It isn’t often that I choose a pattern based on the quilting (because I usually have no hope of doing the quilting as shown). The straight lines on these really appealed to me and I bookmarked them quite some time ago. When I was planning my trip to Christy’s to celebrate her birthday I decided it was time to give them a try.

I used fabric from my scrap squares for the border. I like the way these turned out and I will definitely be making more.

This was my third Mario so there was no difficulty with the pattern.

I followed my Craftsy lesson and pixelated my own Happy Face photo and then created the grid. The method they teach uses strips of the various colours that are stitched together and then cut into the smaller squares. I like the technique as it gives the piece the pixelated look without as much quilting.

These were gifts for Dylan and Taylor, but they haven’t decided if they will hang on the wall or be used as table toppers.

The pattern came from quiltmaker.com. I think this is the first quilt I’ve made using an actual pattern rather than combining individual blocks.

The fabric was remnants from other projects. Most of the pinks and at least one of the greens were from Emma’s butterfly quilt and the black was from Madison’s cat quilt. I used a soft pink flannel as backing for the piece.

This is also the first large quilt that I have done with a free-motion technique. I used stitch-in-the-ditch around all the frames (yes, there were a lot of knots to tie in) and a loop (in free-motion) for the larger areas of the quilt.

I didn’t originally have a home for the quilt; I thought it might become a Community Quilt but the ladies at the bee said it was too nice. Since the fabrics are rather “girlie” I thought it would be nice for Kathryn as she lives in a house with all boys.

My original plan was to do a second set of Mario and Luigi for Alex and Will. After making the second Mario I was bored so decided to try my hand at something different. Mickey was the obvious choice for Alex.

I found an image online that I was able to manipulate for the Mickey piece. I have since found an online tutorial about creating your own pixelation and I’m anxious to try it on my next project.