is quick as a wink.

An iron placed on top of several colorful fabric strips, with a light blue, turquoise, and pink batik design visible.
An iron rests on top of several colorful batik fabric strips arranged in a row on a cutting mat.
A collection of colorful batik fabric strips arranged on a cutting surface, ready for quilting.

Next we need to cut our strippy blocks from our strip sets. I’m layering 3 strip sets on top of each other for cutting. To do this, I line then up on the left edge (or the right edge if you cut from that side), but I stagger them a bit top to bottom so the seams are not sitting right on top of each other because stacked seams make a big lump. It’s not a good idea to attempt to cut through lumpy seams or you might accidentally miscut something.

Cutting fabric squares with a rotary cutter and ruler on a cutting mat.

Awesome applesauce! All of the blocks are pressed, cut, and ready to go. Time to head to my flannel wall to lay them out.

A collection of colorful batik fabric pieces organized on a work surface, showcasing various floral and abstract patterns.

I’m going to put the blocks up, alternating the squares with the pieced blocks. I’m just going to slap the blocks up randomly and then I’ll shuffle them around to distribute both colors and fabrics until I find a layout that pleases me. When you are putting blocks together, what is your process?

Below are 3 photos showing shuffled blocks. Sometimes this step takes longer than actually making the whole quilt top (eye roll here).

A bright and colorful quilt top featuring a variety of batik fabrics arranged in a pieced layout, showcasing vibrant colors and patterns.
A vibrant quilt top featuring an arrangement of colorful batik fabrics in various shades of purple, blue, and green, organized in a patchwork pattern.
A colorful layout of batik fabric pieces arranged to form a quilt top, featuring a mix of blue, purple, and pastel shades, displayed on a design wall.

Here is my final layout.

A colorful quilt layout featuring various batik fabrics arranged in a vibrant pattern, showcasing different shapes and sizes of fabric pieces on a design wall.

Because the blocks don’t line up horizontally, we’re going to sew the blocks into columns and then sew the columns together.

A layout of colorful batik fabric strips arranged on a flannel wall, showcasing various patterns and textures in shades of blue, purple, and pink.
Two sections of a colorful, batik quilt featuring various shades of blue, purple, and colorful patterns, displayed on a design wall.
A colorful quilt featuring batik fabrics in various shades of blue, purple, and pink, arranged in a patchwork design with alternating blocks and strips.

And done! Here is the finished quilt top. Isn’t it pretty? I love that the blocks are large so one can enjoy the beauty of the batik fabrics. It turns into a nice throw at 45″ x 60″, but it would be easy to make the quilt larger by adding a border or additional blocks.

A colorful quilt made with batik fabrics, hanging on a clothesline outdoors against a backdrop of green grass and trees.

Now I just have to layer, quilt, and bind it.

Looking for info on finishing your quilts? Check out these posts in our Basic Quilting Skills blog series:

Batting, Backing, and Preparing Your Quilt for Quilting

Quilt As Desired

Squaring Up Your Quilt

Binding 101

Label Your Quilt

Now I’m off to my sewing machine to work on more quilts. Hope you are too!

See you next week, same time same place —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Stepped Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I’ve got a fun and happy quilt tutorial for you today – Stepped by Running Doe Quilts for Villa Rosa Designs.

But before we get into the tutorial – I have an AMAZING announcement for you!

Drum roll, please!

Cue the confetti! Or how about a balloon drop from the ceiling this time?

Our Rose Queen and owner, Pat Fryer, has done it again!

She has a new batik fabric collection with Riley Blake Designs coming this October!

It’s called Kalinda.

WOOHOO!

Here’s a sneak peak –

Kalinda is simply perfect for all your autumn projects! You can download the collection PDF with all the fabrics and skus below.

KalindaDownload

Guess what????? There will be another collectible pattern storage tin for the Kalinda collection, too! I can’t wait! I love love love my tin from Pat’s first collection, Bedazzled. I can’t wait to collect them all as she designs new collections in the future!

Mark your calendars for October – when Kalinda makes its debut. Don’t forget to ask your local quilt shop to order the collection if they haven’t already.

Now I’ve spilled the beans about Pat’s new collection, it’s time to jump into our tutorial.

VRD Stepped Quilt Tutorial

Stepped is a fun modern Rose Card pattern designed by Running Doe Quilts for Villa Rosa Designs. It is a large quilt, finishing at 66″ x 78″ and is fat quarter friendly – yay!

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

For this tutorial I chose a wonderful warm and sunny collection from our friends, Hoffman Fabrics, called Sunset Hour. I chose the bright blue as the frame and binding for a wonderful pop of color against the warm sunset tones.

