It's no secret that I love solid fabrics - they're one of my favorite groupings of fabrics to use, especially in paper pieced blocks, because they make those beautifully crisp and sharp angles and points even more pronounced. But ombre solids have a special little spot in my heart. Ombre solids can be so much fun to work with, figuring out how to cut a single half-yard, for example, into eight or so different shades of one singular color and then seeing them come together in a finished block or mini. And if there's one designer I always associate with ombres, it's for sure Vanessa Christensen of V + Co.



Before the baby came, I had a chance to work with some of Vanessa's beautiful ombre fabrics for a project for Modern Quilts Unlimited, and the Spring 2016 issue featuring the quilt, pattern and an article about paper piecing by yours truly has finally hit the stands. You'll find my Circus Star quilt pattern on page 40 of the magazine, with my article on paper piecing just before that on page 36.


The Circus Star totally reminds me of the multicolored patterns you see on circus tents and such, and yet also gives off a kaleidoscope kind of feel. It's a three template project, and has loads of possibility. It could easily be done in a color wheel kind of style, or even in grayscale, and be really and truly stunning.



Quilt Stats
name: Circus Star
pattern: Circus Star pattern in spring 2016 issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited
size: 24" square
fabrics: V + Co ombres
quilting: Aurifil 50 wt in assorted coordinating colors in multiple styles, including straight lines, zig zags, meandering stipple and wiggle

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Good morning! I just got the new issue of Love Patchwork & Quilting in the mail, along with a fun little mini that I wrote up a pattern for in this issue, the Mini Medallion. It's the sixth and final in my Mini Quilt series that I've been working on with the lovely folks at Love Patchwork & Quilting, and it might just be my favorite of the bunch...



There's loads of other beautiful quilts in this issue as well, as with all of their issues! Love Patchwork & Quilting really is one of my favorite quilting magazines these days. If you haven't checked it out before, do yourself a favor and stop at your local Barnes & Noble or Books a Million and get a coffee and sit down with an issue. You'll enjoy it, I promise :)

In the latest issue of Love Patchwork & Quilting, issue #20, starting to hit newsstands in England, you'll find another fun mini quilt pattern from yours truly. This is one of my personal favorites! The Rainbow Geese mini pattern is a great foundation paper piecing pattern that features beautifully vibrant rainbow solids, mixed with some grayscale solids to make the rainbow colors pop.


One of my most favorite color palettes to use is a good old-fashioned rainbow. It never fails to put a smile on my face! This mini is destined to hang up in my new sewing space in my new house when it returns home soon, where many of the other minis in this series have been hung so far. I'm nearing the end of my setup process, and promise to share pictures soon. I'm excited to finish and to share, it's a great space. I've got great natural light from a large window in the room and a super fun, under-the-stairs closet that's perfect for stowing tons of stuff!

This issue of Love Patchwork & Quilting should be available in the US and Canada in the next few weeks, and also features fun projects by the lovely Lynne of Lily's Quilts as well as Kerry and Penny from Very Kerry Berry and Sew Take a Hike, so make sure to check it out! Happy stitching to you all :)

Good morning! Monday, Monday again. Bring on the coffee! And bring on the new issue of Quilt Now, it's so bright and cheery - just the perfect thing to accompany my morning coffee. Have you checked out Quilt Now yet? It's a lovely new publication, with uber-talented editor Katy Jones, and issue two is available now, from Pink Castle Fabrics. And I'm super excited to share with you my first quilt pattern for Quilt Now, the Whirling Dervish quilt, a paper pieced extravaganza of a quilt!


Whirling Dervish is a crazy paper-pieced wonder - one that I initially designed with both y-seams and paper piecing, but since I decided that was beyond evil, I reworked the templates to create the block using strictly paper piecing. That being said, this block isn't for the faint of heart, it's intense, but gorgeous, and giant too - the block finishes at 18",


Because the piecing is so intense, I knew the blocks needed some negative space to float on in order to really appreciate all the crazy piecing, so there's only four blocks in the quilt, floated on a boatload of negative space to yield a nice lap-sized quilt.



Issue three is coming out really soon, and I have to say, I've really enjoyed the first two thus far and can't wait to see what's in the next issue! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday :)

Quiltmaker has a new edition of their 100 Blocks publication hitting shelves soon - Volume 9! And Volume 9 is extra special to me, because it's the first magazine to publish my name on their cover. Eek! Look at that!! And not only that, my block is just to the left of my name. Can you guess which one is mine?
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Good morning! I've got another fun magazine feature to share with you this morning - the latest issue of Quilty magazine features a new paper piecing pattern from yours truly, called Wheels in the Sky.

