Fellow Quilters,

Welcome to 2025!  After a busy holiday, all the Christmas decorations got packed away yesterday for another year.  I like to keep them out until January 6^th (Epiphany).  The lights on our Christmas tree mysteriously went out a week ago, so Hubby and I bought some new strands 2 days ago at a post-holiday clearance.  We unstrung the tree yesterday when packing it away, checking each of the 10 strands of mini lights as we removed them. Every strand except one worked.  Hubby read the attached tag – “replace the fuses if the strand fails to illuminate”.  “Fuse?!?  Where is the fuse and do we have any spares?” he asked.  I dug out the bag of spare light parts, zipped into my sewing room for my screwdriver and seam ripper (to dislodge the tiny batteries) and emerged 5 minutes later with an fully lit strand – yay!  Mystery solved.  Maybe our replacement lights can be party lights in our summer screen room on our back deck!

As we roll into the new year (literally! – I ate far too many shortbread cookies), I have a fun new block for all the sports fans out there.  The theme for January’s Quilt Block Mania is “Sports” and I selected soccer for my block.  Soccer has been on my mind lately because Northcott is the licensee for FIFA 2026 and has designed a terrific collection of panels and coordinates shipping to stores in May.

One of my FIFA 2026 quilts

I designed 2 free patterns for this colorful collection and made them up last Fall for Northcott’s booth at our trade show.  One of my quilts has white circular appliques, which I quilted with pentagons to replicate soccer balls.  Well, guess what?!? Soccer balls are made with pentagons AND hexagons together.  The black shapes are pentagons and are adjacent to white hexagons.  A soccer ball has 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons and, when stitched together, they form a truncated icosahedron (trivia for your next cocktail party).  My block is a flat version of ½ of a soccer ball – it has 6 black pentagons and 10 white hexagons and looks like a chemical compound from my university chemistry classes (haha).  It is English paper-pieced.  I call it Soccer Gene .

Soccer Gene block by Patti’s Patchwork

I hope you like it 😊  You can download the Soccer Gene free pattern here.  Do you know someone who is a soccer player or fan?  Maybe they have the soccer gene and would appreciate this block.  Here is a link about the history of the soccer ball – did you know that they were made with a pig’s bladder at one time?

Most of the other 13 participating QBM designers used applique or foundation paper-piecing in their sport-themed blocks.  You can find them at these links:

Quilted Sports Jersey Numbers
Trophy by Appliques Quilts and More
Karate Gi by Crafty Staci
Girl Wrestlers by Scrapdash
Curling Stone by Patchwork Breeze
Soccer Gene by Patti’s Patchwork
Hockey Score! by QuiltFabrication
Ice Skates by Inquiring Quilter
Play Ball by Robin Kinley Designs, Etc.
Corn Hole by Memory Barn Studio
Sneaker Shoe by Patchwork River Quilting
Texas Football by Emerald Falls Quilts
Checkered Flag by The Quilting Room with Mel
Golf Nutcracker by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts

So, here’s my EPP story.  At my local quilt guild meeting last week, we tried our hand at 4 different hand-stitching projects including – you guessed it – EPP.  I had never tried it before, so I got a fabulous lesson from EPP afficionado Jamilla.  I got the low-down on how to glue my fabric to my paper, how to do a proper knot at the end of my thread, which super-fine thread and needles to use, how to start and end each seam with a knot, and how to whip-stitch 16 (!!) stitches per inch without stitching through the paper.  Um, won’t 10 stitches be sufficient?  Ah, no, apparently not.  I have to admit that I really enjoyed it and, despite my penchant for speed-sewing, I can see myself working on some EPP projects in the future. In the Soccer Gene pattern, I included a link to a comprehensive “how to EPP” video by YouTuber Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.  I invite you to check it out if you haven’t tried this technique yet.

What about you?  Do you EPP?  Share your favorite EPP tip in the comments below.  All comments posted by January 15 will be entered into a draw for some deelish Wild Abandon by Heather Bailey for FIGO Fabrics – perfect for EPP.

