There’s something about making a pattern your own that is especially desirable for many makers. Whether through varied fabric choices, changes in color and value placement, or even addition of new features, taking a set pattern and making it look distinctly yours is satisfying. I also have a really hard time following a pattern without adding at least a *little* change to make it my own, even, as it seems, with patterns I designed myself!
As I photographed my latest Constant Flux Christmas mini quilt top, I realized that I’ve sewn up my Constant Flux foundation paper pieced pattern in three very distinctly different ways. One was even so distinctly different I decided a stand-alone pattern was the best route, since explaining my section-grouping might not be the easiest to do! I thought it would make a fun blog post to show you different ways you can take one pattern (Constant Flux, in this case) and make it look completely uniquely different.
When I first designed Constant Flux, I was aiming for a pattern that was fun and geometric, but allowed for meticulous cutting fun. I used Alison Glass Handcrafted fabrics from Andover, and my focus was on the big scale prints in that line. With meticulous cutting and careful placement, the radiating pattern is clear, with the white star-like secondary pattern for some added interest.
Then Alison Glass came out with her Seventy-six fabric line and Andover Fabrics asked if I would make a mini quilt for their booth at QuiltCon. How could I resist!? I had been wanting to sew up a Constant Flux quilt in a different colorway anyway, and in looking at Alison’s fabrics, I wanted to use all of the colors.
I had recently discovered Nichole Vogelsinger’s Boho Embroidery book, and really wanted to incorporate a Wild Boho-style embroidered applique in the center, so I rotated the blocks 90 degrees. Same exact blocks and pattern as my original Constant Flux, only rotated and shrunk to 80% so that the scale of the bee fit better. Constant Flux a second way.
Finally, while playing around with color placement options on my original Constant Flux pattern, I discovered that when arranged a certain way, it looked very much like a Christmas wreath! Because this required merging large sections of the pattern into one fabric instead of many, I decided that it was high time I tackle a holiday pattern, and I made three new templates to make Constant Flux Christmas come together smoothly and easily. It is closely derived from the original pattern, and if you have the original Constant Flux pattern you can technically make the Christmas version if you have a strong understanding of foundation paper piecing and how to join pieces to make it happen. I created a separate pattern to make it easier for everyone. That brings us Constant Flux a third way.
I wonder what it will look like in my fourth rendition?
Do you follow patterns to a T, or do you change things? I’m always curious to hear, since from talking to other quilters, it seems that we fall into two pretty clear camps: those who follow patterns meticulously, and those who just can’t seem to follow the pattern as written and must change or add some feature nearly every time. I clearly fall into the latter. I’d love to know what camp you fall into!
Feast your eyes upon this! Can you blame me!? I mean, seriously…. is there anyone who doesn’t love a rainbow? Here’s a quick introduction to the line, with attention drawn to a few details I especially love, and far too many photos, as is my style.
Diatom reminds me a bit of Insignia, with its large solid portions, only a bit softer. I love how the colors play wonderfully together, yet you can get different value play within each color.
Compass is definitely the boldest in color, and I love the addition of complementary colored details on some of the fabrics.
With the dense white sketch-like pattern on Depths, it reads the lightest in color.
The designs are reminiscent of Alison’s most recent fabric line 
Together, these fabrics make a rainbow that fits in wonderfully with the rest of my rainbowtized stash (let’s be honest, it’s probably 90% Alison Glass fabrics anyway), and I can’t wait to work them into my projects. I already have two new rainbow project ideas in the works, even though I really could do with some project finishing before I begin more new ones (shhh).
I also love that Alison includes white and grey versions of each print, since both act as the perfect neutral to help the rainbow truly pop. She’s thought of everything.
Soooooo so pretty! I’m thinking I’ll use these in an EPP project or two, and I’m planning on using mostly this line (with a few other Alison Glass fabrics of old) in my 
Back in July, I promised to release this pattern to the public when the snow began to fly. This past weekend, we had our very first snow of the season here in midcoast Maine, which happened to be perfect timing since today I’m pleased to present 
When playing around with color placement on my Constant Flux pattern, I realized that by merging large sections, an entirely new pattern emerged–one that looks to me like a modern take on a wreath and star. I decided to make it easy and adjusted the pattern templates to reflect this heavily altered version, and thus Constant Flux Christmas was born. This is a fun, beginner-friendly pattern that would look great not only in traditional colors, but also in any other colors you throw its way! I’ll be sharing photos of all of the gorgeous versions sewn up by my pattern testers so you can see for yourself!
As soon as Kerry asked me to play along, I knew exactly what fabric I was going to use. A few years ago, while stopping in at 
I used the 10″ Paper Love Mug since it was *just* large enough to fit the full face, and simple enough not to seem busy with the wavy background. Whether my brother will love the mug rug I make with this mug block or just get a good hearty laugh over it, I don’t care. It’s just one of those gifts that must be given.
