Tag: tricia maloney

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

Tutorials · villa rosa designs

A Tutorial for Making Your Own Quilt Block Flannel Board, What I’ve been Up To (No Good, Probably!), and a Giveaway!

rosecards37 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Now that we’re past the middle of April, spring is finally springing around here, although it’s still either cold or rainy. We’ve had so much rain here in NW PA, there is a lake in the field back behind my house. And the fun thing is that a small group (flock? gaggle?) of Canadian geese have claimed it as their very own little oasis! Silly goosies! But I do love to hear them honking out there to each other and it’s fun to see them waddling around. The lake is starting to dissipate, but we keep getting enough rain that it refills, so right now the geese are in luck.

Speaking of April, I know it’s spring when my Friday Quilt group starts meeting again. We skip January and February because those months are historically our snowiest months and usually start up again in March. I didn’t get a chance to mention my group back in March because we were all busy with the Blog Hop.

I know I’ve talked about these amazing quilting gals before and I’m so thrilled that we’re back together once a month again. I want to do a shout out to the Friday Gals — you know who you are — Hey Ladies! (If you want to know a little bit more about these Friday ladies, you can go HERE.)

You might wonder why I am talking about these gals, but for the last 2 years, we’ve been doing Villa Rosa Designs quilt projects. But his year, everyone wanted somethng a little different and everyone agreed that they wanted to go back to a sampler quilt again. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve done a year-long sampler project, so it’s time.

Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet Co. was an easy choice for 2024 because of the fun blocks in both 6″ and 12″ finished sizes as well as a plethora of terrific projects in which you can mix and match blocks. In fact, Lori has 2 other books, Farm Girl Vintage 2 and Vintage Christmas which also use both 6″ and 12″ blocks. And guess what that means??? All the projects are interchangeable among these 3 books! WOW! In addition to some other fun quilt books, Lori has a bunch of super patterns and even a book about scrap quilting called Scrappiness is Happiness. If you’re not familiar with Lori’s designs, you should check them out.

She is a fabric designer for Riley Blake as well as an author and quilt designer. I’ve designed quilts using a few of her collections over the years — they were lots of fun. Very scrap happy and bright with a vintage vibe. You can find out more about Lori Holt HERE.

Beginning last month in March, we are going to work our way through the 12″ and 6″ blocks (as well as the delightful tractor block) in the book by making a mix of 6″ and 12″ blocks each month until December.

Here are blocks from our first get together.

I like to offer my own sampler layout when we do a year-long sampler quilt project, and this year is no different! I designed 2 different settings — one as a throw/twin and one as a full/queen. Of course, the Farm Girl Vintage book has lots of fun projects of all sizes, too, which means everyone has options! And boy, do I LOVE to have options!

I’ll give you a sneak peak at the center of my full/queen quilt (without the borders — I’ll get those on someday!). I chose a scrappy blue and white farmhouse-y color scheme and I really love how it turned out. What do you think?

After making VRD quilts for the last couple years, we couldn’t entirely abandon our VRD projects, of course, so for 2024 I set up a series of VRD quilt challenges. (You know, this could be a great idea for quilt guilds and groups or even quilt shops — just sayin’……)

Anyway, here is our challenge schedule:

June 2024 — Fat Quarter Project

August 2024 — Panel Project

October 2024 — 5″ or 10″ Charm Square Project

December 2024 — 2 1/2″ Strip Project

Of course, there are a few rules:

  1. You must complete a quilt top before we meet that month
  2. You may not use projects from classes 2022 or 2023

I’ll try to take photos when we have the Challenge quilt reveals, so you’ll have to stop back to see what VRD projects the Friday Gals create.

In our most recent meeting, our group made portable flannel boards to accommodate 12″ blocks so I thought I’d show you how we made them because everyone should have a small flannel board. This size is super to carry back and forth from your cutting area to your sewing machine or even to a quilt class, retreat, or sew day.

Make Your Own Quilt Block Flannel Board

Here’s a flannel board I made maybe 15-20 years ago. This board has seen a lot of wear and tear and the corners are all bent up, but it’s definitely stood the test of time and use because the only thing I’ve really had to do is to tighten and re-tape the fabric on the back once or twice. This board is around 12″ x 18″ and is made out of a heavy duty cardboard. It is great for smaller blocks, but doesn’t quite hold the pieces for a 12″ block, so that’s why I had the idea to make one sized for 12″ blocks.

What You Need:

A piece of sturdy cardboard or a sheet of foam core board

A piece of neutral tonal or solid quality flannel fabric as large as the board you want to make plus an additional 3-4 inches all around.

Duct tape.

