Or, the Almighty Sawtooth. Or the Magnificent Sawtooth. Or the Sawtooth Supreme. But first:
The famous novelist, Joyce Carol Oates, talked about what she turns to after she finishes a novel, as she described herself then as spent, and empty. Poetry, she said. I was sitting in that audience when she gave that talk, and it taught me the value of not abandoning the craft when weary. But it also taught me that it’s okay to take a moment after going full steam ahead, a thousand hours a week, pedal-to-the-metal. This week was one like that, maybe not like writing a novel, but the always On, always Going, and by Thursday, I turned to my kind of poetry: sawtooth stars.
A rendering of a current popular pattern, but I’ve done this before:
“This” being to make an outer frame of the sawtooth’s Flying Geese blocks, and insert a design in the center. Why do we like the Sawtooth Star so much? I think the answer to that lies also in why we like star blocks so much. And it was to this I returned this week, after dancing around with multiple combinations of everything for the Granny Square blocks.
I’ve had this sawtooth star idea floating around my sewing room for probably five years, the how-to sheet pinned to my design wall just to the side (see the free download at the end). It was time. The large block measures 20″ finished.
The handout/pattern is pretty loosey-goosey but after you make the inner quadrants, trim them to 5 1/2″ square, making sure you are centered with your ruler. And maybe also centered in your soul. Kidding.
As I mentioned, these are jumbo blocks, 20 inches square, finished. The one on the left is destined to be quilted and then made into a pillow for — what else? — Flag Day, which is today! (Put out your flag and celebrate America’s 250!) The multi-hued block will probably kick around my sewing room for another few years until I decide what to do with it.
But there is one more.
Yellow and blue are two of my favorite colors.
This came from when I was experimenting with BlockBase+ software and wanted to insert blocks into a different frame than a Sawtooth. Original post is here.
And now I wanted to finish this idea.
Here’s something I sketched up in my Affinity Designer software. That’s a total of 64 sawtooth blocks surrounding my houses, and finishes at about 55 inches square, a nice wallhanging size. I included the info when I revised the Build Me A House pattern. (It’s a PatternLite pattern: cheap.)
This block finishes at 6″ square — after spending several hours on the two jumbo sawtooth stars, this was made in a blink of an eye, it seemed like.
First one done, sixty-three to go. That blue fabric in the center square is from my very first quilt. I try to slip it into my current quilts when I have a chance.
It’s been lovely to spend some time writing poems–
Before I sewed on the top Flying Geese: I thought it looked kinda cool.
If you are honoring the 250 anniversary of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, be sure to visit the Official America 250 website. There are some fun ideas on there to commemorate and celebrate!
Let’s go to the movies! The Oh! Granny movies! If I could wave a magic wand I’d change the world so you could see the congregation of Grannies we’ve all started together, but this screen capture video will have to suffice. If you make a Granny Square, I’ll add you to the group — just tag me on Instagram.
Here are my two starter Grannies for June:
Block #9 (above) and Block #10 (below) If you want to jump in, it’s never too late. More info is on a previous post, plus a free pattern.
Obviously my micro-season of red, white and blue has influenced this last one. And by the way, I really enjoyed reading all your micro-seasons, left in the comments on the last post. After hearing my stories about my garment sewing (see below), Wendy came up with another micro-season: WWIT, or What Was I Thinking? I find myself in that season often.
Did you see this one as we rolled the movie? This is from Allison; she made a pictorial chart in Canva, and is adding in her grannies as she makes them.
I’ve got some more squares cut up in my sewing room, and will soon get to making more.
I keep running into Granny Square designs. This is from PomPom London, a purse maker. I may or may not have just purchased a red purse from them.
My apologies, this model in this color is apparently sold out, but I also like the one-zip City Bag in blue, if that suits you. I’t ‘ve had it for a few months now, and has the best cross-body straps (hands free!) and I can even fit a small, short water bottle in there. I’d say, if you’re hot for a red purse, check back as they replenish their stock often, or choose another (they have three different reds). I’ve now seen three different copycat ads for purses in my IG feed (see below about junk in our media feeds), but PomPom London is the original. And yes, each bag has a pompom, or tassel or whatever.