As usual, the first thing I’m going to do is cut the pieces for the blocks. Since this quilt doesn’t have a border (which is common for modern quilts, by the way), we don’t have to worry about that.

I’m wondering – do you cut your borders when you cut the fabric for the blocks or do you wait until after the center of the quilt is assembled? For me, I usually cut the border strips when I cut the block fabrics, but I don’t piece and cut the borders to size until after I finish the blocks.

Oops, let me get back to the cutting. LOL!

Here are all the pieces I need to make the whole quilt top. Isn’t that blue striking?

Now we’re ready to rock and roll at the sewing machine! The Stepped block goes together really quick (of course, it’s a VRD Rose Card pattern!). I like to put the large rectangle to my left and the blue frame strip to my right so I can grab a rectangle, place a frame strip on top, and zip it through the sewing machine. Then I repeat this same step for all the blocks, using chain piecing (meaning I’m not cutting the thread between blocks as I sew).

Working with batiks is lots of fun – you don’t usually have to worry about right or wrong sides because they are dyed the whole way through.

I could just flip the frame strip over, give it a finger press, and add the 2nd frame strip on, but I want my blocks to be nice and crisp, so I’m going to head to my ironing board to press the blocks before adding the 2nd frame strip.

Now I’m ready to sew the 2nd frame strip on the side of each block. Easy piezy – just the way I like ’em!

Then it’s back to the iron to press the blocks one more time. I warn you – there are a lot of blocks! Seriously!

Next I’m heading to my flannel board, which is actually behind my pressing station, to lay out my blocks. SHHH! My flannel board is really a flannel backed tablecloth hung in front of my fabric storage wall. To hang it, I clip the tablecloth to the tops of my storage doors with big binder clips. That way, I can take it down whenever I need access to the fabric cubbies (these particular cubbies hold my yardage and fat quarters by color).

Now the fun begins. As I lay out the blocks, I’m moving them around to spread the colors and fabrics out over the whole quilt. Laying out your blocks is an important step in making a quilt because you don’t want all the same fabrics or colors clumped together in the same area by accident.

Yikes! I’m actually running out of flannel board for this quilt because it’s big, so I think I need to sew this section together before I can add the final 4 rows. Off to the sewing machine I go…..

All right, here’s the section sewn together. Sorry, just noticed in this photo, I have it turned upside down from the previous photos. Mea culpa.

Finally, I can lay out the final 4 rows and add them to the quilt top. Ugh, you can’t see the bottom section I just added because my ironing station is in the way. Did I mention this is a BIG quilt???

I know! Let’s go outside so I can show you the completed quilt top!

I LOVE the warm and sunny colors of the sunset and the blue plays nicely. I reminds me of photos of the sun setting over the ocean. I say photos as I’ve yet to actually see an ocean. Someday…….

OH! Rats!

Take a look at the bottom of the quilt, I ended up with too much light colored fabrics bunched together. This happened because I couldn’t lay out the entire quilt on my flannel board all at once before I stitched the blocks together. ARGH!

Looks like I will be doing some un-sewing with my trusty seam ripper sidekick, Jack. Then I can relocate some of those light blocks from the bottom towards the center. Sigh……definitely a project for another day. Sorry about that.

Have you ever made the Stepped quilt? If so, I’d love to see your quilts on our VRD Facebook group.

Well, that’s it for me. Have a great week! Find some time to do a little sewing this week. Or maybe some un-sewing……

Until next time –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD 2M Junior Quilt Tutorial Featuring Pat Fryer’s New Fabric Collection, Bedazzled!

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

It’s OFFICIAL! Throw the confetti! Toot your party horns! YEAH!

Pat’s NEW fabric collection for Riley Blake Designs, BEDAZZLED!, is finally here and we are all SEW excited!

To celebrate Pat’s new fabric collection, I’m sharing another great tutorial with you this week – 2M Junior.

Next week, we’ll dive right back into the Free Motion Quilting Series, I promise.

VRD 2M Junior Quilt Tutorial

2M Junior is the little brother of 2M. Junior has the same block, only it’s a bit smaller so the quilt finishes as a throw quilt instead of a big bed-sized quilt like big brother 2M. It also uses a different block configuration, which gives it its own personality.

For the pattern cover quilt, I actually used samples of Bedazzled! and, boy, does it sparkle. And I mean that both figuratively and literally – don’t forget that Bedazzled! features glitter and glam. OHHHHH, SHINY!

Here’s another photo I took of 2M Junior.

