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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)

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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

A stack of colorful quilts with various patterns, featuring text promoting the '6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge' and the website 'villarosaquilts.com' set against a blue sky background.

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.
A workspace featuring a pair of orange-handled scissors, two yellow fabric triangles, and a pink patterned fabric piece, all set on a cutting mat with a ruler.

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.
A stack of colorful quilt fabric pieces in various patterns, including shades of red, blue, yellow, and floral designs, on a gray cutting 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!

Sew. Laugh. Sew Some More. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

Spring into Spring Quilt Tutorial Series: VRD Rose Card Pattern Honey

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Spring literally starts a few days, which is probably why we have snow on the ground again and it was like 16 degrees last night. BRRR! Regardless, I’m definitely thinking spring! So I thought it would be fun to leap into some fun spring quilt tutorials to get me into the spirit even if the weather doesn’t cooperate with the season.

I’m also thinking it’s time for a spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Anyone up for that? I did a 6 in 6 last fall and we had great time. It was incredible to finish one VRD quilt a week for 6 weeks. 6 completed quilts at the end. Which was rockin’ awesome! Especially considering all the tutorial sample tops that I’m accumulating. LOL! So……who’s in? I’m thinking to start this the first week of April, 2 weeks from now. It would last for 6 weeks. Right now, I’m just putting feelers out to see who wants to join me for this 6 in 6 challenge? I figure if I do this challenge twice a year in spring and fall, we can all get up to 12 quilts finished in a year.

There are a few rules, though, I’d better mention –

1) Quilts must be made from VRD patterns

2) You must post a before and an after photo on our Facebook page or email them to me if you’re not on FB to be entered in the weekly drawings

3) Anyone can participate

4) If you don’t have stacks of VRD UFOs like I do, no problem – you are welcome to make new VRD quilts/accessories to participate

I think that’s pretty much it for the rules to get started.

If you’re interested, you have 2 weeks to email me your name and email address at tricia@villarosadesigns.com. I promise your email address will only be used by me to notify you if you win a prize.

Now….on to our first Spring into Spring VRD quilt tutorial!

VRD Quilt Pattern Tutorial Honey

There’s nothing like a new table runner to add a touch of spring to you space! Have you ever made Honey before? If not, you’re in for a treat because this runner goes together quick as bunny and looks great in just about any group of fabrics you want to use.

A patchwork quilt with a mix of floral and checkered patterns in yellow, blue, and black, displayed on a dark background with the title 'Honey' and credits to Tricia Lynn Maloney from Orphan Quilt Designs.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Let’s get started!

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

It’s an upcoming new collection called Nesting Hour and there are some lovely sherbet-y 1895 Watercolors batik coordinates, too. Quilt shops will be able to order this fabric next month and it will ship to shops in September. So ask your favorite retailer to order Nesting Hour!

A collection of various fabric swatches in floral and solid colors, arranged on a cutting mat with sewing tools in the background.

2. All right! Let’s get some cutting done. First, I’ll cut strips for the block centers and then I’ll cut the strips into squares.

A rotary cutter and a clear acrylic ruler placed on a floral printed fabric, with a pink cutting mat underneath.
A stack of fabric pieces with a floral pattern on a pink cutting mat, next to a yellow quilting ruler.

3. Next I’ll cut the strips for the frames and then subcut the strips into the needed smaller pieces.

A rotary cutter and a transparent quilting ruler are placed on a floral fabric, set against a pink cutting mat.
A cutting mat with a transparent quilting ruler placed over a light blue fabric strip and a rotary cutter nearby.

4. All the pieces are cut, organized by shape, and ready to sew. Yay!

Three pieces of fabric with floral designs laid out on a pink cutting mat.

5. We’re headed to the sewing machine to make the blocks. I’m going to sew the short strips onto opposite sides of the center square. When I’m sewing the same step over and over, I really love chain piecing because it saves both time and thread.

Close-up of a sewing machine stitching together colorful fabric pieces with floral patterns, accompanied by neatly stacked fabric squares on the side.

6. After I sew the matching short strips to opposite sides, I’m headed over to the ironing station to press my block so far before adding the next strips. I don’t always press in the middle of sewing a block together, but today I am because I want the blocks to turn out really crisp.

A piece of fabric with floral patterns laid on gray felt, alongside a stack of assorted fabric swatches and an iron.

7. Then back to the sewing machine to add the long matching strips to opposite sides of the center square to complete the frame for each block.

