Blog - Pumpkin Patch

HedgeHUGS BOM – Block #1

Beatrice | January 1, 2023 | 2 Comments

Happy New Year 2023! Best wishes for a great year to all of you, and welcome to my brand new Block of the Month “HedgeHUGS”. Once again there will be twelve blocks with a finished size of 10″. They all feature a hedgehog doing mostly human things, as you already know from my previous BOMs, “Hunny Bunnies”, “Monkey Business” and “Penguin Promenade”. This is a fall-themed quilt but not centered around a specific holiday. When I first announced the BOM last month, I learned that hedgehogs are not native to North America. I didn’t know that! They are all over the place in Germany but of course it was wrong to assume they’d be around here too.

The layout will be the same as the last two years, the finished quilt size is approx. 52″ x 64″. The finishing instructions will be available for free download in December as a separate pattern. I am always happy to see pictures of your finished blocks, my email address can be found on the cover page of every pattern, in the lower left corner, so feel free to send them my way.

I have also provided an estimate on the cover page of the amounts of fabrics you need if you want to use the same fabrics for all twelve hedgehogs. For the accessories just dive into your scrap bin and see what you have. The exact colours don’t really matter, just go with what you have and don’t forget to have fun!

The free pattern will only be available in English/Imperial again. There will be a German/metric version available for purchase later. The rest of the rules are the same as always, and I copied them from last year’s post:

A new block will be published on the first day of every month at 9 am Pacific Standard/Daylight Time. Any changes I might have to make due to unforeseen circumstances beyond my control will be announced here on the blog. Since I am in the Pacific time zone, it will already be the second day of the month for some of you. Please be patient and please don’t email me asking when the next block will be published. I don’t like to schedule posts to be published in the middle of the night. There can always be a problem with one of the pattern files, and I would like to be able to fix it within minutes instead of waking up to dozens of messages complaining about the bug. If you find an issue, then please don’t hesitate to contact me, so I can fix it ASAP.

Each block will be available for free download during the month of its publication. It will be moved to the store section when the next block is published. If you miss a block, you can still purchase it for a small fee. Please do not email me asking me to send you the pattern for free. I will ignore these requests. I only charge $2 per block (and that’s Canadian dollars – as I write this, this amount equals approx. 1.48 US dollars and 1.38 Euros – you can’t even get a decent coffee for these amounts anymore!), and I will make bundle packs available again for three or six blocks, once we get there, that will give you an additional discount. Please respect my copyright and don’t pass your copy of the pattern on to your friend who might have missed the free download. This will just result in designers not offering free patterns anymore.

Thank you for reading all this, and without further ado, here is the download link for the first block. Enjoy!

EDIT: The month of free download is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase. If you just need the finishing instructions, they are still available for free download.

Für die deutsche(n) Version(en) mit metrischen Maßen bitte dem/den Kauflink(s) unten für die englische(n) Version(en) folgen und beim Checkout angeben, dass die deutsche Version gewünscht ist. Ich verschicke dann per email die Anleitung(en) in der gewünschten Sprache.

Wer nur die Anleitung zur Fertigstellung sucht, kann diese nun auch auf Deutsch kostenlos herunterladen.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Coming Soon: HedgeHUGS Block of the Month 2023

Beatrice | December 15, 2022 | 15 Comments

You might have guessed it already, next year’s BOM project will be a fall quilt. When I decided on a summer setting for the Monkey Business quilt I already had the idea in the back of my head to do spring and fall afterwards. This year we had bunnies for spring, and in 2023 it will be hedgehogs with all kinds of fall activities. There will be a Halloween block (but only one) and also one for Thanksgiving but it will be centered around fall in general and not a specific holiday. Hedgehogs were my first idea for fall but can you imagine how hard it is to draw a hedgehog that can be sewn?? I was ready to give up more than once, and I seriously thought of changing it to squirrels but all my attempts to draw a squirrel looked too much like this year’s bunnies and I eventually went back to the hedgehog idea. I can draw a hedgehog just fine but nobody would want to cut out all those spikes! So this little guy ended up with just a spiky haircut, enough to make him a hedgehog but still simple enough that cutting the pieces will be doable.

As always, the logo is also the first block* to be published in January. The brown fabrics I used for my sample are a bit darker than the ones in the logo, and I like it even better that way. But you will have to wait until January 1 to find out what it looks like 🙂 Getting the hedgehog just right was once again the most difficult part, the rest came together fairly quickly. I tried to keep it simple but it wasn’t always possible, oh well. But even though there are quite a few pieces most of them are not tiny, and the blocks come together quickly.

The instructions for the first block will be published on January 1, 2023 at 9 am PST, and the rules will be pretty much the same as before, I will post details with the first block. The blocks will be available for free download during the month of their publication (in English/Imperial only).

I also made Christmas cards again this year, and this time I chose an easier design with less intricate piecing. I came up with these pretty ornaments, a nice way to show off some Christmas fabrics.

Thank you for stopping by, and have a happy and safe holiday season. I am going to take the next two weeks off, and I will see you all in 2023 with the first block of the HedgeHUGS BOM.

