Flowers!

October 23, 2017August 12, 2024 Elizabeth E.18 Comments

Since this link is out in the universe for a Poppy Block, and a lot has happened in those intervening years, let’s cut right to the chase.

The pattern has been updated, and the links below reflect that. Now you can find the pattern in my pattern shop on PayHip here.

While the original poppy block is in the pattern, I’ve also given different ideas for setting your blocks, so it’s not the same old thing:

I wrote all about this quilt on this post.
Here’s some more flower/pattern information.
The Poppy shows up here, along with Sunflowers.

Okay, back to the originally written post.

Original Post

My nephew’s wife, Grace, wrote to me and asked for help. She is a young quilter, who makes awesome gooseberry jam (she shared a jar with me), so I wanted to help. The quilt was for someone close to her who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, and she thought a quilt was needed. I agree.

She sent me the screen shot you see above, and since it was on Pinterest…and you know how much I LOVE their search engines (NOT), I thought it was easier to draft it on my computer using QuiltPro than try to find the original design (I tried…and failed…but kudos to whoever dreamed it up). Besides, that was one of those “barn” quilts, painted on wood, not a cloth quilt.

This is what I came up with. But I knew Grace wanted to move quickly, and yeah–all those pieces?

I thought about my Home Sweet Home mini quilt, and how she could make fewer blocks, but bigger blocks?

UPDATE: There is now a pattern for this sunflower quilt.

Grace wrote back. She loved what I’d done, but now they were thinking poppies. She sent me a sample of a quilt she’d seen. I drafted it up in my quilt software and drew up a quilt. But I thought I should test out my own pattern, so I made a Poppy Block:

Poppy block constructon1 — trimming snowball corners

I think it will be cute quilt.

It can be made in reds and greens and be thought of as poinsettias for Christmas. Or made to commemorate Anzac Day in April, for the Australians. Or red and white for a bouquet of posies for Valentine’s Day. Have fun, and if your friends want a poppy pattern–send them to my pattern shop to get their own PatternLite pattern. Thanks. PatternLite patterns were developed as they were simplified, and cheap — less than your drink at Starbucks.

Making that block added to my collection of red and white triangles (ignore the interlopers in the upper right corner). I trim them to whatever measurement’s closest, without it being a weird number, and save them.

Every once in a while, I sew them into four-patches.

I haven’t decided yet what to do with them, but a couple of questions arise: do I include the Christmas prints? Or do they get their own collection? (I think so.)

Do you ever quilt with “rules”? It’s about all I remember from my beginning art classes, ages ago in college. The assignments laid out rules to create by — an edge to the sandbox — if you will, and went something like this:

Take an old piece of clothing, adhere it to a canvas and paint it like something else.
Use three shapes only.
Create a composition by taking a square of black paper, cutting out some shape and using the negative and positive pieces.
This assignment will use only two colors, but you may use any range of those colors.

And so on. There are many books out there in the marketplace for guided creativity, but they all start with a rule.

Sometimes I find little bags of treasures in my sewing room, with pieces inside that have been collected according to some rule. Like the red and white triangle rule. Or the 3-inch square rule, but I kind of think that last one’s a bit of a cheat.

Several years ago, I saw this on Jan Burgwinkle’s blog, Be*mused, and fell in love with it. Maybe that’s why I started making little HSTs. (While she doesn’t seem to update her blog much these days, it’s still amazing to read through the archives.) So that’s my rule and I’m sticking with it: red and white triangles, although seeing this quilt again does make me wonder if I should break it.

Round up of some recent patterns:

All the PatternLite patterns can be found here.

Shine: The Circles Quilt, finished

November 13, 2016June 26, 2019 Elizabeth E.33 Comments

Shine: The Circles Quilt
Quilt #170

This quilt finally finished, I took it out for a photography session with the help of my husband.

I started sewing the first block in June of 2014, and finished the top a year later. The quilting was finished at the end of September, but it wasn’t until now that I could get time to take it up to our university’s Botanic Gardens to get some photographs.

My husband’s favorite block. As some of you know, many of these blocks were inspired by art in a church in Slovenia, as well as designs from our travels. Most of the patterns and accompanying tutorials are free on this blog, found *here* as well in a tab labeled Shine: The Circles Quilt.

This shows the quilting. I was trying out double batting (polyester with wool), and found it was a challenge to move the heavy quilt around on the machine. It took me nearly 4 months to quilt this thing, as I was hobbled with a shoulder injury. But I was able to finish it!

As I quilted, I thought a lot about my brother-in-law Tom, who passed away a little over a month ago. He maintained a beautiful small garden in his backyard, and so in one of the corners I quilted in a flower in his memory (shown below). Many offered advice and help while I was quilting: thank you, everyone.

detail of quilting from the back

This closes a chapter in my life. Lovely to see you here, Shine!

EPP · Shine: The Circles Quilt

Shine: The Circles Quilt

July 1, 2015June 26, 2019 Elizabeth E.24 Comments

Shine: The Circles Quilt
66″ square
First block started June 2014 • Top finished June 2015

I’ve finished my quilt top and am happy to release it into the world today. I started sewing these English Paper Piecing patterns after I’d finished Kaleidoscope and needed a new hand project. I was also sick of straight lines, and though I’d do some circles. Those of you who have followed along know that I took a lot of inspiration for the circles from a church my husband and I had visited while traveling in Slovenia, the art finding its way into fabric.