Congrats to Marie W for winning a copy of my PC145 Salt & Pepper pattern used for my son and DIL’s wedding “guest book”.

I hope 2025 brings you much joy, with plenty of time for your creative pursuits 😊

Cheers,

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

Greetings from the Caribbean!  Hubby and I are cruising through the Eastern Caribbean, where it is hot and humid.  Today is a sea day, which means a work day for me.  My temporary office is the back pool deck and I have to say that the views from my “window” are terrific.  This is the view off the back deck yesterday in Dominica.

Sailing out of Roseau, Dominica

Have you started decorating for Christmas?  When I am at home, my growing collection of Christmas quilts is hauled out of storage on December 1 and each bed is “decorated” with a festive quilt.  The pictures hanging on the walls are replaced with wall quilts.  And my Christmas dishes once again fill the cupboards.

The ship has decorated for the holidays as well.  There are numerous Christmas trees in the various lounges, and garland in the common areas.

The atrium tree

The biggest display is the 15ft wide gingerbread village created by the culinary team, complete with a train, set up in the atrium.  The young children onboard the ship are fascinated by it, not just by the moving train but also the sparkling lights.

Sparkle is the theme for this month’s Quilt Block Mania, and 12 other designers have contributed blocks based on this seasonal theme.  My Starburst block is a favorite of mine.

Starburst block by Patti’s Patchwork

It is a quick and easy variation of the classic Spinning Star block – if you’re familiar with this block, you’re probably thinking that it looks exactly like a Spinning Star, and you would be correct.  The original version of this classic block has a partial seam, and most quilters avoid them when possible (they’re not chain-piecing-friendly).  While I am fine with partial seams (I was a garment sewer before I became a quilter), this one is very short and therefore more difficult than your average partial seam.  I redesigned this block to eliminate the pesky partial seam and turn the block into a 9-patch.  Wham, bam, done!  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  You can download the pattern for Starburst here.

You can find the links to the other pattern designers’ blocks below:

Sparkle Heart by Carolina Moore
Sparkly Star by Patchwork Breeze
Diamond Ring by Crafty Staci
Stellar by Inquiring Quilter
Sparkle Star by Scrapdash
Snowflake by QuiltFabrication
Starburst by Patti’s Patchwork
Tree by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Sparkle with San Diego Sewn
Aurora by Emerald Falls Quilts
Twinkle Twinkle by Epida Studio
Sparkly Ohio Star by Oh Kaye Quilting
Crown by Appliques Quilts and More
Sparkly Christmas Bell by Around the Bobbin
Prismatic Points

Have you found easier variations of your favorite blocks?  If so, please share the details by leaving a comment below.  Call me weird, but these things excite my brain 😊

Recipe time!  Holiday baking is a tradition in my family – my guys insist on it and are very willing testers as well as dish washers.  Christmas Crack(le) is one of my new go-to holiday sweets and it’s quite easy.  I tweaked the recipe (of course!), substituting Pretzel Crisps (they’re very thin, like crackers) in place of twisty pretzels or saltines.  The colorful photo is from momontimeout.com

Photo from momontineout.com

Christmas Crack(le)

6oz (180g) Pretzel Crisps (I get jumbo bags from Costco)
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 11” x 17” (very large) baking sheet with parchment paper.  Spread pretzels in single layer, covering entire surface.
2. Combine butter, sugar, corn syrup and vanilla. Cook on medium heat until boiling, stirring with a wooden spoon.  Stop stirring and boil for 5 minutes.  Quickly pour over pretzels, covering most of them (it will spread as it cooks).
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips.  After 3 minutes, spread over toffee.  Optional:  Sprinkle with ½ cup chopped almonds/pistachios/dried fruit/holiday sprinkles  Chill for 1 hour and break into pieces.

Wishing you a joyous, peaceful holiday 😊

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

The past 2 months have been a whirlwind of activity for me.  September started with 2 back-to-back Alaskan cruises with the Watergirl Quilt Co team (sew much fun!),

The Watergirl crew and I with Jan of Changing Tides in Juneau AK

followed immediately with a stint in the Northcott booth at the Missouri Star Birthday Bash – always a good time!

