New pattern this week!
Sort of. 🙂
It’s actually the old Lucien Lion pattern, updated to make all kinds of other big cats. Use the narrow body and take away the mane to make a lioness. Switch to spotted fabric to make a jaguar. Keep the spots and use the wider body to make a leopard. Switch to the more pointed ears to make a cougar. You can make other big cats too - but not tigers because they have very wide heads with shaggier edges. (There’s a tiger pattern here.)
This week is also the first time you’re seeing the new paid option for the newsletter in action. Here’s the scoop.
It was confusing for people to have a Funny Faces subscription option and also a paid newsletter subscription option - so I combined the two into one absolutely awesome subscription. It’s super easy.
(If you were in the Funny Faces Club, your subscription has already been cancelled. You won’t be charged for September.)
The basic newsletter is free and will remain free. You get everything that has always been in my newsletters, plus one free download every month. That free download is new and I hope you like it! Sometimes it will be a pattern, sometimes a printable, sometimes a drawing tool for Procreate. I want to leave things open so I can do what feels right any given week. I’m also leaving open which week of the month is the “free download for everyone” week. Last week everyone got the Brette Bunny printables for free. You can still use that link to go back and grab them if you missed them. They’re awfully cute. 🥰
If you are a paid subscriber you get the regular newsletter, just like always, and you’ll also get every new thing I release for free. That’s every new pattern. Every new printable. Every new drawing tool. I’m calling it. . .
This might be a crazy mistake, but if enough people sign up, it will totally work. I’m definitely willing to give it a try, and if I err I like to err on the side of generosity. 🥰
Keep reading to the section called The Download to see how it will work.
As I make new sample blocks, I’m trying to be more efficient when I plan their colors so that they’ll work for the new bundles I’m putting together. For example, I made the lion in colors that will work for the ABC quilt, and the leopard in colors that will work for an Endangered Animals bundle I’m building. I’m getting to the point where I have a handful of sample blocks finished for a bunch of different bundles-in-progress and I’d like to start finishing some of them.
That’s where you come in!
Here’s a list of the five bundles I’m closest to finishing. I’d love to know which you’re most excited about!
As a reminder, a bundle is a set of ten blocks for 40% off the normal price.
I can’t wait to see what you choose!
Don’t worry - I’m still working on getting all those ABC animals done. Here’s where I stand so far with the addition of the lion.
I also made a new meerkats block in the color palette I’m using for this quilt (Animal Kingdom appliques on Farmers Market background blocks in light and medium).
Next I’ll be working on the block for U. 🥰
Chantell’s Creations has permission to sell my patterns formatted for use with embroidery machines and she’s made a couple of beauties lately!
You can get her version of the Greedy Seagulls pattern here.
She also converted Oswin Octopus to digital files.
Remember, if you’re buying her digital machine files you get them instead of my pattern - not in addition to. Digital machine applique is totally different from what I do, so the format of everything is radically different. Only the design is the same. 🙂
Here’s your weekly dose of awesomeness from the Shiny Happy People group!
Look at the terrific quilt that Maryruth made for her great nephew (who loves Mike Wazowski). She used the Scary Squares pattern for all the monsters around Mike, but you could also use the Mix & Match Monsters pattern. (This post explains the differences between the two patterns.)
I love how she arranged the monsters in rainbow order around Mike!
You could use this same layout for any of my patterns. Use a fancy fabric panel in the middle, or make a double-sized block for that center square. Just take your pattern pieces to your local copy shop and have them printed at 200% size.
Head over to the Shiny Happy People group on Facebook to see lots more wonderfulness people are making with my patterns—and to ask questions and share photos of your own projects. It’s my favorite place on the internet - and there are TONS of terrific new postings this week!
The archives and sale now have their own newsletter every Friday. Last week this tutorial got twice as many clicks as everything else. And for those who were frustrated by the broken link to the chevron quilt pattern, here’s the link you were looking for. I’m so sorry about that! If you ever encounter a broken link like that again, check the comments on the post. I’ll always post a correction there, in addition to fixing it in the archived version of the email.
As I mentioned above, the download this week is the new and improved Lucien Lion pattern.
First of all, if you have previously purchased that pattern from my shop, you should have already received the new updated version for free. If you didn’t get the email with the link to download the new version, please login to your account and click View My Downloads. Those links will always download the newest version of any pattern.
If you purchased the pattern on Etsy, I’m sorry, but they have no mechanism for me to update files. :-(
If the pattern is new to you, and you don’t want to pay for Everything Under the Sun access, you can purchase it here. Easy peasy! 🥰
That’s the end of the newsletter for free subscribers. Thanks so much for reading - and I hope you have a fabulous week!