Another month has come and gone in this weird year. British Columbia has entered phase II of its reopening plan, and I have amended my procedures for taking in quilts a bit. This is mostly interesting for local customers, please click here to read more. There is still no square dancing (and probably won’t be for a long time), and the lack of dancing has managed to turn me into a gardener. I never thought that day would come but I have planted lots of veggies, and most of them seem to thrive. We have already harvested some spinach and lettuce, the peas are blooming, and the potatoes are growing like crazy. And yesterday I found the first flower on one of the tomato plants. Just the cucumbers don’t seem to like me but I am hoping it’s just the weather. One of my green thumb friends says her cucumbers are struggling too which made me feel a bit better.

I can’t think of a clever transition from gardening to penguins, so let’s just jump right in and check out what our friends are up to this month. There is definitely no gardening going on in their world. June’s penguin is gliding serenely across the ice on his skates, all dressed up in his finest bow tie, his ears kept warm by matching earmuffs. As always, the pattern is available for free download until the end of the month and will move to the pattern store when the next block is released.

Click to download Penguin Promenade Block #3 pattern (English/Imperial)

Amanda made this quilt called “Hip To Be Square” from lovely blue fabrics. She asked for a quilting design with hearts, and we used “P.S. I Love You” for her project. What a great pattern for Jelly Rolls, it would look great an any colourway.

Lisa made this adorable little quilt as a baby gift. It is no secret that I love pink and I enjoyed working on this project very much. The quilting design is called “P.S. I Love You” and was an easy choice for Lisa’s quilt.

Kelley made this Bookcase quilt as a gift for her sister. It comes not only with her sister’s favourite books but also has a coffee cup, pictures of the grandkids and the cutest little bookworm. The bottom shelf is dedicated to Harry Potter and contains the Sorting Hat, Hedwig and a selection of Hermione’s favourite books. Some of the book titles are printed on fabric, some are hand-embroidered. We chose a simple overall design called “Taj Mahal” for Kelley’s quilt. What a lovely gift!

This is another project Pat asked me to quilt for her. She used mostly Kaffe Fassett fabrics for this quilt and pieced the backing from leftover fabrics and blocks, if you can even call it leftovers. It ended up being a reversible quilt with the back being as pretty as the front. The quilting design is called “Celtic Scroll”, and this is one of the few times I actually used variegated thread since there was enough black in the quilt for the colours to actually show.

Pat started this gorgeous quilt years ago and worked on it on and off until she finished it last year. I have a vague memory of seeing this pattern in a Keepsake Quilting catalog a long time ago, when the internet was a long way from what it is today and they sent out little paper booklets every few months. I don’t remember the name of the pattern, “Always In Bloom” is the name of the Maywood Studio fabric line with the pretty roses. The quilting design is called “Rose Garden”, a perfect fit for Pat’s floral project.

Cynthia enjoys needlework by hand and pieced and appliquéd this lovely quilt called “Rosa Biddlecombe”, designed by Margaret Mew. The variety of fabrics used for the blocks makes the quilting almost disappear, and we decided on an allover design called “Wild Wind” for this part of the quilt. The centre part is lightly custom quilted, the way Cynthia likes it, with just one echo around the appliqué and a few free-motion feathers in the background.

Remember the baby quilt I made back in February and had to rush because the date of the baby shower took me by surprise? Looking back, I am very happy with the way things worked out. The little guy was born on April 3, and by that time we were all social distancing, and I wouldn’t have been able to give the quilt to the new mom in person and see her face when she unwrapped those hippos. Anyway, I still needed to make a second version as a pattern sample. It was supposed to be finished by now, this weekend I would have been at the Langley quilt show but once again life happened, and we had to adjust our plans. My sample isn’t done yet as you might have guessed, but I am making (slow) progress. The top needs two more borders before it is ready for quilting. Here is another preview, and those smiling hippos still make me laugh every time I look at them.

Dinner Plate Dahlia is another one of Judy Niemeyer’s patterns, and this gorgeous version was made by Lynne. This is (at least) the third Judy Niemeyer quilt that Lynne has pieced, and I really admire her patience and skill. I couldn’t even finish one, let alone three. The overall design Lynne chose for her quilt is called “Tandoori”.

Carla put this quilt together from blocks that her friend Joanne had made and didn’t like. I am not sure why she didn’t like them but I am glad Carla rescued them. Isn’t this a gorgeous quilt? This was a really fun project to custom quilt. Symmetrical layouts and geometric shapes really speak to my brain, and I have no trouble coming up with designs for the different areas. Carla’s only request was feathers in the white on-point squares, and the rest fell into place pretty much by itself.

Welcome to May and the second block of our Penguin Promenade. This month’s block features a chubby little guy skiing downhill, his hat and scarf flapping in the wind. I chose red fabrics for his accessories but the colours don’t really matter, so just go with what you have in your scrap drawer and have fun. The ski poles are quite narrow and not easy to cut but you can always choose to embroider them if you don’t feel like doing appliqué. I appliquéd everything and didn’t have a problem but I realize that not everyone is fond of tiny pieces 🙂

I hope you are all hanging in there, trying to stay home as much as possible. This virus will be with us for a while, and all we can do is make the best of the situation. Luckily quilting is a hobby that will keep us entertained at home for a long time. Until we run out of fabric, I guess, which for many quilters should not be a problem anytime soon 😉

As always, the pattern will be available for free download until the end of the month and move over to the pattern store when the June block is published.

EDIT: The second penguin block is now available for purchase if you missed the free download.

Click to purchase Penguin Promenade Block #2 pattern (English/Imperial)

EDIT: Penguin Promenade gibt es auch auf Deutsch, allerdings nur als Kaufmuster. Die kostenlosen Downloads jeden Monat sind nur auf Englisch und in Inch erhältlich. Die deutschen Blöcke werden jeweils einen Monat später im Shop veröffentlicht.

(Kauf)Anleitung Penguin Promenade Block #2 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

“Hook, Line & Sinker” is a pattern by Crabapple Hill Studios. If you are not familiar with Meg Hawkey’s designs, they usually involve hand-embroidered blocks and some crayon tinting. Many of them are offered as block of the month programs. “Hook, Line & Sinker” is a perfect gift for an avid fisherman in your family. This is Joni’s version, and I was delighted at the idea to custom quilt it. I had never quilted a Crabapple Hill design before, and I found it much more intimidating than Judy Niemeyer quilts, for example. I finally settled on filling the background and staying away from the embroidery as much as possible. Of course those areas needed to be stabilized as well, and I tried to just give them texture and echo the embroidered lines. I didn’t spend much time on the border, the dark pattern of the fabric made the quilting pretty much invisible, a simple design to stabilize it was all it needed.