Stars of Peace: Let the stitching begin:)

 IT'S HERE!!

After many hours of work
 I am beyond excited to bring my
Stars of Peace: Sestercentennial Sampler
quilt pattern to you!
Lots of information in this post
so please read to the end.

I am very proud of my 

family's military service

and of all the military members

and their families

that sacrifice much 

more than most will ever know.

In honor of those who sacrifice,

I will be highlighting some

not-so-well-known heroes of 

the Revolutionary War each month

with the block for that month.

There will also be a bit of history

about the block shown (designer, etc).

MONTH 1:

Eagle and Stars set on a background

of 4 blocks together.

After I drew my eagle, I thought I 

remembered a myth about what the 

direction of the head meant.

I asked my fellow historians in the 

American Quilt Study Group and 

this is what I was told:

"When the eagle on the presidential

seal faces left and the talons hold

arrows, we are at war. 

When it faces right and holds olive branches, 

we are at peace.

The presidential seal doesn't switch out

like that but the information is interesting.

I am glad I drew it facing right but I 

left out the olive branches for ease of applique'.

The block I used to create the center is 

originally attributed to Nancy Cabot, a 

syndicated column writer and quilt designer

from the 1930s.

Now to the QAL:
Thank YOU for being here.
 I look forward to 
lively participation!

The FULL pattern is available as a 
PDF digital download HERE at an
introductory price of $20 until 
February 7th, 2025
(Reg price $25)
Etsy offers tips for printing digital patterns.
Please be sure to print ACTUAL SIZE.
All templates have a 1" square for accuracy.
This is a single-copy purchase for a single user!
Copies may not be forwarded or copied to 
be shared with others!

The pattern is required for the QAL.
My accompanying posts and videos
will not provide any measurements.
I will be providing technique
tips and history tidbits.

The QAL will take place in 

my FB Group, 

Robin's Rocking Needles

 with blog posts
adding additional information.
Make sure all your notifications
are turned on so you don't miss anything.

If you aren't a member yet, please 

answer all 3 questions an agree to the 

rules in order to be accepted. Thank you.

SCHEDULE
Looks like a lot but time flies when we quilt:)
February 2025: Pattern Release
February '25-April '26: 1 block per month

May '26: Finishing Instructions

June '26: Time to get it quilted

July 2026: Show that baby off to all 

who will want to see to celebrate 

our country's 250th birthday. 

I will also be offering a block by block option.
Block 1-Eagle/Stars will be available on 
February 1st, 2025 for $8.
It will include all the pattern instructions.

Subsequent blocks will be $5 each.

You can find month 1 HERE.

Just hearing about all of this?
Follow these links to catch up:)
Introduction
Fabric selection & Supplies

OK, 

Ready ~ Set ~ GO!

See you over on FB

In case you forgot to click over:)

AVAILABLE HERE

Dogwood Stars

Welcome Dogwood Stars

featuring Connecting Threads' 

fabric line.......

Now out of print!

During testing I made my

own version using these

fabrics because the 

color way spoke to me 

but wasn't available yet.

I am a sucker for pretty

much any fabric with 

script on it!!

This design has simple

piecing along with 

fusible applique'.

The diamonds in the border 

sections are all applique'

vs. piecing so cut and stick:)

These little tweezers make

placement of small pieces

so much easier.  

I also use a teflon applique' pressing

sheet so that these bits

are all applied making 

completed flowers BEFORE

fusing to borders/blocks.

When you have a small space

to work in, the pressing sheet

is a real time saver!

When you are ready to

make one of your own,

find my sweet, 

DOGWOOD STARS,

pattern HERE.

THANK YOU,

Connecting Threads! 

Rockets Red Glare

LOOK what hit mailboxes

last week!!

The July issue is now out

and yours truly

has a new quilt within

titled, 'Rockets Red Glare'.

THANK YOU Connecting Threads for 

the perfect fabric line,

Hometown Americana II.

It saddens me that so many quilters

feel overwhelmed by applique' 

because, to me, it is such a 

creative and relaxing form of quilting.

Yes, there are sometimes

many pieces to handle but

no more than some of 

the pieced quilts I have seen.

There are times that even I look

at one of my designs and ask,

"who designed all this work?".

Then I realize how much I 

love it and set to breaking

down each task just as you

would do in piecing.

Piecing steps: 

Iron fabric, measure, 

cut out pieces, sew, 

press, trim, and assemble.

