Furry Friends

I have been testing out two new paper-piecing patterns for Juliet as I couldn't resist them when she put out the call for testers!

First up

was this cute little Otter, isn't he sweet?

He was soon joined by

this spiky, little hedgehog. He looks a bit like an albino hedgehog in the photo, but he isn't really so pale in real life, I assure you :)

As ever with Tartankiwi patterns they were a breeze to put together and great scrap busters to boot!

I don't have any particular plan for the blocks, although the gorgeous grandson probably features in whatever they become :)

For the minute they will join the Falcon block that I tested for Juliet a while ago until I can decide what to do with them.

All suggestions welcome!

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Woodland Friends

A few weeks ago I volunteered to test a paper piecing pattern for Juliet, The Tartankiwi. Juliet has designed a set of patterns on the theme of Woodland animals, and I volunteered to test the bunny pattern.

At the time I completely forgot that my fabric stash was hidden away in the depths of a storage unit somewhere between the NE of England and Scotland! I have some fabric with me in France but not much in the way of scraps, but fortunately I was testing a 4" block so the fabric requirements were not very large and I had the remnants of a low-volume scrap bundle from Plush Addict so it wasn't all bad!

I have to admit to having three attempts at the ears, making a different mistake every time but other than that and despite the size of some of the pieces it all went together fairly easily.


As all of my pincushions are also hidden away in that storage unit I decided to turn my pattern test block into a pincushion. He looks rather sweet don't you think?

Juliet is hosting a QAL for her mini Woodland patterns with some great prizes up for grabs, you can find out more about it here


Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

Wallowing

Juliet, who blogs at Tartan Kiwi, is a phenomenal paper-piecing pattern designer. I had the privilege of testing her paper-pieced Falcon pattern a while ago, for her Birds of New Zealand series.

So, when Juliet put out a call for pattern testers for her latest Safari series of blocks I instantly put my hand up!

We had a choice of three patterns to pick from and as you can see I chose the Hippo pattern.

Those large pieces of sky were very unwieldy let me tell you :)

There were a couple of blips along the way, when I lost track of which tiny bump was hippo and which was sky, but apart from that it was really straightforward to put together.

You can see all of Juliet's patterns in her Etsy store.

I am debating what to do with this block now that it is finished, so if you have any suggestions I would be delighted to hear them :)

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts

  

Fab Falcon

A couple of weeks ago the very talented Tartankiwi asked for a pattern tester for her latest paper-piecing pattern. Juliet has designed the most amazing patterns of some of the fabulous birds to be found in her New Zealand neighbourhood. Her latest pattern was of a New Zealand Falcon and as our local rugby team are known as the Falcons, and the males in this family are mad-keen rugby fans, well it was obvious that I should volunteer to test the pattern!


So I did and here is the result.

I don't claim to have his plumage correctly coloured but I am thrilled to bits with him. I am hoping to turn him into a cushion for our newly-decorated living room, but that will have to wait for a while. My sewing room is being stripped and repainted as I type so all of my sewing supplies are stashed in random places all over the house, it will take me days to find anything again:)

If you want to have a look at the other New Zealand bird patterns that Juliet has designed you can check them out in her Craftsy shop here They really are amazing patterns.

The falcon pattern should be available there too in the next week or so is available now!

I wonder if I left this block in the trees where it was photographed would it scare away the big, fat pigeons who are eating all of the bird food?? Just a thought :)

Hope you have had a good weekend too.

Linking up to Dandelion Dreams

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