Fellow Quilters,

Hi There, and welcome to Day 4 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Volume 11 blog tour!  I hope you’ve had a chance to visit the other bloggers on the tour this week.  There have been some great posts.  I really enjoyed Nancy Mahoney’s on Day 1, as she explained how she arrived at her Twirling Rose block #1052.  Or how about Karyn Ashley-Smith’s post yesterday, where she showed a quilt made from her Crocus and Daffodil block, and done in Stonehenge?

My block is Every Which Way #1040, containing 9 arrows that get shorter as they get closer to the center of the block.

My original block done in Artisan Spirit – Shimmer

Using 1 fabric for each arrow seemed a natural choice, and Northcott’s Artisan Spirit – Shimmer has a range of 9 gradated fabrics in each delicious color palette.  I chose the sunglow palette for my block.  My quick scan through 100 Blocks Volume 11 revealed another block done in Shimmer sunglow – Jennifer Shifano Thomas’ Aloha Flower #1014.

While perusing the issue, I noticed blocks done by several Northcott pattern designers:  #1028 Moon Star by Celine Perkins of Perkins Dry Goods, #1029 Basket Star by Marjorie Rhine of Quilt Design NW, #1042 Swirly Whirly Floral by Kate Colleran of Seams Like a Dream, and #1066 Fruit Smoothie by Karen Bialik of The Fabric Addict (done in Northcott’s ColorWorks solids).  I put them into Electric Quilt along with my block, downloaded Northcott’s Celebration 2 collection, featured in our advertisement, and began to play!

Here are the blocks done in Celebration 2.  I used the pieced background block of Kate’s block, leaving the appliqués off.

Karen’s block

Celine’s block

Marje’s block

Kate’s block

My block

Once the blocks were done, it was time to put them into quilts.  My block did not seem to want to play well with the other blocks, so it was my least favorite combination.  I would like to explore other options with it, such as having alternate blocks where the arrows go from the center out toward the edge (reverse the direction of them).  I think it would also make a great single-block quilt when enlarged to 36”.  However, most of the other blocks played nicely, although the Karen/Marje block doesn’t line up quite as well as the other 3 combinations.  What do you think?

Karen & Celine’s quilt

Karen & Marje’s quilt

Kate & Celine’s quilt

Kate & Marje’s quilt

Kate & Patti’s blocks on point

Kate & Patti’s quilt

It’s giveaway time!  I will draw 3 names: one for a copy of the magazine, one for a bundle of Celebration fabrics, and one for a bundle of Shimmer fabrics.  For a chance to win, please post a comment on my blog by this Friday at noon, telling me which quilt is your favorite.  For more chances to win a copy of 100 Blocks Volume 11, don’t forget to visit the other bloggers on the tour this week at  http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Thanks for dropping by, and please visit again soon.

Cheers,

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

Another great issue of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks (#11!) is hitting the newsstands this week, and once again I am participating in the blog tour for the launch.

I really enjoy participating in these tours.  I usually scan the issue, searching for designers who are also part of Northcott’s pattern design team, or blocks that feature Northcott’s fabrics, and recreate these blocks in the collection that Northcott has advertised in the issue.  There are 7 blocks in the current issue that fall under this umbrella, including my own block – a big Woo-hoo!  Because I have a block in the issue, I have been invited to blog on Thursday as well, so I shall do “my usual” on Thursday’s blog – please come by then and check out the blocks to choose your favorite for a chance to win a copy of 100 Blocks Volume 11.  For this post, however, I thought I’d share a bit of something more personal.

The collection that Northcott has advertised in this issue is Stonehenge Celebration 2, perfect for Independence Day, with waving flags, stars and fireworks.  That got me thinking about the things we celebrate.  As I write this post, I am sitting at my kitchen counter, with the tantalizing fragrance of peaches wafting through the kitchen.  Now, I live in Canada, and peach season is still 3 months away.  For the month of August, I buy basket after basket of juicy peaches, eating them for breakfast, dinner and night-time snack.  My favorite thing to do with them, however, is make peach pies – from scratch, including the pastry, with a lattice top.  Yum!!  You need in-season peaches to make pies.  The ones you buy in the middle of winter just don’t cut it.  When I was a kid, my mom would pack my brother, sister and I in the car and drive to the Niagara region about 2 hours away to pick baskets of peaches for preserving.  Yes, I know it was child labour, but there is nothing better than eating a just-picked peach warm from the sun while filling your basket.

I spent the past week in Florida, getting my mom packed up from her winter home, and driving her back to Canada.  As we travelled up through the top of Florida and into Georgia, we passed billboards announcing PECANS.  Hubby’s ultimate favorite pie is pecan pie – gooey and thick with pecans.  After passing several of these signs, I suggested to Mom that we stop and get some.  We pulled off the freeway to a roadside stand.  Right beside the pecans were baskets of peaches – golden nuggets of Georgia sunshine.  They lured me. The young guy manning the stand knew how to sell.  “Would you like a taste of one?” he asked, and handed me a wedge of deliciousness.  It tasted just like the ones I picked when I was a kid.  “They’ll be ripe in 3 days or so,” he said. Our journey is a 3-day trip.  “Sold!” I said.  The basket of peaches went into the back seat, and the heavenly fragrance filled the car for 3 days.  We enjoyed them when we stopped to stretch our legs, and there are just enough left to make a peach pie for Mother’s Day this weekend.

Mom and I shared lots of laughs, good times and great meals over the past week.  It was a rare treat to spend an entire week with her, and I have much to celebrate on Mother’s Day.  After I dropped Mom off, I arrived home to a spotlessly clean house (even the windows were clean!) and dinner on the table.  I guess I’ll be making a pecan pie too.

What about you?  What have you celebrated recently, or will be celebrating in the coming weeks?  Post a comment on my blog by noon on Tuesday May 5^th for a chance to win a copy of 100 Blocks Volume 11 and a packet of Stonehenge Celebration 2 fabrics.  Enjoy the blog tour (http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures), and see you again on Thursday!

Cheers,

Patti