Getting Started on the Pick a Color Challenge

I love creating something for the QuiltCon challenges every year. For 2027 (Atlanta), the Pick a Color challenge is calling my name. The concept is to use a single hue in the creation of your quilt and make it scrappy. 

I decided to go with all solids and chose the following from Painters Palette: Azure, Pale Aqua, Aruba, Bright Aqua, Cyan, Aquarius, Artesian, Poseidon, Turquoise, Gulf Stream, and Marine. The colors look pretty amazing together in person.

My idea is to play around with blocks that look like bubbles or arches. I tried a couple of different techniques but got the best results using a technique I use for inset circles. I am placing just a dab of Elmer's clear school glue, placing the shape on top and then pressing. 

Now, to try out some other color combinations.

You can read more about the challenge here on the QuiltCon page.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Quilt - The Jetsons (update 4)

I've collected 63 blocks from my wonderful bee mates. When I sent off my prompt, I really had no idea of what I might get in return. I selected the primary color and sent everyone a FQ and then a color palette pulled from the Jetsons!

Some blocks were to have the primary color surrounded. I received 26 of these blocks - 5 in pink, 9 in green/yellow, 8 in orange and 4 in blue.

The remaining blocks - there are 37 of them - were to have the primary color surround the shapes. There are 8 pink/purple, 13 green/yellow, 9 orange, and 7 blue.

I don't have a design wall big enough so I've been playing with different layout options on the floor. I only took a photo of a few of them and, frankly, they might not look all that different! But the one thing I am really thinking about is putting the blocks on point.

Hope to start sewing soon!

Read Jetsons update 1, update 2 and update 3.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Quilt - The Jetsons (update 3)

Top Row: @emilylangquilts, @sarahgoerquilts, @ellynz, @eacox24, and @scarf.mama

Bottom Row:  @southbaybella, @bysarahruiz, @elizabethkray, @feltlikesweets, and @jenngeorgeburt

The Jetson's was my prompt for my year 2 @unscriptedquiltsbee bee mates. Using a color palette from the series, I asked bee members to be inspired by shapes and make a simple block surrounded that shape with background fabric. (Think square-in-a-square but instead with an irregular shape.) Everyone was sent a FQ of Painter's Palette Lapis.

I've now collected all the blocks and I couldn't be happier. My bee mates did a fantastic job! I've got hair bows and ponytail curls and the edge of a lamp and George Jetson's nose! These are really fun and now it is time to play! My goal is to submit this quilt to QuiltCon so I'd better get going!

Read update 1 and update 2.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Blocks - July and August

I've been doing well getting my blocks done in the month that have been assigned by fellow members of the @unscriptedquiltsbee . The 2026 season began in March and has gotten off to a great start!

For July, @eacox24 asked for blocks which were the inverse of each other (as closely as possible) with the colors switched. Her prompt was called Rooted.

For August, @jenngeorgeburt was looking for a 6" unfinished white square (of any size) surrounded by shades of blue, purple or green. These were fun to make especially that tiny square!

My prompt was in June and the last of the blocks are in the mail. See a progress update.

You can see my previous blocks here and the quilt I made last year.

(I realized that I haven't been keeping my blog up to date on all my sewing. I am busy working on two quilts for QuiltCon submission and not much yet to share.)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Fire Glow Firefly Bag

Isn't this a great combination? One of my favorite bag patterns - the Firefly Tote by Noodlehead- made with the latest Fire Glow fabric by Ruby Star Society. Dragons everywhere! 

I made this bag as a gift for my youngest. They picked out the canvas used for the outside of the bag. The pattern and the lining fabric were a surprise to them.

The lining fabric was a bit of a surprise to me too! I ordered it with barely enough time for it to arrive in time to make the bag which was a birthday gift. I had the outside of the bag assemble so it was 'giftable' and much to my delight, the lining arrived the afternoon before the birthday so I had enough time to complete it!

I added a zipper to the bag instead of the drawstring top. This is the 4th time I've made the bag but not my last. I already have canvas in hand to make another for myself.

I used a single layer of fusible fleece on the canvas and then SF101 interfacing for the lining.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Snoopy and Woodstock

My sweet little neighbor just turned 6 years old and loves all things Snoopy. To celebrate, I made her a bag big enough for library books!

Snoopy is FPP and is a free pattern by Fandom in Stitches. Although slightly tedious, Woodstock was quite fun and I love how he turned out!

There is a fun Snoopy print on the bag of the bag and then this Woodstock print on the front. 

