Design Wall Monday #32

I have a big reveal for today's Design Wall Monday. Drum roll please...
Here are the 30 blocks I have been working on since January and posting almost every Saturday. If you want to see more about these blocks on my Saturday Sampler,  you can click here to read the 30 posts.

The blocks are too large for my design wall and it was tricky to get them to stay there. This is not at all the final layout, just slapping the blocks up to see what I have. Before I can get serious about making any layout decisions, I have a lot of paper to remove from the back of the paper pieced blocks.
Now tilt your head to the side and see if you don't think these blocks would be great set en pointe!?!

Saturday Sampler #30

This is my last 12" Saturday Sampler block for my "Chocolate Covered Strawberries" quilt...block #30.

Block Name: Northern Flair (block #74)
Block Pattern Source: Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine
Block Designer: Gudrun Erla
This was a fun block to sew. I felt like I was working on a jigsaw puzzle with all the little pieces in production and trying to get the 85 pieces in their proper places.
I plan to make the quilt layout 5 blocks by 6 blocks but it was too dark last night to take a photo, so I'll do it sometime on the weekend.
Today I am off to the blueberry patch!

Saturday Sampler #29

The weather has cooled off here and is much more comfortable for sewing now...what a relief! I am hoping to get back to work/fun....machine quilting this project and piecing the blocks for this quilt.
The second last block for my Saturday Sampler...aka" Chocolate Covered Strawberries" is finished. Again I put the dark colour as the background and think it turned out quite nice.

Block Name: Spring Blossom

Block Designer: Peg Spradlin
Pattern Source: Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine
You can download foundations to paper piece the long pointy parts of this block here, but I just figured out the measurements and drew those 4 blocks on freezer paper.
Next week will be very exciting as I post the LAST sampler block and put them all up on the design wall to see what the blocks look like together!

Saturday Sampler #28

This is the 28th block for my Saturday Sampler quilt that I started at the beginning of 2010. (To see the other 27 blocks click here.)

Block Name: County Fair
Block Pattern Source: 2010 BOM by Amy
This was a fun block to sew. I reversed the lights/darks from the pattern so that more of my sampler blocks will a dark background.
I have decided to sew 30 blocks for this quilt, so I have 2 more to make. The plan at the moment is to go back through the Quiltmaker magazine that started this project and select my last 2 block patterns from there....kind of a full circle thing, going back to the beginning.

Saturday Sampler #27

Did you miss the Saturday Sampler block last week?!?  Only 1 eagle eye blog reader asked me about it...you can't put anything over on her!!!   Besides being away camping and not having internet access, I find I am losing interest in this project of mine, so I have decided to finish it at 30 blocks. But not to worry...I have another great idea to fill in my Saturday blog entries (stay tuned to find out my new project).
Here is block #27....

Block Name: Scrappy Diamonds
Block Pattern Source: my scrap bag!
I had intended to make the Block Party "Storm At Sea" block but could not get the foundation papers to print out to the correct size no matter what I did. While I was fussing around with that, I realized I had many leftover bits and pieces from previous blocks in the project box. So I pulled out all those pieces and spread them around on the table...some flying geese from blocks from when I had miscalculated and made too many, and lots of baby half square triangles.
I played with the pieces until they started to make themselves into a block for my sampler. Here is a process shot...trying to fit the pieces together in a coherent way, and deciding to put a "square in a square" block (pattern left over from block #24) right in the centre. This was such a fun process (feels the same as meditation to me) and used up a lot of little scrap pieces.
Now I have to find 3 more blocks to finish up my project. I tried to print out this block to make ...I liked the design and the name of the block, but again I couldn't get it to print out to a 12" block. I don't know if it's my printer settings, but I haven't had any trouble with Carol Doak's blocks printing out the correct size!? I might try to draft that block on freezer paper for next week.

Saturday Sampler #26

Here is my 26th block for "Chocolate Covered Strawberries" aka the Saturday Sampler quilt. (You can see the first 25 blocks here.)