Close-up view of a sewing machine with fabric pieces being stitched together, featuring floral patterns and pastel colors, on a quilting mat.

8. And back to the iron to press the completed blocks so they will be nice and crisp. I’ve noticed that when I press blocks on my wool pressing mat, I don’t have to use pressing spray to get sharply pressed blocks.

Right now I have an 18″ x 60″ mat on my 24″ X 60″ ironing station. My Dad designed and made the ironing board for me years ago. My lovely big board sits on top of an Ikea Kallax 8 cube shelf on casters and it’s the perfect height for me!

The 18″ wide mat just seems too narrow for me now, so I’m thinking of upgrading. I see mats are now available in 22″ x 60″ and 24″ x 60″, which is really great. Maybe I won’t run off the edge anymore. Definitely worth thinking about now if they have the exact size I need.

A square fabric patch featuring floral designs laid out on a work surface, with an iron and additional fabric pieces beside it.

9. Yay! My blocks are all pressed!

A stack of quilt fabric squares in various floral patterns, including a central square featuring a dark background with floral designs.

10. Next up is putting my blocks up on my design wall so I can rearrange them. Here’s a few photos showing how I’m moving things around. Sometimes this step takes more time than I’d like, but it is a really important one because nobody wants a visually lopsided quilt.

A patchwork layout featuring a series of floral squares surrounded by solid-colored borders in a variety of pastel shades.
A patchwork quilt layout featuring floral and pastel fabric squares arranged in a grid pattern.

11. Here’s the arrangement I decided upon. Then it was back to the sewing machine to sew the blocks together. Next up with be layering, quilting, adding a label, and binding…….sometime.

A quilt layout featuring a series of fabric squares arranged in a grid pattern. Each square has a floral print center surrounded by solid pastel colors. The layout includes a mix of peach, beige, and blue fabrics.
A colorful quilt layout featuring floral patterns with squares of light pastel colors and dark floral prints.

I really like how it turned out, don’t you? So soft and fresh. I can’t wait for the fabric to be available in quilt shops come September 2026.

Your homework for the next couple weeks is to decide whether you want to join me in a Spring 6 Quilts in 6 Weeks Challenge. Drop me an email (tricia@villarosadesigns.com) if you want in. I’ll post more info next week.

Let’s get quilting and finishing together! YEAH!

See you right here next week for another Spring into Spring tutorial.

Sew. Laugh. Sew Some More. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Whirlaway Quilt – A Blue and White Quilt Tutorial Just For You

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

PSST!  Did you hear???

Punxatawney Phil (the groundhog extraordinaire) saw his shadow on Monday, February 2nd, which means 6 more weeks of winter.  Like that’s a big surprise this year, right?  

Have you ever attended the spectacle in Punxatawney?  I have not, but when I was an early childhood educator in a former life, I would get up early and watch it on TV as I always planned some fun things for the kiddos.  Now?  I tend to agree with all the fun and silly memes on Facebook.  MY favorite showed a wolf in a winter landscape and said something like “The groundhog saw his shadow – 6 more weeks of winter.  So I ate him.”  Succinct. Punchy. Perfect. Huh. That’s winter for you.

As promised last week, I’m back with my Blue and White quilt tutorial featuring Pat’s Rose Card pattern, Whirlaway.  Have you ever made Whirlaway?  It’s a really fast and fun quilt.  Perfect for beginners.  And it looks great in any fabric combination, even fabrics right out of your scrap stash.  And the best part – it’s fat quarter friendly so it’s a fantastic pattern to use up some of those delicious fat quarter bundles gathering dust on your storage shelves because they’re just too pretty all tied up with a ribbon to cut them up.  Well, now you can.  The alternating squares give you plenty of space to enjoy the fabrics and Whirlaway handles large prints like a dream.  So what are you waiting for???  Grab your fabrics and the Whirlaway pattern and make a quilt with me.

Before I begin the tutorial, though, I have a quick question for you, dear readers.  Which tutorial format do you prefer?

  1. Each step numbered with the written instructions first followed by the image(s)
  2. Each step numbered with the image(s) first followed by the written instructions
  3. Steps are not numbered, with the written instructions first followed by the image(s)
  4. Steps are nit numbered, with the image(s) first followed by the written instructions

I would appreciate you weighing in on this because I seem to go back and forth among these different options and I would like to make the tutorials as useful and easy to follow as I can.

On to the Whirlaway tutorial we go!