I filled the bag with some other Snoopy themed items and some candy!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Singularity Round Three

I am a member of Triangle MQG and we are doing our very first guild QAL using the Singularity quilt from the MQG. After 3 rounds, my quilt top is now 48" square. I am just loving my fabric palette and how the design and placement of the darker fabric suggest depth in the quilt.

Watching it grow has been fun - from 12.5" square(round 1) to 24.5" square (round 2). 

There is one more round using 8" finished HST that would bring the quilt to 80" square. Since I don't need a quilt that big, I am not going to do round 4. This quilt will stay as a quilt top for a bit while I think about whether I want it bigger or not. 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Sunflower Farm

I love making Elizabeth Hartman's patterns as baby gifts - this is Farm Fab - and sewing these animals and sunflowers was incredibly fun. I worked on them on retreat with friends and got to pin each finished animal on the design wall as they were completed.

The chicken was my favorite - such personality! - that I added another chicken to the back of the quilt.

Each year, Raleigh plants fields of sunflowers in Dix Park and come July, they are in full bloom and ready for visits. I like to take a quilt there each year and thought this one was perfect given there were sunflowers in the quilt! (See my sunflower quilt photos: Echo from 2023, Linked in 2019, and my granny square blanket last summer.)

The sunflowers were definitely taller this year than they have been in the past. We were there at 7pm and temperatures were in the upper 90s. (Note to self not to do that next time.)

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Quilt - The Jetsons! (update 2)

Top Row: @sarahgoerquilts, @ellynz, @eacox24, and @scarf.mama

Bottom Row:  @bysarahruiz, @elizabethkray, @feltlikesweets, and @jenngeorgeburt

The Jetson's was my prompt for my year 2 @unscriptedquiltsbee bee mates. Using a color palette from the series, I asked bee members to be inspired by shapes and make a simple block surrounded that shape with background fabric. (Think square-in-a-square but instead with an irregular shape.) Everyone was sent a FQ of Painter's Palette Lapis.

As you can see, they hit it out of the park - the different blocks are just so much fun!

Although I'm not sure of my final layout, I do enjoy spreading them all over the floor to test out different ideas while I wait for the last two sets of blocks arrive.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Moon Joy

I, like many others, was excited about the Artemis II moon flyby on April 6  (photo sourced from Nasa.) When Kristy from Quiet Play offered a free Moon Joy FPP pattern, I jumped right on it, copying her rainbow color placement.

The flange binding was an experiment in practicing the technique so I could consider doing it for a larger quilt. The cross-hatch walking foot quilting is one of my favorite ways to finish a quilt. The mini finished at 17"square.

On this date 57 years ago, the very first astronauts landed on the moon. I am old enough to remember when this happened. Although my mini quilt has been done for awhile, posting on this anniversary seemed appropriate.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Building a Village house block

Audrey @cottonandbourbon shared earlier this week that she wanted to submit a group entry for QuiltCon and welcomed 100 folks to send her a block. She designed this FPP house block and wants blocks in all different colors for her Building a Village quilt.

I don't often use purple so took this one on as a challenge and really like the way it turned out. It was a fun block to assemble. I really love the  idea of collaboration in the quilting community so this project caught my eye right away. 

Audrey will make her quilt with the first 100 blocks that arrive to her, so if you're interested, do join in. See Audrey's IG profile for more information.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Large Square Crochet Project Update

My vision for my blanket project is to make 4 large granny squares using the cream and the gold yarn. I purchased 6 skeins of each color and will use 3 on each block. My first block (above) is using 1 cream and 2 gold. I have paused making this one any bigger until I get my second one done. As you can see in the photo, there is more gold to be added but I also want to make sure I have enough to give the piece a nice finished edge. It currently measures 24" square.        

The second square is coming right along. I think this one will be one gold and 2 cream but I haven't committed to this. It currently measures 9.5" square.

I am really enjoying my third crochet project, especially how portable the project is and how I can easily added just a few stitches when I can a moment. 

I am not in a rush to finish and am looking forward to seeing how this comes together.

(Previous update: May) 

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Quilt - The Jetsons!

Saturday morning cartoons were a big deal when I was a kid and one of my favorites was the Jetsons. The show was released in 1962 and there were 3 seasons of flying cars, robots, and easily prepped meals. The show was set in 2062 so we've not long to wait for those flying cars!

Why am I talking about the Jetsons?

They are my prompt for my year 2 @unscriptedquiltsbee bee mates. Using a color palette from the series, I asked them to be inspired by shapes and make a simple block surrounded that shape with background fabric. Think square-in-a-square but instead with an irregular shape. Everyone was sent a FQ of Painter's Palette Lapis.

My month is June and happy mail has already started to arrive from my bee mates.

