Tag: rose card patterns

Curated Rose Card Pattern Lists · Just Quilty Stuff · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

What Can You Do with 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs?

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Here we are at the end of May following Memorial Day and the “unofficial” beginning of summer and I’m still waiting for spring to stick around for more than a couple of days in row here in NW PA. We actually did have 2 nice dry days in the 60s/70s but now we’re back to cold and rain again. It’s been a real challenge to get the lawn mowed and keep it that way, not too mention getting my small gardens shipshape all while dodging rainstorms and cold temps. Most likely, at the rate we’re going, summer will just land suddenly with hot weather out of nowhere. Sometime in December. 2035. I personally prefer a gradual build up to summers and winters, however; Mother Nature sure has her own agenda these days.

I thought it would be fun to talk about magical 2.5″ squares today. If you read last week’s post about my shop hop around Chicago with Pat following the H&H Show, you may have noticed I bought quite a few 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs (see my photo below). And you might have wondered what the heck I was going to do with all of that eye candy besides tucking them away or dropping them into a canning jar on a shelf to look sew adorable.

A collection of colorful fabric squares and charm packs arranged on a surface, showcasing various floral and geometric patterns.
Here’s a recap from last week’s post showing my goodies from our Chicago shop hop. Note the pile of Mini Charm packs.

A Little Background

I suspect you know all about 5″ Charm packs and how much fun they are (whether you actually use them or you just collect them), so let’s start there and backtrack our way back to 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs.

Three mini charm packs displayed on a light gray background, featuring colorful fabric designs and packaging.

Moda Fabrics is responsible for gifting us with the 5″ Charm Pack, which contains on average 40-42 5″ squares of fabric from a single collection. Thank you Moda! Of course, many fabric companies also offer 5″ square packs and each company calls their 5″ pack by a different name because “charm packs” are synonymous with Moda, even though as quilters, we use the term “charm packs” to describe pretty much any 5″ pack manufactured by any fabric company. Yep, it’s all a little’s a bit confusing.

Hey! Here’s a fun little tidbit perfect for Jeopardy – Moda coined the phrase “Charm Pack” as a nod to Charm Quilts of the past. A true Charm Quilt was said to contain no duplicate fabrics and quilters often exchanged squares of fabric with other quilters to have enough unique pieces to make their quilts. You can find an interesting historical article by Barbara Brackman HERE about Charm Quilts.

Are you wondering why I started out with 5″ square packs? It’s quite simple really, and includes a bit of math! Yay! MATH!

What is a 2.5″ square, but exactly 1/4 of a 5″ square. That means if you cut a 5″ square through the middle both vertically and horizontally, you get 4 – 2.5″ squares. There, I said it – math! (If you know much about me, you probably already know how much I love quilt math.)

It’s not completely clear who actually came up with the 2.5″ square pack idea, as several companies have been producing them for a long time, but Moda certainly comes to mind. I think all of the 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs I bought recently were from Moda. If Moda didn’t invent the whole 2.5″ idea, they are certainly the most well-known manufacturer of the 2.5″ Mini Charm Pack. Moda really was on the forefront of the development of precuts way back when with their Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Turnovers, Dessert Rolls, and more exploded onto the quilt scene.

Now that you know a little bit of background, let’s sashay our way back to those delightful 2.5″ squares.

2.5″ Mini Charm Pack Fun

So, you might be wondering what I do with with my 2.5″ Mini Charm Packs besides hoard them.

Here are some of my favorites:

  1. EPP Hexies – of course! 2.5″ squares are perfect for using the English Paper Piecing technique to make hexies which I then use to make a variety of small projects (I make small projects because I just don’t think I have enough patience to make a classic
  2. Pin cushions
  3. Doll quilts
  4. Table runners
  5. Snack mats
  6. Bags

As you can see, I do lots of different things with them. Maybe you do, too. If you love 2.5″ squares, please share what you like to use yours for in the comments. 🙂

If you haven’t tried EPP and you are interested in learning more, please check out the class offerings at your local quilt shop or look up some tutorials online.

But Wait – there’s MORE!

VRD even has some Rose Card patterns featuring 2.5″ squares! Did you ever doubt that for a second??? LOL!

VRD 2.5″ Square Rose Card Quilt Patterns

A quilted table runner featuring colorful fabric squares and a prominent design with the word 'Amen,' created by Molly Cook for Villa Rosa Designs.

Digital or Print pattern

A rolled quilt titled 'Blueberry Cobbler' featuring a patchwork design in blue and cream colors, displayed on a wooden surface.

Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt titled 'Color Box' featuring various patchwork squares on a dark background, displayed outdoors.
Digital or Print pattern

A vibrant pink snack mat featuring a heart design, displayed on a wooden surface, with the title 'Dear Heart Snack Mat' prominently displayed at the top.
Digital or Print pattern

A quilted table runner featuring a modern design with various colored squares, set against a natural backdrop of grass and trees, with a prominent orange border and leaf motif.

Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt titled 'Lollipop' featuring a playful geometric design, displayed against a natural background.
Digital or Print pattern

A quilted wall hanging titled 'Nana's Aprons' featuring three colorful apron designs made from various fabric squares, displayed against a blue background.
Digital or Print pattern

A colorful quilt design titled 'Piccadilly' by Tamara Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring a pattern of black, white, and pink squares in a checkerboard layout.
Digital or Print pattern

A vibrant quilted table runner titled 'Sugarplum,' featuring a mix of red, green, and pink 2.5" squares adorned with holiday-themed patterns, placed on a snowy background.
Digital or Print pattern

Cover of a quilt pattern titled 'Turkish Delight' by Heidi Cook for Villa Rosa Designs, featuring colorful 2.5 inch squares arranged in rows, surrounded by floral accents.
Digital or Print pattern

I hope you enjoyed this list of fun 2.5″ square Rose Card patterns. Remember, VRD doesn’t charge shipping for patterns, so anytime is a good time to add a few more patterns to your collection. And don’t forget to join our Facebook Group and show off your VRD quilts and be inspired by the projects of others. Hope to see you there!

Have a great week.

Until next Thursday –

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Just Quilty Stuff · Old Posts · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Fun Last Minute Holiday Gifts You Can Make in a Hurry and NEW VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

We have lots to cover this week, so let’s jump right in with both feet! Elf shoes are optional.

First up I’m going to share with you awesome, fast, and fun VRD Rose Card patterns you can whip up as last minute Holiday gifts. And after that I’ll share our NEW VRD Rose Card quilt patterns with you.


Fast and Fun Holiday Gifts to Make in a Hurry

Snack Mats

Snack Mats make great gifts all through the year! They are about 8″ x 14″ and are in between a place mat and a mug rug. We have 10 different designs right now, so you have lots of choices! You can make Snack Mats up in a wink x 2 because each pattern makes 2 mats at a time.

You can find all of our Snack Mat Patterns (digital and print) HERE.

Scarves

Did you know we have Rose Card patterns for super fun and fast quilty scarves??? Your pals will be truly amazed at both your creativity and your savvy gifting skills.

Here is Savannah Jane. It uses a collection of your favorite 5″ squares, so every scarf you make can be totally different, depending on the charm squares you choose. Hey! You can even raid your stash and make scrappy scarves — very economical. Or try some cozy flannel…..

Get your Savannah Jane Rose Card print pattern HERE.

You can find my tutorial for Savannah Jane HERE.

LOVE this pattern! I’ve made several Savannah Jane scarves and they go together in a jiffy. Last year I even gifted the scarves, below, to my 2 nieces, Meg and Morgan.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!

We have another scarf pattern just for you! Check out Inessa Jane, a fun and super fast Infinity scarf. You only need 1 yard of your favorite fabric! Easy peasy and done in a flash! While you’re making them as last-minute gifts, make one for yourself, too.

Get your Inessa Jane print pattern HERE.

Place Mats

Place mats are a great way to make a statement on your table or on someone else’s. They go together quickly and you can get them wrapped and gifted in the nick of time for the Holidays.

Dinner Party is our newest place mat pattern — it’s part of our new 12 Quilts of Christmas pattern collection. 4 fat quarters make 4 coordinated place mats. Done before you can sing your favorite Christmas carol.

Get your Dinner Party digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE.

Let’s Eat! uses panel squares and coordinates, but you can use whatever fabrics your li’l ol’ heart desires! Wouldn’t these be adorable with Christmas fabric? Or Hanukkah fabric? Or Kwanza fabric? Maybe a set for winter with blue and white and lots of snowflakes? Anything goes with Let’s Eat!

Get your Let’s Eat digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE.

Petula Jane is a great place mat for friends and family who eat at their desks at work. This great easy-to-make portable place mat rolls up and secures with a tab and even has pockets for a napkin and silverware. This place mat will elevate your desk lunch and make you smile.

Get your Petula Jane print pattern HERE.

You can find a tutorial for Petula Jane HERE.

Tote Bags

Surprised??? Yep, we’ve got Tote Bag patterns, too. Here at VRD, we’ve really got something for everyone when it comes to our Rose Card patterns. Totes make great gifts for just about anyone and it is fun to tailor the fabric choices to the person who will receive the bag. Did I mention they go together in a flash?

Here’s Tabitha Jane. All you need is 6 fat quarters! I bet you’ve got some of those yummy 6 fat quarter bundles tucked away in your stash — I know I do!

Get your Tabitha Jane print pattern HERE.

Here’s another great bag pattern, Olivia Jane. Grab your favorite charm squares and a couple coordinates. Cut a little. Sew a little. Done.

Get your Olivia Jane print pattern HERE.

Check out the Olivia Jane Tutorial HERE.

Below you can see my Olivia Jane tote. I had some happy blue and yellow charm squares and added a few coordinates. Didn’t it turn out cute?

Accessory Patterns

In addition to the scarves and tote bags, above, we have many other great small project VRD patterns. These patterns are great to have around when you need a quick little gift for someone.

You can find all of our VRD Accessory Rose Card print patterns HERE.

