Little Blocks 365 Update

My additional fabric arrived so I've been working on some Little Blocks.  

It is pretty easy to make two or three blocks in the late afternoon before dinner and I feel really satisfied as I finish each one so there is a lot of positive reinforcement in this project.  It is not without its frustrations though!

I have occasionally lost track of which piece goes where on a block or reversed colors.  And most of the blocks are foundation pieced on several foundations that are joined together at the end.  Getting the seams to match up without nipping of points, etc. has been tricky, even impossible for me, on a few blocks.

My plan is to make a wall hanging size quilt to put up in my sewing room so I'm not using the setting from Sentimental Stitches.  I've picked out another setting, tentatively, and I have a Pinterest board of sampler block quilt settings; you can find it here if you are interested.

In my planned setting, the blocks will be arranged "in rainbow color order."  I had been making the blocks randomly, just whatever color took my fancy at the moment, but decided I better be more methodical about it so I have the color distribution I need when I am finished.  So my last set of blocks focused on purple and I am currently working on red and orange.  

I put all the purple through orange blocks I've made so far up on a design board so see how the color flow is working so far.  This is not the final arrangement but I can see that I will need to re-make a few as I get closer to finishing.  That orange block with the pink cross does not have enough contrast to work for me, I think I'll replace it.  

#APQQuiltAlong

I've never done a quilt-along before and now I'm in two of them, simultaneously!  Must blame it on Covid-19.

I'm joining American Patchwork & Quilting magazine's latest quilt-along, making a quilt designed by Sherri McConnell called Square Dance.  I first saw it on Sherri's blog, A Quilting Life, and knew I would like to make the quilt.  Then my magazine arrived (I subscribe) so I could figure out what fabric to used based on the fabric requirements.  It looks like fairly easy construction.  Though a lot of pieces for a 9" block, it uses some strip piecing techniques.  In fact, the recommendation is to use two honey buns and a charm pack, which will eliminate a lot of the tedious cutting.

This is the issue of the magazine with the directions.  You can also order the pattern directly from APQ.  More info here.

I had been eyeing some fabric at Laundry Basket Quilts and decided to go that route for my quilt.  Since this fabric line does not come in honey buns, I did the math and figured I could cut the blocks from fat eighths.  The floral on the left is the "inspiration" and will probably be the borders.  I'm using Kona in Cream for the background.  Kona Snow is my default background but I wanted something a bit darker/richer to better complement the fat eighth bundle fabrics.  Cream is significantly darker, with a slight golden tint to it, compared to Snow.

Time to starch!