Tag: rose card pattern

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

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

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

VRD 2M Junior Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

Get your digital Junior HERE or print Junior HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, now we’re ready to sew!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

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

Bedazzled! Update

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

Fat Quarter and Half Yard Bundles!

This group of 9 is called Lilac Mint

9 Fat Quarters HERE or 9 Half Yards HERE

This group of 8 is called Prismatic Bliss

8 fat quarters HERE or 8 half yards HERE

This group of 9 is called Stardust Splash

9 fat quarters HERE or 9 half yards HERE

BUT WAIT! There’s MORE!

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

San Julian (light) kit HERE

San Julian (black) kit HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until then –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

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

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

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

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

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

Bedazzled

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

Get the 5″ Stacker HERE

Get the 10″ Stacker HERE

Get the 2.5″ Rolie Polie HERE

Or you can find the Bedazzled fabric by the yard HERE

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

BUT WAIT! There’s MORE!

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

Get the Bedazzled tin HERE

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

VRD Baby Zip Tease Quilt Tutorial

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

Get Baby Zip Tease digital HERE or print HERE

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

Get Zip Tease digital HERE or print HERE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo 4: Cut apart on the drawn line.

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

1
2
3
4
5
6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YAY! Quilt top finished! Woohoo!

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

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

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

See you there!

Until next week –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

VRD Dusk Delight Quilt Tutorial

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

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

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

Well, let’s get to it.

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

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

Read on!

VRD Dusk Delight Quilt Tutorial

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

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

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

Here’s a couple tips for working with batiks:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yay! Top done!

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

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

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

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Revisiting the Recent Solar Eclipse and NEW April 2024 VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

How many of you had the chance to see Monday’s solar eclipse? Could you see it from your own area? Or did you travel somewhere to see it?

Our area was overrun with people coming from all over to see the Eclipse — hotels and restaurants were full and the highways were all backed up. I was lucky that I could hang out on the back porch to see it — there was no need to go anywhere. Believe me, I was very happy not to have to go anywhere else, too.

My Mom (Hi Mom!) was super excited about the eclipse and had been for days. She put The Weather Channel on early on Monday so that we wouldn’t miss a thing as the eclipse arced across the US until it reached us here in northwest Pennsylvania. I popped outside frequently to watch as the moon’s shadow was creeping across the sun. I couldn’t stay outside for long, though, because my dog, Bailly (who was safely inside), would scratch crazily at the glass sliding door every time I went outside. My Dad (Hi Dad!) got in the spirit and came out from time to time to check it out, too. And yes, we all wore our special eclipse glasses.

It was so fascinating to watch the moon’s shadow slowly covered up the sun until almost totality, but, much to our disappointment, clouds covered the sun just as the eclipse moved into totality. We saw glimpses of it through openings in the clouds off and on, but we never did get to see complete totality in our location. WHat a bummer.

Of course, we had seen it on TV in other locations, but it wasn’t quite the same as seeing it yourself. Luckily, my oldest niece, Meg (Hi Meg!) took a great video of totality in our area and she shared it on Facebook, so I did get to see secondhand what I had missed.

Did you make your version of the Eclipses quilt?

Did you even get your Eclipses pattern yet? You can find it HERE as a physical pattern OR you can find it HERE as a digital pattern.

Here’s my Eclipses quilt top.

Mine was not the only Eclipses quilt in my area to celebrate the total Eclipses! My friend Kristine (Hi Kris!) and my cousin, Robin (Hi Robin!), made their own Eclipses quilts, too.

Kristine even machine-embroidered the center strip of her quilt with the Eclipse information and her location. What a great idea!

Kristine’s Eclipses quilt.

Robin made a wall-sized version like me. We even used the same fabrics, so they look similar, but not exact because of our fabric placement.

Robin’s wall quilt version of Eclipses.

What a fun project! I hope you will share your Eclipses projects on our VRD Facebook Group. Did you miss the Eclipses tutorial last week? You can find it HERE.

Now, guess what today is??? If you’re a new follower (Hey! Thanks for becoming a follower!), you probably have no idea why I’m so excited, do you? Let me explain —

This is the Thursday after the first Friday of the month and that means NEW Rose Card Patterns!

NEW VRD Rose Card Patterns for April 2024

Cue the trumpets and the confetti! Yay! Here they are!

Aren’t they great? What a lovely variety of patterns! I love that this group has new quilt patterns from multiple designers and you can see each designer’s own flavor. Which one do you want to make first?

You can get your own set of the 5 April patterns HERE for the low price of $8.95.

But wait……..there’s more! (Of course there is, did you even have a doubt?) Although there is no new table runner pattern this month (I’m sorry, the Blog Hop kept me hopping!), you are going to love the new Snack Mat — Bunny Ears!

Don’t you love it??? Yes, I know that Easter was actually at the end of March this year, but Easter is usually in April and bunnies are such a fun spring theme. You can get your own Bunny Ears pattern HERE.

Blog Hop Update

I just wanted to take a moment to let you know that all the winners have now been selected and contacted. Congratulations if you are one of them!

We did have a few folks who did not respond, so we had to randomly select new winners for those prizes. So the process takes longer than you’d expect it to. Now that everyone has responded, we will be starting to ship out prizes to the winners. Some of you will be receiving your prizes directly from some of our Sponsors. Thank you for your patience!

