Diablo Valley Quilt Show

There's nothing more fun than a local quilt festival and the chance to see some real home-grown talent right in your own neighborhood ! On Sunday, September 25, we visited a wonderful show put on by the Diablo Valley Quilters, based about 25 miles east of San Francisco, California.

Expanding Star, 79 x 77",  by Judy Mathieson at Judy's Place

Judy Mathieson creates magnificent half-wheel designs from her precise paper-piecing techniques. This kind of piecing requires a high contrast between the foreground and the background, so that the viewers eye can take in the pointed symmetry of the diamonds and triangles. Judy says that this design was inspired by an ornamental gate that she saw at the San Francisco Legion of Honor in 2005. 

Cosmati Star, 79 x 77", by Judy Mathieson at Judy's Place

The term "Cosmati" refers to 13th century mosaic designs by a family of Italian craftsmen who had a distinctive artistic style.  Judy drew her inspiration from marble and wood floors with the beautiful stars and fan design shown on the inner border of this quilt.

Scrappy Happy Houses, artist unknown

This quilt show included a "challenge" contest to see who could make the most interesting quilt with the theme of little houses.  The artists' names were intentionally left off each quilt, so that the quilt could be anonymous.  Guests at the show were then given a ballot and asked to vote for their favorite  "Scrappy Houses" quilt.  Because we saw so many really cute quilts, it was difficult to make up our minds.  Here's one of our favorites: a Christmas sugarplum village, all ready for the holidays.

Scrappy Happy Houses, artist unknown

Here's a quilter who's very talented at working with miniatures, including incredibly small pieces of cloth. Look carefully, and you will see the tiny people in the windows. We love the dazzling periwinkle or blue violet Bali batiks that she used for the sky.

Scrappy Happy Houses, artist unknown

A lively four patch border set en pointe complements this enchanting "Main Street" theme, whose blocks are all tied together with a white picket fence and a lamppost.

Scrappy Houses, close up

Look at the adorable details on this little house ! Click on the photo to expand it, and you will see the sign which reads, "We love quilts." 

Stack n' Whack Fans, 79 x 80", by Faith Andresen

Faith used a beautiful color combination of copper, terracotta reds, black, and camel beige to design this sophisticated and exotic quilt. She explains that she drew her inspiration from Bethany Reynolds' book, Stack-n-Whackier Quilts.

Flowers and Gears, 27 x 38", by Lynne Douglas

Lynne writes, "I took a class at the Empty Spools Seminars in Asilomar, California [to learn how to create this kaleidoscope pattern quilt] and I feel that parts of this resemble a flower, and the other parts resemble a gear." We really enjoyed the wild, frenetic energy generated by these quilt blocks. They seem about to jump right off the quilt and have no intention of becoming tame and placid anytime soon. 

Homage to Jane by Bonnie Sherr at Quilterbbs's blog

Bonnie writes,  "When I read Brenda Papadakis' book in 2003, I never thought I'd be able to complete all of the little squares and triangles.  My Dear Jane quilt group, led by Laura Frage (known affectionately as "Mama Jane")  encouraged me. Visiting the Bennington Museum to see the original quilt provided more inspiration." To learn more about the engrossing world of Dear Jane® quilting, which was inspired by Jane A. Blakely Stickle's 1863 quilt, please see our blog post, Crazy About Jane.

Quilting in the Garden Quilt Show

Organized by renowned quilter and television personality Alex Anderson,  "Quilting in the Garden" is a yearly show that features nationally known quilters as well as local quilt guild members in Northern California. Join us on a sunny autumn Saturday as we visit the outdoor quilt show on September 24, 2011 at Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, California.

In this inspiring setting,  the quilts wave happily in the breeze, suspended high above the ground from clotheslines hung between giant oak trees.

Dresden Plates, by Mary Walcher, Amador Valley Quilters

Mary Walcher brings a fun, fresh, approach to traditional Dresden Plate blocks. She has done an excellent job by designing a sampler quilt where the plates are arranged in a contemporary, original setting, like a bouquet of giant, colorful flowers.

