February 1st, 2012
We always love to hear from quilters who have used our patterns to make gorgeous quilts. The quilts you see on the front of each cover are suggestions-a seed of creativity for you to make your very own with the fabrics and color scheme that you choose.
Monica contacted me recently with photos of quilts she has made with our pattern Dresden Garden which was first in Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting Jan/Feb 2010 issue. She also does machine quilting and you can see her excellent work in the following photos!
Here’s the quilt in the issue made with a fabric collection from Clothworks:

Here’s Monica with 3 versions of the pattern-all lovely!
![DSC_0004[1] DSC_0004[1]](http://cottagequiltdesigns.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_00041-300x199.jpg)
![DSC_0001[1] DSC_0001[1]](http://cottagequiltdesigns.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_00011-300x236.jpg)
![DSC_0161[1] DSC_0161[1]](http://cottagequiltdesigns.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_01611-289x300.jpg)
![DSC_00072[1] DSC_00072[1]](http://cottagequiltdesigns.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_000721-300x199.jpg)
![DSC_00093[1] DSC_00093[1]](http://cottagequiltdesigns.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_000931-300x214.jpg)
Monica said she had never appliquéd before-she did a lovely job! I think her light background really set off to an advantage the chain blocks and dresden flowers. And what a difference the color story makes between the 3 versions! (I”m partial to blue so I like the first one best).
Thank you, Monica, for sharing your wonderful quilts with us! Best wishes on your future creative works!
Tags: Dresden Garden, Fons & Porter magazine, quilts
Posted in Sewing Techniques | No Comments »
January 24th, 2012

Are you gals ready for a quilt show?
If you live in Michigan and specifically the thumb of Michigan(where I grew up!) I’m very happy to share the news that the Rawson Memorial District Library in Cass City, MI is hosting a month long quilt show and special events. They are offering:
Beautiful quilts on display throughout the library during regular library hours during the month of February 2012.
Tuesday, February 7, 1-5 pm Sewing Machine Cleaning
Ernie Messing from the Thumb Sewing Center will clean sewing machines for $60. Contact the library for an appointment time at 989-872-2856.
Saturday, February 18, 1-3 pm Bessie & Margaret’s Quilter’s Tea
Lunch: Served at 1 pm and for the program: “Then and Now” by Virginia Anderson on 19th, 20th and 21st Century Quilts. Vendor will be the Backstreet Quilts quilt shop from Elkton, MI at the United Methodist Church at 5100 N. Cemetery Rd., Cass City. Tickets cost $10 and are on sale at the library. Please purchase or call the library by February 16th.
Saturday, February 25-Quilt classes by Tina Gordon of Decker, MI.
10 am class: Ten minute Table Runner
1 pm class: Nine Patch Pillow
Call the library to register for the classes and for the supply list. Take one or both classes! Cost for each class: $7.00.
Rawson Memorial District Library
6495 Pine St.
Cass City, MI 48726
989-872-2856
What a wonderful quilting event! I hope you and your friends can enjoy it all!
Tags: Cass City, MI, quilt show, Rawson library
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January 18th, 2012

Here’s our newest pattern-Baseball Legends-just right for the baseball lover in your family!
The quilt’s fabrics included batiks, Stonehenge cream and yellow and tonals. Blocks are fast to make and the shapes fusible and easy. Edge to edge machine quilting covered the quilt including the appliqués because of their large simple shapes.
The catalog page link is:
http://www.cottagequiltdesigns.info/catalog.php?item=136&catid=19&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D19
You or your loved one is sure to be delighted with this one!
Tags: baseball, first base, legends, quilt
Posted in Quilt projects | 1 Comment »
January 4th, 2012
Happy New Year!
As promised in December here is a lesson on how to paper piece. I’m making Jacqueline de Jonge’s quilt Be Colourful for a client.

Last time I was working on the first Block section-here it is-finished just before Christmas.

Now I’m going to show you how to paper piece with Block B. I use Golden Thread’s yellow tracing paper for tracing the sections from the pattern. Jacqueline arranged with the printer to print the whole quilt on one large sheet of paper. It can be imtimidating but just focus on one block at a time. She does a wonderful job breaking it into sections in her instructions.

Here is a curved section showing the traced paper with all but one section added. Each fabric patch is bigger by at least 1/4″ all around the patch before you add it and the whole section is trimmed back to the seam allowance when finished.

The first step in adding the last patch is to fold back the paper on the joining seam line and trim the fabric from the last section to 1/4″ above the folded paper.

The next fabric patch is placed right sides together along the trimmed edge of the sewn patch below. You will need to flip the top patch back to see if it will cover beyond the seam allowance on the next traced paper section.