Short Story: Hair dryer died. Got a new, different (better) one, based on the dryer in my hotel room in Paris. (PS. I mention these items, but no one is paying me.) This year has seemed to be the Time Of Getting Things Repaired & Fixed/Replaced, and I’m getting a little weary, but there you go.
Chimney collar repair, with Tobi on top and David as assistant. And more great news is this:
Yes, the stair bannister was finished, and delivered (late one night, felt sorry for Bryan, but he’s a good guy and his IG feed is fascinating to look at, if you love watching other people work).
Short Story: router died.
Ending: We’re back on the internets with a new mesh network. The bigger problem is that home repairs TAKE TIME, even when you are not the one doing them. I mean, gawking checking on the guy up on the roof seriously takes away from the sewing, if you know what I mean. And don’t even get me started on the lengthy tale of getting the router up and running.
However…I finished up the final squircle!!
I started sewing these nine months ago.
And here they all are, sewn together. (Big smiles.)
Now to consider borders. I have one I’m thinking about, simply because the quilt is intended for a taller person, and more length is needed. Did I mention already that a partner in crime, Gladi, has also finished her squircles?
Now for the WWIT micro-season: a pattern review. And pattern-making review.
ScreenshotScreenshot
My friend Susan, in Australia, has made two of these jumpers, and because of her success, I decided to try. I was a pretty experienced sewer from back in the day, but my advice for this jumper is: Take Your Time.
First off, find the pattern. I went to the Internets (now that it was fixed) and found the pattern at Lakes Makerie. Usually I print off my PDF clothing patterns at Tape Free Patterns (recommend highly) but Lakes Makerie had an option where they would print it off and send it to me for a small extra charge. I liked this! It didn’t include an envelope for the pattern like Tape Free does, but their service was very convenient and fairly quick.
Top two (first two) photos are of the back pleat. I did a modified length — not too short, not too long — and didn’t like how they finished the pleat. I just did a standard finish. Third photo is the inside, and yes, I turned my pocket fabric right side out so I could see the beautiful fabric, hoarded since the Dawn of the Century. This is a navy cotton/linen lightweight fabric, with a metallic thread running through the slubby face (even though it looks grey in the last photo).
This jumper has a scoop neckline, which I lowered by 1/2″ (upon the advice of those on social media), two button plackets on either side, generous front pockets and (last photo) two back patch pockets which are getting unpicked soon. Why? Because while I tried it on and loved it (and see Susan’s post link for how her sister looks in hers), but on my smaller frame it just looked a bit too blocky; the pockets don’t help.
This is why I make my clothes, so I can make my clothes how I want.
So I added two self ties, and stitched them on about 6″ in from the side seams so they’d line up with the shoulders. They help define the waist area a bit more. Button shopping was a challenge without any sewing shops nearby, but I did find some at Hobby Lobby — cheesy plastic ones — but they’ll keep the dress on. On the advice of others, I also cut a smaller size. Do This.
On the left is the Box Box Dress (Merchant & Mills), and on the right is the Hope Dress (Style Arc). I’ve noticed that I tend to find the next dress I want to make from social media and blogs, so here are two that I have made and enjoyed. I did add pockets to the Box Box dress, as well as modifying the sleeve, as I like my sleeves a bit longer.
Here’s a pocket pattern (free download) if you need one.
Cut it out, hold it up along the side of your garment, and just try it for where you want it, making sure your fingers can touch the bottom of the pocket bag. I use a different method of putting in pockets these days (shorter video HERE, and the longer video is HERE). My first pocket installation using the newer method was a bit ragged, but now I’m getting pretty good at it, only because the volume of mistakes I initially made sent me on the Path to Knowledge.
Okay, that’s all for garment sewing — I try to put this topic on Instagram, but just couldn’t include a pocket pattern on that site for you. 🙂 According the latest, if we’re smart we’ll all get off of social media, given that most of what we see is ads, even when you think it’s just a someone-or-other showing your their favorite thing:
Click HERE to listen. I did want to read the article by Lane Brown, but can’t get past the paywall. Kai Ryssdal is good host on the Marketplace podcast, and the show is not political in the least. Which is how I’ll close.
