Quilt Block in Honor of St. Mary Magdalene

St. Mary Magdalene was one of the earliest followers of Christ. She is known as the Apostle to the Apostles because Jesus appeared to her after his Resurrection, and she then went to tell the Apostles.

Throughout history, she has been known as the repentant sinner, and her symbols are a skull or a jar. While you can certainly make a quilt block that looks like a skull (they have Halloween blocks that include this), I decided to go with a jar design as it is a better fit for the quilt I am working on.

This 12" x 12" block has several pieces but it works up easily enough. If you want a different color scheme, you can certainly use one. You just need to adjust the shades accordingly in order to keep the 3D illusion of the jar.

Download the Free pattern here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Mary Magdalene

Quilt Block in Honor of Divine Mercy and St. Faustina

St. Maria Faustyna Kowalska (1905 - 1938), commonly known as Saint Faustina, born Helena Kowalska was a Polish nun, mystic and visionary. She is known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy.

 This 12' x 12" quilt block represents the rays of divine mercy emanating from the heart of Jesus. It is a fairly easy block to construct and could easily be a repeated block to create a whole quilt in honor of Divine Mercy.

To download the free pattern please visit: Quilt Block in Honor of Divine Mercy and St. Faustina

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, S.C., (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church (September 14, 1975). She established the first Catholic school in the nation, at Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she founded the first American congregation of Religious Sisters, the Sisters of Charity.

This 12" x 12" quilt block features a school in honor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's founding of the first Catholic School in the United States. This would make a great quilt block for your favorite teacher!

You can download the free pattern here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Clare

St. Clare of Assisi (July 16, 1194 – August 11, 1253), born was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life—the first monastic rule known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares.

St. Clare is often pictured with a monstrance because when her abbey was under attack she carried the Eucharist to the gates and prayed for protection. The abbey was spared.

This 12" x 12" quilt block is designed to look like a golden monstrance with the Eucharist in the center. If I were a better seamstress, I would have appliqued a circle for the Eucharist into the center. This is certainly an option for those of you more skilled than I. The brown field is representative of the Franciscan order.

This block would make a great repeating pattern.

Please download the free pattern here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Clare

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Anne

St. Anne is one of my favorite saints. I pray to her every day to help me in my parenting and in my writing. She was the mother of Mary and the grandmother of Jesus. She is often symbolized by a book because she was Mary's first teacher. She is also frequently symbolized by a lily because of the purity of her daughter.

In this 12" x 12" quilt block, I have combined these symbols. I have incorporated two lilies along with a book. I have also used a blue field in honor of Mary, and used purple for the book in honor of Jesus.

To download the free pattern for this block: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Anne

A Rosary Quilt

Here is a link to a quilt project (along with curriculum materials) designed to help children learn more about the rosary: A Rosary Quilt

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Brigid of Ireland

St. Brigid of Ireland is one of Ireland's patron saints, along with St. Patrick and St. Columba. Living in the 5th and 6th centuries, she was an Irish nun who founded several monasteries, including the one at Kildare with which she is most associated.

This 12" x 12" quilt block is based on the symbol of St. Brigid's Cross. It is an easy pattern -consisting of all straight pieces. To download the free pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Brigid

My First Request for a Block

I had my first request for a quilt block today - St. Gertrude of Nivelles, who is the patron saint of cats. I'll have to give this some thought, but I will get to it!

Thanks for the request.

Quilt Block in Honor of St. Therese

 St. Therese of Lisieux (1873 - 1897) has always been one of my favorite saints. My sister was named after her and my mother always considered her both of our patron saints. I first read her autobiography Story of a Soul when I was eight or nine years old and have read it several times since. Each time, I garner some new perspective on life and living her little way.

St. Therese said "I will let fall a shower of roses. I will spend my heaven, doing good on earth." In art, she is often portrayed with a cross and roses so for this 12' x 12" quilt block I have a cross set on the diagonal, with four roses emanating from the center.


 

This block would make a lovely repeating pattern for a quilt. If one wished, one could alternate the color of the roses, the cross, or the background to add some additional contrast or visual interest.

To download the free pattern, please click here: Quilt Block in Honor of St. Therese

Quilt in Honor of Blessed Miguel Pro

I was searching online tonight and came across this quilt made in honor of Blessed Miguel Pro: http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/pro/pro_quilt.html

It makes use of photos transferred onto cloth and then integrated into the quilt.

Quilt Block in Honor of Our Blessed Mother

I am making this quilt for a little girl, so I will be focusing on female saints to start with. What better saint to start with than a quilt block in honor of our Blessed Mother. The lily is a symbol of Mary because of her purity and the color blue has always been associated with Mary. (Perhaps later on, I will design other blocks with other flowers that are symbols of Mary - so that one could create a Mary Garden quilt, but I need to tackle one project at a time!)

This block is 12" x 12" and is a patchwork block. One could also choose to create the whole block on a blue field and applique the flower pieces. If you were to create a whole quilt featuring this block, I would suggest varying the blue in the field - a lighter blue on some blocks in order to create greater visual interest.

To download this free pattern, including all pattern pieces: Quilt Block in Honor of Our Blessed Mother

Welcome!

This blog is a new work in progress. I've been quilting for many years, and I was recently inspired by the Women of Courage quilt project. That quilt honors several famous women (including Blessed Mother Teresa) with quilt blocks designed in their honor. Well, if Mother Teresa can have a quilt block, why not other saints?

I've been working on designing several blocks and am eager to share them. I'll start posting more as soon as I can! I hope that you are as excited about this project as I am. Please subscribe to this page so that you can get updates as soon as they become available. Thank you!