I visited my local quilt shop 
I also might add some embroidered detail to that anchor tattoo. We’ll see how brave I get. That’s the one thing with using my brother’s Doppelganger fabric–I daren’t mess up the face! Either way, I think he’ll get a kick out of the gift, and I have finally found a way to gift a piece of this stashed fabric to him!
The Paper Love Mug (top center) is part of the 
The 
We spent the rest of the day in the thick of Sunday family activity: we went to church, went out for a special family brunch at Dysarts (those familiar with Maine will know the draw of a good Dysarts breakfast), then headed off to our local tree farm to cut the perfect, tallest-one-yet, Christmas tree. I sit here now, the rest of the family asleep, typing by the glow of the lights of that tree, which was fully dressed in lights and ornaments before the kids would even think about heading up to bed. It was a full day, an exhausting day, and one during which I didn’t stitch a single stitch or write a single word (until now), but that’s ok.
I’ve been wanting to create a pattern exclusively for 
It was tough to limit myself to just a few of the colors, but with my design I had to pick my top favorites. Turquoise and magenta won the day, and that perfect purple print with both turquoise and magenta details, called Energy in Berry, was the perfect middle man! Plus, I can’t think of a better fabric name to go in a Superbolt!
I quilted Superbolt with a variety of color-coordinating Aurifil 50wt and 40wt threads. I quilted straight lines in the lighting bolt white sections using 50wt thread in 2600-Dove and the walking foot on my Bernina 560. I’ve been wanting to practice free motion quilting ever since taking 
I used a different design in each colored section, and tried to choose mostly curved designs for the darker areas, with more angular and sharp designs for the light ones. I used 40wt 1148-Light Jade in the teal section (Charisma in Seafoam from Panache), 50wt 2535-Magenta in the purple (Energy in Berry), and 40wt 1100-Red Plum in the bright pink (Spirit in Pink). Because the thread color blends in so well, it’s hard to see how fantastic my free motion quilting was, so you’ll just have to take my word for it! LOL
I found the perfect backing fabric for this mini in my stash, Aloe Vera in Candy from Pretty Potent by Anna Maria Horner, and with the addition of a few leftover blocks from the mini quilt top, it came together as a really fun quilt back.
The striped fabric makes a perfect binding, but also makes a great label! I took the photo before I hand stitched the top edge, and don’t mind that top stray thread that escaped my snips, but I love how easy the stripes made it to write in a straight line! I usually kilter when I write, so having that extra guide was super helpful.
Before stitching up a Peder or Halvor Tomte (my two favs at the moment), I had to sew one of the adorable Tiny Tomtes! This Tiny Tomte is a free addition when you buy the 
I used a Henry Glass print for the background, since the mushroom and snail seemed right at home with this Tiny Tomte. This print actually also happens to be the very first fabric I ever bought, years and years ago before I began quilting. The red fabric is from my scrap bin, some gorgeous Oakshott Lipari from my 
After sewing up this Tiny Tomte, I had to take him out on an adventure in the woods so that he would feel at home. During my youngest’s nap, I ventured out behind our house and Tiny Tomte had a fun photo shoot! We found a gorgeous shelf fungus on a tree stump, so Tiny Tomte played beneath it.
And on top of it!
He climbed some trees and gathered some souvenirs.
A pinecone three times his size and an evergreen bough will have to hold him over until we cut our Christmas tree this year. I think they will do just fine.
Today I’m excited to be the first quilting stop on Patty’s Flit and Bloom Blog Tour, where I get to show you what I’ve been working on these past couple of months using her newest fabric line for 
I began with one of my favorite EPP patterns, 
Aren’t these peacocks fun as they dance in pairs around the block?
While I was stitching my Moonstone block, Mathew (aka 
I knew I wanted to incorporate the hummingbirds into this flower block, since hummingbirds and flowers go together like rock and roll, but couldn’t fit them onto any of the individual shapes. Then I realized that I could split the hummingbirds across two background fabrics and decided to go headfirst into meticulous cutting at its best.
I labeled the humming bird front-back pairs since the Flowermania block is pieced in such a way that they are only joined right at the end as the segments are stitched together. This fussy cutting feat was no easy task, I might add. From the careful cutting to make sure the hummingbird halves would seamlessly meet when stitched together, to basting the pieces *just* so, to then stitching it all together and having it meet perfectly around the green diamonds, this was a challenge. They are not all perfectly matched up, and I learned a few tricks along the way that I’ll keep in mind next time, but overall I’m happy with the outcome.
Some hummingbirds match perfectly, but even the imperfect ones are perfect in their own way. Hummingbirds are happily flitting around this Fowermania bloom, and it seems to me that it’s the perfect poster-child block for Flit and Bloom fabrics. Right!?