I chose to use a piece of foam core from Dollar Tree (LOVE Dollar Tree!) which will actually give me 2 boards about 15″ x 15″ and a leftover long rectangle for some other project. Because the boards aren’t exactly 30″ long long, my finished boards won’t be exactly 15″ square, but that’s okay, it’s close enough for jazz. If you want your boards to be perfect squares, go ahead and measure the length of your foam core board and divide that number in half. Use a ruler to draw lines to make 2 equal boards. If you want 1 big board, you can use the whole piece of foam core, just keep in mind it will be kind of clunky to carry back and forth from your cutting area to you sewing machine to your pressing area. But if it works for you, go for it.

One you’ve drawn your lines, time to cut on the lines with a utility knife or scissors. BE CAREFUL! We don’t need any accidents on this step.

Here’s 1 board around 15″ x 15″, which will allow me to lay out the pieces for a 12″ block (or smaller). Now let’s get our flannel fabric ready. I suggest pressing it so the flannel is nice and flat before you put it on your board.

Okay, lay your flannel fabric on a flat surface with the wrong side facing up. Center your board. Then fold one side up and tape it firmly to the board. Repeat for the opposite side. Make it smooth and taut before you tape it to the back of the board.

Next up, we are going to fold the corners in on 1 of the remaining 2 sides and then tape the side to the board. Repeat for the other side, pulling the fabric smooth and taut before taping that last side. I used an extra piece of tape on each side to help keep the flannel nice and tight.

Voila! Here it is — a board block big enough to layout a 12″ or smaller block!

Wasn’t that super easy? Now you know how to make a flannel board, you can make them in any size you want, just make sure that your flannel fabric is 3-4 inches bigger all the way around your board so you have enough to wrap around and tape. (Psst! Flannel boards are great activity and story activities for kiddos, too! Use left over fabric and felt to make letters, numbers, and story pieces to delight any kiddo.)

One More Thing Before You Go…..And a Giveaway!

I’m excited to share some BIG NEWS with you — I just finished putting together my 6th book in print! Yippee! Kudos! AWESOME! (Go me!)

It’s called Plan Design Quilt and it is kind of like a workbook for designing quilts on paper. I do design a lot of my projects using Electric Quilt 8 software, but I also scribble blocks and quilt settings down whenever inspiration strikes. Usually I jot ideas down on snippets of paper, sticky notes, napkins, or whatever, and then I lose them only to find them at some later time after I have already forgotten all about that idea. Kind of disorganized, I know.

So I created this book for myself because it gives me someplace to do my little scribbles and keep them all in one place. It’s kind of cool to create a book that fulfills your own needs and then share it with the world. I tell myself that if it’s something I can use, then there are other quilters out there who might need this too. So I designed this workbook-style book with lots of space to doodle and draw quilt blocks and settings, to jot down notes, try out/add fabric swatches, and more. You can find Plan Design Quilt here. Woo Hoo!

But wait — there’s more!

To kick off this new book, I’m going to give away a copy of Plan Design Quilt right here on the VRD blog, Villa Rosa Quilts. All you have to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite color scheme for making a quilt. I apologize, but this giveaway will be for US residents only. I haven’t decided yet if offering this book in ebook format would actually be helpful for people. Your thoughts?

Oh, almost forgot! You have from today, April 25th through Thursday, May 2nd to leave a comment. I will select a winner randomly.

Well, that’s it for me.

Take a little time to quilt this week!

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

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

VRD Gallant Rose Card Quilt Tutorial

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

PSST!

Hey, it’s me, Molly! I’m stealing the blog from Tricia this week!

I hope everyone had a fun (and safe) 4th of July!

You know, every year around this time, with patriotic things everywhere, I start thinking about Quilts of Valor. I know, making QOV quilts is something you can do any time of year, but when those brand new red/white/blue fabric collections start rolling in, it’s kinda like a screaming billboard to make a patriotic quilt.

So as we are unpacking the red, white, and blue collections here in the shop (want to see what the VRD shop in CA looks like? Go HERE), Gallant was calling my name (yelling?) to make it from one of these awesome new patriotic collections.

Get Gallant HERE.

Gallant was designed by our very own Tricia to meet the criteria for a Quilt of Valor quilt. The quilt on the cover of the Gallant Rose Card was presented to her cousin, Lisa, in 2022 at a family reunion QOV presentation.

You can read the blog post about the QOV presentation HERE.

Tricia’s cousin Lisa being presented with her Quilt of Valor.

So let’s get started! You will be amazed at how many different ways you can arrange the Gallant blocks — you can make this quilt over and over and you’ll never get bored.