Block Name: Eddystone Light
Block Pattern Source: Quilters Cache
An easy and fun to sew block, perfect for a hot Saturday afternoon in July.
And no mistakes to confess this week...woohoo!
Now I am going to finish up the machine quilting on the charity quilt that I showed in yesterday's blogpost. And hop on over to Gail's blog to see the happy quilt top she made from the charm squares that I sent her as the winner of a blog giveaway last December - click here. I am so happy that she made such a cute quilt and that it will be donated to a foster child in the care of the Children's Aid Society...great job Gail!

Saturday Sampler #25

It's another rainy Saturday. I won't have to water the garden, and may even be able to get a little quilting time!
When I put all my Saturday Sampler blocks up on the design wall a few weeks ago (click here to see them) I decided that I needed more dark brown backgrounds in the blocks. So for the last few weeks I have been making my blocks with this in mind.
This week's block is from a blog that I just discovered called Pieceful Kwilter, which has a BOM quilt going - click here to link to the sampler layout. (BTW, I found Shannon's blog via Diane's blog - click here to see all her fabulous blocks.)

Block name: Exploding Star
Block Designer: Shannon at Pieceful Kwilter

As is my custom, I always fess up to my sewing mistakes, so here's an interesting variation I came up with when I was sewing the easy peasy Quarter Square Triangles! The instructions were great and it was as simple as falling off a log, so I'm going to blame the Laugh Out Loud Podcast that I subscribe to...I was listening and laughing, and apparently not paying attention to my sewing!  But it was easy to fix with my handy seam ripper removing a couple of seams.
I must admit that I'm starting to get tired of working with these colours every week, but have decided that if I call it my "Chocolate Covered Strawberries Sampler", I seem to enjoy it a little more!!

Saturday Sampler #24

I decided to really challenge myself this week with a brand new paper pieced pattern by Carol Doak. 

Block Name : 4th Anniversary Block (Carol posted this block to her Yahoo group members to celebrate the group's 4 years together)
Block Designer: Carol Doak

My first attempt to sew the parts together resulted in this interesting variation! Ripped it out and tried again to make it like the pattern is supposed to be! It was a challenge to get all the seams to line up but I am satisfied with the outcome. 
There are 129 pieces in this 12" block.  But that is not the record for my Saturday Sampler blocks...the record holder is still this block at 176 pieces!
And speaking of records...Cambridge did not make it into the Guinness World Record for simultaneous knitting this morning. I believe there were around 650+ knitters, and the record is close to 1,000. But it was fun trying!

Saturday Sampler #23 on Sunday

Yep...it's Sunday again. Maybe I'll have to change my sampler quilt name to "Sunday Sampler", since that is now 2 weeks in a row that I didn't get my block posted on a Saturday! You can see some of my other blocks in this post.
But here is this week's sampler block:

Block Name: "Broken Wheel" (which is the block of the week at the Friday Block Party)
Block Pattern Source: Quilter's Cache

I know this block by the name of "Rolling Stone" since I made a mini version of it a couple of years ago. I ended up paper piecing the tiny corner blocks since they measure 1" finished and the accuracy was a struggle without paper piecing.
For an interesting size comparison, here is a photo of the sampler block beside my mini quilt...sure does make the sampler block look huge! But it's only 12"!

Saturday Sampler #22

Don't tell anyone, but my Saturday Sampler block is being posted on Sunday! I was just too busy yesterday to get to the computer!

I belong to Carol Doak’s yahoo group, and from time to time I work on one of the group projects. (Click here to see the block I made for the "3,000 group members" celebration block.)

Carol is now offering a paper pieced Block of the Month to group members and this is the June block.

 Block name: June Simply Radiant

Block Pattern Designer: Carol Doak

Block Pattern Source: Carol Doak Yahoo group 

Saturday Sampler #21

I am exhausted after a full day of sitting at the quilt auction! I'll write more about that tomorrow after I recover!
Here is my Saturday Sampler block this week:

Block Name: Four Corners (which is the block of the week at the Friday Block Party)
Block Pattern Source: Quilter's Cache
Quick and easy to sew block, and it turned out to be the exact size!

