Tag: villa rosa quilts

2025 Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) Series · Quilt As Desired · Tips and Tricks · villa rosa designs

Beginner Free Motion Quilting (FMQ) Lesson 1: All the Background Information

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Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

I’ve been itching to do a new series on the blog and decided that I really wanted to do one about Free Motion Quilting, or FMQ for short. I taught beginner FMQ at my local quilt shops for many years, but it’s been awhile since I’ve taught a class that I also thought it would be fun to revisit my FMQ techniques and share them with you.

This series will be aimed at beginning Free Motion Quilters, but more experienced quilters are of course welcome. LOL! I thought I’d start off with an intro post about getting ready to quilt.

Is there anything specific you would like me to address in this Beginner FMQ series? I’ll try to include it.

Let’s get started!

What the Heck is Free Motion Quilting (FMQ)?

Before we can go much further, I’d like to take a minute and talk about what FMQ really is.

A lot of quilters I know use a walking foot and quilt straight lines on their quilts with their feed dogs up. This is great and gets the job done, but this in NOT FMQ.

Ruler work is starting to take hold in my area now, but this isn’t exactly FMQ either, but it has many similarities.

Free Motion Quilting is exactly as the name implies — it is free motion quilting. This means that you, the quilter, are moving the quilt sandwich. Yes, you can FMQ on a long arm quilting machine, but for this series I am going to work from the domestic machine perspective as that is how I roll.

The feed dogs are down (or covered) when you are Free Motion Quilting and you, the quilter, are making things move which then creates whatever design you are quilting. The machine’s job is simply to provide the juice so the needle will go up and down.

Don’t believe me? Watch this quick video:

The needle goes up and down really fast. And that’s it!

If you still don’t believe me, try it yourself. Disengage your feed dogs, attach a FM foot (darning foot) and push your foot pedal to the metal. No hands!

See??? All the needle does is go up and down really fast until you make a thread knot on the back and your thread eventually breaks. That’s it.

YOU are what creates the actual quilting design in FMQ. YOU are in control.

One more thing about true FMQ — we don’t really mark our quilts or try to quilt on a drawn line. True Free Motion Quilting is free.

When I was a beginning quilter, I tried hand-quilting and my stitches were terribly huge. So then I tried machine quilting in the ditch and couldn’t quilt a straight line to save my life. Then I finally discovered FMQ and found out I wasn’t a complete dunce and I really could machine quilt. Yay me!

The Fear of Free Motion Quilting

As a FMQ instructor for many years, I heard a lot of different ideas about FMQ from my students. One of the most repeated statements was a fear of how fast FMQ looks.

Please don’t be afraid of speed in FMQ. YOU are the one moving the quilt around on your domestic sewing machine. The machine itself just powers the needle to go up and down. If you’ve forgotten, watch the video, above, again to remind you.

The machine is not moving anything — YOU are moving the quilt sandwich so the speed at which you move the quilt is entirely up to you. The needle’s job is just to go up and down. What you do and what the needle does are 2 different things. You need to focus on moving the quilt sandwich at a comfortable speed for you, not trying to go as fast as the needle is going up and down. You will need to find the perfect balance for YOU.

Take a deep breath and repeat after me — “My job is to move the quilt. The needle’s job is to go up and down.” Repeat as many times as you need to in order to internalize and believe this statement.

Another fear I have frequently heard was that quilters were afraid of the needle itself. Just like when we are sewing a seam, we have to keep in mind where our fingers are in relation to the needle. So it is with FMQ. Keep your hands away from the needle by repositioning frequently. We’ll talk about this more later in the series.

No fear, okay? With a little practice, FMQ is a lot of fun and it’s very satisfying to machine quilt your own projects.

The Tools of FMQ

Like anything else, yep, there are tools that can make FMQ easier and more comfortable. Of course, the tools I am going to talk about below are the ones I personally use, and may not be what works for everyone. So please use what tools work best for you. If you’re not sure what works for you yet, try out some different ones to see what you like. If you were a student in my class, I would have all of the thing below so that you could try them out. I’ve even had students use my own sewing machine in class.

Sewing Machine

This is an absolute must for FMQ! LOL!

You don’t need a fancy shmancy machine, though, to successfully FMQ your quilts. What you do need is a reliable sewing machine on which you can drop your feed dogs. Dropping (or disengaging) the feed dogs is a lot better than simply covering the feed dogs. The cover can create a bump on your machine bed which may have a negative affect on your FMQ.

A heavier machine is a better choice than a lightweight one because the lighter the machine, the more it will bounce while you FMQ.

Just a heads up — my quilty pal, Mary Lee, found out the hard way that older Pfaff machines DO NOT like to do FMQ. It just about ruined her machine. She ended up buying a Janome.

Janomes are great machines for FMQ. I can say that personally because I’ve had 2 different Janomes. My current one is a Horizon MC8900 QCP. I’m not sure if they even make this model anymore, though, as it’s some years old now. What makes my big machine awesome at FMQ is that it has a large throat at 11″. I know that some domestic machines are being made today with even larger throats. Wowza!

If you are considering a new machine, head to your local machine retailer (which is also one of my local quilt shops for me). Talk to the people, tell them what you need and might want to do in the future with your machine. Make sure you test lots of different machines. Take your time selecting you new best quilting friend. I’ve bought machines online and I’ve bought machines at my local quilt shop. The best part of buying at your local shop is the customer service. You don’t get that online.

Get the biggest throat on your new machine you can afford. Make sure the feed dogs drop. Does it come with all the quilting feet or do you have to buy them separately? Remember, take your time and get the best machine that does what you want it to do at a price you can afford. You can always upgrade sometime down the road if your needs change.

Needles

I found out a long time ago that quilting needles worked better than universal needles for, well, quilting. There is pretty much a needle for any type of sewing you want to do — embroidery, jeans, etc. So why shouldn’t we be using quilting needles for quilting?

Here are the needles I’ve used and been happy with:

Klasse Quilting Needles 80/12

Klasse Quilting Needles 90/14

Schmetz Quilting Needles 80/12

Schmetz Quilting Needles 90/14

Janome Purple Tip Needles

Klasse and Schmetz needles are very good and easy to find at your local shop or online. But these days, I primarily use Janome Purple Tip needles for piecing and quilting on my Janome machine. My machine likes these needles best and as I like to keep my sewing machine happy, I use Purple Tip needles.