This quilt was a labor of love, designed around Jeni Baker's Nordika collection. I was really attracted to Nordika when I first saw it at Quilt Market last spring, but I wasn't sure how I'd use it. It was one of those collections that I felt like needed just the right pattern to show it off. I decided to challenge myself to experiment with the Flowerfall in Jade print as a background fabric. I loved the organic lines in the print, but I had a feeling that with paper piecing that it might get a little too busy, so I alternated a simple Pure Elements Snow white with the Flowerfall print, and I love the effect that it brings to the finished quilt.


I kept the quilting fairly simple, doing a large orange peel repeating design throughout, really letting the piecing be the star of the finished quilt. I used my trusty orange cone of white (#2024) 50 wt Aurifil, my old standby that works for everything when I'm too lazy to change out my spool :)

Quilt Stats
name: Wheels in the Sky
size: 48" square
fabrics: Nordika by Jeni Baker for Art Gallery Fabrics and coordinating Art Gallery Pure Elements solids
pattern: Wheels in the Sky by yours truly in the March/April 2014 edition of Quilty
quilting: Orange peels in white 50 wt Aurifil thread

If you love this quilt exactly the way I made it, you can pick up a kit with all the fabrics you'll need for the quilt top at Fons & Porter. Also over at Fons & Porter, you can check out a nifty video they made about how to foundation paper piece this block!

You can still find Nordika in stock at:
Intrepid Thread
Stash Fabrics
Hawthorne Threads

First off, thank you all so much for all of your kind words about my new Craftsy class, Start Free-Motion Quilting, and thank you to all of you who have signed up already! I'm really enjoying getting to know you and answering your questions :) It's been such a great week so far, so let's keep that streak going, shall we? Today, I've got the last new pattern hitting my pattern shop for the season, the Gradation pattern, available today in my Pattern Shop and on Craftsy.

The Gradation quilt was originally made for an issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited last year - you can read more about that feature right here. One of the things that I really love about this pattern is the way that the changes in tone and color draw your eye across the quilt. I love playing with tones and grades in color, and this is a quilt is a super way to just that.


My original quilt was done up in an assortment of Art Gallery prints, in shades of blue and magenta. As I worked through this quilt, I realized that this would make an absolutely stunning scrap quilt. You could even take it a step further and do a warm/cool quilt using this pattern, following the basic color placement that I used - keeping the warm colors for the lattice work that moves between the blocks, and the cool colors for the pixelated background, or vice versa. There's a lot of different looks you could give to this pattern. Here's a few to feast your eyes on...which one is your favorite?


As with all my patterns, the instructions are quite thorough and illustrated with diagrams throughout to assist you in the quilt making process. If half-square triangles have given you trouble in the past, you'll find great instructions in this pattern for making half-square triangles for this quilt with ease. There's also a black and line drawing of the block so that you can experiment with your color placement. Give it a try, it's a lot of fun to get out some colored pencils and play around with quilt diagrams!

I had two super thorough, super talented testers for this pattern, Alison and Karen. Thank you both so much for your feedback! And they made such lovely, lovely projects - take a look!

Alison Hingston - http://alioops-alioop.blogspot.com.au/ - I love the quilting Alison did, it totally accentuates the geometric nature of the pattern!


Karen O'Connor - @Ladykquilts on Instagram - Karen used gorgeous Liberty of London prints and they look fantastic in this pattern!

Gradation is the last new pattern hitting the Pattern Shop this month. It's been a busy but wonderful month, with four new patterns to love! For the next week, the Gradation pattern will be on sale for just $6. It will return to full price next Friday, so snap it up for a deal while you can through my Pattern Shop and/or Craftsy!  If you're a shop owner and are interested in stocking my paper patterns at your shop, please contact me directly at elizabeth(at)dontcallmebetsy(dot)com. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Today you'll find a new pattern in my pattern shop - the Mod Gears quilt pattern! This is such a fun, quick quilt to put together, with great tricks for making half-square triangles super fast and super accurately to boot. This quilt first was seen in an issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited last year, and has been one of my favorite quilts to share at my trunk shows since! You can now pick up this pattern at my Pattern Shop as well as on Craftsy.

In my quilt, I used Carolyn Friedlander's awesome Architextures collection for Robert Kaufman, with just a teeny tiny pop of fuchsia. Absolutely my favorite part of the quilt. One of the things you'll find in this quilt pattern is a coloring sheet with line drawings of the block so you can experiment with your color placement and find the color combination that makes you swoon over your quilt.


You'll also find four different finished quilt sizes to choose from, ranging from a small baby quilt to a large queen/king size quilt, so you can pick the perfect project size for you. The six page pattern includes detailed instructions, with photographs and diagrams to illustrate the piecing.

I love how different this quilt can look, based on what fabrics you use where. Here's a few ideas of what you could do with this pattern...

I had three great testers sew through this pattern - a triumvirate of K's, actually! Take a look at what they made...

