Sneak Peek

What I Am Working On: Happy Hippo Hop In Progress

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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.

Happy Hippo Top Detail

Longarm

Dinner Plate Dahlia

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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”.


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Broken Dishes (Put Back Together)

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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.


Block/Pattern of the Month

Penguin Promenade BOM – Block #2

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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 🙂

PPP-054-02 Penguin #2


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: May is over, and the block has moved to the pattern store where it is now available for purchase if you missed the 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.





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Hook, Line & Sinker

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“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.


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Jack and the Beanstalk

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“Jack and the Beanstalk” is a pattern by Tula Pink, and this quilt was made by Pat as a gift for her granddaughter. Isn’t this a fun modern design? It has a lot of background space to fill, and “Overlapping Crop Circles” was a great quilting choice for Pat’s quilt.


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Harrison’s Memory Quilt

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Ginger made another memory quilt for one of her granddaughters. If you missed her first one, Hudson’s Memory Quilt, it can be found here. This time she cut up Harrison’s baby clothes and turned them into an adorable quilt. The top didn’t have any embellishments, and the lace she had added to the border was stitched down, so there was nothing that could get in the way of the hopping foot. We chose the design “P.S. I Love You” for Ginger’s quilt, an easy choice given all the hearts in the top.


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Hockey Time in Canada

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Doris made this hockey-themed quilt as a gift for a little boy who loves his sports. The feature fabric tells enough of a story, and we decided the quilting should stay in the background. The pattern is called “Celtic Scroll”. It gives texture to the quilt and also picks up the shape of the hockey pucks.


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Bear Paws

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This Bear Paw quilt was made by Brenda. Isn’t the fabric placement interesting, with the Bear Paws in the light colour and different scraps making up the background? I should try that with a scrap quilt, I really like the look. Brenda chose the design “Swirling Feathers” for her project.


Miscellaneous

Penguin Backing Fabric

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You might have noticed that I didn’t post a picture of my sample block this month. I don’t have a huge fabric stash, that’s not the way I work. I come up with a design first, and then I hunt down the fabrics, and sometimes it just takes a while to find the right ones. But my first block is finally done and ready to show.


And I also managed to find backing fabric for the quilt. I don’t usually buy a lot of novelty prints but I like my backings to match the theme of the quilt, and of course I had to order this cute penguin fabric when I saw it online. And they even wear hats and scarves!

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