Fellow Quilters,

It’s the first Tuesday in June and that means another edition of the Quilt Block Mania blog tour – yay!  If you’re one of my blog subscribers, you’re probably thinking “But Patti, you already sent me a blog post today”.  Why, yes I did, because I’m also participating this month in the 2021 Monthly Color Challenge, hosted by Patterns by Jen.  If you’re just popping in from the Quilt Block Mania tour and aren’t a subscriber yet, I encourage you to check out my post from earlier today, because it’s also about a free monthly block pattern plus a tasty recipe.  So much quilty goodness!!

I hope you’ve been enjoying the Quilt Block Mania tour for the past several months, collecting the free blocks each month from the 20-30 participants.  Carolina over at Always Expect Moore does a fab job coordinating it.  I certainly enjoy it, as it gives me the opportunity to s-t-r-e-t-c-h my creative muscle to design a block that fits the monthly theme.  This month is no different.  The theme this time around is International, and the color palette is whatever we want.  Several of the other designers chose a rainbow palette so I went with that idea too.

When I think of International, I think of all the places around the world that I’ve have the good fortune to see.  In fact, 2 years ago Hubby and I cruised on a segment of a world cruise and visited roughly 20 countries during our leg of the cruise.  Naturally, the Trip Around the World quilt/block theme came to mind.  But how to take a block that has an odd number of rows/columns and fit it into a 12” square?  Hmmm.  I started changing the sizes of my rows and columns and before I knew it, I had a cool block that, when colored with a rainbow palette, sort of resembles a globe, with the green being the earth and the blue being the oceans.  I call it World Trip.

Toscana version of World Trip

In the pattern I colored it in a selection of Northcott’s Toscana tone-on-tone textures, and to test the pattern I used my leftover scraps of Bliss from my Splendid Split Stars pattern.

Bliss version of World Trip

Either option looks great!  You can download the pattern here.  You can also find the other bloggers’ patterns at these links.

Holland Windmill by Carolina Moore
Dutch Mill Tulips by Perkins Dry Goods
International Airport by The Quilted Diary
Three Amigos by Heidi Pridemore
Making Memories by Blue Heron Quilting
World’s Fair by Blue Bear Quilts
Highlander by Orange Blossom Quilt Design Studio
Love One Another by Faith and Fabric
International Space Station by Duck Creek Mountain quilting
Friends by QuiltFabrication
World Trip by Patti’s Patchwork
Hollyhock Flower by PhoebeMoon Designs
Olympic Rings by Slice of Pi Quilts
All Together Now by Inquiring Quilter
Butterfly Block by Oh Kaye Quilting
Coming Together by Cotton Street Commons
Friends Around the World by Appliques Quilts and More
Greek Cross by Mom and Me Quilting Co
Caracalla by Pretty Piney Quilts
Walking Together
Mystery Quilt: The Kids

Now, sometimes I give away free stuff, such as fabric (I am with Northcott, after all 😊).  This month I would like to know about your favorite international place that you have visited or lived in – somewhere outside your own country – and why it is your favorite.  Hubby and I travelled to central Italy several years ago, visiting a few (okay, more than a few) wineries, and I used those memories as inspiration for my Vino fabric collection for Banyan Batiks.  One lucky commenter will receive a packet of Vino fat quarters.

A packet of bordeaux fat quarters from my Vino collection – comment for a chance to win these

To be eligible, please leave a comment below by midnight June 7.  Good luck, bonne chance, in bocca al lupo!

Last month’s giveaway was a packet of the upcoming Bouncing Balls and Rose Parade fabrics from Banyan Batiks and the winner is shadesofrandom – congrats! (please pop me an email with your name and full mailing address).

Cheers,

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

Today is a busy day – I have 2 fun events that I’m participating in this month and they both start today!  If you’re hopping over from Jen Shaffer’s 2021 Monthly Color Challenge, a warm welcome to you!  Feel free to browse through earlier posts, check out my other post today that’s part of the Quilt Block Mania monthly blog tour (can you say “free quilt blocks”?!?), and hit that Subscribe button on the right.  You can also subscribe to my newsletter at www.pattispatchwork.com for insider info on new patterns and subscriber-only specials – the link is at the bottom of the website main page.

