Category Archives: Quilts with Animals

Koala’s Anyone?

The Koala quilt from my newest book, HOME SWEET HOME PAPER PIECING, is being featured in Homespun Magazine’s February/March 2024 issue.

This charming little quilt combines paper piecing and applique to create a ” juvenile jungle” for your child. This Koala is one of many adorable animal patterns in the book.

Sea turtles, hedgehogs, monkeys and much more….

I’m in love with this sweet sea turtle. All square blocks measure 8″ x 8″ unfinished, and can be used in every project in this book, as well as my previous 6 books. This means you can be super creative!

There are also rectangular blocks which measure 8″ x 15 1/2″ unfinished, like this cute and clever tote bag…

What a great tote for the beach, or even a diaper bag!

You can find this issue of Homespun to buy from news stands now, or online.

If you are new to paper piecing, HOME SWEET HOME PAPER PIECING has step by step directions to help you on your way to sewing images for lovely quilts, pillows, table runners, and more.

Farmhouse Animals with Flowers

My newest table runner has 4 adorable paper pieced farm animals wearing flower wreaths.

My FARMHOUSE TABLE RUNNER pattern has all 4 animals included and the directions to make the extra long farmhouse ruffle. This table runner has no quilt batting. Instead I used fusible T-shirt interfacing to keep the table runner nice and thin and flexible.

All of the block patterns are also sold separately. BUNNY WITH FLOWERS.

HORSE WITH FLOWERS
CAT WITH FLOWERS
PIG WITH FLOWERS

These blocks also make lovely pillows…

Although the pillow directions are not included in the pattern, they are available in my book: SEW CUTE AND CLEVER FARM AND FOREST ANIMALS.

I’m always interested in hearing what paper pieced images you are looking for….please comment below with more ideas for future patterns.

A DOG FOR ALL SEASONS

Everyone knows how much I love to design animal patterns. Here is my newest paper pieced pattern, A DOG FOR ALL SEASONS.

A DOG FOR ALL SEASONS

This adorable pattern includes all 4 blocks, LABRADOR WITH BUTTERFLY (spring); BEAGLE WITH FLOWER (summer); RETRIEVER WITH PUMPKIN (autumn); FRENCH BULLDOG WITH SCARF (winter). Use them to create pillows, potholders, or a lovely table runner for the dog lover in your life. You can keep these projects out all year!

LABRADOR WITH BUTTERFLY

Although they are all super cute, I am partial to this LABRADOR! He’s my fave. All of the block patterns are also available separately.

BEAGLE WITH FLOWER
RETRIEVER WITH PUMPKIN
FRENCH BULLDOG WITH SCARF

Which dog is your favorite? Any of these cuties would look super in my DOGS ONLY QUILT, too!

DOGS ONLY QUILT PATTERN

HOME SWEET HOME PAPER PIECING

My newest book, HOME SWEET HOME PAPER PIECING, is ready for you to enjoy.

This book features 17 of my FAVORITE BLOCK PATTERNS, and I want to share them with you. Koalas, monkeys, sea turtles, gnomes, and so much more.

This is just a sampling of the adorable blocks, and there are 10 more!

Remember…all of my blocks will fit not only in the 7 projects in this book, but will also fit into the projects in my past 6 books. That helps you achieve soooo much creativity in your sewing.

Here’s an example…

This super cute HEDGEHOG PILLOWCASE pattern comes with the book, but here is a baby penguin quilt pattern from my SEW CUTE BABY ANIMALS book.

Using this same pattern, I am substituting the Hedgehog blocks instead of the Penguins. How sweet is that! Here is my finished HEDGEHOG BABY QUILT. You will find everything you need to create this baby quilt in my books, as well as a paper piecing tutorial. I am using minky fabric for the background. So soft and cuddly.

Wrap it up with a stuffed hedgehog and you will RULE at the baby shower!

Order your copy of HOME SWEET HOME today!

Sew Cute Baby Animals Book

Is there a special child in your life? Mine too! Actually, quite a few of them, and I love to sew cute gifts for all of them! That’s why I created my newest book, SEW CUTE BABY ANIMALS.

SEW CUTE BABY ANIMALS

With 17 adorable mix and match baby animal images and 6 fun projects, this book will provide you lots of reasons to be creative.

Child Sized Quilt

Patterns for baby quilts, a diaper tote, catch-all container, bib, and burp cloth are all included.

Diaper Tote

Here are just a few of the cutest baby animals ever…all paper pieced, but using NO buttons for the eyes. Everything is fabric, so no chokeables for baby.

You will find farm animals and pets…

Jungle animals…

And more…

I hope you LOVE this book as much as I do!

Don’t forget that these 17 blocks will fit into the patterns from my other books, as well. SEW CUTE BABY ANIMALS book can be found in my ETSY SHOP today!

Some Holiday Projects

I am always asking my customers to send photos of the things they create using my patterns. Today I am sharing some of my favorite photos.

This adorable wall hanging was sewn by Carol Cheesman using LUMBERJACK GNOME, SANTA GNOME, and GNOME WITH GIFTS.

Elise Brasseale made these cute little mug rugs using the elf from SEW YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, and GNOME WITH LANTERN.

Crafty Judy Miniclier created this adorable GNOME QUILT, using assorted GNOMES FROM MY SHOP. Beautiful!

