Color Options from American Patchwork & Quilting® December 2008

Floral fabric turns into holiday sweets when you fussy-cut pieces and combine them into kaleidoscopic swirls.

Get the free quilt pattern here.

Garden Party Table Runner

Christmas Candy in the colors of chocolate and lollipops becomes a table runner for quilt tester Laura Boehnke. Most fabrics are from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party collection for FreeSpirit Fabrics.

Instead of fussy cutting a floral, Laura combined bright colors with brown for her triangle units. She paid careful attention to color placement when insetting those units into triangle-squares. Two 1/2"-wide finished borders and one 2-1/2"-wide finished border complete the 19-1/2x43-1/2" table runner.

Click here for instructions needed to make this table runner.

The mix of vibrant colors and browns in this quilt remind us of a sunset along a high canyon wall. Take your pick of methods when re-creating the antique, one-block wonder: Make stunningly scrappy blocks or use strip piecing for efficient construction.

81-Patch Wall Hanging

Using Tonga Batiks from Timeless Treasures, quilt tester Laura Boehnke made a bright nine-block wall hanging using Capture the Canyon's B blocks. By alternating the values of batiks in the blocks (five are medium/dark and four are light/medium), Laura created a secondary Nine-Patch pattern.

"Strip piecing makes quick work of this quilt's construction," Laura says, "and it's good practice for perfecting your 1/4" seams."

Click here for instructions needed to make this wall hanging.

Two sisters used the same pattern to create different wall hangings that reflect their individual styles. One project is great for holiday decor, the other perfect to welcome spring!

Get this free quilt pattern here.

Squared Up Wall Hanging

Using the Celebration of Life collection by Currier and Ives for Quilting Treasures, quilt tester Laura Boehnke showcases motifs from the 19th century in her version of Double Vision. She fussy-cut the block centers to highlight selected images. Without the original quilt's appliqué shapes, the large-scale center block becomes the focal point. The 44-1/2"–square wall hanging has a 4"–wide outer border.

Click here for instructions needed to make this wall hanging.

The simple Flying Geese unit can indeed soar in style. The color of each unit in this scrappy throw dictates its flight pattern.

Buy this quilt pattern here.

Flying Geese Wall Hanging

Quilt tester Laura Boehnke dialed down the contrast in the green rows of her table runner version of Fly Away Home. Subtle Flying Geese units in deep reds, pine-tree greens, and neutrals bring to mind a verdant forest floor. While maintaining the scrappy feel of the original quilt, Laura controlled it by using one background fabric for each vertical row of Flying Geese. Fabrics are from the Cambridge Collection and Sturbridge Village Greens, both by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics.

Click here for instructions needed to make this wall hanging.

Splashes of blue and cream scatter across an assortment of deep brown prints for a rich and captivating quilt.

Double X Wall Hanging

Florals give quilt tester Laura Boehnke's version of Haute Chocolates a more feminine flair. "I showcased a large floral in the center of the blocks and used a slightly smaller scale floral in the triangle-squares," Laura says. "The tone-on-tone quality of the other fabrics allows the floral prints to really sparkle." She pieced this 44"–square version using the Chelsea Market collection from RJR Fabrics.

Click here for instructions needed to make this wall hanging.

One scroll-shape wool appliqué-turned, cut, stretched, and flipped-creates a stylized tree for a colorful bird with embroidered feathers.

Scrollwork Appliqué Wall Hanging

Using the branch patterns from Out on a Limb, quilt tester Laura Boehnke created a glimpse into a tropical garden through a wrought-iron gate. To create the bright, funky wall hanging, Laura first fused solid black appliqués over a background fabric from Ricky Tims' Rhapsodie Colorée II collection for Red Rooster Fabrics. After trimming the quilt center to 38x24", she added three borders in finished widths of 1/2", 1-1/4", and 3", respectively.

Click here for instructions needed to make this wall hanging.

Skip lights and darks, selecting instead a variety of medium-value fabrics for a warm-tone throw. A sprinkling of Star blocks adds a surprise element to an otherwise calm quilt.

Uneven Nine-Patch and Star Quilt

Using Elanor's Picnic by Piece O' Cake Designs for P&B Textiles, quilt tester Laura Boehnke made a bright-and-cheery version of Seeing Stars. Laura's 36–block rendition includes three Star Blocks. "I kept the fabrics mostly low contrast, but punched up the color and prints," Laura says. "Polka dots always add a sense of playfulness and whimsy." The 44-1/2"–square quilt would make a great summertime table topper or kid's quilt.

Click here for instructions needed to make this table topper.