Have you ever fallen in love with a border fabric so much that you planned your quilt around it?

Subtle Song border fabric will actually give you several border options.  Use just the birds, or just the butterflies/dragonflies, or even just the blue/green/blue stripe.  There are also several combinations you can use.  Parts of this border fabric would also work as sashing.

Called Buttons & Blooms, this is a personal favorite – it just speaks to me!  The buttons, the flowers, the swirls, they are all so pretty and uplifting.  How could you not be happy with this fabric?! If you want to “put a bird on it” there is a perfect companion fabric of light beige with whimsical, happy birds.

Simple Pleasures is a vibrant border of elegant, deep purple with white daisies and little wisps of smaller lilac colored flowers.  It’s such a strong look that you’ll have to be careful not to let it overpower the rest of your quilt, but with the right blocks and companion fabrics you’ll have a striking quilt.

Laurel Burch Flying Colors offers plenty of color!  Great for quilters who embrace color, but a good choice for those who are a little afraid of it.  All you need to do is match a few colors from this border and you will have a stunning quilt.  Several columns of butterflies, birds, and flowers provide lots of choices for borders and sashings.

Go ahead and switch things up a bit when you plan your next quilt and start with the border fabric.  Happy quilting!

In our neck of the woods…  wait, let me rephrase that…. here in our corner of the prairie, we had a snow storm earlier this week and are now enjoying sunshine and warming temperatures.  Shoveling the snow revealed a few green leaves of tulip bulbs that had just broken the surface of the soil.  We should be enjoying colorful displays not too long from now.  In the meantime we settle for tulip displays on quilts.

Beautiful Coventry Garden Tulips in your favorite colors combines easy piecing and applique.  Your garden will bloom soon!

Just one Tantalizing Tulip, but that’s all it takes to brighten our day, just one.  Pull out your bright scraps and applique this art deco type flower.

Another lone bloom, Tender Tulip looks romantic and graceful.  Thoughtful selection of your background fabric makes this a dynamic little quilt.  Finishing at 9″ x 12″, it’s just right for a hostess gift, Easter gift, or “just because” gift.

Tulip Festival is shown with a light background, but it would also look great with vibrant colored flowers on a dark background.  This wallhanging finishes at 36″ square.

Here’s a quick project that you’ll be able to finish before the real tulips show up.  A pre-printed, pre-colored design Heirloom Tulips just needs embroidery to be finished.  The size is 4″ x 5″.

Enjoy stitching your spring garden.

Gray is the newest popular background / neutral fabric color. It’s probably normally thought of as a ‘blah’ color but some of the new gray fabrics are so very pretty.

Beyond the Gate Gray Scroll has a solid gray background with white swirly, curly vines of leaves and buds.

Pale Grey Folio Vine is a tone on tone with a background of varying shades of grey.  The leaves of the vine are tipped in shades of grey.  All the shading creates a very soft look.

As the name suggests, this white background fabric with grey swirls is reminiscent of weddings.   Something Old Something New would make a great border fabric, or even a background, for a wedding quilt.

Granite Beauty Dark Gray is a large print.  The 3″ flowers look handpainted.  It’s just a gorgeous fabric!  Pair this with a light blue – beautiful!

Great for background, Stonehenge Cement is also a good fabric to have on hand if you do landscape quilt.  Lots of variations in the fabric adds the look of lots of texture to your project.

Subtle rose drawings on a shaded grey background is Quilters Rose Smoke.  It’s a very delicate looking, romantic hinting, grey fabric.

Have you tried any grey in your quilts?  Here’s your chance!  Check out the rest of the grey fabrics – they are found in our White, Black and Gray Fabrics section.

Spring is going to be here one day.  Though it’s the shortest month, February always seems so loooooong.  Makes me feel like Spring can never come!  But it will!  It does every year – so I’m counting on it!  In the meantime making a Spring table runner just might make the time pass more quickly.  Busy hands, and all that.

Briarwood Cottage’s Spring Pocket Table Runner has beautiful, delicate looking applique in the corners, leaving the center open to showcase your quilting. The table runner measures 14″ x 30″.  The pocket pattern (just $5!) includes instructions for matching placemats.

What a fresh looking design!  Searching for Direction can be made with normal square edges. Or use the Easy Scallop tool for the scallop edges and add a new technique to your arsenal of talents!

All Things Spring is just packed with projects in a Spring theme.  Many of the projects have instructions for multiple sizes.  Enjoy  piecing and applique as you make wall quilts, table runners, placemats, table toppers and more.

This cute Spring Pickins’ table runner by MH Designs features paper pieced tulips.  Never tried paper piecing?  What are you waiting for?!  You might just love the technique.  It give you ‘perfect’ results! And if you do fall in love with paper piecing, Mary Herschleb has several dozen beautiful patterns, all constructed with paper piecing.  Bonus tea towel instructions are included in this pattern.

Spring is on the way . . . . get your table runners ready!

Lots of names for these cute little quilty pieces of art, but they’ll all hold your beverage.  Some of them are big enough for a bit of a snack, too!

Modern, trendy coffee cups make great hot pads and cup matts.  Be part of the Coffee Club!

Amazingly Simple Coasters & Hot Pads use the backing fabric as an accent – no binding!  From Tiger Lily Press, this pattern comes with instructions for a large hot pad, a small hot pad, and coasters.

Spring Blooms beverage mat is number five in a series of 12 mats from 2 Easy Designs – one for each month, all with applique appropriate for the month.  They measure 6″ x 10″ - perfect for a drink and a snack.

Remember is another beverage mat from 2 Easy Designs.  One simple red flower is just the right touch!

Any of these “mug rugs” would make great hostess gifts, or would serve to make your breaks a little more special, while keeping your desk clean.  Have fun making them (and using up your scraps when you do) and then have fun using them or gifting them!

A quilted Welcome wall hanging is a great way to greet guests as they enter your home.   Let everyone’s first impression of your home be a quilty one!

Flower Welcome by Bloom Creek is 12″ x 28″.  Choose your method: fusible applique or hand applique.  A charm pack would be great for this pattern.

A Fine Welcome pattern offers three projects.  Make a wallhanging for the front entry and one for the back entry.  Plus a bonus pillow.  Each item has a folksy, slightly wonky, cheerful look to it.

What says Home more than a white picket fence?!  Hang the Welcome sign and change the picket fence gate for each season.  Both pieces together measure 23″ x 32″.

If you are partial to landscape quilts, Welcome with a backdrop of a Rocky Mountain sunrise might be your favorite.  Finished size is 29″ x 16.5″.

And now for something completely different:  Welcome Bunny.  A bold 3-D bunny with carrots and flowers and adorable floppy ears. Your guests will be smiling!