There are some beautiful free patterns and blocks over at Quilt in a Day. There’s also some great instructions on using their rulers. All are in PDF format, for easy downloading and referencing later.

Judy over at Patchwork Times is offering a free Star Block of the Month type project starting August 1st. There are 13 blocks and 7 different borders. This quilt finishes at 92″ x 92″.

Head on over to Judy’s site to see some other colour variations for the quilt, get the fabric requirements and enter your fabric selections.

I’m hoping, if I’m really good this week and get lots of work done, i.e. that big-a** project I’ve been working on, I can participate in Judy’s next Quiltathon later this week. She even includes menu suggestions to make-ahead so you can spend even more time quilting. What a great idea.

Crazy Mom Quilts has an amazing Star Sampler that she’s presenting as a weekly quilt along. Her directions for putting together each star are fantastic. You can find each weekly installment on the right sidebar.

I plan on putting together a few of the stars and making a table runner or a smaller 4×4 or 6×6 block wall hanging.

Here’s a free pattern from Mary Quilts, Double 4 Patch. The piecing is very simple, yet the overall effect is gorgeous.

Here’s a quilt I made for my sister’s birthday that I gave to her a couple of weeks ago. I had hoped for it to be a Christmas present, but that didn’t happen. It uses 168 hour glasses. I used up all of the 6 inch Charm squares I had collected. It’s the biggest quilt that I’ve ever machine quilted. (I must ask my sister to measure it for me … hey sis, can you measure the quilt, please.)

I used Spray Basting for it, and it worked really well, in most cases. I had some puckering problems in one area, on the front (back is fine), and I’m not sure whether I didn’t spray enough or what happened. It’s towards one of the edges in the middle of the quilt. Any ideas? Once it was all quilted and washed, the puckering is hardly noticable anymore.

I quilted all seams, stitch in the ditch style. First I did the rows, both horizontal and vertical, then I did the diagonals in both directions. The quilting took me a lot longer than I thought it would, but I got much faster as time went on too. I’m far more confident now too.

I used Shelley’s updated tutorial on Joining the Ends of Double-Folded Binding, and it worked flawlessly the first time. I was so thrilled.

I thought the back looked nice, so here’s a picture, showing off the quilting lines.

From Block Central, is this simply gorgeous quilt, Patchwork Panache. It was the Block of the Month pattern for 2007. It’s a large one, finishing at 99″ square.

From Moda Fabrics, comes this cute free pattern, Flutterby.

From QuickQuilts, comes New Year’s Sparklers. This quilt is so full of color and sparkle that it lights up a room. It was made using batiks in a delightful variety of beautiful hues to charm the eye. It is simply gorgeous.

A great project for Spring, Tulip Hill. I would be inclined to make this pattern smaller, as it would be a gorgeous wall hanging.

I simply adore tulips, and am really looking forward to the Ottawa Tulip Festival coming in May.

From Red Rooster Fabrics, comes this truly specatacular pattern, Arabesque. A little too advanced for my current skill level, but it’s a pattern that made me go WOW.

Here’s a great free pattern, Catch a Spinning Star. This quilt consists of a pinwheel in the center of an Ohio Star, anchored by a pieced sashing so there are no points meeting when the blocks are assembled into rows. I love how the stars float.

Photo used with permission from Judy Laquidara… Thanks!

Here’s a simply gorgeous free pattern, Poinsettias. I love the border that looks like a railway fence. What a great idea, I have to try it one of these days. Great stash-buster project. Imagine this completed in vibrant, traditional Poinsettia reds and greens.

Photo used with permission from Judy Laquidara… Thanks!

I took this photo at the Upper Canada Village 2007 Quilt Show.

A beautiful quilt by Deb Karasik of Quilt Mavens.

I took this photo at the Upper Canada Village 2007 Quilt Show.