From Broken Pieces

If you've been with me for the past few years, you know that the January Quilt of the Month is always the Broken Dishes Quilt.  It is so symbolic to me of what the beginning of a new year feels like.  The taking down and packing up of the previous year and the sorting all the experiences into patterns that resemble something with order and beauty from fragments and broken pieces.   I wrote a blog post about it earlier in the month that you can scroll down to.  

Our moto for Tweetle Dee is Celebrate + Dream + Create.  When I began this company, it came at a big transition time in my work.  I had dabbled in design for embroidery and quilting for a few years, worked in a couple of quilt shops, but had spent years working in finance and real estate.  I had a dream that someday I would be able to leave that steady work and make a living sharing and creating with people who loved to paint and sew.  

I had been to the International Quilt Market and had 30 wholesale embroidery accounts with shops in the US and set a goal that I would walk away from my 9 to 5 job when the wholesale monthly profits equaled my paychecks.  It took awhile, but that day came and it was a moment where I took all the pieces of a long journey and puzzle pieced them into the "pattern" I call Tweetle Dee.  

My first International Quilt Market in 2008

(yes...Tweetle Dee used to be Gigglee Designs)

There has been so much growth and so many experiences we've had since then.   If you look at the corner of the picture above in the pink frame you will see my original Celebrate Dream Create embroidery sample.  It was published in a few magazines and sold like crazy in many shops.  

The meaning of Celebrate Dream Create is set to remind me that everyday there is something we can celebrate, even if it's that we are alive and got our feet to move int he morning.  That we should always have a dream or a simpler explanation is something we are working towards.  Something we want to learn, grow through, a place to be.   And, the gift of creating has been what helped me survive in my toughest times and truly helped me to find joy in moments where I struggled to have a dream.  

Celebrate + Dream + Create has been with me my whole like and I love that I get to share it with you here.  In a way, Broken Dishes comes from the celebrating what was, the hope that there is something beautiful that can be made from the broken, and that in creating or moving our lives, our hands, our minds...we can find the patterns and beauty-joy in our own life.  

So keep at it!  January is January.  The beginning of a new year.  The Broken Dishes Mini Barn Quilt Kit is a small creative project that is so calming to paint.  The kits comes with the brush, pre-scored design board, paints and a color guide.  I love being able to have a small project I can do with my hands.  I hope you find these as fun to paint as I do.  

This month you can save 15% on your Tweetle Dee orders in our shop with code Lovey15.  Sending you a big hug!  Have a wonderful week. 

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From Broken Pieces

Paper Hearts Barn Quilt

Our newest barn quilt design is the Paper Hearts.  Inspired by the paper chains we made in elementary school to decorate the windows and chalkboards of our class rooms.  I loved making them as a child, and I loved painting this barn quilt to hang on my front porch for the month of February.  

Paper Hearts Barn Quilt
The design pictured above is a 33" framed in reclaimed cedar in a white distress which compliments the soft colors in Paper Hearts.  Painted in our Prairie Paints colors, (Homestead White, Poppy Pink, Indian Paintbrush and Lambs Ear).  Each barn quilt is sealed in our beautiful finishing wax to last for years to come.  The barn quilt already painted is available in our shop in three sizes, (22", 33" and 44") all framed in reclaimed cedar.  

Paper Hearts Barn Quilt Pattern
For those of you who love to paint our barn quilt designs, the Paper Hearts Barn Quilt Pattern released today.  The pattern includes a full color pattern, diagram, paint list, and our How to Paint a Barn Quilt instructions.  Patterns are available as a PDF download or a paper pattern that ships to you.  Either way, you get all the instructions to make one of these beautiful Paper Hearts of your own.
This week you can save 15% on your orders with code Lovey15.  We hope you have a wonderful week and find something to create that brings you joy!

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Paper Hearts Barn Quilt

Sodus Point Prairie Paint

If you were asked to close your eyes, and imagine a calming blue, my guess is that you would imagine a color very close to our newest Prairie Paint color, Sodus Point.  Our Prairie Paint Collection feels a little more complete with this beautiful color in it.  

When I saw this color, and closed my eyes to imagine where in my memory bank this soft grey-blue had been experienced before, my mind went to Ontario Lake and my childhood days on the sandy beach of Sodus Point.  The water colors range from grey to soft blue and fade into the skyline with these colors in reflection up to the clouds.  

