Round The Garden

"Round the Garden" is one of Wendy Williams' best-known quilt designs.  Featuring a circle of houses and along with flowers, bunnies, birds and more, it is truly a delight.  Here are TWO award-winning versions of the quilt — one done in cotton and the other in wool —  showing what can be achieved with this incredible design.

Also check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles!
For more free quilt patterns, follow us on X/Twitter.

Round the Garden, made and quilted by Elizabeth Phinder.  

Winner of a 2nd Place ribbon in the Applique - Solo category, Elizabeth Phinder says: "When I saw [this design] at Road2CA in 2020, it was appliqued in cotton with a finished edge, not wool applique like the one in the pattern. I said 'Well, if she can, then so can I.'  

Elizabeth says that she started the project in July, 2020 and finished in May, 2024. "It was such a joy to make. There are over 10,500 colonial knots."  The piece was finished by hand guided quilting on a stationary machine. 

 Round The Garden by Lorie Kirkby, quilted by Sharon Blackmore. 

Winner of a 2nd Place ribbon in the Applique - Duet category, Lorie Kirkby says: "I liked this pattern immediately, not realizing just how much work was involved.  Since the quilt is all one piece, the wool appliques are sewn from the center outward. When I reached the circle of flowers I got very bored with it, and it spent about 4 years in the closet. [I'm] so glad I finally finished!"

Check out the tiny boats, fishes, reeds, and dock in this section of the quilt:

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Quilt Arizona show. 
 

Highlights of the 2026 Quilt Fiesta! (2)

In the beautiful Sonoran desert of Arizona, the Tucson Quilters Guild celebrated their 50th anniversary with a spectacular show. The Quilt Fiesta includes a fascinating mix of styles, techniques, and patterns. We hope you enjoy our photos! This is Part 2 of 5.

p.s. Please see our E-Bay shop for great bargains on jewelry, clothing, and collectibles. For more free patterns, please follow us on Twitter.

Chasing Rainbows by Doreen Diaz, quilted by Athena Taylor.  

Winner of a Blue ribbon for First Place in the Two Person Large Pieced category, Doreen Diaz says "The piecing of this quilt was a definite challenge, due to the number of curves in the design. I use the complexity of a Judy Niemeyer design to make sure my mind still works as I get older." Beautifully quilted by Athena Taylor; see the closeup photos below. [The pattern for this quilt is Coral Reef by Judy Niemeyer.]

Klimt - The Kiss, made and quilted by Karen Rainford.  

Karen Rainford says that she saw the Klimt paintings in real life in Vienna, while bicycling across Europe in 2023. She was inspired by this solo fabric panel of "The Kiss" to find a way to enhance it without distracting from the central image.  Her modern pieced border picks up the colors and textures in the panel perfectly! In the non-judged category, we enjoyed this lovely work. [The fabric panel is from the Klimt collection at Robert Kaufman Fabrics, still available from various sources as of this writing.] 

Out of Darkness, made and quilted by Karen G. Fisher.  

Winner of a Blue ribbon for 1st place in the One Person Primarily Applique category, plus a special award for Exemplary Machine Applique. Celebrating her love of Medieval Art, Karen included a Gothic Rose window, Mozarabic, Romanesque and Gothic arches, stained glass, manuscript illumination, and Italian Mosaic floor, a Celtic shield, and an inlay design from the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. (The "tile" center pattern is from Bella Bella Quilts (Norah McMeeking), the rest of the quilt is an original design.) 

Luxury Living, made and quilted by Stephanie Nordlin.  

 Winner of a blue ribbon for 1st Place in the One Person Medium Pieced category, Luxury Living was based on a 2021 The Quilt Show BOM by Wendy Williams; six blocks were an original designed by Stephanie Nordlin. She says, "Our homes were on an acre, lake and desert, all outside city limits. These, along with the Chrysler building. Oriental Pearl Tower and saguaro are my original designs."

 Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2026 Tucson Quilters Guild show.

Highlights of the Houston International Quilt Festival! (2)

We had a wonderful time at the Houston International Quilt Festival! We enjoyed seeing 1200 quilts from around the world, and are excited to share photos of our favorites... here is Part 2!

p.s. Check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on designer jewelry and collectibles!
For continuous free quilt patterns, please follow us on X (Twitter)!     

