Splendid Sampler ~ Blocks 1, 2, 4

I told myself I wasn't going to start any new projects until I finish a few of my numerous WIPs. I was
doing so well, being so strong, resisting some great quilts...then I went to my quilt guild meeting last week and heard about the Splendid Sampler. Some of the girls had brought their blocks in to show. When I got home, I looked up the website and I realized that resistance is futile: I HAD to start this project!!!

If you haven't heard of the Splendid Sampler, it's a quilt-a-long being coordinated by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. Twice a week, they are releasing a free pattern for a 6" (finished) block. They have gotten over 80 quilters to design a block; there will be a total of 100 blocks over the next year. You can go to the Splendid Sampler website for all the info and to sign up for email alerts when a new block is posted.

I decided this is the perfect project for all those red and white polka dot and geometric fabrics that I've been hoarding collecting. Here are some of the fabrics I'll be using:

I'm also going to occasionally use a bit of turquoise fabric for added interest. Not in every block, but in some of them. Here is block 1, designed by Pat Sloan and called "Hearts Aflutter." I hand-appliqued the heart onto the background:

Here is block 2, designed by Jane Davidson, called "Wings." I didn't want the background as busy as the original, so I made it all out of Kona Snow, and I eliminated the four-patches in between the butterflies. I'm still undecided if I'm going to embroider the butterfly antennae or just keep the block as is...

When I saw block 4 by Jen Kingwell, called "Happy Happy," I couldn't resist starting it right away. I think it's such a cute little block. Some of my hand-appliqued circles didn't come out perfectly, but keep in mind that those tiny ones are about the size of a dime!

 

Although I've skipped block 3 for now, I do plan on making it. Since I started this a week late, I'm playing a bit of catch-up. Of course, I don't realistically think I'll stay on top of these blocks during the school year! My plan is to print out each pattern and make it as I have time, for now. During the summer I should be able to make more of them.

 

I'm linking up to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and Judy's Design Wall Monday.

 

Happy stitching!



Autumn Medallion ~ Border 1

I finished my first border for my Autumn Medallion quilt (my One Monthly Goal for February). This is the quilt that I'm making for my guild's medallion challenge this year. For the first border, our assignment was to make at least one snowball block and include the color red-violet somewhere in the border (the red-violet does NOT have to be a snowball).

I have many fond memories of taking the kids apple-picking in the autumn. There is a wonderful apple orchard about half an hour northwest of our house. Since I'm making an autumn-themed quilt, I decided to turn my snowball blocks into apples. I had seen a few quilts with snowball-apples on pinterest, and I got some tips from Lori Holt at Bee in my Bonnet. In keeping with my asymmetrical center, I only made blocks for two of the four borders:

Although the apple core block looks darker in the photo, it is actually a good red-violet color. I decided to make different colored apples, to represent some of the wonderful apple varieties out there. Also, with the different colors, I think that the red-violet blends in with everything better than if I had made all the other apples red.

As a 1st grade teacher, I couldn't resist using this adorable yellow fabric with white numerals for my golden delicious apple! (This photo makes the background look more blue, but it is really more like the first photo.)

So, I've finished my One Monthly Goal for February. Stop by Red Letter Quilts to see what other quilters have accomplished this month.

Happy stitching!

Design Wall Monday ~ Christmas in February?

Hello, I hope you're not tired of Christmas blocks! One of my quilting goals is to make at least one block per month for my Christmas Sampler quilt. Here's a little mitten block I made this weekend:

I got the idea from Lori Holt over at Bee in my Bonnet. This is such a cute block, I may need to make some more pairs of mittens for this quilt, using different fabrics. Who knows, maybe I'll make 5 pairs, since there are 5 people in my family? At this point, the block will finish at 9 X 6 inches, but I might add some Kona snow borders to enlarge it. It will all depend on what size I need when it comes time to put my "jigsaw puzzle" of a quilt together!

Head on over to Judy at Patchwork Times to see what is on other quilters' design walls.

Happy stitching!

Hexie Stars Update

Happy Valentine's Day! It's been snowing here all afternoon. My husband took the dog for a walk to the creek in the back of our property, but I'm quite content to sit here in the living room, enjoying the nice fire he built for me!

I've been slow stitching on my second star for my Hexie Stars quilt. Here is the center rosette. The center looks really dark in this photo, but it's the same Kaffe Fassett grape shot cotton that I used for the center of my first star.

 Here is one of the rosettes for the star point. I have two finished and I'm working on the third.

 None of the rosettes are sewn to each other, but this gives you an idea of how this star is shaping up:

What slow stitching have you been up to lately? I'm linking up with Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and Sarah's HeLP for Hexie-aholics.

Happy stitching!

Medallion Challenge

I have a few things on my "design wall" this week.

 

My quilt guild has started a new (optional) challenge for 2016: a medallion challenge. To participate, members had to make a center block (any size you want) and bring it to our sew-in last Saturday. Each month for 5 months, we will be adding a border to the quilt top, based on certain specifications.

I want to make an autumn wall-hanging, so I made this 12 X 12" center block:

I wanted to play with size, so I made the red maple leaf 6 X 6, the three orange leaves are 3 X 3, and the yellow one is 4.5 X 4.5. At first I considered making a white background, but I opted for Kona azure instead, to look like leaves tumbling in the sky.

At the meeting, everyone who was participating wrote out a quilt block or technique (9-patch, applique, etc), and put their papers into a bag. The challenge coordinator pulled out one paper, and that is what we must incorporate into the first border. She also pulled a crayon out of a separate bag, and that is a color we must use in the first border. So everyone has to include at least one snowball block and the color red-violet in border #1. The snowball block does not have to be red-violet, and you can use any other blocks/techniques and colors that you want.

I spent some time this yesterday planning out what my border will be. Based on the center blocks that women brought to the guild meeting, it's going to be really cool to see what everyone does with the first border.

We have to bring our quilt to the February meeting. Apparently, if you don't finish the 1st border, you will get some sort of "penalty" that you have to do for the 2nd border, in addition to what everyone has to do on border #2.

I recently heard about One Monthly Goal (OMG) at Red Letter Quilts, so my goal for February is to make the first border for my medallion challenge. If you're not familiar with One Monthly Goal, hop on over there and see what it's all about!

In other news, I finished another block for my Christmas Sampler:

 

While I'm not a fan of machine paper-piecing, I fell in love with this 12 X 12 "Lone Starburst" block at Six White Horses. Since it's only one block, I decided to give it a try. Don't pay attention to the fact that the centers don't all meet up perfectly! I haven't seen the quilt police show up at my house EVER, so I think I'm safe from quilt jail. Ha Ha!

 

I'm linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday and Heidi's One Monthly Goal.

 

Happy stitching!