Color Options from American Patchwork & Quilting April 2012

Designer: Sandy Klop of American Jane Patterns

A nostalgic, nursery rhyme-inspired quilt featuring Necktie blocks and a hint of appliqué brings back fond memories.

Magic Circles Wall Quilt

Little Boy Blue goes grown-up girly when pieced in vibrant shades of purple, orange, pink, and yellow. A black-and-white stripe gives the Necktie blocks some sass. For a less scrappy look than the original, quilt tester Laura Boehnke organized blocks in groups of four of the same print, making the blocks appear to form circles.

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Designer: Jo Morton

Machine Quilter: Lori Kukuk

Try a variation of needle-turn appliqué that involves layering fabrics to create traditional reel blocks. Our step-by-step photos will guide you through the process.

Quilt tester Laura Boehnke reduced the number of reel blocks and tried an alternate method-fusible appliqué. Fabrics are from the Reflections collection by Ro Gregg for Fabri-Quilt.

Designer: Avis Shirer of Joined at the Hip

Appliquéd pears with quilted swirls and patchwork blocks with gridlike stitching team up on a wall hanging that proves opposites attract.

Pastel Pears Wall Quilt

Infuse fruit with florals as quilt tester Laura Boehnke did on her nine-block version of A Perfect Pair. For a balanced design, Laura positioned a pear block in the center and at all four corners of her wall hanging. She used the same cream tone-on-tone for the appliqué foundations and the rectangles and Four-Patch units in the pieced blocks to play up the chain effect. Fabrics are from the Mary Rose Charlotte collection from Quilt Gate.

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Designer: Amy Walsh of Blue Underground Studios

Build a quilt on a foundation of narrow and wide rectangles of assorted prints. Solid taupe is the mortar that holds it all together.

City Lights Quilt

By combining yellow and lime rectangles and dark sashing and borders, quilt tester Laura Boehnke makes Sticks & Bricks resemble a skyscraper with windows aglow at night. Also, the dark print frames make the rectangles pop instead of float. To get more variety from a single collection, cut stripes both lengthwise and crosswise for the rectangles. Fabrics are from the Kew Gardens collection by Laura Ashley for Quilting Treasures.

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Designer: Lynn Schmitt-Cibulka of A Different Box of Crayons

Machine quilter: Dawn Larsen

Pay attention to color placement when you assemble these Pineapple blocks in order to achieve a secondary circular pattern.

Pineapple Twist Wall Quilt

A square and cross pattern takes center stage on this wall hanging, which contains four Pineapple blocks. Quilt tester Laura Boehnke used the same teal ombré print for the rectangles in the inner border and for the strips on four sides of the blocks so the brighter fuchsia, red, and yellow strips could form a secondary pattern. Fabrics are from the September Light collection by Lida Enche for In the Beginning Fabrics.

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Designer: Kim Diehl

Machine quilter: Deborah Poole

Appliquéd flowers reach their true potential when arranged amid blocks and a border pieced from the rich shades of a garden at sunset.Buy this quilt pattern here.

Midnight Blooms Quilt

Appliquéd flowers in red and green Asian-inspired prints decorate quilt tester Laura Boehnke's same-size version of Late Bloomers. To add subtle sparkle and mimic the metallic glints in the fabric, Laura straight-stitched with gold thread around the C and D appliqués after appliquéing them with a black zigzag stitch. Fabrics are from the Oriental Traditions collection from Robert Kaufman.

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Designers: Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith of Homestead Hearth

Machine quilter: Connie Gresham

Tantalize the senses with a sweet patchwork quilt that features a fusion of browns, pinks, and creams.

Tropical Patches Wall Quilt

Quilt tester Laura Boehnke chose batiks to make six A blocks, one B block, and two C blocks for a tropical-look wall hanging. Punches of orange and pops of teal interspersed throughout the patchwork draw the eye around the quilt and make the quilt sparkle. Fabrics are from the Sumatra collection of batiks from Blank Quilting.

Go to the free quilt pattern.