“I have an idea,” Lora said.

My first thought was with a smile, is it going to get us in trouble?

Lora and I are identical twins, but we’re not ‘two peas in a pod’; instead, we are like ‘two sides of the same coin’. I’m Heads and she’s Tails. I know how that sounds, lol. I don’t mean I’m the brains of the operation, nor does Lora follow me around as a tail. I’m a Starter, and she’s a Finisher. I do most of the design work. We both piece, and then Lora finishes the quilt with her amazingly artistic, free-motion quilting. When Lora says she has an idea, I take note. Even though she doesn’t design often, when she does, it’s brilliant.

“What’s your idea?” I asked. We had just finished Lisa’s Finishing School at In Between Stitches. It is a fun, Open-Sew-with-Help, type class, every first and third Saturday evenings. While unplugging irons, checking doors, and turning off lights, we were discussing my “Design To-Do” list. Or mostly, I was discussing, and Lora was politely not listening.

“I have an idea,” she repeated. “Just a sec.” and she runs off into the already darkened quilt shop. She finds a paper towel and pen, and after a moment of sketching, she hands me the paper. I laughed right out loud, “This is fantastic! Too funny and very cute. I’ll keep this and draw it up into a Christmas Bite Size pattern.” It didn’t take me long to re-draw her sketch and write up the instructions. At our first opportunity, we sewed it up.

Lora’s quick sketch

Re-drawn by Lisa

Drawn again on the computer with Illustrator by Lisa

Lora worked on the elf appliquéOops! I almost sewed it right.

Deciding on the hat embellishment. Pom-pom all the way.

If you’re not familiar with the naughty elf tradition, you’ll want to google “Elf on the Shelf” and “Elves Behaving Badly.” They are the inspiration for this funny block. The skinny elf causes mischief when you’re not looking or when you’re asleep. I almost sewed up the Variable Star the correct way. Lora caught me before sewing it correctly wrong! That little elf was up to no good! Lora quilted this 12″ Bite Size quilt on her long-arm. Yes. She. Did.

On December 15, 11am-4pm, Lora and I will be teaching a lecture/project class called “How a Quilter is Pieced” at In Between Stitches. The light-hearted lecture and small trunk show are about the different quilting personalities, and then we will sew up this cute naughty elf block. The pattern and kit (just like the example shown) are included in the class fee. Join us! Last time I checked there was about 6 seats left.

We had never offered a digital download pattern before so we thought this would be a good one to try. We are calling this naughty elf “Christmas Mischief Bite Size Pattern” for $4.95. Lora posted a few pictures online, and the digital pattern orders were astounding! Lora is brilliant. Don’t worry, if you prefer to have a hard copy we can get you one of those too.

Time to bust out the Christmas decorations and some nog. Christmas is just around the corner. I hope you enjoy a little Christmas Mischief too!

Absewlutely,

Lisa Norton