Next week’s post will be all about celebrating and announcing the winners of the Blog Hop — they are from all over the US and beyond.

Thanks for hopping with us! Here’s to more quilting adventures for us to share together in the future!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

2024 VRd Blog Hop · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

It’s Finally Here — Kickoff Day for the 2024 Villa Rosa Designs Fast & More Fun Blog Hop!!!

rosecards319 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Let me rephrase that — Happy Blog Hop Kickoff Day to you!

Hi there! I’m Tricia, your Villa Rosa host for the Blog Hop. All of us at Villa Rosa Designs are tickled pink (and all the colors of the rainbow) that you are here to come along on a fun quilting adventure — our second Blog Hop here at Villa Rosa Designs. We’re calling it the Fast & MORE Fun Blog Hop.

You all know the saying — “Go big or go home?” We’re going B – I – G this year just for you! More Bloggers! More Fun! More Quilts! More Inspiration! More Prizes!

We have a super talented group of bloggers ready to share some awesome quilts made with Villa Rosa Designs (VRD) Rose Card patterns.

In fact, we’ve put together a special collection of 5 patterns just for this Blog Hop!

Here are the 5 patterns in the 2024 Fast & Fun Blog Hop Collection:

Lucky you! You can purchase a set of these 5 patterns HERE. Or visit our website HERE for even more great Rose Card patterns (over 600 of them).

Or you might just win a set. READ ON to find out how!

Let me tell you a little bit about Villa Rosa Designs in case this is the first time you’re visiting our blog home, Villa Rosa Quilts.

What is Villa Rosa Designs?

Villa Rosa Designs is the brainchild of owner and Rose Queen, Pat Fryer. Pat wanted to create Fast & Fun, affordable, and high quality patterns for quilters featuring precuts like 1/2 yards, fat quarters, 10″ squares, 5″ squares, 2 1/2″ strips, fat eighths, and fat sixths as well as other fabrics like panels and novelties.

Since its launch in 2010, VRD has become much more than a handful of easy-to-make quilt patterns. Rose Cards, Villa Rosa’s signature postcard-sized patterns, combine great design with simple packaging and an attractive price, making Rose Cards one of the best selling pattern brands on the market today! And since 2010, Villa Rosa Designs has grown to include a collection of very talented designers, each with their own unique style. 

Now that you know a little bit about Villa Rosa Designs, let me tell you about the VRD Fast & More Fun Blog Hop!

What the Heck is a Blog Hop???

Good question and an easy one to explain. Most of you probably already know what a shop hop is (and may have participated in one before), where you travel to each shop participating in the event. There’s usually giveaways and a special pattern to collect at each shop.

A blog hop is very similar to a shop hop — instead of going from shop to shop, though, you go from blog to blog. You will usually find some kind of theme to a blog hop with opportunities to win prizes. And you can even hop from blog to blog in your jammies from the comfort of your own home. Yippee! Count me in!

Let’s HOP!

We’ve teamed up with the most awesome group of bloggers! They have accepted the Blog Hop challenge to create at least 1 of the 5 Blog Hop Rose Card patterns above. To see which blogger has created which pattern, you’ll have to visit EACH blogger during the hop which runs from today, March 14th through next Thursday, March 21st.

Here is our Blog Hop Schedule:

Thursday, March 14
Villa Rosa Quilts — https://villarosaquilts.com/ (You are here)

Friday, March 15
Kathleen McMusings — https://kathleenmcmusing.com/
The Morning Latte — http://livelylatte.blogspot.com/
Homesewn By Us — https://www.homesewnbyus.com
Pieceful Thoughts — https://www.piecefulthoughts.com/
C & T Publishing — https://www.ctpub.com/blog/

Saturday March 16 — National Quilting Day!
Needle and Foot — https://needleandfoot.com/
MMM Quilts — https://www.mmmquilts.com/
Texas Quilt Gal — https://www.texasquiltgal.com/
Time 4 Stitchn — http://time4stitchn.blogspot.com/
SIY (Sew It Yourself) — https://blog.siysewityourself.com/

Sunday, March 17 — Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Quarter Inch Capers — https://quarterinchcapers.blogspot.com/
Norton House Quilting — https://www.nortonhousequilting.com/blogs/news
Quilting Gail — https://quiltinggail.com/

Wazoo! Newsbits — http://wazoonewsbits.blogspot.com/

Monday, March 18
With Strings Attached — https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com/
Jaftex/Scott Fortunoff — https://scottfortunoff.com/
Cocoa Quilts — https://www.cocoaquilts.com/ 

Quilt With a View — http://quiltwithaview.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 19
Shout 4 Joy — https://shout4joy-shouting.blogspot.com/
The Darling Dogwood — http://thedarlingdogwood.blogspot.com/
Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting — www.knitbug2.blogspot.com
Something Rosemade — https://somethingrosemade14.blogspot.com/
Quilts of Valor Foundation — https://www.qovf.org/

Wednesday, March 20 — First Day of Spring!

Grace and Peace Quilting — https://www.graceandpeacequilting.com/
Happy Cottage Quilter — https://happycottagequilter.blogspot.com/
Joyfully Tracie — https://joyfullytracie.com/
Patchouli Moon Studio — https://patchouli-moon-studio.blogspot.com/
Electric Quilt Company — https://doyoueq.com/blog/

Thursday, March 21
Villa Rosa Quilts — villarosaquilts.com (You are here)

Did I Mention Blog Hop PRIZES and GIVEAWAYS???