Top Row:  @ellynz and @jenngeorgeburt

Bottom Row: @eacox24  and @scarf.mama 

Aren't these fun?

I don't really know the final design for this project but it is fun to lay them on the design floor and play around.

My year 1 quilt was called Play Time! and hung at QuiltCon!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pencil Pouch Gift

A new pencil pouch gift for a friend (using Noodlehead's tutorial) was a fun make. I used a green zipper and heart zipper pull that I picked up at QuiltCon. The fabric is from our guild's scrap swap that I knew she would like.

I used a single layer of fusible fleece with minimal straight line quilting. SF101 was added to the lining.

This is so much fun to make - I'm ready to tackle another!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bag for a Family Friend

Someone special is turning 9. Since she is a big fan of the Harry Potter novels, I found some appropriate fabric and made her a bag using Firefly Tote by Noodlehead pattern. I modified the pockets and went with a slip pocket on each side.

The quilting and topstitching were done with gold thread. 

This is the 4th time I've used this pattern and am ready to make another one for me!

Notes on interfacing used:

• Outside: ByAnnie foam
• Pocket and lining fabric: SF101
• Band : SF101 and 1 layer of fusible fleece

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Scrap Play

Back in 2024, I played along and made blocks as part of the Seattle MQG's free BOM all from large scraps. Once the quilt top was assembled, it sat around for awhile until I pieced the backing. I found a mini quilt top and used that as the base and surrounded it with colorful batik fabric.

I did an all over FMQ meander. It took me awhile to get the right rhythm - I hadn't done any large scale FMQ in quite awhile. That mini on the back certainly adds interest but it did make my FMQ experience a bit of a bumpy ride! The quilt measures about 56" x 56".

I make a quilt every year to donate to my guild's (Triangle MQG) community giving - our quilts support kids in the foster care system. Scrap Play will my donation for 2026. 

My quilt for 2025 was called Squared Up and is a free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop.

My quilt for 2024 was a scrappy HST, no pattern, just my own scraps and lots of HSTs.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Singularity Round Two

And it continues to grow!

I am a member of Triangle MQG and we are doing our very first guild QAL using the Singularity quilt from the MQG. I am a bit ahead of schedule and now have a block which is 24 1/2 " square.

Here is what it looked like after the first round -

The pattern is called Singularity and is free to all MQG members. 

Sewing HST is a good thing to tackle when you just need something mindless to sew. I am fairly certain there are a few errors in the first round but I am calling them design choices!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Let's Pretend It is Square

This is a quick photo - clearly! - of my work in progress of a large granny square. It will block into a square - it is not that wonky! 

I am making a blanket comprised of 4 large squares. My intent is to use three 100-gram balls on each square and this photo captures where things stand after two 100-gram balls. It is about 20" square.

This will be my 3rd crochet project. I really enjoy how portable the project is as well as how easy it is to pull back a few stitches to fix an error without destroying the whole project!

I am not in a rush to finish and am looking forward to seeing how this comes together.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Dream

Meet Dream. A UFO from 2022! 

I started this quilt in response to a guild challenge to work in a monochromatic color palette with the option of adding one other accent color. Using just scraps, I made the quilt top, did much of the quilting and then it sat, and sat, and sat for 3 1/2 years!

But now it is done! I adding some big stitch quilting which I think adds a lot to the piece although it is hard to photograph.

The quilt is faced and finishes 18.5" wide by 14.5" tall.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Bee Blocks - April and May

The 2026 season of the @unscriptedquiltsbee began in March and has gotten off to a great start!

For April, @feltlikesweets sent each of us a unique section of a black and white photo and asked that we recreate using a color palette derived by 5 columns in the Kona color chart. 

I can't share the photo with you or any bee members yet but it will be fun to see this come together. I am curious on what you think that photo (at the top of this post) represents!

For May, @ellyn asked for large arrows in a basic primary color. This was a lot of fun to create and is 18.5" square.

My month is June and I've just mailed out a FQ to each bee member so it is ready to go once I share the prompt.

You can see my previous blocks here and the quilt I made last year.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Singularity Center Block

I am a member of Triangle MQG and we are doing our very first guild QAL using the Singularity quilt from the MQG. The quilt is made up of HST and the center part - shown above - uses HSTs that finish at an inch!

I didn't actually read the pattern (which is available free to MQG members) to assemble the center but instead used my friends finished center to lay out the pieces. It is very possible I've messed something up but if you see something, don't tell me! 

There are 4 rounds of sewing in the quilt but I will likely make a smaller quilt and do only 3 rounds.

Have a wonderful day! Patty