VRD Gallant Quilt Tutorial

Making the Blocks

Gallant calls for red and blue fat quarters along with a background and an accent fabric for the top and bottom border to help make the size perfect for a Quilt of Valor (check out QOV quilt requirements HERE). Sounds easy enough, right?

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to use fabrics from the Liberty collection by Robert Kaufman and “Blossom on White Uncle Sam” fabric by Riley Blake for the background. Isn’t that a perfect background name for our quilt? LOL!

It didn’t take long to cut all the pieces for the blocks. And while I was cutting, I organized my pieces by color and size to make it easier to sew.

After you have all your pieces cut out, it’s time to get sewing!

Get ready, because these blocks almost sew themselves! Hah!

Lay out your A B C D cut pieces to make each block easier to sew. You can stack up all the A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s like I did below — this will make things go even faster.

Now sew the four pieced strips together into one unit –ABCD. Then add the last red strip to the side of D. Make 36 blocks. Like I said before, they go together really fast!

Laying Out the Blocks

Now on to the most fun part of making Gallant!

Seriously, there are so many layouts for these blocks that it was hard picking the one I liked best. (The first photo on the top left is the layout Tricia chose for her Gallant quilt.)

Here is the layout I went with:

Finish Your Quilt

Sew your blocks together in your chosen layout. Warning! Shuffling the blocks around can be very addictive. LOL!

Finally, add the borders to the top and the bottom of the quilt.

Quilt and bind.

And don’t forget your label.

DONE!

Now find someone to gift your Gallant quilt to!

A Quilt Challenge for You

Did you like the fabrics I chose for my Gallant quilt? If so, I’m going to challenge you to make a Gallant quilt to gift to your favorite veteran or to your local Quilts of Valor organization!

We have Gallant quilt kits HERE at the shop, featuring the same fabrics as my quilt. So grab your Gallant kit and make your own quilt.

How many different layouts can you create with your blocks???

By the way, we always LOVE seeing what you do with our VRD patterns and kits, so if you are on our VRD Facebook page, please post a picture of your Gallant quilt!

If you’re not hanging out with us on Facebook, you should be! LOL!

That’s all for now.

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Give. Repeat.

Later,

Molly

Just Quilty Stuff · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card Patterns — Table Runners All Through the Year

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday!

Here we are at the end of June with Independence Day sneaking up on us. I just realized that I need to start thinking about Christmas projects if I’m going to give any handmade gifts or quilts for the holidays this year. One of my favorite gifts to give are table runners.

I seem to remember a blog comment one time asking for a blog post about table runners. So I thought I’d share with you a rundown of our VRD Table Runner Rose Card Patterns arranged all through the year.

Wouldn’t it be fun to start a tradition of gifting a series of table runners to a special loved one or friend (or maybe even yourself!?!)? Maybe you’d only do one for each season. Or maybe you’d do the full 12 months. Whether you’d gift one every holiday, every month, every Christmas, or just because –imagine the delight of the recipient!

Isn’t that one of the biggest joys of quilt-making — the giving?

Let’s take a tour through the year with Villa Rosa Table Runners.

January

Get Blizzard HERE

Get Ice Jam HERE

Get Snow Goose HERE

Get Winter Branches HERE

February

Get Love Notes HERE

Get Smitten HERE

March

Get Clover HERE

Get Lucky (the pattern) HERE

April

Get After the Rain HERE

Get Amen HERE

Get Fly Away HERE

Get Lil’ Umbrellas HERE

May

Get Bloom HERE

Get Flora HERE

Get Macarons HERE

Get Nana’s Aprons HERE

Get Pretty Posies HERE

June

Get Berry-Licious HERE

Get Blissful HERE

Get Blueberry Cobbler HERE

Get Fruit Salad HERE

Get Goody Goody Gumdrops HERE

Get Penny Candy HERE

Get Pinwheel Picnic HERE

July

Get Cotton Candy HERE

Get Firecracker HERE

Get Sew Charmed HERE

Get Unfurled HERE

August

Get Cabana HERE

Get Slice of Summer HERE

Get Sunny Day HERE

September

Get Coffee Break HERE

Get Housewarming HERE

Get Leaf HERE

MAPLE GROVE

Get Maple Grove HERE

Get Mod Tiles HERE

October

Get Bat Dance HERE

Get Cake Day HERE

(I included Cake Day for October since my birthday is in October! LOL!)

Get Harvest HERE

Get Pumpkin Hollow HERE

November

Get Baskets HERE

Get Griddle HERE

Get Let’s Eat! HERE

December

Get Blessings HERE

Get Gift Wrapped HERE

Get Merry Trees HERE

Get Peppermint & Holly HERE

Get Season’s Greetings HERE

Get Sugarplum HERE

I hope you enjoyed this curated selection of VRD Table Runners arranged by months of the year. Maybe these runners will inspire you like they’ve inspired me. I’m thinking “Table Runners Through the Year” would be a really fun trunk show or guild program. What do you think? Something to add to my to-do list?