You might want to check with your sewing machine manufactureror your local retailer to find out what needles they recommend for free motion quilting on your particular sewing machine.

Sewing Machine Foot

In order to do FMQ, you will need a darning foot, which is also called a FMQ foot or a hopping foot.

Please make sure to check your sewing machine manual to find out what type of shank your machine has. These days most are low shank, but there are also high shank and slant shank.

If you are fortunate, your sewing machine might have come with a set of quilter’s feet which usually includes a 1/4″ foot for piecing, a walking foot for straight line quilting, and a darning foot for FMQ. If your machine didn’t come with a darning foot, you will need to purchase one. Please make sure to check your sewing machine manual to find out what type of shank your machine has. These days most are low shank, but there are also high shank and slant shank machines. A good place to start is your machine retailer who will hopefully have the foot you need to fit your sewing machine. If you cannot find one that matches your machine, there are different generic feet available out there.

Here are some darning foot examples.

When it comes to the darning foot I use on my machine, I have a convertible foot that came with my machine, but can be bought separately.

Janome Convertible Free Motion Foot for low shank machines

You might wonder why I like this FMQ foot system the best. First, it work great with my machine. Second, I prefer an open toe for my FMQ foot and this set has one. And third, it doesn;t hop up and down — it’s stationary, so FMQ is smoother, which improves my quilting.

Extension Table

Does your sewing machine have an extension table? My Janome does as do my 2 smaller Brother machines. An extension table is a great thing when you are doing FMQ because it gives your hands somewhere to rest while you work. Most sewing machine beds are pretty small which doesn’t give you much room to work. An extension table is like a super secret FMQ weapon!

If you are lucky, your sewing machine came with an extension table built exclusively for your machine model. If you don’t have one, check with your local machine retailer to see if there is one that fits your machine. Of course, there are generic extension tables too, but I personally feel that they don’t fit your machine as well as one specifically built for that model.

An example of a sewing machine with an extension table.

Gloves

When I first began FMQ, I didn’t even know there were gloves out there for FMQ. I saw my first pair of gloves in a lovely urban quilt shop called Quiltology in Chicago (the shop is now closed and morphed into a personal design studio) when I was at a teaching conference years and years ago (I slipped away for a few hours one afternoon and took a cab to the shop). The first pair of gloves I ever used were called Machingers.

Wow! What a difference in my FMQ when I started using gloves. I had much better control over the quilt sandwich and I had better gripping power. The only problem I experienced with Machingers was that the elastic wrists stretched out after a while and the gloves were kind of loose.

Eventually I stumbled onto Grabaroos. They fit more snugly than the Machingers and were nice and cool, even when I was FMQ in the middle of a hot summer day in my un-air conditioned studio, but the fingers were a bit too long for me. But they worked great and I kept improving my machine quilting. Alas, the wrist elastic also stretched out and I went through several pairs a year.

Then some years ago, I went to a Quilt Market Schoolhouse lecture and found the perfect machine quilting gloves for me! Swan Amity gloves. Yep, I’ve talked about these gloves before. I love that they are leather and they have an adjustable wrist strap so they fit perfectly every time. And they last a long time! My first pair lasted for years and I’d still be using them right now except I bought another pair a a couple years ago.

Do you have to have gloves for FMQ? No, not really. BUT, like a sewing machine extension table, quilting gloves are a secret weapon in your FMQ arsenal.

Supreme Slider

As I’ve become a more experienced free motion quilter, I rarely use my Supreme Slider anymore. But it is a good tool to have around so that when your quilt sandwich just won’t slide nicely on your sewing machine bed, you can take a quick break and slap on your Supreme Slider. Voila! Your quilt sandwich now slides around for lovely consistent smooth stitching.

A Supreme Slider is a super slippery Teflon sheet that sticks to your sewing machine bed. It has a tacky back that is reusable — you just need to dampen it and pat it dry so it sticks again.

Just a note — do make sure your Supreme Slider is tacky and sticks to your machine bed. If it isn’t sticking, you will sew the thing to the back of your quilt. Been there, done that. Learn from my mistake.

A Supreme Slider is a very thin slippery sheet that sticks to your sewing machine bed.

A Supreme Slider really does improve your FMQ by reducing friction between your quilt sandwich and the sewing machine bed.

Sewer’s Aid

I’m sure I’ve talked about Sewer’s Aid before. It is another one of those FMQ tools that are great to have around when you need them, although you might not use it very often. There are times that I get so frustrated with my FMQ — those days when no matter what I do, my thread keeps breaking. UGH! So, what do I do??? I drop beads of Sewer’s Aid all over my spool of thread, re-thread my machine, take the bobbin out and put it back in, and then I get back to the business of FMQ.

I call this stuff liquid magic!

Sewer’s Aid is a polymer liquid you drop onto your spool of thread which then helps your thread to pass smoothly through the machine without breaking. Yup, it reduces friction for the thread just like the Supreme Slider does for your quilt sandwich.

Do you have to have all of these things to get started with Free Motion Quilting? Of course not, but I am a proponent for using tools to make sure I achieve the positive results I want. The tools, above, help you to be more successful with FMQ. Of course, there are lots of other FMQ tools out there. What are your favorites?

Thread

Have you looked at thread lately? There is so much to choose from these days. When I first started FMQ, “machine quilting” were bad words in the quilt community so we free motion quilters used invisible thread because it supposedly looked more like hand quilting (naw, it didn’t look anything like hand quilting). Eventually, FMQ became its own art form with its own super stars. Now your choices of thread are literally mind-boggling.

I guess you could call me old school because I prefer 100% long staple cotton thread for piecing and FMQ. Over the years, I’ve tried other types of threads, but I always come back to my cotton thread. I like how it quilts, how it looks, and my machines have always liked cotton thread the best.

So, what kind of thread should you use? These days, pretty much anything goes. My suggestion is to try out different types of threads and see what you — and your machine — like the best.

