At the Guild wind-up barbeque in June 2011 someone made a couple of these and they were presented as door prizes. As soon as I got home I spent hours on the Internet trying to find a pattern. Along Came Quilting in Calgary carried the pattern and I placed my order.

Although the pattern wasn’t difficult, it was fiddly and took me right back to everything I didn’t like about sewing. I often said that if I hadn’t cut out the pieces for three of them at the very beginning I probably would have only made one! I made two gluten-free slices (for Stacia and Deloise) and one Happy Birthday one for Diane.

I am so happy that Stacia has requested the pattern as I know I will never make them again and it is nice to share!

During its 2010-2011 season the Timberlane Quilt Guild challenged us to a Block a Month. At the monthly business meeting we were given instructions for the block, and the colors we were to use. If you completed the block and returned it to the Guild at the next meeting your name was entered into a draw and the winner received all of the blocks.

For the first few months I participated but, because I didn’t always have the correct colors, I decided to drop out rather than purchase material each month and then, basically, give it away because I have very little luck in contests of any kind.

I wanted to do the block though as they were wonderful learning techniques. The pinwheel cat block is what started me off on The Cat Came Back quilt. The Cat and Sunflower block was the centerpiece for Madison’s quilt. Diane and I worked on the Spring Chicken block when I visited her last year for her birthday. And I have big plans for the Butterfly block. Also included is the Broken Dishes block; the pattern was the challenge at Hands Across the Water. As this was a sampler quilt I used a variety of quilting stitches on the various blocks – some more successfully than others!

The cover will be used on the Captain’s bench in the Kids’ Room (also known as the expansion to my studio).

I wanted to make something for Christmas for Diane, but I didn’t want it to be “Christmasy”. I found a pattern online, which is very appropriate because Diane and I are always sharing patterns that we find on the net.

I had some charm packs with a coffee theme and these seemed like a perfect fit to represent our friendship. We have shared many a morning, afternoon and night over steaming cups of coffee!

I used free-motion hearts and loops for the quilting.