Well, that’s it for me this week.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

Getting Organized for 2023 and a VRD Quilt Blog Hop!

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Here we are, wrapping up the year 2022. Already. Can you believe it? That’s really hard for me to wrap my head around!

How about you? Are you ready for a whole new year?

Image by Freepik

I used to write New Year’s Resolutions at the end of each year, but like most people, after a couple months, those Resolutions just didn’t resonate with me anymore and I failed more often than I succeeded. And each year, I would repeat the same process with the same results.

Somehow I stumbled onto the idea to write GOALS, not Resolutions.

Aha! Just a different word choice, but the same thing, you might think. But there is a big difference.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a Resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something.

A Goal on the other hand is defined as the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

Same general idea, but Resolutions and Goals really are different things.

So now I write down a list of Goals for each new year (PSST! I love writing lists! My sister, Tracy, knows this and gave me a list-making journal for Christmas. LOL!). For me, Resolutions just end in failure and why should I set myself up for failure when Goals are a more positive concept — goals in sports, anyone!?! — and feel more attainable to me. I have also discovered that Goals can change or morph into new Goals, they can have multiple components to accomplish, a series of steps to complete in a specific order or not, and I can even — gasp! — add, subtract, or refine Goals throughout the year.

Goals are definitely more valuable to me than Resolutions.

Do you do New Year’s Resolutions or Goals?

One of my biggest Goals every year is to Get Organized. It is certainly an ongoing project for me (as in ongoing for years…). Maybe this is one of yours too?

Something I’ve found out in the last couple years about myself is that keeping a planner/journal/calendar helps me to organize my goals, my thoughts, appointments, tasks, and more. Writing things down helps me to see my progress over time, plan what steps I need to do next, and even to change directions if I need to.

I am such a believer in planners/journals/calendars that — Big Surprise! — I even designed one, which incorporates blank weekly and monthly grids so people can start it whenever it’s convenient AND it’s a Block of the Month project too! Woo-hoo! Talk about multi-tasking — keep yourself organized and make a quilt one block at a time for a whole year!

It’s called the Blue Moon Block of the Month Quilter’s Planner and you can find it HERE.

I guess you could consider my planner my main tool for getting organized. Maybe 2023 will be my best organized year yet!

How do you approach getting organized? I can always use more tips!

Speaking of organization, recently I’ve been seeing some posts on our VRD Facebook pages about organizing Rose Cards. I know we’ve talked about this before — you can revisit the posts HERE and HERE. With over 500 patterns in our catalog with more added every month, we hope to offer some kind of storage option for your Rose Cards in the future.

What would you like to see? What kind of storage options for your Rose Cards would you be interested in? What do you need to keep your Rose Cards organized?

We’ve got a lot of new fun stuff coming in 2023 here at Villa Rosa Designs (not sure if some kind of Rose Card organizational tool will be one of them though) and I’m sew sew excited to tell you about the very first one coming in January — our very first Villa Rosa Designs Blog Hop!

VRD Blog Hop

What’s a Blog Hop? It’s a group of bloggers who write about a specific topic or theme. The participating bloggers write and share their posts during a specific period of time. During the blog hop, people can read the posts each day of the hop and register for prizes. YES! I said prizes! It’s a lot like a quilt shop hop, but you hop from blog to blog instead of store to store.

Our blog hop will be January 19-26, 2023 and we have a great group of participants who will be telling you all about their Fast & Fun VRD projects. We will also be offering a special Blog Hop Rose Card Collection.

Mark your calendars for January 19-26 and stay tuned for more about the Blog Hop next week.

Looking Ahead to 2023

What would you like to see in 2023 at Villa Rosa Designs? Ideas? Products? Are there new types of patterns you’d like to see that we aren’t already creating?

We always welcome your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to leave a comment on this post or email me at tricia@villarosadesigns.com.

Thank you, dear friends, for your support and enthusiasm for Villa Rosa Designs during 2022. We couldn’t do what we do without you and we are looking forward to a New Year filled with exciting new Rose Cards and more.

Stay safe and warm as you celebrate the New Year.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

A Quilty Christmas Party and Perfect Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas Quilters Can Make

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Today is December 15th — 10 days until Christmas!

Are you ready yet?

Gulp — other than shopping, I have yet to even get started. Oh wait! I put out a couple decorations in the living room and got the outside lights on. Hmm. That’s it.