Finally, I started to dive into a Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses block, since what is EPP without Lucy Boston? I love how rotating the fabrics creates even more meticulously cut geometric fun, and I look forward to seeing how this block shapes up.
One of my favorite parts of planning with Lucy Boston blocks is in the outer pairs. I like to make a few “test pairs” with different fabrics and arrangements to see which ones I visually like best.
I love that Flit and Bloom has plenty of opportunity for mirror image fussy cutting, since those are my favorites–can you see why?
Which arrangement is your favorite?
I used 
Be sure to visit the rest of the stops on the Flit and Bloom Blog tour to see what everyone has made with this fun fabric:
First, to introduce you to my contribution to the third Quilt Theory pattern collection! Inspired by my frequent family hikes, Into the Forest is a reminder of where you should always head–into the forest!
Take a leisurely stroll with me into the depths of nature. Into the Forest plays with two sizes of the same block to create a simple graphic tree design with a crisp and clean aesthetic, like a morning stroll through a cool forest. Inspired by the majestic evergreen trees ubiquitous in Maine, this quilt uses your 5 favorite fat quarters to make a nature inspired lap quilt finishing at 52″ x 60″. Use organic, repurposed, or naturally dyed fabrics to really become one with nature.
It seemed only natural to choose 
My Into the Forest quilt was partially pieced and quilted by me, and partially pieced and quilted by 
In the spirit of conservation, I also created a free bonus pillow pattern that uses up most of the scraps created through the construction of Into the Forest. The link to the bonus pillow pattern is included on the 
All of the Quilt Theory patterns are simple enough to be printed on 4″x6″ cards or a single page downloadable pdf. At only $4 each, they are perfect for gift giving or collecting, too!
Collection 3 pattern cards will be coming soon to a local quilt shop near you, and the first two collections are still available, so go ahead and ask for all of them! If you are a quilt shop and want to carry our patterns, 
Cloud 9 fabrics was generous enough to offer a fat quarter (FQ) bundle of 12 of their luscious organic cirrus solids to one of my lucky readers!
organic cotton | happy you | happy earth
He finally realized that I was on the other side taking photos! No photo shoot is complete without a kid cameo, though, right?
Wandering into a west coast forest…
Wandering into an east coast forest…
In the spirit of setting myself up for success, I opted to make four (4) blocks to make a pillow rather than a full sized quilt, and I dove into my bright Alison Glass stash to put together a fully saturated, smooth rainbow gradient. You know how I feel about rainbows. Alison Glass fabric rainbow + Giucy Giuce EPP project = heaven on a summer’s day!
I used mostly 50wt Aurifil thread, with a few 80wts thrown in, using coordinating colors so that the stitches blend right in with the blocks. The threads shown here are (from top left clockwise): 2535-Magenta, 1154-Dusty Orange, 5015-Gold Yellow, 5017-Shining Green, and 1125-Medium Teal, all 50wt. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as matching the perfect thread to your fabric!
Alison’s Art Theory print from her Ex Libris line (still my ultimate favorite fabric ever) was my color inspiration, so I planned my 4-block panel around the color flow in the center octagon. Throughout the course of the summer, I finished the four blocks and completely stitched them together!
Now I am at the point in the game where this could lounge in the works in progress pile for a while, but instead, I am going to use my excitement to forge ahead and aim to finish this beauty, which is sure to be my most favorite pillow of all time.
My next step is to choose background fabric, press the pieced panel thoroughly, remove the template papers (so that I can use them again!!), and then hand stitch the panel down onto the background fabric. Just last week, I visited my local quilt shop 
After looking at those options, I still felt like I needed to see the Insignia before deciding, and with the encouragement of a few friends on Instagram, especially Erin who said, “I’m a strong believer in first instinct=best instinct!”, I ordered a yard of Insignia in Charcoal from Alison Glass’s shop. (Thank you Erin!). Clearly, my first gut choice is the winning choice!
Next I will hand stitch this epic panel to the perfect Insignia background using Aurifil’s monofilament thread in Smoke. I plan to quilt this with the Smoke monofilament thread, too, and I’m so excited just thinking about how amazing this pillow will be. This will be my first time sewing with monofilament thread, either by hand or machine, so I’ll be sure to share how it goes.
As for me, I’m nearly finished piecing my next rendition of a Moonstone block, going with the Gems layout and a more nautical theme. I plan to make only one block and top stitch it to a large zippered pouch for a friend to whom I owe a quilt. I’m hoping the consolation diaper pouch/zipped pouch will hold her (and her nearly 1 year old baby) over until I manage to make the quilt!
As you can see, I’ve been absolutely struck with Moonstone Madness and it doesn’t appear to be tapering off just yet. I’ve had a wonderful time piecing together these blocks, and the portable nature of English Paper Piecing ensures that it is still very much on the top of my “summer stitching” projects list!
Night Quilter 