Kara of The Cooking Quilter

Kristan of Doodlebug Designs


Krista of Kristastitched


Aren't they all lovely?! Thanks so much ladies!

There's one more pattern slated to come out this month, and that's going to be at the end of next week because I've got some other fun stuff to share too before that. It's been so fun to finally get to share all these patterns that have been in the works for the last little while! Today's pattern is on sale for the next week, until the new release for the month comes out next week, both on Craftsy and at my Pattern Shop. If you're a shop owner and are interested in stocking my paper patterns at your shop, please contact me directly at elizabeth(at)dontcallmebetsy(dot)com. Have a fantastic day everyone!!

It's so nice to see this quilt today, even if it is just virtually - the original Ferris Wheel quilt has been logging quite a few frequent flier miles, as part of the Original Sewing & Quilting Expo's quilt exhibit for quite a while now, which is such an honor, but boy do I miss this quilt! I originally made this quilt some time last year for Quilty magazine, and I'm so pleased to tell you that the pattern is now available in my Pattern Shop as well as on Craftsy!

The pattern you'll find in the Pattern Shop is exactly the way I made the quilt - all foundation paper piecing! I used Bonnie & Camille's beautiful Happy Go Lucky collection for this quilt, but it's a really versatile pattern that can look great with a scrappy approach, or even with a really monochromatic type of look to it.


While the quilt is foundation paper pieced, once you get through the cutting, the piecing goes pretty quickly as the blocks are 18" finished, so it doesn't take too many to make yourself a nice big quilt. In the pattern, you'll find piecing and cutting information for four quilt sizes - baby, lap, twin, and queen/king. You'll also find a fun coloring page to give you an easy way to figure out how you'd like to plan out the colors for your blocks. It also makes a great activity for your littles :) My son still loves quilty coloring pages at six!

I love playing around with the different looks a quilt can have, and it's always breathtaking to me to see how different a quilt block can look when colored a different way. The Ferris Wheel pattern is no exception, and you can create a lot of interesting looks with this pattern.

Top row, L-R: Ferris Wheel in stunning solids, Ferris Wheel in Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater Bottom row, L-R: Ferris Wheel in Meadow by Leah Duncan, Ferris Wheel in Chicopee by Denyse Schmidt

I had some fantastic pattern testers run through this pattern and make beautiful quilts of their own...
Lisa - on Instagram as @lisaquiltslikeaboss


Meli - at The Short Munchkin


Stephanie - on Instagram @yespositively and blogs at Stitch and Simmer


Thank you, ladies, for stitching through these blocks! They look fabulous!

To celebrate the release of this pattern, it is on sale this week only for $8, rather than the regular price of $10. There are three different foundation paper piecing templates in the pattern, in addition to detailed instructions as well as photographs and diagrams to make your piecing a breeze. You can pick up this pattern today in my Pattern Shop as well as on Craftsy. If you're a shop owner and are interested in stocking my paper patterns at your shop, please contact me directly at elizabeth(at)dontcallmebetsy(dot)com. Stay tuned for two more pattern releases before the month is over, and have a great day!

I'm excited to share another quilty finish, Chain + Link, featuring V & Co's gorgeous Simply Style fabrics. This quilt and pattern are featured in the September/October 2013 issue of Quilty magazine, available now. You can find copies at your local craft and quilt shops, as well as at Fat Quarter Shop and Quilty.


This one-block quilt was inspired by some tilework I spotted last year and drew in my sketchbook. Once I paired it with Vanessa's gorgeous prints, it was exactly the quilt I hoped it would be. Vanessa seriously has a gift for creating great stash building fabrics that look great when used together, and look awesome when mixed with other collections as well.


I love the way the blocks interact with each other and come together. This quilt is probably the closest I've ever come to making an optical illusion! I love it!


I quilted it with 50 wt white Aurifil thread color number 2024, my personal favorite. I had thought about doing some thread matching and specialized quilting, but in the end, I didn't have the colors I needed, and I decided that I wanted more of an all-over design, so I stuck with good old white. I stitched a simple orange peel design on the quilt top, which really works nicely with the patchwork in this quilt, I think.


And if you'd like to make this exact quilt, you can pick up a quilt kit with the magazine as well as all the fabrics you'll need to sew up the top at Fons & Porter's online shop. The kit is on backorder at the moment, but is expected to be in stock soon. You can find Simply Style fabrics in stock at The Intrepid Thread, I Don't Do Dishes, and Stash Modern Fabrics.


Quilt Stats
name: Chain + Link
size: 63" x 78 1/2"
pattern: Chain + Link, in the September/October 2013 issue of Quilty magazine
fabrics: Simply Style by V & Co for Moda Fabrics
quilting: all-over orange peel quilting, with white 50 wt Aurifil thread