Wow, February really got away from me. I had some time-consuming custom quilting to do, and I took a week off afterwards, and suddenly it’s March. On Sunday morning we woke up to the largest amount of snow of the winter, luckily it warmed up enough during the day that most of it melted again quickly. But the weather is still more winter than spring, and even though I am pretty adventurous in my gardening and do a lot by trial and error, even I haven’t started any peas yet. Just some parsley seeds inside, and quite a few of them have sprouted already. Other than that I think I caught the bag-sewing bug. Inspired by a guild trunk show I bought supplies for an Ultimate Travel Bag (By Annie pattern), and I actually finished it last weekend and am now looking through Annie’s other patterns to see what else I would like to make. Pictures will follow later.

Our little hedgehog friend is flying a kite this month. I have some vague childhood memories of kites mostly not flying but crashing down, and it was never my favourite pastime, but somehow autumn is still connected to wind and flying kites, so I just had to include it. As always, the pattern is available for free download until the end of the month and will move over to the pattern store when the April block is released.

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

I was so busy in January that I didn’t even have time to take a few detail pictures of the Hunny Bunnies blocks in the finished quilt. I published the full pattern on January 1st together with the last block and the bundles but I never got around to actually announce it here. So here we go, the complete pattern with all twelve blocks and finishing instructions is now available both in English/Imperial and German/Metric. I only added a crosshatch for the background of the blocks, I thought the background fabric provided enough texture. The sashing fabric was super busy, and the quilting doesn’t show much but I went with some spiral pattern that looks a bit like a stylized rose (at least if you have my imagination). For the outer border I used a pantograph design called “Let It Bloom!”. I finished the quilt a long time ago and it was actually displayed at the quilt show last October.

For those of you who missed most or all of the blocks last year, this is your chance, and if you enter HUNNY20 during checkout you will get an additional 20% discount. The code will be valid until February 12, 2023 11.59 PM PST.

Click to purchase Hunny Bunnies Quilt Complete Pattern (English/Imperial)

(Kauf)Anleitung Hunny Bunnies Quilt Komplett (Deutsch/Metrisch)

(Edit: Of course I worried for nothing… It snowed again overnight, so we left extra early, and the roads were clear and traffic wasn’t a problem, and they were able to get me in and out quickly although I arrived way too early, and I am back almost in time. But that’s Murphy’s Law, if I hadn’t worried about it, I’d still be stuck in traffic somewhere :))

It is still too early in the year to start rambling about my gardening adventures. It is actually snowing outside as I am writing this. Just a little, and the temperatures in the forecast are above freezing, so it should be disappearing fairly soon. But I am ready to go again, maybe plant some peas towards the end of the month and start the first seeds indoors.

So let’s look at our little hedgehog friend right away, who is out in the woods this months looking for mushrooms. I really hope he knows which ones are edible! I am not into collecting mushrooms in the woods, I grew up in a big city and wouldn’t know one from the other. But I have a very distinct memory from when I was nine years old and we were on vacation in Switzerland. We found some mushrooms in the woods, and my mom insisted these were chanterelles (I hope that’s the right name, I had to look up the English word). She took them home with us and said she would turn them into a delicious dish for all of us to enjoy. My mom had grown up outside the big city and she may or may not have been right, who knows. But all three of us kids only knew stories and fairytales with poisonous mushrooms and as city kids we found eating anything that we found in the woods appalling. Neither of us would have touched the dish, and we were so afraid that our mom would eat the mushrooms and die. Luckily for us, she put them in the fridge and forgot all about them. When she remembered them, they were spoiled and had to be thrown out. Phew.

As always, the pattern for this block will be free until the end of the month and move to the pattern store when the next block is released.

EDIT: If you missed the free download in February, Block #2 is now available for purchase in the pattern store.

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

EDIT: Block 2 ist jetzt auch auf Deutsch/mit metrischen Maßen im Pattern Store verfügbar.

(Kauf)Anleitung HedgeHUGS Block #2 (Deutsch/Metrisch)

Just a quick update: I have a very early medical appointment tomorrow and will probably not be back by 9 am to release the second block. You all know that I don’t like to schedule these free pattern releases for automatic publishing when I am not around for potential troubleshooting. So tomorrow you will have to wait another hour or two, depending on the weather and how busy the roads are. I will release the block as soon as I am back. Please don’t send me messages or comments, wondering where the block is. Thank you for understanding.

Previously I posted pictures of Cynthia’s version of this beautiful Susan Smith pattern called “Fleur”. When her friend Lisa finished her top, I got to quilt another one of these beauties. Lisa had of course seen Cynthia’s finished quilt and liked my quilting, so I didn’t really change much, especially since I quite like it too.

Karen made this modern quilt as a gift for her granddaughter who was involved in the design process. She had seen a similar quilt on Pinterest and liked it a lot, she helped pick out the fabrics and also requested just straight lines for quilting. Her original plan was to have vertical parallel lines all over. I suggested the diagonal parallel lines, following the seams in the herringbone pattern. The idea was approved by Karen’s granddaughter, so that’s what I did, and I believe it adds a bit more interest to the quilt.

This colourful modern quilt was made by Lynnette. What a great setting to showcase some pretty fabrics, and I especially like how the black sashing brings out the bright colours even more. I quilted it with a leaf pattern called “Ground Cover”.

Here is another one of those quilts that I am particularly fond of where your brain starts seeing secondary designs when you look at it for a while. This one was made by Kelley, showcasing a pretty floral fabric. I quilted it with “Azaleas”, a floral design with a bit of echo quilting.

This Double Irish Chain quilt was a guild project a while back, and Ellen asked me to custom quilt her version. She gave me a drawing of the feather wreath she wanted in the alternate blocks, and I filled the chain parts with diagonal lines. We were both quite happy with the way it turned out.

“Quill” is the name of the fabric line (by 3 Sisters for Moda) that Liz used to make this quilt. Liz likes swirly patterns, and this quilt is more about showcasing the pretty fabrics and didn’t need elaborate quilting, so we chose the pattern “Whisper” to finish her project.

Shelly made this memory quilt in purple and included a lot of personal pictures printed on fabric. For privacy reasons I have covered these pictures with white squares which makes the quilt look a bit weird, sorry about that. Shelly wanted to leave the photos unquilted, so I just stitched in the ditch around them, and for the background she asked for “feathers and swirls”, and I free-motioned all over it. I actually like doing that a lot, after the first hour or so I get into a “zone” and filling the background feels very calming and relaxing.

Thomasine also made this adorable little baby quilt with elephants. I quilted it with the design “Wandering Daisies” that has just the right amount of playfulness for the quilt. What a cute gift!