Patchwork Party 2011

Gather your friends for a festive, fun-filled sewing party featuring Autumn in all its splendor! Patchwork Party 2011 has begun. Designed by Marti Michell using Set L of her Perfect Patchwork Templates, the fabrics are from Nancy Halvorsen's Bittersweet collection by Benartex.

This is our exclusive quilt block. Marti calls it "Turley's Inn" in honor of her husband Richard who is a descendant of the Turleys of Britain. And guess what? I actually found a Pub in Britain called Turley's. How interesting is that?

What I like about our block is its 9-Patch center and ease of construction. I think it turned out rather nicely, don't you? Using Marti's templates made construction of this block a breeze. Paper templates come with the pattern that is included in the kit but the acrylic templates of Set L are fabulous to work with and that's what we used.

This is our Finishing Kit. I named it Bittersweet Memories because I took my inspiration from those mid-19th Century quilts with their on-point applique blocks. Bittersweet is obviously because we used the Bittersweet fabric collection. Memories because of this quilt's 19th Century roots. Tammy Keith, our class coordinator and instructor, constructed the quilt and Linda Perry of Artistically Quilted by Linda machine quilted it for me. Tammy and Linda made my idea for the quilt come to life! It's beautiful! Thank you both very much!

This block is called Grandma's Peonies. It can be appliqued using traditional methods, needle turn methods or (my favorite) fusible web and button-hole stitch embroidery. Whichever way you decide to put it together, the block is beautiful. The block reminds me of those 19th Century red and green quilts that I love so much.

In addition to these Patchwork Party items, you can view others at our website. Then go to the official Patchwork Party 2911 website to view the other blocks you'll need to complete the finishing kit. That should inspire you to create a beautiful quilt too!