Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2026 i McCall's Quilting

SKILL LEVEL Easy FINISHED SIZE 63" × 74" FINISHED BLOCKS 2 Block Q 11" × 11" 2 Block R 11" × 11" 1 Block S 11" × 11" 2 Block T 11" × 11" 2 Block U 11" × 11" 1 Block V 11" × 11" 2 Block W 11" × 11" 2 Block X 11" × 11" 1 Block Y 11" × 11" 15 Block Z 11" × 11" “My love of quilting is equaled by my love of music!” Sujata said. “Over the years, I’ve played classical guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, and violin, and love to sing with my choir. Th e song Peaceful Easy Feeling by the Eagles in 1972 has been a perpetual favorite with its mellow vocal harmonies and easy rhythm. I endeavored to capture…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 52” × 17” Note: See End of Pattern for Dresden Plate templates M and N. “Bees used to be scary,” Tracy said. “As a kid who grew up not wearing shoes whenever possible, they were a mortal danger. Somehow, they’ve become cute! And now it seems as if we’ve all decided we need to revere them, maybe because we know that saving them is helping save ourselves. When considering this project I pondered how to make a bee block that wasn’t scary looking but that also didn’t require appliqué.” Planning “And flowers are part of the symphony, of course,” she continued. “Dresden Plates are one of my favorite blocks to make and they’re easy to create with the pointed flower petal edges. Lori Holt’s fabric…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 5½" × 7¾" “This case is all about essentials!” Gigi said. “We start with small-scale patchwork and use multiple interesting techniques to get a bold design packed into a small space. All of these techniques can be adapted for use with other projects as they’re just useful skills to explore and develop as a designer and a quiltmaker. Turn that essential patchwork sampler into a compact case with multiple pockets, and you’ll have a cute little carrying case in which to hold all your daily essential items. Th e patchwork heart that’s front and center on the case represents the love we put into our handmade projects —another essential that some have said (and sung) is all you need!” Planning The patchwork styles and methods…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 68" × 68" FINISHED BLOCKS 16 Block Y 12" × 12" 9 Block Z 12" × 12" Note: See End of Pattern for foundation sections. Talk about a breath of fresh air! Rows of colorful tulips bloom in Susan’s on-point design, creating a lovely, bright quilt perfect for spring. Th e glowing setting triangle blocks frame the flowers and infuse the composition with warmth and sunshine. Follow Susan’s color placement or make each tulip a different hue and celebrate spring amidst a riot of color. Planning Classic tulip blocks, blooming tall and bright, get a boost from the vibrant colors and bold shapes of the pieced setting triangle sections in th is delightful design. Traditional patchwork gets a contemporary twist thanks to the juxtaposition of…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 79" × 79" FINISHED BLOCKS 13 Block Y 14" × 14" 12 Block Z 14" × 14" Note: See End of Pattern for piecing templates B and C. “I love curved piecing and scrappy quilts,” said Kari. “I also love traditional blocks. The curved blocks and Bear’s Paw blocks together make a secondary design. This bright, happy fabric is perfect for spring, and it would look great in so many different color schemes, too!” Planning Kari’s design uses classic patchwork blocks to create a cool, contemporary composition that looks scrappy, but her fabric placement is consistent through all the blocks, making this a very easy pattern to follow and recreate successfully. You might want to use this as a stash-busting opportunity, however, and make each…

trends tools cool stuff The Life + Quilts Planner Organize your life and make quilts! This handy book will help you to do both, while keeping track of all the parts and pieces and arranging everything you need in one convenient place. The book includes three months of planning pages and is categorized into monthly, weekly and daily overviews, helping break down your to-do list into realistic, achievable portions. It’s intuitively easy to use and you’ll be ready to jump in and get to planning your projects, and where they fit into your schedule, right away. Available in a bound, printed book or as a PDF download. wildplumlane.com White Metal Quilt Block Bookends and Shelf Décor These versatile metal bookends are not only useful, they look great, too! They can…

SKILL LEVEL Easy FINISHED SIZE 90" × 90" “My original Bear Paw Bloom quilt utilizes the traditional bear paw quilt block to make an explosion of brightly colored flowers for spring,” Patricia said. “Th is quilt is great to make with precut 10 " squares and 2½" strips!” Planning Large patches and easy but clever construction techniques mean this striking bed-size quilt will come together quickly! Th is project is ideal for beginner quilters who want to make a spectacular quilt for their bed. Patricia’s composition and color palette turn the humble, classic bear paw motif into a powerful, dynamic quilt that looks so impressive. Feel free to choose 5 gradated shades of your favorite hue to recreate this design, but we recommend a background of the complementary color to…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 40" × 40" FINISHED BLOCKS 4 Blocks 16" × 16" “Always intrigued by the twisting and curling of vines, I wanted to replicate the movement using a somewhat controlled serpentine style,” Judith said. “I worked in the flowers to form a center as well as individual stylized blooms on the four corners. I used other motifs to enhance the flower center with a diagonal inner ‘border’ of green, and placed the entire center within an embellished square. Although it appears complex, this design is relatively simple to construct.” Planning Judith’s dynamic design is divided into 4 identical quadrants, proving her right—it is much easier to make than you might expect! Simple patchwork techniques in a lovely springtime palette make this piece surprisingly quick to stitch…

