Dress up your summer table, whether it’s indoors or out, with new placemats.

Triplet Placemats and Table Topper look pretty, and summery in green.  Change the colors (blue for the center star, and red for the outer areas and you have a perfect setting for the 4th of July! They’ll look so festive that they’ll be a popular item for summer parties.

A Handful of Fancy Placemats allows you to use that pretty fabric that you’ve hesitated to cut thus far.  The fabric takes center stage, and you select from five different edge designs to frame it.

Fussy cut centers can personalize and set the mood for the Three Step Table Runner and Placemats. Just three easy steps to finish and they are ready to use!

The Sun’s Up! pattern from Eazy Peazy has three different layouts for the sun and its rays.  High contrast fabrics make a splashy, sunny placemat.  This might be a fun pattern on which to try gradated fabrics.

Three options for 13″ x 17″ placements so you can make them As You Like It!  Directional prints would be perfect with these layouts.

Looking for summer-y prints for your summer placemats?  Try the Aunt Grace Fabrics which contains lots of bright 30′s style prints.

And, of course, florals always work for summer patterns.

Start sewing and you’ll be dining on your homemade goodness before you know it!

Sometimes you need to look outside the “patriotic fabric” section to find your reds, whites, and blues.

This red is from the Raggedy Ann and Andy fabric collection.  The red and white stripes are perfect for flag quilt projects or other patriotic themed quilts.

Little Island Cream Micro Dot Stripe has stripes that are more narrow, and the “white” is really cream.  One side of the cream stripe has little tiny dots on it.

Monkey Around Stripe is a bit wonky.  The irregular lines of the stripes will add the illusion of movement to your quilt.

Dancing Under the Stars has a deep blue background with lots of snowflakes and white stars.

Polar Opposites Royal with Stars has a soft tone on tone blue background with lots of little white stars spread all over!

Now for the whites.  White is white, right?  Not!  So many whites are tone on tones with lots of little, subtle designs just waiting to be discovered.

Quilting Illusions is a white tone on tone scattered with different sized stars and dots.

Add a little softness to your patriotic project with White Out Floral, a tone on tone white with vines of flowers and leaves.

Add a touch of country with Quilting Illusions Gingham.

So remember, next time you look for fabric for your patriotic pattern, broaden you search and you’ll find your reds, whites and blues in unexpected places!

We all love to cut up our fabric in little pieces and sew it back together to create a whole new look.  That’s what quilting is all about.  But sometimes we have collections of fabric that are just so pretty that we want to show off larger pieces.  Here’s a few patterns that are perfect for doing that. . . .

In Galleria, your favorite fabrics are surrounded by darker borders, then light fabric all ’round. A few flowers are scattered for interest.  The sample shows a random mix of block fabrics and block border fabrics, but it might be fun to do it like a four patch, with the same colors in diagonal sections.

New Beginnings is simple to sew, and the pattern includes instructions for two sizes: a lap quilt (37.5″ x 55.5″) and a king/queen (101.5″ x 110.5″).  Strip piecing leads to quick assembly!

It only takes one large scale floral to really shine In My Garden.  The trellis look takes one print and makes it into a beautiful corner of the garden. “Shading” on the trellis adds dimension.  Applique butterflies can be added, but they are optional – it’ll be a gorgeous quilt with or without the butterflies.

Puzzle Box is shown with just one fabric and looks great that way, or you can use several different fabrics and it will still look great.  The interesting borders around the blocks look tricky to construct but designer Tracey Brookshier says they’re not!  Three sizes are included: baby, lap, and bed sized.

Heather Mulder of Anka’s Treasure has gathered together 11 quilt patterns for large scale prints into one book, Livin’ Large.  And when you finish these, check out Livin’ Large 2 for 9 more large scale print quilt patterns!

If you ever wanted to try a curve-y quilt, Elisa’s Backporch Designs is a good place to start.  Many of Elisa’s patterns are made with her custom made curve templates, which are easy to use.  Her instructions will guide you through easily sewing curves… no need to fear venturing off the straight and narrow!

