Hippity, Hoppity, Easter’s on it’s way.  It’s less than six weeks until Easter.   But there’s still plenty of time to quilt some decorative Easter quilts.

 Cotton Tails is an 8 1/2″ X 16″ paper foundation pieced wall hanging. These two bunnies are keeping a close watch on their Easter basket, just waiting for it to be filled.  It might be hard to choose a colorway.  The pink & blue are pretty but yellow and green would be nice too.

Holiday Trees has patterns for three holiday trees so you’ll be a step ahead for Halloween and Christmas. For Easter you can make colorful decorated eggs from felt to “hang” on your tree quilt.  Make your eggs wild and crazy or use soothing pastels.

These Easter Chicks are on parade wearing thier Easter Bonnets.  I love a parade!  Instructions included for a table runner, a penny rug and pillows.

Dress up your table with these colorful Easy Crazy Easter Eggs.  You’ll get a head start on your Spring Cleaning because you’ll be cleaning out your scrap bin.  There are two sizes: 10 X 14 and  14 X 18.  Use them for placemats or set one out on a end table under your holiday decorations.

Easter Cross is a beautiful stained glass wall hanging quilt pattern that reminds us what the holiday is all about. Rich batiks add to the effect.

Ok, time’s a’wasting.  Hop to it and check out all the quilt patterns at Quilters Warehouse.

Hoppy sewing!

Guest writing for us today is Kathy Southern, aka Kat, of StudioKat Designs.  If you haven’t tried her purse patterns yet, you don’t know what you’re missing!

“People often ask me where I get my inspiration for the handbag patterns I design, and the truth is, I have been on a quest for the perfect handbag since I was a young girl. Having spent the greater portion of my life seeking this perfect purse, and not finding it, I finally decided to just try to design it myself! I love the ease and style of a smaller bag, but let’s face it, I need to carry a lot of “stuff”, and a small bag doesn’t always get the job done. My early efforts, such as the Vervalise, Bellagio, AbracaNiche and especially the Gadabout and Odyssey, involved designing multitudes of organizational features into relatively small bags to increase their functionality. I loved the fact that these bags had the fashion sense & easy usage of small bags, yet offered storage capabilities that belied their smaller size.

While pleased with these early successes, I was still aggravated at the time it took to switch bags, and to adjust to each bag’s interior features, especially when I wanted to carry one of my beautiful leather bags for an occasion! I found I often had to sacrifice the convenience of carrying certain items because of purse dimensions, or worse, resort to also carry a tote bag at times, in order to have the additional items on hand when I needed them.

My “ah-ha” moment came when I decided to address this problem by playing around a bit with the idea of designing a removable purse interior that could be switched from bag to bag. My first prototype was very basic and my initial plan was to market this new design as a free incentive pattern. But the more I used my new accessory, the more features I added and soon the pattern was far too complex for a give-a-way. Still, I wasn’t convinced that your average woman would be willing to actually buy a pattern for an item that basically no one would ever see but her.Enter my best friend, the perfect product tester (picture the infamous Samsonite gorilla). Mary carried a prototype for a few weeks, now named the “PortaPockets Purse Insert, and a few days later, called with effusive praise! Not only did she enjoy using the Insert, she enjoyed it so much that she refused to give it back! Declaring it to eventually be my best-seller, she encouraged me in the strongest possible terms, to proceed full-steam ahead. Given Mary’s stellar review, I continued developing the PortaPockets Purse Insert, eventually offering it in two convenient sizes in the same pattern envelope, and to use a cliché… the rest is history.

Women from all walks of life appreciate the organization that a PortaPockets Insert it brings to their handbags. No more digging for keys or struggling to find your cellphone before it stops ringing. No more carrying both a diaper bag or a brief case, AND a purse. Simply lift your PortaPockets from your purse and drop it into the larger bag. You’ll lighten your load and free up your hands, without sacrificing any of your daily items.

The response to the PortaPockets Purse Insert has been so overwhelmingly positive, that almost immediately, customers began clamoring for me to design handbags that they could use with their new favorite accessory item. For this reason, we have added the Harmony Handbag and the Boho Baguette to our handbag pattern line. Not only are they beautiful handbags in their own right, but they have both been designed to work in perfect collaboration with our now best-selling PortaPockets Purse Insert.

Moral of the story… A best friend and a best-selling pattern sometimes go hand in hand!”

There is something for everyone in the “What’s New This Week” at QuiltersWarehouse. 

If you are partial to pieced quilts, you’ll be mad about Plaid About You.  This simple quilt of nine squares can be made from any fabric of course but the plaid fabrics really make the quilt stand out.  Simple, quick, and stunning.  Finishing at 64″ X 85″ it’s the perfect size to throw over your special someone to say “I’m mad about you!” 

If applique is what you’re wanting to try, Chugging Along is a wall hanging with easy to follow directions.  This quilt would make a perfect new baby gift. You can personalize the gift by adding the baby’s name and birthdate in the border.

If paper piecing is your preference Bella Strella is a two-for-one pattern.  Instructions are included for a table runner and for a wall quilt.  It looks complicated (everyone will be sooo impressed – you too!) but it’s not that hard.   