Without much extra effort or material, Kari made a cute coordinating pillow out of an extra block Y and a couple of borders. A 14” block, when bordered by a 1”-wide border 1 and a 2”-wide border 2 will make a 20” pillow, perfect for turning your delightful handmade quilt into a delightful bedroom suite! If you’d like to do the same, it will be very simple to do so! With the extra insurance calculated into our yardage requirements, you should have sufficient fabric to make another block Y, though you may need another ⅛ yard of the bright pink and the light pink stripe for the borders and binding, and you’ll also need a ½ yard of a coordinating fabric for the envelope backing panels. Throw pillow s can…

SKILL LEVEL Advanced FINISHED SIZE 60" × 70" FINISHED BLOCKS 42 Petal Blocks 10" × 10" Note: See End of Pattern for template. Creative cutting and piecing combine to make a bold, modern quilt positively bursting with floral flair. Put this pattern on your to-make list immediately! Planning Sweet prints in fresh springtime colors and prints make this charming quilt hard to resist. Study the quilt photos and note that flowers appear when the blocks are joined. Our cutting directions have you cut assorted print template A’s in sets of 4 and sets of 2 to create this effect. To prepare template, trace on template plastic, including seam lines, grain lines and match points. Cut out the template using the outer lines. Make small holes at match points using an…

For this issue, we asked our staff: What quilting technique or process is diffi cult for you to master? Denise McKenna Editorial Director When I am attaching a binding to my quilt and I get to the end with the loose tails, I can never remember which way to flip the ends of my binding strips to properly connect them on the diagonal. Which one goes up, which one goes down? Just when I think I have it mastered, sadly, I do not! Guess that means I just need to finish and bind more quilts to finally get it ingrained! Valerie Uland Editor, Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting The basic, essential techniques, LOL! Let me explain. I know plenty of methods—the “proper” steps, the right tools, the ideal order…

"In the springtime, while driving to a retreat where I was going to teach, the fields suddenly burst with color," Margie said. "Patches of wildflowers-bright blues, soft pinks and purples, splashes of yellow seemed to wave as I drove by, like nature putting on a show just for me. There was something so refreshing and beautiful about those blooms. There is nothing like springtime in the Rockies. After the long winter, the mountains wake up and burst with color, lining the roadside, dotting the meadows, and splashing against the backdrop of the deep blue skies and snowy peaks. That little piece of mountain magic was the inspiration for my Rocky Mountain Spring quilt." SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 76" × 76" FINISHED BLOCKS 5 Block W 12" × 12" 4…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 61" × 61" FINISHED BLOCKS 1 Block W 27" × 27" 1 Block × 27" × 27" 1 Block Y 27" × 27" 1 Block Z 27" × 27" “Songbird Spring was inspired by one of my favorite times of year —those first spring mornings when I can finally open the windows and hear the cheerful songs of birds drifting in,” Heather said. “Here in Alabama, spring can always feel fleeting, with summer heat right on its heels, which makes those gentle, breezy days even more special. This quilt is my way of holding on to that feeling of fresh beginnings and simple joy.” Planning The sweet songbirds in Heather’s designs are surrounded by adorable rings of flowers —the oversize blocks come together in what…

SKILL LEVEL Intermediate FINISHED SIZE 46½" × 60½" FINISHED BLOCKS 1 Block W 10" × 10" 11 Block X 10" × 10" 6 Block Y 10" × 10" 4 Block Z 10" × 10" Note: See End of Pattern for foundation sections 1-3. “I sometimes find that a final quilt design finds me as opposed to the other way around and that was the case with this quilt,” Karen said. “When I heard that the theme for this issue was Springtime Symphony, I really wanted to highlight the dance of the bee as my family are beekeeping hobbyists, but I also gravitate towards simply assembled quilts. I played around with some strip-pieced blocks and little by little started to visualize piano keys and staff paper. Fabric choices and a foundation-pieced…

When I started making quilts 30 years ago, I usually chose off-white for backgrounds. That’s what I was seeing in books, magazines and patterns. Fabric choices were limited in those days, and a very light neutral was easy to come by. A creamy color became my background of choice by default. Over time I noticed that the quilts I liked best used more interesting fabrics as backgrounds. As fabric choices increased, quilters put more color and texture in their “negative space,” another way of referring to the background. When used successfully, these more dramatic backgrounds accomplished several things: they helped to highlight the “starring-role” fabrics, they added interest to the design, and they made innumerable quilts more fun to look at. When I analyze what I like or dislike about…