Showing our Sock Hop spirit at Missouri Star Birthday Bash

Then I was called into service to help make some quilts for Northcott’s booth at Quilt Market, the Fall trade show in Houston TX (including this FIFA2026 one)

One of my FIFA 2026 quilts

, all while designing 5 new patterns, writing instructions for several others (my favorite is

PC312Cat-tails, followed closely by PC314 Shades of Autumn) and doing 5 workshops/lectures for local guilds.

In the midst of all that, my son asked me to make a quilt for his upcoming wedding – 4 weeks before the wedding!!!  Need I mention that he’s been engaged for 2 years?!?

What with all the wedding plans these past few weeks, when the call for the November Quilt Block Mania came out, I was in full wedding mode.  The theme this month is Market/shopping, so my block depicts – you guessed it – a bridal shop.  It’s mostly pieced, with a bit of fusible applique for the bride and the wedding bells.  In fact, Wedding Bells is the name of my block.  You can download the pattern here.

Fourteen other designers also rose to the challenge and designed blocks for this theme – you can find the links to their blocks below:

Money Themed Quilt Block by Carolina Moore
Pet Shop by Patchwork Breeze
Quilt Shop by Crafty Staci
Santa’s Toy Shop by Inquiring Quilter
Market Bag by Scrapdash
Concession Stand by QuiltFabrication
Wedding Bells by Patti’s Patchwork
Lucky Clover Quilt Block by Brown Bird Designs
GIft Card by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Flower Shop by Cristy Fincher
Pinching Pennies by Elizabeth DeCroos
Gift Bag by Oh Kaye Quilting
Ice Cream Cart by Appliques Quilts and More
Market Stall selling Gifts by Victoria Peat
Bag Lady Market Bag by Around the Bobbin

So what quilt did my son and his darling sweetheart choose?  My PC145 Salt & Pepper fat-quarter pattern in the lap-size (thank goodness!), to be used as a guest book at their wedding. 

Salt & Pepper quilt for the newlyweds

The guests were asked to sign the back of the quilt, so a light-colored backing was required. 

Guests signed the back of the quilt

While their choice of quilt was likely unintentional, it was so appropriate – the block in this quilt has 2 opposites that come together, like 2 people in a marriage.  The wedding was just a few days ago, so I’m still coming down from the buzz.

My son and his beautiful bride

I have an extra copy of PC145 Salt & Pepper to give away.  This fat ¼ friendly pattern includes 4 sizes from runner to queen-size.  For a chance to win a copy, please leave a comment below offering up your best advice for my newlyweds.  What’s the best advice you’ve received?  Or what advice do you wish you’d received? All comments entered by November 12 will go into the draw.  Good luck!

Cheers,

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

What is your go-to snack?  Do you prefer sweet or salty nibbles?  I’m a sweets lover – I’ll take chocolate over potato chips any day!  And not just any chocolate – no!  I want the good stuff, a.k.a. the expensive brands that have their own shops, where the chocolates are sold individually, and one is never enough.

I’m also a sucker (no pun intended) for candy, especially if it’s chewy.  My colleague Susanne has a weakness for the tiny Jelly Belly jellybeans, except the cantaloupe and pear flavors, so my job is to search through each bag to remove them (and eat them of course!) before she mistakenly pops one into her mouth.

Sweets is this month’s theme for the Quilt Block Mania blog tour, so I googled ‘sweets” for inspiration and found an old favorite – salt water taffy!   These chewy pastel-colored treats are not in fact made from salt water.  Through the pulling process, which makes the candy lighter and chewier, air is added by stretching out the mixture, folding it over, and stretching it again.  The fruit-flavored candy is then cut into bite-size pieces and wrapped in waxed paper to keep it soft.  Here is my Salt Water Taffy block

Salt Water Taffy quilt block by Patti’s Patchwork

You can find the pattern here If you want to try your hand at making a batch of salt water taffy, here is a recipe that I saw online.

