Category Archives: Completed 2013

Aspen Frost Improv Circles

I made this quilt as a sample for a demo I did at QuiltCon in February 2013. Yes, it has taken me almost a year to photograph and blog about it! I was kinda busy last year.

The binding is Pezzy Prints (goes with everything!) by American Jane and I quilted it with a free motion Christmas tree design that I just made up. It does require you to be able to quilt the design upside-down, as well. I’m sure there are better digitized Christmas tree quilting patterns out there, but I couldn’t find any for domestic sewing machines (i.e. free hand!).

This quilt may look tricky with the improvisational curves but it’s pretty easy to get the hang of the technique. It used 90% of a layer cake plus about a yard of coordinating solids for the quilt top. This was the first-ever Christmas quilt I made. My son was about 14 months old when I was working on it and he was obsessed with the snowman print. The fabric line is Aspen Frost by Basic Grey – a good modern Christmas line that you can probably still find in stores.

Dimensions: 51″ x 60″

Fabrics: Aspen Frost by Basic Grey, Pezzy Prints by American Jane, and Bella Solids by Moda Fabrics

Pattern: Original design by Lisa Calle {free tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop}

Quilting Thread: Aurifil #2600, 50 wt cotton mako

Quilting Design: free hand Christmas trees

Started: February 2013

Completed: February 2013

Christmas Puddle Jumping Quilt

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This one wasn’t ready in time to actually enjoy on Christmas but I have a major head start for Christmas 2014. Right?

I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to the holidays so red and white was an easy choice for a Christmas quilt. The little pops of green for the sashing squares are a reminder that this is a Christmas quilt, not just a red and white quilt that can sneak into the house any old time of year.

The snowflake quilting echoes that message. I used a jar lid, a quarter, and a ruler to mark the snowflake design. It’s something I made up to fit in the block. My initial thought was to do a different design in each one but marking was tedious enough. I struggled with the quilting on this one but I’m really happy with the result. I did a smaller and simpler snowflake in the sashing squares and a loopy sashing/border design.

This poor quilt has already been through so much abuse and it’s barely been finished a week. While I was basting it, my dogs trampled it with muddy paws and my toddler spilled apple juice on it. Then one or both of the dogs used it as a fire hydrant while we were iced in the house for four days. But thank goodness washing it in the middle of the quilting process doesn’t seem to have caused any issues.

The binding is a wonderful bias stripe from Bonnie and Camille’s Scrumptious line. It is absolute perfection for binding. You get the bias look without having to make bias binding. Thank you, ladies, for making me look like I worked harder than I did. I’ll definitely be buying yardage of that print in several colors to hoard for future projects.

Dimensions: 75″ x 75″

Fabrics: scrappy mix of reds + green dot for sashing squares, binding is red Bias Stripe from Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics

Pattern: Puddle Jumping by Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms

Quilting Thread: Aurifil #2024, 50 wt cotton mako

Quilting Design: Snowflakes + loops in the borders/sashing

Started: November 2013

Completed: December 2013

Quilts I Made in 2013

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What a year! 21 finished quilts and several more started. The link below each photo goes to my original post about the quilt (except for the last three, which I haven’t blogged about yet). I blogged about my 2014 goals on the My Stars blog on Monday so please hop over there to see what’s on my mind for sewing in the new year.


Giant Scrappy Blocks	Micah’s Quilt	Cotton Candy Quilt	Ben’s Quilt

Red + Aqua	Happy Go Round	Stars and 4-Patches	Vintage Summer

Ombre Star	Mod Circus	Belle Squared	A Tied Quilt

Cool Charms	Spring Storms	Turkish Delight	Midcentury

Lucky Strike	Bitty Bunting Quilt	Christmas Puddle Jumping	Aspen Frost

Daisy Chain Rail Fence

Pattern 1303 – Lucky Strike

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Today is reveal day for my third quilt pattern. It’s another mod inspired look called Lucky Strike. The blocks are a stylized version of bowling pins.

I quilted this one using my new favorite stem quilting design. It takes a bit more effort because you have to mark the quilt top if your piecing isn’t in blocks but it’s worth it. I love the finished product.

This quilt pattern uses templates but don’t let that discourage you. It’s actually the easiest of the three patterns. The templates were designed to allow for a margin of error, which makes it a great pattern for the first-time template user.

