I love a three-day weekend, but, wow, do those three days fly by, or what? Saturday was a fun sewing day with my quilt group, Seams Sew Easy, and our sister group, six lovely ladies from our Guild who invited us over to show us what they learned in a class they took last year with Cynthia England. Cynthia authored this book (which has been in my library since 2005, but never read) and is one of my quilting idols:

Her method involves foundation papers, but you piece it from the front or “right” side of your fabric, not the back as in traditional paper piecing. This is the block I made on Saturday:

Check out my friend Emma’s star block here. It comes from this practice pattern in the book:

The idea is that you can take any photo or image, and adapt it using Cynthia’s method, into a quilt block or quilt top (Like the American Flag in the photo).

I wasn’t sure what to do with my little practice block. When I got home and moved onto my next project (Beth’s Sew Connected 2 January Bee block), I realized my little star block matched her fabrics perfectly so I made a “stars outside the cabin window” block, for Beth:


Saturday also brought some “sunshine in the mail” for me, in the form of a bright yellow Hancock’s of Paducah envelope. (Don’t you LOVE those yellow envelopes!?):

My new supply of Kona Cottons for some upcoming swaps and Bee blocks: