Make 15" square basket quilt blocks in traditional Amish style, or vary your fabrics for a slightly Amish look. The quilt block pattern includes instructions for single quilt blocks (perfect for scrap quilts), but on page 3 you'll find directions to help you make the 63" x 63" quilt illustrated here.

Amish Style Miniature Quilt Pattern
Here's a little miniature quilt, a double nine-patch sewn in the Amish style. The quilt finishes at about 25-1/2" square. You can make it much scrappier if you like, and you can go wild with color combinations to brighten it up. Do what feels right to you.

The Memory Quilts Gallery is brand new this weekend, and the first quilts displayed there represent a range of purposes and techniques. I've spent most of the past two days going through my backlog of photo submissions and I'm happy to say... whew! I'm nearly finished (only a few pics remain). You'll find new photos in every gallery linked below.

Baby Quilts
Cancer Awareness & Comfort Quilts
Rag Quilts
T-Shirt Quilts
Themed & Novelty Quilts
Scrap Quilts
Sampler Quilts
Ugly Quilts
Landscape Quilts
Applique Quilts
Star Quilts
Quilts Designed with Square Shapes
Circular Themed Quilts
String Quilts
Log Cabin & Pineapple Quilts
Hears & Flowers Quilts
Southwestern Themed Quilts
Applique Quilts

_{Regatta Quilt by Patti Dubreuil}

This little quilt measures about 19-inches square. It's made from four 3-1/2-inch Bear's Paw quilt blocks that are surrounded by cornerstones and pieced sashing. A dark inner border and a floral outer border complete the little quilt.

Everything is quick and strip-pieced. Half square triangle units used in blocks finish at 1/2", but you can make them perfectly every time but assembling the units slightly larger than necessary and then cutting each one back to the exact size before sewing.

_{Photo © Janet Wickell}

I love it when the native plants are blooming like crazy and blossoms and fruit are in motion. And it's an incredible sight to gaze out across the Blue Ridge Mountains in the spring to watch the progression of green as it moves higher in elevation. I call that progress greening up the mountain, and have thought forever that the theme would make a good landscape quilt. I even started a miniature version years ago in a class with Jo Diggs, and rediscovered the project awhile back when we unpacked some boxes. Now I just have to find the time to work on it.

Spring and summer always brings out the basket blocks, too. This version is in the deeper colors of summer, but would work well with any theme. I think it would be lovely sewn with solid fabrics in the Amish tradition, even if you decide to add some reds and other zesty colors we don't typically see in traditional Amish quilts. I've included instructions for two blocks sizes, a 20" and a 10". Choose whichever works for you.

On the About.com Network

Since we're talking about baskets and flowers, take a look at the decoupaged garden seed container on our Family Crafts site. Sherri's come up with a cute and useful project for your gardening friends.

_{© Janet Wickell}