by Linda Theil I loved this fabric from the moment I saw it on the Missouri Star Quilt Co. site, so I ordered a yard, even though I didn't know what I would do with it. It's called "Mother Goose Toss" from the 2019 Goose Tales collection by J. Wecker Frisch for Riley Blake Designs. The fabric put me in mind of the Kay Nielsen illustrations from East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon . My friend Janet said more like Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose illustrations, and she is probably closer to correct. I have been wanting to try the "Forever Shopper" pattern from Diane Spencer-Ogg , but the Spencer-Ogg tote is unlined, and the Riley Blake cotton was too fine to hold a tote shape, yet I couldn't interline it because the interlining would show on the reverse side of the unlined bag. The shopper is a fabulous pattern meant to be made in a heavy waxed cotton, Cordura, or leather, but I didn't have any of that so I decided to use a Wilmington Son
by Linda Theil I saw this block on my friend Kathy Schmidt's Quirks, Ltd. weblog and asked her for the directions. She pointed me to The Joyful Quilter tutorial. This pattern is one of those complex-looking, but easy to sew, Twenty-first Century blocks made by sewing a basic block, cutting the basic block, then sewing the pieces together with other blocks sewn and cut in the same way. I've seen several patterns for a complete quilt using this block offered for sale on the Internet. Although it sounds complex, this technique makes creating a multi-pieced block very fast and easy. I like this block because when sewn in multiples, an unexpected circle appears in the design, as shown below. I put my blocks together in two colors, although multi-colored blocks are beautiful and show a lot of movement. Four blocks cut and sewn in this way make a single circle motif. To make a 16-inch finished, four-block circle motif, each of the four blocks requires three pieces cut from precut-sq