Table Runners

Table Runners are always a great gift to give and we have runner patterns that go together faster than you can whip up a batch of microwave fudge (okay, maybe not quite that fast, but still really quick). Okay, now that I’ve piqued your interest in fudge, here’s one of my favorite Easy Fudge recipes – 2 Ingredient Fudge.

You can find ALL of our table runner patterns HERE, but I’m going to showcase a few runners that you can make up in no time flat.

Get your Perfect Trio digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Ripple Runner digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE.

Get your Season’s Greetings digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE.

12 Quilts of Christmas

I wanted to include our new 12 Quilts of Christmas collection because the set of 12 patterns is a gift in itself — one that will provide the receiver with hours and hours of quilty pleasure. Or maybe you want to select some of these great projects to make and give as gifts. They are fast and fun, of course!

If you can’t get a project made in time for a quilty friend, why not gift her with the whole 12 Quilts of Christmas collection? You could even add the fabric ingredients for one of the projects as an extra something something. Just remember to get a set for yourself, too.

Get your 12 Quilts of Christmas print pattern collection HERE.

Now let’s take a look at our exciting NEW December patterns because new VRD patterns every month is like getting presents each and every month of the year from VRD!

NEW December Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Patterns

Woohoo! Check out this month’s NEW Rose Card Patterns!

Exhibit and Sugar Cookies can handle printed panel squares or large prints with ease. Grab your fat eighths and fat quarters for Sorrento and Neenah. And Whiskers gives you a great pieced frame for those large 36″ panels.

Get all 5 print patterns HERE.

Sorry, no table runner this month, but here’s our fun and seasonal December Snack Mat, Holiday Bauble. Just add your favorite holiday fabrics!

Get your Holiday Bauble digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE.

Which of the new patterns will you make first?

Well, that’s it for me this week.

Here’s hoping your holiday preparations go smoothly and you find a little time to make some special holiday gifts for those folks on your nice list.

Sew. Laugh. Jingle. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

quilt market · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Our NEW VRD 12 Quilts of Christmas Rose Card Quilt Pattern Collection, A Giveaway, and MORE Quilts From International Quilt Festival in Houston

rosecards82 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Sorry for the very long title this week, but we have SEW much to cover! Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

12 Quilts of Christmas

I am super hyped to show off our NEW VRD pattern collection — the 12 Quilts of Christmas!!! We debuted this collection at Quilt Market and Quilt Festival and folks were really excited about it. We’ve been working on this project for quite a while now and it’s so so exciting that it’s finally available. I wanted to show it off last week, but we weren’t quite ready yet.

Release the confetti and the balloons!

Signal the band to play!

Here it is!

Get you 12 Quilts of Christmas collection HERE

Let me tell you a little bit about this collection. It includes 12 brand new Rose Card patterns for the holidays from your favorite VRD designers. You can see the individual patterns included in the collection in the image, above.

You will find —

1 set of place mats (Dinner Party), 2 table runners (Color Mittens and Poinsettia), 2 Gnome quilt blocks (Gnomie and Gerome), 1 wall quilt (Chili), 5 larger quilts (Wreathed, Baking Day, Gifted, Into the Trees, and Hot Cocoa), and 1 panel quilt (Homecoming). That’s a great variety of projects which are also classic VRD patterns which means they are fast and fun!

Featured designers in this collection —

Heidi Cook

Molly Cook

Tamara Cook

Melissa Milligan

Orphan Quilt Designs (moi)

Running Doe Quilts

Sewl Sister

Villa Rosa Designs (Pat Fryer)

The wonderful thing about our VRD designers is that we each have our own style and that means you get a super awesome group of projects!

You can order the patterns individually on the VRD website in both print and digital. The 12 Quilts of Christmas collection which includes all 12 new Rose Card patterns is only $14.95 for all 12 patterns! WOW!

Now, how about a GIVEAWAY????

12 Quilts of Christmas Collection Giveaway

To kick off our NEW 12 Quilts of Christmas Collection with a bang, I’m going to give away 2 sets of the collection right here on the VRD blog, Villa Rosa Quilts! Yay!

All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me a favorite holiday tradition.

I apologize, but this giveaway will be for US residents only.

Oh, almost forgot! You have from today, November 14th through Thursday, November 21st to leave a comment. I will select 2 lucky winners randomly on Friday, November 22nd.

Good Luck!

Now let’s look at more quilts from International Quilt Festival.

Quilts from International Quilt Festival in Houston

I think I mentioned last week that there were around 1100 quilts on display at Market and Festival. What a mind-boggling amount of quilts to be displayed under one roof. I don’t know if this was a larger number of quilts than usual, but it was truly awe-inspiring. I must admit the reason I didn’t see every quilt on display was because I actually had quilt overload and had to stop looking at quilts. But I did see most of them and I took lots of photos to share with you.