I named it Shine because of all those circles, those suns, those compass points, radiating out from the quilt. I could see this all done up in solids, too. I’ve seen a few of your starting your project. Please tag me on IG (occasionalpiecequilt) or drop me an email with a photo so I can see what you’ve begun.

I’ve now completed the instructions for this quilt, and have it available for purchase in my PayHip shop, listed as Shine: Circles Quilt Finishing Instructions, so you can finish off your quilt.

The last four circles — numbers 13 to 16 — are also available as a PDF download pattern: Final Four Blocks from Shine, but because the tutorials are image-heavy, I’ve kept the instructions for the circles on the blog. I’ve loved creating these and sharing them for free, so I hope you’ve enjoyed grabbing them and making them.

Where did I get the inspiration for the finishing? One day when I was walking around San Diego, I looked up and saw the facade of the building and thought, aha! — those crosses with circles would be perfect in between my circles. I ended up leaving off the circles as my quilt had a lot going on , but your quilt may be different, so you decide (the option is in the pattern).

And the border? I started here, in this archway from the church in Slovenia, with those triangles. But again, I wanted my circles — and all that handwork — to stand out, so I simplified it with trapezoidal pieces in between the triangles.

Refer to the main SHINE: The Circles Quilt page, for links to each block.

Thanks for all your support and EPP love while I’ve been working on this project. Happy Piecing!

Quilts

Sentimental Journey: Bee Blocks for the Mid-Century Modern Bee, part 1

May 11, 2015August 5, 2015 Elizabeth E.17 Comments

Cindy, of LiveAColorfulLife, called me up one day and said she had a great idea and a great name for a bee: Mid-Century Modern Bee, and that everyone had to be at least mid-century in age. Maybe it was the exasperation I felt that all the newbies were claiming invention of tried and true blocks and methods, or that I was ready for another bee, or that Cindy’s charm could not be turned down, but I jumped at the chance to be a part of this new group. We’ve been going strong for three years, so I’m dividing this post into parts, and am grouping them by the participant, rather than going through the calendar years. We now have a blog, courtesy of Susan and PatchnPlay, so I guess you could say we are all grown up. I wanted a place where all our blocks, quilts, and tutorials could be listed; you’ll find links to many tutorials of these blocks, so have fun browsing. The first project we did was Carla’s Church Dash quilt, with the tutorial found *here.* The next year, Carla (Lollyquiltz) had us make another block churn dash block for her, and the beautiful quilt above is the result. Carla is still working on this year’s batch of blocks, a birthday cake block using *this* tutorial. This bee also does signature blocks, which I love, and you can see the array at the top of her pin wall. My birthday cake block is the blueberry with mint filling, as one of the fun things she had us do was list what “kind” of cake we would make for her. If you use the tutorial, remember to set your print scaling settings at 100% so your block will be 12″ square. Cindy thought for her first turn, she would do the Winged Square Block with the tutorial found *here.* When I sent around the letter asking for photos of blocks/quilt tops/quilts, she sent me a photo of all the blocks together. For her second round, she fell in love with Rene’s spiderweb block (another member in our bee) and decided she wanted one too. This became common–we are so well matched that we borrow ideas for each other regularly, tweaking them slightly. We used *this tutorial* for these blocks. Using *this* tutorial, and again borrowing from Rene’, Cindy went with a rainbow Dresden plate, with a black and white center. Unlike the Always Bee Learning Bee, we make from our stash, not sending out fabrics to each other. It is fun to see how many of us have the same fabrics. Her last request was matched by another bee she is participating in, so her design wall was flooded with circles. Debbie, of A Quilter’s Table, asked for a variation of the Hugs and Kisses Block, but done in soft hues and colors (aka “Low Volume”). Her stunning completed quilt, above, titled Common Affection, has gone on to be published and to win ribbons. I love that blue wall, as it really shows off the low volume fabric choices. Debbie’s next block (in 2014) was a pair of rolling diamond blocks, from *this tutorial.* Here’s her completed quilt, Vivid, adding a few more to round out the original collection.Rene’ of Rene Creates, and who inspires many of us with choosing blocks, asked us for a spiderweb block (tutorial link found above), but in scrappy fabrics. She made this cool quilt with the colors moving all around–a real scrappy treat. She took it with her when the family did Christmas photographs together; I love the setting. Her 2014 block was this cool-in-blues-and-greens Dresden block (tutorial listed above). She laid them all out on her bed to show us how they look together. Because of different printing sizes, they range from smaller to larger. She plans to place them scattered across a solid background for her quilt. Deborah, Simply Miss Luella, asked for house blocks, and here are a few. Mine is in the upper left; link to the blog post about it, with the pattern is *here.* You can find her on Instagram. I made this house for Linda, drawing from my collection of free house patterns that I had worked up for my in-town sewing group. The reason she asked for houses, is that her house burnt to the ground, and she lost everything shortly before Thanksgiving of the year she was with our group. We all made houses, our hearts going out to her as she worked hard to rebuild her life. (to be continued)