I wish!!!

My, but you're talented, Liz. Those are beautiful quilts! I only tried sewing the basic squares a couple of times and I was always off by a good half to three-quarters inch at the end. :( I gave up.

I'm a long time quilter, but haven't been keeping up with the trends. The "row" concept is new to me. I suppose there's more you can do with a single row than a block of the month, especially as more people are doing smaller quilts/wall hangings. I tend to think big and make up my own patterns unless it's a utility quilt. :)

Is it specifically the Row by Row patterns you're looking for? The one you pictured is interesting. There are a lot of details in those curves. Are the mountains fused? Needleturned?

If you want to gather the whole set for far more than the 8 row challenge, you could look up quilt shops across the country and see if they have a local interest fabric you could buy half a yard of and get a pattern you don't have yet. In Southern California, for example, we often have some kind of surfing themed fabric in the quilt shops. It would be fun to incorporate the theme fabrics with the patterns.

I've never done a row by row, but I've seen many beautiful ones. I'm more of a maverick when it comes to quilts and quilt design. I hope you will share pictures when your niece finishes her quilt.

Not a quilter, although I grew up with my Nan and her friends quilting by hand regularly, using the large frames that you'd turn to bring the quilt in as it was being finished.

Those quilts are gorgeous, stunning colours.

I'll be sure to Wanda...she's got patterns so far from about 15 different states...I can't wait to see what she puts together!! (and I sure hope she puts this one in!)...I wish I had more time and knowledge to be able to tackle something as beautiful as this!

Pillog...I don't quilt and have no idea what you're talking about...LOL...it sounded like you were typing in a foreign language! ha ha...I took a picture of the one in the store so my niece could see what the finished pattern looked like done by the store! She was thrilled I was able to get to a quilting store in Alaska to grab her a pattern!

I'm sorry Liz! I knew the patterns were for your niece, but didn't realize you didn't also quilt.

Glossary:

The "row" concept: Making a horizontal strip of a united design as a base element to be assembled with others to create a quilt top with a variety of looks (rather than a single picture or repeating pattern).

Block of the Month: A common game run by any quilting group, where everyone makes a standard 12" square block to a particular pattern, puts them all in a "pot", and one of the contributors wins all the blocks. If there are enough for two (or more) quilts of decent size, there may be as many winners drawn, and the pot divided between them, either by the head of the game, or by schoolyard pick among the winners.

Block of the Month, shop variation: A pattern, often for a fairly intricate block, or one following a theme, is given out every month. People make up the blocks, and turn the year's worth into quilts. The finished quilts are often displayed at the shop, and sometimes there's a vote for the favorite, or the shop picks or draws a winner, who receives a gift certificate or a bundle of goodies from the shop.

Smaller quilts/wall hangings: With central heating, and the relative decline in the cost of fabrics/bedding, many of us really don't need the heaps of quilts our foremothers did. Quilting is fun, however! So people make a lot of picture sized quilts to hang on the wall, table runners and placemats, lap robes, baby quilts, etc.

Fused: Appliqué is a fussy kind of technique. There are many methods for turning under the raw edges so that the pieces may be sewn to the baking fabric. Traditionally, one pressed the edges about 1/8" to the back and basted in place. Often, a paper pattern piece would be held in place on the back until the basting was finished, or even until the piece was mostly sewn down, to maintain crisp edges. Sometimes, the backing fabric and rear layers of stacked appliques would be partially cut away to make the quilt lie flat and make it easier to quilt across by hand. Another option is inlay, where the backing fabric is cut away first, and the erstwhile appliqué is seamed to the backing rather than sewn to the front. Fusing is modern alternative for people who don't mind the fray edge showing where some kind of glue--usually iron on web--is applied to the fabric, the piece is cut to its final size, and then ironed to the backing fabric. This makes the whole thing stiffer, requiring machine quilting, but the glue (web) prevents the fray edge from unraveling unless the item gets a lot of wear and washing. It's a great method for making quick wall hangings.

Needleturned: An appliqué technique for the more experienced where instead of basting the seam allowance behind the piece, the piece itself is just held in place on the backing and the quilter uses the point of the needle to tuck the edge under while sewing. This is much faster than the traditional methods, but requires skill and practice.

The 8 row
challenge: Similar to the Shop Version Block of the Month described above, promoted by the row pattern company, as linked. Submit a quilt made with eight of the pattern rows. The game requires you to get 8 of this year's patterns from eight different shops (quilters will buy anything--getting you into different shops means you'll buy more overall, which is the point of the game). The first person who brings in a qualifying finished quilt with the eight patterns wins 25 fat quarters and if one of the rows came from the shop where the quilt is turned in, an extra surprise as well.

Fat Quarter: A quart yard of fabric cut at half the width and 18" in length along the selvedge. A quarter yard of fabric is the minimum you can usually buy, though sometimes you can get smaller pieces that are precut. A quarter yard is 9" wide, however, which makes cutting larger pieces difficult, and which also may not have a complete repeat of a large printed pattern. Instead, quilt shops generally offer "fat" quarters, which are a half yard of fabric, cut down the center, lengthwise. That's much more usable for both patchwork and appliqué. Other common cuts include fat eighths, which are long quarters (9" long) cut down the center of the width, and 10" squares.