Looking for a way to step it up and find new and exciting ways to create?  Summer Stars Over the Village is a great solution! Our new Summer Stars Over the Village has 13 six inch blocks, each framed in saw tooth stars finishing at 12". Setting the stars on point with sashing, corner posts, and setting triangles makes a 70" x 70" throw. Last summer I teamed up with Fran Leslie, owner of Village Dry Goods, for a summer block of the week. I know - - - what were we thinking? Fran designed the block and then we cut a lot of kits (thank goodness for the Village gals), wrote the pattern, did weekly store demonstrations and posted You Tube tutorials. Yes, we were busy! Fran is an expert at tips, tools and techniques. Summer Stars Over the Village was designed to build new skills and improve old skills. Our directions include both traditional piecing and ruler/template piecing. Some blocks also have paper piecing templates. Each video is filled with tips that make for better piecing. Check out Village Dry Goods You Tube Channel and find 13 videos for the summer block of the week. Learn out to use those rulers that are in your drawer or on the rack at the local shop. Don't panic - you don't have to have all the rulers we suggest because we have traditional piecing instructions included. However, I have to admit that I love using the rulers. Summer Stars Over the Village is a great value ($20). It is a 20 page pattern printed single side with color pictures of each block. It even has fabric measurements for every piece in every block and the finished quilt on the back page of the pattern. It is great for individuals, groups of friends, guilds or shops as a block of the month or maybe even a block of the week. (The block of the week is only for the courageous or crazy.) And yes, it is available through me or at Checker for wholesale customers at wholesale pricing.
Variations We used neutral background, sashing, and corner posts so the blocks would pop. It obviously doesn't have to be Civil War prints. This pattern is very "stash friendly". I added an inside border (same fabric as the corner posts) to the quilt below and increased the size of the outside border making the quilt a few inches larger. One of our quilters sewed a border between the setting triangles and the stop border out of the sashing fabric. It "floated" the inside of the quilt. I loved the look! The outside border is a stripe so we mitered the corners but gave measurements for straight borders as well.  Same inside blocks - very different quilt My daughter had a quilt rack without a quilt hanging on it. That is not okay. I pieced the 6" blocks without the stars to make her a birthday quilt. The blue is her new accent color in her family room. I used 6" squares in between the blocks, added a stop border and an outside border. I quilted my Big Loops 5.75" stencil in the plain blocks. Not sure what I will do when she changes accent colors again - - - that is why the rack was empty.   Not sure what I will do when she changes accent colors again - - - that is why the rack was empty.
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 Are you looking for great gift ideas for a machine quilter? You have come to the right place! I have made a list of 16 of my top gift picks for 2019 which would be welcome gifts for a machine quilter! Most of these are available at your local quilt store or online. I didn't include rulers because they deserve a dedicated post. Keep reading because at the end of the list is a special gift tip from a grandma (me) for a child in your life. Top 15 Gift Ideas for Machine Quilters1. Heat Press Batting Together 2. Quilting Paper - Golden Thread 3. Machinger Gloves 4. Mechanical Chalk Pencil 5. Washable Wonder Marker 6. Choco Liner 7. Frixion Pen 8. Quilters Delight 9. Basting Clips for Lifetime tables 10. Stabilo Pencil 11. Kwik Clip 12. Sit Upon 13. Extension Table 14. Super Slider 15. Practice Panels Click picture for product links
A Special Gift for a Child in Your Life
 Are you looking for great gift ideas for a quilter? I am always on the look out for notions that are not only creative and clever but that are also useful or solve a problem. Here is a list of my top picks for 2019. Some are new and some a little older but all would be welcome gifts for a quilter. You can find these at your local quilt store, the linked websites or on-line sellers like Amazon. Keep reading because at the end of the list is a special gift tip from a grandma (me) for a child in your life. My Top Sixteen Notions Gift Picks for Quilters 1. Karen Kay Buckley"s Perfect Scissors 2. Binding Babies & Flower Spindle 3. Stiletto & Pressing Tool - By Annie 4. The Strip Stick 5. Puffin & Company Scissor Sitter and Micro Magnetic Needle Threader 6. Wonderclips 7. Pleasant Home Magnetic Travel Pin Tin 8. True Grips, Grippy Coating, Grip Strips 9. Sand Paper Board - Sue Daley 10. Martelli Pin Point Tweezers 11. Quilters Select Rulers with non-slip coating 12. Quilters Reference Tool - C & T Publishing 13. Rotating Cutting Mat by Sue Daley 14. Stash and Store or Quilter's Reference Tool 15. Silicone Iron Rest 16. Skillbuilder Packet
Special Gift Tip for a Child in Your Life
Pattern for Traditional Blocks Free Projects & PatternsBlocks - Pattern - Assembly This post is one idea of what to do with our printed traditional blocks. I chose to use Janet's Star, Jack in the Pulpit, and Hope of Hartford and a gray tiny patterned print for the background. The pattern is under the free projects and patterns tab or click here.
 I cut out all the pieces and then placed the pieces in order. This helped to sew the correct triangle to the correct side of each block. It's easy to get confused even when some pieces are already assembled!  I stitched a needle width on the inside of the printed line so you can't see the printed line on the front.  The triangles are cut larger than needed but that makes it much easier to sew. The outside seam allowance is bigger than 1/4" and is trimmed down after the quilt is sewn together.  Layer - Pin Baste My favorite way to anchor layers is to use the tried and true pin basting method. Here I have attached the quilt back, right side down, to a Lifetime table using Super Multi Basting Clips and masking tape. Having the back taut prevents pleats on the back of the quilt.  I use #1 safety pins with Quilters Delight Pin Clips and the Kwik Klip tool to secure the pins.  I usually place pins about 4 or 5 inches apart. The pins sometimes get in the way of rulers but they can be moved easily. After I stitch in the ditch, I remove a lot of the pins. Quilt as Desired
Rulers - Rulers - Rulers Now for the fun part - - - deciding what to quilt where. I used my Nested Circles Quilters Rule Nested Circle Set and my Quilters Groove Pro Mini for quilting the blocks. Each block and the background will be on the next few blogs and I will post video tutorials on our Quilting Traditional Blocks with Rulers page and our RGA Design Quilts You Tube channel.  We have a new home and a new look for our RGA Design LLC website and blog. We have added some new products, free projects, and video tutorials. Our old website served us well but as we often say in our family, "It was good but it is gone." (That quote works great for old cars, apartments, toys, and even for our kids' old girl or boy friends.) The old blog rgadesignquilts.blogspot.com is still active with older posts. New Products Skillbuilder Filler Finesse (36" x 43") is our new panel designed to develop and hone free motion quilting skills. The panel has hooks, loops, straight lines, s-curves, arcs, pebbles and feathers. The lines are wide giving some wiggle room for some wobbly quilting and it even has some subtle arrows to give direction. We can brag that it was eco-friendly digitally printed in the USA. Price $15.00 Introductory Sale $13.50  Traditional 16" Blocks Another new product we are introducing is six different printed blocks. These blocks are the perfect project to practice using rulers and templates or free motion quilting. They may be purchased individually or all six as a packet. Watch for videos tutorials which we will post on our website with ruler, design, and pattern suggestions. These blocks are also digitally printed in the United States with an eco-friendly process and without harmful chemicals.
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