You will have the opportunity to win lots of great prizes during the blog hop! All you have to do is hop from blog to blog every day from March 14th through March 21st following the Blog Hop Schedule, above, to see which quilt each blogger made and to find out how to register for prizes on each blog.

Registration for prizes will close on Sunday, March 24th.

Before I jump into all the cool prizes you might win, I want to take a moment to thank all of our incredible sponsors, who donated all kinds of quilting goodies for you to win. Thank you Sponsors! Without you, this Blog Hop wouldn’t be possible.

https://hoffmancaliforniafabrics.net

https://modafabrics.com

https://www.ttfabrics.com

http://jaftex.com

https://electricquilt.com

https://www.northcott.com/home.aspx

http://benartex.com

https://www.hancocks-paducah.com

https://foxchapelpublishing.com

https://www.ctpub.com

https://www.pbtex.com

Now for the Blog Hop Prizes — YAY!

Here’s the Important Stuff you need to know:

It is free to participate in the Hop and there is no purchase necessary. Everyone Everywhere is invited to Hop along with us this week and register to win prizes.

There are many opportunities for you to win prizes during the blog hop:

  1. Individual bloggers may be hosting giveaways on their blogs for you to win. Please visit individual blogs to find out about their giveaways and how to register.
  2. Villa Rosa Designs is giving away a 2024 Blog Hop Rose Card pattern collection on each participating blog. International winners will win a digital set of patterns.
  3. Sponsor prizes have been donated by our lovely Sponsors, above, and even from some of the bloggers, too! These prizes are divided into 2 different categories —
  • Grand Prizes (each blogger will select 3 entries to go into the Grand Prize drawings):
  1. Kaffe Fasset Precut Collection
  2. $100 digital Gift Certificate to Hancock’s of Paducah
  3. A BIG BOX of mystery quilty goodies
  4. An Electric Quilt 8 download — the winner for this prize will be selected on the EQ blog, so you will need to register there for this prize
  • Individual Prizes (each blogger will select 3 winners on their blog) which may be books, patterns, fat quarter bundles, 5″ squares, 2 1/2″ strips, 10″ squares, or notions — it will be a fun surprise, I promise!

WOW! That’s A LOT of prizes if you do the math!

Here are some photos of prizes to get you motivated! LOL!

Left: A Box filled with Individual Sponsor Prizes Center: The Kaffe Fasset Precut Collection Grand Prize Right: The Mystery Box of Goodies Grand Prize (most likely we’ll be adding more items before the Hop is over)

Sooooo, how do you win?

Hop from blog to blog using the schedule and links above from today, Thursday March 14th through Thursday March 21st and register for prizes at each blog you visit. The more participating blogs you visit and register at, the more chances you have to win prizes! It’s really that easy, I promise.

Winners will be selected randomly. Each blogger will select 3 names to go into the Grand Prize drawings and then 3 winners will be selected randomly to win from the bloggers’ entries. Each blogger will also randomly select 3 winners for the Sponsored Individual Prizes and 1 winner for a set of the Blog Hop patterns.

Prize registration closes Sunday, March 23 2024.

Winners will be announced just as soon as all winners have been notified. Prizes will be shipped as soon as possible. Please be patient if you are a prize winner, this process can take a little time.

Villa Rosa Designs Thursday March 14th Giveaway

Thank you for reading all the way through this post! As a reward, you can register to win QUILTS!

Left: Eden Rose 41×48 Center: Gingersnap 45×61 Right: Hey Day 60×80

These 3 quilts are made from Villa Rosa patterns and are completely finished — machine quilted and bound — and ready for you to enjoy. Awesome Applesauce!!!

Here’s how to win one of these quilts:

You have up to 3 chances to win the quilts listed above on this blog. Please do a separate comment for each of the following 3 opportunities — if you answer all of them in one comment, then it only counts as one comment. So sorry if this was not clear.

1.  Leave a comment on this post and tell us what your favorite Rose Card pattern is (or one you would like to make if you’re new to VRD).

2.  Become a blog follower/subscriber and leave a comment on this post telling us that you are a blog follower/subscriber (if you already subscribe — thank you — just leave a comment and let us know).

3. Join our VRD Facebook group and leave a comment on this post telling us you joined our FB group (if you are already a member of our FB group — thank you — just leave a comment and let us know).

In addition to the 3 quilts above, we will be giving away a set of the Fast & More Fun Rose Card Patterns and 3 commenters will be added to the Grand Prize drawings.

Please note that to be registered to win any prizes on this blog, you first must leave a comment. To leave a comment, you will need to click on the comments link just under the blog title at the top of the blog OR you can find a comments link along the side of the blog post towards the bottom right. After you click the “comments” link, you need to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the comments in order to find the space to leave your own comment. Be patient — there may be a lot of comments to go through until you get to the bottom. Thank you.

Ready!  Set!  GO!

Don’t forget — registration for prizes closes Sunday, March 23rd.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS SO WE CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU ARE A WINNER!

Well, Quilty Friends, I thank you for reading the whole way to the end.

