Lemons or Limes?

November’s QBM blocks

Fellow Quilters,

It’s the first Tuesday of the month and that means Quilt Block Mania, and time for another round of free blocks from some generous designers.  Many of you have commented that you are really enjoying this monthly event.  I’m glad, as I am too.

This month’s theme is food – yum!  Here is the tasty palette presented to us by organizer Carolina at Always Expect Moore.

This month’s chosen color palette from the Seeds website

And here is a list of the other 15 participating bloggers.

Hot Dog Quilt Block by Carolina Moore
Corn off the Cob Quilt Block at Scrapdash
Pumpkin Pie by Appliques Quilts and More
Ice Cream Cones by QuiltFabrication
Citrus Wedges by Patti’s Patchwork
Peppers at Blue Bear Quilts
Pineapple at Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Strawberry by Mom and Me Quilting Co.
Home for the Holidays by Inquiring Quilter
Red Delicious at Perkins Dry Goods
Pumpkin Quilt Block
Little Lemons by Love Sew Modern
Sew the Carrots Go Round Block at Patchwork Breeze
Cake Quilt Block at Masterpiece Quilting
Avocado at EvaPaige Quilt Designs

Even though the picture shows veggies, I’m thinking fruit.

For my 12” block I selected a variety of Toscana and Canvas textures from Northcott along with some fun new Glam blenders from Patrick Lose Studio.  When I mixed them together I saw citrus wedges – lemons, limes, oranges and – my favorite – ruby red grapefruit.

Citrus-flavored fruit jelly slices

The wedges made with Glam remind me of the sugar-coated citrus jellies I had as a kid – my Nana would buy them from iconic candy maker Laura Secord as a special treat for us grands.  Here is my Citrus Wedges pattern.  Pucker up!

Citrus Wedges block by Patti Carey

In the instructions I recommend that you press seams toward the wedges, even though it adds a bit of bulk.  Why would I do this?  Because when I quilt this, I want to stitch in the ditch in the dark green background and those fruit slices will pop off the quilt, ripe for the picking.

I also press all the seams in a counter-clockwise direction to “spin” the seams at the center of the block – this helps distribute the bulk of those 8 seams coming together.

Press seams counter-clockwise to minimize the bulk

If you’re visiting from another blogger’s site and are not familiar with me, welcome!  In addition to blogging (you can subscribe up there on the right), I design patterns at Patti’s Patchwork and the tips above are the type of thing I like to include in my extensive range of popular quilt patterns.  When I host quilt-alongs I even include videos showing many of the steps in creating our blocks and assembling our quilt.  My Cottage Sampler QAL is starting December 29, running through until March 16, and you can sign up here to join the fun and learn a trick or two along the way while you make a fabulous throw or queen-size quilt using my Cottage Sampler pattern.

Sign up for the quilt-along at Patti’s Patchwork

This pattern showcases my Canoe Lake fabric collection and I’ll be making blocks in all 3 colorways during the QAL.

Speaking of QAL-type events, I participated in the Seaside Adventures Row-along in September – it ran from early September to last week, and the wrap-up week is this week.  Visit Quilting Room with Mel to see the quilts made with many of the seaside-themed rows.  My tropical fish row is still available for free – find the link in my blog post here.

That’s all for now!

Chat soon,

Patti