Australian Wedding, by Lou Ann Smith at Lou Ann Smith Art

We loved this contemporary take on traditional log-cabin blocks, done in lavenders, grapes, golds, and cocoa browns.  Lou Ann Smith started out with solids, then added Kiwi prints and Aboriginal-inspired patterns to form the centers. An accomplished print-maker and ceramicist, Lou Ann shows a fabulous sense of color and composition. We really regret that the plants and shrubs in the way prevented us from moving in for a close-up of these blocks.

Faded Glory, by Verna Mosquera at The Vintage Spool

Here's an applique tribute to an old-fashioned Fourth of July celebration, featuring bunting, balloons, skyrockets, flags, and an antique wagon and tricycle.  The lively, realistic figures provide an energetic contrast to the subdued, ice cream sherbet-colored pastels in this very eye-catching quilt. The beautiful detail can be seen in the close-up photo, below.

By concentrating the quilting on the background fabric and leaving the applique figures relatively untouched, Verna's creative applique figures really pop off the quilt. The "Faded Glory" pattern is available at The Vintage Spool.

Roseville by Sandra Mollon at Sandra Mollon Quilts

A prolific designer and teacher, Sandra Mollon became fascinated with Baltimore style appliqued quilts about twenty years ago, and has been winning awards for her fabulous hand applique work ever since.  What makes this quilt so entertaining is the diverse array of containers and flowers represented in the Roseville design by Maggie Walker.  This stunning heirloom hung in the trees about fifteen feet above our heads, waving back and forth in a strong breeze,  otherwise we would we have gladly provided some close-up shots for you !

Rose Cottage, by Verna Mosquera at The Vintage Spool

One of the Featured Guest Artists at Quilting in the Garden, Verna Mosquera has created an adorable cotton-candy cottage surrounded by a fanciful garden of flowers and trees. Notice how Verna ties together these charming elements by using the border fabric for the roof of this little fairy-tale home.

IBS Sampler, by Paulette Williams

We love basket sampler quilts, especially when they are updated in a modern medallion setting like the ones shown here.  This clean geometric lines of the baskets and inner borders are complemented by the high contrast ribbon border of navy and yellow.

IBS Sampler by Paulette Williams

A staff member at Livermore's local quilt shop, In Between Stitches, Paulette shows a keen eye for arrangement and composition of traditional Amish blocks done in Bali batiks.  Paulette has provided lots of neutral background space to the medium value Balis, so that each block pattern can be appreciated.  With its intricate patchwork and cool colors,  this quilt is both serene and intriguing.

A beautiful braided border of periwinkles, aquas, deep greens, and lavenders provide great visual interest and the perfect complementary balance to the neutral background of the body of this lovely quilt.

Scuba Time, by Rob Appell

A Featured Artist at this year's show, Rob Appell very kindly took some time to talk to us about his brilliantly colored quilt,  Scuba Time.  Michael Miller Fabrics commissioned Rob to create a landscape quilt with an undersea theme and designed fabrics specifically for this quilt. Based in Morro Bay, California,  Rob has incorporated his love for the ocean into many of his quilt designs; and his work has quickly become nationally and internationally known.  For further information about Rob's fascinating work, please see Quilt Inspiration's interview with Rob Appell here.

Circle of Nine: an interview with Janet Houts

Hi everyone, this is Laura Grabow and I am thrilled to be a guest blogger today for Quilt Inspiration. Working in my local quilt store, The Sun Valley Fabric Granary in Sun Valley, Idaho, I have the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. This summer, I met Marina, one of the co-authors of Quilt Inspiration, and we soon became great friends. I mentioned to Marina that The Fabric Granary has a quilt designer who teaches and sews at the store, and that this designer just published a book with her sister called “Circle of Nine”. Well, Marina was intrigued, so the two of us sat down with this all-around wonderful lady named Janet Houts and talked to her about her background, her book, and what inspires her to quilt. Here is our interview.

Janet Houts, quilt designer and co-author of "Circle of Nine"

Q: Janet, tell us about your background and what brought you to quilting?

