Fellow Quilters,

Aloha!  Greetings from the beautiful islands of Hawaii, where I am spending 18 glorious days at sea on the Quilt Bee at Sea cruise aboard Holland America’s Koningsdam. Together with roomie Michelle of Watergirl Quilts and 71 other quilters, we are having a quilt retreat like no other.  After 5 days at sea with 5 days of classes, we took in the sights of Nawiliwili on the island of Kauai today.

Kapaia Stitchery shop owner Jean with roomie Michelle and me

Our stops included The Kapaia Stitchery where we chatted with owner Jean and her friendly staff.  Of course, we couldn’t leave empty-handed – fabric souvenirs are the best!

Today’s “souvenirs” from Jean’s shop

I am having sew much fun connecting with the quilters during my classes.  In fact, connecting is the theme of this month’s Quilt Block Mania.  The design in my modern block may not appear to be a connection unless you are familiar with one of the first methods of connecting.

My “Hello” block for Quilt Block Mania

Yup, it’s Morse code for HELLO – how fun 😊.  You can find the pattern for Hello here.

And here’s a modern lap quilt using 4 different sizes of the Hello block.

A modern lap quilt using the Hello block

I’m not the only blogger in the Quilt Block Mania blog tour that used an alternate language.  One of the other blocks is braille – very cool.  And most of the blocks feature Valentine colors or theme so you can use several of the 27 blocks for a seasonal sampler quilt.  You can find the links to the other bloggers’ blocks at the following sites:

Heart and Star
Woven Heart by Inquiring Quilter
Puzzle Block by Inflorescnece
Connected Hearts by BoBerry Design Co.
Mardi Gras Geese
Chain Link by Sugar Sand Quilt Co.
Linked by QuiltFabrication
Irish Chain
DNA by Palm Creations
Hello at Patti’s Patchwork
Lover’s Knot at Lovingly, Lissa
Double Hearts by Appliques Quilts and More
Key to my Heart
Connections by Penny Spool Quilts
WiFi Signal by Crafty Staci
With Love By Sew Cute And Quirky
Text Me!
Braided Love by Kaye Collins
Celtic Tree of Life By Sallys’ Sewing Circle
Hearts Together Block by Sew Worthy Mama
Sunshine Village Church by Sarah Marcina
Braille Block
Left and Right Block at The (not so) Dramatic Life
Love Encircled by Jessica of Blue Sky Modern Craft
Celtic Hearts by A Piece of Quiet Quilts
Half Friendship Star with Heart by Blue Bear Quilts

Speaking of connecting, if you’ll be in Atlanta GA for QuiltCon February 23-26, please stop by and say hi to me and the FIGO design and marketing team in the FIGO booth.  We’ll have some make & take items as well as some engaging games in which you could win some mag FIGO swag.  See you there!

Until next time,

Patti