Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Block D

 Westward Ho!

 

It's already week 4, and after 3 weeks of making two blocks in each week of the quilt along, this week it's just one block, and an easy one at that!

So, if you're a little bit behind on any of the weeks' blocks, this one won't take much time at all, and perhaps you can catch up!

It's just one four patch with half square triangles to make up Block D!

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Block D

 

CLICK HERE to Download the Fabric Requirements and Cutting Instructions for Block D. 

I'll see you back here next week for Block E!

Martha

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Block C

Westward Ho!

We continue our journey along the trail by making Block C for the Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along sampler quilt. It's appropriate to our "journey" theme, that this block is best suited to hand piecing, a technique that would have been the only way a women on an overland journey could have pieced blocks along the way (unless, of course, the family made room in the wagon for a precious treadle sewing machine!).

 

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Blocks C

If you're unfamiliar with hand piecing, or if you'd like to see how I piece this particular block specifically, I've put together a video tutorial on hand piecing the sunflower block. The techniques I share can be applied to any quilt block, simple to complex. 

CLICK HERE to download the fabric requirements and cutting instructions for Block C.

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Block B

 Westward Ho!

We continue our prairie journey on the trail by making Block B for the Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along sampler quilt. Basket blocks and quilts are some of my favorites, and these two blocks "B" are taken from the quilt "Ma's Sewing Basket".

If you're just joining me today, I will be posting instructions to make the Prairie Patchwork sampler (pictured below) every week, here on my blog, as well as on my website. In addition to my weekly instructions, you'll need your copy of my book, Prairie Patchwork . If you haven't yet purchased your copy, buy the book at your local quilt shop, shopmartingale.com, wagonswestdesigns.com or Amazon.

The sampler quilt has been divided into 26 steps, alphabetized A through Z, so as you can see, we are barely getting started and are now on Block B. Some of the blocks will take a little more time than others, so if you get a little behind, don't worry, there are some super simple blocks amongst the more time consuming ones.

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Blocks B

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along Sampler

 

CLICK HERE to download the fabric requirements and cutting instructions for Block B.

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Block A

 Westward Ho!

Your journey begins today with the first block - Block A! Grab your copy of Prairie Patchwork,

 

Prairie Patchwork

download your fabric requirements and cutting instructions, below, and you're ready to begin!

 As you can see, you'll be making two of Block A:

 

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along - Blocks A

The techniques you'll be using to construct the Blocks A are foundation paper piecing and applique.

If you have a scanner, you can scan the patterns from the pattern sheet in Prairie Patchwork, and then print them onto your foundation paper from your computer. Be sure to compare your printed patterns to those in the book to make sure there are no distortions. If you don't have a scanner, you can try a copier, or hand trace the patterns from the pattern sheet.

There are a variety of papers that will work as foundation paper. I typically use a paper that is used for sandwich wrap. It's lightweight, transparent, easy to tear, and I can also cut it to size, and print the patterns using my inkjet printer. You can use copy paper, purchased foundation paper, and freezer paper, as well.

Martingale Publishing offers a good tutorial on how to foundation paper piece that you can download, CLICK HERE to download that tutorial.

For the same blocks that I made for the Prairie Spring quilt, I machine appliqued the center and outer circles. For the blocks in the Prairie Patchwork Sampler, I hand appliqued those shapes.

I will see you again here next Wednesday for Block B!

 CLICK HERE to download the fabric requirements and cutting instructions for Block A.

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along

 

Westward Ho!

Welcome to the Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along!

In my book, Prairie Patchwork, Carrie and her family migrate westward from the hills of West Virginia to the plains of Kansas, in 1871. Join me on our own prairie journey, where our final destination is the 42" x 54" Prairie Patchwork sampler quilt, pictured below!

 

Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along sampler quilt

To make the sampler quilt, you'll need your copy of my book, Prairie Patchwork . If you haven't yet purchased your copy, buy the book at your local quilt shop, shopmartingale.com, wagonswestdesigns.com or Amazon.

Follow along weekly every Wednesday, here on my blog, for each step of the journey, and the instructions for each step. The sampler quilt has been divided into 26 steps, alphabetized A through Z, so you will have plenty of time to complete the quilt! A PDF for each step will be available here, as well as on my website wagonswestdesigns.com.

My sampler quilt design was inspired by sampler quilts of the nineteenth century, and more specifically to those pictured in the book by Sue C. Cummings, Album Quilts of Miami County. Some of those quilts were made using the red, green and cheddar color combinations, and that's the color scheme I chose for the Prairie Patchwork sampler.

I designed a collection of fabrics for the sampler, in colors similar to those found on the antique quilts. Those fabrics, and their corresponding numbers, can be found on the fabric requirements PDF. They're available for purchase on the print-on-demand fabric site, Spoonflower. 

Of course, feel free to use any color combination of your choosing, and fabrics from your stash!

Click Here to download the fabric requirements for the Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along Sampler Quilt.

Instructions for the first block(s) will be posted next Wednesday!

