Quilt Play · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Flowers, Electric Quilt, and NEW Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Quilt Patterns

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you are all having a great week so far! Me, it’s been a bit rocky in my basement studio/office, which I fondly call my “dungeon.” After a really dry July, early August has been really wet. And I mean wet!

In 5 days, water has rolled into my studio casement window THREE TIMES! In 5 days! I have spent most of my time emptying the dehumidifier, moving fans around, washing-drying-rewashing-drying again all the blankets we’ve been able to find for soaking up the water. ARGH! Luckily, the water didn’t completely flood my space, it only got about halfway across the room, almost to my computer desk. It’s been kind of stressful here. I shouldn’t be complaining because others are faring much worse than I am, but it’s been a lot of work to stay on top of the water once the deluges hit. Talking to my family, we don’t think this much flooding in the basement has happened in 20 years. What a fluke (I hope).

Now let’s turn our thoughts to something really fun and seasonal. Sadly, our container garden and other plants did not grow much during the super dry month of July, but all of a sudden everything is growing by leaps and bounds, although the marigolds don’t look so happy.

We planted our garden and plants a bit late this year and now that things are finally growing like crazy, I just hope that they’ll have enough time to bear fruit (or veggies). I would really like some fresh produce that I grew myself on the back porch! Yum yum yummy!

Speaking of flowers and plants, I’m particularly proud of my Black-Eyed Susans, which is one of my all-time favorite flowers, along with Sunflowers and Daisies. I wonder……how many Black-Eyed Susan, Sunflower, and Daisy quilt blocks are there in Electric Quilt 8. Any guesses? Hmm. I haven’t checked yet, so I think I’ll guess 35 total. So let’s see! Hang on, I’ll be right back. Let me check.

I found 6 Black-Eyed/Brown-Eyed Susan quilt blocks. Not too shabby!

Next I counted 34 Sunflower blocks. Nice!

And then I discovered at least 40 Daisy blocks. Way cool!

Well, my guess was a bit low. How about your guess?

Sew, let’s have some fun and play with flower blocks a little bit!

Here are some really fun quilts with Black-eyed Susan blocks. EQ8 ROCKS!

Check out these awesome Sunflower quilts — are you inspired yet???

Now, how about a trio of Daisy quilts?

WOW! I really love love love EQ8 — it is sew sew fun just to explore different blocks and make quilts on the computer screen, whether I ever make them into real quilts or not!

Aren’t you inspired to make your own flower quilt now? I challenge you to create a quilt featuring your favorite flower! I dare you!

I’d love to revisit flower quilts down the road and include the quilts of our VRD fans. Sew, please send me your flower quilts — er, a photo of your flower quilt along with a short description/story of your quilt. If I choose your quilt and story for the blog, I promise I’ll send you a little surprise in the mail! You can email your flower quilt images to me at tricia@villarosaquilts.com.

NEW AUGUST VILLA ROSA DESIGNS ROSE CARDS

Yay! It’s that time of the month again — no, not THAT time of the month. LOL! It’s the beginning of a new month and that means a NEW collection of Villa Rosa Rose Cards!

Here they are — our new August Rose Cards!

You can order the August set of 5 Rose Cards HERE. Go ahead, I know you want to.

But wait — there’s more! Tehehe.

Here’s my NEW August Table Runner, Slice of Summer.

Cute, huh? You can get your own Slice of Summer Rose Card HERE.

Sew, there you have it — our awesome new August patterns! Can’t wait to see what new patterns next month will bring…….

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Designer Spotlights · Quilt As Desired · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

VRD Designer Spotlight Interview with Shankari Paradee of Sewl Sister

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I am sew excited to be interviewing Villa Rosa Designs’s NEWEST Designer, Shankari Paradee. of Sewl Sister www.sewlsister.com today.

Shankari Paradee of Sewl Sister

Tricia: Hello Shakari! Welcome to Villa Rosa Quilts!

Shankari: Hi Everyone! Glad to be here.

Tricia: Let’s get started!

Shankari: All right, let’s go!

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?

Shankari: I went to a quilt retreat in Texas, where I met Catherine Cureton of Running Doe Quilts.  She has several patterns with Villa Rosa Designs and encouraged me to connect with Pat.  It took us a minute to get together as we all had busy schedules but we made it happen!