I do caution you, however, about using old spools of thread. Thread can weaken over time, so as economical and green as it sounds to use old spools of thread, I recommend that you steer clear of them. You don’t want you quilt to fall apart someday down the road.

Books, Websites, and More

As a former teacher and librarian, of course I have a list of helpful books for FMQ. Tehehe….

First Steps to Free-Motion Quilting

Both Angela Walters and Christa Watson have been very inspirational to me. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both of them in person at Quilt Market.

Free Motion Quilting with Angela Walters
This was Angela’s first book. Now she has a lot of books about machine quilting.
How Do I Quilt It? Christa also has quite a few books out there on machine quilting.

Leah Day was probably the first Free Motion Quilter I ever actually saw in action on the Internet.

365 Free Motion Quilting Designs This book is out of print now so if you see it, snap it up. Years ago Leah Day challenged herself to do a new FMQ design every day for a year. On her website she has 100 of the designs as free tutorials.

These days, you can find tons of beginner FMQ videos, blogs, and how-tos online. Just make sure they are giving you quality information. There are many different sewing and crafting academies online, too, where you can take video classes. You might want to check them out.

Well, I think that’s enough introductory information today. Join me next week for more FMQ!

Take a little time for yourself and quilt.

Until next week — 

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

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

VRD Adobo Quilt Tutorial and NEW VRD January Rose Card Quilt Patterns

rosecards1 Comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday!

Hi guys! Psst! It’s me, Molly!

It’s been a long time since I jumped on here for a tutorial, but I finally got this one put together just for you!

I was looking at some panels in the shop recently (to see my tour of the VRD shop, go HERE) to sew up into a quilt. I was SEW inspired by the National Parks panels and I LOVE that there are a couple of different choices. Have you seen these yet???

Utah
California

You can find the Utah panel HERE and the California panel HERE.

We also have some awesome Rose Card patterns to showcase these great panels!

Both are fun and amazing patterns — of course, I might be a little biased, since one is my sister’s pattern and the other one is mine. LOL! 😁

If you don’t already have these great patterns in your stash, you can find digital Picture Perfect HERE, digital Adobo HERE, print Picture Perfect HERE, and print Adobo HERE.

For today’s tutorial, though, I’m going to do Heidi’s pattern Adobo because I really want to use the Riley Blake Utah panel.

VRD Adobo Quilt Pattern Tutorial

GUESS WHAT????

You can sew along with me! We made up kits for today’s tutorial. Go grab your Utah Adobo kit HERE and we can sew together! How cool is that?

Your Adobo kit will include all the fabric for the top and binding as well as the pattern.

I wanted to make this Adobo quilt in all Riley Blake Designs (RBD) so I found some RBD fabrics that pulled out the colors from the panel — Poparazzi sand for the background, Poparazzi brown for the sashing, with Dapple orange, Blossom brown, and Blossom green for the Flying Geese.

Let’s get started!

Cut the squares from the background and the coordinates. Pair up each coordinate square to a background square.

Make Half Square Triangles (HSTs) by drawing a diagonal line then sewing 1/4” on either side. Cut apart and press open. Don’t forgot to square up your HSTs if needed.

Tip from Heidi (who’s keeping an eye on me as I work on this tutorial) – Press half the seams of each color HST to the background and the other half to the color.

Now sew 2 matching HSTs together to make a Flying Geese Block A. If you pressed half of the HSTs to the colored fabric and the other half to the background, use one of each to make a Flying Geese Block A. Like magic, the seams will lock together! Great tip, Heidi!

Next we need to create a Flying Geese block for the sashing center. We’re going to use a slightly different technique for this one.

Layer a background square right sides together (RST) on the side of a rectangle sashing fabric. Draw a diagonal line from the bottom outside corner to the opposite top corner. Sew on the drawn line and cut 1/4″ away from the line. Repeat for the other side. Make 4 Flying Geese units.

Next sew background squares to the ends of 2 Flying Geese units.

Sew the 2 Flying Geese units to the sides of an orange square. Then sew the Flying Geese units with the background squares on the ends to the top and bottom. Make 1 Block B.

Molly’s Tip – If using your main print for the center square, cut it from the yardage after you cut your main print/panel C pieces.

Instead of using a main print, though, I’m using the Utah panels so we just need to cut them apart (make sure they are the right measurements – trim if needed).

If using a main fabric, cut the C pieces to the size listed on the pattern.

Next, cut the sashing and add them to sides first, then to the top and bottom. Make 4.

Lay out the main print/panel C pieces and the Flying Geese Block A’s so the Geese are flying away from the center. Sew together (please note that I added an extra background strip to the top and bottom of my quilt. Feel free to do the same, but you will need a little bit more background fabric).

Layer your quilt. Quilt it as desired. Bind it. And don’t forget your label!

TA DA! That’s it! Done! Eazy piezy!

I’m going to add one more little detail to my quilt — I’m going to embroider UTAH in the center square!

Here are some other fun Adobo quilts VRD has as kits. You can find them HERE.

Kitty The Cat
Call of the Wild

Thanks for stopping by and sewing with me!

Now let’s check out the new January VRD Rose Card patterns!

NEW January VRD Rose Card Patterns

I’m excited that I get to show the new patterns off today! Tricia usually does it, but today it’s my turn. Yay!

Here are the 5 main patterns.

Look! There are 2 panel quilt patterns this month – one using a 24″ panel and the other one uses a 36″ panel. Cool!

Rewey uses fat eighths, Pink Piece uses fat quarters, and Yorkshire uses half yards.

This set of patterns gives you a nice variety to add to your VRD Rose Card collection. You can get all 5 print patterns HERE (if you want digital patterns, you can order each pattern individually).

But wait — there’s more (Sorry, been wanting to say that)!

Tricia has a new table runner for you called Snowfall.

You can get the print Snowfall HERE or the digital Snowfall HERE.

And here’s our 11th Snack Mat, Woolly Mitten (just in case you’re keeping track, this is the next to the last one).

You can get the print Woolly Mitten Snack Mat HERE or the digital Woolly Mitten Snack Mat HERE.