Many of you already know what a stickler I am for copyright law protection for designers, so I will only show quilts from the show that I also have the documentation for. This is a great tip for anyone who likes to photograph quilts at quilt shows or events — in addition to asking for permission to photograph the quilts, it’s equally important to include documentation with each quilt photograph because down the road, you or someone else might want to know who created or designed the quilt, quilted it, or what pattern the quilter used. Keeping documentation with a quilt helps to protect the rights of the quilt maker. I usually take a photo of the quilt first and then a photo of the information after the quilt and as long as I do this consistently, I can share quilt photos on social media without compromising the quilt maker. In my opinion, one should not just post or repost quilt (or any other art form) without the maker information included.

Take your time and please enjoy the quilts in the slideshows, below. I am not going to introduce each slideshow because the first image of each slideshow tells you the Exhibit along with a description (in most cases).

Just a quick note about Sharyn’s display — the quilts are arranged from right to left instead of the usual left to right. Knowing this will help make sense of the quilt timeline Sharyn created.

Below you’ll find information about the planned Exhibits for 2025. Have you ever thought about submitting a quilt for International Quilt Market and Festival? Maybe 2025 will be your year!

I wanted to share more about Festival, but it’s getting late and I need to wrap things up. So, that’s it for me this week. Stay tuned for next week — I’ll announce our 12 Quilts of Christmas winners and I want to show you some of the fun stuff I found at Market and Festival.

Until then —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Copyright and Quilting · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

My Recent Copyright Issue and NEW Villa Rosa Quilts Rose Card Patterns for May

rosecards17 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

What a gorgeous day here in NW PA! I woke up to bright sunshine and happy bird song. I love mornings like this! We’ve had a couple wonderful summery days and it makes me so glad that I have a nontraditional career where I can get outside anytime I want to drink in the lovely weather. Lucky me….

We have so much to do today, we’d better get started.

The Last Blog Hop Prize Update

Hip! Hip! Hooray! I just shipped the last bunch of prizes yesterday — all 41 of ’em! I know those of you who won prizes and haven’t received them yet are probably getting a little anxious by now and today I’m happy to say the last of the Blog Hop prizes will be arriving shortly.

If you won a prize during the Blog Hop and do not receive it within the next couple weeks, please email me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com so I can look into it.

Again, thanks for your patience. I hope all of you winners enjoy your prizes!

Let’s keep moving!

And the Winner Is……….

Congratulations to Barbara in MA! She is our giveaway winner.

Thanks everyone for telling me about your favorite color combinations. Like you, I have lots of different combinations and it’s hard to pick just one. Wink, wink……..

If you didn’t get your own copy of Plan Design Quilt yet, you can find it HERE.

My Recent Copyright Issue

I love being a quilt designer and author, but sometimes things happen that make me so so frustrated. Recently, I had a copyright issue and I’d like to tell you about it.

I’ve talked about copyright and quilters a couple times before and you can find links to those posts here:

NEW April 2023 Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Quilt Patterns and Revisiting the Copyright Question for Quilters

The Copyright Question for Quilters

I also want to remind you that I am not an expert in the field of US Copyright Law. What I’ve learned, I’ve learned by reading, researching, talking to others, and experiencing issues first hand. If you need expert advice or information about US Copyright Law, please seek the help of a Copyright lawyer.

Recently, a quilter familiar with our VRD Rose Card patterns emailed us with a screenshot showing the back of one of my Rose Card patterns — the instructions — posted on Facebook. The kicker was that the poster actually covered up the copyright information at the bottom of pattern, which indicated the person posting my pattern knew exactly what they were doing. Please don’t assume they just didn’t know that it was wrong or what they were doing was violating US copyright Laws — if they covered up the copyright info, then this was done completely intentionally.

I tried to check it out on FB, using the info on the screenshot to guide me, but I found out that the group was private. Now what? I ended up having to join the group so that I could address this copyright infringement. While waiting for my membership in the group to be active, I was able to look up the person who posted my copyrighted pattern instructions and I wrote a very firm message to them. I also found out that person was — of all people — an administrator of the Group!

When I was finally accepted into the group later the same day, I then posted a super firm comment showing the front of my pattern and telling all 3000+ members that I owned the copyright and I did not give permission to share my pattern instructions and that by doing so AND covering up the copyright information intentionally was a violation of US Copyright Law.

I also found out how to make an intellectual property complaint to Facebook, which I promptly did.

You can find Facebook’s Intellectual Property article which also includes a link to the form for reporting Intellectual Property abuse HERE.

Finally, the original post was taken down in the Group before Facebook even had the chance to do it (which told me that at least one of the administrators of the group knew it was wrong and deleted it before the group could get in trouble from Facebook). But it wasn’t deleted before over 3000 people had the opportunity to save/print/copy/repost my pattern. THEN I got grief from another one of the administrators who not only deleted my public posts in the group about copyright law and my rights as the copyright owner, but also told me that I should contact the guilty administrator and not post to the entire group. Seriously??? Not one person accepted responsibility for this nor did anyone even offer an apology! I am still seething about this experience.

You might wonder why this upsets me so much. Let me explain.

Sure, maybe that person originally purchased my VRD pattern for $2 before posting it on Facebook, but that did not give them the right (legally or morally) to share it with over 3000 people for free. They did not ask my permission to post my copyrighted pattern instructions — I would NEVER have given my permission to post it on Facebook anyway.