Water has a calming sense to my soul, running and moving water even more.  As I have painted with Sodus Point, the color remains true to it's name, an old calm blue.  This past summer we had the chance to spend a day at the beach with my family, walking the beach, collecting rocks and visiting the light house.  It was a fun day, and refreshed the childhood memories of the colors and feelings I experienced there as a child.  

This color brings the total in our Prairie Paint Collection to sixty four.  It has become a collection of vintage inspired colors that have been inspired by the colors and memories of my home in Upstate New York.  We have painted with these paints for three years now, using them in classes and workshops in all four corners of the country.  I am very proud of this collection and the formula that makes our gel-chalk paint so smooth with amazing coverage.  

We have used the Prairie Paints on interiors, exteriors, furniture, fabric and of course our extensive barn quilt collection.  It is my preferred paint, and I can say that our customers have loved it too.  There is nothing like it, in composition and in color.  
We hope that you will find the colors that speak to you in your soul, in your color memory bank, in our Prairie Paint Collection.  They are all available in our shop. 

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Sodus Point Prairie Paint

Flying Swallow and Fellowship Star Patterns

Two of our most requested barn quilt designs are now available at Tweetle Dee. The Fellowship Star and the Flying Swallow are in the shop as both a PDF download and a paper pattern to ship.  Our patterns allow you to paint your own barn quilts on any surface in any size.

The Flying Swallow

All of our patterns include color diagrams, Prairie Paint color suggestions, a black and white design grid and our How To Paint a Barn Quilt instructions.  Our instructions include board selection and paint/finishing instructions to get the very closest you can get to our design looks.

Flying Swallow & Fellowship Star 

Barn Quilt Patterns

The Flying Swallow is a traditional quilt design, which we designed as a colorful rainbow prism with white and black as an anchor.  We have painted many of these and shipped them all over the US and Europe.  It is one of my all time favorites.  

The Fellowship Star

The Fellowship Star is also a traditional quilt block that we designed to encourage community and gathering.   The points of light on the tips bringing in all under it's light.  Now, you can paint your very own.  

This week we are sharing the love with our annual Lovey Heart Sale with 15% off all orders.  Use code Lovey15 to save on patterns, kits, ready-to-paint barn quilt boards, embroidery kits and all of our painted quilts.

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Flying Swallow and Fellowship Star Patterns

Broken Dishes Barn Quilt

Happy New Year!  We are so excited for a new year.  You know how you just get those feeling sometimes that tell you something so good is headed your way?  Those feelings come once in a while to me, and I feel this about 2023.  It feels like the beginning of a new adventure, and like all adventures, there are all kinds of experiences we have.   So, as this new beginning is here, I am feeling all the hope that this will be a good adventure we will celebrate together.

Broken Dishes Barn Quilt

As we head into January I love to hang my Broken Dishes quilt.  It is a daily reminder there is beauty in things that are broken.  When I think about the previous year, there are good days and challenging days that when summed up, become a part of the beautiful adventure of the previous year.   
How I came to love this design was looking in an old trunk in a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse.  In that trunk, we found an old hand stitched quilt with a note attached saying "Broken Dishes".  The origins of the Broken Dishes pattern date back to the 1790's and is one of the earliest recorded designs in quilt history.  Half-square triangles are arranged to form the pattern of this simple design.  We aren't sure of the dates the quilt we found was sewn, but it was evident with with hand stitching throughout that many hands worked this together to make one special quilt.

Broken Dishes Hand Stitched Quilt

Many of us have broken pieces from the previous year that are left in a swept up pile.  When a new year begins, we all look back at our experiences of the previous year and make plans or goals for the new.  For me, what has been so helpful through therapy is to look clearly at what was "broken" and place it in healthy frames to heal and make something good again.  

Broken Dishes Blue Willow 

Barn Quilt

We have the Broken Dishes Ready-to-Paint Barn Quilt Kits available in two gorgeous color-ways.  We have both the Geranium with all the gorgeous reds and pinks and the Blue Willow inspired by the old Blue Willow dish collection.  All of the colors used come from our Prairie Paint Collection and are available in paint sets in our shop.  

In Our Shop this week we have the painted Broken Dishes Barn Quilt with kits, patterns, paints, frames, and already painted barn quilts in Geranium and Blue Willow . 

In addition to the painted barn quilt, we also have a live class available for this design on Saturday, January 28th.  To register for this class go to Our Shop and sign up.  Our vision statement for Tweetle Dee is to Celebrate + Dream & Create together.  We hope you will jump into this new year creating with us in our online classes.  

