Sweet talk, and sweeter makes.

One excited Cass with her fabric stash.

Months ago the wonderful Jennifer Paganelli was wanting submission of interested (probably the wrong term) for collaborators to promote her upcoming collection "Sweet Talk". So Editor Nikki put a bomb under me (thanks Nikki), and I quickly came up with a pitch. Granted I have had this idea in my minds eye for a little while now... but I feel like it has been waiting for this range.

The pattern will be named Dotti's Castle after my late Nan, who had a notions house quite similar to this. Granted hers had no drawers, or internal compartments, but it was a gorgeous notions keeper that I inherited after her death. I have a feeling Dotti would have loved this range, even if only because I am so excited about it.

It was really nailing the construction of "It's A Keeper" that has given me the confidence to even think about going ahead with this make... a hinged lid constructed in the English Paper Piecing technique. I must be crazy (or a genius).

Proposed Design - Dotti's Castle

The main constraint I will be working to will be how large I can get the end panels on a US Letter sheet. Originally I had been worried about the length of panels not being structurally strong enough, but mentally I have worked through 99% of the forseeable issues. The rest will just have to be worked out on the fly, sometimes its the unforeseen issues that give rise to the BEST solutions.

Sweet Talk by Jeniffer Paganelli

It's taken a little longer to get to this point than anticipated. There was the small problem of the lovely people at Windham fabrics running out of sample yardage... whoops. But I had faith that this would all work out in the end, and it has! Sadly though I am eyeballs deep in makes at this moment so Dotti will need to wait until I have enough mental space to really dig into it. In the meantime though I DO have a few ideas up my sleeve...

Sweet Talk

First project off and running -- Nested Blooms bowl trio in this amazing range. As of this morning I have cut / basted the large size in the stunning deep blue fabric for the outer and the pink coordinate for the inner. The middle size is the electric blue / green floral and the small in the divine pink / red print.

I also need to make an Orbit cushion to play with quilting designs. I am a little nervous about running out of Chambray for the quilt so I am going to use one of the border prints from the range to create a (hopefully stunning) chunky border around a 3 x 3 block or 4 x 4 block layout. If you aren't familiar with Orbit, she's hanging behind me in the first photo.

Planning. Yes, my remarkable was the best money ever spent.

Hopefully after I have made all of these "brainless" (perhaps pre-problem solved is a better term) makes I will have cleared the decks for new exciting projects. Here are the main three on my desk causing grief this month...

Left - Trio of Christmas trees. Please note you can only see two.

Center - Christmas Wreath. This will be in Make Modern Magazine's Nov / Dec issue.

Right - Starfall. 2026's Block a day quilt is in sampling, then needs to be written.

Other projects: Nepenthe - Currently on hold. Orbit - with Nikki for editing. New border and assembly instruction have been added in anticipation of the 2026 version. Then there is the day job. So, I had better get back to the tasks at hand. Cass xx