I said something off-hand last week about the upcoming California Primary Election to a neighbor when we encountered each other during our morning walks. It did not go well. I was upset for days at how it blew up quickly, but then — the quilting world came to my rescue with this:
My Stars and Stripes Probably made by Ella Evans Made in Tennessee, United States; Circa 1900 Cotton IQM 2013.025.0001
The International Quilt Museum writes: “In this piece, we see the American flag as an enduring symbol of American patriotism. Made by Ella Evans, this quilt holds identical Unions in opposite corners each with forty-five stars — an accurate rendition of American states in 1900. Evans made this quilt for a man named Otis Golden. Evans cared for Otis and his brothers after their mother passed away.”
Even on opposite sides, we can still be part of one entity. Our church did a nationwide discussion of the Constitution last week, and my husband and I took the opportunity (and reminder) to read the full Constitution. It was instructive, a bit over our heads in some places (the Senate’s interpretations on the side did help), but it reminded me, as does the flag quilt by Evans, that we are all in this together.
Thanks so much for reading, I appreciate you very much–
One Sunday morning, mulling over the stunning news from the day before, I drove to church along a residential road. I had a view of the low mountain range in my city, the hills turned verdant green from the winter rains. The sun was bright and clear, the sight was glorious. A favorite hymn was playing as the choir sang “This earth was once a garden place, With all her glories common.”
The song finished, I went into church, but the idea of a place so beautiful and fresh lingered.
I wrote in my journal that night: “All day I couldn’t help but think about Eden, and how much we mortals seem to have missed the boat. To live with ‘glories common’ would be the best….I thought then — realized then — that perhaps it was I who was below my best abilities in bringing about ‘all glories common.’ “
I paused, reflecting: the best of the earth, the most beautiful flowers, the clearest streams and tallest mountains — our glories. Shared all together, without rancor, viciousness, greed, cruelty and just plain old revenge and stubbornness. It felt like too big of a task; I closed my journal and went to bed.
With this experience as backdrop, I sat in the quilting room the next morning, trying to tackle one of the prompts in the Stay At Home Round Robin. I knew I wanted to figure out how to write those words of the hymn, and to let this quilt be a garden quilt, a reminder that I could bring about my own version of Eden in pieces, in bits, in my best moments. I struggled with the “how to” of the words, working it out letter by letter. Many times I was discouraged. With encouragement from friends and from my always-supportive husband, I finally finished and pinned the word borders up around the existing quilt.
Then I looked at the center: it didn’t work at all. So I took that out, went to remake a new one but couldn’t find the pattern. So I drafted up my own, remade the center and carried on. (There’s a metaphor here somewhere, I think.)
So here it is: Earth Was Once A Garden Place. And it can be again, day by day, moment by moment, with gallons of forgiveness, bushels of forbearance, and volumes of truth and charity. It’s that dailiness that can be the hardest: to not cuss out the driver who cut you off, to be more patient with those you live with, to speak up when necessary and to find stamina to do the hard tasks in our lives. I often turn to quilting to have a respite, as well as to be a part of a community of others who are exercising their creativity, planting their seeds, growing their quilts and creations.
Over time, working steadily at the task, we may yet find a way to have our glories common–
Earth Was Once a Garden Place Greatest Hits
First, a huge thank you to the co-hosts of the SAHRR for 2026 (names and links at end of post). It was wonderful! The final Link-Up Party of all the participants’ quilts can be viewed *here.*
This is the SAHRR 2026 Final Quilt. I’ve revised and cleaned-up the free tip sheets I made for this journey, plus a couple more new ones for the final quilt. Click to download. Please do not copy or digitally distribute, but send anyone who wants one to this website to get their own. (NOTE: The tip sheets will live here on this post; the earlier versions will soon be removed.)
We love to make landscape quilts. We love to make pictures of our pets, our people. We love to use traditional blocks as well as fly far away from our roots and use modern blocks.
But where has it gone? I came across Nic’s blog (from NZ) and they mentioned that so many blogs had shut down or stopped publishing. Recently I was updating my Reading Library (at the very bottom of this blog: just scroll, scroll, scroll and you’ll get there). I had to create a category called Sadly, in Hiatus. I keep their links because I know what treasures are in their blogs, and what great conversations are to be found, and interesting stories to be told, so feel free to stroll that (now, quieter) neighborhood, too. Yes, there are some Instagram pages in the Reading Library from friends who don’t maintain websites and blogs. If you know of a good quilty blog (maybe yours?) that should be there, leave me a comment at the end of this post.
