December Star

Several years ago, Frances @offkilterquilt released an novel in the form of a serial podcast called Friendship Album 1933.  

We were introduced to 5 woman - Eula, Bess, Dorothy, Florence, and Emmeline - who gathered together each week to work on their entry to the quilt contest for the 1933 World Fair. 

Since then, Frances has shared a new short story about one of the women set during the Christmas season.  This year we join Emmeline in 1919 in a story called Starry Night. For the last several years, I've put together a block pattern in celebration of the story. This years block is called December Star.

You can find the story and the free block pattern - written by me! - at QuiltFiction.

The block finishes at 8" square and the star points can be made with templates or with FPP. It is a very fun block to sew - the FPP way at least! - so I enjoyed putting together this table runner for my kitchen table.

The block pattern also includes the fabric requirements for a few settings. I love the secondary pattern you get at the corners when the blocks are set together. 

This first option is a 25 block option is throw sized and finishes at at 48" x 48".

This second is wall hanging sized, finishing at 21" x 21"

The table runner is made with 3 blocks and finishes at 30" x 12".

I can't wait to listen to the latest story!

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Deck the Halls

Deck the Halls! I made stockings! Hanging by our chimney will still be the stockings the kids have had since they were babies. But everyone needs a stocking in their home so I'm sending my son one! (Colors are true in the photos below.)

No pattern - I just traced an existing stocking and added about 1/2" all the way around. I had a 1/2 yard of this wonderful plaid in my stash for quite some time - it was a print from Moda Sweetwater - and was happy to put it to good use to create two stockings.

The lining was set inside the outer piece. When sewing them together, I added a binding which I would fold around to cover the raw edge and add a bit of color too.

I found a fun (free) alphabet on Shiny Happy World. The letters were applied with fusible and then stitched with a straight stitch along the edge.

Some more secret sewing going on here in my sewing space that I don't plan to share until after gifted.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Pickle Bird

Pickle Bird was my entry for this years QuiltCon fabric challenge. 

The design for Pickle Bird evolved in a improvisational process when playing around with half-rectangle triangles and drunkard path blocks with an initial intent of creating a version of a pickle block. When the final layout looked like a group of tropical birds sitting around chatting with each other somewhere on an island paradise (once you see it you can’t un-see it!), the name Pickle Bird was born.

The quilting is a combination of walking foot and big stitch quilting using a series of cardboard templates to mark the curve quilting lines.

I tried something new this year for capturing quilt photos and it worked really well. I hung a white table cloth from my quilting rack and then pined the quilt to the table cloth. Duck tape was used to get the table cloth reasonably taut and the setup meant I didn't need to worry about the background.

Creating a quilt with the fabric challenge fabrics is something I look forward to every year! Sadly, Pickle Bird won't be hanging at QuiltCon 2024 - 3 of my other quilts will though! - so I'm glad I snapped a photo of me in during my 'front yard' quilt show.

Have a wonderful day! Patty