A: I grew up in a family of four girls and we all learned to sew at an early age. I also loved designing and drawing and as a girl spent hours drawing patterns in a graph paper book, little knowing that I was in reality designing patterns similar to quilt designs. After studying fine art in college, I worked for a while as a graphic artist in the technology industry. One fateful day while visiting my sister Jean Ann Wright, then editor of QUILT Magazine, Jean asked me to help her with a deadline and illustrate a quilt pattern. Being a graphic design artist, I thought that this would be fairly straightforward, but I soon realized as I worked on that pattern that I really needed to understand how the quilt was made to properly illustrate the quilt. As soon as I finished illustrating that quilt, I went out and bought fabrics and quilt instruction books and dived into the world of quilting. Needless to say, I was hooked from the start and knew this was to be my life’s work.

Jean Ann Wright and Janet Houts, co-authors

Q: What did you do next after learning to illustrate quilts?

A: Once I started illustrating quilt designs and understanding the techniques of quilting it was natural to progress to designing quilt patterns, and I then started to design quilt patterns for fabric companies to showcase fabrics from their collections. I currently design for Benartex Inc., Andover Fabrics, Hoffman California and Blank Quilting.

Q: What inspired you and your sister Jean to write your recent book, Circle of Nine ?

A: Jean retired from editing QUILT Magazine and began to work with me designing quilts for fabric lines. One day while working on a particularly difficult design we realized that by using a block setting, be it a Sawtooth Star or any other one of our favorite block designs, and then placing that block in a circle of nine blocks and finally connecting those blocks with spacers instead of sashings, an almost unlimited variety of quilts could be designed. In our book we have 24 patterns using this design method, but clearly many more options are available. In the back of the book, we show a variety of block designs to help quilters to choose blocks for their pattern.

CIRCLE OF NINE, available at Amazon.com

Q: What makes this book a must-have for quilters?

A: One of the reasons we were so pleased to be published by Landauer Corporation is that they believe in publishing books that teach people how to quilt. This means that with our book Circle of Nine we are able to teach people to be creative with fabrics and designs and be inspired to quilt rather than have to follow a specific pattern using a particular set of fabrics. Naturally, this creative process allows people to have fun and sew quilts using their own personal style and fabric preferences. That, in my opinion, is what quilting is all about. Also the Circle of Nine method is an incredible stash buster.

Q: What do you think is important when designing and choosing fabrics for a quilt?

A: Working with values, or the lights and darks of a fabric group, is essential to a good quilt design. By value I do not mean what the color of a particular fabric is, but rather whether the fabric 'reads' or looks light or dark. If you focus on values or the darks and lights of your fabrics, you can create contrast, and that makes your quilt visually exciting or “pop”. In our book we show examples of how values are used in our patterns, and this in turn helps our quilting readers to learn to create visually exciting quilts.

Q: What is your favorite pattern in the book?

A: My personal favorite is Midnight Moonlight (below). We used fabrics from Lonni Rossi, and the luminosity of her fabrics makes the quilt look as if it is shimmering.

Midnight Moonlight, 68 x 68", in Circle of Nine by Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright

Q: Finally, what is next for Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright?

A: We will continue to design quilts for fabric collections and we are hoping to publish another book with Landauer in the very near future.

From the editor: Many thanks to Janet Houts and Laura Grabow, and to Rebecca Mitchell, owner of the Sun Valley Fabric Granary. If you are in Sun Valley, Idaho, be sure to visit The Fabric Granary at 122 S Main Street, Hailey Idaho (telephone 208-788-1331).  Circle of Nine is a new and totally ingenious approach to setting blocks !  For more examples, see the Circle of Nine Quilts website. Also see Janet Houts' website at Mercury Studios, and Jean Ann Wright's website at Jean Ann Quilts. They will be teaching a full day workshop on the Circle of Nine method at the upcoming International Quilt Festival in Houston, November 3-6, 2011.

Free Pattern Day ! Autumn Leaves quilts

Here are 40 FREE patterns for leafy quilts and for the warm colors of fall!  NOTE: This post has been UPDATED. For the latest patterns, go to our Free Pattern Day for Autumn Leaves quilts (CLICK HERE!)