Yikes! I’d better get moving, there’s only 10 days until Christmas…..

Background Image by Freepik

December Quilt Class Christmas Party

Recently, I wrapped up (pun intended) my 2022 Table Runner a Month class with a festive December Christmas party/class. What a lot of fun we had — we met an hour earlier than usual so we could do a pot luck lunch. YUM! I don’t know why, but quilting and food always go together. And chocolate — you have to have chocolate!

It was a soup and sandwich pot luck — we had 2 soups, sandwich wraps, meatballs, and an awesome assortment of everything else! Way too much food, but OH SO DELICIOUS! I tried my hand at potato soup. I ended up mashing 3 different recipes together. I made it on the stove top and then transferred it to a crock pot. I was amazed at how good it actually turned out, considering I’d never made potato soup this way before. In the past, I always started with a white sauce, but this time I started with chicken broth — I didn’t even have to add any flour — the starch in the potatoes thickened up the soup when I squashed them up with a spatula once they were soft. Of course, the cream cheese and shredded cheddar didn’t hurt any either! Here is one of the recipes I mashed up: Easy Potato Soup Recipe.

We did a 1 yard fabric exchange, too. For my group, that means we each brought the equivalent of about a yard of fabric in a gift bag or box (could be 4 fat quarters, 8 fat eighths, 1 charm pack, 2 half yards — you get the idea). To do the fabric exchange, we sat in a circle and played a Christmas game using a Right Left version of Frosty the Snowman.

Don’t know what a Right Left Gift Exchange is? You can go HERE for more information and 5 fun Right Left stories. Or just search “Right Left Christmas Game” on the Internet and you will get lots of different story options so you can choose your favorite! What I love about this game is that it doesn’t take a lot of time, you can do it with any size group, and no one’s feelings get hurt.

I also went over our December project and introduced the group to the Disappearing Nine and Four Patch blocks. Are you familiar with these? I just love all the different ways you can do them and how each time, your quilt looks completely unique even though you are using the same concept over and over. Lots of fun! If you are new to Disappearing Nine and Four Patch designs, you can go HERE for more information.

Our 2022 class was a Table Runner a Month theme this year (I try to choose a different theme or project each year). We began the class in March and met once a month through December. We skip January and February because those are usually the worst winter months in our area, but sometimes March and April can be worse than January and February. Oh, jolly Pennsylvania….. Each month in 2022, we made a different Villa Rosa Rose Card table runner pattern.

One of my quilty pals, Sherry, had been after me for a couple years to do a class on my VRD runners. I finally agreed to do a year of my VRD table runner Rose Cards for 2022 — it felt kind of weird to do an entire year of my own patterns, but Sherry was right — it turned out to be an awesome group/class.

Here is the list of the Rose Cards we did for 2022 (I added the links to the VRD website just in case you want to know more or purchase the patterns) —

March — Ice Jam

April — Belle Amie

May — Pinwheel Picnic

June — Unfurled

July — Whirly Bird

August — Lattice

September — Leaf

October — Dapper

November — Peppermint & Holly

December — Coffee Break

Now for the fun! Here are photos of some of the table runners made by members of the group.

Awesome runners, aren’t they??? And these are only some of the numerous runners!

I love how each person showed their own styles, used their own fabrics, modified the design by adding or subtracting borders, made the runners smaller or larger or even a square, and even made some runners extra special by piecing extra fabric into the backing. These ladies are not only talented, they are a great group of people.

I was so inspired this year using my Villa Rosa patterns, we are going to do a Year of Panels and Novelties in 2023, using — you guessed it — Villa Rosa patterns.

Villa Rosa Designs has over 500 patterns in our VRD catalog, so I could seriously go for years without using the same pattern twice. How cool is that? Besides, VRD releases 5+ NEW patterns every month — that’s over 60 NEW patterns EACH YEAR.

You might wonder why I am taking so much time to talk about the Table Runner class, but it leads right into my next topic!

Perfect Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas Quilters Can Make

Table Runners!

Yep — table runners are my go-to solution for a quick last minute handmade gift.

Let’s break this down:

Table Runners are….

  1. quilts
  2. handmade
  3. a very personal gift
  4. a lot faster to make than larger quilts
  5. easy to personalize to the recipient
  6. less expensive to make because they require small amounts of fabric
  7. precut and stash-friendly
  8. a great gift for practically anyone on your list
  9. special
  10. AWESOME!

Of course, any small quilt or project that can be finished quickly makes a great last minute gift — table runners, place mats, wall quilts, table quilts, doll quilts, mini quilts, pillows, and more.

Villa Rose Designs has got your back, I promise you!

