Pin Pal Parade

Hello Everyone! Today is a special Minis and More Parade day hosted by Sherri and Michele. It’s a Pin Pal Parade or Pinny Parade or Pincushion Parade. Whatever you want to call them, they have been fun to make.

I didn’t really color plan the group, but they all look nice together. The Pin Pals finish around 4 1/2″ to 5″ and the blocks are slightly smaller, just so you know!

I started with the book “Pin Pals” by Carrie Nelson. Then I added two more, just for fun. Lets get started with my parade because each one has a story.

Bear Paw from Pin Pal Book

I’ve always wanted to make a Bear Paw quilt and this is the closest I’ve come so far. The fabrics are scraps from the upcoming Cabin Collection for The Art of Home Club. I needed to make this one first because I sent the quilt to Jacquelynne Steves on Monday.

There are parts of a Bear Paw block in this quilt with a bear and maybe a moose or two. I love this quilt, but I can’t show it until the 20th of April. The fabrics are Christmas Red Bella Solid, White Paper Moda Grunge and Fun by Timeless Treasures.

Old Glory from Pin Pals

I’m really glad Carrie included “Old Glory” in the book. It was easy to make and it looks awesome in Bonnie and Camille scraps, which I have lots of.

My tip for working with lots of seams is to use “Flatter”. It’s like a starch or Best Press, but different. I don’t use it to pre-starch my fabrics, but when there are a lot of seams in a block, it helps get them pressed down nice and flat. And Old Glory has lots of seams, although I took Carrie’s suggestion of trimming them to 1/8″ and that helped reduce the bulk.

Back of Old Glory

I love the backing fabric from Bonnie and Camille that I used on Old Glory. Carrie called for using batting and quilting the backs, too. I did that on the Bear Paw, then decided I would rather have a smooth back.

Instead of batting, I fused Pellon SF101 Shape-Flex woven interfacing to the backs. Having the thinner back also made the Pin Pals turn easier.

Ohio Star-ish

Next up is Ohio Star-ish. This was fast and easy because I already had the quarter square triangles from the Linked Mini. All I had to do was trim them to 1 3/4″ and add the corner squares and the top was done!

The Linked Mini is from a pattern by Sherri that was in the Summer 2016 Quilts and More magazine. You can read why I had lots of leftovers if you want to. The fabrics are all from past Nancy Halvorsen’s Christmas Lines, which I love.

Farmer’s Wife from a Sew Sampler Box Pattern

The Farmer’s Wife Pin Pal was another quick one to make. I used leftover charm square strips and squares from Lella Boutique’s Garden Variety fabric and another White Grunge.

The scraps came from the Round and Round (by Camille Roskelley) table runner I’m making with the charm pack that came in a Sew Sampler Box. I started this at the beginning of January, but this is as far as I’ve gotten. I plan on working on it this weekend.

Certifiable! from Pin Pals book

Okay, if you’ve been following me, you know I’m slowly making 16″ Swoon blocks for a Swoon 16 quilt (pattern by Camille Roskelley). I have 5 more of those blocks to go. When I saw the Swoon block in Carrie’s book I knew that too, had to be made.

4″ Swoon block Pin Pal top

There’s 69 pieces of fabric in the block! I used scraps from making the big swoon block and was scrambling to find enough of the red and outside green points. I used HST trimmings to cut some of the red squares. Again, Flatter was my friend when pressing the finished block.

Swoon 16 Block with Certifiable Pin Pal

I chose these fabrics because this is one of my favorite swoon blocks. I used up all my Day Sail red fabric though to make this one. All fabrics are Bonnie and Camille with the White Paper Grunge.

Just one more picture because I love it! Maybe, after the next 5 swoon blocks are made, I can make a little Mini Me quilt from the scraps.

Winter in Baltimore Cross-Stich

Last, but not least is the “Winter in Baltimore” cross-stitch Pinny, pattern by Brenda Gervais. I love this little cross-stitch piece. It was my first experience working with 1 thread over 1 square (most are worked with 2 threads over 2 squares). I see more of this 1 over 1 in my future. The fabric is a 28 ct Lugana in either white or mushroom. The cross-stitch is just slightly under 2″ square. The fabrics are perfect with it. The pink is by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts and the aqua is from Porcelain by 3 Sisters.

If you haven’t made your own pinny, grab some scraps and start sewing!

I hope you enjoyed my parade. Be sure to check out the rest of the parade with Sherri and Michele. Thanks for stopping by!