VRD Whirlaway Quilt Tutorial

A colorful quilt design titled 'Whirlaway' by Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a patchwork of various blue and patterned fabrics, framed with decorative borders and a white rose illustration.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

As I mentioned above Whirlaway is fat quarter friendly and uses a single background fabric to unify everything together. It finishes at a very nice 54″ x 72″, which is a great throw-sized quilt. Of curse, you can add or subtract blocks to make it larger or smaller. Or you can out an outer border. If you added a 6″ finished border, the quilt would become 66″ x 84″ which would work on a twin sized bed. Just remember that if you decide to make more blocks or add an outer border, you will need additional fabric.

Let’s gather up our fabrics now!  

Today I am using yummy batik fabrics from our friends over at Hoffman Fabrics.  This is an older collection called Aurora, which probably long gone.  I am totally in love with the range of colors – medium blues to brighter blues to deep blues to a touch of purple just for fun.  I’m using one of my favorites – Hoffman’s Ocean Aquatic Dot Batik – for my background. I find myself using the lighter Dot Batiks as backgrounds and I love love love the darker ones for binding.

A collection of various blue and green fabric swatches laid out on a table, accompanied by a pattern booklet titled 'Whirlaway'.

Now that we’ve gathered everything up, we are ready to begin cutting out fabrics.  For Whirlaway, we are cutting 2 different sized squares from our FQ’s and that’s it.  Fast and simple.  Easy peasy.

I like to layer 3-4 fabrics at a time when I cut. Do likewise if you feel comfortable, but don’t feel like you have to. Whether you cut one fabric at a time or multiples, we’ll all get to the finish line. Here you can see that I cut my fabric into strips and then cut my strips into squares. Efficient and accurate.

A rotary cutter rests on a cutting mat with green and pink gridlines, beside a piece of fabric featuring blue fern patterns.
A cutting mat with a vibrant blue and teal fabric featuring a botanical pattern of leaves and ferns. A bright yellow rotary cutter is positioned on the mat next to the fabric.
A stack of fabric squares featuring a dark background with blue-green fern and leaf patterns, alongside a larger piece of the same fabric design, laid out on a pink cutting mat.

We only need to cut the smaller size squares from the background fabric. Again, I cut the strips first then cut my strips into squares.

A rotary cutter and a green quilting ruler placed on a pink cutting mat with polka-dotted fabric.
An assortment of fabric squares and a rotary cutter placed on a pink cutting mat with measurement grid lines, indicating a sewing or quilting workspace.
A cutting mat with a transparent ruler and a rotary cutter, alongside several folded pieces of fabric with a light blue polka dot pattern.

Next we’re going to make a stack of Nine Patch blocks.  Yay! You have some options to consider for your Nine Patch blocks. It’s like being a guest quilt designer for your very own project!

A). You can use only 2 fabrics for each Nine Patch – the background fabric and 1 of the FQ’s.

A mosaic of blue and green abstract shapes arranged in a grid pattern, with some squares remaining blank.

B). You can use 3 fabrics for each block – the background fabric, 1 FQ square for the center square, and a 2nd FQ for the 4 corners

A collage of six different blue and teal patterned fabric swatches, featuring abstract shapes and floral designs.

C) 5 assorted FQ squares and 4 background squares to make fun scrappy blocks

A collage of blue patterned fabric swatches featuring abstract shapes, floral designs, and textures.

I chose option C. Surprised?

What’s your process for making Nine Patch quilt blocks?

I like to make all of my Nine Patch blocks at once, using chain piecing, without stopping to do any pressing in between.  I have found this to be the most efficient way for me to make a bunch of Nine Patch blocks in the shortest possible time.  I am all about finding the quickest, easiest, most successful – LAZY – way to quilt and sew.  That attitude has earned me the nickname, “the Lazy Quilter” amongst my friends.  LOL!

Let me share with you how I do it.

First, I need to know the number of Nine Patch blocks required for the quilt.

Now it’s time to sew a FQ square and a background square together.  I need to make pairs 3x the number of blocks required for the project.

Close-up of two fabric squares placed on a sewing machine surface, one with a blue sunflower pattern and the other with a light speckled design.

Once I have all of the pairs sew together, next I’m going to add a third square to each pair.  The first group will have a background square on each side of a FQ square and I need to make 1 of these rows for each block, so I will need to make the same number as the number of blocks I need for the quilt. Gosh, I hope this isn’t confusing……

Three pieces of fabric arranged side by side on a sewing table, featuring patterns in light blue, dark blue floral, and a speckled design, with a ruler for measurement.