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on clothing, jewelry, and collectibles! For more free quilt patterns, follow us on Twitter !

Image credits:  This post was updated on July 11, 2026. All images are copyrighted by their owners. Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs. Complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links. Some of these are tutorials while others have downloadable (.pdf) patterns; we have tried to note which is which in the title above each photo. If any links are broken, we'd love to know; email us at quiltinspiration [at] blogspot [dot] com.

Fun Halloween quilts: Don't Drink and Fly

Here is some sound advice, by Holly Mabutas at Eat Cake Graphics.

Witch Hazel is not having a very good evening. According to the quilt caption, Hazel was distracted either by her iced Venti® nonfat seven pump sugar free vanilla latte, or, her last text message to her sweetie. In any case, Hazel can say 'bye-bye' to her cell phone, jack-o-lantern, and lipstick (and the wart remover cream) !

At Eat Cake Graphics, Holly Mabutas has created a line of truly original quilt patterns that are reflections on everyday life, such as Windy Wintery Day, Yahoo Kitty,  and Finding the Right Tree.  On a more serious front, we love the embroidered message in To the World, below.

To the World, 33 x 41", by Holly Mabutas at Eat Cake Graphics

You can read about "To the World" at Holly's blog, Sprinkles of Thought, and obtain the pattern at Eat Cake Graphics.

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of Holly Mabutas at Eat Cake Graphics. She has created over 600 original, whimsical images on rubber stamps. Using images from her stamp line for inspiration, in 2006 she added quilt patterns.

Fun Halloween quilts: Witch's Brew

Have you ever seen a witch this realistic? The exuberant quilt, below, was made by Karen Polczynski and posted at My Quilt Place.  In the design, by Joan Jones at Seams Like Home, the witch is busy stirring a cauldron of brew. You can even see vapor rising from the cauldron (click to see the detail !)  We love Karen Polczynski's choice of fabrics, including the shiny fabrics on the cauldron and the witch's robe.

The Witch's Brew wall quilt is made with raw edge, fusible appliqué.  Hand-drawn faces and fabric packs are available at Seams Like Home LLC.

Joan Jones also has a wonderful haunted house pattern for Halloween, called Raven Hill.  If you love applique, check out all of the unique quilt patterns at Seams Like Home - we're particularly partial to Joan's Peace Angel, Mermaid, and  Reindeer.

Design credits: Joan Jones has enjoyed sewing since childhood and now has over 50 years of sewing experience in a variety of techniques. She is completely self taught and feels this is the reason for the originality and the unusual sewing methods that she has developed.

If the Hat Fits....

... is one of our favorite Halloween quilts. These witches' hats fit almost as well as Sunbonnet Sue's bonnet !  This fun design, by The Buggy Barn™, is one of the quilts in their Frightfully Crazy book.  The bright orange-and-blue version below was made by Aimee Griffin. If you look closely you can see that the witches' legs dangle from the front of their broomsticks !

If the Hat Fits, 41.5 x 52.5", by Aimee Griffin as seen at Overall Quilter.  Pattern by The Buggy Barn™

The original quilt is also available as a kit at The Buggy Barn™ :

The Frightfully Crazy book includes the stylish Scaredy Cats and Crazy Jacks designs (think:  wonky jack-o-lanterns).  When you visit The Buggy Barn™ (either online or in person) you can check out the "crazy" quilts in their many crazy books, such as: Gone Crazy,  Positively Crazy, Certifiably Crazy, and Celebrated Craziness  (to name just a few !)

Image credits and links: Images are shown with the generous permission of The Buggy Barn™, which is owned by sisters Pam Soliday and Janet Nesbitt. The quilt shop is located in the heart of Washington state's wheat country, 22 miles west of Spokane.

Fun Halloween quilts: Haunted Houses

There is not a witch, ghost, or pumpkin in this quilt.... but it is one of the cutest Halloween quilts we've seen ! Amber Johnson set her collection of Halloween fabrics into "haunted houses" - and each one is different. The charcoal grays provide a ghostly backdrop for the oranges of the houses. The clever embellishments include a crescent moon; spiderweb quilting; and black pom-poms.