And who could resist an ice cream quilt?! (Mmm, ice cream, my favorite food group!)  This quilt has a bit of everything… stitchery, piecing, applique.                                     

And wasn’t there mention of Block of the Month quilts?  There are FOUR!!!! of them…Thimbleberries Traditional is a pieced queen size with two color options – Light and Traditional.   Snowman Collector is an appliqued quilt with adorable snowmen.  Playing in the snow has never been so much fun.  Mrs. Potter’s Garden is a 6 month project. You can enjoy the flowers and think spring and summer all winter long as you work on it and summer will be here when you are finished.  And Heart & Home is a quilt that will warm your heart with pretty applique blocks, a beautiful border and gorgeous fabrics of pinks and greens.

There are many more quilt patterns, so when you are taking a break from your quilting browse through them and find your next project.

There’s a georgeous new fabric line available.  Suzanne spotted it, touched it, at Quilt Market and just had to stock it.  She told me, “It looks like linen; it feels like linen.  I just love it.”  She’s right. It does look and feel like linen… so soft and ‘rich’ looking, but it’s 100% cotton.  And the Laurel Cottage designs are beautiful too. This floral on creme background would work as a main focus fabric or would be great for fussy cutting.  Black Cat Creations has a pattern called Charmed that would work great.  Use this floral for the center of the stars and alternate the points of the stars with the blue and cream fern patterned fabrics.  Another pattern that would work well is Floral Impressions by Canyon Creek Fabrics.  Another is My Sister’s Trellis by Pams Piece by Piece.  And Picture Perfect by Diane Weber Sew Biz.  And Prairie Window by Quilt Woman.  So many possibilities! 

 Or why not try your hand at designing your own quilt. 
This “plaid” would make a nice inner border.  The fabric below could be fussy cut for a border also.   The fabric line includes a smokey light blue with flowers all over, a green on green, and a darker blue on blue.  All so pretty and so soft . . . wish we could give you a chance to touch it!

Check out the entire fabric line and browse the quilt patterns – see which pattern you think would really showcase this fabric.  Quilting is always enjoyable but you’ll add an extra dimension to your enjoyment when you get to feel this fabric while you are creating with it!

Is anyone asking you what you want for Christmas?  Are you getting ready to start dropping hints?  Quilt kits are a great item to request.  The non-quilty buyer can actually see what they are getting you and they’ll enjoy the giving even more.  It’s not the same as someone just picking out some fabric to give you (especially if you and the gift giver have a different artistic sense!).  These kits are great and you can start in creating right away.

 Autumn Star Complete Kit will go together quickly enough that you will have plenty of time to enjoy your seasonal wall hanging before Spring is sprung.  You can turn the patches that comprise the center of the quilt and have two alternative layouts.

Do you have any hint of baby showers that will happen in the next few months?  Baby Bear would make a great gift (although you might want to make that frown a smile).  How cool is that?! … you get a gift,  you get to have the enjoyment of making it and then you get the enjoyment of giving the finished wall hanging!  (That’s not re-gifting, is it? – Noooo, can’t be.)

How about a lap quilt. Caddy Corners will measure 72″ square when you are finished.  It’s the first in a series of patterns “Laps from Fats” so if you like it there’s more patterns like it.  You’ll stack your fat quarters & cut them all alike.  This’ll be a quick quilt to make – you’ll be ready to cuddle under it to watch the Super Bowl – or if you’re not a fan, to nap cuddled under it while everyone else watches the game.  Hmm, looks busy enough that you can snack on all the Super Bowl goodies even if you’re not watching and the crumbs won’t show up.

There are lots more kits, so browse away and add a few to your My Favorites list.

Hurry! There’s still time to sew some Christmas projects, whether for yourself, your home, or for gifts.  The problem you might have is choosing which project to do!

Is this guy cute?!  All Tangled Up is a quick project with fusible applique and embroidery embellishments. If you like it, you can make Snowy and Santa too.  They’ll brighten up any wall and make a pretty grouping.  Make a great gift, too, if you can bring yourself to giving them up.

Need a tree skirt?  This one is bright and fun looking.  You can use up some of your Christmas scraps and ‘wrap’ each of the gifts in different ‘wrapping paper’ and ribbon.

How about a bright colorful wreath that you can use year after year.  Christmas Charms Wreath is a pieced project with an appliqued ribbon.  You can make good use of your 5″ Charms squares with this pattern.  Then make it your own by embellishing with some ornaments or whatever strikes your fancy!

And look! The kitties are back! They’re disguised as Santa, an angel, a reindeer and an elf – so cute.  You can make Christmas Kittens ornaments or a bell pull.

Look at all you get with Christmas Table Charms.  You’ll be able to make some for yourself AND to give away.  You’ll be sure to find the perfect size for every table in your house.

These just represent the “tip of the iceberg” as they say.  There’s sooooo many more Christmas quilt patterns to be found.  And take a visit back to Eva Paige and Christmas in July for some more ideas. But hurry!  Christmas will be here before we know it!