Grandpa's Farm Block of the Month

Grandpa's Farm

Grandpa's Farm continues to be one of our most popular block of the month programs! First created in 1981 by Roxy Burgard of Calico Hills Farm, we've revamped and retooled the program with color photographs of each block, plus crisp, clear copies of each pattern and current fabrics.

Roxy says she was inspired to create this quilt after visiting her husband's Grandpa in Kansas. Grandpa Miller farmed his entire life in Yates Center, Kansas. Dave (Roxy's husband) fondly recalled boyhood summers spent on the farm, and reminisced about the activities he did while there. Intrigued, Roxy created this quilt as a tribute to Grandpa Miller.

We've broken the quilt down into 16 monthly installments so that you can construct the quilt over time so it's not so difficult to work up all at once. The block of the month program includes fourteen 12" quilt blocks,  a center panel, and border kit. It can be created using either fusible web or traditional applique. Details on many of the blocks include simple embroidery work. Club participants receive the pattern and fabric to make each of the fourteen blocks. The center panel pattern and fabric is sent in the 15th month and the Border pattern and fabrics in the final month.

We believe you will enjoy creating your own Grandpa's Farm quilt. Finished size of the quilt is approximately 72" x 90". Join the fun by clicking this link.

Patchwork Party 2016

Secret Garden

As Patchwork Party enters its ninth year, participating shops are each presenting a unique quilt exclusive to their shop. Instead of having to purchase blocks from 12 different stores, this year all that is required is that you view the quilts available at Patchwork Party website and determine which one you wish to create.

To entice you to visit each shop's website, you can collect free patterns--one each from the seven participating shop. Instead of purchasing sampler blocks, you can pick your favorite quilt, then purchase a full quilt kit to make it.

Each shop is using prints from the Poppies fabric line designed by Rachel Shelburn for Maywood Studios. Some shops used the pink and black colorway. Other shops used the blue and green colorway.

The "secret" behind our Secret Garden quilt is that you can put it together several different ways using the same quilt block over and over again. Created by Cheryl Libby exclusively for Grandma's Attic, our quilt uses the blue, green and yellow coloration. to make it easy to participate, you can choose the option that best suits you: purchase a a complete kit, or in four month or seven month installments. You choose the option that suits you best! The finished quilt is approximately 90" x 102" which means it will fit a Queen sized bed. To see additional ways the quilt blocks can be placed, click here to view the quilt, then follow the link for additional images. Shown below are the fabrics that we used in our quilt.

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Fancy Pansies

Fancy Pansies

Fancy Pansies is a delightful, easy-to-make pattern filled with colorful garden flowers. It was created by Terri Massee for Grandma's Attic.

The pansies, with their wide range of colors and pretty “faces,” appear to be floating across the fabric in a three-dimensional setting. Created from a a gorgeous pansy panel, you’ll definitely want to create this sunshine-filled charmer. 

The pansy panel and pansy fabric are also available for purchase; however, you can also make this pattern using any panel with 7" squares.  Instructions for making two matching pillows are also included.

Wild Roses: Grandma's Newest Quilt Club!

Introducing Grandma's newest in-store Quilt Club, Wild Roses: Women of Strength and Honor. Led by Grandma Rachel, this club meets once per month with six sessions available.

Wild Roses takes a look at some extraordinary people who just happen to be women. These women have excelled even when personal, economic, or societal obstacles got in their way. With lives brimming with adventure, romance, loss and triumph, each unique woman's story serves as a model of inspiration for current and future generations.

Wild Roses Quilt Club

During this class you will learn about women who have paved the way for women of today. Club members  have an opportunity to socialize with friends, share stories and collect quilt blocks to make a commemorative quilt. Packed with history and adventure, you won't want to miss this exciting new club.

Quilt Block kits are available in four color schemes: 1930s, 19th Century Reproductions, Amish style colors and Batiks. Class participation is $10 per month per colorway. There is also a $10 membership fee which helps offset the cost of class materials.

Grandma's Quilt Clubs are like no others that we know about. They are a fun way to learn about history that affects women today and discover new products and ideas. There are door prize drawings, an opportunity to be with like-minded quilt enthusiasts, and quilt blocks to collect.

Dates of the Club are:  September 1/2/3; October 6/7/8; November 3/4/5; December 1/2/3; January 5/6/7; February 2/3/4; March 2/3/4; April 6/7/8; May 4/5/6; June 1/2/3; July 6/7/8; August 3/4/5.

Register for this class by clicking here.

Brand New Website

Grandma's Attic has a brand new website! Designed by Gail Bean of Gail Bean Design, the format is suited to all types of devices, from cell phones to tablets to desk top computers.

We've been on the web for 19 years, ever since 1997 when we were one of the very first quilt sites. Since that time we've added lots of new products and information, including pages like yummy recipes, redwork patterns, links to various sites, and fun things such as quotes for quilters.

We'd love to hear your comments. To view our new website, click here.

Honeybee Quilt Block

Honeybee Quilt Block

According to Quilt Historian Barbara Brackman, the Honeybee quilt block dates back to at least the 1840s. The block was pieced with a solid square for the center; then "bee wings" were appliqued in place.

