GIVE it a TRY ! it’s easy, all you use is triangles and squares. Here is one of my four inch quilt blocks, don’t over think it. Sew as you would any quilt block.
Old Maids Puzzle. This quilt block has a finished size of four inches by four inches. Making the quilt as shown in the book you will have a finished quilt thirty inches by thirty inches, perfect as a lap quilt or a baby quilt.
I made this quilt block with very simple colors and background, but you can have lots of fun with it. Remember to press NOT IRON a quilt block and I always press as I go each seam. I have a small ironing board right by my sewing machine. I posted how I do quilt triangles
Welcome to my Tuesday Threads: Quilt How-To with The Quilt Ladies! Every Tuesday, I’m sharing simple, step-by-step quilting techniques straight from my sewing room to yours.
I have so many brand new to quilting or if you just want a quick refresher, these posts are here to help. Grab your fabric, pour a cup of something cozy, and let’s get stitching, one technique at a time!
I am starting with pressing because I see SO many new quilters pressing as they would IF you were sewing a dress, with quilt blocks you do NOT press the seam open, you press to the darker fabric and here is why. NO Steam, a hot, dry iron.
press your quilt block to the darker fabric, here the redseam opened and how the nest into each other
When you press both layers of fabric and the seam allowance all to one side, you’re giving that seam more fabric layers to support it. This extra layer of fabric over the stitching line helps protect your thread from wear and tear over time.
As your quilt gets used, loved, washed, and tugged on, the seams take a lot of stress. By pressing to one side, you’re wrapping that stitching line in a little fabric shield. The thread sits just under the fold, with fabric on top of it and underneath it. This extra cushion means the thread is less likely to snap or break down over the years.
Press to the Dark Side… Always (Well, Almost Always)
I HOPE you have heard this rule a hundred times: “Press your seams to the dark side.” But why?
It’s not just some old quilting superstition. There’s a real reason for it!
When you sew two fabrics together—especially a light fabric next to a dark one—the seam allowance can show through the lighter fabric if it’s pressed the wrong way. This is called “shadowing.” Nobody wants to finish a quilt top, hold it up to the light, and suddenly see dark seam lines peeking through those lovely light fabrics.
By pressing your seam allowance toward the darker fabric, you’re tucking that extra bulk safely under the dark side—where it stays hidden.
Press, Don’t Iron: Up and Down, Not Side to Side
Now let’s talk about the motion of pressing. When you’re at your ironing board, it’s tempting to treat your quilt block like a wrinkled shirt and slide the iron back and forth. But don’t!
In quilting, you want to “press,” not “iron.”
That means setting your iron down straight onto the fabric, holding for a few seconds, then lifting it up and moving it to the next spot.
Why?
Dragging your iron side to side can stretch the fabric, especially along diagonal seams (the bias). This leads to wonky blocks, wavy edges, and points that don’t quite match later.
This a little thing, but the pressing of the quilt block the right way can make your quilt pop just a little more, and last a bit longer.
Why I Created Our New Password Log Book: Love, Loss, and the Details We Leave Behind. NO ONE wants to think about any of this, but please do !
This book wasn’t something I planned to make. It grew out of one of those life moments that leaves you both grateful and a little rattled.
Simple and easy log book
When my husband stepped up as executor for a dear friend’s estate, we found ourselves knee deep in paperwork, locked accounts, unanswered security questions, and endless guessing about passwords.
The stress was real, but more than that, there was a quiet sadness that lingered over every, “how would our children want us to do this?” The experience taught us something simple but important: write things down.
Not just the big stuff, like insurance policies and banking info, but the everyday little details too. Websites, usernames, passwords, PIN numbers, phone unlock codes… all the things that seem small, until you need them and don’t have them.
So that’s why this Password Log Book exists. It’s for today—so you don’t waste time resetting passwords or searching for account numbers.
And it’s for tomorrow—offering peace of mind for the people who may someday need to step in for you.
Simple, Easy Password Log Book
It’s organization, yes—but more than that, it’s a quiet kind of love. Love remembers. And this is one small way to make sure everything important is written down, kept safe, and easy to find when it matters most.
Life handed us a storm you never saw coming, our storm came with my husband’s health battles. Hospital visits, long nights, and endless waiting rooms can leave you feeling like you’re spinning in place with no footing.
