Ladybird • Quilt Finish

June 30, 2019January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.15 Comments

Ladybird is finished.

Ladybird, the name a shortened version of ladybird beetle (or ladybugs as we call them in the States), has a rich folkloric history, with allusions to religion, good fortune, death, and old rituals. This original quilt, with its split block design, evoked the tiny beetle, a godsend to gardeners everywhere.

We’d had a bumper crop of their babies around the yard when I started this, little crawly things that my husband identified as the early stage of ladybird beetles (the official name).

I don’t know how I came up with this original pattern, but the colors and the accents just sort of found their way to this quilt. I also don’t know how I figured out the quilting, but like anything in my life, the starting is the hardest.

Finishing is easier.

Ladybird_3 — Background fabric is from Jane Sassaman.

Of course you are familiar with the rhyme:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home,
Your house is on fire, and your children will burn.

There are multiple, maybe even a hundred, versions of this rhyme in many different languages and countries. The one I quoted above is dated to 1744, and is often thought to reference the burning of stubble in the fields after harvest, a practice discouraged now because of air pollution, but common in early times.

My husband found the photography site for us at University of California-Riverside. It’s the artwork on the front of the Genomics Building by Jim Isermann, the sculpture influenced by geometric shapes of molecular structure and its illustration. Yeah, I’m in love with this. And did I mention my husband broke three ribs last week? Yet he still helped me schlep around the quilts (and holding one up for me in another upcoming post), even clamping on one side where I couldn’t reach. (It was a small household altercation with a huge yard waste container; he will be fine in about six weeks, but for now I do the trash.)

After dinner at our newest Vietnamese restaurant, we flew away home. Thankfully, our house is not on fire, but, regretfully, our children are gone.

adybirPattern will be coming soon.

300 Quilts · Free Quilt Pattern · Gridsters · Quilt Finish · Quilts

Delectable Baskets: Quilt Finish

June 26, 2019January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.17 Comments

Delectable Baskets • Quilt #220
Approximately 70″ wide by 90″ high

Delectable Baskets gets its name because each basket is filled with food — well — food fabrics. I’d been collecting for over twenty years, so I had a few to choose from. In February 2018 I was Queen Bee for the Gridsters, and put up a post about making basket blocks, deciding that I wanted to use my collection of fabrics with food motifs. I sent each of my beemates a couple of squares. (There is a free basket tutorial on that post, if you are interested in making some baskets.)

Not only did my Gridster Beemates send me blocks, but a few other long-time friends sent them also; I had so many blocks that my quilt grew and grew, and then it was overflowing, a lovely dilemma to have. So I pruned it a bit, as I was aiming for twin-size, and still have enough baskets for an upcoming wall-hanging.

Cathy of CJ Designs did an expanded Baptist Fan on it, leaving it nice and soft, which is a good thing, as I intend it for use in the guest bedroom, which is currently the quilting-and-thread-storage bedroom. I promise that maybe I can share.

The back, using some Phillip Jacobs (on the right) and some Marimekko (from Crate and Barrel’s outlet sale some years ago). The signature blocks (the white Xs) are pieced into the Phillip Jacobs, or at least I think that’s who designed that fabric. At any rate, the print is a lovely-as-can-be radishes.

Thank you to everyone who sent me blocks. Delectable Baskets has been on my radar for a couple of decades or more, beginning with visits to Fabric Patch quilt shop, the vendor mall in the early years of Road to California, a couple of Southern California Shop Hops, and an occasional trip to Utah. There were no mail-order shops then, as there was no internet then. We bought fabric from JoAnns which it wasn’t then (maybe Cloth World?). I accrued fabrics a yard at a time, a piece at a time, a slow compilation.

This quilt was finished in an era where everything is on hyperdrive. The internet runs, assists and invades our lives, helping and hindering us in our quilting. Sometimes we are in a quilt bubble, making the same quilt (see my Flag Quilt from last post), using the same colors, same fabric lines. Other times it brings us news of friends in Australia, in Japan, Canada, Germany and certainly from around the United States, and allows us to meet and be friends with people all over the world.

Our gathering of Gridsters would not be possible without the internet, and all members, past or present, contribute to my life is a positive and beneficial way.

I am happy to know you all, Gridster Bee member or not. Thank you for enriching my life, making it a veritable feast. I dedicate Delectable Baskets to you.

100 Quilts · 300 Quilts · Quilt Finish

Christmas Criss-Cross Finished

June 6, 2019January 11, 2026 Elizabeth E.8 Comments

Christmas Criss-Cross, June 2019
Quilt #219 • 60″ wide by 66″ tall

I started this for the 20th anniversary of a small quilters group I’d participated in, as we were given mini-charm packs of this print. Of course, that only got my toes wet, as I soon ordered a Layer Cake. Then yardage. Then backing.

