It's been super fun to share about this week's new pattern in the Pattern Shop, Chain + Link. It's such a fun pattern to play around with. I couldn't help myself last night while watching the new episode of Suits (so glad it's back!), I came up with a few variations to give you some fun ideas of what you can do with the pattern...

 




You can pick up the pattern on sale for $6 at my Pattern Shop as well as on Craftsy, through Sunday!

And I owe you a winner from last week's RJR giveaway - the winner is: Nancy! Congratulations, I've emailed you about your winnings!

Stay tuned on Monday for the next March Madness pattern release, I can't wait to share it with you! Have a great weekend :)

Are you from the Minnesota area? Then I bet you're dying to think about summertime right about now, the nice warm sun and not a drop of snow to be seen for miles...am I right? The Minnesota Quilters are gearing up for their 36th annual show and conference this summer, and I'm super honored to be a faculty member for the event! Registration is open now and you can read the full show program right here to plan out your workshops and such.

I'm teaching three classes at the show, all of which are super reasonably priced for an all-day workshop, and they're going to be a ton of fun! Here's the details on what I'm teaching...


If you're in the area or looking for something quilty and fun to go to this summer, I sure hope you'll think about registering! I'd love to see you in one of my workshops, they're going to be a lot of fun!! If you're already registered, tell me about it, I'd love to place a virtual name with a face when I meet you in person :)

I'm so happy to share the newest pattern in my Pattern Shop this morning, Chain + Link - I initially made this quilt about a year ago for Quilty magazine, using some fabulous navies and greens from Vanessa Christenson's Simply Style collection, and I loved the way it came together. I had a lot of fun playing with the planning on this one, and ultimately, I'm glad that I went with the color progression that I did.

I had paper-pieced my quilt, and when the magazine came out, the instructions were written for piecing the quilt using templates. Now, if you've followed my blog for a while, you know that I intensely dislike working with templates. I'd pick paper piecing over template piecing any day of the week, so I knew I wanted to release my own version of the pattern when the time came, and that time is now, yay!

In the Chain + Link pattern, you'll find detailed foundation paper piecing instructions, complete with photographs to illustrate the steps and the paper piecing templates you'll need to make your own Chain + Link quilt. With four finished sizes to choose from, ranging from a small baby quilt to a large queen/king quilt, you'll find lots of ways to use this pattern. You'll also find a coloring page so that you can experiment with your color choices for your Chain + Link quilt, and have a little coloring fun at the same time!

I had some great pattern testers help me finish up this pattern, so thank you ever so much to Jacey, Lisa, and Peta. They made some beautiful blocks from this pattern, check them out!

Jacey of Jaceycraft, who made a fabulous scrappy baby quilt top using the pattern


Lisa, who you'll find on Instagram as @brazenlisa - and Lisa was seriously brazen, she used flannels for her paper piecing!


Peta of Petaquilts, who made a darker Chain + Link block to see what the block looks like in a darker, more moody variation.


There's three other patterns that are in the testing phase right now that I'm working on releasing as the month progresses. To celebrate, for the month of March, each new release will be on sale for the week of its release, so for this week that means today's new release, Chain + Link, is on special for $6, rather than the regular price of $8! You can find all of my quilt patterns both in my Pattern Shop and on Craftsy. If you're a shop owner and are interested in stocking my paper patterns at your shop, please contact me directly at elizabeth(at)dontcallmebetsy(dot)com.

Don't forget to add your creations to the Stitching with Don't Call Me Betsy Flickr group and/or to tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #dontcallmebetsypatterns . Have a wonderful day!