When that is done, I will sew a different FQ square together with each remaining pair. If I did the math right (YAY MATH!), I will have 2X the number of blocks for this row as I will use 2 of them for each Nine Patch block.

A piece of fabric divided into three sections: the left section features a blue floral pattern, the middle section is a plain light fabric with small blue dots, and the right section shows a darker blue pattern with floral designs. The fabric is placed on a sewing machine and a ruler is visible in the foreground.

Then it’s time to sew 3 rows together (a  background-FQ- background row between 2  FQ-background-FQ rows) into a scrappy Nine Patch block. I sew 2 rows together and then after I’ve done that, I go back and add the third row to make me a big passel of Nine Patch blocks all at the same time.

A close-up image of a sewing machine with fabric swatches arranged in a patchwork layout. The swatches feature various shades of blue and green patterns, including floral designs and abstract textures.
A patchwork of blue and white fabric squares arranged on a sewing machine table, with various patterned fabrics in shades of blue and green.
A pile of colorful fabric squares in various shades of blue, arranged in a patchwork design, located next to a sewing machine.

Whew – that was really fast!  Now all of my Nine Patch blocks are finished.  I can press the blocks at this point, or if I’m feeling really brave or pressed for time, I’ll save the pressing until the whole quilt top is finished before I press the whole thing.

I’m feeling brave so let’s skip the pressing for now.  I have found that batiks usually behave themselves better than standard quilting cottons because of their denser weave so I feel pretty confident that the quilt will still turn out well.  Besides, this is a very forgiving pattern with Nine Patches alternating with big squares.  I guess it all really depends on your personal comfort level.  If you need to press, then by all means, press.  No judgements here, just quilts.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, then you might already know how much I adore simple quilt blocks like Nine Patches. Here are a few past blog posts about Nine Patch quilt blocks you might find interesting:

Quilt Block Basics — Four Patch and Nine Patch

Let’s Design a Quilt: Playing with Nine Patch Blocks

All right, time to put all the blocks and squares up on my design wall and play switcheroo with them until I’m happy with the arrangement of the blocks. I am trying not to have any squares of the same fabric touching, but we’ll see how well that’s going to work out for me.

I seriously didn’t have much trouble getting the blocks to play nice with their neighbors. WHEW! Sometimes this part of making a quilt takes longer than the actual cutting and sewing, but not today.

Voila! Here is my blue and white Whirlaway arranged and ready to sew together. Please note, I had to lay the quilt blocks and squares out sideways to fit on my design wall.

A colorful quilt in progress, featuring a variety of blue and teal fabrics arranged in a patchwork design with white squares.

WOOHOO! Now it’s time to sew the blocks into rows.

You really can make this lovely quilt top in a weekend or even a day if you’re in a hurry.

A sewing machine stitching together colorful fabric patches in shades of blue and white.

Here we are, almost done! Rows are stitched and now it’s time to sew the rows together.

A patchwork quilt featuring various shades of blue and patterned fabric squares, arranged in a checkered design.

And finally, here is my finished Whirlaway quilt top. I really like how it turned out, don’t you? It’s very wintry and perfectly appropriate for this Polar Vortex weather pattern we’ve been stuck in.

I really love how the purple adds a lot of interest to the quilt.

A quilt featuring a patchwork design with various blue and teal fabrics arranged in squares and rectangles, some adorned with floral patterns.

Now I’ll have to add it to my to-be-quilted pile. Sigh……you know the towering teetering pile that would be taller than me if I stacked all of them in one pile for real? Yup, that one.

Well, that’s it for me this week. Let me know your thoughts on your preferred tutorial format, please. And I’ll adapt my format to whichever one seems to be the most popular.

Stay warm and stay busy. Spring will come someday. I think.

See you right here, next time!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Falling Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Happy Fall!

A picturesque autumn scene featuring a cluster of bright orange pumpkins and a white pumpkin surrounded by hay bales and vibrant fall foliage.

Hard to believe it really is Fall now, but I know it’s here whether we’re ready or not. And I’m personally more than ready. We had such a hot and dry summer here in NW PA, so I’m eager for cooler weather.

Fall is definitely my very favorite season with its warm days and cool nights. All the gorgeous colors. The smells of the season. And the sounds. I truly love it all!

