A block for Chen

July is Chen's month and her instructions were to just go for it. How could I not be inspired?

I received 6 strips of fabric, ranging in size between 3 and 5 inches wide and then 18 to 22 inches long. Eeep! That's not a lot of fabric to play with. (There goes that idea for an applique block! Not enough to to really piece a background and have any left to applique... close, but not quite.) Fortunately, she sent along a couple of links to check out for inspiration, and in one of those I found a link to Andover Fabrics' free quilt designs. It was there that I finally found my muse:


I drew from the Sugar Snap Quilt design and scaled down the blocks to create a 12" block. It was only after I stitched it all together that I realized I had created a sort of nine-patchy look in the way I placed my fabrics. Funny how that worked out!

It's a simple block, but I was happy to find something that I could use all the fabrics in and that could easily accommodate the fabric pieces I was given. Hopefully, Chen will be happy too!

I broke the rules. I used white on the outside of Chen's block . . . but I couldn't help it. As soon as I read the words "please don't use white on the outside of the block" I got the image an incomplete block in my head. Just the corners of a block with a big strip of white in the middle that would blend in with the sashing when the quilt is finished. So thats what I did. A big ole' diagonal strippy block with white in the middle. I used some solids from my own stash to compliment the pretty fabrics and I think the final product is simple but nice. And of course if the white on the outside bothers Chen she can add a strip of something to the outside of the block to frame it in :)

I've really loved looking at everyone's designs for this quilt. You guys are so creative!!!

Mail Delivery

It is August and my turn :) The finished quilt will be for my sister. I have already informed her how it was going to be made by 11 other random people that I have never met. She just looked at me like I was a crazy person. Lol. I would like the theme to be circles and or curves. Get creative and make whatever you want. I would like the size to be 7 ½ by 7 ½. The floral is the dominate fabric and the red is just for an accent. Please just use the fabric provided, if you need more or made a mistake just let me know and I will send you some :) You should be getting your fabric soon since I sent it off today!

Chewy Strawberry Nougat Centers

{Chocolate Lollipops with a chewy strawberry nougat center}

At first I thought I would slightly alter a pattern I found in a quilting book, but once I received the fabrics I had to rethink things. I agree with much of my hive in that the patterns and colors really called for bigger swatches of fabric. With my first choice I would have cut fairly small pieces and I think it would have taken too much away from the fabric themselves. However, I will use that idea in the future mainly because I thought of two or three hilariously ridiculous names for the pattern. Forget about that now.

In the end I chose to steal a design I saw in another quilting bee. It is based off a classic quilt block, Kansas Dugouts. Going with the theme, I think they look like donuts or high class chocolates with chewy strawberry nougat centers.

{Measure twice, cut once is totally lost on me}

OK, I am a very "fly by the seat of my pants" girl and didn't really plan and check everything out the way my Girl Scout Leaders probably taught me a million years ago, but this lets the brain work and clean up the cobwebs that have collected in the nooks and crannies.

I had the other three print fabrics traced and cut when I tried the template on this last print. It didn't fit. I thought about cutting the strip in half, in using it as the little triangles, of searching for more of this fabric, but in the end I just made up the difference with what was available and I am glad to say that every last thread of this print was used to make this portion of the block. Hopefully the pieces blend in with the print.

Is it bad etiquette to point out blunders? But is this really even a blunder? Honey, I hope you don't think so because I think its frugal and resourceful. =]

For Chen from Kris

While driving back and forth to Philly this weekend, I got Chen's block done.



I loved the fabric! I'd been thinking of doing this design for a while and her fabric seemed like it would work well. I ended up doing the majority of the circles using freezer paper since I was going to actually applique them in the car, but one is done with fusible interfacing. Both methods seemed to work pretty well and I'll probably use them both in the future.



Yup, that's a shot from the car. :) Jon (my boyfriend) thinks this block looks like "mass scattering from the center of the universe"... I thought that summed it up pretty well.

p.s. How great are Chen's return address labels!?

Candy, Candy, Candy

This months block was a fun one. Having open range with such beautiful fabric was a dream come true. The block size was new to me. I am used to five inch square blocks, lol. This felt like I was making a mini quilt. For this block I had something in my head that was a cross between a dresden plate and one of the Dear Jane blocks I recently did. I took out my graph paper and pencil then went to work. Most of the block was pieced together in the method Robin just posted about for her June block. The curved white pieces were not in the original design but when I got to that part there was too much going on and I needed to break it up and so in came some white. The hardest part for this months block was fitting a pattern to the amount of fabric I had. Not total fabric but the individual pieces. For instance the big corner pieces I could not have cut out of the smaller prints if I had wanted to. While talking about the fabric, it was such a good idea to send everyone different fabric. I first saw Nichole's block before I received my fabric and was planning a block based on those fabrics, only to open my envelope and see different prints. I am not complaining for I LOVE the fabric I got. Anyhoo, this was fun and I am excited about next month, my month. Here is a sneak peek of the fabric for August.

How many ways can you make a block?

My name is Robin, and I am a procrastinator. But-- I got Adrienne's block done and sent off on time, so I don't feel too bad about it!

I've been enjoying reading how some others went about making their Hop, Skip, Jump-inspired blocks for Adrienne, and thought it would be fun to share yet another way one can go about it. This is how I did it:


First, I drew a 6.5" by 12" rectangle on freezer paper, subdivided it into wonky sections and numbered them.


I cut it all apart.


I ironed the freezer paper pieces to the right side of the fabrics and cut them out with 1/4" seam allowances. (Since she said she wouldn't mind, I also couldn't resist adding a couple of fabrics to the mix she sent).


I used a pin to help hold the pieces together at the top corner (because freezer paper is slippery), and then stitched the seam. I worked left-to-right.


Here it is all stitched together.


And here is the completed block, trimmed and ready to go!

This first month was a lot of fun-- I'm really looking forward to the months ahead! (I just got Chen's fabric for July... oooo...yummy!)