Sometime in the 20th century (1920s or so), quilt designers of the time began to use a nine patch for the center square. Ruby McKim created a Honeybee pattern showing a nine patch center for the Kansas City Star in 1929.

More recently, Roxy Burgard of Calico Hills Farm, published her version of the Honeybee quilt block as part of her traditional quilt pattern, Honey Bees, in the 1990s. She used a traditional nine patch layout to create her pattern, with five Honeybee blocks and four Bee Skeps. Popular for the past 25 years, the pattern continues to be available at Grandma's Attic by clicking here. If you would like to read a more in-depth history of the Honeybee quilt block, you will want to read Barbara Brackman's Material Culture post by clicking here.

Honey Bees Quilt Pattern

Sweet Laundry Bag

Do you remember Grandma's old-fashioned outdoor clothesline? Laundry bags such as this one were filled with clothespins and hung on the line so they would be in a convenient position when you began to hang up clothes to dry. 

This adorably cute little Doggie Laundry Bag is not from those days gone by, but straight out of 2016! Our classroom instlructor, Cheryl Libby, made it using a brand new book called Vintage Stitching. Filled with more than 400 authentic embroidery designs, this is a treasure chest of patterns you will want to make! There are projects to complete, plus hundreds of retro-cool art embroidery patterns from classic catalogs and magazines.

Vintage Stitching Treasury

There are also projects for making quilts, aprons, tea towels, and potholders. How-to pages and tips are also included, as well as a color gallery where you can see many different embroidery projects from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Each of the popular embroidery stitches are illustrated so you can remind yourself how to create those stitches you may have learned long ago. You'll find a page on tinting with crayons and another on caring for vintage linens.

If you love embroidery, you will love this book!

Memories of Old Oregon

Memories of Old Oregon

This beautiful appliqued sampler quilt is the newest Block of the Month Club by Grandma's Attic. Reminiscent of the traditional applique samplers from the 19th Century, our Memories of Old Oregon block of the month club commemorates early Oregon landmarks and towns.

There are 24 applique patterns, in the traditional 19th century colors of red and green, each of which can be made using either traditional or fusible web applique. Each month, you receive the pattern and fabric needed to create one 12" quilt block, plus a mini-history about the town or landmark for which it was named.

These gorgeous applique blocks will look beautiful in the sampler setting shown, surrounded by an applique border, or in any other quilt setting you choose. We are currently working on a border treatment for this quilt and will post photos as soon as it is complete. The finished size of the Quilt is 52" x 76".  To order our Memories of Old Oregon block of the month club, click here.

Please Vote for Us!

Great News! Grandma's Attic has been nominated for Best Dallas Shop in the Statesman Journal's Best of the Mid-Valley 2016 contest. This annual contest, sponsored by the Statesman Journal newspaper, is including shops in the town of Dallas, Oregon where the Grandma's Attic quilt shop is located.

Please vote for us! You can vote once each day until March 7th. We are listed under Your Community, Best Dallas Shop. Follow the link Best of the Mid-Valley 2016, scroll down to Dallas Shop until you find our name. Thank you  so much! To vote, click here.

Snowflakes and Stitches Shop Hop

The Queen of Hearts

Grandma's Attic is participating in the Snowflakes and Stitches Shop Hop that is taking place in Oregon through February 20. The photo to the left is the block that we have chosen for our shop. This Shop Hop covers 15 Oregon shops within easy driving distances of one another (Vancouver, south to McMinnville, then Salem and Dallas.)

The Queen's Hedgerow

Each shop provides participants with a Quilt Block Kit to make a 6" quilt block. In addition, each shop has put together a project that uses their individual quilt block pattern. Each project is different. Some are large, some are small, and some are in-between. But what that means is that you have 15 different projects ideas if you visit every shop. All shops are open 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Saturday. Grandma's Attic and some of the other shops are also open on Sunday from Noon to 4:00 pm.

Using our Queen of Hearts quilt block, we created The Queen's Hedgerow, an 18" x 40" table runner that would make a beautiful setting for any table. Designed by Cheryl Libby, the table runner uses three of our shop hop blocks and a beautiful paper pieced border.


If you cannot participate in the Shop Hop, you can always purchase our patterns on-line. Simply click on the captions below the photos shown here and you will be taken to our website for ordering.

The 16 participating shops this year are:  Grandma's Attic, Dallas; A Common Thread, Portland, Bernina Stretch and Sew Fabrics, Keizer; Boersma's Sewing Center, Inc., McMinnville; Feather Your Nest, Gresham; Fiddlesticks, Vancouver, Wa; Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, Salem; Holly Hill Quilt Shoppe, West Linn; Quilter's Corner Store, Beaverton; Sewn Loverly, Wilsonville; Sharon's Attic, Hillsboro, Stitches 301, Mollala; Tea Time Calicos, Beaverton; The Cotton Patch, Keizer; and The Quilted Hill, Yamhill. You can start and stop at any shop and passports can be picked up at the first shop on your journey.

Shop hops are a fun way to visit your favorite quilt shops while collecting quilt blocks and projects. Take a friend along, plan lunch out, and have fun shopping!