Another thing I love about Fall is that I start to feel more energized to get back to my many to-do lists. Summer definitely doesn’t inspire that in me. So now, it’s time to make plans to get things done. What is Fall to you?

I hope you’ve been enjoying our Jump into Fall quilt tutorials. Today’s project is beyond perfect for the season and I know you’re going to be excited to make this one.

VRD Falling Quilt Tutorial

Falling is truly a perfect project for this time of year, especially with all of the yummy fall fabrics at your local quilt shop and favorite online retailers. Falling is a pattern by Catherine, of Running Doe Quilts, who is one of our many talented VRD designers as well as a new VRD partner.

The quilt finishes at a generous 54″ x 72″ and goes together quickly with its oversized blocks and no borders (although you could easily add a border to make it bed-sized if you wanted to).

A colorful quilt featuring large, stylized leaf patterns in various shades, displayed outdoors against a backdrop of trees.

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Catherine even has kits available for the Falling quilt below – get yours HERE before they’re gone. Tell her Tricia sent you!

Quilt designed with colorful leaf patterns in orange, yellow, red, and blue fabrics, displayed outdoors against a rustic background.

Okay, time to get going on today’s tutorial.

Of course, our first thing to do is gather up our fabrics. Today I’m using a lovely collection from Hoffman Fabrics called Sweet Breeze. It’s a great choice today as we end summer and slide into fall. Sadly, this is an older fabric collection and probably isn’t available anymore, but happily Jason Yenter has a gorgeous fall collection called Falling Leaves, you can find it HERE – I think his wonderful fabrics would make great Leaves.

Here are our Sweet Breeze fabrics for today’s tutorial in lovely greens, a few browns, with a wee touch of orange.

Assorted fabric pieces in green, brown, and cream colors, featuring leaf patterns and textures, arranged neatly with a 'Falling' quilt pattern brochure on top.

Let’s go ahead and cut out all the pieces we’ll need for Falling – the background, the Leaf fabrics, and the stems.

A rotary cutter and a transparent quilting ruler placed on a cutting mat with fabric underneath.
Cutting quilting fabric pieces on a cutting mat with a rotary cutter and ruler.
A rotary cutter and a transparent quilting ruler rest on a marked cutting mat, with a piece of brown fabric cut into strips.

All right! All of our pieces are cut and ready to go.

A variety of fabric squares in green and beige tones on a cutting mat, with a brown strip of fabric positioned in the center.

Next we need to pair up our Leaf fabrics as each of the 12 blocks in the quilt uses 2 fabrics. I really love Catherine’s take on the traditional Maple Leaf quilt block, don’t you? She split it down the center so her leaves are two-toned. And the blocks are very big, which adds to the graphic appeal of this quilt.

The pattern suggests making 2 of each Leaf fabric combination, but you can mix and match your fabrics to your heart’s desire if you want, of course. I’m going to stick to the original plan today.

A variety of fabric squares in shades of green and brown, arranged on a cutting mat, ready for a quilting project.

Now we’re ready to sew. We haves lots of Half Square Triangle (HST) units to make for the quilt. I’m going to make 2 matching Leaf blocks before moving on. I don’t want to get all mixed up!

To make HSTs, the first thing you need to do is layer your squares right sides together (RST) and draw a diagonal line – I like to use FriXion erasable pens for marking my fabrics.

Then we’re going to sew 1/4″ away from both sides of our drawn line.

I went ahead and sewed all of the HSTs for my first 2 blocks at one time. Do likewise if you wish.

Next we need to cut on the diagonal lines which will give us 2 HSTs.

A quilting workspace showing a pair of fabric squares in light and dark green tones next to a pattern card for a quilt design called Falling from Running Doe Quilts.
A fabric square with a diagonal line drawn in red marker, lying on a cutting mat next to a quilting pattern booklet.
A fabric square with a diagonal marking for cutting, placed on a cutting mat.
A selection of cut fabric pieces arranged on a rotary cutting mat, with a marked diagonal line on one piece, ready for sewing.
Cut fabric pieces for quilting, including triangles and patches, arranged on a cutting mat with grid lines.

All right, let’s head over to the ironing board to press these HSTs open. Don’t forget to cut off the little dog ears on the corners so your piecing will be more accurate.

A green fabric triangle on an ironing board next to an iron, with a pink and white patterned cover.
A selection of cut quilt fabric pieces in various shades of green and beige, arranged on a soft pink background.
A collection of fabric pieces in shades of green and beige, cut for a quilt project, displayed on a cutting mat.

