Inspiration Comes in Spurts

It is two weeks into a new year and all of a sudden I feel energized!  Maybe it is is because I have finished Storm At Sea
(it goes to the LAQ today.) Or, maybe because I'm getting used to being home ALONE, ALL THE TIME.  Who knows....

Lately I've been motivated to sew, but instead of sewing I am searching the internet for free quilt patterns
(like I don't have enough patterns!)  Even so, I thought I'd share some of my finds with you.

With an eye on what I already have and what to use up
A few years ago I was given a Jelly Roll as a gift.  Beautiful fabrics (nothing like the picture below.)
I was saving it for a special quilt.  But, as with so many other pieces of beautiful fabric, it was put in a cupboard and forgotten.

With the new year comes the annual cleaning-out-of-all-the-Studio cupboards. Lost treasures are found!

 

 

 

Yesterday I watched this video and LOVED her idea.

Tea Time by Jordan Fabrics.  The pattern is free and she makes it look soooooo easy!  Click HERE.

Not long ago my baby sister whined "Everyone has a quilt but me. (sad face here)"  Her birthday is in April (happy face here).

Next on the docket
(any clue what I've been watching to on YouTube while I sew?)

 

 

Tilda Friends.  I saw this quilt posted on FB just this morning.  I really like bright, white backgrounds; I really like scrappy; and I really like using up all my scraps with a free pattern.  Enter Duck Quilt. WIN, Win, win!!! 

If you like a country flavor, this is the site for you.  There are some adorable, free, patterns on this site and not everything is a quilt.

Someone is selling a quilt made from this pattern on Etsy. 
Very cute!  And, I like her choice of background fabric. 

 

 

 

 Just plain fun

 

 

I saw this wall hanging on the FB page Scrappy Girls Club. 
I do not think there is a pattern, but if you're in the mood to just sit down and sew, wouldn't this be fun?

 

 

 

 

  

 

Finally for the advanced in the group
Dancing Ribbons by Cindy Round Richards.

Get the free pattern HERE on the American Quilting Society (AQS) site and don't forget the coloring chart.

Read the How To at My Patchworld.

I love this but I don't think I'm up for the challenge....

 

 

 

The last Word 
Just to mention some sites for free patterns.  These are in no particular order and there are many more.

Bonnie Hunter especially if you like scrappy.  Also, she usually has an annual mystery, quilt-along.
For the person who likes modern quilts, Spruce Crafts.
I could spend some time on the Art Gallery Fabrics website...two thumbs up!
If you don't have anything better to do of an evening....start HERE....many, many sites for free patterns!! 

WARNING: looking for free patterns is like falling into a black hole, it goes on forever.  And it is addictive!

National Quilt Museum

As I do a couple times a year, over Labor Day I traveled to Paducah, Kentucky to visit my family.
Paducah is known for the BIG quilt show every April (and now they've added a show in the Fall), Hancock's of Paducah, and the National Quilt Museum.   My baby sister and I made a visit to the Museum. (I meant to post this pictures then....) 

On exhibit were some amazing collage quilts by Danny Amazonas.

My Favorite

I have completed two collage quilts to date:  Laura Heine's Cat and the Piggie Quilt in memory of my mom and my quilting Auntie, Nyla. They are not as easy as you might think.  Choice of fabrics and getting the colors and shades just right is the trick.  Danny Amazonas is a very talented artist, to be sure!  Google his name.

Laura Heine is probably the most recognized name for collage quilts.  She is a featured speaker at a lot of guild meetings across the country and she makes a presence at quilt shows. (I was introduced to her patterns at the Road to California show.) But here is another option, The Collage Quilter. I LOVE her Adoration quilt.  I also found a a collage quilt tutorial.  While not exactly the way I would do it, it was pretty good.  This has kind of given me 'the bug', again.

Spinning Out by Helen Remick of Seattle, WA - My sister's favorite display.

P.S. While we are talking about the Quilt Museum, they also sponsor a BOM* every year.  Last year's blocks were part of the exhibit. The blocks were very imaginative and very good, but not out-of-this-world.  Don't be intimidated!  At the bottom of the BOM page, click through the blocks. They do an excellent job of giving you all the tools for creating the blocks. Check it out!  YOU can do it!

*BOM:  Block of the Month