In Canada at this time of year, you can find Halloween kisses, a form of molasses taffy candy, in shops alongside the usual trick or treat offerings.  When I was young, my siblings did not like them so I would barter small quantities of my other Halloween treats for larger quantities of their Halloween kisses – yum!  Canadians apparently either love them or hate them.  Most kids do NOT like them, however the stores sell out every Fall despite increased quantities being produced.  Maybe kids would like them if they tried making them a.k.a participated in a good old-fashioned taffy pull.  Here is a recipe for homemade Halloween kisses.

Thirteen other pattern designers also made sweet blocks for this month – you can find the links to their free blocks below.

Donut Quilt Block by Carolina Moore
Swirly Lollipop by Patchwork Breeze
Caramel Apples by Crafty Staci
Scrappy Cookie by Katie Mae Quilts
Gingerbread People by Inquiring Quilter
Sweet Hearts by Scrapdash
Chocolate Roll by QuiltFabrication
Salt Water Taffy by Patti’s Patchwork
Sugar Skull Quilt Block by Brown Bird Designs
Lollipop Bear by Colette Belt Designs
Chocolate Box by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Let them Eat Cake
Yummy Yummy
Banana Split by Appliques Quilts and More
Sweet Slice by Cristy Fincher

I haven’t given away any treats for a while, so let’s have a Halloween giveaway. For your chance to win a packet of candy-colored Northcott precuts and some Halloween kisses, please leave a comment by midnight October 7 telling me your go-to sweet or salty snack, and whether you like (or not!) Halloween kisses if you’ve tried them.  Bonus points if you’ve made salt water taffy 😊

Cheers,

Patti

Fellow Quilters,

Welcome to August 😊  July was a bit of a blur for me, with golf games, invites to friends’ cottages (my homemade cookies and pies help ensure return visits), gardening and some al fresco dining to take advantage of warm summer evenings.

Magenta is my neutral!

Lots of work-related projects as well, including participating in the Aug/Sept/Oct/Nov double issue of Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts with my pretty Cobblestones throw quilt made with Heather Bailey’s gorgeous Wild Abandon (find the issue here).  I’m also in the current (Fall 2024) issue of McCall’s Quilting with my super-fun Twist & Turn lap quilt (find the issue here).

Twist and Treat with Whiskers & Wine

This “tipsy” 9-patch is made with Bonnie Lemaire’s Whiskers & Wine collection and features the adorable border print.  Of course, I use my E-Z Miter/Lone Star tool for perfect mitered borders!

I’ve also been busy writing several new patterns for hot-off-the-press fabric collections:

PC298 Panel Perfection uses one or 2 abstract art panels, fracturing and framing them for a quilt in one of 5 sizes

PC308 Window Panes

is a quick and easy pattern to showcase some of those large-scale prints.  Great for layer cakes

PC312 Cat-tails is for cat lovers everywhere.  This much-requested pattern now includes 5 sizes.

PC133P Festive Frostings is the silver-toned version of my original Festive Frostings and includes 4 sizes

PC311 Christmas Geese uses placemats from Northcott’s Yuletide Traditions, adding interest with flying geese

Watching the Time for August Quilt Block Mania

I also found time to design a block for the August edition of Quilt Block Mania.  Speaking of time, my Watching the Time block fits this month’s theme of accessories.

You can download the free-for-now pattern here.  Call me old school but I am almost never without a wristwatch.  I have had a variety of watches over the years.  I went through a 3-year period where I wore a pendant watch.

A pendant watch similar to mine

A clock handbag by designer Marilyn Brooks

Then I had a handbag shaped like an old clock face – it had a working clock as the face and was quite a conversation piece!

Currently I have 3 watches that I alternate wearing to suit my attire.  What about you?  Do you wear a watch?  What is your go-to accessory?  Maybe one of the accessories shown in the other participating bloggers’ blocks?  Here are links to them:

Santa’s Belt by Carolina Moore
Bracelet Quilt Block by Patchwork Breeze
Boot by Crafty Staci
Seam Rippers by Inquiring Quilter
Bow Tie Quilt Block by Scrapdash
Lipstick by QuiltFabrication
Favorite Bow by Brown Bird Designs
City Bear by Colette Belt Designs
Summer Hat by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Lingerie by Appliques Quilts and More
Necklace by Slightly Biased Quilts
Quilted Tote Bag by Cristy Fincher
Yes, M’Lady by Epida Studio
ZipZip Purse by Oh Kaye Quilting
Nail Your Style by Orange Blossom QDS

I’m off to find time to work on some new designs, and just maybe some time to quilt.  I hope you find some quilting time this week.