Copyright laws are there to protect intellectual property for many good reasons, including a copyright owner’s ability to earn income on their own intellectual property.

I design quilt patterns as part of my livelihood. By posting the instructions of my pattern for free on the FB Group, that person so kindly helped me (and VRD) to lose potential income — possibly more than $6000 in pattern sales, if each of the 3000+ group members had purchased their own pattern at $2 per pattern.

This all makes me second guess my desire to design and publish new quilt patterns. If designers stopped creating new quilt patterns, new quilt books, and new quilt magazine patterns featuring new techniques, new fabric collections, new tools, and new ideas then the quilt world would suffer greatly. Eventually the sale of fabric, notions, tools, rulers, etc. would suffer, which would then hurt fabric companies, publishers, advertisers, quilt shops and other quilt-related businesses. People could lose their jobs and companies and businesses could eventually go out of business. Do you see the domino effect here? Ultimately, it would hurt you, the quilter, who just wants to make beautiful quilts.

Copyright law protects ALL of us.

I appreciate you taking the time to hear my latest copyright story. And now I’ll jump off my soapbox.

Time to check out the NEW May patterns!

NEW May 2024 VRD Rose Card Patterns

Yep, it’s the Thursday after the first Friday in May, which means — NEW PATTERNS!

There are 7 — count ’em — 7 NEW patterns this month — the set of 5 that you know and love along with a table runner and a snack mat. Definitely something for everyone in this month’s patterns.

YAY! Aren’t they Fab??? You can get the set of 5 physical patterns for the special price of $8.95 HERE

I’m sorry, but we don’t offer the set as a digital pattern collection. However, the good news is that each pattern is individually available as a digital format. You can find the patterns by name on our website, villarosadesigns.com.

Here’s a pretty flower runner, perfect to whip up for Mother’s Day or just for spring — I can see you already picking out your favorite colors and fabrics for this one. You can find the runner physical pattern HERE or the digital pattern HERE.

And here’s a very spring-y fun Snack Mat pattern. Don’t you just love pinwheels??? They are so fun and happy! You can find Pinwheelies the physical pattern HERE or the digital pattern HERE.

So, which one are YOU going to make first???

Well, I’m off to take my sweet and crazy little Shih Tzu, Bailly, out for a walk to enjoy this gorgeous day. Ta Ta!

Here’s my 1 1/2 year old cutie, Bailly, who needs a haircut and a shave right now….LOL! Don’t you love her happy grin???

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Block Basics · Quilting Partners · Rose Cards

Quilt Block Basics — The Y Block, Rose Card List, and Hoffman Fabrics + VRD

rosecards1 Comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Wow! We’ve got lots to talk about today — I hope you are ready!

Let’s start off with our Quilt Blocks Basics first — today we are taking a good look at the Y BLOCK!

I did the HSTs and QSTs before tackling the Y block because a Y block is a combination of a QST and an HST. Sounds weird, I know, but really, that’s what it is.

There are other names for the Y block unit, but for the purpose of this post, we’ll stick with calling it the Y block.

Let’s look at some blocks using the Y block unit:

Crow’s Nest
Mosaic # 10
Mosaic # 11
Queen’s Petticoat
Spiritus Mundi
Whirlwind

Bet you’ve never heard of most of these blocks — they were pretty new to me, too.

Now let’s play a little bit with this very versatile quilt block unit. We are going to use 4 Y block units together in a 4 Patch configuration.

Let’s see what happens when we flip the Y block units around in the block:

Wow! We can really come up with some fun blocks that will make interesting quilt designs!

I think you can see the versatility of the Y block unit in the block variations above. Just imagine what you could come up with if you started changing out the fabrics as well as moving the units about. This is only a 4 patch block frame — what about a 9 patch frame? What if you combined this unit with other units like HSTs, QSTs, or others?

It is simply mind-boggling, isn’t it???

Electric Quilt 8 Software makes it sew easy to play with these units! I can get lost for hours playing with blocks in EQ….

How to Make a Y Block

There are several different ways to tackle the construction of the Y block unit. I decided not to reinvent the wheel because there are so many different ways to make a traditional Y block.

Here’s a great traditional Y block tutorial from Scissortailquilting.com just like the way I would demonstrate how to make it. YAY MATH! They even include the math formulas for you as well as a cutting chart.

The traditional method works great for putting together Y block units, except for one little thing — you make 4 units with mirror images, which is terrific if you want mirror images, but what if you need a Y block unit but not its mirror image?????

Seriously, though, who wants to make twice as many blocks as they need to, which takes twice as much time and twice as much fabric???

My friend, Cathey Laird, of Cathey Marie Designs, was fascinated with the Y block unit and pondered the mirror image issue for a long time until she came up with a solution. Cathey invented a cool Y block ruler which eliminated the mirror image problem — instead of mirror images, you get 4 identical Y block units!

You can find Cathey’s ruler HERE.

Here’s a great Y block tutorial done by Cathey herself:

Y Block VRD Rose Card Patterns

I went through the entire pattern catalog and found only a few Rose Card patterns featuring Y blocks.

