Category Archives: paper piece

November Paper Piecing

I’m excited to be on the cover of the 2021 QUILTMAKER magazine, November/December issue. Those are my cute sledding Penguins on the cover.

PENGUIN MUG RUGS

These blocks are as fun to paper piece as they look!

PENGUIN PLAYTIME

The wonderful editors at Golden Peak Media have been so awesome to work with, and are always looking for clever quilting ideas for their magazines. I am so lucky to be in a second magazine this month…

McCall’s Quilting

My GNOME APRON is in the 2021 McCall’s Quilting November/December issue.

GNOME APRON

You know how much I love my Gnomies. This holiday apron is adorable, and so easy to make. I wear my apron when I give lectures for Quilt Guilds! It’s a crowd pleaser.

Speaking of Gnomes…here are my newest Gnome additions for November…

THANKSGIVING GNOME

THANKSGIVING GNOME is holding his Indian corn. The best fun is finding just the right fabric for the corn cobs.

BEER DRINKING GNOME

I am not a huge beer drinker, but this BEER DRINKING GNOME was created as a special request from a customer, and it is quite popular!

GNOME WITH A LIGHTHOUSE

GNOME WITH A LIGHTHOUSE was designed for my brother-in-law who collects lighthouses.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving…life is good. Enjoy!

Even MORE Halloween Fun!

I’ve had so much fun all month designing Halloween Gnomes. I know how much you love paper pieced gnomes, and so do I! After finishing 12 new Halloween blocks, I have put them into my latest quilt pattern.

BOO CREW GNOME QUILT

I’m loving all of these Gnomes, but here are some of my favorites…

The SO FRANKEN CUTE GNOME has a tiny little spider made from a button with French Knot eyes. Adorps!

The WITCH’S BREW GNOME is mixing her favorite concoction in her cauldron….TOO FUN!

Here is BOO 2 GNOME. He’s one of my faves!

JACK O’LANTERN GNOME couldn’t be any cuter. I love the white tooth!

BLACK CAT GNOME was the most fun to piece! But I honestly love them all. All 12 Halloween blocks are also available sold separately for your smaller holiday projects.

I would like to thank all of my friends and customers who participated in this year’s Row-Along. The winner of my FREE GNOME WITH BIG CATCH block pattern is Sue Holman. Congrats!

More Halloween Fun…Gotta Love It!

Your response to my latest Halloween paper pieced blocks was so overwhelming that guess what? I designed more! Let’s get as much Halloween as possible!

The WITCH GNOME WITH SPIDER is cute, cute, cute! Maybe use this witch gnome with my other WITCH BLOCKS to make a table runner or quilt?

This little gnome is holding the biggest candy corn ever! CANDY CORN GNOME is stinkin’ cute!

FROG MAGIC

FROG MAGIC is a witchy little frog. I’m planning a super cool pillow with this little guy! Aren’t frogs just the best?

Look at this adorable Spider Pillow created by Connie, using my SPOOKY SPIDER BLOCK.

SPOOKY SPIDER

You can purchase just my SPIDER BLOCK HERE, or If you want to make a Spider Pillow just like Connie’s, you can order Connie’s kit by going to OCTOBER 31 PILLOW KIT. The kit will include the Spider pattern.

That’s all for now…but we still have lots of time before Halloween 2021, so stay tuned for even more Halloween fun!

HALLOWEEN GNOME BLOCKS

My favorite holiday is approaching! I’m excited to use these brand new Halloween paper pieced block patterns in some projects. Which is your favorite?

BOO GNOME

Wouldn’t an entire Halloween Quilt be great? Here are more Halloween paper pieced blocks that could be added…

This spooky quilt was put together by my customer Donna. She did an awesome job using my collection of Halloween blocks. All of these block patterns, as well as all of the gnome blocks can be found at ETSY.

Just a Few Days Left!

Our Christmas Pattern Bundle ends on Friday. It has everything you need to get a GOOD HEAD START this year! With quilts, tree skirt, ornament, stocking, mini quilts (perfect for quick decorations) this bundle of 13 patterns by 13 designers will help you get sewing and inspired to get done sooner than Christmas eve. Thirteen Christmas patterns for $19.99, for a limited time – available for 5 days only, July 5-9, 2021!

This is a short 5 day sale.  After this date, the product will not be available for purchase any longer. So, —if you snooze you lose.

You’ll love the patterns, which include paper piecing, traditional piecing and a little bit of embroidery. Something for any level of quilter.  From beginner to advanced. You’ll love showing off your skills with these fun gifts you can sew! 

And, maybe you’ll just sew them for yourself.  That’s all right too. 

To check out the patterns AND the DESIGNERS — GO HERE!

These are our 13 designers…find them on Instagram here…

@hemandbind

@craftmoore

@MeadowMistDesigns

@thesewingloft

@piecedjustsew

@simplesimonandco

@AmyBarickman_studio

@krisdriessen

@bonjour_quilts

@quiltingjetgirl

@orangeblossomquilt

@madebymarney 

@patchwork_posse 

@iaquilters

Pond Critters and other Summery Stuff

My garden is calling me… and I’m enjoying sunny days in my yard. Here’s my “SucculentTurtle”. I left him out in the snow all winter and about half of the hen and chicks survived the Wisconsin cold.

When a customer asked me to design some “pond creatures”, a turtle was a must.

POND COLLECTION

Paper piecing a fantastic turtle is all about the fabric you can find for the turtle’s shell. I just happened to have this scrap left from a previous project, and it is perfect for a turtle done completely in cool colors. I have no recollection of the fabric company, but if you recognize it, please share with me as I’m sure someone will ask 🙂

POND COLLECTION

My customer specifically wanted a block with a DRAGONFLY and cattails. Here’s the complete collection, sold as a set of 4 paper pieced blocks.