Good luck to each of you and please enjoy the Blog Hop! Don’t forget to stop back each day of the Hop to follow the links to bloggers for that day.

See you next Thursday, right here at Villa Rosa Quilts!

Until then —

Sew. Laugh. Hop ‘Til You Drop. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Designer Spotlights · Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

VRD Designer Spotlight Interview with Molly Cook

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I am sew excited to be interviewing Molly Cook, who is not only a VRD designer, but also works at the Villa Rosa Designs quilt shop in Grass Valley, California. Molly is actually part of a designing trio called the Cook Family, which is made up of Molly, sister Heidi, and Mom Tamara.

Molly Cook, standing in front of a version of her Vineyard VRD Rose Card pattern.

Tricia: Hey Molly! Thanks for taking some time to chat on the blog today.

Molly: Hello!

Tricia: Ready?

Molly: Sure, let’s get to it.

Tricia: How did you meet Pat Fryer, the owner and “Rose Queen” of Villa Rosa Designs, or how did you become part of the VRD family of designers?

Molly: I met her at a guild meeting and she saw my show and tell that I designed by myself.

Tricia: How did you discover quilting?  How long have you been quilting?

Molly: My Grandma started teaching her grandkids to sew around the age of 10, so I’ve been sewing for 11 years.

Tricia: What’s your favorite quilt block(s)?

Molly: Any block that’s simple! LOL!

Tricia: I hear you — I love easy blocks, too. How did you make the leap from being a quilter to becoming a quilt designer?

Molly: I’ve been sewing for community service for years. Working with what I had, I ended up improvising on patterns.

Tricia: That’s really cool, Molly! Can you tell us a little bit about your design process?

Molly: I just gather fabric and lay it out and see how things fit together.

Tricia: What is your favorite/least favorite part of the quilt-making process?

Molly: My favorite is designing patterns and sewing them together. My least favorite thing is binding.

Tricia: I totally agree with you. Binding is definitely my least favorite part of the quilt making process, too. What are your top 3 favorite quilting tools? 

Molly: My top 3 quilting tools are my rotary cutter, my rulers, and my scissors.

Tricia: I’m not sure I can pick just three favorite tools! LOL! What are you working on now?  Any new patterns in the works?  Can you give us a sneak peek?

Molly: I have a couple of new patterns in the works. I’m working on writing them up and making them easy to understand.

Tricia: Here are Molly’s VRD Rose Card patterns to date. You can find them HERE.

Tricia: Wow, Molly! You are one prolific designer! And there’s lots of variety in your patterns. Do you have a favorite pattern that you’ve designed?

Molly: My favorite pattern would be Lickety Split, but Brickwork almost ties with it.

Tricia: What’s your favorite book? 

Molly: I love Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti books.

Tricia: Type of music/musician? 

Molly: Christian music.

Tricia: Movies and TV?

Molly: Lord of the Rings movies and I’m a Marvel Superhero girl!

Tricia: That’s so cool! What do you do when you’re not quilting/designing?

Molly: When I’m not quilting, you can find me reading a book, babysitting, or crocheting.

Tricia: You stay busy, don’t you? Do you have any advice to quilters who want to become quilt designers? 

Molly: Just dive in. Find fabrics you like and go for it. Don’t start with a complex pattern — you won’t enjoy quilting if it’s got a lot of pieces or is hard to follow with all it’s instructions.

Tricia: That’s super advice, Molly! It’s been great chatting with you. Thanks sew much! We all look forward to seeing those new patterns you’re working on really soon.

Molly: Thank you for having me on the blog!

There you have it, Quilty Friends!

How cool is it to get to know the quilt designers behind your favorite VRD Rose Card patterns?

Awesome Applesauce! Molly is going to be our guest blogger next week while I take a few weeks to get my knee replaced and begin the recuperation process.

Well, that’s it for this week. Be sure to tune in next week to see what Molly has in store for you!

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Big Quilts? Yep, We’ve Got ‘Em!

rosecards21 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Wow! What a difference a week can make! Last week the sun was shining and the temperature was above average here in PA. Today, there’s something like 5 inches on the ground and this morning it was a balmy 14 degrees. We had a nor’easter come up the coast yesterday. Here in PA, we were were only on the fringe of the storm, but we still got something like 5 inches of snow and the cold temps.

Yay winter.

No, not really. Mother Nature sure likes to play tricks on us, doesn’t she?

When it’s cold like this, I think about burrowing under a quilt and reading a good book, how about you? That got me thinking about our VRD Rose Card patterns and I wondered how many big quilt patterns we actually had. You know the ones I mean — throws big enough to share and quilts large enough for beds.

Well, I’m happy to tell you that Villa Rosa Designs really does have bed-sized quit patterns. This might be a surprise for many of you because a lot of our patterns are smaller quilts and throws, but we DO have big quilt patterns.

In addition to the snuggling under a quilt wish today, I know a lot of folks right now who have weddings coming up this year and as you know, quilts make one of the BEST wedding gifts. Table runners and wall quilts are great gifts if you know the happy couple’s taste and decorating scheme, but most quilters want to make big quilts as gifts for newlyweds.

What exactly constitutes a “big quilt”? This term probably means something different to every quilter, but for this list I chose dimensions 60″ x 80″ or larger as my criteria.

