Fellow Quilters,
Some Christmas gifts
Welcome to 2026, a fresh new year of quilting and creating. The Christmas holidays were a flurry of activity for me, including lots of holiday baking
My first attempt at a Yule Log
(I made a Yule Log!), as well as travelling to visit family. Now that the rush is over, I’m looking forward to the calm after the storm. Starting a new year is akin to having a clean slate just waiting to be filled with new projects and ideas.
One of the projects on my newly created list is re-organizing my sewing space. When Hubby and I downsized 7 years ago (what?!? – where did the time go?), I squeezed my sewing studio into the new space. At the time, it was potentially just a temporary space as we entertained building a garage/studio, so I didn’t even hang up my thread racks.
My thread racks languishing under my cutting table
Over the past 7 years, this space has become progressively more crowded as I crammed more stuff into it, to the point where I’m struggling to function in it. Now that I’ve had ample time to work in the space, I’m going to tweak it to make it work better for me and my sewing needs. A big part of this is getting a handle on the “stuff”. Karen Brown to the rescue!
Every January, Karen of Just Get it Done Quilts hosts a 21-day decluttering challenge on YouTube. As a subscriber to Karen’s YouTube channel, I’ve watched with interest over the past few years but not participated. This year I’m rising to the challenge as a gift to myself – what could possibly be better than a “new” functional sewing space? My schedule doesn’t permit me to participate every day so I’m allowing myself an extra month to complete Karen’s challenge and reclaim my space. Wish me luck! I hope to share the happy results with you over the next few months as I declutter and purge to a new happy space.
As I’m finding, part of this decluttering process involves finding homes for the multitude of odds & sods, bits & bobs, or miscellaneous random items – do we keep them or discard them? Stash or trash? Sort of like single socks, or – ahem – mittens. My mom had a solution to prevent missing mittens. Since she hand-knit my mittens when I was a kid, she would crochet a long cord to join the 2 mitts together. This cord was long enough to go up one coat sleeve, across the shoulders and down the opposite sleeve.
Mittens on a string
If I removed my hand from one of the mittens, the mitten would simply dangle from the coat sleeve within easy reach. No more lost mittens!
As it happens, the theme for this month’s Quilt Block Mania is Snow, so I immediately thought of the hand-knit mittens my mom made.
My Strings Attached block for the Snow-themed January Quilt Block Mania
Here is my Strings Attached block and you can find the pattern here.
There are 13 other pattern designers participating in the Snow edition of QBM and you can find the links to their free patterns here:
Snowy Scene by Carolina Moore
Sparkling Snowflake
Winter Hat by Crafty Staci
Snow by Inquiring Quilter
Snow Angel Quilt Block
Snowflakes w/letters by Appliques Quilts and More
Snowman by Memory Barn Studio
Snowman by Katie Mae Quilts
Falling Snow by QuiltFabrication
Snowflake by The Quilted Diary
Build a Snowman by Tamarinis
Snow Drift by Studio B
Frosted Branches by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Strings Attached by Patti’s Patchwork
Behind the scenes – I’ve been hard at work writing 6 new patterns – one might be your new favorite 😊 I challenged myself to get creative with Perennial Borders from the 2nd release by Anna Maria Textiles – this collection had some unique border stripes and very large prints. I’m quite pleased with the results😊
PC335 Hello Beautiful showcases a small medallion fabric and some border stripes in a modern take on New York Beauty. This quilt is a personal favorite of mine and it’s on my sewing table awaiting completion.
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- PC335 Hello Beautiful
PC336 Tints & Tones and PC337 Scrap Baskets are fat ¼ friendly patterns, perfect for using up some treasures hidden in your stash. I made mine with the Indelible pastel fat 1/4’s and Perennial Border fat 1/4’s.
Don’t let the curves in PC338 Who’s Paying Paul frighten you – they’re actually quite manageable, especially with Northcott’s Haberdashery flannel collection. Curves and flannel go together like peanut butter and jelly. A clever cutting method means minimal waste with these curved blocks. You’ll be a curve-master in no time!
The curves in PC338 Who’s Paying Paul? are easier than they look
PC339 Lattice & Labels makes excellent use of the 6” squares from Northcott’s Nature’s Sketchbook label panel for a classic quilt in 5 sizes.
Use quilt labels or printed 6″ squares in this striking quilt
The lovely panel and ombre print in Northcott’s Infatuation shine in PC340 Stella Flora – let the large focus fabrics do the work in this stunning quilt that brings Spring into your home.
PC340 Stella Flora is a harbinger of Spring
I’m hitting the road! I’m speaking at 6 guilds in the coming weeks:
January 19th Mayflower Quilters Guild in Dartmouth, NS (zoom)
February 25th Ganaraska Quilt Guild (zoom)
March 12th Niagara Modern Quilt Guild
March 18th Richmond Area Quilters Guild (zoom)
March 19th Grimsby Quilters Guild
March 30th East Lake Simcoe Quilt Guild
If you’re in attendance at any of these events, please come and say hi 😊
Save the date!! I’m thrilled to be returning to the faculty of A Mountain Quiltfest from June 8-11 in Pigeon Forge TN. Workshop details and sign-ups are coming soon. This quilt show and conference is a hidden gem of the Eastern USA and I highly recommend it. Stay tuned for further updates coming shortly.
Now back to my decluttering…
Cheers,
Patti
PS. I’ve got some exciting news to share with you next month – you don’t want to miss it! 🙂
pattispatchwork-blog.com 