To celebrate this new year use code CelebrateDreamCreate and save 23% on all orders this week.   We hope you had a beautiful holiday season with your family and friends & best wishes for an amazing year.  Let's make it a year to celebrate and create a little more joy in our lives in 2023!

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Broken Dishes Barn Quilt

Holly Wreath Embroidery Kit

It's a very merry week here at Tweetle Dee.  It's the week of Christmas and amid the hustle to wrap, cook, and be present, we have found that setting aside a few moments to hand embroider has brought a slow calm to the evenings together.  Any of you have attended our embroidery workshops know that my husband and sons all hand embroider along with me.  
This hand winter piece was hand drawn onto the fabric while we were in Indianapolis teaching a two day set of embroidery classes and we all took turns stitching it as we traveled back home, and taught in SLC and AZ.  I love when one piece has the work of many hands.   The memories make it even more beautiful.

We now have the Holly Wreath Embroidery Hoop available in our shop as a kit that includes everything you need to make this gorgeous winter wreath.  We also have full color patterns available in paper print and as a downloadable PDF pattern.  
If you are new to hand embroidery, all of our embroidery patterns have basic stitches with a twist that give extra dimension and texture to an ordinary stitch.  On our Tweetle Dee YouTube Channel you can find three minute videos for each stitch as well as videos on beginning and finishing a hoop-art embroidery piece.  
We hope you each have a wonderful holiday season, and find something that you can create with your hands while you celebrate together and hope for a happy new year.  xo

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Holly Wreath Embroidery Kit

Winter Flake Barn Quilt

Once in a while a quilt block becomes the inspiration for a piece of art, in this case a painted barn quilt.   I am so honored to have been blessed to paint the Winter Flake Quilt designed by Katarina Roccella into wood.  I loved the angles of this beautiful flake and new it had to be painted.  

With a "pond" between us, we were able to graph and paint this beauty on a week when Mother Nature dumped four days of snow on our mountain, and then the sun came out just as we finished framing this beautiful quilt block.  

The Winter Flake Quilt Pattern is available through Katarina Roccella at her website.  You can also follow her on Instagram @katarinaroccella or the hashtag #winterflakequilt.  I hope to make this quilt soon in fabric, but for now I'll be happy to have it painted and sparkling in our mountain snow.  Thank you Katarina for the blessing of painting this beautiful barn quilt.  

The colors used from our Prairie Paint line were Apple Orchard, Stony Brook, Blue Spruce, Spring Moss, Lambs Ear and Poppy Pink.  Those of you who have painted with these Gel-chalk Paints know how beautiful they are on wood, and these colors together made the most beautiful Winter Flake.  All of our paints are available in the shop.  

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Winter Flake Barn Quilt

Mini Barn Quilt Paint Kits

Isn't everything a little cuter when it's mini?  I think so!  Especially when it comes to our favorite quilts in full color, and mini.  New to our shop is a collection of Mini Barn Quilt Paint Kits!

Our favorite barn quilts in a pre-scored 4" wood barn quilt, with all the Prairie Paints and Finishing Wax, brush and instructions too.  We have had so much fun sharing these with customers all over the country this season, and now they are in our shop, all packaged and ready to ship to you.

There are nine quilts in the collection, The Farmer's Daughter, Orchard Star, Old Mill, Rhode Island Star, Texas Star, Ohio Star, Blue Belle, Thistle Place, and Dutch Girl.  See, I told you, all of our favorites in mini little kits ready to paint and hang. 

When we were in Arizona our sweet granddaughter Lila begged to paint one, and with paint pots open and a brush in hand she painted the Blue Belle all by herself.  

She was so proud of herself.  I helped with the stain and the twine, but it was the first ornament on her tree and she did it all by herself!  It was so fun creating that memory with her.  

We love this collection and are looking forward to shipping them out to you and your families, so you can celebrate, and create together for the holiday.  In case you are wondering what to do with them after the tree comes down, we have you covered with a collector frame to hold them all together as a wall hanging.

Each of the kits and the collector frame is available in our shop this week with 15% off all orders through Christmas with code Merry!  We hope you love these Mini Barn Quilt Paint Kits as much as we do.  Happy Holidays!