We still have some kits available for this month’s patterns (if you know me, I’m all about kits). Get yours now before they’re gone cause they’re going fast.

Farm Fresh (with the Out of Farm’s Way collection)

Pink Peace (with the pink Tim Holtz fabrics)

Yorkshire (with the Elegance collection)

Yorkshire (with the Toil & Trouble Halloween collection)

Rewey (with Australian fabrics)

Well, that’s it from me. I can’t wait to see your Adobo quilts.

Until next time —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Later,

Molly

Curated Rose Card Pattern Lists · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

A Curated Collection of Winter VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns

rosecards3 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you! And Happy New Year!

To start out 2025, I thought I’d do a curated winter pattern list just for you with lots of great Inspiration for the new year as well as some lovely seasonal quilts to warm you heart and soul through the winter.

So sit back, grab a cuppa, and enjoy!

Curated Winter VRD Rose Card Quilt Patterns

Imagine skiing down the slopes and seeing the sugar-sprinkled trees with curious wildlife peaking out at you as you zoom by.

Alpine Valley Digital or Print pattern

Time to snuggle in and wait the snow storm out.

Blizzard Digital or Print pattern

Cozy up under a warm quilt with your favorite book.

Bookend Digital or Print pattern

Restless and waiting for spring.

Cabin Fever Digital or Print pattern

Time to break out the games for Family Game Night.

Candy Land Digital or Print pattern

Another classic game to while away a cold and snowy afternoon.

Chutes & Ladders Digital or Print pattern

Perk up your day with your favorite coffee mug.

Coffee Break Digital or Print pattern

Don’t forget your mittens!

Color Mittens Digital or Print pattern

A little needlework helps to pass the time.

Cross Stitched Digital or Print pattern

Winter is the perfect season to quilt, quilt, quilt!

Dainty Machines Digital or Print pattern

You can’t go wrong with a blue and white quilt for winter.

Farmhouse Blues Digital or Print pattern

A warm fire crackling in the fireplace….

Firelight Digital or Print pattern

Celebrate the New Year!

First Night Digital or Print pattern

Pretty lacy designs decorate the windows on a cold winter morning.

Frosted Window Panes Digital or Print pattern

Game on! Hockey. Football. Basketball.

Game Play Digital or Print pattern

Gather your loved ones around you.

Gathering Digital or Print pattern

Anytime is the right time for a cup of hot cocoa. With extra marshmallows!

Hot Cocoa Digital or Print pattern

Stay inside where it’s warm when the winter winds blow and freeze the outside world.

Ice Jam Digital or Print pattern

Ice is nice. Sometimes….

Iceberg Digital or Print pattern

Curl up beside the fire.

Inglenook Digital or Print pattern

The snow dusts the trees like sugar cookies.

Into the Trees Digital or Print pattern

Wear your woolies when you go.

Klondike Digital or Print pattern

Dashing through the snow.

Midnight Path Digital or Print pattern

Stop and watch the Canadian geese flying overhead.

Migration Digital or Print pattern

Finding the mailbox can be an adventure!

Pathways Digital or Print pattern

Listen to the snow fall and be at peace with the world.

Peace Digital or Print pattern

Just One. Perfect. Moment.

Perfect Moment Digital or Print pattern

Frugal is the name of the game after the holidays.

Pocket Change Digital or Print pattern

New fallen snow sparkles in the winter sun.

Pristine Digital or Print pattern

Time for a good old-fashioned jigsaw puzzle.

Puzzled Digital or Print pattern

Winter is a great time to get to know your fabric stash again.

Quilter’s Palette Digital or Print pattern

Blue skies and winter white snow.

Ripple Runner Digital or Print pattern

Grab your skis and head to the mountains.

Sierra Snow Digital or Print pattern

Geese flying in a velvet sky on a winter’s night.

Snow Goose Digital or Print pattern

There are treasures out there.

Snow Ruby Digital or Print pattern

Red berries on winter snow.

Snowberry Digital or Print pattern

Time to watch sports and cheer on your favorite team.

Sport’n Digital or Print pattern

Reading aloud to a child is pure pleasure.

Storybook Digital or Print pattern

Baby, it’s cold outside!

Sweater Weather Digital or Print pattern

A cup of afternoon tea is truly a delight.

Tea with Mara Digital or Print pattern

Another classic game to beat the winter doldrums.

Tic Tac Toad Digital or Print pattern

Snowflakes twirl and whirl about.

Whirlaway Digital or Print pattern

Shhhhh. The trees are sleeping.

Winter Branches Digital or Print pattern

I grow snowflakes in my winter garden.

Winter Garden Digital or Print pattern

Rays of light warm the earth in winter.

Winter Sun Digital or Print pattern

I hope you found some new-to-you patterns to add to your personal Rose Card collection. Remember, there’s never any shipping on patterns. I look forward to seeing your winter projects on our VRD Facebook page.

Oh! Almost forgot!

What content would you like to see this year on the VRD blog???

That’s it for me.

Until next week — 

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

Villa Rosa Quilt Challenges 2024

rosecards1 Comment

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Merry Day After Christmas!

I also want to wish our friends a Happy Hanukkah and a Joyous Kwanza!

If you celebrate Christmas, do you have any special traditions for the day after? When I was a kid, we used to head to the mall for all the deep discounts. As I got older, the 26th became a day to sleep in and chill out, eat leftovers, spend some quality time with my gifts (my family, too — LOL!), listen to Christmas music, and maybe even watch Christmas movies. I think this year I’m going to wear my jammies all day, too.

While wracking my brain for a topic for the day after Christmas, I realized I could share photos of this year’s VRD Quilt Challenges I issued to my Friday quilt group. (Big Shout Out to my Friday pals!)

This year in my group, we tackled Lori Holt’s Vintage Farm Girl book.

As I’ve probably mentioned before, my group is totally wild about Villa Rosa Rose Card patterns. Huh? Imagine that. LOL! In addition to the Lori Holt sampler, they demanded that we still do some VRD patterns so I came up with the idea of sprinkling VRD quilt challenges throughout the year. We had a fat quarter quilt challenge, 5″ square quilt challenge, panel quilt challenge, and a 2 1/2″ strip quilt challenge. I must apologize, I was having so much fun in our December get together that I totally forgot to take photos of the 2 1/2″ challenge quilts. Bummer…….