A stack of VRD Rose Cards makes an amazing gift for yourself or your favorite quilty pals, too…..just sayin’……..

If you don’t have time to make a runner or other project before the holidays, consider gifting a quilt kit — pick a fun pattern and add the required fabrics for the top and binding. A kit for your fav quilty friend will give that person something new and fun to do during the winter months. Or gift a kit to a non-quilty person with a note saying you will complete it for them after the holidays.

However you do it, here are some great Villa Rosa Designs Rose Card patterns to inspire you:

Table Runners and Place Mats

Amen uses pre-printed panel squares or a theme fabric which means some of the work is already done for you before you even get started.

Griddle uses stash or scraps so there’s no need to head to the quilt shop (unless you really want to…).

Ripple Runner is super fast to make and finish. Short on time? Use a light, medium, and dark fabric instead of making it scrappy. Or go Christmas scrappy — what fun!

Season’s Greetings is a no-brainer — really. Don’t have fat sixths (12″ x 22″)? Dive into your scraps and stash instead!

Sugarplum is a super simple and cute pattern that goes together in a snap. 1 fat quarter and a bunch a scraps. Sew sew sew! Presto! DONE!

Let’s Eat is a fun set of place mats that uses pre-printed panel squares or a theme fabric which means of course that some of the work is already done for you.

Small Quilts

Baby Goose is a great versatile quilt at 42″ x 58″ and can be backed with only one width of fabric. It would take longer than a table runner to make, but it still goes very fast because the focal fabric does most of the work.

Blue Girl — just 3 fabrics….

Cabin Fever is the perfect size for a baby quilt or a wall quilt or a small lap quilt AND it goes really fast.

Cat City for your favorite feline lover. Go HERE for a 2 Cat City quilt block mini cat quilt tutorial.

Dainty Machines has directions for multiple sizes, including a 26″ x 26″ mini quilt with 4 blocks. You can check out my interview with Sewl Sister HERE.

Mod Tiles and Mod Tiles Too — got charm squares???

Fun Stuff

Did you know we have a whole VRD collection of Accessory Rose Cards? Accessories make great gifts for anyone and everyone. I’ll show you some of my favs, but you can click on the link above to see the whole collection.

Olivia Jane — a Charm Square Patchwork Tote

Savannah Jane — Cool pieced scarf. Add a fleece backing to make it cozy for winter.

Belinda Jane — Pillow Sham

Petula Jane — Roll & Go Place Mat and Napkin

Emmalina Jane — Eyeglass Case

I hope these great projects have not only inspired you but give you the desire to whip up those last minute holiday gifts. There’s still time, but you’d better hurry!

Well, that’s it for this week.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat. And SEW some more.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

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

A Thanksgiving Turkey (Quilt Block) For You!

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Huh! It just occurred to me that our weekly Thursday blog post will happen on Thanksgiving Day!

I was planning to return to my Panel Quilt series, but then I thought it would be fun to design a little project just for Y-O-U as a Thanksgiving gift, because we here at Villa Rosa Designs couldn’t exist without the loyal support of you, our enthusiastic VRD fans and supporters. We are sew thankful for you.

Image by Freepik

What are your traditions for Thanksgiving? Do you cook a big family meal? Go out for Thanksgiving dinner? Watch football? Attend or watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Do you celebrate alone or with a big boisterous family? Do you celebrate at someone else’s home or does everyone come to yours? Do you get a head start on your holiday shopping?

Thanksgiving is generally a small quiet affair with my family. Sometimes we cook and eat in, but in the past we’ve gone out, too. Usually there are just three of us but occasionally my sister and her family will stop by later for pumpkin pie. Depending on which teams are playing football on Thanksgiving, I usually find a little time to get some quilting in while my family is cheering on their team.

My favorite Thanksgiving holidays have been spent at my Aunt Helen’s house with my many cousins and their families. My Aunt’s house is usually bursting at the seams with people and dogs. Squabbling, laughter, enough amazing food to feed an army, and lots of good conversation and memories. Football on the television in the living room. Sometimes cards or board games after dinner at the kitchen table. Good times and new memories in the making.

All of these warm fuzzy feelings and memories made me want to design a special Turkey Quilt Block as a way to say “Thank You” to all of you! I was inspired by Lori Holt’s Tom Turkey Quilt Block tutorial, but I created my own turkey block, based on a humble Nine Patch because I wanted my Talking Turkey block to be happy and plump.

My Talking Turkey block finishes at 16″ high by 22″ wide.

Below is my sample Talking Turkey block. Isn’t he a handsome fellow????

Now that you’ve seen how yummy this block turned out, let’s get started on the tutorial!

