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.

The Whirlpools baby quilt goes together pretty quickly, and might come in handy if you need a last minute holiday project. The quilt is made with one traditional block sewn in two different colorways. Blocks are assembled entirely with quick pieced flying geese units, but using two different methods. With one technique, you'll sew small squares to a larger square to create the geese, and with the other method you'll start with rectangles.

_{Janet Wickell}

Speed piecing techniques make stitching this little quilt a breeze. The light fabric that surrounds the stars blends with the pictorial angel fabric used in the center of the snowball blocks, giving the snowballs an on-point appearance even though all blocks are sewn together side by side. The quilt measures 29-1/2" square.

_{photo © Janet Wickell}

I've had many requests lately for the instructions to make folded fabric star Christmas ornaments. We used this technique in the 1980s to make framed wallhangings, and my mom used it twenty years before that for trivets and potholders and pillowcase covers. It's versatile and can be adapted for so many uses. There's no sewing involved for the ornaments -- folded pieces of fabric are simply pinned to a Styrofoam ball.

_{Photo © Janet Wickell}