Saturday Sampler #20

When Santa brought me the Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine for Christmas and I got this idea to make a block a week for a sampler quilt, I had no idea it would be so much fun! Every week I page through the magazine and surf the internet to see what block design appeals to me to try this week.  My only requirements are that it has to be a 12" pieced block.
Here is this week's choice:

Block Name: Bird of Paradise
Block Pattern Designer: Three Creative Studios
Block Pattern Source: Three Creative Studios Block of the Month
It was fun to sew and I think the striped fabric adds movement to the design. I didn't paper piece (the units that have the striped fabric) as suggested but instead I used the Tri-Recs rulers which are easy to use and alway make my blocks come out to the correct size.
Drum roll please....here are my 20 Saturday Sampler blocks placed randomly on the design wall....

It's a little busy! Might need some sashing? And maybe a few more blocks using the dark as the background fabric? It's 48" x 60" now and my design wall is only big enough for one more row at the top, but I'm sure that won't stop me!
Oh well...back into the storage box they go. I have other plans for today. The weather forecast was too rainy to convince the family to go camping, and it's too rainy to work in the garden, so I guess I'll just have to quilt! I have big goals now that I have the long weekend at home - I plan to finish 2 quilts this weekend!!  I am in the home stretch of hand quilting (for 18 years) this quilt and I am ready to machine quilt this one. Think I can do it?!?

Saturday Sampler #19

This week's Saturday Sampler block is an easy one from the Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine.

Block Name: Four Patch Star
Block Pattern Designer: Lynn Schiefelbein
Block Pattern Source: Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine (pg. 58)

It was quick and easy to sew but the annoying part of this block was all these extra leftover pieces. Except for the background and the centre squares, there is enough cut for a couple more blocks. But I want each block in my sampler quilt to be different, so I'll just put these triangles in the scrap bag and see if I can use them somewhere else.

Next Saturday will be my 20th sampler block, so I'll put them all up on the design wall and see how the this project is coming along!

Saturday Sampler #18

Here is my Saturday sampler block...I'm a day late and a dollar short this week!

Block Name: Manhattan Star
Block Pattern Source: DreamCastle Quilts
This is a cool website with some great star block patterns. This 12" block is paper pieced in 12 sections, with a total of 88 pieces. It was a challenge, especially with the seam matching of the dark fabrics, but I enjoyed sewing it.  I wish I had used a variety of lights instead of just one, but that's just my scrappy quilter mind!
I can't believe I'm going to say this, but today I feel totally shopped out!  I have been inside 22 different quilt stores in the past few weeks!! I'm sure that must be a world shopping record - I know it is a record for me!
Yesterday I went on the Goose on the Loose shop hop with my oldest (as in longest time known, not as in the most elderly) quilting friend Louise, whom I've been tagging along after for 20 years! And yesterday, this was how the weather was!

Yep...it's winter again! That's the view out my car window! But neither rain nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail...well you know how it goes! I won't be visiting another quilting store for a long time!!

Saturday Sampler #17

I thought that for this week's block for my sampler quilt I should pick one of the patterns from the "Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop" quilt - click here to read about that adventure from last weekend. I think the block I picked is called Four Square or Four Star Square... I can't find the pattern today. It was the block from the Fabric Fair store if anyone knows the proper title.

Block Source: Middle of the Mitten Shop Hop quilt
I used a different pink fabric for each star, which was selected from the pile of fabrics I bought on the shop hop!
So now it's a souvenir block!
Here is one of the Shop Hop quilts shown at the store in Grayling called "The Ice House" - click here to explore their website. See my sampler block in the center of the quilt, and how they used one of the star blocks as the cornerstones on the borders?

And see that little cutie wallhanging on the left of the quilt? Check back tomorrow for more information about that quilt!

