Jami Smith sent this photo of her version of Blooming Joy, the 2025 block of the month. She left the setting triangles free from applique which focuses your attention directly on the blocks. I like this quilt a lot!
Jami says:
“I love looking at this, it brings me so much joy. I think all the colors ans fun flowers. I also really enjoyed making it, gave me a sense of peace and calm.
Again thank you for sharing your talent and inspiration. “
Thank you Jamie, for sharing your quilt with us! That feeling of peace and calm that comes with handwork is one of my favorite parts of sewing ❤️.
One of the things I love most about Buttonwood Village is that it gives you options. There isn’t just one right way to make this quilt—you get to choose the version that fits your space, your time, and your stitching mood.
Option 1: The Original Village The original Buttonwood Village features 9 house blocks surrounded by 20 border blocks, finishing at 60˝ x 60˝. This version feels complete and cozy, with the houses nestled right into their own little neighborhood.
Option 2: Houses Only I know some of you prefer a smaller wall quilt. You can make just the 9 house blocks, add a 3˝ border, and end up with a sweet 46˝ x 46˝ quilt. Simple, charming, and absolutely perfect.
Option 3: Border Blocks on Their Own
The border blocks measure 10˝ x 10˝, and if you make all twenty of them, they can be set together into a more traditional quilt that finishes at 46˝ x 56˝. It’s a great option if you fall in love with the border designs and want to let them shine.
You don’t need to decide right now. Just tuck these possibilities into the back of your mind as the Block of the Month moves forward. One project, three paths—and plenty of room to make it your own. 😊
Kathy Sue sent me this photo of her finished quilt. It’s wonderful!
Kathy wrote:
I love your patterns, especially My Whimsical Quilt Garden!!!! It turned out adorable. It made me so happy, every stitch I took. I never made a quilt that was so much fun!!!!! Thank you Becky
Thank you, Kathy, for the kind words! I am so glad that making this quilt brought you joy 😊.
Anna Maria’s Zinnia print first came out years ago and since then it has been reissued in different colors. I love them all! Not sure which one I bought first, but it could have been this one:
Each flower is 3 3/4″ wide by 3″ tall if you count the stem. The spacing is tight in all the right ways. but I do wonder if some people shy away from it because the flowers are larger than your typical “small” print. Personally? I don’t mind one bit. As I said… I LOVE this fabric and have it in every color.
I haven’t pieced with it yet, but I will. I even have a stack of Kaffe stripes that would be perfect with these zinnias—later. When I have time. Right now I’m deep into Buttonwood Village and have already found three perfect places for a flower to sneak in.
The flower becomes a treeIs that a pineapple bush?The flower is a palm tree!
One flower becomes a tree. Another becomes a pineapple bush? And the third one could be a palm tree!
That’s the thing about bigger prints: if you avoid them, you miss out on so much fun. I encourage you to give them a try—you might be surprised where a big, beautiful print can take you 🌸.
Houses have shown up in stitched work for hundreds of years, and that really isn’t a surprise. We live our lives inside houses. The people we love are part of our household. When we stitch houses, we’re often stitching feelings too—memories of homes we’ve lived in, homes we’ve loved, or maybe homes we’re still dreaming about.
Buttonwood Village is a happy place, built with a whimsical attitude and lots of color—and it truly feels like home to me :-). You might notice that the houses are small. Steve and I have never lived in big houses, so small just feels right in my bones.
And those giant flowers and trees? My yard doesn’t look exactly like that, but it is full of plants, flowers, and trees. This photo was taken last spring—by summer everything had grown taller, bushier, and a little bit wild. Just the way I like it :-).
Irina Stiop sent me some pictures from her Welcome to the North Pole quilt. I’m pretty sure you will want to see all of them, but let’s start here because Irina changed the positions of the blocks to make a quilt that is more horizontal than it is square. This fits her space better. Well done, Irina!
Notice that the moon is rising in the upper left and the top backgrounds are darker. This sets the stage nicely for a night flight by Santa Claus…
Irina wrote:
I used Autocad to rearrange the layout of the quilt to accommodate my horizontal space, some dimensions had to be slightly changed.
I used a raw edge applique as my method, and fusible fleece instead of batting, because it was intended as a wall hanging. I used small zigzag to attach the pieces and changed the thread according to the colors. I then embellished every block separately, and probably got carried away, but that’s ok.
I put the blocks together, added the one piece backing and stitched in the ditch. At this point a more skilled person would do FMQ around the houses, but since Im yet to master that skill, I’ve decided to add more bling in form of pearly snowflakes, which I use to tackle down the fabric
Irina made many good choices.
The layout of the blocks is very pleasing—I’ve not seen this before in all the years people have been making this quilt!
The fleece batting should support the weight of the many hard embellishments without sagging. It would be hard to quilt around all these embellishments (whether by hand or machine) so it was good that she decided against that from the beginning. (FYI: you can quilt first, then add hard embellishments.)
And the distribution of the snowflakes feels right. It can be hard to do that and make it feel balanced and random.
Thank you, Irina, for sharing your quilt with us! Scroll down to see the blocks in detail.
If you would like to make this quilt, click here to find the pattern.
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