Another month, time for more blocks! I’m a little late in posting the Splendid blocks I finished in June. I have this problem that I keep thinking “I’ll just finish one more block and add it to the post!” But as it is mid-July, I think the time has come to post the June blocks.
As a reminder, the Splendid Sampler is a project hosted by Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson. They are working with many designers, and release two 6″ blocks a week (plus a few bonus blocks). At the end of the year we’ll have over 100 6″ blocks to make the quilt. My first post about this QAL, including my fabric selection, is here.
Here are the new blocks:
Block 28 – the Infamous Paper Pieced Dress. I really loved this one, but was intimidated by all the little pieces. I’ve done quite a bit of paper piecing, but nothing like this. I took the time to look up the video Alyssa Thomas of Penguin & Fish did for this block, and it was really helpful. I learned a few new techniques that made construction a lot easier.
Block 29 – Scrappy Heart. It is no secret I’m a big Christa Watson fan. This one was fun – sort of controlled/planned improv. I like my slash of red in the otherwise blue heart.
Block 30 – Simple Surprises. Nice easy block to do, while I was working out the dress and working on Block 31….
Block 31 – Blossoming. WOW THIS TOOK A VERY LONG TIME TO DO! But I really did love doing it. I wound up having 2 issues with this one. First, I’ve been cutting the background fabric too small to use a hoop, and the area under ‘giving’ at the bottom got a bit bunchy. Second, one of my darker red threads bled while I was removing the Sticky-Solvy. I was so bummed! I’ve never had this happen before. You can’t really tell in the photo, but after all that work I was kind of sad about it.
Block 32 – Constant Needle. Easy appliqué. I’ve been doing all my non-hexie appliqué using the fusible method.
Block 33 – Selvage Saver. I really liked this one too – I got to use some University of Wisconsin Bucky selvages, so that was awesome. I’d been saving selvages because I really liked some of the projects I saw using them. This was a cool opportunity to try the technique out.
Block 34 – Lemonade. I’m not really that afraid of curved piecing, but pieces this small were tough!
Block 35 – The Wishful Garden. Another fun embroidery block. This one used only 1 strand of floss, and utilized several stitches I had never done before. Came together pretty quickly, and no puckering or bleeding this time.
Block 36 – Inchy Hexagon Club. I really loved doing this block. I’ve seen all these people doing hexies and I really didn’t get it, but was willing to try. It seems that the EPP hexies you commonly see people do are 1″ (length of one side of the hexie), but these were only 3/8″. They were small, which was kind of a hard way to learn, but I enjoyed them and they got easier. I also used several videos to learn techniques and see how people get these together. I did mine using paper patterns, a fabric glue stick, and thread basting around the side of the hexie. I hand appliquéd the whole thing down to the background fabric. After this block I kind of caught the hexie bug and have been making a few more 1″ hexies for other projects. They are kind of addicting!
Sometimes I like to add my little Angry Bird to my photos because I think he is so funny. My dog Leo (Mr. Brown Paws) has a pack of five large stuffed Angry Birds that he loves, and he often carries around the red one. He doesn’t chew on him, just carries him around. It’s funny to have Leo stand there holding his bird, wagging his tail and staring at you with a big yellow beak coming out of his mouth. He’s a pretty happy dog. But I digress….
Block 37 – Dashing by Chocolate. I think block got it’s name from being built from a Churn Dash block, with a brown square in the middle. I have a ton of this Sock Monkey fabric left from a quilt I did awhile ago, and I thought this guy fit nicely in the center.
Here’s all the June blocks together:
And finally, all my Sampler Blocks so far…including several Bonus blocks. I took the opportunity to get a photo of them all together when I had my temp design wall up. I think it is looking good! I’m still liking the red, white and blue theme, am loving using up all these things from my stash, and like the effect of pulling in a few other colors when the blocks seem to need it.
Now on to July. I’m a bit behind at this point due to some travel early in the month, but I’m not too far off and have some time to work on it over the next few days.
There are a lot of itty bitty pieces in these small blocks. You’ve done a great job of putting them together.
Thanks Lisa! Often when I’d seem them come out, and see people in the Facebook group complaining about the small pieces, I’d think ‘that’s not so bad – I’m not sure what they are fussing about!’ And then I’d start the block myself. Yep! Lots and lots of small pieces! But it has really helped with my cutting and sewing accuracy, so that has been a great outcome.
Great blocks! I’ve been following a lot of people who are making them, and they are super cute! I’ve got a lot of projects to finish on my own though but these are tempting!
Thanks Jennifer. It’s been fun, and they are cute. Only 50ish more to go!