These Christmas blocks were shared by Joyce Albers. She is creating a holiday quilt. She used HO HO HO SANTA, CARDINAL, ICE SKATE, and EASY ICE SKATE.

Joyce Olson created this super cute CAMPING QUILT, using a variety of my patterns plus my CAMPING BLOCKS.

Maridee Hargis made my SNOWMAN GNOME block into a potholder.

I just want to kiss this little guy, LABRADOODLE BLOCK. Little mat sewn by Monique Covell.

And my last customer project for today is from Mary Edholm, sewing this sweet UNICORN PILLOW, using my UNICORN BLOCK.

HOLIDAY GOLDEN RETRIEVER
HOLIDAY FRENCH BULLDOG
HOLIDAY DACHSHUND

I am making these 3 holiday dogs for some Xmas pillows…HOLIDAY GOLDEN RETRIEVER, HOLIDAY FRENCH BULLDOG, and HOLIDAY DACHSHUND.

Happy sewing!

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.

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

Foxy Valentine

My Foxy Valentine paper pieced block is featured in the January/February issue of QUILTMAKER magazine.

FOXY VALENTINE

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.

VALENTINE BLOCK I
VALENTINE BLOCK II

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.

LOAD OF LOVE
EYE LOVE U PUPPY

The EYE LOVE U PUPPY block is cute as can be! I’d love to see the projects you make from this block.

BE MINE PUPPY

Here’s a sweet puppy holding a valentine, BE MINE PUPPY. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner… what will you create?

Paper Piecing All Year Round

My newest book, PAPER PIECING ALL YEAR ROUND, is ready for pre-sale from Amazon. I don’t even have a copy of it yet…that’s how new it is!

PAPER PIECING ALL YEAR ROUND

This book has something for everyone. I have designed 2 images for each month of the year… that means you will be getting 24 paper pieced block patterns, plus the patterns for 7 different projects. All blocks fit in all patterns in this book, as well as all of the projects in my previous 5 books.

TWO GNOMES

These 2 adorable Gnomes are the images for March. Here I have used them together in a pillow. Pillow pattern is included, as are all of the projects I show you in this post.

TWO PATRIOTIC PUPS

These 2 July puppies are shown in MINI QUILTS that work great on wire quilt stands, or even as wall hangings.

ACORN AND SQUIRREL

Lots of customers have been asking me for a Squirrel pattern, so I am including him in this book. These September POTHOLDERS can also be used as MINI QUILTS.

TURKEY 1

Here are 2 TURKEYS that would look great in your home for November!

DOGGIE BABY BIBS

Start whipping up some early Christmas gifts with these stinkin’ cute December dog blocks. So easy…you could make these in a day!

OCTOPUS AND CRAB

This BABY BLANKET whips together in no time. Use any 3 cute blocks of your choice and you are on your way to an adorable baby gift.

These super easy hand towels could be used in your kitchen or bathroom. Customize them with any 2 images from my book. Wouldn’t the Octopus and Crab also work great as bath towels?

As you can see, you are getting LOTS … with 24 paper pieced block patterns, and 7 project patterns! But just for fun, let’s add an extra FREE project pattern right here! Attach any of the Mini Quilts to the top of this CALENDAR HOLDER with a strip of Velcro. This will make the Mini Quilts interchangeable.

CALENDAR HOLDER

This Calendar Holder is 15″ wide and 28″ long.

Cut from main fabric: Cut one 15″ x 28″ rectangle. Cut one 15″ x 25″ rectangle for pocket (to be folded in half). Cut two 2 1/2″ x WOF strips for binding.

Cut from muslin: Cut one 15″ x 28″ rectangle for backing.

Cut from fusible fleece: Cut one 15″ x 28″ rectangle for main body. Cut one 15″ x 12 1/2″ for pocket.

Cut from Fast 2 Fuse Interfacing, Heavy: Cut two 2″ x 15″ strips. Cut one 4″ x 15″ strip.

  1. Fuse the fusible fleece to the wrong side of the 15″ x 28″ main body using a pressing cloth. Fuse one of the 2″ x 15″ Fast 2 Fuse strips to the wrong side of the main body, at the top. Fuse the 4″ x 15″ Fast 2 Fuse strip to the center. Pin the muslin to the back of the main body. Top stitch approximately 1/4″ from the edges of all Fast 2 Fuse pieces through all layers, to keep them in place.
  2. Pocket: Fuse the 12 1/2″ x 15″ fusible fleece to the wrong side of the pocket, at the bottom. Fuse the remaining 2″ x 15″ Fast 2 Fuse strip overlapping the top of the fusible fleece. this will give extra strength to the top of the pocket. Fold the remainder of the fabric to the back of the pocket for lining. Top stitch 1/4″ from the edges of the Fast 2 Fuse strip to keep it in place.
  3. Pin the pocket at the bottom of the main body, matching the bottom corners and the raw edges. Prepare the 2 strips of binding. Bind around the 4 sides of the calendar holder, catching the pocket as you stitch.
  4. Hand sew a hanging pocket to the back, or hang as desired.
  5. Slide a piece of cardboard into the pocket, then slide in the calendar. I used a calendar from the Dollar Store, which came with the a piece of cardboard.
  6. Machine stitch a 10″ strip of velcro 1″ from the top of the Calendar holder, on the right side.
  7. Hand stitch a strip of Velcro to the back of any of the Mini Quilts to hang at the top of your Calendar Holder.