Category Archives: quilt block
Gardening Gnomes
Gardening is such a popular pastime. I am almost as passionate about gardening as I am for paper piecing.
My sweet customer Trish, requested some gardening gnomes.
Trish particularly wanted a girl gnome with braids.
This gnome helps me water the flowers.
I use my blocks for all sorts of projects…
I designed this vest for a sewing competition. Kind of quirky and whimsical! Next I am using the garden gnomes on some pillows for a gift.
The 3 day sewing competition is called TOP STITCH and was held in Ripon, Wisconsin. There were 4 of us competing, sewing a different challenge every day. The first day we created umbrellas…
Our second challenge was a lampshade…
Can you guess which lampshade is mine??? Here’s a hint…it’s the paper pieced one!
The best thing about the competition was meeting 3 new wonderful friends. Jill’s company, June Tailor, is having a huge WAREHOUSE SALE in West Bend next week. She invited me to be a vendor.
I will be vending on Thursday and Friday, August 26 and 27 at this awesome fabric and notions sale in West Bend, Wisconsin.
If you are wondering who won the TOP STITCH competition…it wasn’t me! But I will keep the names of the winners a surprise, as you can watch the video on Creative Spark soon.
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.
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 🙂
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.
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!
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!
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?
You can get both patterns as a set, plus the directions to sew these cute as can be potholders.
Or get the paper pieced block patterns separately. Here’s the “Dinker”, which is a short shot.
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…
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.
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.
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…
Larisa created her loons for a lap quilt. Who doesn’t love loons!
CHICKADEE #1 and CHICKADEE #2 were both designed at the request of a customer.
These 2 cuties remind me of Spring.
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.
Plus here is an adorable SIAMESE KITTEN…
This is my first quilt design with cats, 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.
After seeing how my customers responded to this design, I knew I needed to create a quilt with all 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.
Plus I have a nice assortment of HALLOWEEN CATS.
This CUTE KITTY is sold as a block pattern, and is super easy for beginners.
And finally one of my favorites…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…
Here is one of my newer Gnomes Blocks. The EASTER BUNNY GNOME BLOCK would make adorable potholders or a pillow.
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?
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!
Foxy Valentine
My Foxy Valentine paper pieced block is featured in the January/February issue of QUILTMAKER magazine.
This Foxy block pattern is only available in the Quiltmaker magazine at this time.
I’ve included a pillow pattern in the magazine, too. I have my Foxy Valentine pillow on my sofa this month.
Here are some other cute Valentine patterns.
These 2 block patterns are in my newest book PAPER PIECING ALL YEAR ROUND. I’m using them in my hanging towels. This project is included in the book, as well as many more home decor patterns.
LOAD OF LOVE is an adorable block. Surprise your favorite “truck lover” with this special valentine.
The EYE LOVE U PUPPY block is cute as can be! I’d love to see the projects you make from this block.
Here’s a sweet puppy holding a valentine, BE MINE PUPPY. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner… what will you create?
Gnomes for MORE Seasons…
So many customers are asking for more GNOMES. If you are looking for a paper pieced gnome for every month of the year, you can pick and choose the 12 you like the most to make your gnome quilt….choose a Gnome for every month. Here are some of my newest gnomes.
For the EASTER BUNNY GNOME I lucked out and found a scrap of this great basket weave fabric. The most fun was finding some adorable Easter egg buttons from Hobby Lobby to fill my basket. Click on HOBBY LOBBY if you want to find the same eggs. These buttons were actually in the craft department by the scrapbooking supplies. But you could hot glue or sew anything in the basket…tiny buttons, small flowers, or a mini chick! This gnome would be great for the month of April.
The GNOME WITH PUMPKIN would work nicely for October or November.
The WEENIE ROAST BLOCK is the first in a series of new CAMPING GNOMES. I’m having so much fun with these blocks.
The GNOME IN CANOE block pattern is the second in my CAMPING GNOMES series. I’ll be making more of these designs, and would love some input for more ideas for these cute campers! Please email me at maryannhertel@gmail.com with your thoughts.