Sometimes I just want to plop into bed and place a soft, aromatic pillow over my eyes to block the light and help me rest. It's quick and easy to make a pillow yourself. All you need is a bit of fabric and a few ingredients to use as filler. Whip up a few of these for quick Christmas gifts.

_{Photo © Janet Wickell}

This little quilt measures about 19-inches square. It's made from four 3-1/2-inch Bear's Paw quilt blocks that are surrounded by cornerstones and pieced sashing. A dark inner border and a floral outer border complete the little quilt.

Everything is quick and strip-pieced. Half square triangle units used in blocks finish at 1/2", but you can make them perfectly every time but assembling the units slightly larger than necessary and then cutting each one back to the exact size before sewing.

_{Photo © Janet Wickell}

New Year's Day is just a couple of weeks away, so it's time for a bit of information to help you begin choosing mystery quilt fabrics. The pattern is suitable for both scrappy and orderly quilts, and the final design can be swapped and switched around so much that I predict everyone's quilt will look very different. Be sure to save the link, because I'll add more information as we get closer to January 1, including some cutting instructions to give you a head start. But for now, focus on your fabrics.

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Hula Twist is a quilt with 12" blocks. Two traditional designs are used, the Friendship Star and the Eccentric Star. The blocks link together to give the quilt a bit of twist, helped by the very light background that allows the "legs" of the Eccentrics to move forward. The quilt finishes at 72" x 92", but you can adjust that a bit by playing with border numbers and dimensions.