Community Sampler catch up - Week 6, 7 and 8
Hello! It has been a little while since I did any sewing so I have enjoyed catching up on my sampler blocks.
For those of you who are new to my blog or the Community Sampler sew along make sure you visit Sharon Holland's blog for the weekly patterns and expert tutorials. Maureen Cracknell is co-hosting this sew along, so pop to her blog to see her version of each block and to pick up handy tips about block construction too. This is such a fun and slow paced sew along - just one 12" block per week - very achievable.
I managed to finish the block for Week 6 just as we were about to go on holiday. Although I admire other people's work using low volume prints, I am still a bit nervous about how and when to use them - which means I tend to resort to solid backgrounds for most of my blocks. I decided to break out of my comfort-zone for this block and use the lovely Charleston low volume fabric called Stepping Stones. I am really pleased with the end result although the perfectionist in me can't help wishing that I cut my squares a bit more inline with the lines of the design - is it just me or does the bottom of my block look a bit wonky?!
Week 7's block is called Squaredance and is such a good opportunity to have a bit of fun with the large central square. Initially I thought I would like to create an unusual centrepiece (after seeing beautiful FPP and EPP versions on IG) but in the end I decided to showcase a large portion of my Charleston (Charleston - The Row) fabric. I just love these houses plus all the little details like the lamp posts, compass, flowers etc - and you don't often get a chance to show off such a large piece in a quilt.
This week's block is called Weathervane. The colouring in sheet has come in handy this week to make sure that I get an even mix of colours throughout my quilt. Although I haven't planned the colours in advance, I do check it each week and then fill in the colours that I have used - helpful to see what colours need to be used the following week. I used quite a lot of the Les Petits polka dot grey in an earlier block and it was beginning to stand out like a sore thumb. So I planned my fabric pull around the grey for this block and will probably incorporate it in the next block next week - a block that will be positioned at the top right of the quilt top.
This was a relaxing block to sew; fairly large pieces, easy half square triangles using my Bloc loc ruler and straight forward assembly. Although I am usually a 'press my seams open' kinda girl, I do like to press to one side if I'm going to be lining up seams within a block - nestling your seams really does help get perfect matching edges.
Here is my finished block. I'm pleased to have finally incorporated the Barnacle fabric, such fun pops of colour.
And finally, since we had our first sunny day in a long time, I laid out all my blocks so far. I'm so pleased with them and really looking forward to working on the next one! It is so nice to work on a variety of quilts at the same time with variations in block size/details etc - my Happy Flower quilt was such a long labour of love and it is exciting to be creating a larger scale quilt that is coming together so quickly.
Thanks for reading this long catch up of my Community Sampler block progress. It still isn't too late to sew along - just visit Sharon Holland's website for the weekly patterns and blog for the extra tutorials she gives.
Instagram is also full of inspiration as each week's blocks appear in such a huge variety of fabrics #communitysampler.
For those of you who are new to my blog or the Community Sampler sew along make sure you visit Sharon Holland's blog for the weekly patterns and expert tutorials. Maureen Cracknell is co-hosting this sew along, so pop to her blog to see her version of each block and to pick up handy tips about block construction too. This is such a fun and slow paced sew along - just one 12" block per week - very achievable.
I managed to finish the block for Week 6 just as we were about to go on holiday. Although I admire other people's work using low volume prints, I am still a bit nervous about how and when to use them - which means I tend to resort to solid backgrounds for most of my blocks. I decided to break out of my comfort-zone for this block and use the lovely Charleston low volume fabric called Stepping Stones. I am really pleased with the end result although the perfectionist in me can't help wishing that I cut my squares a bit more inline with the lines of the design - is it just me or does the bottom of my block look a bit wonky?!
Week 7's block is called Squaredance and is such a good opportunity to have a bit of fun with the large central square. Initially I thought I would like to create an unusual centrepiece (after seeing beautiful FPP and EPP versions on IG) but in the end I decided to showcase a large portion of my Charleston (Charleston - The Row) fabric. I just love these houses plus all the little details like the lamp posts, compass, flowers etc - and you don't often get a chance to show off such a large piece in a quilt.
This week's block is called Weathervane. The colouring in sheet has come in handy this week to make sure that I get an even mix of colours throughout my quilt. Although I haven't planned the colours in advance, I do check it each week and then fill in the colours that I have used - helpful to see what colours need to be used the following week. I used quite a lot of the Les Petits polka dot grey in an earlier block and it was beginning to stand out like a sore thumb. So I planned my fabric pull around the grey for this block and will probably incorporate it in the next block next week - a block that will be positioned at the top right of the quilt top.
This was a relaxing block to sew; fairly large pieces, easy half square triangles using my Bloc loc ruler and straight forward assembly. Although I am usually a 'press my seams open' kinda girl, I do like to press to one side if I'm going to be lining up seams within a block - nestling your seams really does help get perfect matching edges.
Here is my finished block. I'm pleased to have finally incorporated the Barnacle fabric, such fun pops of colour.
And finally, since we had our first sunny day in a long time, I laid out all my blocks so far. I'm so pleased with them and really looking forward to working on the next one! It is so nice to work on a variety of quilts at the same time with variations in block size/details etc - my Happy Flower quilt was such a long labour of love and it is exciting to be creating a larger scale quilt that is coming together so quickly.
Instagram is also full of inspiration as each week's blocks appear in such a huge variety of fabrics #communitysampler.
Comments
Post a Comment