McCall’s Quilting Summer Double Issue First Look

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Let Your Creativity Bloom!

Aren’t we lucky to have such an abundance of creative inspiration from nature? When the warmer weather rolls around, it’s such a joy to not only revel in the balmy breezes and sunshine, but to bring the beauty of the natural world into our quilting space, and to dream up new designs based on the loveliness all around us.

With this supersized issue, we’re celebrating the never-ending flowering of ideas that nature’s bounty can inspire. Beautiful flowers, blooming with color and fragrance, attract our attention and admiration, and our imagination begins to buzz like bees in a field of wildflowers.

Busy Bees Table Runner

Those busy, buzzing bees inspired some brilliant quilt patterns, as well! The Busy Bees Table Runner by Linda and Carl Sullivan of Colourwerx is a fabulously fun project made with clever techniques that will bring a summery sweetness to your table.

Bee-A-Mazing

Alison Barry’s Bee-A-Mazing quilt creates a complex, flowery maze for a patchwork bee to navigate. You and your sewing machine will be buzzing with joy when you start either of these projects.

Summer Flowers

And where there are bees, there are also flowers! Summer Flowers by Bonnie Osness features bright, blooming flowers made with a very practical turned-edge applique technique.

Tulip Baskets

Our colorfully lovely cover quilt, Tulip Baskets by Jenny Kae Parks, combines hand-dyed solids with hand embroidery to dazzling effect. Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabrics put together a kit for this project—find it here. And Jenny will be presenting some tutorials for it on her YouTube channel: Check it out!

Desert in a Pot

And Maria Dzreeva’s Desert in a Pot turns the humble cactus into a work of art with a southwestern flair.

Burst of Sunshine

Flora and fauna are not the only creative touchstones we’re inspired by! Summer’s simple pleasure of sparkling sunshine also inspires creative ideas—you can feel the warmth of the sun’s rays radiating from Burst of Sunshine by Susan Deshensky.

Horizon

And you can turn a sewing session into a leisurely day at the beach with Horizon by Linda Hersey, the basic structure of which can be customized endlessly.

Our transition to quarterly publications is manifesting even more of what you love about McCall’s Quilting; more quilt patterns in each issue, more ideas for customizing the patterns to suit your needs, and more seasonal projects with which to enhance your home. We’re so glad you’re here and can’t wait to share more of what we have in store!

Happy quilting!