POND COLLECTION

Since these patterns have some small pieces, I would recommend them for an intermediate or experienced paper piecer. The TURTLE is the easiest of the 4.

Here are some of my customers beautiful projects…I’m so proud of them!

PAPER PIECED DOGS

This is Terry’s first ever paper piecing project…all the dogs are my patterns except for that cute poodle in the bottom row!

Penny paper pieced all of my horse patterns from HAY GIRL. Penny’s grandaughter will love this gift on her 7th birthday. The large horse in the center is not my pattern… but is gorgeous!

UNICORN BLOCK

This UNICORN BLOCK is one of my most popular pattern blocks, and Mary made the cutest pillow for her 4 year old grandaughter. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, of course!

Keep emailing your photos! I love seeing what you are creating with my patterns.

PICKLEBALL LOVER

As summer approaches, I am anticipating playing my newest passion in the park, Pickleball. All winter I have beaten the blues by socializing with 8 friends at indoor pickleball, while wearing masks.

I even sewed matching “pickle masks” for our teams. But I can’t wait to get back outside and play at some of the local courts in our city parks.

So when my son Brady suggested I create a Pickleball Gnome, I knew he was absolutely right. How had I forgotten to make a gnome doing my favorite sport?

Pickleball Gnome Potholders

You can get both patterns as a set, plus the directions to sew these cute as can be potholders.

Pickleball Gnome Dinker

Or get the paper pieced block patterns separately. Here’s the “Dinker”, which is a short shot.

Pickleball Gnome Slammer

And here’s the Pickleball Slammer, which is my favorite shot!

I’d love to hear from any other pickleball enthusiasts! What are you doing to promote pickleball? Where do you love to play? I’m in Wisconsin, so we are limited in winter to a tennis center or YMCA.

Loons

I’m having fun designing new bird patterns…

LOON ON THE LAKE #2

Finding the right fabrics is always the key. The water fabric is perfect, don’t you agree? And the wonky black and white hashtag makes a super cute loon fabric! LOON ON THE LAKE #2 and LOON ON THE LAKE #3 are both brand new designs.

LOON ON THE LAKE #3

Here’s a loon I already had in my collection of FOWL FRIENDS. I’m planning to put all 3 of these loons together for a table runner for my cabin. We have a pair of loons that return to our lake in northern Wisconsin every year.

LOON ON THE LAKE

Those loons were my inspiration for designing this quilt pattern. I wanted to make a collection of water loving birds.

Here are some creations that my customers have made from my first loon pattern…

Barb made her loon for a challenge quilt.
Here’s her finished challenge quilt…awesome!

Larisa created her loons for a lap quilt. Who doesn’t love loons!

CHICKADEE #2

CHICKADEE #1 and CHICKADEE #2 were both designed at the request of a customer.

CHICKADEE #1

These 2 cuties remind me of Spring.

BIRDS AND BLOOMS

I Love Kitty Kats

My customers have been requesting more paper pieced cat patterns, and I am super happy to oblige. Here is a new SIAMESE CAT pattern.

SIAMESE CAT

Plus here is an adorable SIAMESE KITTEN

SIAMESE KITTEN

This is my first quilt design with cats, CATS N DOGS.

CATS N DOGS

This quilt has 6 Cats and 6 Dogs. All of the cats are super easy, which makes this a great design for beginner paper piecers.

SCAREDY CAT

After seeing how my customers responded to this design, I knew I needed to create a quilt with all cats.

CRAZY CATS

One of these cat patterns was used by my sweet customer Pam, who is teaching paper piece. Such a wonderful skill to develop fine motor coordination.

The cat was created by Jess, a mother of 5. This is her first attempt at paper piecing. Didn’t she do a great job? Sewing has been a stress reliever and time out just for her. I love that she used different sized buttons for the eyes!

This is a quilt from my CATS N DOGS pattern, created by a customer. Love the color scheme they used.

And this quilt created by Bobbi…such great fabrics! This would be great in a nursery…all the young mothers I know are crazy about gray in their nurseries!

The CHRISTMAS CATS pattern has 4 super cute kitties in holiday garb. Look how cute they look when used in this table runner.

CHRISTMAS CATS

Plus I have a nice assortment of HALLOWEEN CATS.

This CUTE KITTY is sold as a block pattern, and is super easy for beginners.

CUTE KITTY

And finally one of my favorites…THREE CATS AND ONE DOG WITH A BONE.

THREE CATS AND ONE DOG WITH A BONE

I will keep working on more cat patterns…thanks for being such an inspiration.

Hippity Hoppity, Easter’s On It’s Way

If you are looking for some quick Easter projects, you might enjoy these paper pieced blocks…

EASTER BUNNY GNOME

Here is one of my newer Gnomes Blocks. The EASTER BUNNY GNOME BLOCK would make adorable potholders or a pillow.

EASTER PATTERNS

The EASTER TABLE RUNNER PATTERN has 6 blocks of bunnies and chicks. I have these potholders hanging in my kitchen right now!

These projects were created by Marilyn using the above pattern. Great job!

HAPPY EASTER BUNNY AND DUCKY POTHOLDERS are super cute, and can be used in other projects, too.

Didn’t Lisa do a wonderful job making this Easter table runner using the HAPPY EASTER BUNNY BLOCK?

EASTER BUNNY 2

Edith used my EASTER BUNNY 2 BLOCK to make this adorable Easter tote. I love seeing what you are making with my patterns. Please share your photos!

Happy Easter to all!