FIRST PLACE - Pictorial:  Peony Dream by Chen Jing (Beijing, China)

Winner of a blue ribbon in the Pictorial quilt category, Peony Dream was perfect in every detail, from the portrait itself to the oversized peonies and the elaborate embroidery in the borders.

The centers of the peonies were embellished with small pieces of fabric or ribbon, giving a 3-D effect as shown below.

 

Innova Master Award for Contemporary Artistry: Color My World by Karen Kay Buckley

Color My World features applique and embroidery that completely fills the spaces. Each block contains a critter (insect, animal, bird); some are hidden and some are obvious.

Maryland by Martine Crabe-Lanux (France)

This gorgeous quilt was based on a Baltimore Album quilt, circa 1847.  It is beautifully hand appliqued and hand quilted. The quilt took 3000 hours to complete over 2.5 years. Check out the tiny hand quilting stitches!

Kaleidoscope Garden by Judy Ballance (USA), quilted by Patty Wilson 

This quilt sparkles with bright colors and strong contrasts! Wool applique and hand embroidery lend a dimensional effect to the appliqued blocks.  Winner of a Third Place award in the Balanced Piecing and Applique category, this quilt is based on the Fairground quilt pattern by Wendy Williams.

 

Image credits: Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2025 Houston International Quilt Festival.
 

Quilt Arizona 2020 ! Day 4

In February, when life was still "normal" , we attended the 2020 Quilt Arizona! Show which is an outstanding display of statewide quilts from the Arizona Quilters' Guild. This year's theme was "Desert Stars". We hope you enjoy these highlights from the show !

Please check out our E-Bay shop for great bargains on quilt patterns, books, and collectible items !
For the latest free quilt patterns, please visit us on Twitter.

Into The Wild by Martha Sivetz-Baltram

This original design pieced and appliqued quilt is truly stunning. Martha Sivetz-Baltram says that she was inspired by forests and wild animals, after touring several national parks last summer. This creation won a well-deserved blue ribbon in the Mixed Technique, Medium/Large-Solo category. She used the silhouette animals from clip art to create the animals, and placed crows (below) in the four corners of the quilt.

We couldn't resist one more closeup photo, showing the vertical line of bees that were placed between the rows of tree blocks.  The piecing, applique and quilting were all done by Martha herself.

Desert Watch by Elizabeth Heurlin

Desert Watch is an original design by Elizabeth Heurlin, created with pieced flying geese, turned and machine applique, a crewel owl, and machine and hand embroidery.  A quilt block in the upper right corner, with quilting that echoes the flying geese theme, depicts the desert sun.  The focus point was the amazing owl, shown below.

Elizabeth says she stitched the owl around 30 years ago from an unknown crewel embroidery kit.  We love the way she perched the owl on a prickly pear at the edge of the quilt!  Elizabeth credits Ann Peterson for inspiring some of the design elements. This piece won a yellow (Third Place) ribbon in the Mixed Technique, Small - Solo category,

Count Basie Bear under The Desert Stars by Jane Wilcox

This original design by Jane Wilcox was inspired by the 2020 show theme, Desert Stars.  Jane says,  "One of the most beautiful sights at night is the Phoenix skyline illuminated by the stars and moon!"
The bear sitting near the campfire is conducting a symphony of coyotes, a familiar sound to many who live in Arizona.

The prickly pear and other cactus had three-dimensional flowers and leaves, adding depth to the surface of this art quilt.

Neighorhood Delights by Yvonne Cozart, quilted by Sue Bruner

This is such a beautiful quilt, with its bright blue background and intricate design elements!  Yvonne Cozart says,  "I love the creativity of combining colors and changing rules to make a unique composition.  The pattern [by Wendy Williams] was originally done in the round." Yvonne also added many fun details, such as the little owl sitting on the fence, below.

This quilt was entered in the Display Only category, which means it was not professionally judged, but we and many others would have given it a blue ribbon.

