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Every once in a while a fabric company asks me to work with them on a project – usually for a booth at Quilt Market. When it’s the right company and the right project these collaborations can be really fun. Every once in a while lightning strikes and they’re so perfect that it’s almost magical.

The Dear Stella collaboration that resulted in this free Sloth Lovie pattern, the Silly Sloths quilt pattern, and the Bear and Bunny Lovie Patterns was one of them. It was so much fun and led to so many great projects! The way I feel about this project can be summed up in the video I made for the quilt pattern.

Be sure to listen with the sound on for maximum cuteness. 🙂

I’m in the middle of another magical partnership – this time with Michael Miller Fabrics.

Maybe you saw some of their posts tagged #mmfpets during Quilt Market?

I had SO MUCH FUN making these guys!

Did I mention they’re BIG?

Really big.

Each block is about a yard wide!

When Michael Miller approached me about the project and shared a sketch of their booth, I actually squealed out loud. The concept was just so cute!

They had a bunch of BIG paper doll blocks, with outfits made in soon-to-be-released fabric collections. I would be making their pets – also in brand new fabrics. 🙂

It’s so much fun (and feels so sneaky) to play with new fabrics before they’re even released! Here are some of my favorites from this project. Each image links back to the Michael Miller site if you want more info. (Maybe you want to ask your local fabric store to be sure to bring in your favorite.)

So the whole booth concept was super cute, the fabrics were super cute, and their idea to incorporate my applique patterns was super cute. Of course I said yes!

Before I even started the project, I was already thinking of ways that YOU might want to use some big applique patterns. My plan was just to tell you to enlarge the blocks and then make some suggestions for what you could do with those supersized cuties.

But once I got into actually making the blocks, I realized it wasn’t quite as simple as that. It’s still pretty easy – and boy do they come together quickly! But there were a few Problems To Solve and Quirks To Work Out – so I decided to put it all together in a new online workshop.

No – those aren’t miniature scissors. Those are my regular shears, put in there for scale. 🙂

Update – this class is no longer available, but I’m working on bringing many of the lessons over here as free tutorials.

But that’s not all!

Since the purpose of the blocks was to show off new fabrics, I needed to add some extra doodads and accessories for the pets. That way I could incorporate more fabrics!

That was so much fun that I KNEW you guys would want to play too.

I decided to create a new applique pattern with loads of different hats and eyeglasses and bows and mustaches and speech bubbles and more. I just finished my drawings and I’m going to start making up some sample blocks soon so you can see how they work with all the applique patterns you already have.

Update: That pattern is finished now. It’s called Fancy Doodads and you can get it here!

So there it is. A perfect partnership – one where every step of the process is a joy and takes me in directions I never even thought of – including back to you. Many thanks to Michael Miller Fabrics for making it fun!