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Mini Barn Quilt Paint Kits

Barn Star and Hex Kits

Among the rolling hills of Pennsylvania,  you will find barns with colorful symbols and stars.  These beautiful painted signs are called hexes and barn stars.  The Pennsylvania Dutch hung them on their barns to bring blessings to their families.  Some of the symbols brought protections, some sun and rain, some were thought to bring happiness and success.  

New to our Tweetle Dee Barn Star and Hex Collection are eight beautiful hexes.  Each design is available as a Ready To Paint Kit or alone as pre-drawn round board.  

Unity Star Barn Hex

The Unity Star or the Twelve Point Star is one of my personal favorites.  The way the colors spin into each other creates the illusion of a kaleidoscope.  The Twelve Points represented the twelve apostles of Christ.  Each color also represents a value or blessing sought, so as they all twist together, you can see the symbolism of unity.  We have had the Unity Star Barn Hex hanging on our home for many years, as it is the one blessing I seek for my large family with all of our different needs and personalities.  

Bounteous Blessings Barn Hex

The Bounteous Blessings Barn Hex is an original Tweetle Dee design.  I choose the center of stars to symbolize good luck.  The hearts symbolize the blessing of love and flowers the prospect of growth and renewal.  I love painting this design and I am so happy to be able to share it with you.

1849 Barn Star 

The 1849 Star is a replica of one of the oldest visible barn hexes painted onto a barn.  The six points represent the six day of creation from the Bible.  Being a creator, this star has a special meaning to me.  Particularly the way the colors flip-flop from the center to the outside.  Creating is meant to be a changing process, one where you begin with a concept and as the artist, you sometime evolve with your creation and come up with something very different than what you began with.   I love the old colors in this design, all of which are a part of our Prairie Paint line.

Eight Point Barn Hex

The Eight Point Star represented the resurrection of Christ, as He rose on the first day of the week following his death.  It symbolizes renewal and new beginnings.  Painted in different colors can also bring an added blessing sought in the hex with the color references below;

Yellow - Abundance

Orange - Energy and Creativity

Red - Love and Connection

Pink - Love 

Purple - Intuition and Spiritual Ties

Blue - Peace and Protection

Green - Growth and Renewal

Black - To Bind Together

White - Purity

Danish Blessings Barn Hex
The Danish Blessings Barn Hex is also an original design by us at Tweetle Dee and brings together the symbols of growth in the flowers and leaves, the brightness of the yellows in wishing for abundance, red in love, blue for peace, green for growth and the black circle in the sun to bind both heaven and earth together.  All things that are important to my heart.  Besides, being a Danish girl the design reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch Hexes I grew up seeing, so home is always close.
I hope you can see from this post why I am drawn to the Hexes and Barn Stars of the area I call home.  In painting them, gifting them, and placing them on my home, I know the meaning behind what I painted and what I wish for my family and friends who come to my home.
I hope that you will go look at our collection of Barn Stars and Hexes in both our Ready to Paint Boards and Barn Star Hex Kits.  The kits come with all the colors and instructions to paint your own hexes.  As always, I can't wait to see what you choose.  

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Barn Star and Hex Kits

Chadwick Farms and Swiss Christmas

It has been a long time coming, but here are the two most requested patterns of 2022, The Swiss Christmas Barn Quilt Pattern and Chadwick Farms.  We are so excited to have them printed and in our shop ready for shipping this week!  

The Swiss Christmas is a striking clean and simple little tree, made of Swiss Crosses and painted in my favorite Prairie Paint greens.  This design is an original from us at Tweetle Dee and was created to honor our Swiss friends, and there love of simple design.  For years, we have brought this with us to all of our Swiss events and it is a much loved design.  Now, the pattern is available as a PDF download or a paper pattern, ready for shipping to your mailbox.  

Chadwick Farms was a custom design for a family in the east, who loved the Blue Willow paint color from our Prairie Paint Collection and wanted to design a classic looking original quilt design for their farm.  Those opportunities are what motivates us to create from the heart.  We have had so many of you ask for this design in a pattern, and now it is here in the shop as a PDF download and a paper pattern too.

If your are wanting to paint one for the holidays, and one for January, this combination is pure perfection.  We have sent both designs out to have them made into paintable mini and large kits, in case you like an option with everything included.  
Our patterns include the instructions, paint guide and templates to make our design into wall art of any size.   They are beginner friendly and join our collection 0f 170+ Tweetle Dee Designs.  We hope you find them something to celebrate, dream and create in your own home.  

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Chadwick Farms and Swiss Christmas