Talking Turkey Quilt Block Tutorial

Supplies

12 assorted charm squares (5″) for the feathers/body

1 fat quarter for the background

1 fat eighth brown for the head/neck

Scrap of red for the wattle, approximately 2″ x 5″

Cutting

Background: 3 5″ squares, 1 4 1/2″ square, 3 2 1/2″ squares, 1 2 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ rectangle, 1 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rectangle, 1 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle, 1 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle , and 1 1/2″ square

Red Scrap: Trim to 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″

Brown: 1 2 1/2″ x 16 1/2″ rectangle, 1 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle, and 1 2 1/2″ square

Making the Block

Step1. Trim 9 assorted charm squares down to 4 1/2″ and sew them together into a Nine Patch block.

Step 2. Layer a print 5″ square right sides together (RST) with a background 5″ square. Draw a diagonal line from one corner to the opposite corner. Sew 1/4″ away from both side of the drawn line. Cut apart on the drawn line. Press units open to make 2 Half Square Triangle blocks (HSTs). Repeat to make a total of 6 HSTs. Trim your HSTs to 4 1/2″ if needed.

Step 3. Sew 3 assorted HSTs together into a row with the top point to the right as shown.

Step 4. Sew the remaining 3 HSTs together with the top point to the left as shown. (You are making a mirror image of the unit in Step 3.)

Step 5. Sew the HST unit from Step 3 to the top of your Nine Patch block.

Step 6. Sew a 4 1/2″ background square to the left end of the HST unit from Step 4. Then sew the HST strip to the right side of the Nine Patch block.

Step 7. Layer a background 2 1/2″ square RST on the end of the brown 2 1/2″ x 16 1/2″ rectangle. Draw a diagonal line from the top left corner to the opposite corner. Sew on the line. Trim away the waste piece 1/4″ beyond the sewing line. Open and press.

Step 8. Layer a background 2 1/2″ square on the other end of the brown 2 1/2″ x 16 1/2″ rectangle. Draw a diagonal line from the top left corner to the opposite corner. Sew on the line. Trim away the waste piece 1/4″ beyond the sewing line. Open and press.

Step 9. Layer a background 2 1/2″ square RST on the end of a brown 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle. Draw a diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the opposite corner. Sew on the line. Trim away the waste pieces 1 /4″ beyond the sewing line. Open and press.

Step 10. Layer a background 1 1/2″ square RST on the end of a red 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle. Draw a diagonal line from the bottom left corner to the opposite corner. Sew on the line. Trim away the waste pieces 1/4″ beyond the sewing line. Open and press.

Step 11. Sew a background 1 1/4″ x 4 1/2″ to the Step 10 unit. Then sew a 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ rectangle to the bottom of the unit as shown.

Step 12. Sew the brown unit from Step 9 to the end of the unit from Step 11.

Step 13. Layer a brown 2 1/2″ square RST on the end of a background 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ rectangle. Draw a diagonal line from bottom left corner to the opposite corner. Sew on the line. Trim away the waste pieces 1 /4″ beyond the sewing line. Open and press. Then sew the unit on the right end of a background 2 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ rectangle.

Step 14. Sew the units from Steps 8, 12, and 13 together to make the turkey head, wattle, and neck.

Step 15. Sew the front of the turkey from Step 14 to the back of the turkey from Step 6.

Voila! A plump and yummy Talking Turkey block for you to enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving to you!

As per our Copyright for Quilters post last week, I give you permission to use my original Talking Turkey quilt block for personal and commercial use, as long as you provide proper attribution that I am the designer of the Talking Turkey quilt block.

Add a narrow border, quilt and bind for a little wall or table quilt.

Enjoy!

Until next Thursday —

Eat. Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

Fireworks and the NEW Villa Rosa Quilt Patterns for July
Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Fireworks and the NEW Villa Rosa Quilt Patterns for July

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Another Happy Thursday to you!

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July week end — how fun that the actual July 4th was on Monday. I bet a lot of you had a 3 day week end. Sew, what did you do for the holiday?

And I’d like to add a belated Happy Canada Day for our friends in Canada! How did you celebrate?

Celebrating the 4th of July for me is usually family, food, and fireworks in no particular order. I personally saw fireworks 3 times — 2 were live and 1 was a live stream of Boom over the Bay in Erie, PA. I love watching fireworks, although I am not a fan of the big booms themselves. I saw a lot of new fireworks this past week end, including hearts and stars as well as some awesome color combinations. Did you know that the Chinese invented fireworks thousands of years ago?

I even tried to capture a few photos of the amazing fireworks display in Sheakleyville, PA.

I even managed to start a new quilt project. Psst…….it’s red, white, and blue……and batik! Stay tuned for more on this project down the road.

