HomeMy WebsiteAbout mePocket PatchworkFreebie Patterns

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!

Wishing you all a very 
Merry Christmas!  

I've been cooking and baking, wrapping and writing cards, and have decked all the halls.  I'm sure you have all been doing the same to prepare a wonderful Christmas for your family.  Once we say goodbye to the old, and welcome the New Year, I hope to have a little more time for sewing and hand stitching.  Hope springs eternal, anyway!

Thank you all for your patronage and friendship this past year.  If not for you, I'd have nothing to do!!  Parish the thought!  I so enjoy writing to you through this blog, and enjoy your comments and emails throughout the year.  I look forward to traveling to meet many of you this coming year, as there's just not a better way to spend a day than with fellow quilters.

Wishing you a Happy New Year filled with many blessings
of happiness and good health in 2016!

Sunday, December 20, 2015

A Prairie Gathering Quilt of the Quarter ~ Month Twelve

I can hardly believe that a year has almost passed since we began this journey together!  My, how the time has flown by.  You have done an amazing job with this quilt, and are about to complete this piecing masterpiece!

Your first task this month is to assemble the two types of Friendship Stars.  There's not much to offer in the way of suggestions here that we haven't already covered.  I'll just say this one last time....measure to be absolutely sure they are the correct size.  I love Friendship Stars as they give a bit of movement to the quilt.  Hope you like them, too!
 The Signature block is the last block to make!  Happy dance!!  It's very simple construction may have you letting your guard down, but even easy blocks can go wrong in just a few stitches.
Once you piece the strip together, be sure to do that "M" word before continuing.  Once you're sure the block is good to go, you'll be sewing four Connector Corners onto the block.

Such a little innocent square can really be a problem if not tended to properly.  Follow these four steps to achieving perfect Connector Corners (CC).  

  • Draw the diagonal pencil line perfectly from point to point.
  • Place the CC squarely on the base.
  • Sew just a thread or two (scant) inside the seam allowance.
  • Press, then trim.  Press to check the accuracy of the folded triangle.  Once you're happy with it, then trim the bottom two fabrics.  If it's not perfect, un-sew and re-do.  It's just a little seam, and worth the effort!


Now, for the fun part!  
Arrange the Friendship Star blocks and Signature blocks for final assembly.  Consult your pattern as the top and bottom borders are slightly different.
You're home free now!  Add the final red border and pat yourself on the back!!  You did it!!
Your piecing masterpiece is complete, and what a quilt it is.  Wonderful job and I'm so happy we took this journey together.  

I sincerely hope you enjoyed the historic stories included in the program, and that you learned a lot while piecing the quilt, too. 

I'm already working on several new Block of the Month programs for Marcus Fabrics.  Each is quite different from this one, with new and exciting adventures for your piecing pleasure.  I'll announce them right here on my blog when it's time, so please come back and visit often.

Thank you all for participating in A Prairie Gathering.  I'm so very happy you did!


Friday, December 18, 2015

Airing of the Quilts ~ Tucker ~ Part Two

Let's continue the quilt show, shall we?!
Barbara from Kansas
Karen from MN
Kathy from CT
Kay from MA
Launa from CA
Lisa from Canada
Lori from ND
LuAnn from AZ
Lucille from OH
Martha from IA
Nancy from CO
Nancy from NY
Nancy from OH
Robin from AZ
Rose from CA
Sharon from NY
Sherryl from IL
Shirley from WI
Sue from U.K.
Susan from CT
Susan from VA
Terry from TN
Theresa from GA
Ursula from Canada
Veronica from ND
Yolande from Paris
Becky from MO
Ivani from Brazil
Judy from OH
Did you have a favorite?  We you inspired by another quilt?  I know I am, and I'll be collecting my scraps again for another Tucker as I have a few places that need that special touch only a quilt can bring.  

For most of us, these next few weeks will be spent with family and friends, celebrating the holidays, and welcoming a New Year.  I'll be doing the same with my family, although it will be very different as I lost my 34 year old sister this year, so it will be a difficult time for us, but we'll get through it together.  

It's amazing how our stitching is our constant companion through good times and sad ones.  That has been the way for stitchers from the beginning of time, and our quilting ancestors certainly wrote about it.  My stitches have been a source of peace and fulfillment for me for as long as I can remember, and I love dreaming up new things to keep our needles busy.  

2016 will be an exciting year and I hope you'll like the fabrics and projects already in the works for your consideration.  Surely there will be another Pocket Patchwork Sew-Along, although I'm not sure when or what.  

Enjoy your weekend and the anticipation that is always in the air the days before Christmas.  

And, as always, thank you so much for visiting my blog.  Stitching together is such a blessing.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Airing of the Quilts ~ Tucker ~ Part One

This is one of my favorite things to write a post about, when it's time to show off all of YOUR quilts on the clothes line!!  (If you're new to my blog, I hosted a Pocket Patchwork Sew-Along called Tucker a few months ago.  Click here to read all about it.)  As you enjoy the photos, you will not only see finished Tucker quilts, but how your fellow quilters changed the design to suit need and creativity, which I LOVE, but also the clever places where they have tucked their quilts.  So, so fun!!  I'm jazzed, elated, and inspired, and I'm sure you will be to.

So...let's get to it, and I'll allow the photos to speak for themselves.  
Arja from Holland
Becky from TX
Betsy from IL
Carolyn from TX
Cathy from Canada
Charlotte from CA
Christine from IL
Christine from VA
Danice from AL
Debi from MA
Diane from IN
Eileen from IL
Gayle from UT
Gillian from AZ
Gina from MO
Hannah from TX
Ileana from TX
Janice from Canada
Janita from IA
Jaqueline from OH
JoAnn from MA
Joy from CA
Judy from MO
If you'd like to join the parade of Tucker quilts, you still have a day or two to email your photo to me!  You know we'd love to see it!!!  Email your photo as a jpg attachment to Pam@HeartspunQuilts.com.  Include the state or country where you live, and I'll include your Tucker in the next post coming in a few days.  

In the meantime, if you're itching to be stitching in a brand new SAL, my BFF and good pal, Lynne Hagmeier of Kansas Troubles Quilters,  is preparing to launch her very first SAL!!! She's calling it KT Stitch With Me.  Sounds like a lot of fun, so click here to read all about it.