My quilter, Cathy Kreter, finished this up quickly and I put the binding on this past month (so, while I finished 12″ of the binding in June, technically it was finished in May, when I sewed the label on).

It will be hanging out in my closet, waiting for the holiday season to arrive, a nice lap-sized quilt to use when watching all those holiday seasonal specials. It doesn’t require a Quilt Ph.D to make this. I walk you through the steps on an earlier post. There are many variations of the block in my reference book, but I can’t give you a name for the block outright, as there are two basic blocks in this, both four-patch variations: one is cut on the diagonal and one on the straight.

In other news, my Get to Work Planner arrived and this time I ordered the elastic band to put on my old one, as I tape in all sort of things and the book has kind of expanded.

Recently I had an interesting letter in my emailbox. A young professor asked if he could use the image of this quilt in a project he was working on for his English class. Since I’d taken it in to my class when I taught the short story Everyday Use, I quickly acquiesced.

Yep, it’s pretty wonky. It was designed that way in a class I took with Roberta Horton in Houston, eons ago. I treasure the quilt for that reason alone. It’s #37 on my Lifelong Quilts lists.

I think at one point I wanted to put an epigram on every quilt label, but in a quick survey, this is the only one.

Lastly, such happy news arrived with the announcement of Affinity Publisher‘s public release on June 19th. I’ve been a Beta tester in my own weasley and squirrely fashion for the last several months, sending in comments and notes on using the software. While not a difficult software, there is a learning curve which is when I searched their tutorials and forums for help. I use this to write my patterns, and I’m currently working backwards through the MSWord versions, and converting them one by one to a more professional look.

The introductory discount is 20% off the price, and there are NO SUBSCRIPTIONS to deal with (you know which company I’m referring to). So mark your calendars, if you’ve needed software that can help publish documents at a higher level than a word processing program.

300 Quilts · Gridsters · Travels · Trunk Show

Bee Blocks, Etc. * March and April *

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

Bee Blocks, yes. But first:

Dream Big Bag_2

I recently asked Lisa to make me a tote bag out of a Dream Big panel by Hoffman. I ordered everything, and the bag turned out to be a good size, one that could hold a queen sized quilt, perfect for taking along binding projects. Dream Big Bag_1

I chose a summery floral for the inside (I like bright colors inside my purses/bags, so I can find things).

Dream Big Bag

Beauty shot in the flowers by the front door. Thank you Lisa, I love it!

March_2019 Gridsters

Now, here are my bee blocks for the Gridster Bee. Here are March’s blocks, requested by Marsha @quilterinmotion on Instagram. We used this pattern, and it worked up quickly.

March_2019a Gridsters

If you decide to make these, I’d suggest switching up the order–put #9 on first, then #8. It’s a sturdier constuction that way.

March_2019b Gridsters.png

But here’s the cool thing: her center will be four “straight” Flying Geese blocks, with our curvy ones being added to it, for lots of motion in her quilt.

April 2019_Gridsters Bee

Nancy who blogs at Patchwork Breeze, and is on Instagram @patchworkbreeze, asked for a patriotic block for a summer quilt. I guess it’s not too early to get started on the red, white, and blue, a good reminder to work ahead of the seasons and celebrations (anyone for Halloween quilts? Christmas?).

Finally, I decided to tally up what I accomplished last year, in terms of completed quilts. If you remember (or are hoping to forget), it was the Year of Frivols. So here’s the totals:

• Twelve Frivols
• Three Mini-quilts
• One Baby quilt
• One Small quilt
• Two large quilts
• One large quilt that will show up in Fall 2019 Simpy Moderne

Number Twenty

And for 2019? It’s hard right now because while I can sew the tops, I can’t quilt them myself. Quilts are only being finished when I can send them out. But here’s the list of projects so far:

• Plitvice (finished)
• Chuck Nohara quilt (binding being sewn on as we speak)
• Nameless other large quilt, being kept under wraps/headed for publication
• Home-keeping Hearts (top only at this point)
• Merrion Square–there are three of these small quilt tops in circulation, and are samples at guilds where I’ll be speaking
• Basket quilt is still on the design wall, as I audition borders.

When I finish them, I’ll catalogue them, above, on the 300 Quilts list.

Speaking Teaching Events
• Meet the Teacher for the Southern California Council of Quilt Guilds
• Utah Valley Quilt Guild, Utah–Trunk Show and Day-long workshop
• Valley of the Mist Quilt Guild, Temecula, CA–Trunk Show and Day-long workshop

If you are in Utah, they still have a couple of openings for the workshop on April 16th. If you are new to this blog (welcome!), you can meet me digitally in my Happy New Year post.

I leave you with a few shots of our California Superbloom. Happy Spring!