Let’s make the stems next. Cut your background square in half diagonally to make 2 triangles. Then we’re going to center and sew a stem rectangle between those 2 background triangles. I pressed my seams towards the stem so they wouldn’t show through my background fabric. We need to make 2 of these – 1 for each of our matching Leaf blocks.

A diagonal cut through a light green fabric square with a floral pattern, placed on a cutting mat with grid lines.
Quilt pieces laid out on a cutting mat, including two triangular fabric pieces and a brown fabric strip.
A brown fabric strip pinned to a light floral fabric triangle, ready for sewing.
Top view of a brown fabric strip sewn onto a light-colored fabric triangle, placed on a gray cutting mat with a ruler and grid.
A close-up view of a triangular fabric piece and a brown fabric strip placed on a pink and white patterned ironing board, with an iron in the background.
Fabric pieces for a quilt project laid out on a pink patterned surface.

Before out stem units are finished, though, we need to trim them to the right size. Take your time when you do this step because you don’t want to miscut and make wonky stems.

A quilting ruler placed over fabric on a cutting mat, showcasing measurement lines and a partially cut fabric strip.
A rotary cutter and fabric pieces on a cutting mat, with decorative fabric scraps nearby.

Okay, now we’re ready to layout a block and sew it together. Once I’m happy with how the first block turned out, I’m going to make the second matching block. One Leaf pair done, 5 more pairs to go. Repeat the steps above to make 12 total Leaf blocks.

Close-up of a quilt block featuring a two-toned leaf design in green and beige fabric, displayed on a light gray fabric backdrop.
A quilt block featuring green and light brown fabrics arranged in a maple leaf design, displayed on a gray background.
Two quilt blocks featuring stylized green and brown leaves on a light background, displayed on a blue fabric surface.

Woohoo! Here are my 12 Leaf blocks.

A pile of quilt blocks featuring various shades of green fabrics arranged in a leaf design, with a neutral background and some visible stitching.

Now it’s time to arrange the blocks on my design wall. If you want your quilt to have the same movement as the Falling quilt on the cover of the pattern, you will need to flip and flop your blocks like Catherine’s. I only switched 1 or 2 blocks before I liked the arrangement. As you, know sometimes I spend more time arranging the blocks than actually making the quilt. But not today, yay!

You will want to take care while sewing your blocks together because sometimes you are sewing a point to a point. Careful pinning will help keep your points under control and will result in a cleaner and more accurately stitched quilt.

A colorful quilt featuring oversized leaf blocks in various shades of green, brown, and floral patterns arranged on a design wall.

Next we are going to sew the blocks into rows and then sew the rows together to make the quilt top. Oops, this quilt is longer than my flannel wall, so I can’t show you the entire top yet. I told you it was a good sized quilt!

A quilt featuring a pattern of green and brown leaves arranged with a cream-colored background, showcasing various fabric textures and colors.

I just had to take my Falling flimsy outside to snap a photo in natural light so I could show you the entire top. Absolutely LOVE it! Can’t wait to finish it.

A quilt featuring large, stylized leaf patterns in various shades of green, brown, and orange, displayed outdoors on a clothesline with a grassy background.

To complete your quilt, layer it with batting and backing fabric (or fleece like I plan to). Quilt it. Bind it. And don’t forget your label!

Have you made a Falling quilt already? Or if you plan to make one this Fall, please share a photo on our VRD Facebook group – we’d all love to see them!

Well, that’s it for me – I’m heading back to my sewing machine to get some more sewing in.

Take care and I’ll see you right here next week.

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

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

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

Now let’s make a quilt!

VRD Busy Bee Quilt Tutorial

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

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

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time to sew!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, time to rip!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you next week!

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials

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

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

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

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

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

Get the set of 5 print patterns HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Besties in the Iconic Collection

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VRD Cinnamon Stix Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned next week for another great VRD tutorial.

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

High British Tea and a Quilt Exhibit/Tour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VRD Midnight Pathway Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Morning Tea Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

PSST!

Hey, it’s me, Molly!

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

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

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

VRD Morning Tea Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s rock this quilt!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s the original layout.

And here’s some cool variations to try out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for stopping by and sewing with me!

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

That’s it for me.

Until next time —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Later,

Molly

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

VRD Tea With Mara Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

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

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

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

VRD Tea With Mara Quilt Tutorial

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

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

Get your digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are all my fabrics cut and ready to sew.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See you next week for another great tutorial!

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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