Rogue Blocks and the Circa 1880 Nine Patch Quilt

 

In my last blog post, I talked about the tiny two inch blocks that were being made and finding their way into The Circa 1880 Nine Patch quilt. Can you spot a few of them in the photo above?

Standing next to her quilt is Janet Olsen.  She writes a blog called The Rogue Quilter, and I believe that's where these tiny blocks get their rogue name.  Janet was among the first to start making these tiny wonders.  If you know Janet, this comes as no surprise as she's been making tiny wonderful quilts for a long time.  

Her rogue blocks soon caught on to others in the Circa 1880 club at Village Dry Goods.  

Take a look inside this basket at all of these glorious blocks...and remember....they are all just 2 inches when finished.

They sure look great along side the Circa blocks.

Mr. Lynn Hopkins is a devoted member of The Circa 1880 club at VDG and he took rogue blocks even further.  He not only designed this amazing quilt, but also drafted and patterned the blocks you see in his quilt!  

He made special templates for many of the blocks to help with the piecing.  

If you're loving these mini 'rogue' blocks, Lynn's pattern sets and templates are available at Village Dry Goods.  Give them a call at 435/723-1315.  They are very popular, so you may have to get on a wait list for them.

Pati Violick, Director of Marketing for Marcus Fabrics,
Fran Leslie, Village Dry Goods shop owner, and me.

Many thanks to Fran Leslie for a wonderful couple of days spent at the shop.  Thanks to the Circa 1880 club members who all gave me such warm welcome and who continue to blow our minds with their creativity and gorgeous quilts.  Thanks, too, to Pati who traveled with me and made the trip even more fun!

Click here to order The Circa 1880 Nine Patch pattern and/or starter kit.

IN THE STUDIO.....

I am submerged with writing and piecing my new BOM, Piecemakers Sampler.  It's coming along slow but sure.  

In addition, my new Butternut & Peppercorn 2 will be arriving soon.  I have to prep the fabric and begin making that quilt, and I have to say, I'm excited to piece that one.  Can't wait to show you all the fabrics and the quilt.  I'll be taking pre-orders for fabrics and quilt kits very soon, so stay tuned for all of those goodies.

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

Circa 1880 Nine Patch Blocks

Here are this week's cutie Circa 1880 Nine Patch blocks.  Off to make some more!

Circa 1880 Nine Patch Blocks

As you continue making your blocks, I invite you to sign up for my newsletter where you'll find out about anything new coming from my Heartspun Quilts studio!  It's easy!  Just visit my website and on the home page, scroll down to find the "Newsletter Sign Up envelope".  Enter your email address and that's it!  

All the folks that are signed up for my newsletter heard about The Circa 1880 Club before anyone else!!  You can sign up to receive my blog posts via email, too!  Scroll down and look for "Follow By Email" on the right hand side bar.  That's it!!  

I also invite you to follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest, too!  

Hope this week's blocks help inspire you!  

Circa 1880 Nine Patch Blocks

Are you digging deep in your stash for tons of different prints?  Have you made some blocks with fussy cut centers and corners?  We're just getting started!

Looking for a participating quilt shop so you can join The Circa 1880 Club?  Click here for the list!

Circa 1880 Nine Patch Blocks

More blocks to inspire you!  I adore the fussy cut center of the block in the lower right corner.  Love fussy cutting fabric motifs!  There are a whole lot of them within the blocks of my quilt, and as I sit with it on my lap, I enjoy searching for those little gems.  They're little surprises waiting to be discovered.

If you enjoy putting fussy cut fabric motifs in your blocks, check out my new Fussy Cut Template set.  You can read more about them on my blog and buy them on my website.

Hope you've considered joining the Circa 1880 Club to make blocks and the heirloom quilt for yourself.  I imagine some of you are thinking it's way too hard and that you don't want any part of making blocks with little pieces.  Truth is....you don't make the blocks with little pieces!!  Really!!  Join the club and become a part of the private Facebook group where I share all my secrets about how I made this quilt in less than a year, working on it about an hour a day!!  

Circa 1880 Blocks

Here's another set of Circa 1880 Nine Patch blocks.  Are you seeing fabrics you have in your stash!  It's great to pull fabrics and cut them up to make the blocks.  It's like seeing an old friend.  We all have our favorite prints and I enjoy pairing them with other fabrics.  

Have fun cutting and sewing.  We've only just begun!  You can read more about the Circa 1880 Nine Patch club here.

Circa 1880 Blocks

Welcome to a year long show of the Circa 1880 Nine Patch blocks.  Once a week I will post photos of all of the blocks I used in my Circa 1880 quilt.  I hope it will inspire you to use nearly every scrap of fabric you own and head on over to your LQS to buy more for the biggest, most gorgeous variety of fabrics to make your quilt the best ever!!  

Join The Circa 1880 Club at your LQS.  If your LQS isn't participating, there are several dozen shops all around the country (the world, really) who are participating.   It's an exciting adventure and I hope you are tempted to participate and make this heirloom quilt for yourself!

The Circa 1880 Nine Patch Quilt

The Circa 1880 Nine Patch Quilt by Pam Buda ~ Photo by Aaron Leimkuehler

I am anxious to share more details about my new Circa 1880 Club.   The Nine Patch quilt above is the main focus of the club.  It has over 500 blocks!  

Did you gasp?

Fear not!