I Spy Scrappy Spikes by Judy Birchett, quilted by Sharon Elsberry

One of the most delightful scrap quilts we've seen, Judy Birchett's original design was based on the traditional New York Beauty block, done in rainbow colors and an "I Spy" theme. For more color, Prairie Points were added around the outside of the quilt. The red ribbon is for Second Place in the Scrap-Duet category.

Judy says it was created with "lots of partial seams" and using her stash of scraps and juvenile novelty prints.  The centers of the blocks were fussy cut to showcase these fun characters, as in the closeup photos above and below.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2020 Arizona Quilters Guild show.

Best of the Pacific International Quilt Festival 2019 - Day 5

Held annually in Santa Clara, California, the Pacific International Quilt Festival is the largest quilt show on the west coast of the U.S.A. It features a wonderful variety of beautiful quilts! Here are some of the highlights of the festival. Let us know which ones are your favorites!

P.S.  For quilt patterns, books, and vintage collectibles, please visit us on E-Bay quilt-inspiration !

Layla, 42.5 x 44.75, by Holly Adame, California

Holly says, "Layla was created in a Rod Daniel class taken at Empty Spools Seminars in Asilomar, California. He taught us to turn a photograph into fabric art. Thread painting was used to enhance Layla. The original photo was taken by my husband, an amazing shot of a leopard sitting in a tree just behind us. She seemed to be surveying the animals on the Savannah below, contemplating which one would make a tasty lunch."

We really admire the intricate thread painting here, which elegantly portrays the shadows and nuances of Layla's face and eyes. Holly's original design is machine pieced, machine appliqued, and sewing machine quilted.

Ladies of the Sea, 87 x 87, by Shirley Tchou, Ohio

Shirley writes, "I fell in love with Sue Garman's pattern for Ladies of the Sea 10 years ago, especially with the borders. That is how long it took me to complete this quilt."

Shirley adds, "After appliqueing the blocks, I postponed quilting it until I felt competent enough in my free motion quilting skills to perform a good job. I felt my quilting skills progressed significantly while quilting it. I am pleased with the results."  And, we'd like to add that we are amazed with the results, which are most stunning !  This is one of those quilts which will always be a treasured heirloom.

Bloomin Dahlias, 57 x 25, by Melanie Missin, United Kingdom

Melanie notes, "My inspiration was big, bold, fluffy, colorful Dahlias. The background was Procion dyed, and some faux trapunto was used to enhance the flower shapes. The 3D petals were made using interfacing organza and transfer dyes, 264 in total- hence the name "Bloomin" ! The cord in the center was handmade and machine stitched.

These cheerful flower petals convey such a crisp, three-dimensional effect that they almost pop right off the quilt ! The organza fabric gives the petals a pretty transparent effect, just as if the sunlight were shining through them. Melanie's original design is machine pieced, machine applique, and sewing machine quilted.

Our California, 67 x67, by Karla Dellner, California, quilted by Shireen Hattan

Blue ribbon winner for Best Visual Impact in the New Quilts of Northern California category, this very creative quilt of California landmarks really does have something for everyone. If you look around the outside of the circle, you'll find: the State Capitol building in Sacramento, the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, the Los Angeles skyline, and the "painted ladies" Victorian homes of San Francisco. Inside the circle, among other places, you can spy the Disneyland castle and the Santa Barbara Mission.

Karla's lovely work is all hand-appliqued! She comments, "I am hooked on wool applique, almost as much as I love quilts that reflect my family's and my own experiences and pasions. Wool felt applique and embroidery allow me to create highly pictorial quilts full of texture, wonderful color, and personal meaning. Thank you [to quilt designer] Wendy Williams for your inspiration!"

Quirky Collections, 46.5 x 57,  by Dianne Dowd, New Zealand

 

Diane explains, "This was a wonderful online class with the amazing Helen Godden, who designed this quilt. My first experience of fabric painting, this was an interesting challenge [and] great fun learning to trace, paint, and quilt using black homespun, Lumiere paints,  and heaps of free motion quilting. Diane's charming work is machine pieced and sewing machine quilted.

These Matyroshka dolls ( classic Russian folk art nesting dolls) here look adorable. We love the brilliant complementary colors in these blocks.

Image credits:  Photos were taken by Quilt Inspiration at the 2019 Pacific International Quilt Festival.