Here is my curated list of VRD Rose Card BIG QUILT patterns:

2M

This quilt finishes at 80″ x 80″ or you can add a border to make it 88″ x 88″. I am thrilled to say this pattern is one of our best sellers (and also one of my designs). Let me tell you the story behind 2M — I designed and made this quilt for my niece for her high school graduation. Her name is Morgan Madison — 2M. Nifty, huh?

Get the pattern HERE.

Beaded

This quilt measures 72″ x 80″ when finished. It makes a cozy quilt for 2 or would fit a twin bed. Beaded is a great way to show off your large prints!

Get the pattern HERE.

Button Box

This quilt is a generous 68″ x 81″ which will fit a twin bed or make a lovely cuddle quilt just for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Celebration

Here’s another great quilt pattern to feature your stash of large prints, finishing at 64″ x 80″. It will fit a twin bed and it goes without saying that Celebration makes a nice-sized quilt for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Daring Spirit

This quilt finishes at 63″ x 81″ when you add the optional border. It will fit a twin bed and makes a nice big throw, too. Check out our blog tutorial for Daring Spirit HERE.

Get the pattern HERE.

English Miss

This quilt features your favorite collection of 10″ squares and finishes at 63″ x 79″ (hey, it’s almost 80″ long). It makes a great throw and will probably work on a twin bed, too.

Get the pattern HERE.

Faith Road Home

This fun panel quilt finishes at 62″ x 80″. With its wide border, you have lots of room to show off your hand or machine quilting. It is big enough for a twin bed and it makes a wonderful large throw quilt for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Festivity

Here’s another pattern to use your 10″ squares, finishing at a generous 65″ x 82″. It would fit a twin bed and make a big comfy throw quilt to share.

Get the pattern HERE.

Florence

This quilt really rocks those large prints! It measures 60″ x 80″ which would fit a twin bed and, of course, makes a great throw quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

French Braids

This quilt finishes at 63″ x 81″, but if you add the optional border, it will be 67″ x 85″. It will fit a twin bed as well as make a large throw quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

Friendship

Another great-sized quilt for a twin bed or a large throw to share with someone special. It finishes at 65″ x 80″.

Get the pattern HERE.

Hey Day

Grab your favorite 2 1/2″ strip set and whip this fun quilt up in no time! It finishes at 60″ x 80″, which will fit a twin bed and it makes a nice sized throw quilt to snuggle under together.

Get the pattern HERE.

June Bugs

This quilt is just as fun as its name and measures a nice 66″ x 82″. It will fit a twin bed and also make a terrific throw for a pair of Entomologists.

Get the pattern HERE.

Lady Taylor

This classic quilt finishes at 65″ x 85″ and uses either fat quarters or 10″ squares. It will fit a twin bed and makes a generous sized quilt for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Lantern

This is a fun modern quilt pattern and it measures a nice 60″ x 84″. It is perfect for 2 to share and fits a twin sized bed.

Get the pattern HERE.

Lazy Goose

Here’s another modern quilt pattern great for using your large prints. It measures 64″ x 80″, which makes it great for a twin bed or as a comfy quilt for 2 to wrap up in together.

Get the pattern HERE.

Lindy

This quilt finishes at a generous 72″ x 84″, making it a large twin or a big roomy throw quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

Make Mine Plaid

A fun quilt to make you smile! It measures 64″ x 80″, which makes a nice large throw quilt and fits a twin bed too.

Get the pattern HERE.

Party Girl and Party Girl Remix

These 2 quilts are nicely sized at 72″ x 90″. They work as a large throw quilt for 2 and fit a twin quilt.

Get the pattern for Party Girl HERE.

Get the pattern for Party Girl Remix HERE.

Peace

Grab your favorite 2 1/2″ strip set to make this good sized quilt, which finishes at 65″ x 80″. It makes a big throw or a nice twin quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

Point of View

This large quilt measures a generous 72″ x 96″ when finished. It will fit a twin bed and makes a quilt worthy of cuddling with company.

Get the pattern HERE.

Positive Sign

This quilt is perfect for a collection of fun and bright prints and finishes at 65″ x 85″ with the added border. Share this one with your favorite sweetie or use it on a twin bed.

Get the pattern HERE.

Quartz

Who doesn’t love a classic Log Cabin quilt? This one finishes at 60″ x 80″ and makes both a twin quilt and a nice sized throw quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

Railroad Tracks

This quilt also uses your favorite 2 1/2″ strip set, finishing at 64″ x 84″. It makes a perfect twin quilt and a roomy throw for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Star Queen

This graphic modern quilt is our largest pattern offering at 90″ x 90″. This will fit a queen bed or it makes a quilt big enough for the whole family to cuddle under.

Get the pattern HERE.

Tibet

This quilt features a unique modified 4 Patch block and measures 64″ x 88″ with the optional border. It will fit a twin bed and make a wonderful quilt for 2.

Get the pattern HERE.

Wanda

This beautiful quilt finishes at 66″ x 86″ with the optional border. It makes a great twin bed quilt and a classic throw quilt.

Get the pattern HERE.

WOW! There were even more large quilt patterns than I thought there were in our VRD Rose Card catalog!

Which one is your favorite?

Like chocolates, I’m not sure I can pick just one.