Get Crossed Paths HERE

Get Twisted HERE

Well, I see new Y block designs for VRD in the future! LOL!

Speaking of Rose Cards, I wanted to share something very cool with you!

Rose Card Tracker

Did you know VRD has a printable list of ALL the Rose Cards????? This might be new to you because it is actually located on the wholesale website, but the list is for everyone who loves Rose Cards.

It is updated every month to include each month’s new patterns, too.

You can find the VRD Rose Card list HERE.

Not too long ago, I finally got all my Rose Cards organized and alphabetized in small clear plastic crates with lids. Yay me!

So next I decided to figure out which Rose Cards I was missing in my collection.

I easily printed out the list (3 pages long as of right now) and sorted through all my Rose Cards to find out which ones I did not have. Then I ordered all the ones I was missing. LOL! As long as I keep up with the new cards, I will have a complete collection of VRD Rose Cards.

It really didn’t take me too long to go through the list because it is in alphabetical order, just like my Cards. Below, you can see that I used red Xs to mark the ones I had. Then, when I did my order, I just ordered all the ones without a red X. I put a small dot in the empty spaces as I went along so I knew which ones I had already added to my order (in case I had to stop at some point and go back to it later).

As of right now I have 3 of the plastic storage boxes almost full with my Cards, so I will probably be adding a 4th as soon as my new Cards arrive. I plan to keep my Cards organized that way, then it will be a snap to find any Card I am looking for.

Yay! Three cheers for organization!!!! How many Rose Cards do you have? How many do you need to complete your collection?

Check Out Our VRD Rose Card Patterns in the NEW Hoffman Spring Project Book

We’ve been working with Hoffman Fabrics for a while now. Their new Spring catalogs are out and I’m excited to share the new Spring 2023 Project Book with you. It is simply drool-worthy!!!!

Hoffman Project Catalog Spring 2023

Sew. Dream. And head to your local quilt shop to find Hoffman Fabrics and VRD Rose Cards.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Copyright and Quilting · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

NEW April 2023 Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Quilt Patterns and Revisiting the Copyright Question for Quilters

rosecards5 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

It’s a fine spring day here in Pennsylvania! Clear blue skies and temperatures in the 70s. Things are greening up and blooming. But Mother Nature isn’t done with her shock treatment yet as next week will be back in the 30s and 40s again. Go figure! Ho hum…..this is spring in northwestern PA.

Last week I started a new mini series on Quilt Block Basics — did you miss my post about Half Square Triangles? If so, you can check it out HERE.

I will be getting back to the Quilt Block Basics mini series next week, but this Thursday is the Thursday following the first Friday of the month, so I am excited to debut our brand new April 2023 VRD Rose Card patterns! Yay! Definitely one of my favorite posts every month!

Feast your eyes on these wonderful new patterns:

Get all 5 new patterns for $8.95 HERE!

And here is my new table runner pattern, After the Rain — who doesn’t LOVE a rainbow quilt?? Or a Log Cabin variation??

Get the After the Rain pattern HERE.

I know I’ve said this more than once (probably more like a million times) but there isn’t another pattern company out there who produces as many new patterns every year as Villa Rosa Designs. We put out at least 5 new patterns a month — add to that our usual 1 (and sometimes 2) new table runner pattern(s) each month and that figures out to be an average of 72 new quilt patterns a year! Mind-boggling, isn’t it???

We have the most awesome quilt designers here at VRD (not that I’m biased or anything) and together we make the impossible possible.

Revisiting Copyright for Quilters

Recently a reader asked some thought-provoking questions on the blog and I wanted to share her questions with you. Thanks, Mindy, for giving me permission to share your comments.

Mindy wrote the following after reading my post about The Copyright Question for Quilters (go HERE to read the Copyright post):

Can I ask one thing that comes up often with this discussion? How do you feel about second-hand selling of your patterns or having the pattern donated to a guild or other “library” type situation? I sat in on a lecture years ago at Quilt Market by two copyright lawyers and it was my understanding that this was illegal, but I have recently heard some pattern designers don’t mind and would rather the pattern be used than thrown away. What are your thoughts if you don’t mind me asking?

SIGH……. If only understanding copyright law and practicing it were straightforward and simple. But to understand copyright law, you basically need a copyright lawyer to explain things in a way you can understand. That being said, copyright law is even confusing for the professionals as they often don’t agree with each other. So if lawyers can’t agree on what copyright law is and how it applies, then how are we — the quilters and the designers — supposed to understand it?

And you need to understand copyright so that you can practice it. Such a conundrum.

What do I think?

Please note these are my personal opinions as a quilter and designer.

Guild Lending Libraries

I have belonged to quilt guilds for a long time and yes, one of my guilds did have a library of quilt books (not patterns) that guild members could check out and borrow. I don’t remember when exactly, but the guild library was dissolved years ago and the books were donated to a used book sale at a local library. I think it ended up being dissolved because the collection took up a lot of space in our storage locker and it wasn’t being used by the guild members. Part of the problem, I suspect, was that the lending library wasn’t updated and weeded out regularly in order to keep the collection current and relevant to the interests of the guild members.