Cheers,

Patti

I love color.  No doubt about it.  Can’t get enough of it.  From my fabric stash (of course!) to my wardrobe, shoes, even my cars.  No neutral palette for me!  Turquoise is my go-to blender – I can successfully pair just about any color with turquoise.  It is my happy place, and for good reason.  Who wouldn’t love to find themselves on a white sand beach lapped by warm turquoise water? Ahhhh, tropical bliss!  Picture any beach and, alongside the turquoise water, you’re sure to find a rainbow of color on the beach.  Beach towels and bathing suits of every hue line the sandy shoreline.  The flora and fauna also add bright splashes of color.

One of my favorite pastimes in these tropical beach locales is exploring the colorful world below the surface of the water.  This is easily done with a mask and snorkel and often provides me with hours of entertainment as I marvel at the life in these underwater gardens.

Maui snorkeling tour

The expansive variety of brightly colored fish is surpassed by the even more expansive variety of colorful coral in a healthy reef.  It is truly an inspiring sight.  If given the opportunity, I will don a scuba tank and explore these underwater parks up close – they are teeming with life.  It is exhilarating to swim alongside sea turtles or find yourself surrounded by a school of hundreds of fish.
Last month I mentioned a fun colorful monthly online event in which I’m participating.  Jen of Patterns by Jen (PBJ for short) is hosting her annual Monthly Color Challenge.  The theme this year is tropical fish, and each month Jen picks a fish and uses that fish’s color to make that month’s block.  The pattern for the block is free for the entire month, after which it is $1.  You can sign up here to automatically receive an email each month with a link to the free pattern.  Jen also does a free how-to video showing how to make the block each month.  Here is a link to the Monthly Color Challenge main page listing each month’s color and fish.
I am helping Jen out by blogging about the August block.  This month’s color is purple (which pairs beautifully with turquoise and is also one of my favorite colors), and the fish is a purple dottyback.

A purple dottyback

Yowza!  I love the color of these fish!!

I pulled out the light and dark purple fabrics from my stack of FIGO Stash fabrics (not quite as bright as a dotty) and quickly whipped up a pair of the August block from Jen’s blog post (the blocks are quite easy to do 😊).  If you read my blog last month, you saw the luscious range of colors in Stash that I’m using for my blocks.

My stash of Stash by FIGO

I am making one light/dark block following Jen’s pattern and also one “color”/background block per her instructions.  My background is FIGO’s Serenity gray dot on white – a great blender for my Stash palette.
So far, I’ve completed the blocks for January through August – just 4 more months to go.

January – green tiger barb

February – discus

March – cherry barb

April – electric blue hap

May – electric yellow lab

June – harlequin rasboras

July – silver dollar

Jen will be providing a set of finishing instructions at year end to turn your monthly blocks into a nice-sized lap quilt using the light/dark block from each month.  Because I have 2 blocks each month, my year-end quilt is going to be larger – queen-size in fact.  I hope you’ll follow along with me each month as I post photos of the current month’s blocks.
I’ve also been participating in a couple of magazine issues.  My Cobblestones quilt, featured in the joint Aug/Sept and Oct/Nov issue of Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts, showcases the dee-lish and oh-so-colorful Wild Abandon by Heather Bailey for FIGO.

Cobblestones made with Wild Abandon

In this fat ¼ friendly throw-size quilt, I use magenta as my “neutral” – who knew that it could be a neutral?!?

Magenta is my neutral!

You can find a digital copy of the issue here.
I am also featured in the Fall 2024 issue of McCall’s Quilting with my Twist and Treat lap-size quilt made with Bonnie Lemaire’s Whiskers & Wine collection.

Twist and Treat with Whiskers & Wine

The tipsy cats in this adorable collection are a perfect fit for this quilt.

The lengthwise border stripe makes a purr-fect border

Quick + Easy Quilts is hitting newsstands today or you can get a digital copy here.

Stay tuned also for 8 new patterns coming to my Patti’s Patchwork website next week.  There just might be a special discount for my newsletter subscribers (the newsletter sign-up link is at the bottom of this page).
Cheers,
Patti

Fellow Quilters,

Today I’m coming to you from the Greek island of Crete, where Hubby and I are alternately trekking and dipping our toes in the Aegean Sea.

We are most certainly enjoying the delicious cuisine of this arid  Mediterranean country, perhaps some of the local beverages, and definitely the spectacular landscape.

The town of Fiera on the volcanic island of Santorini

This time last year we were also in the Mediterranean, venturing into north Africa for a brief stop in the Arab country of Tunisia.  So much of this area of the world is hot and dry – a desert.

Have you ever taken a ride on a camel?

In fact, the port in Tunis had some camels dressed to the nines in bright sparkling covers, and passersby were enticed to go for a short ride on these peculiar animals.

When this month’s theme for Quilt Block Mania was announced – desert – I thought of those creatures, a classic symbol of desert life.  I was not brave enough to go for a test drive on one of them, but I watched as a family with young kids took a trip around the port from the lofty height of the camels’ backs.  The kids were so very excited!

What brings to mind a symbol of desert?  Sand, most likely, stretching on as far as the eye can see.  And what better to traverse these vast tracts than a trusty camel?  Here’s my

Toes in the Sand block for this month.

My easy Toes in the Sand block for this month’s Quilt Block Mania – Desert theme

You can download the simple pattern here.

Just for fun, I colored up several blocks in non-traditional hues – how fun!  They remind me of the colorful covers worn by the Tunis camels.

A brightly-colored Toes in the Sand 48″ x 60″ quilt – I can’t get “Midnight at the Oasis” out of my head!

Here are some fun facts about camels:

Camels have either one hump (Dromedary) or two humps (Bactrian).

Camels are born without humps.

Camels store water in their blood (not their humps – they store fat in them) and can survive for weeks without water.

They are the only land mammals capable of drinking salt water without any ill effects.

Camels have three sets of eyelids and two rows of eyelashes to keep sand out of their eyes.

A pack of camels is called a caravan.

Camels live on average 40-50 years.

Camels can maintain a speed of 25mph for over an hour.

Camels sleep standing up.

Camels have large, flat feet to help them walk on sand. The soles of their feet have a large surface area to stop them from sinking into the sand.  Camels have two toes on each foot. A hoof that looks like a toenail grows at the front of each toe. Cows, horses, and many other animals walk on their hoofs but a camel walks on a broad pad that connects its two long toes. This cushion like pad spreads when the camel places its foot on the ground. The pad supports the animal on loose sand in much the same way that a snowshoe helps a person walk on snow.

Looking for more desert-themed quilt blocks?  Here is a list of the other 18 quilt designers participating in this free monthly event – enjoy!

Coiled Snake by Carolina Moore
Pyramids by Patchwork Breeze
Bison Skull by Crafty Staci
Renewal (snake) by Eudaimonia Studio
Gecko by Inquiring Quilter
Cactus Rose by Scrapdash
Oasis by Appliques Quilts and More
Adobe House by QuiltFabrication
Sand in my Toes by Patti’s Patchwork
Diamondback Quilt Block by Brown Bird Designs
Desert Bear by Colette Belt Design
Yucca by Tourmaline & Thyme Quilts
Arizona Poppy by Cristy Fincher
Palm Tree by Slightly Biased Quilts
Desert Cactus
A Prickly Pear in the Garden
Goldenhead Flower by Emerald Falls Quilts
Blooming in the Desert
Tucson Too Late by Orange Blossom

Have you been brave enough to ride a camel?  Share your experience below to inspire other quilters like myself.

Cheers,

Patti