When Pigs Fly from MooseStashQuilting When Pigs Fly
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When Pigs Fly

mspdesignsusa

Hi Quilting Friends,

Welcome to the “When Pigs Fly” Sew It Show It Challenge, hosted by our friend Joan at MooseStash Quilting. We’re excited to see how our participating bloggers have interpreted the challenge.

Sharon here. Now that I go back and read the complete challenge description, “Show off your PIGS- Projects in Grocery Sacks, UFOs- UnFinished Objects, and WIPs – Works in Progress”, I see that I have missed the mark on our topic but I’m going to stick with my original plan and post about actual pigs, because we like pigs!

Here are several of our previous designs, all featuring pigs and all available in Ms P’s Pattern Shop! (We both believe that Count Porkula can indeed fly.)

  • Count Porkula by Ms P Designs USA
    Count Porkula
  • Count Porkula Hot Pad by Ms P Designs USA
    Count Porkula flies again
  • Halloween 2017 Quilt pattern by Ms P Designs USA
  • Pig Ballerina by Ms P Designs USA
    Piggy Ballerina
  • Pig applique by Ms P Designs USA
    Pretty Piggy
  • Farm Remix Quilt Pattern by Ms P Designs USA
  • Fancy Farm Quilt Pattern by Ms P Designs USA
  • Down on the Farm Quilt Pattern by Ms P Designs USA

And now, a pig story! One year we had a sow who gave birth to WAY too many piglets, so Dad brought two of the runts home for us to raise. We bottle-fed and played with Squeaky and Samantha until they were bigger, and strong enough to join their brothers and sisters in the pig pen, and they became our fast friends.

It was a very sad day for us kids when Squeaky and Samantha and their siblings were taken away to the livestock sale. They were such good pigs, and we missed them SO much! Dad told us during one Sunday dinner soon after the piggies had left the farm, “they weren’t just good pigs, they’re delicious“, at which point he took a great big bite of the pork roast that was on his plate. This led to our refusal to consume pork of every kind for several months. (Thanks a lot, Dad!)

Speaking of farm life, I have wanted to design a harvester combine FPP vehicle block for at least 5 years. I’ve drawn several of them, but they never looked quite right. I nearly gave up on the idea, thinking that we would have a harvester combine to go with our other FPP farm vehicles “when pigs fly”. However, as with many other improbable challenges, perserverance and one more trip to the drawing board yielded success and the harvester combine is born! You can find it in Ms P’s Pattern Shop.

Harvester Combine by Ms P Designs USA

Susan did a bit better with the challenge, although she hasn’t made any recent progress on this UFO, fondly called “What Was I Thinking?” Here’s a picture of her WIP, which also happens to be a PIG!

What was I thinking 2 by Susan @ Ms P Designs USA
What was I thinking by Susan @ Ms P Designs USA

Susan started out with a beautiful whole cloth kit and then she added the checkerboard border to enlarge it enough to fit her bed. The border didn’t look quite right with the center of the quilt so she added the needle-turned applique garland (still in progress). Susan’s quilt is lovely, with hand applique and hand quilting, and she hopes to finish it up, “when pigs fly“, LOL. 🐷

Sharon again. I realized that I actually DO have a recent finish that I can share today. It wasn’t a “WIP” or a “UFO”, so I guess that it has to be a “PIG” (although it wasn’t in a sack, it was on a shelf in the closet). I’ve had this pattern and fabric for longer than I can recall, but the copyright on the pattern says 2006, and I purchased it at the Houston Quilt Festival at some point between 2006 and 2020. The solid fabrics are some that I’ve been collecting since the mid-90’s, and the print is just yummy so I had to buy it. (It is handy to have an extensive personal textile collection.)

Fabric pull for Mariner's Compass by Sharon @ Ms P Designs USA

And here’s my finished quilt-

Mariner's Compass by Sharon @ Ms P Designs USA

I enjoy foundation paper piecing, even when the pieces are tiny like these. The quilt finished at 17″ x 17″, and it has 280 pieces. Whew!