The pattern calls for half yards to replicate the version on the cover but you can use fat quarters for a great stash-busting project,

Digital download for sale here.

Dimensions: 63″ x 80″

Fabrics: Bella Solids from Moda Fabrics

Pattern: Lisa Calle/Vintage Modern Quilts Pattern Co. original design

Quilting Thread: Aurifil #2600, 50 wt

Quilting Design: Mod leaves

Quilting Thread: Aurifil #2600

Started: October 2013

Completed: October 2013

Pattern 1302 – Midcentury

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Pattern reveal number two today! Midcentury is a graphic quilt that is perfect for highlighting your favorite prints and colors. It can be made with yardage or jelly rolls and the pattern gives details for using both.

This one was pieced by my friend Sarah Huechteman who does amazing and perfect work! It was quilted by Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools with a very appropriate mod quilting pattern.

Digital download for sale here.

Dimensions: 63″ x 74″

Fabrics: Bella Solids from Moda Fabrics

Pattern: Lisa Calle/Vintage Modern Quilts Pattern Co. original design

Quilting Design: Quilted by Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools

Quilting Thread: Superior Threads

Started: October 2013

Completed: October 2013

Pattern 1301 – Turkish Delight

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Buy Now

You saw a sneak peek of my new patterns earlier this week and now I’m ready to share all the details! First up is Turkish Delight. This quilt was inspired by Turkish kilim rugs.

The color palette came from a vintage (maybe?) paper plate that someone left at the retreat house where I go with my small group. The colors are sort of retro and bright – just what I’d been looking for to make this quilt.

The pattern is available now as a digital download in my pattern shop or look for it to pop up at your favorite LQS after Quilt Market. In fact, you can ask them to order it!

Dimensions: 82″ x 82″

Fabrics: Bella Solids from Moda Fabrics

Pattern: Lisa Calle/Vintage Modern Quilts Pattern Co. original design

Quilting Thread: Superior Threads

Quilting Design: Quilted by Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools

Started: September 2013

Completed: October 2013

Cool Charms Quilt

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This quilt is one of a pair (the other is not yet quilted). They started as an effort to make use of leftover charm squares and orphan charm square packs (You know when you buy just one charm pack because you have to have some of the fabric line but you don’t have any plan? I seem to end up with lots of those.)

I pulled the low value prints from each charm pack. Then I sorted them into warm and cool colors. This is the cool version, obvs.

I’m all about big quilts at the moment so I did the math for a full/double quilt and added some more cool fat quarters from my stash to make enough charm squares. There are 19 squares in 20 rows – a total of 380 charm squares. {To make your own quilt this size, you’d need 9 charm packs plus 2 charm squares OR 32 fat quarters cut into 5″ squares.}

I quilted it with my current favorite design – mod stems. It was tricky quilting it on such a large quilt but definitely worth the effort. I love the way it looks. I only wish I’d gone with a completely solid backing so the quilting were more visible.

I had an informal poll here on my blog and on Instagram to help me choose a binding. The DS Quilts one I used and a navy polka dot were the overwhelming favorites. A light gray would have been my first choice but I wanted to use a binding I already had made.

There are so many different fabrics in this quilt that I had trouble listing them out below. Let me know if you spot any I missed.

Dimensions: 86″ x 90″

Fabrics: Bella by Lotta Jansdotter; Road 15 and Noteworthy by Sweetwater;, Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, Ruby by Bonnie and Camille; Simply Color by V and Co,; Punctuation by American Jane; It’s a Hoot, Freebird, and Wonderland by Momo; Flea Market Fancy and Greenfield Hill by Denyse Schmidt; Honey Honey by Kate Spain; Wild Thyme by Carolyn Gavin; Gypsy Girl and Tradewinds by Lily Ashbury; Circa 60 by Monaluna; Minny Muu by Lecien; Love and Midwest Modern by Amy Butler; Nest by Tula Pink; City Weekend by Oliver and S; Woodland Delight by Paula Prass; Cream & Sugar by Ampersand Studio; Goodnight Monkey by Erin Michael; Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey; Wheels by My Mind’s Eye; various 1930s repros

Pattern: Lisa Calle/Vintage Modern Quilts original design/It’s just squares!