So far I have done Baby/Children’s quilts and now Large Quilts. What other pattern categories would you like to see on the blog in the future?

Think about it and let me know — we want this blog to be relevant to you, the readers.

Well, that’s it for me today. Take care.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Baby Quilt Time of Year!

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I don’t know about you, but a surprising number of people I know are expecting new babies in their families in the near future. It’s a bummer I don’t have anyone in my family expecting because there is nothing more wonderful than making a baby quilt for a new little bundle of joy.

This topic got me thinking about Villa Rosa Designs and our baby quilt patterns. I decided that it would be fun to share our awesome VRD Rose Card baby quilt patterns with you, just in case you have someone expecting a new little one and you need to whip up a baby quilt.

And if you don’t have any babies on the way in your family right now, it’s never a bad idea to have one or two baby quilts tucked away for the future…. Just sayin’.

I went through ALL of our VRD Rose Card patterns and found sew many patterns that would be appropriate as a baby quilt. Whoa! I found way more than I was expecting to. Be warned there A LOT of baby quilt patterns here.

By no means is this a complete list of any Rose Card patterns that would work for baby quilts, this is just a list that I pulled together based on the name of the pattern, the size, and the fabrics of the quilt on the front of the pattern.

I divided the patterns by each VRD designer in alphabetical order (thank you to all of my English teachers through the years!) and even included a link in case you are interested in adding any of the patterns to your Rose Card collection. I got your back (wink, wink…).

I hope you enjoy these wonderful baby quilt patterns — it’s a long list.

See a quilt you like but not interested in (or need to) make a baby quilt sized quilt? It’s sew simple to make the quilt larger by adding a border, another row, or more blocks. Just remember to increase the fabric requirements so you don’t run short on fabric.

Bring on the Baby Quilts!

Cook Family Designs

Corners

A fun quilt with room to add your own novelty print squares! Finishes at 39″ x 46″. You can find the pattern HERE.

Cuddly Friends

Great use of a fun panel! This sweetie finishes at 45″ x 53″ and you can buy the pattern HERE.

Game Play

This cutie really scores! Use a novelty collection….or not. Finishes at 38″ x 46″ and you will find the pattern HERE.

Puppy Love

Grab your fav panel and a stack of coordinating 5″ squares! This quilt goes together really fast and finishes at 45″ x 54″. Buy the pattern HERE.

Sew Cute

Big printed squares and 4 Patch blocks make this baby quilt easy peasy to put together. It finishes at 45″ x 60″. Grab the pattern HERE.

Storybook

A fun way to feature a fabric book in quilt format! This quilt finishes at 48″ x 51″ and you can find the pattern HERE.

Keri G

Paddywhack

Try your hand at something new — raw edge applique! This cutie finishes at 42″ x 52″. Purchase the pattern HERE.

Pitter Patter

This little sweetie features raw edge applique hearts and finishes at 40″ x 54″. Get the pattern HERE.

Melissa Milligan

Animal March

This nice-sized quilt uses novelty fabric or a panel with printed squares. It finishes at 51″ x 51″. Find the pattern HERE.

Orphan Quilts (moi)

Baby Cakes

This fun quilt uses a handful of 10″ squares along with some companion fabrics and finishes at 42″ x 53″. You can buy the pattern HERE.

Bear Hugs

This farmhouse style baby quilt requires a bundle of fat quarters and a border and finishes at 42″ x 48″. Find the pattern HERE.

Bunny Hop

This adorable quilt is quick as a wink to make up using a novelty print and some strips. It finishes at 42″ x 50″. Get the pattern HERE.

Giggles

The name of this quilt just makes me smile! It finishes at 40″ x 48″ and uses 5″ squares. You can buy the pattern HERE.

Lollipop

This quilt can be a real stash buster or you can use packs of mini charms. It finishes at 42″ x 50″. Pattern available HERE.

Nursery Rhymes

Big pieces make this quilt large print friendly and it finishes at 39″ x 52″. You can find it HERE.

Playdate

Primary colors are always a great choice for a baby quilt! This one goes together fast, uses a collection of 2 1/2″ strips, and finishes at 40″ x 52″. Get the pattern HERE.

Simple Simon

This is probably the quickest baby quilt I’ve ever designed. Pick your novelty print, sprinkle in some coordinating strips, sew a few seams, and done! It finishes at 42″ x 48″. Grab the pattern HERE.

Tic Tac Toad

Don’t you just love the name of this quilt??? It is just as fun to make as the name and fat quarter friendly too! The quilt finishes at 48″ x 48″. You can find the pattern HERE.

Tumblebug

I chose to make this quilt with sweet pastel strips, but any style or colors will work great for this baby quilt. It finishes at 40″ x 52″. Get the pattern HERE.

Running Doe

Baby Goose

This is one of my favs — a great way to use an awesome novelty or large print! It finishes at 42″ x 48″ and you can find it HERE.

Cabin Fever

Think modern farmhouse for this sweet baby quilt which finishes at 37″ x 47″. Buy the pattern HERE.

Duffy

This adorable quilt features a focal fabric and some coordinating half yards. It finishes at 36″ x 48″. Grab the pattern HERE.

Luv Ya

Hearts are so appropriate for a bold baby quilt! This one finishes at 45″ x 63″ and you can find the pattern HERE.