Here you see the two sections sewn together on the line. The seams are always sewn on top of the paper with the fabric sandwich on top of the feed dogs of your machine.

The last section has been folded open and pressed and trimmed back to the seam allowances.

Here are all the sections (minus the star in the circle) before sewing together.

And here is Block A and B sewn together. Now on to Block C!
Tags: Jacqueline de Jonge, paper piecing, quilts
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
December 18th, 2011
A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our blog this week! You had the opportunity to visit over 250 site so we’re glad you came here too.
As promised we picked randomly two names from those of you who commented in the last week. Our two winners are:
Mary-she wins the Country Girls pattern
Peg Miller-she wins the Necktie Memories pattern
I’m emailing them for their street address and will put the patterns in the mail this week. If I don’t hear back from them I’ll pick more names!
Country Girls and Necktie Memories have been put on sale for $2 off the full price til December 31st. We hope you loved the patterns enough to gift yourself with one of them or both! You can jump quickly to our homepage by using this link: http://www/cottagequiltdesigns.info

Merry Christmas and many blessings to you and yours for the New Year!
Tags: Christmas, quilt pattern winners
Posted in Quilting Industries | 1 Comment »
December 3rd, 2011

A big thanks to all the readers who come to our blog!
Michele Foster from Quilting Gallery is celebrating her 4th year and we are joining in the blog tour she is setting up. YOU benefit by commenting on the blogs that will be listed on her site by December 11th. Just click the banner above to get the list of blogs on the tour after midnight December 10th.
Country Girls

Necktie Memories

Here’s our two patterns for the give-away. Two names will be drawn at random after December 17th from all of you who comment on this post and any updates we make for the blog tour. Yes-we will ship internationally-so join the fun!
Tags: celebration, patterns, quilting blog tour
Posted in Quilting Industries | 102 Comments »
November 27th, 2011
Gone Golfing

Make this easy throw sized quilt for your husband, friend or yourself!
Easy 12″ blocks and large appliqué shapes makes this a quick gift that will be cherished by men and women alike.
Go to our homepage by clicking on this link:
http://www.cottagequiltdesigns.info/
Click on the Gone Golfing photo and you will find more information about the pattern. It makes a fabulous Christmas gift!
Tags: golfing, manly quilts
Posted in Quilt projects | 1 Comment »
November 20th, 2011
Have you seen Jacqueline de Jong’s quilt Be Colorful?

My client from Arizonia sent the kit to make for her shop. I’m making it between new patterns. This is what I have done so far…


If you look up to the full quilt picture you can see these parts in the middle right edge.
I’d like to show you how to paper piece. My plan is to put these first sections together and then show you how to do it with the next traced curves and star. This quilt looks very complicated-almost overwhelming at first sight! She’s done a good job in her pattern to break it into managable sections.
The next post will showcase a new pattern-Gone Golfing! I hope to put the binding on this week and get the pattern in our catalog before I show you the quilt. If you golf or have a loved golfer in the family this could be the next quilt you want to make! Then I’ll give those of you who are interested in the method of paper piecing a lesson to get started.
Happy Thanksgiving! May your travels and fellowship be blessed!
Tags: Jacqueline de Jonge, paper piece, quilt
Posted in Quilt projects | 1 Comment »
November 13th, 2011
Are you looking for a pattern to make a difference on your kitchen table?

Easily pieced, this project can be made in a weekend. Choose a festive chili pepper print like the one shown above or a print that coorindates with your kitchen decor. Can you see Christmas prints in this set?
You can find the pattern by clicking the picture on our homepage:
http://www.cottagequiltdesigns.info/
Coming in the next few weeks:
Quilts you can make for the men in your life. Think Christmas, birthdays or Father’s Day!
Tags: chili peppers, placemats, quilting, tablerunner
Posted in Quilt projects | No Comments »
November 6th, 2011
Do you live the in the southwest, have a winter home there or just love the bright colors, heritage and motifs?

Here’s a tablerunner and placemat set designed for a client from Arizonia. She wanted the extra large sized tablerunner so the pattern includes instructions for a 54″ x 16″ runner along with a 43″ x 12″ tablerunner size. The placemats are 16″ x 12″.

Don’t you love the sunset batik background? The fabrics came from Robert Kaufman. You can find a link for the pattern to the catalog page on our homepage: http://www.cottagequiltdesigns.info/
Coming next week-a tableset using chili pepper fabric!
Tags: placemats, saguaro cactus, tablerunner
Posted in Quilt projects | No Comments »