Until next time,

Martha

Live, Love, Quilt International Quilt Along - My block!

Have you been following along on the Live, Love, Quilt International Quilt Along?My block was revealed this weekend, and you can access the free pattern by joining the Facebook group Live, Love, QAL (you can access that easily from several of my posts on the Wagons West Designs Facebook page).

 

 

Each of the designers were given a specific size, all different, for their block design, and mine was the tall rectangle you see above.

I immediately envisioned a tall house with flowers to fill the space! 

Next week, I will be announcing my Prairie Patchwork Quilt Along project, and I hope you'll check in again to see what it's all about!

Until next week!

Martha

Are You Ready for Spring Yet?

Hello Friends!

It's really just the beginning of the winter season for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, where snow is falling around many of us. But the reason I ask ... if you are already thinking about Spring, I have a new quilt pattern I titled "Spring Dance" which is featured in the new issue of Quiltmania #141.

 

Quiltmania #141

 

Spring Dance by Martha Walker

 

 

 

 

 

Just two pieces make up the little applique blocks, which are just 4" square. I used a scrappy assortment of my favorite reproduction fabrics to make up the blocks, and for a little speedier assembly, I machine applied the shapes to small print shirting style prints. Here is a detail of the quilt:

 

Spring Dance (detail) by Martha Walker

Our floor is now finished, but our house is still in disarray. Last week and this, I was working on the new Prairie Patchwork sew along project while the workers were sawing away, in and out with the doors and windows wide open. I had a little sewing space set up with my machine and pressing/cutting station so I could continue my machine work. And, when things got too crazy, I would shut myself up in a small bedroom, which was untouched, and turn on my electric heater, and hand applique the blocks for the project. 

Now, Thom and I are painting the four rooms with the new flooring, and two are complete, with two more to go. Then, lots of moving of furniture, not to mention trying to eliminate all of the dust that seems to be on everything from the construction. 

I'm still hoping for a February start date for the Sew Along, or perhaps March. I think it will be fun! 

Happy stitching, and until next time!

Martha
 

Snow Themed Quilts for Snowy Days!

Happy New Year!

It's that time of year, in half of the world anyway, when many of us are enjoying the beautiful, quiet serenity of softly falling snow. Or, maybe you have young children who enjoy building snowmen! One of my favorite photos is the one I took with the first camera of my own, when I was 10 years old. I got the camera with box tops from a cereal box! Remember when you could get fun things like that? I only took one roll of film, black and white, and my brothers and sister were a favorite subject.

Here is the photo of my little brother and sister proudly standing beside their creation!

I have a fun new pattern, Winter Wishes, with a chubby snowman visiting with some little red birds. I used Aurifil Lana Wool Thread and Valdani Perle cotton for the wool applique. The background is a simple beige pieced quilt, that is pre-quilted before the wool is applied. I'm offering it as a paper pattern, mailed to you, or as a pattern download, perfect for my friends from outside the United States. And, both the paper pattern and the pattern download include a full size applique diagram.

Winter Wishes

And the second new pattern is Snowbird - mostly applique with a center block surrounded by simple piecing. And, like Winter Wishes, you can purchase it as a paper pattern, mailed to you, or as a pattern download (E Pattern). And it includes full scale applique diagrams for all of the applique portions. I give you detailed instructions on how to cut and fold the dogtooth portion of the center block for needle turn applique.

 

Snowbird

I'm working on a fun new mystery quilt sew along associated with my new book, Prairie Patchwork, which I will be rolling out soon. I will be posting the patterns on this blog, I'm hoping in February. We are getting new flooring on the second level of our home, which has created a lot of moving, packing, and a general disruption of our typical routine!

Happy Winter Stitching!

Until next time,

Martha

Live, Love Quilt International Quilt Along

 

Hello, Friends!

 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend!

 

I'm participating as a guest designer in an international quilting sew along, coordinated by Ellen of Ellie's Quilt Place, to announce her new fabric line, Tomorrow's Heritage. And I'm inviting you to sew along! To participate, just join the Facebook group "Live, Love, Quilt QAL" by clicking this link:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/livelovequiltqal

 

There are several "mystery designers", who will be introduced periodically, and each has designed one block for the project. The free patterns will be provided soon for the blocks in the Facebook group. A PDF with the fabric requirements was posted on the Live, Love, Quilt Quilt Along Facebook group page on November 24^th, for two different options to use the blocks. The blocks and finishing instructions will be available as free downloads in the 'Files section' as of February 2021.

 

One option to use the blocks would be to make 10 different mini quilts:

 

 The other option would be to use the blocks to make one quilt:

 

You can use the fabrics from the Tomorrow's Heritage collection (available in stores starting January 2021), or use fabrics from your stash.

 

 

 

This is my first time participating in such a project, and I hope you'll join me! I love the block I designed, and I hope you will too!

 

The first mystery designer was announced yesterday:

 

https://www.facebook.com/ElliesQuiltplace/posts/3862286393782699 )

 

Until next time!

 

Martha