August, 2005 -

In 2003, Jeanne Rae Crafts' Block of the Month was Wee Flower Patch Quilt, designed to help quilters hone their skills of paper piecing, traditional piecing and applique. Valinda Makar got into the spirit of this quilt - here's what she said:

I am relatively new at this (3 years). The Wee Flower Patch was my first BOM. I used it to practice different techniques. The hardest was figuring out how to do paper piecing. Then I had to learn to applique. I've settled on machine applique as its easier and I like the look.

Because I had so much fun I decided to do the Bonny Baskets (2004 Block of the Month). A friend gave me a gift certificate for Christmas and this is how I got some of my fabric. I came across the dark fabric one day (the setting triangles). It reminded me of a stone path like you would see in the garden. I just had to have it. I think it just made the baskets pop. I showed it at Church and had many offers. Everything was machine appliqued and I found out that stabilizer is my friend.


Valinda Makar's Bonny Baskets Quilt
Basically it was stitched in the ditch. The borders have machine quilted leaves and vines. Again a first for me. I like your quilts as the help me perfect or (try to) my technique and different ones.

Wow! Your quilts are beautiful, Valinda! Thank you for sharing them with us all.

If you also would like to make your own Wee Flower Patch Quilt or Bonny Baskets Quilt, patterns are available from Jeanne Rae Crafts.