The First Quarter!

My first 25 of  the hundred blocks of the Tula Pink City Sampler. Finished and posted on time on my Instagram....I've even figured out how to use it.

I started out trying to limit myself to greens and purples with some pinks and other accent colors so it wouldn't get too boring.  I still have lots of green fabrics left but they are mostly solids.  I'm digging deep in the bins to find more greens and purples.  It's a very good thing that most of these patterns will take very small pieces of fabrics.

We've moved on from crosses and blocks 16 through 35 feature rectangles.  Then on to triangles.


Linking with Busy Hands Quilts

Anthologie Quilt

Several months ago, while browsing blogs, I ran across a sew along from BariJ of Art Gallery Fabrics and Melissa of Southern Charm Quilts.  It featured what they are calling a Boho style sampler quilt.  It seemed to require a lot of fabrics and the sew along was almost finished.  I saved all the downloads and listed it as something I'd like to try in the future.  When I moved, I did find fabrics that I thought might be suitable and set them aside.  The blocks include different techniques such as applique and dresden plates as well as straight piecing.

One of the techniques is fabric collage.  About 2004, I bought Rosemary Eichorn's book The Art of Fabric Collage and made two vests using her techniques...probably the most fun I've had sewing!  So that discovery moved the quilt up on my do to list.

The posts and patterns are still available here, at Southern Charm Quilts.

I started at the top with the Dresden Plate section.  Instead of plain fabrics, two of my blocks are from a vintage card table cloth that was so stained at the folds that it was unusable but I really liked the dogwood pattern.  It still needs more Dresdens and the ones there are pinned on. Shown is half the fabric collage section with a pinned doily  and flower along with an embroidered piece.  I'm planning on adding more from dish towels and other embroidered pieces but I want to wait until I've done some of the piecing and see what colors I want to pick up.

I see that I may have to take off the top right block and send it through the washing machine!  Those creases aren't apparent IRL and it has been steamed and ironed!  Sorry about the shadows.

I've run across a problem with some fabric and I don't know how to deal with it.  I bought a jelly roll of fabrics and they are fraying very badly.  Even though I trimmed the threads before I sewed threads kept coming off.  They wrapped around the presser foot and now are inside my featherweight's bobbin assembly and I need to dismantle and clean since the machine has jammed.  I hate to toss them all out since I sew on a budget but that's probably cheaper than machine repair bills!  Any suggestions on dealing with them?  Here's a picture if you can see them....more come off as they are handled...I think it's excessive or am I wrong?

Linking with Oh Scrap
Monday Making

City Sampler-Week 2

Fourteen done, posted and on time!!  So far, so good.  These are blocks 7-14 in order but probably won't be in order in the finished quilt. As you can see, we are still on crosses.  Lots and lots of crosses! I'm in awe at all the creativity I've seen on the Instagram feed.  Some wonderful ideas and amazing fabrics are being used.  I ran across one the other day who is using recycled jeans and sashiko embroidery.

There is still time to join in if you want...all the details  are at Angie the Gnome Angel.

Linking with Finish or Not Friday at Busy Hands

City Sampler-The First Week

These are my blocks for the first seven days of the 100 Days 100 Blocks sew along hosted by Angie at Gnome Angel.  All the blocks are from Tula Pink's book 100 Modern Quilt Blocks.  The first 15 blocks are based on crosses and 16-35 are rectangles.

  It's amazing to see what a difference fabric choices make in the looks of a block.  There has been several times that I've gone back to check that I'm posting the correct block because the look of the block has changed so much!

 So far I've seen blocks in all Hawaiian fabrics, batiks, adorable children's prints, solids and Japanese fabrics.  Many of the participants are from Australia and are using fabrics that aren't in my LQS or the online shops that I visit.  All the blocks can be seen on Instagram at the hashtag 100Days100Blocks2018.

Only 93 to go!

Linking with Monday Making and Moving it Forward

1 Done 99 To Go

Block 1 of the 100days100blocks2018  is done!  Today is day 1 for those of us in the Western hemisphere.  I will be posting on Instagram very shortly.....fingers crossed that it works!  I've missed having a daily project to do since the end of the Quilty 365.  I seem to need some incentive to get to my machine.  A weeks worth of blocks is cut and in labelled baggies. Every Sunday, I'll cut another weeks worth....that's the plan!


This is the third and last year that Angie of Gnome Angel has sponsored the sew along.  It uses Tula Pink's City Sampler quilt patterns and every block must be sewn exactly as written.  No combining small pieces to make larger ones etc.  You can use your own color scheme and you don't need to use Tula Pink fabrics.  I only wish I had some!

I'll be using greens, purples and pinks with some accent colors thrown in....most from my stash. It will be interesting to see how far I can get with just using fabrics I already have.

Links
My Instagram
Oh Scrap
Em's Scrapbag