The challenge rules were very simple — participation was optional and participants had to choose a Rose Card pattern that we hadn’t done in the last couple years when we were doing monthly VRD projects. Easy Peasy.

Please enjoy this feast of quilts. Maybe something will spark your creativity for the coming New Year. For your convenience, I am including the link to the pattern for each quilt. What really amazed me was that rarely did 2 people make the same quilt. These ladies really R O C K!

2024 Villa Rosa Quilt Challenges

Fat Quarter Quilts

Whirly Bird

Eclipses

Biscotti

Smidge

Fire and Rain

Autumn Chowder

Discovery

Panel Quilts

Quilter’s Palette

Fable

Crab Cakes

Grand Prize

Pots and Pans

Daring Spirit

5″ Square Quilts

Clover

Heartbeat

Cidermill

Twinkle

Lamplighter

Blueberry Cobbler

Cascade

Well, that’s it for me today.

Until next time — 

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilting Partners · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

A January Top A Long with VRD’s Running Doe Quilts and The 12 Quilts of Christmas Quilts

rosecards2 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Are you ready for the upcoming holidays? I certainly am NOT! As of writing this post, I’ve yet to get my tree decorated. My cookies are not baked. And I’m hoping the gifts will magically wrap themselves. And maybe the cleaning fairy will have a little time to stop over during the night and do a tidy up? Funny enough, though, everything seems to get done just in time, even if I have to forgo some sleep to get there. How do you get everything done? Thank you, any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

I’ve got an exciting event coming in January for you!

One of our VRD designers, Catherine @ Running Doe Quilts, is starting another Top A Long in January 2025 and it will go for six months.

Image from runningdoequilts.com

If you plan to make a New Year’s Resolution (or a goal in my case) of busting your scrap stash, you will want to sign up for Catherine’s Top Along, which features some of her VRD Rose Card patterns. It’s a great way to get in some sewing in the New Year, hang out with other quilters in the Facebook group, and use up some of that stash. It’s a win-win-win situation!

This is such a great idea to get us motivated for winter sewing, isn’t it?

You can go HERE to sign up for the Top A Long.

I thought about doing a curated list of Holiday patterns for this post, too, but when I looked back, I saw I did that in 2022. Yep, we’ve added a lot of new patterns since then, but instead of doing that topic again so soon, I decided that I wanted to show you ALL 12 of our 12 Quilts of Christmas patterns. You can get the whole collection of 12 print patterns HERE or you can get them individually as either digital or print patterns.

The 12 Quilts of Christmas

Get your Baking Day digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Chili digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Color Mittens digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Dinner Party digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Gerome digital pattern HERE or your print pattern HERE

Get your Gifted digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Gnomie digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Homecoming digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Hot Cocoa digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Into the Trees digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Poinsettia digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Get your Wreathed digital pattern HERE or print pattern HERE

Recently on Facebook, we did the 12 Days of Christmas and offered a kit for each of the patterns, a new one each day. We do have some of the kits still available, but in limited quantities, so get yours now before they’re gone!

Baking Day in Kaffe kit HERE

Chili with Red Nose Kit HERE

Color Mittens in Brights Kit HERE

Dinner Party Place Mat Kit HERE

Gerome Kit, makes 2 blocks, HERE

Gifted in Klimt kit HERE

Gnomie Kit, makes 2 blocks, HERE

Homecoming Kit HERE

Hot Cocoa Kit HERE

Into the Trees Kit HERE

Wreathed Kit HERE

Here’s hoping your holidays are merry and bright and filled with lots of love and laughter.

Happy Holly Jolly Holidays to you and yours from all of us here at Villa Rosa Designs.

Until next time —

Sew. Laugh. Celebrate. 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

Just Quilty Stuff · Quilt Stories · villa rosa designs

Antique Quilt Block Fun and More

rosecards6 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

One of my favorite things to do when I go anywhere is to be on the lookout for antique and vintage quilt blocks, fabrics, and other textile goodies. I haven’t talked much about my super secret life as a textile collector on the blog, so I thought today would be a great opportunity to share that side of me with you.

I started out as a collector and an appreciator of antique and vintage textiles long before I became a quilter, so those early roots in textiles are still with me and are actually pretty strong. Instead of a collector, though, maybe I should call myself a curator of my own textile museum. Yep, I really do have that many textiles in my possession. And I do really enjoy adding more to my antique and vintage stash whenever I can.

Sit back and enjoy my new playthings!

Hand-Crafted Santa

Here’s my adorable Santa made out of a couple circa 1870’s/1880’s quilt blocks. I don’t know if any of you have ever been to Una’s booth at Quilt Festival in Houston? She creates the most amazing Santas using antique quilts, tops, and blocks. This cutie is my second Santa. Last year, I brought home my first Santa, which was created from lovely indigo and white quilt blocks circa 1900/1910. I haven’t started my holiday decorating yet, though, so he isn’t out of storage yet. Now they will be good company for each other. And they are a fun addition to my textile collection, don’t you think?

Feed Sack Doll

Isn’t she a little darling??? She is from the 1930’s or 1940’s and was handmade by some sweet mama or grammy for a lucky child. The pink floral body is actually made out of a feed sack and the face/hair is hand-painted. I think she is in marvelous condition, considering she’s almost 100 years old now. I just love her chubby legs!

I found this little sweetie at Quilt Festival in my friend, Tenny’s booth, Tenny Roche’ Vintage. You can find Tenny on Facebook HERE or visit her Etsy shop HERE where you’ll find all sorts of intriguing vintage items.

I have a deep interest in feed sacks, having started seriously to collect them during the pandemic. I now have crates and crates of them — I just love these wonderful colorful patterns and colors! So what’s a girl to do with all those feed sacks?

Write a pattern showcasing them, maybe?

Yup, did that! I used lots of feed sack bits and pieces out of my vintage stash for the blocks in this runner. It was a really fun project! You can find the digital Nana’s Aprons HERE or the print Nana’s Aprons HERE.