Thanks for stopping by today! We hope that you’ve enjoyed your visit. We’d love to hear from you so please leave a comment (It makes our day!). Don’t forget to see the rest of today’s participating bloggers; you’re sure to be inspired.

Happy quilting,

Sharon & Susan

Today’s Participating Bloggers

Quilted Delights

Ms P Designs USA (You are here!)

Selena Quilts

Just Because Quilts

Stitching Farm Girl

Bumbleberry Stitches

Complete Schedule

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Published by mspdesignsusa

Ms P Designs USA: Creators of whimsical quilt patterns

34 thoughts on “When Pigs Fly”

  3. What a fun post! LOL on “Count Porkula”. I enjoyed reading about your projects and love the pretty paper pieced quilt and the gorgeous border and applique on the whole cloth quilt.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. The best part about challenges, is that they are open to interpretation and that’s a very broad range. Your post was perfect for this challenge. I love your Count Porkula! I’m glad he didn’t get taken off the farm and consumed. LOL!! Your mariner quilt is absolutely gorgeous!

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  5. I’d never be able to give up my animals for food if I lived on a farm. They’d all become pets with names and bandanas around their necks. LOL Leave it to a dad to ruin a dinner by telling you you’re eating your beloved pig. Count Porkula is just the cutest and your finished quilt from the olden days of 2006 or so turned out amazing. Such tiny flying geese! Susan’s quilt will be quite the treasure when finished. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. I remember those days on the farm, Sharon! We dressed our own hogs so I knew exactly when Porky was going to become dinner! LOL The pigs didn’t bother me as much as the cows. Looking forward to seeing Susan’s finish on that beautiful quilt! And, oh my, that mini is fantastic! I’m in the process of (reinforced) learning paper piecing for a big project we have coming up in September. It definitely won’t be a mini (96×96), but I hope mine turns out as beautifully as yours did!

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      1. Oh yes! Cows, chickens, pigs, and trucked all sorts of veggies to the market to sell. The last year Daddy farmed we had 40 acres of watermelons. It was at least 20 years before I’d touch one after we “accidentally” broke and ate so many hot watermelons in the field! LOL

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      2. We raised cattle, hogs, and grain, plus alfalfa and corn to feed the animals. Grandma kept some chickens for eggs, and Mom raised more chickens to eat. We also had a couple of cows for milk. Good times!

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  7. Great projects! Count Porkula is too cute! Thank you for sharing your story about Squeaky and Samantha. I’m not sure I would have done well living on a farm. I make pets out of everything!

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  8. Goodness, what a story. I probably would have NOT eaten pork for longer. Always a problem with living on a farm and bottle-feeding animals – right? I’d not heard of PIGs until this challenge – yep, real pigs I know cuz I live in Iowa!. Excellent that you went with pigs though and I do think your combine is wonderful. I have way too many UFOs, though, so I’m glad you finished that pattern – great quilt.

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  9. Thanks for sharing your Pigs!!
    Sorry to hear about your Dad’s part in you avoiding pork for many months! I’m sure it happens to lots of kids! It was wild rabbits in our home … we ate a LOT of chicken that year! LOL!!
    LOVE the paper piecing project! Good on you to get it finished!! Thats a ton of tiny pieces! 🙂

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  12. All great patterns! I’m just coming around to the idea of FPP a tiny bit. It can’t be like the beautiful Tartan Kiwi designs, but has to be straight lines and simple, and it still takes me forever. I don’t think it will ever be a big thing for me, but your compass is gorgeous.

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  13. I so love count porkula so sweet. Congratulations on the combine finish, it looks great. sorry about the piglets from your past, that was a very sad story. Oh, and the mariners compass is amazing.

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  15. Your post covered Pigs very well!! Yes, we have stories from our childhood of being able to ‘name’ the food on our plate 😦 The Mariner’s Compass quilt is beautiful and amazing – such a lot of pieces in such a small piece.

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