Applique' steps:

Iron fabric, trace templates, 

fuse to wrong sides,

cut out, press to 

backgrounds, stitch 

around edges.

Pretty even in my book:)

Plus, once I get all the pieces 

traced and fused to the 

wrong side of fabrics,

I can pop in a fun movie

and cut all the pieces in 

a relaxed setting.

I am all about the relaxing:)

(NOTE in pic above I 

marked each template with 

the color fabric so I couldn't

mess up while fusing.)

These Karen Kay Buckley 

scissors are the Best!!!

Another nice thing about my

designs is that they don't need

to be laid out exactly.

As long as you leave at least

a 1/4" from the seam 

allowance, (1/2"-3/4" from 

block edge) you are golden!

Fireworks every day of the year!

Machine quilting is not really

my 'thing' but sometimes

I have to rely on my skills.

My default is a set of loop

designs that I free motion

over the raw edge applique'

and then enlarge for the

all over quilting fill in

and around my applique'.

Add a quick triangle label

to my corner and Voila-done!

THANK YOU to AQ Magazine 

for another cool layout!

October 2017 Happenings

In the Category of,

YOU DO KNOW IT IS MARCH OF 2018, RIGHT?

Yes, I do, but I have been busy....

I will be catching you up and then you will understand why I have been absent!

And, in between all of this has been commission quilting, new designs, and lots of applique and embroidery!

 

My lovely man was invited to Chicago by our eldest to go to a Cubs game!  You may (or may not) remember that this time last year Jim's brother was fighting cancer and Jim sat here alone, worrying about his brother and watching the Cubs win the series while I was away.  This time, he flew into Indy where he and his brother drove to Chicago to go to the game together with our eldest.  They did lots of reminiscing and Imagine his joy to see his childhood team win in person:)

HAPPY 49TH BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I am not excited that I hear this little voice telling me it is my

last year to do something big before I turn 50!!

 Great night at the game with the Lightning

celebrating 25 years as a team:)

 

Just because I love them, I thought you would too. 

Jim planted these lovely red vine flowers for me!

 

ONLY IN FLORIDA!.....??

Can you believe that the Princess Bride is 30 years old??!!  This was a favorite of Jim and I as we dated and then we introduced it to our girls when they were young.  Jim is my Wesley!  He didn't say, "as you wish" but damn near close:)

Jim was getting a bit bored in retirement (I think, but he won't admit it) so he tried his hand at some woodworking.  He found an old treadle sewing machine to use the wrought iron sides as table legs.  Then he found some wood quilts that were being made / framed as art and thought that would make a great table. 

Why would I disagree:)

I picked the stains I wanted....

Voila!  A lovely table perfect for a quilter!  I now have somewhere to display photos since I hadn't fully moved in and now I will:)

Heritage Stories: Bowties

I have written before about why I am a Heritage Architect

and here is another one of those stories.

 

This quilt came to me because the quilter had taken a class, made the top, and started hand quilting only to realize that it just wasn't her thing and so it sat in a closet for 20 years.  Instead of trashing it (after all that work!), she found me via a guild member from my guild at the fair- Thank you Karen!

Unfortunately she no longer had the template for the flower in the red blocks she told me.  NO Problem!  I can recreate that star-like flower out of freezer paper and away we go.

This simple and sweet Bowtie block really just needed some outline quilting with the flower to accent the red blocks and a lovely quilted throw was completed for her to give to her son!

What son wouldn't want a warm snuggly throw

made by mom on a chilly winter eve?!!

NO COBBLER ELVES HERE-

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I have a very good reason!!  If you have been following along, I went to Market in May and the summer has just been a whirlwind of activity since then...

Dear friends from our past came to visit.  Then our sweet daughters came to visit with their boyfriends...SO much fun!  The second week in July my brother and nephew came to visit and it was great to catch up and see my brother as a father!

 

The week before my brother came to visit, I decided that my husband and I deserved a new quilt.  We have a sort-of comforter that I made back in 1995 before I knew how to quilt.  The applique is awful and the binding falling off, not to mention that it barely fit a queen and we now have a king.  What is that saying about the Cobbler's family.......?



So that week was spent pulling out a design of mine that is a variation of the block from Vol 7 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. I proceeded to get all the fabric cut for 20, 18" blocks that would be paper pieced.  I did have to buy some yardage but I had about half of it in my stash plus some of the fabric left from the original quilt from 1995.  This would be my first attempt at a scrappy quilt and you will see that it is very controlled scrappy!  Even with the preplanning, I had a hard time letting some of the fabrics fall where they may.