Haunted House Quilt, by Amber Johnson, at A Little Bit Biased and Gigi's Thimble Quilt Patterns

In keeping with the Halloween theme, Amber Johnson hung a yellow polka-dotted moon over one of the houses; check out the blanket stitching...

The quilted spiderweb design is perfect for the Halloween theme (the quilting was done by Kayleen Parry in Lehi, Utah). Finally, Amber sewed fuzzy black pom-poms into the binding, as shown below.

For more information on the quilt and the design, check out the original Haunted House post at Amber's blog.

Image credits and links: Images are shown with the generous permission of Amber Johnson. Her quilt pattern design company, Gigi's Thimble, was named after her grandmother Delma, who shared her love of quilting and a thimble.

Fun and fancy Halloween Quilts

There are a handful of fabulous Halloween quilts that we've been waiting to share with you.  At the top of our list: Pearl Pereira's "Baltimore Halloween".  We love the Halloween-themed blocks and the scalloped bat border. She says: "This quilt has been received better than I ever thought it would. I thought it would only be an American quilt but I have shops in Canada doing BOM classes. I was told they love Halloween in Canada."   Which makes us wonder about the rest of the world... does everyone celebrate Halloween ?

Baltimore Halloween, 58 x 58", by Pearl P. Pereira, at P3 Designs

Pearl says: "I started out designing a traditional Baltimore style quilt, and then things got a little spooky, as ghost, owls, bats, pumpkins, candy and witches filled my drawing board."  The 20" x 20" center medallion block is shown below.

The center block is surrounded by twelve 10" x 10" blocks, including the adorable Owl Wreath, below.

The pattern book for Baltimore Halloween is available at P3 Designs.  If you love embroidery, be sure to check out Pearl's cool Candy Cauldron wall hanging (it's the center medallion of Baltimore Halloween, rendered in blackwork and applique !)

Image credits and links: Images are shown with the generous permission of Pearl Pereira.  She has been sewing since she was 6 years old, starting with embroidery. She discovered quilting in 1991, and started her own pattern company, P3 Designs, in 1995.

Winners of the September Giveaway !

It's that time again ! It's time for Greg (the husband of Daryl), to reach into the hat and draw out 5 random names from those who entered the Giveaway this month. Here are the September Giveaway winners !

1. The winner of the Hoffman Bali Hand-Paint batiks is Anonymous who wrote, "Oh my..........." 

2. The winner of the $ 10.00 Jo-Ann Gift Card is Anonymous who wrote, "Neat Giveaway........"

3. The winner of  Lynette Jensen's  "At Home With Thimbleberries Quilts"  book is Sharon who wrote, "Well I would just like to say that I love fall also........."

4. The winner of the Robert Kaufman Valley of the Kings fabric is Carol who wrote "All great prizes..."

5. The winner of the current issues of Quilt Magazine and Quilter's Newsletter is Sel's Quilting Blog.

Winners, please e-mail us at  quiltinspiration@gmail.com  and provide your shipping address, which we will hold confidential.  We will mail out your prize to you, postage paid.

Thanks to ALL of you and your wonderful comments. If you did not win this time,  please stay stand by ! Another Giveaway will be coming up soon ! We really appreciate each and every one of you who took time to enter the Giveaway.

Quilters remember September 11, 2001

At 8:56 am on September 11, 2001, the first plane struck the World Trade Center.  In response to 9-11, many quilters expressed their sorrow, compassion and love, in words and in cloth. We feel privileged to be able to share some inspired works with you.