So, fellow pattern designer Jen over at Patterns by Jen has been hosting a Monthly Color Challenge for a while now, and I learned of it late last year.  I thought “How fun!” and signed up for a couple of the months.  This year’s challenge is based on fruit and vegetable colors and includes a free block each month – hop on over to Patterns by Jen to download the pattern and even watch the video on how to create the monthly block.  Each block pattern is free for that month, after which it can be downloaded from Jen’s site for a very small fee.

June’s pumpkin-colored block

June’s block is pumpkin-colored, and even sort of pumpkin-shaped.  Just like pumpkins, it comes in a larger and smaller size.  I put the block into my Electric Quilt EQ8 designing program and started playing.

I wondered how this block might look in a modern setting, so I put it into a vertical strip quilt layout.  In the diagram on the left, the zigzag space between blocks seemed uneven so I added sew-&-flip triangles onto the corners of each block – what a difference!

Vertical strip quilt options

It’s now hard to tell where the blocks start and end.  I also used 3 shades of pumpkin in my blocks. Fun!

Then I played some more.

1st iteration of on-point blocks

I put the block into an on-point layout (left diagram), then recolored the alternate blocks a lighter shade of pumpkin (center diagram), then added sew-&-flip corners to my setting triangles to balance the hourglass “blocks” created where the 4 blocks meet.  So many options!

But wait!  There’s more!  I continued playing, this time combining the smaller blocks with the larger blocks in an on-point setting.  Initially, all the blocks are the same shade of pumpkin (left), then I recolored the smaller blocks and added darker triangles around them to change the look of the larger blocks – very interesting!

2nd go ’round of on-point blocks

Finally I gradated the shades of pumpkin in both blocks – light-to-dark in the larger blocks and dark-to-light in the smaller blocks, with light and medium-shaded triangles in the small block frames.  This one is my favorite, and so easy to create with the click of a mouse in EQ8.  What about you?  Which one of the 8 quilts do you prefer?

Hop on over to the other blogger’s sites to see what they’ve done with this month’s block and to get their fave pumpkin recipes:

Jen  Patterns by Jen

Wendy  Pieceful Thoughts

Crystal (available June 3rd)  Daybrook Designs

Fawn  Quilty Creations by Fawn

Raylee  Sunflower Stitcheries

Andi  True Blue Quilts

Ashli  Quilt2endALZ

Joanne  Everyone Deserves a Quilt

And pop over to Patterns by Jen for your chance at one or more of these awesome prizes being offered this quarter – simply make a block and post a pic in the link-up by the end of the month to be eligible for these prizes:

Dragonfly’s Quilting Design Studio – Goodie Bag*

Bea Quilter – PDF Pattern

For the Love of Geese – PDF Pattern

True Blue Quilts – Book: Monochromatic Quilts Amazing Variety*

Make Modern Magazine – 6 month subscription

Island Batik – Fat Quarter Bundle*

Benartex – Fabric Bundle*

Quilters Dream Batting – 60 x 60 Dream Poly*

The Warm Company – 90 x 108 Warm and Plush 100% Cotton

Appliques Quilts and More – $10 gift certificate

Fat Quarter Shop – Gift Certificate

DayBrook Designs – 2 PDF Patterns

Patterns By Jen – Tucker Trimmer 1® ruler*

Those marked with * are for US residents only. Prize laws vary throughout different countries.

Did someone say recipe?!?  So, typically we think of pumpkin as a Fall food, but no reason not to enjoy that pumpkin goodness throughout the year.  I found the perfect recipe for lazy Saturday mornings at the cottage/cabin/campsite – Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes, courtesy of Tasteofhome.

Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes

Cooked up with some bacon or sausages, they make for a mighty tasty breakfast before a day of canoeing/hiking/cycling.  Or maybe serve them with cinnamon-spiced whipped cream – yum!  Better make a double batch!!

Cheers,

Patti