After my brother left, it was time to get to work chain piecing all the parts for my blocks.  It was now July 15th and I had to have this to the quilter by Aug 3rd.  How about a shout out for overestimating your abilities....
Did I mention that I was doing this as a surprise for our Anniversary and that is why the deadline! I felt I had plenty of time but between company and then my husband taking time off every time I turned around, I started to panic.  I only had weekdays to work and he was cutting into them.... 

 I even started a second quilt as a decoy quilt so that if he asked what I had been up to all day, I could say, "see!".  How crazy is that??  Now I have to finish that too but I do love a deadline for getting lots done!

 

Here is one of the blocks placed together to see if I like where the fabrics are falling. 

I was able to finish in time (actually a day early) and sneak the quilt off to the quilter on a workday on my way home from guild to avoid suspicion.





When it came home, I was just blown away by how perfect the design was.  When Kathy showed me the design on the computer, I just couldn't see it on the blocks.  It gives a sort of celestial map feel to the quilt. (The colors are right in the above photo and a bit too light in the detail photos if you are wondering.)

In the above photo, you may recognize the fabric with the gold stars in it that is in 3 of the corners.... That is the original fabric. 
In the below photo, you may be able to see the circular design the quilting gives.  Thank you, Kathy and John, of Cape Haze Quilting for getting this done for me.

 I was able to bind it and label it and surprise him!  There are 24 total or partial stars on this quilt.  The label makes the 25th star to commemorate our 25th Wedding Anniversary.  I love you Jim with all my heart and am very proud that we made it!!!  Now we can sleep under the stars every night!

Do Pumpkins delight you?

I absolutely LOVE pumpkins and to date, this along with Hawaiian Halloween had been my only two patterns. Everyone who has seen this cutie has loved it so I don't know why it took me so long to design more pumpkins.

HARVEST NIGHTS #411

I decided that for Spring Market '13, I was going to have a completely Pumpkin booth and I almost made it....Autumn Wind isn't pumpkins but definitely completes the season for me.

AUTUMN WIND #430

When thinking of Autumn, I knew I wanted pumpkins and lots of them. My brain also kept coming back to crisp fall evenings and how bright the stars shine then. It felt natural to do night skies with star blocks with my pumpkins.


SIMPLY PUMPKINS #431

Pumpkin Star was actually one of the first to be designed because after studying Harvest Nights, I asked "what if" about switching the positions and putting the pumpkin in the star.

PUMPKIN STAR #432

Lace Pumpkin has been a sketch on a napkin for years and sometimes those ideas just don't come together immediately the way you want them to.  It sat and waited until I was ready and then the ideas came quickly.


LACE PUMPKIN #433

I LOVE these little red flowers in Lace Pumpkin and I have always been drawn to designs done in quadrants, wreaths, circles.  So it felt natural to take the flowers and do something different other than pumpkins.  This layout in another color way would fit into any season: Pinks for spring, change the yellow to white for red, white, and blue patriotic, etc.
As I looked at the circular design, it reminded me of ladies skirts swirling and that is how the word 'Cotillion' made it into the name.

AUTUMN COTILLION #434

PUMPKIN TRELLIS #435

Pumpkin Trellis is just so sweet to me!  I obviously started with the Lace Pumpkin design and thought it would look adorable in red work.  I really like Weeks Dye Works variegated flosses from my cross stitch days though, and so I found the right colors and got to work.  Since I wasn't stitching star blocks in, something had to take up that space...a Trellis.  They have always held a charm for me.  Who knows why when I can't grow anything to save my life:)

 

Pumpkin Trellis mini 9-1/2" x 11-1/2"

Just when the layout was done and I was ready to go, I accidently clicked a button and this beige background with black popped up on the computer screen.  Well I had to do it and in the mini format too.  It is just too cute!!

 

There is plenty of time to make one of these fabulous designs in time for the season and they can be found on my website!

 

Stay tuned for more quilting fun!

CONGRATULATIONS!

The winner of the magazine is Mary who wrote about spending more time in mixed techniques thanks to the blog tour:)  That is the fun of this- Inspiring quilters to try something new!

The winner of a free pattern is Dana who chose Coastal Christmas.  I love pictures of finished quilts-HINT, HINT, HINT:)

Now for a sneak peek to see how many of you come back to visit me:)



Pumpkin Star

This is one of my new patterns going to Market in less than 2 weeks.  I am pretty excited about this little cutie.

Have a great weekend.