Sewl Sister

Color Cat

A fun little quilt for a baby with a furry sibling or two…. It finishes at 32″ x 48″. You could make the quilt a bit larger by adding another row of cats or even a larger border, just remember to buy additional fabric. Find the pattern HERE.

Villa Rosa Designs

Angel Face

Babies are truly a gift from Heaven! This fast-to-make quilt frames big blocks made with your favorite novelty fabric. It finishes at 38″ x 50″ and you can get the pattern HERE.

Be My Baby

Fat quarter friendly and quick to make, this quilt finishes at 43″ x 44″. You can buy the pattern HERE.

Busy Bee

Use that fat quarter bundle we all know you’ve been hoarding to sew up this fun quilt that finishes at 45″ x 54″. Get the pattern HERE.

Cherish

Here’s another sweet baby quilt featuring a theme fabric and a handful of fat quarters. It finishes at 41″ x 57″. Purchase the pattern HERE.

Child’s Play

Large pieces and fat quarters make this pattern a keeper! This quilt finishes at 39″ x 45″. Find it HERE.

Darcey

A fun little quilt using 10″ squares. It finishes at 42″ x 54″ and you can buy the pattern HERE.

Emma Grace

Another cutie! This quilt uses 5″ squares and finishes at 40″ x 45″. Get the pattern HERE.

Gypsy

A pack of 10″ squares will make 2 of these baby quilts — fraternal twins! The quilt finishes at 47″ x 56″ with the optional border. Get the pattern HERE.

Happy Child

Some fat quarters and a few coordinates are all you need to put this fun quilt together! It finishes at 43″ x 56″ and you can buy the pattern HERE.

Night Light

Four Patch blocks and 5″ squares make this quilt not only fun but fast. It finishes at 36″ x 45″. Grab this cutie HERE.

What a great collection of quilts!

Any one of them would make a sweet baby quilt for a special little one either now or down the road. Hopefully, you’ve got some great ideas for whipping up a few baby quilts for gifting now or stashing away for the future.

Well, that’s it for me for this week.

Take care and I’ll see you next Thursday!

Until then —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

VRD Hillside Charm Quilt Tutorial and the NEW November Rose Card Patterns

rosecards1 Comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

After talking about our VRD Rose Card patterns featuring quilt panels a couple weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to do a series of Panel Quilt Tutorials for you. You can find the Panel post HERE.

There’s no way I would be able to do ALL of the Rose Cards I featured in the Panel post, but I thought it would be fun to do some of my favorites. I hope these Panel Quilt tutorials will inspire you to reduce your own stash of panels by making quilts — what an unusual thing to do with fabric, right???

So let’s make Hillside Charm! I just really love this Panel pattern — it looks great with whatever panel and fabrics you use. Don’t have 5″ charm squares? Cut fat quarters, scraps, or even yardage into the number of squares you need. Want to make it bigger? Add another border? Want it smaller? Don’t add the extra border. LOVE LOVE LOVE Hillside Charm! You can buy the pattern HERE.

Right now we even have some great Hillside Charm kits for sale on the website — Halloween, Christmas and more — so check them out HERE.

Before we jump into the tutorial, I have to do a SHOUT OUT to Hoffman Fabrics and a big thank you to them for providing the fabrics for this Hillside Charm Quilt. The collection is called Wading with Water Lilies. Isn’t it beautiful? In addition to the gorgeous digitally-printed panel and coordinates, I also used some of the basics from the 1895 Watercolors collection and 885 Dot Batiks collection.

YAY! We have the panel and some of the coordinates on the website. You can find them HERE. Grab them now because when they’re gone, they’re gone!

The gorgeous panel. Just look at the amazing array of colors that digital printing can create!
These are the companion fabrics.
Here are the accents I used from 1895 and 885.

Now you’ve seen the fabrics, lets get to the tutorial!

Hillside Charm Tutorial

The first thing I did was trim the panel to the dimensions listed in the pattern. Sigh……I really hated cutting anything off this amazing panel but if I wanted to make the quilt, it had to be done. So I did it. I also cut out the squares and the strips. The pattern actually calls for a pack of charm squares, but since I didn’t have an actual charm pack, I went ahead and cut the squares I needed. I won’t have as much variety as I would have with a charm pack, but it will still be beautiful. Sometimes, less is more.

Next I sewed the side strips on to the panel. Then I sewed squares to the ends of the top and bottom strips before sewing them into the panel. It’s already taking shape. I’m really excited about this quilt — it is going to be really gorgeous!

Time to sew my charm squares into strips for the next border. I just had to make sure not to sew 2 of the same fabric side to side. Easy peasy.

Here you can see that I took the time to pin the pieced charm square strip to the framed panel. This is an important step because I don’t want my quilt to be a funny shape. Nope, I like ’em squared up as much as I can as I go along. And one of the best ways to do that is to match your centers and your ends and pin generously.

Yay! Let’s sew the pinned charm square side borders on. Sigh….I must admit I hate removing my pins as I sew and I am guilty of sewing over my pins. Mea culpa.

Here are the pieced charm square borders added to the sides. I am so excited how this quilt is coming together.

Now let’s add the top and bottom charm square pieced strips. Pin, pin, pin. Sew, sew, sew. I really like how the pieced border is giving the look of Four Patch blocks in the corners. Tricky, tricky!

