Circa 1880 Nine Patch Inspiration

In 2019, Marcus Fabrics and I held a competition with quilt shops who participated in The Circa 1880 Nine Patch club.  Shops were to submit a video and I would visit the winning quilt shop.  There were many wonderful videos and it was hard to choose.  In the end, Village Dry Goods in Brigham City, UT won.  They had an exceptional Circa 1880 club with so, so many talented quilters who took my Circa 1880 quilt to the next level.

My trip was all set for April, 2020....and well, you know what happened then.  After a very long delay, and lots of planning by shop owner Fran Leslie, I finally made it to the shop in July.

Pati Violick (Director of Marketing for Marcus) and I were honored to spend the day with Fran, all the shop girls, and the ladies and gentleman of VDG Circa club.  I am so excited to share with you just a few of the Circa 1880 quilts they made.  I wish I could show them all!

Pati and I were both blown away by the talent and creativity this group showed in their masterpieces.  The photo above shows the Circa 1880 Nine Patch in its original setting, only this quilt is larger than my own.

This gentleman, Lynn Hopkins (you will read more about him later) chose a slightly darker background that what I used, and enlarged the borders.  The black border is wonderful.

This quilter chose to add a stripe between her rows and I love it!

This quilter chose a regular on-point setting for her quilt.  I love her quilting idea, too.

And, here's another wonderful alternate setting idea.  

And, don't you love this table runner idea??  I sure do!

This is a special quilt made by a special lady....my friend, Janet Olsen.  Lots of you may know Janet from her inspirational blog, The Rogue Quilter.  When I had this crazy idea of making the Circa quilt, I enlisted five friends to help me by making blocks and trading them, and Janet was one of those friends.  The six of us made and traded blocks for about a year.  Janet's quilt has blocks from the all of the founding quilters, as does mine, so this quilt is only one of six like it, although...Janet's quilt has even more surprises within.  Look closely at the blocks and you will begin to notice tiny star and churn dash blocks....even a tiny log cabin.  

These tiny blocks began a Village Dry Goods creative burst that became a phenomenon among the Circa 1880 club members.  I will post photos of the quilts they made with these tiny blocks, lead by Janet Olsen and Lynn Hopkins (among others) in my next post.  

I hope you've found some inspiration from these talented quilters.  To the quilters of VDG Circa 1880 club, I wish I could remember everyone's name, and please know that I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with all of you.  Your talent and creativity continue to inspire me and many others. Thank you for sharing your talent with all of us.

If you're inspired to make the Circa 1880 Nine Patch quilt for yourself, click here to see all the options.

IN THE STUDIO.....

My new Sturbridge Floral Petites fabric collection is being delivered to your local quilt shop now.  

Flower Market is the new quilt I designed using the new fabrics.

You can order the pattern here.

You also may have heard I have a new block of the month coming next year, called Piecemakers Sampler.

Quilt shops offering the program are beginning to take signups now, so ask for Piecemakers Sampler at your LQS.  I am in the process of writing the pattern now.  We will begin making the quilt very soon and I'll post photos of our progress on social media, so please follow me on Instagram and Facebook.  

Keep your needle busy and your heart content.  Be well, my friends.