So, I escaped. Not in a big way—no plane tickets, no beach vacations. Time with a laptop in a hospital room and moments I make my way into the softest place I know as my little library. The quiet shelves, family photos, scattered notebooks of ideas, the comfort of pens in a little coffee mug, my refuge.
I created what I needed in MY day-to-day life, a sense of order, a landing spot, and daily joys to hold onto.
The truly funny thing is, my journals are covered with my ideas and needs, I can’t show them. Hoping for time to do pretend ones!?! Hope you like my books.
These are my books 100%. I am Beth Ann and I am the voice behind The Quilt Ladies and this blog. I hope my journals bring you comfort and a reminder to slow down and appreciate all the big and little things in life.
Let’s Make a Quilt !
Have a FANTASTIC Weekend with my free quilt pattern
Here is a Complete quilt pattern for you. I think it’s a fun quilt because of the colors and the black making it pop. This quilt LOOKS hard BUT it’s just triangles.
I cut 3 7/8″ blocks to make my triangles, you can cut any size you would like. I made and quilted this quilt YEARS ago and I have used it as a table topper, a front door quilt and as a lay over the back of the couch quilt for color. My quilt has a finished size of 30 inches by 30 inches.
Cut 1 Blue – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Cut 1 Orange – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Make Triangles How I make my Triangles
Cut 2 Blue – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Cut 2 Orange – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Cut 4 Black – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Make Triangles
Cut 4 Black – 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″
Sew units as shown, sew to the sides. Sew top and bottom as shown and sew
Finished center of the quilt block.
Cut 6 Orange – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″
Cut 6 Blue – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″
Make Triangles
Cut 1 Orange – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Cut 1 Blue – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Cut 2 Black – 3 7/8″ x 3 7/8″ Make Triangles
Sew as shown add sides first, then top and bottom
Free Star Quilt Pattern
Cut 4 Blue 3 1/2″ x 24 1/2″
Cut 4 Orange – 3 1/2″ x 3 1/2″
Sew one orange square on to each end of two blue strips
Tips for purchasing old or antique quilts from The Quilt Ladies
Heading off to Publix’s this past week to pick up sister’s birthday cake I saw an estate sale sign and of course the truck turned itself down that street?!?
A little condo, nice, but nothing I needed UNTIL…the table in the main bedroom. Quilts! This was the only handmade one.
I love the untold stories in every stitch, stories of long nights by lamplight, scraps saved from worn-out dresses, and hands that stitched with love, patience, and often necessity.
I don’t purchase many things anymore, but I do purchase quilts. I love browsing a flea market, a local antique shop, buying an old quilt isn’t just shopping—it’s adopting a piece of someone’s history.
A Few of My to Do’s when purchasing an old Quilt
UNFOLD the quilt onto a flat surface, IF on floor ASK. At this estate sale the estate clerks, didn’t like this…I have NO idea, probably not a quilt people?!? But I asked and opened the quilt (on to the bed) and I did a bit of a lesson for them, fabric quality, stitches, binding, and batting.
Turn it over and do the same thing to the back. Again, estate sale estate clerks, didn’t like this. I did it anyway. And after a bit…ladies please read the person, read the room. NO one else was in the condo, them, and me?!?
All quilts at estate sales will be fading, discoloration and normal wear, they were used.
Look for stains, dry rot or brittle fabric means that is cracks when handled. Give the quilt a sniff too, a storage musty smell can be hard to remove and a smoke smell I always walk away from, it doesn’t come out. “If you’re determined to rescue a quilt with a mild odor, know that careful airing, baking soda treatments, or professional textile cleaning may help—but don’t expect miracles with heavy smoke or mildew.”
Workmanship and materials, old 100% cotton, feed sacks, wool, or silk all have a place in quilting. Is the quilt hand stitched, machine stitched, how quilted, I always seem to go for hand stitched. Hand stitched, small stitches, holding all layers together.
Pattern and design matter too, especially if you’re collecting. Some patterns—like the Double Wedding Ring, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, or Log Cabin—are more sought after by collectors.
Buy what you love! If a quirky, one-of-a-kind scrap quilt makes your heart happy, that’s more important than following what’s “valuable” on paper.
Color choices can also hint at the quilt’s age. Browns, indigos, and turkey reds often point to the late 1800s, while pastels came into fashion in the 1930s.
How will you use this quilt, or will you? “Will it live on your bed, hang on a wall, be folded on a bench, or tucked away in a collection?”