9-11 Quilt, by Jennifer Myers, at Art Quilts by Jen

"The background for this quilt was designed and completed about a year before 9/11 happened. It sat on my design wall all of that time because I didn't know how to finish it. Then when 9/11 happened, it finished itself. The twin towers are hand beaded with hundreds of tiny beads. The blue streaks represent the blue lights that shone in the New York sky following the disaster, and the windows and doors at the bottom of the quilt represent the debris." ~Jennifer Myers

New Tears, by Kim Ritter, at Kim Ritter.com

"Tears that burst from my eyes were unlike any I had ever shed before - sad, angry, jagged, unbelieving." ~Kim Ritter (published in America from the Heart)

Twin Towers Quilt and Pattern, by BJ Reed, at Piecemaking, LLC

"The three dimensional design represents the Twin Towers in New York City and, on reflection, how our lives in the USA will forever be changed." ~BJ Reed

Waves 1, by Beth Carney, at Beth Carney Studio

"I looked out my window and saw the candles flickering as flags waved in the wind. Our colors were standing strong and proud. Wave after wave." ~Beth Ann Carney (for the full quotation, see America from the Heart)

River of Tears, by Helen Simon, at Helen's Harvest

"This quilt, published in America from the Heart, expresses my anguish and hope for America." ~Helen Simon

Editor's note: The book America from the Heart is a powerful tribute to September 11. All of the quilts were made in the five short weeks following the tragedy.

Lady Liberty, by Gretchen Crozier, based on the design by Linda Hibbert at Silver Linings Originals

Some of the most enduring images of 9-11 were those of the Statue of Liberty, holding her torch high, amidst the smoke and destruction. The pattern is available at Silver Linings Originals.

Flight 93 Memorial Quilt, by 911 Memorial Quilts, including detail of the Flight 93 block

"Days after September 11, 2001, Jeannie Ammermann founded America’s 9-11 Memorial Quilts Organization. Jeannie began her quest with a few people who believed in her mission, and today, more than 500 volunteers across America have joined in this thread-of-life memorial. It is our hope to memorialize those we lost in a compassionate and uplifting way, with great respect, dignity and honor, to heal hearts and preserve memories for years to come. ~Teri Jahn

Ground Zero Quilt, by Lois Jarvis, at Lois Jarvis Quilts

"I hope (the quilt) will show the viewer that the individual people on this quilt, the happy smiling people at work and at play, the brides and grooms, the fathers and mothers, the young so full of promise and the old with so much still to offer, who all perished that day, are the important things to remember." ~ Lois Jarvis

Editor's note: The Ground Zero Quilt has been viewed by over 2,000,000 visitors through Lois Jarvis' website, and installed at 90 group and solo exhibitions nationwide. For more information, visit the Ground Zero Quilt website.

Image credits: Images are shown with the generous permission of the artists.  We first posted these quilts on September 10, 2010.

Free pattern day ! Bird House Quilts

Check out these FREE patterns for birdhouse quilts!  Bird houses make us happy... we hope you enjoy them!  NOTE: This post has been UPDATED. For the latest free patterns, go to our Free Pattern Day for Bird House quilts (CLICK HERE!)

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles!
For continuous free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter !  

Image credits:  This post was updated on June 24, 2026. All images are copyrighted by their owners. Please respect their generosity in sharing their free patterns, and the restrictions they have placed on the use of these designs. Complete information can be found at the designers' websites provided in the links.  If any link is broken, we'd love to know so we can fix it; email us at QuiltInspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.

Pumpkat, Podcats and other Garden Patch quilts

Our fascination with cat quilts began last year, with a series called The Best of Cat Quilts.  Some fantastic new entries in the "Best Of" category have been accumulating in our inbox. Meanwhile, we checked into the latest developments in Helene Knott's Garden Patch Cats collection (there are now 18 different cats !)

Pumpkat, about 18 x 18", by Helene Knott at KittyStomp

A minimalist rendition of Pumpkat, below,  is available in a laser-cut quilt kit at Quilter's Paradise:

Pumpkat (above) and Podcats (below) are perennial favorites...

Each little quilt measures 18 x 18" and includes a recipe for the vegetable represented in the quilt. Here are several more designs in the series:  Catus Romanus (includes a recipe for Greek Salad Tonnato), Pepper Puss (includes a recipe for Southwestern Stuffed Peppers) and Stalker (Cream of Chicken and Winter Vegetable Soup).

 

And there is even a banana cat....

 
Helene Knott is a designer and teacher whose art quilts have received worldwide acclaim.  StoryQuilts carries Helene's Garden Patch Cats patterns, along with her Postcards from Japan.