I’m not finished with block 11 of the Splendid Sampler yet from Sunday – more on that at the end of the post.  I had it pieced and thought I’d spend Monday evening and just whip out the hand stitching for both blocks.  It didn’t really happen that way.

But back to the Bloom block.  This week is block # 10 which means we are halfway done!  That’s a good news/bad news kind of thing. I like the way it’s coming together, but before you know it, this quilt will be done.

 I started as usual, tracing the pieces out on Pellon with a Frixion pen. I thought I bought enough initially to get through this quilt but I can see that won’t be the case so I’ll be picking more up in the next couple of weeks.  I accidentally bought a stiffer version than what Lori suggested but by the time I found out, I was on the 2nd or 3rd block so I’ll continue with it.

This is where it got interesting. This is a scrappy quilt, so there’s no “right” or “wrong” fabric for any of the blocks (or sashing for that matter). But I’ve consistently chosen the same fabrics as what Lori demonstrates because then I know there will be enough fabric for the project.  Or so I thought.  At this point, I’ve seen numerous other posts of other people’s blocks, and I’m betting since this is sold as a kit that most people also bought the kit like I did.  And yet they have a blue flower – like it’s supposed to be.  I’ve probably cut something lengthwise that should’ve been cut crosswise or vice versa.  All I know is I definitely do not have very much of that specific blue left as you can se in the photo.

 I looked through the fabric that I had and realized I had quite a bit of what I call “red chickens” left so I used that instead.  I set my stitch length to 1.8 and started sewing as usual.  When I have a piece like this one that is all straight lines, I’ll sew around just once.  If it’s an oval or a circle, I’ll sew around 2 or 3 times to even out the stitches.  The machine sewing this week went by really fast!  Also, when I make the green stems each week, I make a stem the width of the fabric (WOF) since there’s a good chance I’ll use that same fabric for a stem later on and that will save me a step.  I also cut the background fabric 9″ wide and then cut each row into 9″ width squares until I run out of that row so that I’m not cutting the background block each week.    This week I had both a stem and background block so I was ready to applique.

I also trim the interfacing really close after I’m done sewing to reduce the bulk (because the interfacing I bought was too stiff). I read something the other day about cutting the “x” in the Pellon before stitching it to the fabric so you don’t accidentally cut through the fabric but I haven’t remembered to do that yet.  I’ll probably remember that if I ever do ruin one of the pieces!

I had taken down my design wall (I really shouldn’t call it that – it’s a flannel sheet! A flannel sheet on a call and poof; suddenly it’s a “Design Wall”) on Sunday in a hurry and so everything was wrinkled when I took this picture. That will need to be rememdied.

I’ll write about the Splendid Sampler block tomorrow. Let’s just say I’ve managed to snap 2 brand new embroidery needles in half.