Look for Repairs and Damage Beyond Wear Check for old repairs, new patches, or even color-mismatched fabrics. Some repairs are charming and part of the quilt’s story, but others may have been poorly done or with materials that won’t age well. Look along seams and in high-wear areas like edges and corners.
Confirm it’s a Quilt (Not a Comforter or Blanket!) It sounds silly, but at some estate sales, things get labeled “quilt” when they’re actually mass-produced bedspreads or blankets. Look for the traditional quilt layers: a pieced or appliquéd top, a middle layer of batting, and a backing—all held together with quilting stitches.
Trust yourself, if the price feels too high for the condition, or if you’re getting a bad vibe from the sale, it’s okay to walk away. There will always be another quilt. And sometimes the hunt is half the fun.
Bring cash if you’re at a smaller estate sale, and don’t be afraid to negotiate a little—especially if you’re buying multiple quilts or if the sale is winding down for the day.
If you’re shopping online, don’t be shy about asking for close-up photos of both the front and back. A seller who knows their quilts should expect questions.
This quilt a few problems, 3 tiny fabric holes in the back fabric, all in the same area. Batting has shifted under some of the butterflies into large balls of batting. No binding, binding had been removed and top/bottom straight stitched around the edge.
I ONLY purchase quilt now that can be machine washed and dried in the dryer. This butterfly quilt was washed 2 times, mending in one place on the back and washed/dried again. This will be a use it quilt.
YES, I buried the lead…The Price, $10.00, sometimes you must purchase a quilt.
A few weeks ago, I showed Husbands fishing quilt, and was asked about an older post I did a few years ago, found it and here it is.
(Revised)
I’m always on the look out for old quilts and IF I think I can save them I purchase. They have to be washable and usable, nothing better, no matter the temperature is a quilt to cuddle in. This is(was) a recent purchase !
There are 3 blocks that needed attention, I ALWAYS wash quilts before I mend, this one turned out VERY nice, they usually do !
I like making a paper temple for the applique piece I’m adding
Try to make it exact and add seam allowance at the time of cutting (it’s easier to do this way)
This is the same fabric, one is the right side
and one it the back side
Add the seam allowance and cut out piece
Fold down the point and press
Fold the sides over, I like to press everything and I use the tip of the small scissors to hold as the fabric will get HOT !
Applique the pink down
I hand quilt them too, it completes the look and makes it VERY hard to find the new piece.
3 baskets I fixed on this quilt
Can you find them ?
Thank you for supporting my Etsy shop and my Quilt Ladies Book, click below to see all I do.
This quilt block is from my quilt book which started my quilt pattern company “The Ladies” quilt pattern book.
“The Ladies” are The Quilt Ladies. They quilt every Tuesday together and after years of doing that, they’ve decided to do a quilt pattern book. So “The Ladies” was born, a quilt block sampler pattern book with 68 – Eight by Eight Inch quilt pattern blocks. If you make the quilt as in the book the finished quilt measures 76″ x 84″ All straight pieced, all cutting and piecing instructions included. And NOW in Print and eBook
Quilt Block has a finished size of eight inches by eight inches.
Last weeks, weekly quilt block was my fish quilt block I did for Husband. We have a culture here in our family of NOT giving up our quilts and here is how I fixed Husband’s fish quilt.
They were all on seams, fabric becoming weak? I think YEARS of use.
AND let me add…PLEASE press your seams to ONE side, DO NOT press as you would making clothes. I know it’s a thing now to press open, but DON’T you will only weaken the threads and seam.
This weeks quilt block is Husband’s Fish Quilt block. This quilt has been traveled with, used and it’s the softest quilt in the house !
This quilt block has a finished size of 10″ x 10″, quilt block pattern is below, simple half-square triangles and patchwork squares, it will be great with prints or soft pastels.
This quilt is loved, used, washed and dried. Finished size of ONE quilt block is ten inches by ten inches. For Husband’s quilt I made 6 quilt blocks, added sashing and binding. It’s long to be used in a reclining chair.
Cutting for this ONE block as shown on the Left
Cut 3 Green – 2 7/8″ x 2 7/8″ Cut 3 White – 2 7/8″ x 2 7/8″ Make Triangles
Cut 4 White – 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
Cut 1 White – 3 1/2 x 2 1/2″ Cut 1 White – 4 1/2″ x 10 1/2″
Sew as Shown
You will need FOUR of this block to make a School of Fish!
#quilting #quiltpattern #thequiltladies
