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!

January is over.  February is well under way.  Enough of winter already!  Get the feeling of “Spring in the air” with these beautiful quilts . . .

Who could feel dreary with this quilt around?  Olyvia will transform any little girl’s room into a bright and cheery place.   This fat quarter friendly quilt finishes at 62″ X 84″. 

Palmettes and Flowers is just a bit more subdued but so pretty.  This applique wall hanging (35″ X 35″) can be done by hand or machine.  The wide border and the center background give you plenty of opportunity to change the look of the quilt to just your style.  

What says Spring more than Tulips?  Beautiful applique tulips will lift your spirits.  Choose some of your favorite scraps and let your garden bloom.

Spring Row Quilt is seven rows of cute birdhouses.  The blues and cremes look good, but another colorway would be  medium green borders and sashing and the birdhouses in rose with very a light green background and flowers any color you like and, of course, white picket fences.

And here’s what we are all doing . . . Waiting for Spring.  Kitty might have something different in mind than we do, but we’re all waiting with bated breath!  This 16 1/2″ square wall hanging is paper foundation pieced and fusible appliqued.  Pretty flowers, pretty birds and one focused kitty.

Choose a quilt pattern (or two or three) and quilt away.  And before you know it Spring will be here.

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!

Attention all blurfers ( blog surfers) you may have noticed down in the links column that I have started a blog, thistledownblog.blogspot.com I guess I had too much time on my hands, I wish. I hope you’ll get a chance to stop by and see what I am up to.

Like me, you are most likely gearing up for the upcoming holidays and just in case you are running out of projects, I’ve drawn up a couple of little seasonal redwork illustrations to share with you. They are easy enough that you can stitch them up in no time at all. Stitch and make into little sachets, stitch them onto towels or breadcloths or put them into a small picture frame. Resize them if needed. These downloads are for your personal use and not for commercial use or distribution.

Watch for my new quilt pattern coming soon after Thanksgiving that uses a fun, easy, and unique technique.

acorn and leaves

pumpkin patch

Enjoy the season,

Linda Zokan

Running a little behind here, as Month 3 is already out, but we’ll catch up! 

This is Block 1 from Month 2.  There are 8 half-square triangles, four hour-glass pieces and 13 squares.  Just a little bit more challenging than the first month.

And here is Block 2 from Month 2.  Another EASY block.  The instructions said to cut each piece but I strip-pieced the four square blocks and the rectangle blocks.  It worked just fine and saved some cutting and sewed up a little faster.

Block of the Month quilts really are fun. If you’ve never tried one now might be the time!  When you have several works in progress and feel like you aren’t getting anywhere you can do one of the blocks and you feel like you finished something because all you are supposed to do is one block!  It doesn’t get your other projects finished but it’ll give you a break and the incentive to get going again on a WIP.

One of the BOM’s that is available is Thyme to Water.  It ships on the 21st of each month and is a six month project.  Start now and it’ll be ready for next summer.  This quilt is mostly pieced with some applique and will finish at 69″ X 69″.

Feeling ambitious?  Garden Friends Block of the Month is another 6 month project.

Start it along with Thyme to Water and you’ll have two quilts finished come next summer.  You’ll have a head start on your decorating… these two quilts would look great hanging together… or artfully thrown over a chair or a couch.

There are lots more Block of the Month patterns from which to choose.  There is sure to be one (or more!) that will suit your fancy.

New patterns at Quilters Warehouse include a couple of quick projects.  One of those quick projects is Lucky Charm by Lehmann Quilting.  It’s two times three! Two colors fabrics, two sizes and two layouts.  These quick to construct table runners make use of strip piecing.  Make one for your home for the holidays and them make up another as a gift.

Another quick pattern is Jelly Roll Runners & More I.  This pattern has instructions for four quick designs that you can make in a single day, all from one jelly roll.

You’ll feel like you’ve gotten so much accomplished when you finish these.  Then you might want to tackle a larger project.

Simple Blended is a queen size quilt of a fairly simple design that is fat quarter friendly.

If you want to try a new technique, Happy Villages will teach you all about fabric collage.  You can let your creativeness loose as you make a village that expresses what you want it to be.  You won’t need to worry about 1/4 inch seams or matching points. Just lay out your village, like it and sew or don’t like it and lay it out another way and then sew. 

And what collection of patterns would be complete without a few Christmas projects?  Three Stockings is so cute. . . a little piecing, a little applique, a little whimsy.  It’s a wallhanging that would make a great gift.

 Yuletide Ribbon Wreath is another wallhanging.  This one has lots of applique and lots of open spaces to showcase your quilting.  Using plaid for the ribbon really adds movement and dimension to the quilt.

As always there is something for everyone among the quilt patterns at Quilters Warehouse.  Enjoy the browsing and then enjoy the quilting.  If you can’t decide what you want or don’t have time to finish shopping, just add your selections to “Favorites” and they’ll be waiting for you when you come back.