Festive Flurries Pattern Release / Beauties Pageant 338

I have sewn like Santa’s star employee this past month, riding the Christmas in July vibes to their very end and finishing mulitiple wintery quilting projects along the way. I wrapped up a Christmassy Five-Star Experience as well as an Ornament Collection runner. (See them both pictured here.) It seems fitting, then, that on this last day in July I release my latest pattern: Festive Flurries.

Festive Flurries is a very "me" design. I love the pattern’s oversize blocks, offset rows, and snowflakes that seem to continue on beyond the quilt’s edges. 

The pattern features four sizes: runner, child, small throw, and large throw. I used a fat quarter bundle of Kimberly Kight’s Merry Happy to sew up my small throw, but I could have just as easily used quarter-yard cuts. 

Want to get an early start on your winter sewing? Festive Flurries is available for purchase in the From Bolt to Beauty pattern shop. 

Through the end of the weekend (Sunday, August 2), this pattern is 50% off the regular retail price. (No code necessary. Discount appears in cart.) It’s just an early holiday gift from me to you—and perhaps the motivation you need to get going on wintry projects!

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A Happy (Patriotic) Accident / Beauties Pageant 326

Ideas for my quilt designs spring out of all sorts of situations. Sometimes, I see something—in nature or architecture—and immediately identify the kernel of a quilt project. So I take a picture and file the idea away for a future design session. Other times, I sit down with a particular objective in mind—I want to use up a bundle of fabric or create a project with a specific theme—and that gets my brain going in one direction or another. 

On two occasions, however, I have set out to design an American flag quilt, and both times I failed. I chased multiple ideas in these sessions, but the results were not compelling enough for me to pursue. There are a lot of great patterns for American flag quilts already, and the ideas I came up with didn’t bring anything new to the table.

Both times, however, I realize that I had already designed an American flag quilt. Here are the details ...

Accidental Patriotic Quilt: Love Boldly

Years ago, inspired by one of my older son’s t-shirts and motivated by a QuiltCon stripes challenge, I designed Love Boldly. I love Love Boldly’s bright, oversize hearts sitting against a white background. I finished my sample quilt by quilting a giant X through the center of the quilt top and then echoed in each of those quadrants. 

You can imagine my surprise when I looked at the pattern a few weeks before its scheduled release and saw the stripes of the American flags in its lines. A quick mock-up in EQ8 verified my suspicion: There was a flag hiding in those hearts!

At first, this patriotic flag heart existed as a bonus block to the Love Boldly pattern. But over time, it became more popular than the original, so I spun it off into its own pattern, calling it Patriotic Love Boldly. There may not be a huge market for heart quilts, but there is definitely demand for patriotic hearts on quilts.

Accidental Patriotic Quilt: Twin-Star Cabins

I was certain this accidental-design phenomenon was a fluke. Then it happened a second time.

With the 250th anniversary of the ratification of the Declaration of Independence coming this summer, I was once again thinking of patriotic quilts. I played around with a paper and pencil but couldn’t develop anything unique.

Then, once again, I considered an existing pattern: Twin-Star Cabins. This design, released earlier this year, is built upon stars. All it took was a blue-and-red fabric collection—I chose Sweetwater’s Independence Day—to transform Twin-Star Cabins’ Ruby Star-studded original ...

into a patriotic quilt ... 

I have heard quilters talk about the upcoming 250th anniversary and express an interest in patriotic quilts. Have you heard any buzz along those lines? I’m going to compile a list of patriotic quilt patterns. If you have a favorite—something you’ve already sewn or have on your quilty bucket list—let me know!

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Last Chance for the Quilt-Kit Giveaway! / Beauties Pageant 323

To those of you I got to see in real life last week at QuiltCon ... thank you! My husband recently commented that QuiltCon is my favorite week of the year, and QuiltCon 2026 was no exception. I had a blast at the conference—I attended a workshop and a lecture, I held three book signings, and I talked to so many quilty people. I’ll be riding the high from those days in North Carolina for a while. 

I’ve had quilts hang in the show in the past (see some highlights from the archives here), but this was the first time I’ve had my designs hang in vendor booths. A version of Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt appeared in the French Fry Quilt Co. booth, and Camberville Threads displayed Myriad (from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts) as well as a special version of Twin-Star Cabins. As usual, I was too in the moment to think to take pictures (!), but here is Twin-Star Cabins before it traveled south ...

Taz, who owns Camberville Threads, curated the fabric pull for this beauty, culling prints from ten different Ruby Star Society collections. She sold out of the quilt kits she had on hand at QuiltCon, but a lucky newsletter subscriber will receive all the fabric required to make the top (that’s almost 6 yards of Ruby Star yumminess!).

The giveaway has closed. Congratulations to Jackie N. of Kentucky!  

 

Due to the cost of shipping, only U.S. addresses are eligible to win the quilt kit. This giveaway is open through Saturday, February 28, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (GMT -5). I will email the winner and announce his or her name on this post on Sunday, March 1. The winner has 72 hours to respond to the email with his or her mailing address, or a second winner will be selected and notified. Thank you!

 

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Twin-Star Cabins Pattern Release / Beauties Pageant 321

It’s just six weeks into the new year, and I’m already releasing a second pattern. Why? Because I can!

I’d like to introduce you to Twin-Star Cabins, my modern take on a half log cabin. I start these blocks with stacked twin stars, build with chunky logs on two sides, and finish them off with irregular sashing and off-set cornerstones. The result is a unique design that’s perfect for fat quarters or scraps.

My favorite part of this pattern is its flexibility. I won a fat quarter bundle of Melody Miller’s Carousel at a guild meeting, and it created a bright and happy version of Twin-Star Cabins that has me aching for spring ...