More side borders to add. This time I have to be more careful with the placement of the squares so that I don’t accidentally line up 2 of the same fabric, especially since I’m not using as much variety as a charm pack would provide (although, nowadays there are lots of duplicates in a charm pack because fabric collections are a lot smaller than they used to be).

Here are my last borders — the top and bottom pieced borders. Now you can see the rectangles of the blue/green marbled fabric at each corner, mimicking the inner blue/green marbled inner border. Cool detail!

DONE!

I can’t wait to see your Hillside Charm Quilts! You can email your Hillside Charm photos me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com and I’ll share them on the blog and Facebook.

Thanks for sewing along with this tutorial. Stay tuned for another tutorial next week.

Wait! I can’t go yet without showing you the NEW November Rose Card patterns.

Check out these awesome new patterns. If you attended Quilt Market or Festival last week, you already had a sneak peak. Lucky you!

Oh look! Another Panel quilt! You can buy the November set of 5 Rose Cards HERE for $8.95.

This is my new table runner, Baskets, for this month:

You can buy the Baskets pattern HERE.

As always, shipping is free.

I hope you find a little time to get sewing because the Holidays are right around the corner and if you are like me, you have a long list of quilty gifts you want to make even though you know you’ll never get them all finished. The New November Rose Cards could help you jump start your holiday sewing! Just sayin’….

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

A Quilts of Valor (QOV, QOVF) Presentation

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope your week is going well and you’ve found a few moments to quilt during the hustle and bustle of the end of summer and back to school. I remember those endless days of school shopping — new shoes, clothes, school supplies, etc., etc…. Sadly, there are no more kiddos in my family — my nieces Meghan and Morgan are all grown up. Yet, for some reason I still cannot resist grabbing up extra pens, pencils, tablets, and other supplies. Maybe I miss those days, or maybe in my own mind, I’m still a student.

Last weekend after lots of hard work, we had my Mom’s annual family reunion at our local fire hall. She and my Aunt Helen worked really hard to get it organized. And even though we were all worried about how many folks would be able to make it, the reunion came together and there was a great turn out with cousins coming from as far away as California to our little corner of Pennsylvania.

This year’s reunion was a special one for me — I had organized a Quilts of Valor presentation with my local QOV organization, PA Stitchers of Valor. Collene Munn, who is the force behind our local organization, came to my family reunion along with volunteer husband and wife, Jason and Linda. With their help, we celebrated and honored 4 veterans in our family — my cousins Lisa, Michael, Ron Sr., and Ron Jr. My Dad, my sister Tracy, and I helped with the presentation while my niece Morgan was my photographer.

If you’ve never seen a Quilts of Valor presentation, then you truly have missed witnessing something very special. It’s common for tears to flow and hugs to be shared. Sometimes it’s the first time that family members even get to hear what their veteran or service member actually did during their service. Sometimes the presentation is the moment when a veteran can finally talk about what they might have experienced. Perhaps this is the first time a veteran has actually been thanked for their service. The actual presentation might only last an hour, but the significance of receiving a Quilts of Valor could last a lifetime.

I am very proud to share that I personally made 3 out of the 4 quilts presented. You might recognize 2 of the quilts because they are Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns. The 3rd one I made will be a new Rose Card which will be available soon. I would have made the 4th quilt, but I just ran out of time, so the 4th quilt was made and donated by QOV volunteers.

Allow me to share photos from our family Quilts of Valor presentation.

Each veteran was called up individually while Collene shared a short description of their service. And while each veteran was called up, the veteran’s quilt was displayed behind them usually by a family member and a volunteer. Here, you can see my cousin Lisa with her quilt displayed behind her. This quilt you will see again soon as a new Rose Card pattern called Gallant.

My cousin Michael (Lisa’s big brother) was called up next. His quilt is the Rose Card pattern, Salute, which is one of my patterns. You can buy the Salute Rose Card pattern HERE.

My cousin Ron Sr. was next. You will recognize his quilt as the VRD Rose Card pattern, Daring Spirit. In fact, this is the same quilt from the Daring Spirit tutorial I wrote for the blog a few weeks ago. I am notorious for combining different things into the same project to maximize my time. You can find the Daring Spirit tutorial HERE. You can buy the Daring Spirit Rose Card pattern HERE.

And our final recipient was my cousin, Ron Jr., who is Ron Sr.’s son. This beautiful scrap quilt was made and donated by QOV volunteers. Are you interested in making a quilt to donate to QOV? Or perhaps getting involved in another way? You can visit their website for more information: www.QOVF.org.

Once all the recipients were seated, then it was time to wrap each veteran in their quilt with a quilter’s hug. 2 people hugged each veteran — one a family member and one a quilter as they wrapped the quilt around the veteran. This was an incredibly emotional moment.

At the end of the presentation, each veteran received a certificate and a pillowcase.

Then there were lots of hugs and hand-shaking. What an amazing event to share at my family reunion this year! I know that there are more veterans and service members in the family, so I hope we can do this again next year.

I encourage each and every one of you to connect with the veterans and service members in your family and community. Nominate them to your local Quilts of Valor organization. Make and donate quilts. Volunteer. And above all, go to QOV presentations in your community to support local veterans and service members.

Visit www.qovf.org for more information and to get involved.

Well, that’s it for this week.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD