Shelley created this adorable table topper using 8 of my blocks. I have posted her sweet table topper once before, but couldn’t resist sharing again. She was just getting ready to bind this baby, and put it out for Halloween.
Lynne created this funky table runner. I am enjoying her fabric choices! I’d love to see what you are creating for Halloween.
To see all of my Halloween blocks, visit my Etsy or Craftsy shops.
Often, my customers like to substitute different animal blocks in my patterns to get a more unique quilt. Here are 2 new paper pieced blocks that would work well in my Forest Friends quilt pattern.
This friendly Brown Bear is an 8″x 8″ unfinished block. Most of my paper pieced blocks are this size and can be mixed and matched into any of my patterns.
This Fawn would make a cute addition as well. I designed the fawn after finding a newborn fawn curled under a tree in my yard at the cabin. It was resting there for the day, and was later reunited with it’s mother.
So adorable! It laid in this position all day, never moving. Mother deer came in the night to gather her offspring and move on.
It’s always fun to be creative and make your own composition using the animals of your choice. Are there any other woodland animals that you would like to see in this quilt?
Growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin has instilled a life long love of animals. The “Farmyard Stars” quilt was motivated by all my lovely memories of animals and pets that we saw on our farm every day.
I love everything about this design. The animals are bold and bright with whimsical expressions. The black and white border presents a calming, yet quirky frame to the colorful animals. The animal sounds were machine embroidered in the sashing, but could also be satin stitched, appliqued, or skipped altogether.
I have a hard time choosing my favorite animal, but “Demi Moo” the cow is right up near the top. Remember, these are farmyard STARS, so each is named after a celebrity.
Here’s “Kitty Purry” the cat.
“Pig-Casso” the pig…
“Lady Baa Baa” the sheep…
And, another one of my favorites, “Pony Danza” the horse. Love those teeth! I have designed lots of horses, but he is precious.
To see the names of the other animals you will have to check out the pattern at Etsy or Craftsy.
One of my favorite quilt shops, Keep Me In Stitches, is showcasing my latest, newest paper piecing designs now through April 30. Visit Jacqi in Appleton to see samples of my newest creations.
Homeward Bound is a great quilt for Quilts Of Valor projects. It incorporates paper piecing, applique, and piecing all in one project. What a great way to use up red and cream scraps.
I love this paper pieced eagle. He is made from 2 square paper pieced blocks.
3 Cats And 1 Dog With A Bone is one of my newest whimsical table runners. This is so much fun to make! I love a pattern where all the blocks are different.
This dog is goofy but loveable.
I always love a calico cat!
See these projects and more at my Keep Me in Stitches trunk show now through April 30. You will be amazed with all of Jacqi’s adorable fabrics. I never walk out of this shop without a new treasure to add to my stash.
Thanks for all the “water bird” suggestions you shared with me this week. I was inspired to create enough blocks to put together a lap quilt.
This Flamingo will measure 8″ wide by 16 1/2″ high, unfinished. I decided not to limit myself to just birds from the northwoods of Wisconsin. Since I adore flamingos, I had to include 1 in my collection of water birds.
This Heron also measures 8″ wide by 16 1/2″ high, unfinished. I like to have an assortment of block sizes, not all square.
The Pelican measures 8″x 8″ square. We actually get pelicans in Oshkosh during the summer!
Here’s my mock up for the lap quilt. I plan to use a 1 1/2″ wide sashing, but not sure what color fabric to use. Actually, the white isn’t too bad…any suggestions? Do you think I should limit this quilt to ONLY water birds from Wisconsin? I love getting your input
A few weeks back, I designed this LOON ON THE LAKE paper piecing pattern.
Every year 2 loons inhabit the lake near my cabin in upper Wisconsin. I love to listen to them singing at night.
I liked my loon block so much that I decided to design more “birds on the lake”. This is SWAN ON THE LAKE. The dragonflies add some depth to the block.
GOOSE ON THE LAKE reminds me of all the Canada Geese that come to visit in the fall.
And finally MALLARD ON THE LAKE. It’s always exciting to see my first mallard of Spring.
I haven’t actually used my blocks in any projects. I plan to make a set of pillows for my cabin. I would also like to add more birds to this collection so I could complete a full quilt. I am working on a PELICAN right now. Can you help me think of any other “water birds”? They don’t have to be specifically northwoods. Which is your favorite block?
Once again, my sweet customers have steered me in a fun direction. “Unicorns” keep popping up in conversations and so many people want them for pillows and quilts.
Here is my Unicorn Block that measures 8″x 8″ square and is perfect for a pillow, as pictured below.
I love the 1 block version because its fast, but I also wanted a full body unicorn.
This Large Unicorn is constructed with 6 blocks and measures 15″ wide x 22.5″ high. My intention is to use this unit in the center of a quilt and add some borders. I haven’t gotten around to doing a complete quilt pattern yet, but I can envision some paper pieced butterflies as cornerstones. How would you complete this unicorn into a quilt?
“Watercolor” by Moda inspired me to make the unicorn mane very colorful. This is a lovely fabric line and comes in scrumptious colors.
For the horn, I stitched some stripes with silver metallic embroidery floss, but a fun striped fabric could work, too.
I also want to share a photo from Edith of a cute tote she designed using my Easter Bunny 2 Block.
She did a great job! Keep your photos coming. It inspires me to see what you are doing with my patterns.
Easter is just around the corner. Per my friend Marilyn’s advice…I have been designing lots of Easter blocks.
My Easter blocks measure 8″x 8″ unfinished and can be used in table runners, potholders, gift sacks, pillows, or even quilts. This photo was shared from Marilyn who used my patterns to teach a class on paper piecing.
The bunny and chick blocks can be purchased as a total pattern: Easter Table Runnerand Potholders. Some of these blocks are also available for single block purchase.My Happy Easter Bunny and Happy Easter Ducky are another popular set of Easter blocks. Find a really cute fabric to use for the egg, and you are all set!
Isn’t this table runner adorable? Lisa England used my Happy Easter Bunny pattern and made the cutest Easter runner ever!
If you are into Easter Bonnets, this is the block for you.
And here’s a block to make your mouth water…Chocolate Bunny.
Here’s a real simple block, Easter Egg. Find a cute striped fabric to make this super easy pattern.
These “gold coins” are actually fabric yo yos, but could also be gold buttons.
One of my sweet customers shared this photo of a Leprechaun table runner, using my blocks. This is adorable. I love to post my customer’s creations using my pattern blocks, so please share your photos at: maryannhertel@gmail.com
This is the time of year that I miss watching my team play football every week. If my favorite team does not make the playoffs, January is a very gloomy time of year.
I designed this paper pieced pillowcase for my favorite team, the Green Bay Packers. But, since I love football in general, I didn’t want to omit other fans favorite teams. I went on to design these pillowcase patterns so other fans could have fun paper piecing, too.
Minnesota Vikings will be the only team from the Central Division to advance to the playoffs…
Here are the other teams from my division for whom I have developed patterns; Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears. But, I have had requests from these fans as well.
I’ve been considering working up pillowcase patterns for this years top teams, but I am limited to a 6 letter per line format. This means that I can only fit 6 letters or spaces per line and am limited to 2 lines. Help me out with names for these teams…
New Orleans Saints: SAINTS WIN!
Atlanta Falcons: DIRTY BIRDS (but is this complimentary??? Please advise me, Falcon fans.)
New England Patriots: GO PATS
Los Angeles Rams: LOVE RAMS
Philadelphia Eagles: EAGLES SOAR
Carolina Panthers: GO CATS (not in love with this…but do you have anything better???)
If I have omitted your team, and you have a clever idea for their name, please share!
Donna just shared this Halloween quilt. Love it! Some of these 12 blocks are FREE. You can download the free Dracula and Frankenstein right here.
Count-Dracula-and-Frankenstein-MERGED.pdf (2138 downloads )
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Shelley created this adorable table topper using 8 of my blocks. I have posted her sweet table topper once before, but couldn’t resist sharing again. She was just getting ready to bind this baby, and put it out for Halloween.
Lynne created this funky table runner. I am enjoying her fabric choices! I’d love to see what you are creating for Halloween.
