Bougainvillea is a vibrant, blooming vine that climbs on trellises at
seaside resorts and desert retreats from Southern California to Texas to Florida. It's known for its brilliant color and distinctively shaped bracts, with small white flowers inside. Melissa de Leon Mason created a stunning modern quilt to celebrate the shape and colors of the tropical plant.
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Melissa de Leon Mason says, "It
wasn't until a trip back to South Texas that I realized the magentas I'm
drawn to are the same as the bougainvillea growing beside my childhood
home - vibrant, full of life and sunshine. Collaborating with graphic
artist Ruth Lin, I created a quilt that captures the cozy warmth of a
humid afternoon on the Texas border."
Bougainvillea is machine pieced, hand quilted, and
machine quilted without a frame (domestic). For information on Melissa de Leon Mason's work, please visit her website at Quiltallthethings.
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.
Cherry blossoms, or "sakura" in Japanese, are a
symbol of renewal, rebirth, and the start of spring. Marcia Peterson created a beautiful modern wall quilt celebrating these blossoms. We're posting this on Mother's Day... we hope you all have a lovely day!
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Sakura by Marcia Peterson @youarelovedquilts (Utah), quilted by Melissa Kelley
The modern design features a handful of cherry blossoms, rendered with straight edges in white and pink on a midnight blue background. The negative space creates a serene and meditative work of art. Marcia Peterson says that, since cherry blossoms
bloom for only a few weeks, they symbolize the transience of
life. This is a major theme in Buddhism.
Sakura was machine pieced and custom long arm quilted by Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting.
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show.
Wonky Wildflowers is a fun mix of quilting and hand embroidery. With
wonky log cabin blocks, wedge grass, Dresden sunshine, hexagon
embellishments and embroidered flower petals, this project is as much fun
to create as it is to look at. We love this colorful rendition, shown at the Arizona Quilters Guild show.
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Wonky Wildflowers, made and quilted by Teresa Darling
A Dresden sun shines down on the embroidered flowers while a bluebird sings on a branch. Teresa Darling says she enjoyed this project as it
gave me a chance to use a variety of techniques. The Wonky Wildflowers pattern is by Sandra Workman. We photographed this quilt at the 2025 Quilt Arizona
show, under the theme Sew Whimsical.
Image credits: Photos were tkane by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Quilt Arizona show.
Throughout history, quilters have incorporated used clothing into their quilts. The blocks in today's award-winning quilt are from Christmas pajamas! The quilter turned the scraps into pajama-wearing dolls, each one with its own unique personality.
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PJ Quilt #1 (2021), made and quilted by Mary Anne Ciccotelli (Provo, UT).
Winner of a Judge's Choice award at the 2024 Springville (Utah) quilt
show, Mary Anne Cicotelli explains that the blocks in this quilt are
from Christmas pajamas and other items she sewed through the years. "I collected
the scraps and planned to make a quilt. In 2019, I decided it was time
to either make the quilt or get rid of the scraps. My daughter suggested making blocks with a simple pajama top."
Mary Anne personalized the hair colors and styles, and
added buttons to some of the pajamas. This doll shown below even has its own tiny nine-patch quilt as a coverlet!
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2024 Springville (Utah) quilt show.
Today's featured quilt is a tribute to Arbie Williams (1916-2003), a renowned African American quilter and National Heritage Fellow. Quilt artist Stephanie Jurgensen says: "Despite humble materials and practical purposes, Arbie Williams
made undeniably artistic quilts with bold designs. She was struck one
day to fashion a quilt from pants leaving them largely intact and fully
identifiable as pants."
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Splitting Seams by Stephanie Jurgensen (Boston Modern Quilt Guild)
Inspired by a Sherri Lynn Wood
quilt workshop, Stephanie Jurgensen interpreted Arbie Williams' "Britches Quilt" by re-assembling coral colored corduroy pant parts into an abstract layout
with glowing edges revealed from dye-resist areas in the seams.
The orange polkadot fabric provides the perfect accent to this modern quilt. Splitting Seams was machine
pieced, improvisatonally pieced, and hand and machine quilted. Visible
mending with patching was added behind button holes and damaged areas of the
corduroy. Stephanie Jurgensen's hand quilting can be seen in the closeup photo below.
Today's featured quilt transforms discarded materials into art. The artists' work reimagines
waste as something modern and beautiful, highlighting the resilience of
denim and leather. We are drawn to the soft indigo hues and the contrasts with gold/brown leather.
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A Study on Wash Formulas and Dye by Radha Weaver (San Francisco, California) @sewingthroughfog
Radha Weaver explains
that her quilt is a study of contrasts - light and dark, raw and
refined, organic and industrial. It was made with upcycled jeans and denim
factory samples hand-dyed by the artist in natural indigo. The denim samples were
paired these with commercially dyed leather scraps to reclaim waste from
two environmentally toxic industries.
Radha Weaver is a
member of the Silicon Valley Modern Quilt Guild (California). This piece was machine pieced, improvisational pieced, and machine
quilted without a frame (domestic).
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 QuiltCon show in Phoenix, Arizona.
Have you ever made a quilt from recycled clothing? Fast, easy, and un-fussy quilts made from faded blue jeans can be so cozy. Using up old clothes is part of the "waste not, want not" tradition that characterizes much of quilting history. Today we feature one of the easiest methods around: faux cathedral windows.
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Giddy-Up by Elena Bennett (Arizona)
This combination of denim and red kerchiefs is a classic Western look!
Elena Bennett says that this piece was inspired by her granddaughter who
is an avid horsewoman. The raw edges fray so nicely when the quilt is washed. (Photos of Giddy Up were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.)
This technique, long known as Faux Cathedral Windows, is a quilt-as-you-go method that is also called circular patchwork, folded cottage windows, or mock cathedral
windows. Warm tones of yellow, orange, and red provide a great color combination as shown below.
The Faux Cathedral Windows technique is perfect for scrap quilts, "I Spy" quilts, picnic and play quilts. For more information and inspiration, see the "how-to" links in our Free Pattern Day for Denim Quilts... CLICK HERE then scroll to the bottom of the post.
Here are some wonderful FREE patterns for denim quilts, pillows, and totes! To go to a pattern: Scroll down the page until you see the project you like, then click on the words "CLICK for PDF download" (or the hyperlinked
website name) in the title above the quilt.
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fabric, and unique vintage jewelry ! (We are Top-Rated Sellers ! )
Stripy Denim quilt, 50 x 65", free pattern at Art Gallery Fabrics (CLICK for PDF download)
Faux Cathedral Windows is an easy quilt-as-you-go technique that is also called circular patchwork, folded cottage windows, mock cathedral windows and cheater cathedral windows. Here are more examples...
Circle Jeans Quilt by Jessica Levitt at Juicy Bits, inspired by the tutorial by Doreen Baros
Image credits: All images are copyrighted by their owners. Complete information including restrictions on use can be found at the websites provided in the links. If any links are broken, we'd love to know about it; email us at quiltinspiration {at} gmail {dot} com.
Memory quilts are made of reclaimed clothing once worn by the person whose life is celebrated. These are always personal, cozy, and comforting. We enjoyed seeing this lovely memory quilt at a recent show.
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A Hug from Mom, made and quilted by Sherlyn L. Kistler
The fabrics make this quilt, dedicated to Thelma Roar Ledford, b. 3-27-1925. The colorful fabrics must bring many special memories. Her daughter, Sherlyn L. Kistler says, "Mom would have been 100
years old in 2025. After she passed away, I took the silky blouses
that she loved wearing and made a cozy 'memory quilt'. "
Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Tucson Quilters Guild show.
