2016 is the year of the block. Of the day, of the week, of the month - I'm not really fussed. That doesn't mean to say I'm up to date with any of them...
- #365quilt challenge (daily): I'm 45 blocks behind
- Splendid Sampler (bi-weekly): 24 blocks behind plus a few bonus blocks still to make
- Zodiac BOM (monthly): 5 behind
- Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt (weekly): God knows how many behind - I haven't touched this in quite a few months... 35-40 maybe?
- Summer Sampler (weekly): 7 behind.
Can you see a pattern developing? But you know what - it's not stopping me starting something new. Unless you've been living under a rock or aren't on Instagram, you will have likely stumbled across the #100days100blocks hashtag. It's been organized by @gnomeangel, @ sunflowerquilting and @sweetlittlepretties and the idea is that each day for 100 days you sew and post the blocks from Tula Pink's City Sampler book. It starts tomorrow.
I've already made a quilt using these blocks (not eligible for this sew-along). I loved piecing these 6" blocks. That quilt is now half-quilted and once I get my machine's tension fixed, I'll be prioritising this one again. So rather than use this sew long to make another full-size bed quilt, I'll be using it to make three (yes, three) smaller quilts. Here are my plans:
The first quilt has changed a bit since it's inception: we are going to be getting a new nephew later this year and I was going to make a baby quilt for him using these blocks. However, his parents had other ideas - there will be an equilateral triangle quilt in my future. But I liked my original idea so much that I'm still going to make it. In fact I'm going to up-size it to a lap quilt with 54 blocks. Here's my fabric pull.
The colour palette is very much inspired by this quilt.
The second project is a promise I made 2 years ago when Michael's cousin got married. It's taken her this long to pick a project. I may have heavily suggested this! I'm going to make the "Skyline" quilt from the book, which uses 70 blocks, and I'm using grey, low volume, purple and bright green. Here's the fabric pull - I'm not sure about the shot cottons top right...
You may think that with 54 blocks in one quilt and 70 in another, I'd have all 100 blocks covered. But no. These projects are important enough that my least favourite blocks haven't made the cut. So the final project is a catch-all of the remaining 16 blocks. It's still only a vague plan based around these fabrics I picked up at the weekend.
I will need to shop my stash to round out this palette, and if it's nice enough once I've finished, it will be a long-owed baby quilt. Chances are I will add in a few extra blocks here too.
Ambitious much? Sewing ahead is permitted for this sew-along (just as well) so I've already got a tidy pile of blocks ready to share. If you haven't already taken a look at this sew-along, please do. There are some prizes up for grabs, but better still, these blocks are gorgeous and you'll have all the blocks you'll need for a fabulous quilt (or three) by the end of it! And the book has to be one of the most beautiful patchwork books I've ever bought. If I can keep up I'll share the blocks here every ten days... (history doesn't share my optimism!) Go on - check it out!
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