I think libraries — any kind of libraries — are wonderful amazing incredible things!

Let’s consider public, school, and university libraries — they purchase one or more copies of a book or magazine and not even allow — but encourage — people to borrow these materials free with their library card. Is this an infringement of copyright law? I don’t think so — most authors, myself included, want to see their books in libraries.

How is a quilt guild lending library any different? Really? Of course, I am talking books here, not patterns, but what is a quilt book but a collection of quilt patterns? In my opinion, as long as the book or pattern was purchased legally at some point, it is a good thing to pass it along to someone else. (This does not mean making a photocopy of a book or pattern and giving to your best friend, but passing along the original book or pattern.) I am always pleased to see books find their way to someone who will love them.

Additionally, most folks are conscious about recycling and trash disposal — isn’t it better to pass along a book or pattern to another who will find enjoyment or enlightenment from the book/pattern instead of adding more trash to landfills? To me, there’s nothing more devastating than someone throwing away a perfectly good book.

Secondhand Selling

The selling of secondhand goods is HUGE all over the world. Secondhand sellers have existed far longer than copyright laws have. The secondhand selling of goods is a big part of any economy, so I am not sure how that corresponds to copyright when you’re talking about books and patterns.

If selling secondhand books, patterns, and other types of publications was an infringement of copyright law, then how can sellers resell goods on eBay, Amazon, Etsy, and the like? What about at the Goodwills and Salvation Army stores? What about the used book sales at your local library? Or garage sales, yard sales, flea markets, antique shops, and others? Why aren’t we all thrown in jail or fined for buying or selling secondhand goods?

Where would we be as a world without the secondhand sales industry? Wouldn’t this increase our already out of control issues with garbage and landfills? Wouldn’t it put A LOT of people out of work?

For me, personally, I am all for supporting the secondhand sales industry for many reasons —

  1. It reduces waste
  2. It helps people to afford goods that they need
  3. It can help someone else in some way (whether it’s the actual information in a book/pattern or that the sale of the item supports a charity)
  4. Secondhand sales (and the searching of desirous items) can be a lot of fun
  5. It employs people, and can provide/supplement income
  6. An “old” item to you might be a “new” item to someone else
  7. It is a form of recycling

This topic makes me think about the old saying “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” and the more modern version — “Reuse. Reduce. Recycle.”

What are your thoughts on guild libraries and secondhand selling of quilt books and patterns?

Thank you again, Mindy, for bringing up these topics. I am curious to see what others’ thoughts are. Any copyright professionals out there who can weigh in on this discussion?

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Recycle. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Panel Quilts · Quilt Play · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

What Can I Do with a Quilt Panel?

rosecards8 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

After our 8 week Basic Quilting Skills for Beginners series, I find I’m ready for something new. How about you???

I thought it would be fun to talk about quilt panels and what quilts you can make with them. I must admit that I have a big stash of quilt panels. I know that admitting you have an addiction is the first step to recovery, right?

SHHHHH! My super secret stash of panels!

I’ve collected panels for a long time, but I rarely seem to use them or make anything out of them. Sure, I’ve slapped borders around some of them and whipped up a quick baby quilt or simple wall hanging, but does that really count? When I taught free motion quilting classes in the past, I even used a panel as a project so students would actually be quilting a “real” quilt, but not something they’d worked on for hours and hours.

If the quilt police showed up at my front door and asked me about my fabric stash and all my panels, I would say: Who me?? I have no idea where these panels and all this fabric came from. I think fabric is like rabbits and multiplies when you’re not looking. That makes sense, doesn’t it? But would it work?

Well, I’m hear to tell you that Villa Rosa Designs has a lot of GREAT patterns specifically for quilt panels — for vertically printed panels, horizontal panels, and even panels with printed “quilt squares.” Yay! Villa Rosa to your rescue — and mine, too!

Let’s take a look at some of the panel quilt Rose Card patterns. You can find ALL of these patterns on the website, www.villarosadesigns.com

Vertical panels seem to be the most common type of quilt panel and we have quite a few Rose Card patterns to choose from.

One of my absolute favorite Rose card patterns for vertical panels is Hillside Charm! I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but it is an awesome pattern and I have to show it off again! You’ll probably read about it later in the future too. Sorry, not sorry.

You can buy the Hillside Charm Rose card HERE

Isn’t this just the coolest pattern? Aren’t you already mentally going through your panel stash to see what you can use for Hillside Charm? I know I am….

Another one of my favorites is Daring Spirit — the perfect quilt for a Quilt of Valor as long as you add a narrow border around it to meet the minimum width requirement for a Quilt of Valor. You can check out my Daring Spirit tutorial HERE and my Quilts of Valor presentation post HERE.

You can buy Daring Spirit HERE

Take a look at these terrific Rose Card patterns for vertical panels. Grab ’em while they’re hot!

Did you know Villa Rosa has Rose Card patterns for horizontal panels, too? This is awesome because patterns for horizontal printed panels can be hard to find!