Get your digital Junior HERE or print Junior HERE

I’m happy to say we have some kits made up for 2M Junior featuring Bedazzled! You can get your Bedazzled! 2M Junior kit HERE.

OH! I can’t forget big brother 2M, can I?

You may already know the story, but let me share it again. I designed 2M for my youngest niece, Morgan, as her high school graduation quilt. She asked for something modern. Yes, she loved it (and still does).

You can get your digital 2M pattern HERE or your print 2M pattern HERE

If you enjoyed the Baby Zip Tease tutorial last week also featuring Pat’s Bedazzled! collection, we now have kits for it, too. You can get your Baby Zip Tease kit HERE.

All right, back to our previously scheduled programming….2M Junior. Tehehe….

First thing we always do is gather up our fabrics for the project. The 2 teal batiks are from Riley Blake’s Expressions basics. And the fat quarters are, of course, from Pat’s Bedazzled! collection. Simply scrumptious, aren’t they???

Once I’ve gathered up my fabrics, I like to cut all the pieces out for the quilt before I begin sewing. Do you do that or do you cut your pieces as you go?

Okay, now we’re ready to sew!

Let’s add a background rectangle to the left side of a block center.

Next we need to sew a background rectangle to the top of the unit.

Then we’re going to sew accent strips to the sides and then to the top and bottom of the unit.

Now we are going to sew a background rectangle to the smaller block center rectangle and sew it to the bottom of the unit.

The next step is to sew another background rectangle to the longer block center rectangle and then sew it to the right side of the block. Our first block is done!

Easy Piezy, right? Now repeat to make the rest of the quilt blocks.

We’re going to lay out the blocks and move them around until we’re happy with how things look.

Warning – sometimes this step takes longer than actually making the quilt top (especially if it’s a VRD Rose Card pattern – they’re fast and fun, you know!). Yikes!

Okay, I like how the fabrics are distributed around the quilt now, so I’m going with this arrangement. Don’t you just love how the squares and boxes tumble down the quilt?

Hurry! Let’s sew the blocks together and then sew the rows together before any furry helpers make an appearance and rearrange the blocks when I blink.

And – guess what????? No borders on this one! Yippee!

It is my humble opinion that not all quilts need borders. What are your thoughts on borders?

Here’s another photo of the 2M Junior quilt top. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Now the top is finished, it’s time to layer it with batting and backing (or fleece for a cozy back). Quilt it. And please, don’t forget your quilt label! DONE!

Need a little help with batting, backing, and layering everything together? VRD to the rescue! Check out this post from our Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners series, Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners: Batting, Backing, and Preparing a Quilt for Quilting. You can find all the lessons in the Beginner series over to the right of the blog, under the Blog Topics Heading or down further as a heading with the lessons listed below.

Once everything is layered together, then it’s time to quilt! Yay! And we are right in the middle of a new series for 2025 — Free Motion Quilting. Lucky You!

We interrupted the series for a couple weeks to celebrate Pat’s new collection with a few new tutorials, but next week, we’ll be moving on to Lesson 3 in the FMQ series.

If you missed the first couple FMQ lessons, you can find them below:

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

You can also find the different series we’ve done over on the right side of the blog, farther down, each under its own heading. Have fun checking them out!

Bedazzled! Update

Since last week’s post, we’ve added some more fun Bedazzled stuff to the shop (physical and online). Here’s the 411 –

Fat Quarter and Half Yard Bundles!

This group of 9 is called Lilac Mint

9 Fat Quarters HERE or 9 Half Yards HERE

This group of 8 is called Prismatic Bliss

8 fat quarters HERE or 8 half yards HERE

This group of 9 is called Stardust Splash

9 fat quarters HERE or 9 half yards HERE

BUT WAIT! There’s MORE!

We do have a few more kits available besides 2M Junior and Baby Zip Tease.

San Julian (light) kit HERE

San Julian (black) kit HERE

And here’s the San Julian Rose Card pattern. Please note that the pattern comes in each kit, so you don’t need to order it separately. I’m adding the links below, though, in case someone needs it by itself.

Get your digital San Julian pattern HERE or your print San Julian pattern HERE

You can find all the precuts, yardage, fat quarter bundles, kits, and the exclusive Bedazzled! Rose Card storage tin HERE.

And this is the Bedazzled Rose Card pattern that inspired the whole Bedazzled! collection.

Get the digital Bedazzled pattern HERE or the print Bedazzled pattern HERE

Whew! That was a lot today, wasn’t it? Thanks for celebrating Pat’s new fabric collection, Bedazzled!, with us here on the blog. I can’t wait to see your new Bedazzled! quilts on the VRD Facebook page soon.

Well, that’s it for me today. Remember, next week we’re jumping back into our Free Motion Quilting series.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Pat’s VRD Bedazzled Fabric Collection for Riley Blake Designs is HERE and VRD Baby Zip Tease Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

Pat’s new fabric collection for Riley Blake Designs, BEDAZZLED!, is finally here!!!

I’m so sorry, but I have to pause our new Free Motion Quilting series so I can celebrate Pat’s new collection. I promise to continue our FMQ series in a couple weeks because I have 2 new tutorials to share, featuring Pat’s Bedazzled! collection.

Here she is – Pat Fryer, owner and Rose Queen of Villa Rosa Designs and designer for Riley Blake Designs

Bedazzled

A yummy color-drenched batik collection with glitter accents because one can never have enough glitter!

Get the 5″ Stacker HERE

Get the 10″ Stacker HERE

Get the 2.5″ Rolie Polie HERE

Or you can find the Bedazzled fabric by the yard HERE

Although they aren’t ready yet, soon we will have kits for Baby Zip Tease in Bedazzled!, so check back soon. I’ll add the link HERE just as soon as it’s available.

BUT WAIT! There’s MORE!

There is one more piece to the collection – a one of a kind Bedazzled tin just the right size to store your VRD patterns! I’m not sure how many patterns it holds yet because I haven’t received my tin yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know when I find out. There’s no question about how to store your VRD Rose Card patterns now. Get yours ASAP, because I know they’ll sell out quickly.

Get the Bedazzled tin HERE

To celebrate Pat’s new fabric collection, here is the 1st of 2 new tutorials just for you!

VRD Baby Zip Tease Quilt Tutorial

Baby Zip Tease is a really fun and fast pattern that finishes 36″ x 38″, which is a nice size for a wall quilt or a baby quilt.

Get Baby Zip Tease digital HERE or print HERE

PSST! If you like Baby Zip Tease, you’ll love Zip Tease, which is a throw-sized version.

Get Zip Tease digital HERE or print HERE

I was at my pal, Robin’s house (Hi Robin!) the day I created this tutorial. We have sew days as frequently as we can. Robin has a lovely sewing room upstairs in her farmhouse with room for at least 2 people to sew.

In fact, I leave one of my sewing machines there all the time so I don’t have to drag one back and forth. Her husband, Rich (Hey Rich!), threatens to charge me rent. LOL!

Robin and her big kitty boy, Tigger. Tigger has a very important job — to hold down any project Robin tries to work on! LOL! Anyone else have one of these special furry helpers?

So let’s get started with our Baby Zip Tease tutorial!

Of course, the first thing we need to do is gather up our fabrics and cut what we need for the project. I’m using a 5″ stacker from Pat’s new Bedazzled! collection and a yummy Riley Blake Designs Expressions Batik basic.

Let’s make some Half Square Triangles (HSTs).

Photo 1: Layer a print square right sides together (RST) with a background square. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner.

Photo 2 and 3: Sew 1/4″ away from both sides of the line.

Photo 4: Cut apart on the drawn line.

Photo 5 and 6: Press open to make 2 HSTs.

1
2
3
4
5
6

Don’t stop now, go ahead and make the rest of the HSTs .

Square up and trim your HSTs. Cut off all the little “dog ears.”

At this point, you can sew your HSTs into rows and then sew the rows together. But where’s the fun in that???

I wanted to make sure the colors and fabrics were spread evenly throughout the quilt, so I put the HSTs up on Robin’s flannel wall and spent some time moving HSTs around to distribute colors and patterns. Argh! Sometimes this part of the process takes the most time.

This was actually a very important step for me because I kept turning the HSTs the wrong way. This was certainly one quilt project that being left-handed made more difficult. Of course, Robin pretty much just laughed at me every time I had to rotate a block in 90 degree increments until I got it going the right way. SHEESH!

Once I was happy with how it looked, it was time to sew the HSTs into rows. Finally!

Sigh…….I can’t tell you how many times I ended up turning a block on my way to the sewing machine. Time to unsew…….

What’s your favorite seam ripper? Mine is the Clover Ergonomic Seam Ripper seen in the photo below, but have you seen Clover’s latest seam ripper?

I just ordered one and I’ll let you know what I think after I try it out. If it’s as good as the one I already have, I’ll probably love it. Just sayin’……

Got that flipped HSTs fixed and survived sewing the blocks into rows – barely! Now it’s time to sew the rows together.

I’m really liking the cool zig zag effect! Let’s keep sewing those rows together! We are making progress!

YAY! Quilt top finished! Woohoo!

Now you get a chance to see how the fabrics of Bedazzled! play together. Aren’t they really great with the dramatic purple background fabric?

Next week I’ll have another Bedazzled quilt tutorial for you. The week after that we’ll continue on with our FMQ series. So please stay tuned!

Be sure to tune into our Fry-Day Live Sale tomorrow for more information and a closer look at the Bedazzled collection. You can find the Live Sale HERE on Fry-Day from 7-8 PM EST. You can also find the Live Sale on Facebook HERE.

See you there!

Until next week –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

VRD Adobo Quilt Tutorial and NEW VRD January Rose Card Quilt Patterns

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday!

Hi guys! Psst! It’s me, Molly!

It’s been a long time since I jumped on here for a tutorial, but I finally got this one put together just for you!

I was looking at some panels in the shop recently (to see my tour of the VRD shop, go HERE) to sew up into a quilt. I was SEW inspired by the National Parks panels and I LOVE that there are a couple of different choices. Have you seen these yet???

Utah
California

You can find the Utah panel HERE and the California panel HERE.

We also have some awesome Rose Card patterns to showcase these great panels!

Both are fun and amazing patterns — of course, I might be a little biased, since one is my sister’s pattern and the other one is mine. LOL! 😁

If you don’t already have these great patterns in your stash, you can find digital Picture Perfect HERE, digital Adobo HERE, print Picture Perfect HERE, and print Adobo HERE.

For today’s tutorial, though, I’m going to do Heidi’s pattern Adobo because I really want to use the Riley Blake Utah panel.

VRD Adobo Quilt Pattern Tutorial

GUESS WHAT????

You can sew along with me! We made up kits for today’s tutorial. Go grab your Utah Adobo kit HERE and we can sew together! How cool is that?

Your Adobo kit will include all the fabric for the top and binding as well as the pattern.

I wanted to make this Adobo quilt in all Riley Blake Designs (RBD) so I found some RBD fabrics that pulled out the colors from the panel — Poparazzi sand for the background, Poparazzi brown for the sashing, with Dapple orange, Blossom brown, and Blossom green for the Flying Geese.

Let’s get started!

Cut the squares from the background and the coordinates. Pair up each coordinate square to a background square.

Make Half Square Triangles (HSTs) by drawing a diagonal line then sewing 1/4” on either side. Cut apart and press open. Don’t forgot to square up your HSTs if needed.

Tip from Heidi (who’s keeping an eye on me as I work on this tutorial) – Press half the seams of each color HST to the background and the other half to the color.

Now sew 2 matching HSTs together to make a Flying Geese Block A. If you pressed half of the HSTs to the colored fabric and the other half to the background, use one of each to make a Flying Geese Block A. Like magic, the seams will lock together! Great tip, Heidi!

Next we need to create a Flying Geese block for the sashing center. We’re going to use a slightly different technique for this one.

Layer a background square right sides together (RST) on the side of a rectangle sashing fabric. Draw a diagonal line from the bottom outside corner to the opposite top corner. Sew on the drawn line and cut 1/4″ away from the line. Repeat for the other side. Make 4 Flying Geese units.

Next sew background squares to the ends of 2 Flying Geese units.

Sew the 2 Flying Geese units to the sides of an orange square. Then sew the Flying Geese units with the background squares on the ends to the top and bottom. Make 1 Block B.

Molly’s Tip – If using your main print for the center square, cut it from the yardage after you cut your main print/panel C pieces.

Instead of using a main print, though, I’m using the Utah panels so we just need to cut them apart (make sure they are the right measurements – trim if needed).

If using a main fabric, cut the C pieces to the size listed on the pattern.

Next, cut the sashing and add them to sides first, then to the top and bottom. Make 4.

Lay out the main print/panel C pieces and the Flying Geese Block A’s so the Geese are flying away from the center. Sew together (please note that I added an extra background strip to the top and bottom of my quilt. Feel free to do the same, but you will need a little bit more background fabric).

Layer your quilt. Quilt it as desired. Bind it. And don’t forget your label!

TA DA! That’s it! Done! Eazy piezy!

I’m going to add one more little detail to my quilt — I’m going to embroider UTAH in the center square!

Here are some other fun Adobo quilts VRD has as kits. You can find them HERE.

Kitty The Cat
Call of the Wild

Thanks for stopping by and sewing with me!

Now let’s check out the new January VRD Rose Card patterns!

NEW January VRD Rose Card Patterns

I’m excited that I get to show the new patterns off today! Tricia usually does it, but today it’s my turn. Yay!

Here are the 5 main patterns.

Look! There are 2 panel quilt patterns this month – one using a 24″ panel and the other one uses a 36″ panel. Cool!

Rewey uses fat eighths, Pink Piece uses fat quarters, and Yorkshire uses half yards.

This set of patterns gives you a nice variety to add to your VRD Rose Card collection. You can get all 5 print patterns HERE (if you want digital patterns, you can order each pattern individually).

But wait — there’s more (Sorry, been wanting to say that)!

Tricia has a new table runner for you called Snowfall.

You can get the print Snowfall HERE or the digital Snowfall HERE.

And here’s our 11th Snack Mat, Woolly Mitten (just in case you’re keeping track, this is the next to the last one).

You can get the print Woolly Mitten Snack Mat HERE or the digital Woolly Mitten Snack Mat HERE.

We still have some kits available for this month’s patterns (if you know me, I’m all about kits). Get yours now before they’re gone cause they’re going fast.

Farm Fresh (with the Out of Farm’s Way collection)

Pink Peace (with the pink Tim Holtz fabrics)

Yorkshire (with the Elegance collection)

Yorkshire (with the Toil & Trouble Halloween collection)

Rewey (with Australian fabrics)

Well, that’s it from me. I can’t wait to see your Adobo quilts.

Until next time —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Later,

Molly

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Dusk Delight Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I’ve been thinking about ideas for summer posts and I think I’ll do a series of Summer Quilt Tutorials. Creating tutorials gives me a reason for getting some sewing in AND I have a stack of wonderful kits just waiting for me to make into quilts. The only problem with making a bunch of tops will be getting them quilted. LOL!

I can’t promise one tutorial a week over the summer, but I will definitely try. I may need to alternate tutorials with text posts because sometimes making the top and doing the photography takes me longer than a week to get ready, especially as summers get busier and busier.

Well, let’s get to it.

I chose Dusk Delight as my first summer tutorial because this pattern has been on my mind recently. I’ve done a few “digital” quilt mock ups with it recently and it really resonated with me for some reason. Maybe because of the controlled scrappy look? Or perhaps the vertical arrangement? Whatever it was, I was itching to make this one. Isn’t it wonderful that I had a quilt kit to make one???

Dusk Delight goes together easily, but I will caution you that making a big stack of blocks does take a little time. The assembly is not difficult, but can take some time to get everything put together. I would call Dusk Delight a quilt that you can make in a long weekend.

Read on!

VRD Dusk Delight Quilt Tutorial

Get your Dusk Delight physical pattern HERE or your digital pattern HERE.

Here’s the fabric I’m using for my Dusk Delight quilt. I just love pairing Hoffman batiks with our VRD Rose Card patterns! I’m using an 1895 Watercolors batik for the block centers and the vertical strips and a Bayshore Bali Pop for the blocks. I can’t wait to see how this turns out because I just love these beachy colors!

The first thing we’re going to do is cut all of our fabrics. We need block centers, vertical strips, and 2 sizes of rectangles for the blocks.

Here’s a couple tips for working with batiks:

  1. Start with a new machine needle because a dull needle will only damage the fabric.
  2. Use leaders and enders so that your machine doesn’t try to eat your fabrics at the beginning of a seam. Want to know more about leaders and enders? Check out this post HERE.

For my leaders and enders, I ‘m using a stack of green and white triangle cut-offs from a previous project. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get another little project out of these cut-off triangles.

Okay, let’s make blocks! A lot of blocks….

  1. Sew a small block rectangle to the side of a block center.
  2. Sew a matching rectangle to the other side of the block center.
  3. Take a moment and press your unit so far. This helps to keep the block square as you add the next pieces.
  4. Sew a big rectangle to the side of the unit.
  5. Then sew the last matching rectangle to other side of the unit.
  6. Press your block and voila! One block done.
  7. Now make 39 more blocks! LOL!

Another tip — I made 5 or 6 blocks at a time so that I didn’t get the rectangles too mixed up as I sewed. This went faster than sewing a single block together at a time.

Oh goody! Now one of my favorite things — laying out the blocks. Of course, sometimes this part of the quilt-making process takes me longer than actually sewing everything together. The more I look at the arrangement, the more I move things around. But I do definitely love mixing and matching the colors….

To help me arrange the blocks, I put all the blocks and the vertical strips up on my handy dandy flannel board. It really is handy dandy — I use it way more than I ever thought I would. I have no idea why it took me so long to put one up. The only issue I ran into was that the quilt was longer than my board, so I had to do some creative layering at the bottom so I could see the bottom 2 block rows.

