Category Archives: Patterns

The Silk Quilt Reimagined

This marvelous quilt was made by Lizzie Johnson White sometime in the late 1860’s to early 1870’s. Lizzie was living in Pennsylvania when she made her quilt. Each of her blocks are unique designs made with scraps of silk. It is exquisitely quilted.

After being given the opportunity to view and study this quilt at the New England Quilt Museum I drafted Lizzie’s designs and gave them each a name. I also included the variations of her four-patch snowball block used throughout the original quilt.

In my reimagined version of the quilt I have arranged the blocks differently than Lizzie did and I included her snowball variations, and some of my own designs, in the setting triangles. I used quilting cotton in this quilt, but I chose a metallic fabric for the sashing and borders to give it a nice silky shine.

If you would like to make your own version of Lizzies’s quilt you can purchase and download the pattern. The majority of the block patterns use the foundation paper piecing method, so please be comfortable with that method for making your blocks. This is a digital PDF download. No printed book will be mailed. A printer is required to print the patterns and instructions.

Here is the EQ8 Design, the top and the pantograph I used.

After photographing the blocks at the New England Quilt Museum I drafted each block in Electric Quilt. The best method for making most of the blocks is Foundation Paper Piecing, although some of the blocks are best made with rotary cutting. Here are details for two of the 10″ blocks in the quilt showing the original, the EQ8 Design and my block.

These are two of the 5″ blocks that Lizzie used in her 10″ blocks.

And a here are photos of the rest of the 10″ blocks that I created patterns for.

Here are the rest of the 5″ blocks that are in the pattern book.

After putting this top together I also made a mini version of Lizzie’s quilt. Pam Weeks, the Curator at the Museum, is writing a book that will include Lizzie’s quilt, as well as others in the permanent collection in the Museum. The book will have a pattern for this little quilt. Amazingly enough, someone donated silk fabric remnants to the museum and there was enough green silk for the sashing and borders, so I could use Lizzie’s color scheme and also have a mini all silk quilt.

After spending so much time drafting these patterns I decided to put a book together with the patterns for all of the blocks in Lizzie’s quilt. The book includes instructions and foundation paper templates for the fourteen 10” blocks and seven 5” blocks in Lizzie’s Quilt, and includes instructions to complete the 83″ x 83″ quilt.

The majority of the block patterns use the foundation paper piecing method, so please be comfortable with that method for making your blocks.

This quilt is in the permanent collection at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. 25% of the proceeds from the sale of this pattern book will be donated to the museum.

This is a digital PDF download. No printed book will be mailed. A printer is required to print the patterns and instructions.

Progression Panel Quilt

Here is another project that I recently finished. This quilt uses 3 panels. Two of the panels are cut into strips with background fabric using the Ricky Tims Convergence block technique.

I will eventually be teaching the process in a workshop at Quilters Common in Wakefield, but for now the pattern is available at the shop.

UPDATE: You can now download a digital version of the pattern on the FREE PATTERNS Page .

I quilted this with a pantograph. The one I used is called flames, but I loaded the quilt on my longarm frame so that the panto actually looks like clouds/waves to complement the panel.

Improv Placemats

I have been playing with improv blocks and arranging them together to make placemats. This is going to be a workshop at Quilters Common in Wakefield, MA as soon as we can be comfortable and safe in the cozy classroom area there. It is a fun way to introduce folks to improv if they haven’t tried it yet.
You can download the pattern on my FREE PATTERNS Page

SnippyScissors Diagonal Thinking Genius

My friend Susan is a quilting pattern genius. She looks at things with an open mind and suddenly has an amazing new way to construct a block that avoids fussy bias warping triangle hassles.

Here is a her latest diagonal thinking genius breakthrough in pictures.

looking wonky and unconventional!

This method is wonderfully precise and does not wast that much fabric. My big question: HAS ANYONE EVER SEEN THIS METHOD BEFORE???

I think NOT!!!

Improv with Rules!

This is a block plan for my do.Good Stitches Hope Circle group. Look for us on Instagram, #dogoodstitcheshopecircle to see what we are up to.

Each block will be a 12″ block (12 1/2″ with seam allowances). It will consist of four 6″ (6 1/2″ with seam allowances) improv blocks.

Start out with four 8″ squares of fabric, two light and two dark. Use fabrics that will all work together. Also have two, three or four 8″ long strips of contrasting fabrics that are between 1″ to 1 1/2″ wide.

Layer each light fabric with a dark fabric, both sides UP! Then slice through each set, being careful not to slice too close to the edges. Next swap the fabric pieces in each pair to set up four blocks.

The next thing to do is add in the strips … or not! Plan to add a strip to at least two of the four blocks. Decide for yourself how many of the four you want to put strips into, and also decide how many blocks you want to slice twice, as shown below.

Not adding a strip? Just sew the two pieces for that block together. If you are adding a strip then go ahead and sew it to the edge of one of the pieces, and then sew the other piece on. If you happen to have cut a curve when slicing, just straighten it out when you are sewing the strip in.

Then go ahead and trim the blocks you are finished with. I trimmed three of the four. Trim the blocks to 6 1/2″

I am going to slice the fourth block again and then add a strip to it. When piecing this block you are going to want to try and line up the seams from the first slice. Just hold the seam down 1/4″ in with your thumb and flip the fabric over to see if it looks like it will line up. No worries if not perfect! No one will notice with so much going on in these blocks! Press your seams towards the strip, and then trim to 6 1/2″.

Once you have your four blocks completed play around with how you want to arrange them and then sew the four blocks together into a 12 1/2″ block. Here is my completed block:

I am asking everyone in our circle to make two 12 1/2″ blocks. One of the blocks should be predominantly cool colors (purple, blue, green), and the other should be warm (red, orange, yellow).

Here are the rest of the blocks I made to give you an idea of the different ways you can slice your blocks and arrange them.