But I could just have easily sewn the design with scrappy logs. Or one fabric for the stars. I could have mixed everything up so that the columns feature a variety of prints instead of the two-print columns I used in my sample. 

 

You can pick up Twin-Star Cabins in my main From Bolt to Beauty store. It, along with all my other full PDF patterns, will be 25% off through February 17, because pattern sales are fun. : )

 

Linking up to Favorite Finish February ... 

 

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Had to Be You Pattern Release / Beauties Pageant 319

I’m pleased to announce that Had to Be You is available for your seasonal sewing! This pattern comes in four sizes, from child to queen, and is the perfect venue to showcase your stash or scraps.

I do consider this design a Valentine, perfect for gifting. I imagine sewing it up for a family member or friend, although (ahem!) I made this one for myself.  

My favorite part of this pattern is that there are two block designs. In some blocks, the hearts are arranged from big to small. In others, they’re arranged from small to big. The discrepancy is subtle, but the result is undeniable: The two-block layout produces a satisfying sense of movement! 

You can pick up the Had to Be You PDF at a discount—$10—through the weekend. After that, it will be available at the full $13 price tag. 

Printed copies are forthcoming (after I take a tiny vacation). Wholesale orders are open now—email me at frombolttobeauty [at] gmail [dot] com for more information. 

 

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Name This Quilt Design! / Beauties Pageant 317

I love the in-between time at the end of the calendar year, from Christmas Eve until just after the new year. We don't do anything too productive. Time seems to slow. Movies are watched. Boxes of jigsaw puzzles are brought out of the basement and put together. And it’s blissfully easy to forget what day of the week it is. 

Then the new year comes in hot! In the first days of the month, my family of four went from wearing our pajamas more often than not to juggling ski patrol and indoor soccer and Special Olympics basketball.

It wasn’t any different at my sewing machine. Other than doing some computer work, those in-between days were quilting-free for me. But now I am wrapping up two new patterns and sewing my little heart out, trying to get the necessary samples done. 

I am putting the final touches on the design I introduced in November—Twin-Star Cabins—as well as on what I’m tentatively calling Had to Be You. You know I am a sucker for a good heart quilt, and Had to Be You ticks off so many boxes for me ...

I bought a fat quarter bundle of Lizzy House’s Funny Valentine back in May, when I attended H+H Americas. It’s one of those collections that almost too cute to cut into, but I let it shine in a Valentine-themed design that uses those sweet prints as the backdrop to stacks of hearts.

I am a longtime Lizzy House fan, by the way, and I still have a small horde of her early collections (and still regret that I didn’t buy more Catnap back in the day!). I dug deep in the From Bolt to Beauty archives to assemble a little homage to Lizzy House fabric lines of the past ...

Clockwise from the top left: 

• Two Lined Drawstring Bags
• Right Round mini-quilt
• The back of Circa 1870
• A Cargo Duffle
• A Jane Market Bag
• Catnap in my Rosemary project [center pic]

But back to the project at hand ... Does "Had to Be You" fit? If you can come up with an alternative name, please share in the comments. Thanks in advance!

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Seeing Stars / Beauties Pageant 315

I have few self-imposed rules when it comes to designing a new quilt pattern. One guiding principle is simple: no star quilts!

Don’t get me wrong—I love a good star quilt. The thing is, so do many other designers, and they’ve done a great job developing some fabulous star patterns. (Camille Roskelley’s Patchwork Sky, Cluck Cluck Sew’s Brightly, and MMM Quilts’ Pop Star come to mind.) 

Of course, rules—even self-imposed ones—were made to be broken. My book, Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts, features two star designs: Myriad and Five-Star Experience. (See pics at the bottom of the post.) Another star pattern of mine, called Twin-Star Cabins, will release in January.

The idea for Twin-Star Cabins originated in Folk Heart, a quilt I designed for the Ruby and Bee challenge for QuiltCon 2025. My quilt was not accepted into the show, but I love it! I am crazy about the palette and the irregularity of the sashing and cornerstones.

Because the average quilter doesn’t like heart blocks the way I do, I started playing with the Folk Heart design and came up with the idea to replace the hearts with sawtooth stars. 

The throw size that I am sewing requires 50 stars. I am making them in candy-colored hues I pulled from Melody Miller’s Carousel collection, which is featured in the mockup at the top of the post and will appear in my sample quilt as well.

All this talk of star quilts begs the question, What’s your favorite star design? I’d love it if you enabled a project for me in 2026 ... Share your recommendations in the comments!

Myriad from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

Five-Star Experience from Not-Your-Typical Jelly Roll Quilts

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Ornament Collection Quilt / Beauties Pageant 303

When I learned that one of my sisters-in-law likes Rifle Paper Co’s designs, I took it as an opportunity to—ahem!—buy some fabric. I chose selections from multiple lines to curate a collection of wintery scenes, Nutcracker motifs, and Christmas decorations. 



The oversize baubles and balls in my Ornament Collection quilt pattern were the perfect venue for these prints. I loved using big swaths of the fabrics to feature the sweet designs instead of cutting them into tiny bits. 

And I am smitten with the palette. There were so many colors in the fabrics to choose from. I homed in on grayish blue, orangey red, apple green, and forest green. I am a sucker for nontraditional holiday palettes!

My friend Ophelia gave this project her special panto treatment with a swirly holly-and-berry design, and I found the perfect striped fabric for the binding, one that plays off the grayish blue in the ornament frames. I hope I can get my hands on more of it because I have a bunch of fabric leftover, and naturally, I’m planning on a near-identical Ornament Collection for my other sister-in-law, who is also a fan of Rifle Paper. : )

We’re less than five months out from Christmas ... Is anyone else sewing now for the holidays?!
 

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