We recently visited with Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie's fame and asked her about her inspiration behind her Little Bites patterns.

I love candy and Moda Candy is the best.  

Inspiration?  As always, there are two things that inspire me for the patterns.  The first is what I still call the "puzzle" part of it all.  It's the geek-thing, the quilt-wonk part of my brain that wants to see what I can make from the "parts" I'm given.  There are only so many ways that you can cut a 2 1/2" square.  I think it's also the original "make it do" mentality of quilters from centuries ago - this is all I've got and I want to make something pretty with it.  That's also why I also set the completely arbitrary limit of only two mini charm packs per Little Bite quilt.  I can add background, sashing, border fabric, etc., but that's it.  

The second inspiration is the fabric - of course.  So often I have a base block and then the colors and prints in a particular collection will give me an idea for a variation that I hadn't thought of until that fabric.  Playing with the mini charm packs is just that - its a chance to play with something new, different and perhaps even outside my comfort zone.    

There are eight new Little Bites patterns coming for Market.  As with the first eight patterns, each new title will have at least two different projects.  Some have three . And each title is a synonym for a "little bite" or "bit" - Slice, Scintilla, Titch, Ort, Whit, Grain, Sample, and one other that I can't think of right now. 

The flying geese are one of the variations in Whit - it's my favorite right now.

The little quilt made with Scrumptious and Moda's cross weave is from Titch.

These three are the three variations of Trace. Hope you enjoy seeing  some of my projects in process.     - Carrie

Carrie, Thanks for sharing a glimpse into your new Little Bites line of patterns. Can't wait to see what else you have up your sleeve at Quilt Market.