On my drive in to work each day I usually have to stop at the light where several streets converge. Rt 52 splits into Pennsylvania and Delaware Avenues to go around a small park and a couple blocks of the DuPont Company offices.
The Brandywine building faces me as I sit at a light that is so often red. It is an office tower that has curved edges giving it the appearance of a semi-round building. It has the creamy concrete color like many office buildings; but the way the dark paned windows are set in and the light hits the curves it creates an interesting block design.
I like patterns and so I drew up these ‘window blocks’ as a 5 inch quilt block. It’s comprised of just 5 pattern pieces for 9 parts per block. There is an endless number of color/print combinations.
Check out the patterns in the world around you. See if you can create a pattern from the shapes that present themselves.
And let me know if you’d like the pattern for my Brandywine Block.
When shopping with friends we usually end up in a fabric or craft store. On Veteran’s Day we were shopping in Intercourse, PA and came across Zook’s Fabric Store. (Some say the best in Pennsylvania, but I really can’t say as I haven’t visited all the fabric stores in PA ~ yet.)
They had a selection of fabric panels for kids 
and one was Thomas the Tank Engine ~ a favorite of my grandson. (He’s 2.) I found a backing fabric, in blue, of various train engines and quickly put together the quilt, stitching wherever I wanted around the various ‘Thomas’ images.
It took about an hour and a half from start to finish. I clipped the edges after trimming back the batting and a quick play quilt was made for a very active little boy.
It’s not meant to be kept ’safe’ but to be played with. I bought 2 panels, thinking I’d make pillows from one, but I changed my mind and made one for Ethan’s cousin who also loves ‘Thomas’, but the backing fabric is yellow, with apples and bumble bees. They’ll have a great time playing together with them.
Some time this year buy a panel or two and make a play quilt for a child in your life, then make one to give or donate.
Many of my family and friends enjoy sewing and crafts as much as I do. One of my oldest friends, Susie had held onto some fabulous Hawaiian fabric for many years looking for just the right project. She decided to take a stab using my quilting frame and machine to make about a dozen placements for some 
special people in her life.
Loading the fabrics and batting onto the frame took most of an evening, leaving only a short time for actual quilting. We rolled about 4 yards of the Hawaiian print on as the backing and 2 yards of the funky fish fabric as the top.
Getting everything straight and pinned took some time as it was her first quilt on the frame. She chose my Dancing Violets pantograph in a 6-inch height so we took time taping and marking it. She was able to get 2 1/2 rows completed on one bobbin.
We decided loading a quilt on the frame is best with 2 people; especially good friends who have a good time doing it together. It took another 2 hours to complete on additional evenings but the results were just as she expected. After binding the edges in black she was able to send a set off to her Hawaiian pen pal of many years. She’ll be back to finish up another set now that the quilting frame is empty again.
For Christmas my Mother made my grandson a ‘bow tie’ quilt. To make it even more special I created the quilting design
and quilted it, and his Aunt Tracy put the binding on it ~ making it a four generation quilt. The repeat of the pattern makes the quilt look like a puzzle.
I have a Viking Mega-Quilter with the Inspira Quilting frame, used the 5 inch pattern, and by having a partial overlap the pattern created the overall puzzle appearance.
The pantograph is available in sheet form and if anyone would like it for computerized quilting I’ll be glad to have digitized.
I’m now in the process of using this design again for another of my Mother’s great grandsons. Here it is shown on the quilting frame.