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

Shankari: I’ve been sewing since I was a little girl, starting with hand sewing doll clothes.  I grew up with sewing in my family.  When I moved to Oklahoma from Canada in 2006, my parents gifted me a beautiful 1960’s Viking sewing machine.  I pieced and quilted my first quilt on that machine. I now own a long arm and started my long arm journey in 2016.

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

Shankari: Friendship block is one of my favorites.  I love the half-square triangle block because it’s such a simple block and you can use it to make so many other different blocks.

Friendship Star Block

Tricia: I really like that block too. And you’re right — there are sew many different variations. How did you make the leap from being a quilter to becoming a quilt designer?

Shankari: Once I got comfortable with piecing, I felt confident to venture out into the design world.  I’ve only been designing for a couple of years and I have learned so much!

Tricia: You’re right — being a designer is all about learning, isn’t it? Can you tell us a little bit about your design process?

Shankari: Sometimes, I just doodle a design and it turns into a quilt design.  Sometimes, I am looking for a specific style or feel and I go with my instincts on what I feel looks good.  I also talk to other quilty friends to see what their thoughts are on my design.  It’s always nice to have perspective.

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

Shankari: I like it all and I think my least favorite would have to be binding.

Tricia: I am with you, Shankari! Binding is not my favorite part of designing and making quilts. What are your top 3 favorite quilting tools?  Why?

Shankari: I love my rotary cutter, it makes cutting fabric so much easier. I could not live without various sized cutting mats.  I can use smaller ones while traveling and teaching classes and I have two large ones on my sewing table. Binding clips are a life-saver!  They help make the binding process easier.

Tricia: For me, I couldn’t live without my computer, Electric Quilt software, or my rotary cutter! What are you working on now?  Any new patterns in the works?  Can you give us a sneak peek?

Shankari: I am working on a pattern for VRD coming up and I have another one coming up with a group of quilters that will be out in celebration of Jelly Roll Day in September.  You can always check out my Instagram for sneaky peeks! LOL! @hellosewlsister

Tricia: These are Shankari’s Rose Card patterns, you can purchase them HERE.

Shankari’s current patterns at Villa Rosa Designs

Tricia: You just had 2 new patterns come out in July, didn’t you?

Shankari: Yes, I did — Dainty Machines and Optic.

Tricia: Great patterns! You can find them here for purchase — Dainty Machines and Optic. Let’s shift gears a little bit — what’s your favorite book? 

Shankari: Right now — One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

Tricia: Type of music/musician? 

Shankari: Ed Sheeran

Tricia: Movie? 

Shankari: Sense and Sensibility

Tricia: Hah! I’m a Janite too! TV show?

Shankari: Downton Abbey

Tricia: Me too! What do you do when you are not quilting/designing?

Shankari: I’m usually running around with my kids or spending time with my family. 😊  I also moonlight as a cardiac nurse.

Tricia: Kiddos and nursing? When do you even have time for quilting? Do you have any advice to quilters who want to become quilt designers? 

Shankari: Don’t get bogged down by other designers and what they are doing.  It’s easy to feel like you’re just another quilter in the quilt pond, and there’s room for all of us.  Just design from your heart and “sewl”.  Design what feels good for you and you can’t go wrong.

Tricia: Anything else you’d like us to know about you? 

Shankari: I love to work with scraps and I’m on a mission to create a world with no landfill fabric.  I like to keep my quilt patterns as least wasteful as possible on fabric, and use simple cuts of fabric. I love teaching sewing and quilt-piecing.  If I can do it, you can too and I can teach you how. I have at least 8 sewing machines to my name, maybe that’s not too many?! Feel free to reach out and connect with me on social media or email:

www.sewlsister.com

www.instagram.com/hellosewlsister

www.facebook.com/hellosewlsister

Hellosewlsister@gmail.com

Tricia: Thank you sew much, Shankari, for taking the time to tell us about yourself. We are all looking forward to your upcoming VRD patterns!

Shankari: Thanks for having me on the blog!

There you have it, Quilty Friends!

How cool is it to get to know the quilt designers behind the VRD Rose Card patterns? Stay tuned for more Designer Spotlight Interviews coming soon.

Well, that’s it for this week.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD