Happy Easter! Four Beautiful Quilts

I'll be making a Thanksgiving-style turkey dinner after church today. Just my Mom, DH, one DS, and me. Easter and Thanksgiving are my favorite holidays. Meaningful and good for the heart.

Happy Easter!

The Easter quilt above was made by Susie B Designs. 

This Easter Basket Quilt (above and below) was made by Penny.

Here's a cheery Easter Basket Quilt (below) by sallgood from Make it a Wonderful Life.

Here's a Cherry Basket Quilt from Cindy's Antique Quilts (below).

And  finally, some gorgeous Easter Eggs from Deb at Just Short of Crazy.

Design Wall Update: Sea Breeze

Here's my newest project, a light and airy design with pieced-by-eye saw tooth frames, and hand-applique squares in the middle of each block. I think the triangles look like little flags fluttering in the wind, hence the name "Sea Breeze." 

I'm considering sending this to Maika in Utah for machine quilting. My usual wavy parallel lines might be a little too boring with so much open space.

Aren't these featured fabrics nice? I had fun picking them out.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Helen's Asterisk Quilt

This gorgeous Asterisk Quilt was made by my friend Helen from Islip, (Long Island) New York. She and I are members of Empire Quilters in NYC, and we organize the Block of the Month together, along with Lisa Kehrle. You meet the nicest people when you get together with quilters.  :)

HaliMatu on Etsy

Alexis from Boulder, Colorado makes these colorful plush animals using fabrics from Africa and she sells them on HaliMatu on Etsy. This little guy is 6 1/2" tall. I love these colors. Very nice job, Alexis!

Asterisk by the Confused Quilter

This bright and modern Asterisk Quilt is the creation of the Confused Quilter, an Army wife and mom to grown kids. 

The fabrics are from the "Crazy for Dots and Stripes" line by Michael Miller. The quilting was professionally done.  Beautiful! 

Shanna's Asterisk Quilt

This beautiful Asterisk Quilt is the creation of Shanna in Texas. I love the light touch of the white asterisks on the colored backgrounds. It looks like snow. Well, Shanna is originally from Alaska, so that makes sense! Nice job, Shanna! 

See her blog: Sparrow in Flight.

What's a Lucinda Chair?

 Lucinda from Septemberbird has a Chair quilt in this book:

Pat Sloan shows the page on her blog:

 Quilters have had a lot of fun with this! Take a look at all the Lucinda Chair quilts on Google! 

Here's one from mamacjt just to whet your appetite! Check out that quilting in the white background!

I'd like to see the Septemberbird blog, but it's by invitation only. You need a password. I've never heard of that before. 

Chairs on Quilts, Quilts on Chairs

"Have a Seat" by C J Fuhrman was featured on Quilt Inspiration. 

Dream Chair by Alethea Ballard, featured on New Pieces in Berkeley, CA. 

Grandmother's Flower Garden chair from RoomRx.

A Lucinda Chair quilt, found on Pinterest from "Take a Load Off." Isn't this charming? I love that binding too.

Asterisk Pattern is Finished!

Regular readers will remember this quilt: "Asterisk." I was thinking about the 9-patch block and planning to make a tic-tack-toe style grid when it hit me! How about making all 4 lines meet in the middle? I'm sure other quilters figured this out long before I did, but that's how I found it. Tonight I did a Google Images search for "Asterisk Quilt" and I was amazed at all the quilts! They're beautiful.

So if you missed this one a while back, take a look at the brand new pattern. It's easy too.

If we haven't seen your Asterisk quilt here yet, email me a photo at karengriska@optonline.net. 

Saddest Quilt Block

Isn't this the saddest quilt block you've ever seen? The other blocks in the quilt have the same broken heart design with different words. 

More blocks from this quilt are featured on Cheryl's blog: Fiber Arts and Quilting. 

Gee, now I feel like I need to cheer you all up.

  (Read JoAnne's comment for a different take on this quilt block.) 

This pep talk quilt was on exhibit in Sisters, Oregon, and featured on the Bring the Monkey blog.

Upcycle Scrap Quilt Pattern!

Got scraps? I was making the Trellis quilt and got this one too, for no extra charge! I literally upcycled the scraps off the quilt room floor. Fast and easy raw-edge machine applique scrap quilt. Lots of clear how-to photos. PDF Pattern, 8 pages. Great for beginners, and quilters with a lot of scraps. Print it or save it on your computer. $5.

As always, I love to add little surprises like the flower pot in the block below.

Tina's New Selvage Quilt!

Tina from Rhode Island just finished a beautiful selvage spider web quilt! It took her only 2 weeks! 

Note the little orange pinwheels, the fabulous machine quilting, the selvage stripe on the back, and take a good look at the binding in the bottom photo! I've never seen binding like that before, have you?  :-0

See her post on Seaside Stitches. Yayyy, Tina!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This wonderful Double Irish Chain quilt was made by Renee Healy of California. She's a member of the East Bay Heritage Quilters. I love the green dappled background and the winding stream! 

These two quilts (above and below) were featured on Quilt Inspiration. That blog is appropriately named!

Jour de Semaine Charges by Gyöngyi Váradi, seen at the Hungarian Patchwork Society. Featured in the magazine Magic patch n° 90 - Jeux de couleurs (France). Shown above.

This Tres Belle Irish Chain was made by Lois and featured on the Little Quilts Blog. Little Quilts is a quilt shop in Marietta, Georgia. Lois is one of their customers.

There's some green for ya!

National Quilting Day!

The International Quilt Study Center & Museum is has a wonderful National Quilting Day planned. I wish I could be there today, but they have a collection of Online Exhibits too.

I made this log cabin quilt a few years ago and it's still one of my favorites.

How will you celebrate? I'll be working on my new speedy raw-edge applique scrap quilt. 

Asterisk Quilt in New Book!

I was shopping yesterday and just happened to see my Asterisk quilt on the front cover of this book! What a shock! The quilt was in Quiltmaker magazine a few years ago. This book was published by Martingale in 2012. I had no idea they were publishing this. I'm sure I gave them permission back then to use it; they are very conscientious about that. This is quite a thrill for me!

New String Quilt Pattern! Trellis

String quilts are so much fun to make, as you probably already know. But if string quilts are new to you, take a look at this pattern. It's a real stash-buster, and easy too. I like the little bouquet in the lower left corner. I've included some variations in this pattern too.

I think my next quilt will be made with the scraps from this one. Haha. Happy quilting!

Chris' Selvage Bag

This charming selvage bag was made by Chris in Indiana. It's her first selvage project; isn't it a beauty? You can see more about this bag on her blog: Over the Moon Arts.

Also, take a look at her completed quilts.

Trellis String Quilt with a Little Bouquet

Do you see the little bouquet in the center of this string quilt? See the close-up photo below. It's a nice focal point in this busy quilt. String quilts are fast and easy. Pattern coming soon.

This quilt is the one that produced all the tiny scraps featured in yesterday's post. The pile has grown!