October Sky is one of our most popular patterns. I bet you can see why! The really cool thing is that the top and bottom star sections are made with half square triangles, which go together like a snap when you take a little extra care to place your colors correctly.

Shh! Don’t tell anyone and when you make your October Sky quilt, everyone will be in awe at seeing your amazing quilting skills. I can’t wait to make one of these for myself.

You can buy October Sky HERE

Here are some more Rose Card patterns for horizontal panels. Nice!

We even have Rose Card patterns for quilt panels with printed blocks or squares!

Hypnotized is one of our new Rose Cards this year. I just love the look of this quilt — it looks difficult to make, but I know it won’t be because it’s a Rose Card pattern.

You can buy Hypnotized HERE

I’m all set to make Hypnotized. The only problem is that by the time I get to my project, it will be too late for Halloween this year so I guess I’ll have to say it’s early for next year.

Here’s my fabric for the Hypnotized Rose Card pattern — don’t you love it??? Instead of panel squares, though, I’m going to cut the squares from the gnome print and I’m going to use the stripe for my border. You’ll have to stay tuned for this quilt coming soon, or at least some time before Halloween 2023. LOL!

Yay! More Rose Card patterns for panels with printed squares/blocks. Of course, you can always substitute squares of any novelty fabric you love in these patterns, which makes them very versatile.

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

I think you know me by now (and how much I like saying that phrase), so of course there’s more.

You know those really big panels that measure roughly 36″ x 42″? Well, we even have a couple patterns for these big panels, too.

You can buy Nebula HERE
You can buy Puppy Love HERE

And if you know anything about Villa Rosa Designs, you can bet we’ll be adding new patterns for panels in the future. In fact, I have a few ideas of my own.

That’s it for today. I’m off to play with my panels.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Food, Quilting, and Math

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Now that the summer season is almost 2/3rds over, I hope you are taking the time to have a little fun, whether that means having a cookout in the backyard or going on a vacation somewhere exotic, make time to have fun with your loved ones.

Me, I love summer cookouts, picnics, and family reunions! Yes, I know these events are all usually about the food, but if you knew my family, you would understand that food is always a central part of any event or get-together. Over the years, I have tried to incorporate quilting into these events, too. Usually, I take along some portable hand-sewing project — binding or hexies. This is a great way to break the ice from starting a conversation with a far away relative or someone new. Quilting brings people together, just like food. And I am deliriously happy when I can have both together!

We even have snacks at my quilt guild meetings! Do you like my vase of wildflowers? I picked them from alongside the road.

Quilting and Math

I am thrilled that I’ve been getting some quality time with my sewing machine recently. Finally. And every time I design a quilt on my computer using Electric Quilt 8 software and then create the quilt in fabric, I am still completely amazed that everything goes together!

Quilting is simply a form of math. Have you ever thought about it that way? Every time we use a ruler, a template, or follow a pattern, it’s all about the math. Maybe we don’t have to do all the figuring when using patterns or templates because someone already did the math for us, but it’s still all math.

My stash of rulers.

I find it ironic that after all these years, I work in a field that is so completely immersed in math. I can still remember all the struggling I did to understand math after I finished Algebra 2 in 8th grade. Geometry was a total disaster for me. Why did I have to prove that a square was truly a square? Ugh. Thank goodness for teachers like Mrs. Hank, who was my math teacher for 5 out of 6 years of high school (excluding that awful year in geometry). Mr.s Hank would be totally amazed that I do math everyday. And I even like it. Now.

Thanks, Mrs. Hank!

Later as an undergraduate at Allegheny College, a private liberal arts school, I found the only science/math cluster available that did not require taking any math classes — archaeoastronomy! My cluster of 3 classes included 2 astronomy classes and a physics course with a lab component. It was like I was allergic to math for a long long time and suddenly quilting cured my allergy! I am not afraid to say — I LIKE MATH. I’m thinking of getting a t-shirt made to celebrate quilting and math……what do you think?

As a quilt designer, when I start a new project, I fire up my Electric Quilt software. I usually start with a favorite simple quilt block in a friendly size because not only do I detest measurements like 5 and 7/16th, but why would a design a project that requires that kind of cutting measurement in the first place? No one would buy my patterns. To see more about my design process, go HERE.

Once I’m satisfied with my design, I print out the cutting information from EQ8 and I get started making the project. While I make the project, I write down notes such as how many strips to cut in what size. Then after I make the project, I write the pattern. Through this process, I’m using lots and lots of math! Yes, I actually have to write the pattern, EQ8 does not do that, it’s up to the designer to translate the design into words.

Here at Villa Rosa Designs, I create diagrams and write patterns for other designers or for special projects. Sometimes I have to sit down with my pencil, paper, and a calculator to figure out or double check the math. Quilting and math go hand-in-hand. Without math, there wouldn’t be any quilting!

I find it a little sad and quite humorous at the same time that historically, quilting has been considered to be a woman thing. Today, more and more men are getting involved in quilting, whether as designers or as makers. They have discovered the amazing partnership between math and creativity/art that quilting offers. And besides, quilting is for everyone!

So for the rest of the summer, make sure you have some fun.

Eat. Quilt. And do math.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD