365 Sampler Catch Up

Once again, I let myself get behind on the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks. By almost a month.

I really need to not do that again.

I spent this weekend catching up on twenty-four blocks. Tonight, I re-made one and did the block for the day.

65. North Wind, 66. Flower Basket, 67. Spool And Bobbin, 68. Art Square, 69. Spinner,
70. March Basket, 71. Pinwheel Star, 72. Attic Window, 73. Diversion Quilt, 74. Shadow Box, 75. Lattice  Square, 76. Lucky Clover, 77. Mosaic, 78. Sarah’s Favorite, 79. Autumn Flurries, 80. Log Cabin, 81. Courthouse Steps, 82. Pineapple Plant, 83. Snails Trail,
84. Crown Of Thorns, 85. Crosses And Losses, 86. Easter Morning, 87. Twist,
88. Friendship Star, 89. Eccentric Star, 03.  Bonus: Easter Lily

I have to admit, I decided not to traditionally piece quite a few of this particular batch of blocks, like Log Cabin, Courthouse Steps, Pineapple Plant, and Pinwheel Star. I felt like I’d end up with more accurate results, and it took the headache out of them for me.

I will say I’d really like to not have to any blocks with miters in them for a while. And I still hate basket blocks with a fiery burning passion. I’m also very glad that we should be getting to do 6″ blocks with more regularity.

So, having made all those blocks, I was compelled to put them all together, just to get an idea of where I’m heading.

When it comes time to assemble the 3″ blocks into their inner border, I will have to make sure to scatter those pops of color. I will also possibly need to re-make more blocks, in order to add more color. So far, though, the 3″ blocks I have now should work well.

Oh, and I cut 1.75 yards from stash, to supplement the dwindling supply of black and grey scrap I have. These blocks would have probably used up quite a bit more yardage, if I hadn’t wanted to work from scraps as much as possible.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Weeks 5 to 9

I managed to get away from posting about all of my 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks over the last several weeks. Well, really, from any and all posting.

Why?

I got a new job! I’m now working in insurance, and it’s been an adjustment, getting used to the commute, the new sleep schedule, etc… I’m packing lunches daily, which is helping me fight the good fight, on the dieting front. Now I just need to add exercise to my daily activities, and I’ll be much happier!

Anyway, I’d been mostly keeping up with the sampler blocks as they were posted, but then I suddenly ended up two weeks behind. I was horribly sick this past weekend with a stomach flu, so I took advantage of my isolation from the world to get through most of them. I got caught up by Tuesday, and then photographed everything for posting.

Week 5

29. Churn Dash, 30. Grecian Square, 31. Flock of Geese,
32. Hovering Hawks, 33. Antique Frame, 34. Lost Ships, 35. Sailboat

Week 6

36. Southern Belle, 37. Hour Glass, 38. Big Dipper,
39. Chinese Coin, 40. Practical Orchard, 41. Ohio Star, 42. Chained Star

Week 7

43. Design In Geometrics, 44. Diagonal Strips, 45. Love and Kisses,
46. Flying Geese, 47. Streak of Lightning, 48. Slanted Diamonds, 49. Attic Window

Week 8

50. Tea Leaf, 51. Sawtooth Variation, 52. Dutchman’s Puzzle,
53. X-Quisite, 54. Capital T, 55. Broken Sash, 56. Squares Squared

Week 9

57. Economy, 58. Fair and Square, 59. Four Queens,
60. Right and Left, 61. Whirlwind, 62. Hidden Square

Block number 59, Four Queens, is actually the center medallion for this sampler, and finishes at 18″. We actually had two days to work on that one, which is why there are only six blocks for that week.

With this block, I took the opportunity to introduce a lot of low volume prints. As we progress through more blocks, more of these prints will show up as well.

Altogether, I ended up cutting about another half a yard from my stash of black fabrics, to add to the current pool of scraps. I’m starting to see the end of certain fabrics, even from my scrap bins. It’s both sad, and thrilling. Sad, because I love, love, love some of those fabrics. Thrilling because I’m getting every inch I could out of the yardage I purchased.

Still, it’ll be fun to play with arranging these blocks. I’m looking forward to getting through these 3″ blocks!

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 04

22. Broken Dishes, 23. Small Triangles, 24. Mixed T, 25. Lost Ship,
26. True Blue, 27. Jacks On Six, 28. 28_Shoo Fly

In order to work on this last batch of blocks, I ended up cutting into a bit of my stash – small WOF strips no wider than two inches each. Altogether, it came to be about a quarter of a yard that came out of my stash, so that’s being logged as part of my stash use for the month.

As I work on these blocks, I continue to piece odds and ends of fabric bits together, making what I call ‘found fabric’. Others might associate the words ‘scrap vortex’ with this sort of piecing. I’ve three panels in progress, though two of them are no bigger than my hand. The largest panel is about 12″ X 12″ now:

The bottom half of the panel includes from of my smallest scraps left over from piecing the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks, while the top portion are larger strings left from cutting my scraps down into easily usable sizes.

It’ll be interesting to see how this grows. I would like to end up with a lap quilt from these odds and ends.

The Fibs and Fables quilt is moving along… I’m at a stopping point until I can starch and press several yards of fabric in preparation for cutting and chain piecing. I did, however, piece together all of the sub-units for which I had already prepped fabric. I also pieced several scrappy four patches for another project that’s been designed for quite a while.

Lots of things in progress and moving, though I need to get off my duff and work on the Fibs and Fables project. My One Monthly Goal for January is still to get that top done, and that gives me through Sunday to get it together. Not sure I can get there, at this late date, but I’m certainly going to try!

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 03

Another week, another set of blocks:

15. Triple Rail, 16. Maggie’s Mystery, 17. Thrifty, 18. Double Four Patch,
19. Half Square Triangle, 20. Triangle Combination, 21. Broken Wheel

I’m still having a lot of fun playing in my scrap bins, though I am going to have to start pulling from my stash soon in order to supplement. I’m running short of black and grey scraps – which, considering what I sew with, shouldn’t be happening, but that’s all right. It’s an excuse to cut into yardage (not that I need one).

I did end up doing some extra work, and re-made two of the blocks. I just didn’t like the way my first attempts turned out, and I had the extra time, because the last few blocks were very simple.

For anyone working on these blocks with me, I highly encourage you to starch your fabrics. I’m even hitting the completed blocks with another blast of starch. It’s extremely helpful for these small blocks. Also – less fraying of the blocks, so they’ll be nice and crisp when I get ready to sew them together.

I’m still loving the process of putting these blocks together, and am looking forward to being able to start assembly.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday. Also linking to Let’s Bee Social.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler – Week 02

In addition to completing a quilt yesterday, I made a delicious pot of soup, and caught up on my 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks. I’d let myself get a bit behind – I was focusing on what felt like miles and miles of binding to stitch down/

It was only almost 400″ of binding. No big. Really. *headdesk*

Anyway – I turned that final corner, took photos, had dinner, and then headed to the sewing machine. I was ready to make!

8. London Stairs, 9. Uneven Nine Patch, 10. Double Four Patch, 11. Checkerboard, 12. Plait, 13. Mountains, 14. Six Strips

I needed four blocks to be caught up to current posting, and got them all done today. That allowed me to enter the weekly give-away for those individuals who have completed the current week’s blocks.

I added a bit more color, in blocks Twelve and Thirteen. So far, my favorite block is Number Twelve: Plait. I just love the graphic appeal of the scraps I used.

And, just to further illustrate my insanity…

I’m taking all of the scraps from the 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler blocks, and piecing them into found fabric. Yes, I’m going all scrap vortex on these leftovers. Ultimately, I think I’d like these to become the backing of another quilt top. We’ll see if that ever happens – I’m working with very small pieces here. The sample above is probably only 4″ X 4″.

That’s it for this week. If you’d like to keep up with my daily progress on these blocks, I am posting these to Instagram.

365 Challenge Quilt Sampler

Yes, there is a 365 Challenge Quilt Sampler out there, and yes, I’m doing it! Of course I am. It’s a quilt-along – we’ve already established that I’m a sucker for a quilt-along.

Blocks are being posted daily – one block for every day of the calendar year. Blocks are mostly 3″ and 6″ finished, but there will be a few other sizes mixed in. Also, come April, there will be instructions to complete borders, so none of the participants will have to wrangle 365 separate blocks at the end of the year.

It’s a good reason for me to take a few minutes and sit at my sewing machine every day. So far, that few minutes has been just enough to spark me to sewing on other projects.

I’ve already determined that I’m going to work from my scraps and stash for this top. I’ve started with my greys and blacks, but I’m throwing pops of color in as I feel like it. So far, I like the look.

Rather than inundate the blog with a daily post about each 365 Challenge Quilt block, I’m going to do a weekly round up, of that week’s blocks. As of writing this, nine blocks are available, and I’ve nine completed.

1. Three Stripes, 2. Easy H, 3. Red Cross, 4. Four Patch,
5. Nine Patch,6. Four Strips, 7. Two By Two

Seven days, seven blocks. They’ve been simple blocks so far. My understanding is that difficulty will increase as we progress through the year.

It’s been fun, revisiting my scraps for these blocks, and more fun to use scraps leftover from the scraps to piece later blocks. Doing this, of course, means that I’ll probably play with the final layout, to spread out the random pops of color, when it comes time to start assembling, but I’m okay with that.

I’m just going to enjoy the journey.