Fellow Quilters,
Happy Tuesday! Welcome to the December issue of Quilt Block Mania. Wait – did someone say December?!? What happened to the previous 11 months?!? I don’t know about you but this year has been a blur for me. If, like me, you’re north of the 49th parallel, masks and social distancing are still the norm, along with virtual gatherings. Hubby and I just spent the past 3 glorious weeks on a long-overdue and much-needed Caribbean cruise where masks were required except when dining/drinking – I must say that I felt safe as a church mouse. Kudos to Holland America for a very successful cruise. It was SOOO good to finally get away and I am really looking forward to the Quilt Bee at Sea to Hawaii in February for 19 fantastic days of perfect weather, breath-taking scenery and quilt-till-you-wilt.
Last night Hubby and I were invited to dinner by a couple we met on our cruise – they live 4 blocks away – small world!! Their lovely home was decked out for the holidays, including resplendent poinsettias at the front door and a majestic Christmas tree in the foyer – so festive!
Christmas is without a doubt my favorite time of the year. In my area we are almost guaranteed to have enough snow to go tobogganing. I absolutely adore Christmas baking, from my mom’s Christmas fruitcake (unlike the much maligned store-bought version, it’s so moist and rich that my sons actually request it) to traditional shortbread, rum balls, mincemeat mini-tarts and several others that have become must-have additions to the requisite list. My family and friends manage to devour 12 batches of goodies over the holidays. Christmas dinner would not be complete without the classic plum pudding, a recipe handed down 3 generations from my friend’s husband’s great-grandmother – we set it aflame with brandy and serve it with rum sauce! Mmmmm!
Flaming Christmas plum pudding
Speaking of classics, I had great fun designing my block for the December edition of Quilt Block Mania, coordinated by Carolina at AlwaysExpectMoore.com. Twenty designers participated this month, and you can find the links to their blocks here:
Puzzle Cube Quilt Block by Carolina Moore
Swirlybirds by Scrapdash
Rocking Horse by Appliques Quilts and More
Old-fashioned toy by Blockofthemo.com
Wooden Toy Blocks by Penny Spool Quilts
Xylophone by QuiltFabrication
Stacked Rings at Patti’s Patchwork
Toy Truck at Blue Bear Quilts
Bullseye at Pretty Piney Quilts
Toy Plane by Mom and Me Quilting Co
Nutcracker by Inquiring Quilter
Water Colors at Perkins Dry Goods
How to Theread a Book by Craft Towards Joy
Sling Shot by Faith and Fabric
Candyland at EvaPaige Quilt Designs
Shape Sorter Block at Patchwork Breeze
Colorku at Love to Color My World
Toy Wagon by Cristy Fincher
Baboushka dolls by Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Baseball by Masterpiece Quilting
This month’s theme is “toys” and the color palette reminded me of a classic toy that every child seems to receive around age 1 or so.
Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack
That’s right, it’s the iconic Stack of Donuts (find my pattern here). I dutifully adhered to the chosen palette, using a selection of Northcott’s Toscana textures, leaving out the orange ring, but I must admit it still looks remarkably similar to the toy my boys played with as they developed their fine motor skills and learned their colors.
It makes me wonder how many millions of stacked donuts have been gifted to babies everywhere. Did you know that there have been several color combinations of stacked donuts over the years?
I decided to play with the blocks to make a baby quilt. Here is option #1 with 12 blocks.
Option #1 38″ x 51″
But wait! Here is option #2 with half of the blocks flipped upside down – so cool!!
Option #2 – same size but so different!
Did you know that most quilters take up quilting to make a baby quilt? How about you? Tell me about the first quilt you made – who was it made for and what was the occasion? Post your story in the comments below by midnight December 14 for a chance to win a packet of my new Canoe Lake fabrics for Banyan Batiks – I’ll give away 2 prizes!
My new Canoe Lake fabric collection – Autumn Blaze, Lakeside, and Misty Morn
And join me in the Cottage Sampler Quilt-along starting December 29 here to make a throw or queen-size sampler featuring 7 unique blocks. Each week I’ll share tips and tricks to easily piece your blocks with expert precision.
Sign up for the quilt-along at Patti’s Patchwork
Speaking of sharing, I’ll pop back into your Inbox in a couple of weeks to share one of my favorite Christmas cookie recipes.
Until then,
Cheers
Patti
pattispatchwork-blog.com 