*The orange border is NOT part of the block/quilt, there just wasn’t enough room for the text on the block.

Longarm

Maple Manor

Beatrice | December 12, 2022 | 1 Comment

Naida made this lovely quilt as a gift for her brother. I love the colours and the truly Canadian feel! We chose the design “Fall Leaves” to finish Naida’s quilt, it has not only maple but also oak leaves, and I think it brings together both the autumn and Canadian aspects of the quilt.

Longarm

Thomas the Tank Engine

Beatrice | December 9, 2022 | 3 Comments

Penny made this quilt as a gift, using a panel of Thomas & Friends. I don’t have a train-themed pattern but the “Celtic Scroll” design reminded me of wheels, and it finishes Penny’s quilt nicely.

Longarm

The Cat’s Meow

Beatrice | December 7, 2022 | Leave a Comment

This is another one of Donna’s works, a striking quilt in red, white and black with mostly cat-themed fabrics. We chose a simple scroll pattern for quilting, it is called “Whisper”, and it adds movement to all those straight lines and right angles.

Longarm

Autumn Leaves

Beatrice | December 5, 2022 | 2 Comments

This pretty quilt in fall colours was made by Donna. We didn’t have to think much about a quilting pattern for this one, “Fall Leaves” jumped out at us right away, and it finished Donna’s project nicely.

Block/Pattern of the Month

Hunny Bunnies BOM – Block #12

Beatrice | December 1, 2022 | 7 Comments

And just like that, another year is almost over. Six or seven weeks ago we still had almost 30°C (over 80F), and suddenly Christmas is just around the corner. I think everyone was surprised by that this year, my quilting Christmas rush started a bit later than usual too but then of course it came with a vengeance, and everybody dropped off their quilts at the same time. I do have another BOM in the works for next year, and timewise it is looking good for a start date of January 1, 2023. So stay tuned, I’ll announce it sometime later this month.

But first we need to get to our last Hunny Bunny block. This month’s bunny is enjoying a rainbow. I visited Hawaii once a very long time ago, and I really liked how they said “no rain, no rainbows” over there. I have been meaning to come up with a rainbow design for quite a while but it turned out to be more difficult than I originally thought. I fiddled around with it until I finally put the colours into separate arcs that don’t really connect, that makes the assembly of the block so much easier. Have fun hunting through your scraps for just the right rainbow colours! And don’t forget that the finishing instructions are also available for download now. They are very simple (sashing and outer border), and of course feel free to come up with a more creative layout. The December block will be available for free download until the end of the month and move to the pattern store in January. The finishing instructions will always be free.

EDIT: The year is over, a new BOM has started, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase if you missed the free download. If you just need the finishing instructions, they are still available for free download.

Wer nur die Anleitung zur Fertigstellung sucht, kann diese nun auch auf Deutsch kostenlos herunterladen.

Longarm

Modern Flowers

Beatrice | November 28, 2022 | 1 Comment

Mary made this quilt showcasing beautiful large floral prints. I love the bold, bright colours! We decided that the quilt didn’t need an elaborate quilting pattern and chose “Whisper” a basic swirly design.

Miscellaneous

Black Friday Sale 2022

Beatrice | November 25, 2022 | Leave a Comment

Another year, another Black Friday… and another sale. Once again I am offering a discount code for 20% off during checkout. BLACK2022 will be valid until Nov 28, 2022 11.59 pm PST. Please note that it works only on this website and not on any other platform that might be selling my patterns. Now is the time to check and see if you missed any blocks or get that special pattern you have always wanted. Happy shopping!

Personal Projects

Round Robin Four Seasons

Beatrice | November 23, 2022 | 4 Comments

I just realized that I never posted pictures of my Covid Round Robin project. We started it in the fall of 2020 with the guild, to keep us occupied during the first winter of Covid when we couldn’t have any guild meetings. Four people formed a group, and there were basically no rules, each group could do whatever they wanted. Most did a real Round Robin, one group did a Row Robin and my group decided to just do a Block Robin. I picked the four seasons as my theme and made a spring block with flowers, Easter eggs and a butterfly. Connie was next and chose to make a poinsettia for the winter block. Evelyn’s block is an amazing summer garden scene with birds and sunflowers and another butterfly. Kim had to take what was left and created an autumn scene with pumpkins and a squirrel.

Round Robin Four Seasons Spring — Spring – Beatrice

Round Robin Four Seasons Summer — Summer – Evelyn

Round Robin Four Seasons Autumn — Autumn – Kim

Round Robin Four Seasons Winter — Winter – Connie

I actually finished the quilt rather quickly. I believe the last exchange was in March or April of 2021, and I had it assembled, quilted and bound by June 2021. Orange is not usually my favourite colour but with the blocks I had it seemed like the best choice for sashing and borders. I custom quilted it, trying to find background filler designs that matched the theme of the blocks. It was in the quilt show this October and is now hanging on the wall in front of me, over my desk which finally made me realize that I never took pictures of it, an oversight that I corrected immediately 🙂 I am quite happy with the way it turned out.