If you’re experiencing flannel board envy, let me tell you how to have your own handy dandy flannel board in a matter of minutes with very little cost. I stole this idea from my quilty pal, Mary Lee (Hi Mary Lee!), who has one up tacked to the top of a set of double doors that lead to her front enclosed porch (which she uses for storage).

Go ahead and get yourself a rectangular flannel backed tablecloth. You will want a heavy duty one with a thicker flannel on the back so that it will grab and hold your fabrics. They do come in different sizes — mine is 50″ x 72″ — so you can choose the one that fits your space. Now that it’s the good ol’ summertime, it’s the perfect time to find your very own flannel backed tablecloth.

There are lots of different ways to put your flannel backed tablecloth up. I use binder clips to clip my tablecloth to the top row doors of my cube storage wall. This way, I can remove it when I need to. If yours is removable like mine, you could even use it as a tablecloth so make sure to pick out a fun pattern on the front that matches your outside decor.

Well, I guess I’ve got the blocks arranged the way I want them…..maybe…….

So let’s sew them together before I change my mind again. LOL!

I’m going to sew the outside blocks together into rows before I tackle the center block section.

Now that the outer blocks are sewn together, I can no longer move them around.

Before I start the center block section, I need to piece my vertical strips together to make longer strips. I don’t want to forget to do this step or else my strips won’t be long enough.

Sew…..sew……sew. Press…..press…..pres…… Yay! The center section blocks are now sewn together. Of course, I had to play switcheroo a couple — or maybe a dozen — times before I sewed them together.

Wait! Which way do I want the center section? Gah! I’m still not done arranging, even though the blocks are sewn together. Which one do I like better — right side up in the left photo or upside down in the right photo. Decisions…..decisions…….

Which ever one I choose, this will be the final arrangement. Of course, I could flip the whole quilt upside down……ARGH!

I take it back, maybe arranging the blocks isn’t my favorite step after all!

Before I can sew the vertical sections together, I need to cut my vertical strips to the right length. Holding my breath here that it will be the perfect length. Of course it will, right?

Time to sew again. I pinned the vertical strip to the inside edge of each of the outer single block sections, matching centers and outside edges before stitching them together.

This part looks easy in the photos but it took me quite a while because my work space is so cramped right now. It was like wrestling an alligator from time to time.

I matched up the centers and ends of the left section with the left side of the center section. I crossed my fingers that the blocks would be decently lined up across the vertical strip.

Then I lined up, pinned, and sewed the right section to the right side of the center section.

Yay! Top done!

Wowzer! Why was I even worried??? It turned out great and the colors are just so calming. Ahhhhh! Now to get it layered with batting and backing (or with just fleece) so I can machine quilt it……someday!

I’d love to see your Dusk Delight quilts! If you haven’t joined our rockin’ fun and uber cool Facebook Group, please do! You can find the Group HERE. And post your Dusk Delights so we can all ooooh and ahhhh over them!

Back to my summer sewing, what fun! Next week’s tutorial will be a table runner, so stop back next Thursday to see which one.

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Blog Hop Prizes Update and a VRD Bunny Ears Snack Mat Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Another week has passed us by and the only things I’ve sewn recently are my samples for this Bunny Ears Snack Mat tutorial. LOL! I hope you had better luck this past week getting some sewing in. I keep gazing at my collection of VRD Rose Cards as well as petting my fabrics and my sewing machine looks lonely across from me as I write here at my desk, but I just can’t seem to find enough time to actually get something going on my machine. Somehow I need to find a pocket of time — maybe I should sleep less so I can quilt more. But, no, that won’t work for me these days as I really do need those 8 hours of sleep a night. Ho hum…..

Update on Blog Hop Prizes

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still working on getting everything shipped to Blog Hop Prize Winners. So far the quilts have been shipped, digital pattern collection winners have received their patterns, and prizes graciously being shipped by our lovely sponsors should be in the mail. Physical pattern collections haven’t yet been shipped but should be going out in the next couple days. I have a stack of prizes that also need to get mailed as well as the Kaffe Collection and the Mystery Box.

You may be scratching your head, wondering why it’s taking us so long to get everything sorted out and to the winners. That, my friends, is a complicated topic:

  1. We had around 28 bloggers in addition to our own blog, which really makes 29. There were prize winners on ALL of the blog post. So that’s a lot of information to put together and organize! To make things even slower, we had some winners who never replied to their winner emails, so then we had to randomly select new winners and contact them to get their information. Egads! It literally took weeks to gets all the winners selected and confirmed. Really, I’m not kidding.
  2. Prizes are being shipped from multiple locations — the quilts were shipped from the VRD shop in CA, physical pattern collections will be shipped from our pattern shipping location in MO, digital pattern collections were emailed by moi here in PA, sponsors are shipping prizes from their warehouses and office locations all over the US, and I am shipping prizes and 2 of the Grand Prizes from my little studio here in PA.