The Small Paths Template makes a 3 1/2″ finished block and is perfect for using charms square collections.  A free pattern, Small Paths, is included.  I’m using this template for the first time to make a mini table topper.  My charm pack has just 25 pieces, which translates to 25 blocks.  The finished topper will be 15″ x 15″ if I don’t add borders.  All the pieces were cut in just 15 minutes.  I’ll let you know how the sewing goes!

While merely piecing the curved blocks randomly creates an interesting quilt,  Many Paths All Around shows the versatility and the possibilities of the curved block if you use a specific layout.  Each block is 16″ square and is comprised of 16 4″ blocks made with the Drunkards Path template.

Check out the video tutorials on the Elisa’s Backporch Designs website.  They are very well done, with clear camera shots, good audio, and clear, concise directions. After watching one of the videos you will approach curve piecing with confidence. While you are on the website, take a look at the Gallery of quilts.  These are one of a kind quilts made by Elisa Wilson. I tried to select a favorite….. couldn’t do it!

Kay M Capps Cross loves black and white, and sometime she adds a pop of color…. almost any color!  Many designers will move to a black and white quilt at some point, but for Kay, black and white is her mainstay and really sets her creative spirit free. Her quilts are sometimes geometric, sometimes wonky, sometimes arty, but they will always catch your eye and give you something interesting to look at.

Jailhouse Row is a fun wall hanging.  The cats are paper pieced and can be left as is (just black on a white background) or you can embellish away and dress them up.  Kay says this is an easy quilt, so start sewing and pretty soon all you’ll have all your kitties in a row.

Grab your scraps or use a favorite panel, either way this quilt-as-you-go project will finish quickly. Strong straps (‘cuz they go all the way around the bottom of the bag) and a very roomy interior (it holds a 24″ cutting mat!) will make this Scrap Bag your favorite large (we’re talking huge!) tote.

Paper pieced crisp points and the gold color turn an ordinary pine tree into “Royaltry“.  Be daring and try silk to make it elegant.  The border adds a special touch of interest.

Posy Set #1 is the first of four sets of posy patterns. Finish them all and you will have a 56″ x 74″ quilt full of posies.  Choose your accent color to match your room.

Be sure to check out the book Black & White Quilts by Design.  It includes a dozen patterns for a range of experience levels, with clear instructions for applique and paper piecing.  Browse all the Cross Cuts patterns and you will also notice that several projects are suitable for scraps.

Alene Ward designs a wide variety of patterns.  Her redwork ‘Me and Grandma’ and ‘Me and Grandpa’ designs are quite popular.  They are great for take along projects or evenings in front of the TV.  The Me and Grandma designs are also available on CD for machine embroidery.  Alene’s applique designs are inspired by nature, with flowers and birdhouses.

It’s a memory in the making, Me and Grandma in the Garden planting flowers.  This 9″ x 12″ (unfinished) redwork block can be framed and considered done, or make the rest of the Grandma and Me blocks for an entire quilt of twelve blocks all about “me and Grandma”.

Not to leave anyone out, here’s one of the Me and Grandpa blocks.  This, also, could be a simple little wall quilt, or part of a larger six block quilt all about “me and Grandpa”.

Irises for Grace is a beautiful wall hanging measuring 24″ x 42″. The flowers look three dimensional, don’t they?  These irises can also be a part of a larger quilt (86″ square) of the same name, Irises for Grace quilt pattern.

Nostalgic Fruit and Veggie towels will bring a smile to your face… and to anyone who enters your kitchen!  Cute sayings are on each of them appropo to the fruit or veggie shown.  Choose to stitch as redwork, match the towel border, or the color that suits the fruit or veggie.  These would make a great hostess gift.

One block of a large quilt called Nature’s Beauty, Roses Block #9 lives up to the claim.  Batiks would shine in all the blocks of this quilt…. lots of variations in color – just like in nature! Other blocks in the quilt include baskets, lilies, tulips, birdhouses, and more.

Designs by Alene also has a pieced Christmas table runner, a few combination pieced and appliqued holiday designs, plus a few patterns for practical items.