Quilting Design: Mod leaves

Quilting Thread: Aurifil #2600

Started: July 2013

Completed: September 2013

A Tied Quilt

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This quilt is the perfect example of how to get WIPs finished. It languished in a box for nearly a year until I took it on retreat in the spring. My goal was to create a couple of intricate borders to make it larger but I decided it wasn’t worth so much extra effort for something that was cute as is. I even skipped the batting and basting, opting instead for a simple turned edge with rounded corners. Lesson learned: instead of always trying to make something unique, just finish it!

It’s the perfect size for a stroller quilt, which is something we need now that fall is finally (kinda sorta) here (it was in the 90s all week). It will be nice to have on trips to the Arboretum later in the fall.

The pieced blocks are disappearing nine-patches made from one charm pack (minus all of the pink prints in the line). I mixed in patches of solids – crossweaves, shot cotton, and a white swiss dot – to add texture. There’s no rhyme or reason to the layout since I had odd numbers of things.

Now I’m the first to admit that I never thought I’d make a tied quilt. But this one just seemed to need something extra. I had two skeins of vintage wool in my crewel stash that were pretty close to a perfect match. The ties are more like tassels than a traditional tied quilt.

Something this simple and this small would be a perfect baby gift. Instead of doing such long ties on the quilt top, I’d probably do just French knots and then make tassels to go all around the quilt edge. Next time!

Dimensions: 33″ x 39″

Fabrics: Lucy’s Crab Shack by Sweetwater, Crossweaves by Moda Fabrics, shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett, swiss dot from Michael Miller, flannel backing from JoAnn’s.

Pattern: Disappearing 9-patch with plain blocks

Quilting Design: Tied with wool thread

Quilting Thread: Aurifil 2600 for top-stitching

Started: May 2012

Completed: September 2013

Tutorial: Bitty Bunting Quilt

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My latest finish (#14 for the year!) is a super simple bunting quilt. It’s the perfect size for a baby gift but also large enough to transition to a toddler quilt.

That bitty bunting is so cute and easy to make. I think I’m going to whip up a few yards using Christmas prints. It would be pretty on the tree or draped across a mantel (or wreath even).

Bitty bunting is perfect for adding a bit of print and color to a nursery or even your sewing room. I have a couple of packages of Scrumptious by Bonnie and Camille that I’m going to make into bitty bunting and then swag across an empty picture frame,

More photos and step-by-step tutorial {here} on the Moda Bake Shop.

Dimensions: 43″ x 51

Fabrics: Bella Solids, PB&J by Basic Grey, Lucy’s Crab Shack by Sweetwater, Oh Deer! by Momo (all from Moda Fabrics.)

Pattern: Lisa Calle original design (free download on the Moda Bake Shop)

Quilting Design: Scallops

Quilting Thread: Aurifil 2600

Started: August 2013

Completed: August 2013

Belle Squared Quilt

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This quilt has been a long time coming! It’s fitting that I’m just now finishing it as Amy Butler’s Belle fabric line has been reprinted.

The design of this quilt was largely influenced by the scarcity of Belle fabric when I was piecing this in 2010. I had yardage of various prints but didn’t want to cut them up and I found a couple of charm packs (slightly smaller than the standard 5″) on Etsy.

I started this at the very first Dallas Modern Quilt Guild retreat in 2010. You can see it up on the design wall at Compass Centre above. I sewed the columns with the prints first and then added wide bands of sashing.

I wanted the fabric to float on the grass green background as little pops of color (and I wanted to really stretch that charm pack!). Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools quilted this for me using a paisley design that echoes one of the Belle prints. That paisley was her suggestion and I absolutely love it. It adds so much texture and artistry to a very simple quilt.

I saved my yardage for the back of the quilt and pieced it Boho style (like I teach in my Boho Patchwork workshop).

It’s possible that I like the back more than the front.

Dimensions: 85″ x 85″

Fabrics: Belle by Amy Butler, Background is from Bella Solids by Moda Fabrics (Grass | 9900-228)

Pattern: Lisa Calle original design/backing uses my Boho patchwork method

Quilting Design: Paisley, quilted by Michelle Kitto of Urban Spools

Quilting Thread: Superior Thread

Started: November 2010

Completed: July 2013