Thanks to all who entered the Paintbrush Studios giveaway for the Painter’s Palette Solids. I used the Husband Random Number Generator, and he picked Lisa J. for the scraps and Susan H. for the Paint Chips. It was fun reading all your comments!
I’m sure you’ve seen piggies flying across my screen on Instagram…piggies and more piggies. It’s because I was Queen Bee for this month’s Gridster Bee, and all my beemates were quick and sent them right out. So I honored them by sewing them all up into rows and getting the quilt top done. (Don’t you hate it when you make blocks for bees and they all seem to go into someone’s bottom drawer, never to be seen again? That happens, even to the best of us.)
I made a few more piggies, but imitated the heart in this curlicue pigtail from Carol.
I started to run into troubles because some piggies were facing left and some were facing right, and some were going uphill and some were going down, so my advice is have fun making them go left and right, but keep count, so you know how many you need of each. My husband made the suggestion to have the half-rows facing each other, so I did that in the middle of the quilt.
Another suggestion, from Mary, is to sew the grass on last, instead of first (like I wrote it in the tutorial). She’s right. I thought it wouldn’t matter much after the trimming, but it does. So that’s why I added the scrappy strips of green underneath the rows of pigs.
And last, arrange your piglets up on the wall, decide on the balance/color,etc. THEN start tilting them uphill or down. I also alternated the uphill/downhill at the start of the rows. It wasn’t that hard, if I just worked sequentially.
I started sewing the back together, then realized I was missing a beemate’s signature block. It’s come to a halt while I wait for it to arrive, but it will be great to have them all.
These white flowers (smallish, about 1 1/2″ across) are all over my bushes out front, and the whole yard is blooming. We’ve had a lovely rainy winter, so everything in the yard is very happy. So am I, to see these!
And I did a little spring shopping at our local brick and mortar quilt shop, finding some backing for the En Provence mystery quilt (still in process) on the sale shelves.
For April’s Gridster Bee block, Nancy of Patchwork Breeze drew up her own design, and asked us to make it up in some bold large-scale prints. This was a paper-pieced block in some places, and just plain pieced, in other places, and I think they turned out great.
This book will open your eyes up to color and piecing possibilities for New York Beauties, coupled with Flying Geese. I love it. You can find the author, Carl Hentsch on Instagram. I’m in love with another one of his quilts:
It’s slightly fuzzy because I screen-shotted it from Instagram. What talent!
And that’s all. Happy Spring!!
OccasionalPiece--Quilt! 
Great stuff here, Elizabeth! I think you’ve been keeping very busy in the sewing room! Those piggies ended up looking really good together. You made them into a very fun quilt. Is it to be gifted to a grandchild? Your bee blocks are good too, and so is Carl’s design. I can see the attraction to his work. Sure appreciated the funny too, which I immediately screen shot and sent to our daughter and daughter-in-law with young children. Someone is a pretty clever thinker. Hope you continue to mend well, so you can get to quilting that darling piggy quilt.
Love, love, love those piggies!
Your Piggies are adorable! What a fun quilt. And the farm border…perfect!
I love, love, love, the little piggies!!!! That has to be the most adorable quilt I have seen in ages. This quilt makes my heart smile. Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Elizabeth!
I just LOVE this pig quilt. You finished it off so well with the border print and the wonderful green sashing. Those tails are simply perfect too. Great finish!
The NYB book looks very interesting. I will have to look it up.
The flowers are glorious everywhere right now. Thank goodness for water from the skies this year.
Thanks for my morning chuckle. That is hysterical.
Your little piggies are just too cute! Deciding to tilt them up and down was brilliant. It really animates the whole quilt so much. Nancy’s block is gorgeous too. I look forward to seeing those blocks all together.
Love the piggies! And the mom’s comment about the kid – yes, definitely an Etsy item!
Those piggies sure are cute! I love how you worked it all out! And the borders and backing are just perfect! I’m curious to know how you will quilt it. I’m sure it will be uniquely Elizabeth!
I’m thinking of joining my NYB blocks together with flying geese…. when I get enough NYB blocks, that is! I need to make a few more yet!
The sample you gave of that book sure does spell ‘color.’ And you must have caught the but (or started it) with the gridster purple and black star. Rich!
Congratulations! Oink Oink!
The piggies are fabulous! I am glad you added extra strips of green grass to ‘ground’ the pigs. Otherwise, they would have been pigs in space.
Great work on getting all of your blocks on time and then making them up into a quilt so quickly.
And I have seen that Instagram quote too. I love it.
I love the piggies and your other blocks are quite impressive! Wish I’d thought of etsy when my kids were young and cute. Now that they’re all approaching, or in, middle-age, I couldn’t give them away….lol.
Putting swap blocks together can be a challenge in themself. I’ve done many online swaps where we are given a size ange rather than a hard measurement which is an advantage that then each person cab decide to chose what size to cut the blocks down to or grow them to match the others.
Loved your rolling hills you created for your pigs. They look wonderful together. Loved reading all your hints and suggestions on how you made it work.