Have you ever thought about creating a quilt that looks like fireworks? I do every time I see fireworks, but that’s as far as it ever goes. Maybe this year will be different and I’ll give it a try. Who knows?

NEW July VRD Patterns

Speaking of fireworks, the new July VRD patterns are out! Here’s my new table runner pattern for July, Firecracker:

Isn’t it fun? AND it goes together really really fast. You can order the pattern HERE. Or you can order a kit which includes the pattern HERE. Please keep in mind I don’t know how long the kit will be available so get yours now.

But wait! There’s MORE! (I just love saying that — it makes me giggle, although you might be rolling your eyes…)

One of the VRD folks came up with this super fun variation:

POPSICLES! How fun is this? And clever?? You can order the Firecracker Popsicles kit HERE. Again, I have no idea how long the kit will last, so get don’t wait to order yours.

And finally, here are the rest of the NEW patterns for July:

Aren’t they great? You can order all 5 cards for one low price HERE.

And these are the links to the kits (which include the pattern as well as the fabrics for the top and binding). Remember, there is no way to know how long the kits will last, so get yours now:

Sugar & Spice

Love Cats

Rainbow Road

Dainty Machines — Please note the kit for Dainty Machines makes a 32″ x 32″ quilt. Super cute, may I add! This would be perfect in your sewing room or as a gift for your fav quilting buddy.

Optic

Well, that’s it for this week.

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD

A Little Gardening and Cake Day Quilt Block Assembly Tips
Rose Cards · Tips and Tricks · Tutorials · villa rosa designs

A Little Gardening and Cake Day Quilt Block Assembly Tips

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you! I hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far.

My summer just got a whole lot better! Just recently my family got in gear and finally got our little back porch raised garden planted. And our flowers, too. We may be running a little behind, but I have hopes that in late summer/early fall we’ll be enjoying some fresh veggies picked right out of our little garden pf goodness. If it goes well, next year we are going to add a second raised bed garden.

I used to be an avid gardener way back when, but gave up the year I planted my garden twice and the critters ate everything before it even had a chance to grow. That was it.

But now I’m excited to try container gardening. Besides, ”container gardening” sounds so trendy, don’t you agree?

Cake Day Quilt Block Assembly Tips

I thought I’d share a quick tutorial on how I put the Cake Day table runner quilt block together along with some of my favorite piecing tips.

Cake Day Table Runner Rose Card Pattern

You can get your own Cake Day Table Runner Rose Card pattern HERE.

Often, I prefer to cut out all my pieces for the blocks before I start sewing. I find this is usually quicker than cutting and sewing one block at a time.

Here you can see the pieces all laid out in the right order (all four blocks are stacked) on a flannel board and then I can simply take everything to my sewing machine. This works well if you have to stop in the middle and come back to your project later. Everything stays right where you left — unless of course, you have gremlins or leprechauns or some other little mischievous creatures running around your sewing room when you are not looking.

I have also found that laying out and stacking the pieces in order makes sewing them together faster and easier because I don’t have to stop and figure out where each piece goes.

With all the pieces cut and laid out right sides up, sewing them together is a breeze, especially when I chain-stitch the units one right after the other without cutting my thread in between the units.

Nope! No need to head to my ironing board after clipping the thread between the units, I just kept sewing and chain-stitched the other side too.

I have discovered that the less I press as I’m putting together quilt blocks, the less the blocks stretch or get distorted, which of course improves the accuracy of my sewing.

In the next photo you can see I have the left side background sewn to the Cake print rectangles. Now it’s time to sew the right side.

All right! All the units are sewn together and I’ve clipped the threads between them. I made double sure I layered the units again exactly the same as when I started — we’re ready for the next step.

Again, I’m going to ignore my iron (it must be getting lonely). Time to sew the units together. More chain piecing.

Want to know what happens when I get to seams (remember I haven’t done any pressing at this point)? I’ve already decided which way I wanted my seams to go so as I sew, I hold them down and keep on sewing. Pedal to the metal!

In this next photo you can see I sewed the top unit to the second unit. We’re on a roll — let’s keep sewing.

Okay, we’re almost there! I sewed the rest of the units all together and presto — all 4 of our blocks are now complete and I didn’t even have to get up from my sewing machine.

All right, all right, I relented and finally pressed my blocks — my iron was getting a little dusty from disuse.

Voila! Here is a finished Cake Day block. It’s a cutie, isn’t it?

My 4 blocks are now ready to assemble into a runner. There are sew many possibilities for this runner — birthdays, weddings, showers, parties, and the list goes on and on.

Any day can be a “Cake Day.” What’s yours?

Until next Thursday —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @VRD