Panels are great for a quick and easy quilt but look at them carefully before you buy. A friend gave me a Numbers panel which she assumed was numbers 1 to 10 but in reality the blocks were numbered 0 to 9. When I noticed this I had to make a number 1 to put in front of the “0”. In our culture we usually learn our numbers starting with “1”. I think the maker of this particular panel also knew this because there are 9 birds and 9 clouds in the block “0”. I think I have covered up the 10th of each so I will get out my trusty fabric pen and draw the 10th bird and cloud into the block.

Another Numbers panel I bought had two printed words under each number. I did have numbers 1 through 10 but the words printed under the numbers were written in French and Spanish. Once again my trusty fabric pen came in handy as I wrote English words for all of the numbers.

Alphabet quilt panels should be looked at carefully also. Last year I had to add the last three letters of the alphabet to a panel. Be careful out there!

Betty Clarke