Saturday Sampler #16

By the skin of my teeth...I finished my Saturday Sampler block!

It was a hard one this week, although it looks easy enough.

I couldn't get the inner block with the first round of triangles to be the right size.

I tried a couple of different measurements, and ended up with a block that is fairly close to 12 1/2"!

Block Name: Mystery Block as suggested by the Friday Block Party.
Pattern Source: Quilter's Cache
I bought a couple more fabrics to go with my Saturday Sampler fabrics this past week. Oh, and I alos bought a few boatload more fabrics and quilty items on an impromptu shop hop...details coming tomorrow. Tonight is a party for my mother-in-law's 85th birthday!

Saturday Sampler #15

I feel much better now that I have had some time with quilting friends, and time with my sewing machine!
Tonight I worked on my Saturday Sampler block - click here to see my other 12" blocks.  I tackled a block that I found when surfing quilt guild blogs.

Block Name: Scrap Happy
Pattern Source: Florida Cabin Fever Quilter's Guild
This was a fun block to sew and just look what I have leftover to play with...a pile of baby half square triangles that will be 1 1/2" when I square them up!

Saturday Sampler #14

I have been playing around with lots of little pieces, and bunches of half square triangles to make my sampler block this week. My 12" block this week is a record holder with the greatest number of pieces I've sewn in one block so far... 176 pieces!
Here is one quarter of the block which has 44 pieces.




I thought I was doing quite well managing to keep track of all these small pieces, until I surfed over to Tazzie's Quilts and saw that she made a 6" block that is with 152 pieces! Click here to see her block...it's amazing!



And here is my finished sampler block...

Number of pieces in the 12" block: 176
Block Name: Criss Crossroads
Block Pattern Designer: Carol Newby
Pattern Source: Quiltmaker 100 Blocks magazine (Block #67 )

Saturday Sampler #13

I tried out a new (to me) product when I was sewing this week's 12" Saturday Sampler block.
My favorite pins are the Clover Silk pins, which do a terrific job of holding tiny pieces together. I usually use a pin before and after each seam join when I really want seams to match up and it works well for me.
But I had seen the Clover fork pins on some quilting blogs (see Susan's blog here and Nicole's blog here ), had a little bit of "pin envy" and decided to try them out. Well...perhaps I am not using them right, but I had a terrible time with them.

These pins seem very dull to me...I had to really wiggle and push them, to the point of almost bending the pins to get them to go into the fabric. And then they made a little hump in the fabric, which you can maybe see in this photo. And the seams were not lining up as well as with my 2 silk pins method, which I think was caused by distortion when trying to force those pins into my fabric.

Plus I kept knocking over the little plastic container, spilling the pins out on the table and sometimes onto the floor!

Is it maybe because of how adorable my new pincushions look with the silk pins in them,  that did not allow me to like another product?!?!

Anyway, in spite of the pin drama, I did manage to finish another block for my Saturday Sampler and it was a real easy one - no seams were removed in the making of this block...woohoo!

Block Name: 54-40 or Flight (which is the weirdest block name ever, referencing a boundary dispute from the 1800's - click here and scroll down to read about that)
Pattern Source: Amy's 2010 BOM - click here.
This was a fun block to sew and just look at this amazing quilt made by Lisa Boyer using only this block. What a great stashbuster quilt!

Saturday Sampler #12

The block pattern for this week's Saturday Sampler block was another block from the Quiltmaker magazine.

The directions for this block were great and the block went together really well...

Whoopsie! 

Did I sew the bottom row on upside down?

I took off the bottom row and resewed it...

Attempt #2 - still not right!

The middle "V" blocks look okay but now the 4 patches are wrong.

Three strikes and you're out! 

Better really concentrate this time!

Finally! The correctly pieced quilt block!

Number of patches in the 12" block: 100

Block Name: "Follow Me Home"

Block Designer: Elisa Wilson of Back Porch Design

Pattern Source: Quiltmaker 100 blocks magazine  (Block #71)