Or maybe write a book?

Yup, did that too! A couple years ago, I wrote and self-published my first feed sack book, Feed Sacks: A Collection of Vintage Feed Sack, Sugar Sack, Grain and Feed Bag Prints and Designs Volume I. I wanted to preserve and document the actual fabric patterns of the feed sacks, so what better way to do that than to put them into a book that I could share with other feed sack and textile enthusiasts?

WHat’s really exciting is that right now I’m getting ready to launch my second feed sack book, Volume 2, hopefully later this week. The first volume has over 1000 feed sack prints and designs while my new book will have another 1400+ prints and designs. Wow! And I’m just getting started on this very dear-to-my-heart project because I have lots more feed sacks to document.

Antique Quilt Blocks

At Quilt Market and Festival, one of the first things I like to do when I get the chance away from the VRD booth is to visit all of the antique quilt and textile vendors. They pretty much now all know me by name. LOL! I also scour flea markets, second hand shops, antique shops, etc. whenever I go anywhere in the hopes of finding more textile goodies. Here, I’ll show you what I found at Quilt Market and Festival as well as some from my Mom’s birthday trip to Ohio Amish country.

I’ve loved antique and vintage quilt blocks for a long time now — I started collecting them long before I ever actually knew how to quilt. I was totally hooked on learning to quilt once I saw how antique fabrics in garments made it into the quilts of the time. After that, I paired up my love of antique and vintage textiles with my love of quilting.

In fact, my very first quilt book was called Orphan Block Quilts, and I showed how I could feature both antique quilt blocks and modern quilt blocks in the same quilt design. If you’ve noticed my byline on my VRD patterns — Orphan Quilt Designs — my first book is what started the whole orphan quilt thing for me. That being said, I LOVE adding antique and vintage orphan blocks to my textile menagerie.

1920’s/1930’s Double Four Patch blocks
1890’s-1910’s Nine Patches
1930’s/1940’s Nine Patch blocks. The block in the center even has feed sack squares.

Humble quilt blocks like Nine Patches and Four Patches are some of my favorite blocks because they are often the first blocks a quiltmaker makes and boy, have I come across some delightful wonky blocks over the years that I suspect were early projects or rejects from quilters of the past. I love them all!

I wanted to show the Nine Patch block below all by itself because it has such wonderful fabrics in it. Can you guess how old it is (answer below the photo)?

I cannot pinpoint an exact date, but I would say second half of the 1800’s. The turkey red fabric really fascinates me — the colors are so bright. The center blue and brown stripe is also a very interesting fabric.

Indigo and white is probably the most classic color combination for quilts and I’m always on the lookout for them. I also really like indigo and double pink, so I am always happy to find those, too. Maybe someday I’ll put together a book filled with examples of antique and vintage indigo.

Scrappy quilt blocks are a lot of fun. Sometimes I shake my head at the fabric combinations quilters put together, but they also make me smile. Besides, the scrappier the blocks are, the more interesting they seem to be, particularly with their wonderful treasure troves of fabrics.

In opposition of the scrappy blocks above, below are some nice examples of organized blocks with thoughtful fabric choices.

Check out these cute Bow Tie blocks from 1890’s-1910’s. Red and black fabric combinations, like the block on the right, were very popular in the 1890’s and were sometimes called Garibaldi prints, which were named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, an important Italian leader who often wore a red shirt with a black kerchief, as did his men and followers.

I found a couple of very antique blocks that were truly orphan blocks because they were the only ones of their kind that I found. I know you will agree that they are pretty special.

The first Leaf block could actually date from 1840-1870. WOW! Do you see the little dots on the red fabric? Whatever metallic mordant used to dye the fabric actually ate through the colored dots, so where you see dots, they are actually tiny holes. Isn’t it quite fascinating that this little block has so much to say?

The second Monkey Wrench block is a traditional poison green (called poison green because it was originally dyed with arsenic — just a little bit of quilt history trivia for you) and double pink combination which was popular in the 1870’s. You can’t tell by the photos, but these blocks are only around 6 or 7 inches.

Another great find was a lovely set of signature blocks from 1935. Signature blocks have always been an interesting challenge to me because I like to actually research the names on the blocks.

I remember one time I had a stack of signature blocks and did the research only to find a living relative. The blocks were so much more meaningful to her than to me just as a collector and history buff, so I gave them to her. I imagine she probably finished then into a quilt to honor her mother, grandmother, mother in law, and other relatives and friends found amongst the embroidered names on blocks in the collection.

Another fun find was this great set of blocks from the 1940’s/1950’s, which I found at the Plaid Sheep Company shop in Berlin, Ohio. The fabrics are just so bright and colorful and busy, I can’t help but love them. And the blocks are really big, too, so I could actually turn the 18 blocks into a nice-sized quilt. Hmmm. Maybe.

I even found some stray redwork blocks at Quilt Market.

In Millersburg, Ohio on my Mom’s birthday trip, my sister found a a delightful children’s quilt with embroidered blocks in pink and blue. She messaged me a photo in case I was interested and the rest is history. Sun Bonnet Sue, Overall Sam, Cupie dolls, flowers, bears, dogs, and other motifs adorn this sweet quilt, below.

The last quilty treasure I have to share with you today is a tiny little doll quilt. I found this one in an antique mall in Berlin, Ohio. The maker dated the quilt on the back, but sadly there is no name, only an initial.

I hope you enjoyed taking a peek at some of my recent textile goodies.

That’s it for me! Take care and remember to label your quilts so someone someday can research you.

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Label Your Quilts. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

Quilt Stories · Rose Cards · villa rosa designs

12 Quilts of Christmas Winners and a Weekend Girls’ Trip to Ohio Amish Country

rosecards9 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, what are you doing for Thanksgiving? Originally, I was planning to have ham because I’m not wild about turkey. Then, wouldn’t you know it, but my father brought home a turkey — change of plans. Huh. I am hoping to put the turkey in the crock pot, which is so much easier and a lot moister, in my opinion. Hopefully the turkey will actually fit into the crock pot…..fingers crossed!

In the meantime, I want to take a moment and congratulate our 2 winners from the recent blog drawing for 2 sets of our brand new beautiful 12 Quilts of Christmas Rose Card pattern collection.

12 Quilts of Christmas Winners

Throw the confetti! Cue the band!!

Special Congratulations goes out to Heidi from CT and Barb from NE.

Thanks to everyone who commented on your favorite holiday traditions. I so enjoyed reading them and wish I could send each of you a prize……… If you didn’t win, though, it’s not too late to grab your own set of the 12 Quilts of Christmas patterns HERE.

PSST! I’ve been itching to share my recent trip after getting home from Houston earlier this month, but I had already planned to wrap up Quilt Market and Festival for last Thursday’s post, so my trip to Ohio had to wait until this week.

Ohio Amish Country

A few days after I got home from Houston, I asked my Mom what she wanted for her birthday (which at the time was about a week and a half away). She thought about it for a moment and then answered, “I’d like to get away.”

It wasn’t quite the answer I thought I was going to get, but as I knew she hadn’t gone on any vacations since before the Pandemic, I decided to talk to my sister and see if we could figure something out together. So I told my mom, “Okay, let me see what I can do.”

Later that night, I messaged my sister and asked her what she thought about taking our mom on a mini vacation the weekend of her birthday (her birthday was going to be on a Saturday). My sister, Tracy, surprised me and jumped right onboard with my idea.

We tossed around a few places that wouldn’t be too far for us to go for a weekend. I suggested Findley Lake, NY or maybe Berlin, OH. Within a few days, my sister sent me a hotel reservation and our trip was on! For real!

We were off to Millersburg and Berlin Ohio, in the middle of Ohio’s Amish country in five days. Woohoo! I’d been there once on a bus trip and had loved the area, Tracy had driven through there a few times but had never really spent any time there and our Mom had never been there.

We left late Friday afternoon, as my sister had to work. Mom rode shot gun and I was the puppy wrangler in the backseat.

Oh?!? Didn’t I mention it??? We took my pup, Bailly, along on our girls’ week end! It was a three hour or so drive until we got to Millersburg to check into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, which was pet friendly. Bailly did very well, considering she usually gets anxious on car rides, even though she really loves to go places. She’s a Shih Tzu — she doesn’t have to make sense.

The next day, Saturday, we were off to explore Berlin, which was only about 6 miles from Millersburg. Our first stop was a coffee shop for my sister as she needed to get her coffee drink to function, LOL!

There was a really cute kids’ metal truck outside the coffee shop. While Tracy went in to get her coffee I.V., I took Bailly for a little walk and we went to check out that little red truck. Anyone that knows me, is probably shaking their heads about now because they know how much I like red trucks.

Then I had the brilliant idea to take a photo of Bailly in the truck. Great idea, but it didn’t work well because she was just too little. Sweet little dear — when you weigh a whopping 12 pounds, everything is pretty much too big for you. So I posed with her and my sister snapped the photo.

After my sister was caffeinated enough, we headed to a couple big buildings with signs that read “Antiques Mall” and “Craft Mall”. Goody, goody. I hope they didn’t have a problem with small little furry girls in shopping carts……

What a shock when we got over to the buildings and there wasn’t a soul there+. We drove around, looking a for another entrance, but both buildings looked abandoned. So, we headed to a cute shop across the road called the Plaid Sheep Company. We figured it was some kind of gift shop, maybe with crafts, and I was hoping perhaps they’d have some wool yarns as my sister did a little knitting now and then.

But guess what????? It was a QUILT SHOP!!!! I sure was surprised as I wasn’t planning to go to any quilt shops (although there are quite a few in the area) because it was my Mom’s weekend and I expected we’d be busy going to antique shops, gift shops, and maybe some second hand shops, too.

Another wonderful surprise was that just as soon as I walked into the shop (about the same time I realized we’d walked into a quilt shop), I spied antique quilt blocks. Yippee! I snapped those blocks up as fast as I could. By then I imagine Mom and Tracy were rolling their eyes at me.

Plaid Sheep Company was a homey delightful shop with loads of finished samples and corresponding patterns, lots of kits, wool fabrics, cotton fabrics, and precuts. There were fun gifty items that kept my Mom occupied. I passed Bailly off to my sister before I dove right in (the shop welcomed my little lady). What fun!

I really enjoyed all of the project samples that each had a number which directed you to a column of patterns where you could find the pattern for the sample. Easy piezy! I was admiring some lovely bags towards the back of the shop and when I turned around the corner of the display, I couldn’t help but stop and stare!

There right in front of me was a nice neat row of 8 Villa Rosa table runner patterns! Hah! My sister and Bailly came around the shelf after me and asked me what I was “cackling” about. All I could do was point. She burst out laughing too and said she was going to go tell the person up at the register that I was with Villa Rosa. Fun, exciting, and embarrassing all at once. LOL!

I finished up my looking and shopping, checked out, and we headed on our way to see what other mischief the four of us could get up to……

After visiting a couple antique shops and stopping by the Guggisberg Cheese Chalet — home of the original Baby Swiss Cheese (Bailly and I stayed in the car while Tracy and Mom went into the cheese shop, but I popped in after they came back to the car).

Earlier in the day, Bailly had discovered how much fun the back window was, especially for people watching. At the Cheese Shop, there was a group of young women who were walking by and they saw Bailly in the window. One of the girls asked the others if they thought the dog was real and then Bailly moved and scared them! Hah! Silly Bailly.

Then we headed back to the hotel to figure out where to eat for Mom’s birthday dinner. I had volunteered to stay in the room with Bailly so Mom and Tracy could go to a nice Amish restaurant and they could just bring me something back. But Mom would have nothing to do with that! She wanted to eat dinner with all her girls, so Tracy and I made a food run down to the Millersburg Hotel and Tavern to grab steaks and seafood. We ended up eating dinner in the dining area of the hotel. Together. That evening, we just hung out in our room and laughed and talked. Bailly was exhausted and she napped. It was a really special day.

On Sunday, after we’d checked out of the hotel, we spent some time exploring Millersburg and found this amazing antique shop in downtown Millersburg, Village Antique Emporium. We were happily surprised to fnd it open on Sunday. It was three stories of antiques and collectibles! OH MY!