Making the 500 + blocks needed for the quilt is very doable in one year's time.  (Nobody said you have to make it in a year.  I promise there are no Nine Patch police around!)  I have worked out all the kinks and have making these blocks down to a science - I promise!  All my hints and tips will be shared when you're at club meetings at your local participating quilt shop and through a private Facebook group.  

Still thinking it's not possible?  If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know I keep myself pretty busy.  I was on a mission to make this quilt and I had to find time if I was going to get it done.  So, I made a commitment to spend one hour each morning, 5 days a week to making the blocks.  Sometimes I did less.  Sometimes I was able to spend an entire Sunday.  It all worked out.  At first, I wasted a lot of time and knew I had to work smarter, not harder, and over a few weeks, developed a system that enabled me to make a dozen blocks in about an hour.....and YOU can too!!  

This quilt is an heirloom for sure....I call it my Hour A Day Heirloom.  It's done...I really made it.  It's not a UFO!  All from one hour a day!  

To gain a larger variety of scrap happiness in my blocks, I asked six friends to trade blocks with me.  We all agreed to a set of trading rules and stuck to them.  We didn't make strict timelines to trade because we're all busy, so we traded whenever we had about 25 blocks made.  That helped to be able to work at your own pace.  A big reason my Circa 1880 Nine Patch quilt is so wonderful is because of them.  So, it's time you know who they are!

My local (in Illinois) friends are Debbie McClarence, who is my co-worker and right hand.  

Karen Schultz of Elgin - a dear friend and founding Prairie Women's Sewing Circle member who I have known for many years and adore.

Becky Carpenter of Montgomery - another dear friend and founding Prairie Women's Sewing Circle member - friend to Karen as well...and super talented quilter and antique lover like me!

My out of town trading friends are:

Janet Olsen of Logan, UT ~ super talented quilt maker and maker of extraordinary pies!  Janet writes a wonderful blog called Rogue Quilter.  She inspired me with her beautiful work and makes a lot of small quilts I love.

Wendy Reed of Bath, ME - I met Wendy several years ago when I taught at the Maine Quilt Show.  I knew immediately we were kindred spirits.  Wendy knows so much about nineteenth century fabric and makes the most amazing repro quilts.  She also has a blog...The Constant Quilter which you should check out.  Wendy is hosting a monthly sew-along to sew all twelve projects in my Vintage Patchwork book!  How fun is that?  Click the link for her blog to read more.

And....last but certainly not least is Cyndi Black, owner of The Busy Thimble quilt shop in Litchfield, ME.  I met Cyndi at the same time I met Wendy.  I was very lucky to visit The Busy Thimble shop on that trip and immediately fell in love with the shop and Cyndi.  Like Wendy, Cyndi makes amazing repro quilts.  She also writes The Busy Thimble blog which I'm sure you'll enjoy.  

Fussy Cut blocks using Circa 1880 Fussy Cut template.  Photo by Aaron Leimkuehler

One of the best parts about making these blocks is fussy cutting motifs for different parts of the block.  In the photo above, you can find the word Union in the block center and the same block has a little flag in the corner square.  My quilt has lots of fussy cut surprises.  Many of them came from blocks I traded with my friends.  Each month I was amazed at how many fabrics I received that I never saw before.  Their stash has so many new-to-me fabrics and now I have a piece of them in my quilt.   So, so cool!!  

I L*O*V*E fussy cutting fabrics for lots of the quilts I make.  So much so, I have designed a new set of fussy cutting templates that make it so easy peasy to cut just about any size motif you like.  The new templates are also making their debut at market and I will be anxious to share them with you when I get back.  So...stay tuned for more fussy cutting news!

The quilt is set using Marcus Fabrics Aged Muslin which was absolutely perfect in recreating the look of the antique quilt.  It is a very special fabric - not your ordinary muslin in that each and every yard is hand dyed.  No two yards are the same which gives it the perfect aged patina.  It also shows the quilting stitches beautifully.  

Speaking of the beautiful quilting....my quilt was quilted by oh-so-talented Valerie Langue who owns The Quilt Merchant in Winfield, IL.  Val...you truly outdid yourself!!  

I also designed 26 new fabrics for the club and a new backing fabric designed especially for the Circa 1880 Nine Patch quilt!  I'll tell you lots more about them soon.  

In the meantime, I'd better get back to packing for fall market.  I have a lot to share while I'm there.  In the meantime, give your sewing machine some love today!   It misses you!

My Super Secret Scrappy Project Is Done!

For more than a year now, I have been talking about my super secret scrappy project, and boy oh boy am I happy I can finally share what it is!

During the summer of 2017, I saw an antique quilt that just captured my heart and I knew immediately I HAD TO MAKE IT!  At first I set out to make it by myself, but very quickly I changed my mind and enlisted the help of six friends.

The little blocks in the photo above are the results of months of work.  I didn't make them all by myself and I will tell you lots more about that very soon.

Oh my gosh...they have been so darn fun to make!!!  Loved fussy cutting some prints for the block centers and the little corners.  Every color under the sun is in these cuties.

The quilt of my dreams.....aka my obsession is now a reality.  

Introducing my Hour~A~Day~Heirloom......

The Circa 1880 Club

Debuting at fall quilt market, it's a new national club by me....Heartspun Quilts and Marcus Fabrics!  Featuring The Circa 1880 Nine Patch quilt (above) along with fun club projects and activities!

The fun begins in January at your local quilt shop and will be available only through participating shops!  

More details in my next post.  I hope I piqued your curiosity!