North Pole show and tell…

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Diane Pfeifley wrote to say: “After I made Whoville for my niece, I decided that I wanted a Santa village for myself. It’s all needle turn appliqué, hand quilted, and embellished to death. I searched and collected fun, little things for several years. Then I decided to try beading. I hadn’t done any beading before. Well, if a little beading is good… a lot of beading is better! I’ve had so much fun using your North Pole patterns. Thanks for a wonderfully fun bunch of patterns.”

Is this not the cutest quilt ever?! I love the way she mixed and matched the houses from Welcome to the North Pole over the face of this quilt. I wanted to see details and Diane kindly took and shared more photos…

Daine also said: “I also forgot to mention that I used trapunto for the snow banks. First try at that too. If you can’t experiment on yourself where can you experiment?” So very true.

Every part of this makes me grin! Thank you, Diane, for sharing your fantastic quilt!

Wednesday Giveaway

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Janet Young is this week’s winner! She will receive these two scissor charms that are seasonal-ish… red and green and a penguin! One is on a chain and one on a cord and both are both cute and functional.

Shop for all sorts of sewing notions, books, and other fun stuff at pieceocake.com!

Show and tell…

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Jackie Madison emailed to say that she finally finished quilting her Pick up Sticks quilt made during the class I taught 2 years ago in Plymouth, MN! Isn’t it wonderful! Her quilt is the first I’ve seen in this grape/raspberry color combo and it works really well.

The instructions for this quilt are in my book, A Quilter’s Practical Guide to Color. It isn’t a straight-up cut-flip-and-sew pattern—there are some important cutting instructions that enhance the ‘explosive’ movement.

Thank you, Jackie, for sharing your finished quilt!

The Mysterious Challenge Quilts

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As I wrote in previous posts, my friend Susan Allen, and I challenged each other make a quilt that began with pieces of the same 40+ fabrics. We made and traded five 9″x9″, ten 6″x6″, and twenty 3″x3″ blocks. Actually, we made twice that many blocks because we each kept a set of our own. I designed an 18″x18″ applique block. Click here for the free applique pattern.

Our Mysterious Challenge Retreat started Monday morning. Susan and I both had a plan and we got to work. This is where I was Monday morning at 9:00AM.

I had made strips of 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ finished squares before I left home and that saved time.

By Monday night at 11PM I had the top finished! The tables are in the way, and the quilt itself is really lighter, but there you go.

There isn’t a pattern for this quilt but it is a medallion quilt. Here are the finished sizes of each row out from the center. A big part of the challenge is deciding what blocks you want to make.

  • 18″ Center medallion
  • 3″x3″ blocks
  • 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ squares
  • 9″x9″ blocks
  • 1 1/2″x1 1/2″ squares
  • 6″x6″ squares

Susan’s vision was to put the applique block off-center and surround it with movement and color.

I think it’s fascinating to see them together. There is no one right way to make a quilt. We each have to follow our own instincts.

On Tuesday I turned my attention to another project, making pillows from a couple of my mom’s favorite garments. One pillow is going to Carla, who was a good friend, and one to Bear.

And then I came down with a cold and sinus infection that put me in bed until today. If it had to happen, I think that was pretty good timing.

Wednesday Giveaway

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Ethel Campbell is this week’s winner. She will receive a Cuticle Intensive stick from Lolo. Lightly apply Cuticle Intensive to dry cuticles, rub it in, or not. Your cracked, dry cuticles are going to look great in a very short time. It is especially nice at this time of year.

Shop for all sorts of sewing notions, books, and other fun stuff at pieceocake.com!

Show and tell…

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My friend, Margaret Thompson, wrote to say that she finally finished these two unicorn quilts.
She made them for Emma and Elle, two young girls close to her heart.

Aren’t they great!

Margaret started these two quilts in an independent study class I taught at Empty Spools. She knew what she wanted to make and she made them! Margaret is a finisher, even when work-life slows down her quilting life. I’m happy for you, Margaret, because I know how happy this makes you :-). Well done and thank you for sharing!

The quilts are boxed and on their way to their new home. It’s magic in a box.