I could mention something wonderful about every blog on my list, both those on hiatus and those that are active, so I don’t really want to single anyone out, but I will credit Flourishing Palms from Linda Hungerford as an inspiration for a quilt on my 2026 Want To do List:
And Yvonne’s Quilting Jetgirl has just tempted me with the SAHRR project, first seen on Janine’s blog, Rainbow Hare, last year. And I also have the Plaidish quilt, from Erica’s Kitchen Table Quilting on the list. I’ve signed up for a few of her QALs, but they always hit at a bad time, but this quilt is sort of her signature quilt. You had a link last week to Gladi’s blog, always with some mention of the seasons. Mary, of Zippy Quilts, always has great ideas of what to do with my orphan blocks…I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here.
I also keep a category called Mercantile, with some more commercial blogs on it. You’ll also find there are some clothing pattern sites and sources for fabrics, as my sister Susan got me more into sewing recently.
What Inspires When the Spark is Gone is a category of frequently updated links, that I read for inspiration when the doldrums hit, or the sew-jo is missing.
I’ve also asked for recommendations of blogs, and a reader sent forward a vote for Debbie’s A Quilter’s Table, which I’ve read for years, too. We used to be in a couple of bees together, and in strolling through Debbie’s blog, I found this:
And good news, all these little birds all came from one Charm Pack (5″squares). Here’s some cutting tips:
From the charm pack, choose 16 prints you like, and then find their duplicates. Divide them into two equal piles. From the first pile, cut the block in half diagonally, making two triangles. Put one set aside, and from the other, cut the birds’ heads, as shown. You can discard the triangles on the side, or save them for another use. Now pick up the pile with the matching fabrics.
You’ll make two cuts in through each five-inch square. Make the first cut but don’t move them. Then make the second cut, so you’ll have four bits. Keep the 3″x3″ block. Discard the 2′ x 2″ block, or save for your scrap box.
Then sew along the long edge of the 2″ x 3″ blocks to make a larger patch; trim to 3″ square. Or, just do what I do:
Draw a line diagonally across one of your background squares. Plop it on top of the extended square. Stitch on either side of the line, 1/4″ away from the line, then trim off the edge, and cut on the line. Standard HST-procedure except for that blob on the right. Then press to the dark side, then trim to 2 1/2″ square. You’ll need four of these per bird.
I’ve stacked up a few pieces before I start batch-sewing.
Sew the triangles on either side of the head, then sew to the body. Press, then trim to 4 1/2″ square.
Sew two HSTs together, then two more. Sew the first set to the body. Sew the second set to the white square in the lower left. Stitch everything together. (See photos, above.)
Two Reminders: • Trim the body/head square to 4 1/2″ and then, after assembling, • trim the whole block to 6 1/2″, please.
This is what it looks like from the back. On most of them I put one seamed HST in each wing-set, but here I have them both on one side. Now take your sixteen blocks and have fun arranging them.
Working Title: His Eye is on the Sparrow. It’s 24″ square, with two-inch borders and cornerstones. I’d been thinking about someone I know who has been having a rough go. I mean, we all take turns at that wheel, but now it was their turn. I had tried turning the darkest bird, but it was too much and too obvious. The pink sparrow, the one we all don’t notice all the time and who is quite possibly having the toughest time, is the one we need to keep our eye on.
I was able to cut and sew this thing in no time flat. I have a huge project I’m about to tackle and maybe I just needed a little something to get my sewing warmed up? I had fun making it, and hope you enjoy it.
I’ve read some take a Slow January, but this month we threw away the 50-year old workbench in the garage, and bought one of those fancy new rolling ones. We’ve cleared out lots of junk, and my car is loaded for a trip to the hazardous waste facility–who knew what we could accumulate in paint and pesticides over all this time! Happily, we found a new Fixit Guy, and he’s helping us with replacing switches and light fixtures, drywalling and painting. I think it will all be done by the 31st.
But this coming week is Road to California! Even though it is a national quilt show, it’s also our “local” quilt show — only 35 minutes from my house on a good LA freeway day. I’ll be going up several times to see the quilts, find out what the vendors brought, hang out with friends, and then it will all be over for another year. So, no. January is never slow around here, but we do hibernate in the dead of summer. At that point, I’ll be inside with with the A/C on (set to a responsible temperature) and sewing away. But for us Southern Californians, we play our January away!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 