There is a moment in every project when the blocks come off the cutting table and go up on the design wall, and suddenly you can see the whole thing. Resting Stitch Face Patchwork is that wall. Every design here is pieced from prints, scraps and squares, the way a quilter sees the world, arranged in rows so you can step back and take it all in.
Top row: faces made of fabric
The faces went up first, because they kept staring at us. Cheeky is a round patchwork face in gingham, denim and soft florals, with button eyes, curled lashes, a small smile and two rosy pink cheeks. Tongue pieces a flower face from pastel diamonds and sticks its tongue out at anyone who questions the layout. For October, Pieced to Perfection-ish turns a jack-o'-lantern into patchwork, with diamond eyes and a grinning mouth cut from gold, plaid and paisley, on black or soft lavender. The ish is doing a lot of honest work there.
Middle row: words pieced letter by letter
Every letter in this row came from a different scrap. In My Quilt Lady Era spells out its announcement in chunky patchwork letters of dots, checks and florals. Afraid Seam? Laughed the Ripper. tells its tiny spooky story the same way, with a seam ripper standing at the end. I'm Not Retired, Quilting Is Hard Work sets a row of little icons across the middle, a machine, spools, scissors and a quilt block, like tools laid out on the table. And Sew Much Fun pops like a comic book page, with speech bubbles shouting Quilt It, Fabric Addict, Stitch Perfect and Patchwork Power.
Bottom row: color and places
The last row is where the color lives. Rainbow Scraps spirals strips of every hue into a swirl that seems to spin, and the Personalized Rainbow Quilt Spiral sets a name of your choosing right in the center of a rainbow of pieced wedges, with a proud line underneath about being a quilt-a-holic. Patchwork Star points in every direction at once, each tip a different print. Stitchin' in Indiana fills the state with yellow, red and blue patches and a river running through, and F-CAW-F, I'm Quilting lets a black crow spread his wings over a bright patchwork quilt.
For the quilter who squints at her blocks
Somebody in every guild moves one block six times before she is happy. This collection is for her, and for the friend who saves scraps smaller than a postage stamp and the one who can spot a misplaced print from across the room. You know who has a design wall, or a bed doing the job of one. Let her pick her row. Then do what every quilter does before she sews it all together: step back, squint and smile.
Written by Jenny. Thanks for reading.