Talk about crazy — Tracy and Mom even found this interesting Talon display in the shop.

Which was really quite bizarre as our hometown of Meadville, PA is where the “hookless fastener” was invented and home to the Talon Zipper Company. How strange to travel into another state and find collectibles from your own hometown…….

Then, it was time to head back home. Back to good ol’ Meadville.

What a really fun adventure — a true girl’s weekend, something we’d never done before. I don’t know why. We are already planning to go back to Millersburg and Berlin in the spring and want to spend an extra day there so we can get into even more trouble together.

Well, that’s it for me this week. Save me a piece of pumpkin pie — just make sure it has lots and lots of whipped topping!

Here we all are — my Mom (center) and her girls (Bailly is the small furry one…….)

Until next week —

Sew. Laugh. Repeat.

Always,

Tricia @ VRD

quilt festival · quilt market · Rose Cards

Favorite Finds at International Quilt Market and Quilt Festival 2024

rosecards4 Comments

Hello Quilty Friends!

Happy Thursday to you!

Today is my last post about Quilt Market and Festival.

We’ve covered the insider’s view of Market HERE and the 50 year Celebration of International Quilt Festival HERE. We’ve also explored some of the amazing and wonderful quilts on display this year during Market and Festival HERE.

So what’s left to talk about????

All the cool stuff at Market and Festival, of course!

My Finds at Market and Festival

I’m going to share with you the things that inspired me at Market and Festival. I wish I could showcase every single thing I saw because there was sew much eye candy in Houston, but that would make this post into a very long long book, I’m afraid. So I guess I’ll focus on the things that I found interesting, cool, or just plain fun, in no particular order.

Just sit back and enjoy…………

Sew Q Laser

I watched a demo of this cool system in the Sew Q booth. It really was quite fascinating! I’ve been using my trusty 1/4″ seam guide foot for a long time, but I can really see a lot of possibilities with this laser system. You can check out their website HERE.

Thimtec Thimble Tape

The Thimtec booth was right beside our VRD booth during Market and I had the opportunity to stop by to learn about this new product. Thimtec tape is easy to use, only sticks to itself, and molds to the shape of YOUR finger. It’s reusable and economical, Cool beans!

I took my pink roll to my Friday group and everyone made an individualized thimble to take home and use. After everyone was done creating one, I still had half a roll left!

You can find video demos and more info on their website HERE or find it on Amazon HERE.

Classy American Quilt Design Walls

I met the owner, Tony, when he asked if I could watch his booth for a couple minutes. Of course I did and I had the fun opportunity to play with the Quilt Design Walls. I must say that this is now sew totally on my quilter’s wish list! The smaller one (in the photo above) is big enough for a long throw quilt, but my dream is the really big one because — gasp — it has a remote control! AND I LOVE GADGETS! LOL! The small one would be great, too, as it goes up and down easily just like your window blinds. I tested it out, of course, and discovered that if you were careful putting it up and down that your quilt blocks could actually stay stuck to the design wall. Brilliant!

You can see Tony himself introduce his design wall in the video below and you can check out Tony’s website HERE. Just tell him Tricia sent you. Tehehe……..

Patience Griffin Books

I don’t remember what she said to me that had me laughing that hard………….

I had the pleasure to meet Patience Griffin at Quilt Market. In addition to being the popular author of both the Kilts and Quilts book series and the Sweet Home, Alaska series, Patience is a quilter and also a new fabric designer with Riley Blake Designs. You can see Patience’s collection, A Touch of Celtic, coming to a shop near you in May 2025, HERE.

If you love quilt fiction as much as I do, you can find her books HERE.

Printed Felt Board Story Panels

This one is for all you librarians, teachers, early childhood educators, parents, and grandparents. I mentioned this adorable felt printed panel by Jennifer Long for Riley Blake a couple weeks ago (the Created with Love panel, above, will be available in shops April 2025), but I just had to include it again on my “favorite finds” list.

When I was a children’s librarian, I created my own felt board pieces to go along with the stories, rhymes, songs, and activities I used for my weekly felt board story as part of my library toddler story time. Oh! How these wonderful shapes would have been a fabulous addition to my felt activity repertoire! Although I am no longer a librarian or early childhood educator, I still have very fond memories of engaging the youngest library patrons with fun stories, songs, and rhymes accompanied by my humble pieces.

Here’s a Nativity felt panel by Jennifer, which is available right now. You can find it HERE.

Goldie Lou’s Shirts

Image from the Goldie Lou website

Goldie Lou’s was a new business at Market and Festival this year. They were selling the most fun quilting shirts and sweatshirts with the cutest tongue-in-cheek sayings! Oh sew fun! I bought a couple shirts myself to show off my quirky quilter style, including one of the shirts you see above (it is sew me!). You can find more info about Goldie Lou’s HERE.

Horn of America Deluxe Storage Chest

I am sew sew in love with this cabinet! It has drawers and shelves and cubbies on one side and a flip up extension table on the back where you can even add more shelves! This would be a real dream piece of furniture in anyone’s sewing space! I kept walking past it whenever I went to the food court and dining area — it stopped me every time and I would pause to test out the drawers or just imagine it in my own sewing dungeon, er — studio. I would want the one in the white finish……You can find more info HERE.

Mary Ellen’s Best Press

Yippee! Mary Ellen’s Best Press Spray has a new scent — Lemon Mist! I’ve been using the Best Press starch alternative spray for a long time now and I am thrilled that they finally have a lemon scent. I was very excited to have scored a sample at Market so I can test it out, but I already know I am going to love the Lemon Mist scent. It will most likely be my new favorite. You can find it HERE.

Well, folks, I hope my favorite finds will inspire you — they have certainly inspired me! Now I’m adding everything to my quilter’s holiday wish list. Sigh…..do you think that cabinet will fit down the chimney????

That’s it for me this week. Take care and travel safe this coming week if you are heading somewhere to celebrate Thanksgiving. And while football is playing after Thanksgiving dinner, maybe you can sneak away and read all about my recent visit to Ohio Amish country for my Mom’s birthday.

Until then —

Sew. Laugh. 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