You would think that making 100 blocks for a quilt would be quite enough – thank you very much.
Especially when there are two a week and I never know what technique will be used. This bee was made with English paper piecing method, which means, it was all done by hand. It had a few more items but I simplified.
Unlike this simple applique coneflower. I understand, you are asked to design one small block for a major project and you want to put in everything but the kitchen sink. As someone who did learn design – less is more, and if there are 100 unique blocks, there has to be somewhere for the eye just to rest.
A good old fashioned pieced block, my choice of fabrics makes this busy enough! I am trying to have a number of blocks with dark backgrounds, rather than have all the backgrounds light.
Ahh, paper piecing. This is becoming a favorite technique for me. This project with its myriad of different paper-pieced projects has really taught me a lot. I bought the add a quarter ruler, I use my light box all the time, my paper piecing has improved immensely. Of course, I still need to rip out here and there, but not as often as before.
I could have machine appliqued this one, I decided to do needle turn applique. In the back of my mind, I’m thinking that one of these days I may want to make a Hawaiian quilt, now I’m not so sure. The Hawaiian design elements are much larger – so I’m not giving up on the idea yet.
This mid-century modern block had a cloud and a bush by the front door – I nixed them. I also fussy cut the old fashion phone in the window.
The original sample was much scrappier, I put some thought into the colors, but still was surprised by the final block. Not in a bad way, I thought it would look different.
Yay for more paper piecing and a color palette that I love.
An off center Dresden plate gave me a chance to get scrappy. The original block had a pieced background – more overkill. My background fabric is busy enough.
So I mentioned that I have too many quilting projects going right now. On Instagram, there is #100days100blocks, based on Tula Pinks’ book City Sampler 100 modern quilt blocks. Initially, I thought to myself, this will be fun to follow, you can guess what happened next.
A week late I jumped in.
I had to play catch up. My color scheme is yellow, all kinds of yellow. All the blocks are pieced, so that makes it much easier.
But 100 blocks in 100 days is a lot faster than a whole year.
I’m using all kinds of fabrics I have lying around. Some are from previous projects and some are fabrics I’ve picked up at the guilds where people are getting rid of what they no longer want.
Some are the tiniest scraps that will only show up in one block and there will be fabrics that will be repeated more often. Of course I caught up, actually, I am much more than caught up. I’m in Hawaii this week, having a backlog of completed blocks, means that I can upload the pictures on the correct day. There is some kind of challenge with prizes, my prize will be another quilt.