It’s crazy when you think of the logistics involved in our Blog Hop — kind of like dancing Swan Lake en pointe while trying to juggle knifes — very sharp knifes!

Happily, we should have everything out in the mail very soon. Winners hare receiving their prizes. Please continue to be patient as we get everything on its way to you.

Now, how about a fun tutorial?

VRD Bunny Ears Snack Mats Tutorial

Nothing says spring like a pair of bouncy little bunnies with extra-long ears! But before I even begin the tutorial, I need to let you know there is an update on the cutting instructions for piece B — you should have enough fabric left over to cut the updated piece, though. Please check the Corrections Page HERE for the new cutting measurement for piece B. Yes, we do have a corrections section at the bottom of our website, villarosadesigns.com, so if you ever find something on a pattern that doesn’t quite look right to you, please check the corrections page for updates.

Get your own Bunny Ears Snack Mat Rose Card physical patterns HERE or digital patterns HERE.

All right! Let’s make some cute bunnies!

The first thing we need is 2 fat quarters. Yep, just 2 FQs makes 2 adorable little Bunny Ears Snack Mats.

I chose these bright and happy spring prints from Cherry Guidry’s Full Bloom collection for Benartex for my Snack Mats.

Time to cut all the pieces out — we’re actually doing the cutting for both Snack Mats at the same time. While I cut, I’m using my ancient homemade flannel board to keep my pieces from getting lost.

Did you miss my flannel board tutorial last week? You can find it HERE.

PSST! Don’t forget to switch your pieces before your start sewing so the bunny fabric in one block becomes the background in the other!

I know it doesn’t look like much yet, but here are my pieces all laid out for both blocks and ready to sew together. Having a small flannel board is great because I can just take it right to my sewing machine from my cutting table, without dropping or losing a thing.

As all the pieces are cut and ready to go, let’s start sewing these little Bunnies together!

Place a background square right sides together on the top left corner of the Bunny Head rectangle. Draw a diagonal line and sew on the line. Then cut 1/4″ away from the sewn line and press the “flippy triangle” open. Yup, that’s what I call them — “flippy triangles” — you know, I only use the technical terms here on the blog. LOL!

To make thing easier later, press the seam towards the Bunny.

Sew “flippy corner” on the top right corner and press this seam towards the Bunny Head too. Repeat to make identical “flippy corners” on the second mat.

Voila! Now we have 2 cute little Bunny Heads (with a crazy mess for Ears right now)!

Speaking of Bunny Ears, let’s make some! Place the background squares right sides together with the Bunny Ear rectangles, lining up the outside edges at the bottom. Draw diagonal lines as shown — keep in mind you are making mirror images. Sew on the lines and cut 1/4″ away from the drawn lines. Open the “flippy corners” and press the seams towards the background fabric.

Our Bunny Ears aren’t quite finished yet because we have to add some top “flippy corners,” too. The background squares used for the top of the Ears are larger than the squares used at the bottom in the previous step so be careful not to get the top and bottom squares mixed up.

Again, we are making mirror images. Repeat this step for the second block as well. Press the seams toward the background fabric.

We now have Bunny Ears! Yay!

Next, sew the background strip between the Bunny Ears and press the seams towards the center background strip. Repeat for the second block.

Almost there, just a few more steps!

Now sew the Ear section to the top of the Bunny Head for both blocks. If you pressed the “flippy corners” towards the Bunny Head in the first step, above, then your corners should nestle together nicely.

Ladies and Gents, we now have a Bunny, or rather 2 Bunnies!

Do you see how the green stands out and the floral fabric recedes? Aren’t fabrics so much fun to play with???

The last thing to do is sew the narrow background strip to the left side of the block and the large background piece to the right side of the block. Repeat for the second block.

And there you have it — Bunny Ears Snack Mats! Next up would be layering the Mats with batting and backing, quilting them, and adding binding.

Don’t forget to label your Snack Mats!

I hope you enjoyed this super cute tutorial and have fun making your very own Bunny Ears Snack Mats. They are quick and easy to make, using only 2 fat quarters, and are great little something-somethings for all your pals, quilty ones and non-quilty ones alike! Long live cute little Bunnies! Hurray!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD