If I can’t confess this on my own blog, then where can I safely write about how this block came about? I used probably the most scientific way possible to pick fabrics for this block. I…used the scraps I found…on the floor! Please, someone – anyone! – tell me your sewing area is a disaster…
Category: Pat Sloan
Block 69 – Full Circle
I think the comment on the last post – you win some and you lose some – applies to this block. I’ve sewn a few circles in my life. They’re not the easiest thing, although that paper pieced dress still wins first place for the hardest block to make. Sewing in a circle on a…
Block 68 – Wild Roses
I have some good news, and I have some bad news. The good news is this block. I am enjoying the appliqued blocks more and more as I go along, and Pat as usual has done a great job creating a unique block that is probably going to look good whether you’ve been sewing a…
Block 70 – Bows
The pattern for this block calls for 17 pieces for each quadrant. Or rather, 68 pieces for the entire 6″ block. Some of the pieces in here are 1/2 of 1 square inch! I combined the center block with 2 of the triangles so I did cut out a few of the tiny ones. Unfortunately,…
Block #65- Stripe and Flowers
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. Not really; I just always think of that musical any time I say “a funny thing happened….”. My parents started taking me to the theatre at the university near where I grew up when I was probably in grade school; does anyone else have quirky…
Block 67 – Bobbin Chase
I’m sewing these Splendid Sampler blocks out of order again. I was actually going to complete Thursday’s first until I saw that today’s block was paper pieced. I used regular copy paper to print out the pattern for the star quilt. Someone suggested to me a couple of weeks ago to try newspaper print –…
Block 64 – Rising Star
Wow. Let me just say that again slowly. W-o-w. If I thought Jane had some tiny pieces in her blocks; if I thought that paper pieced dress had some tiny pieces…..there weren’t many of them – just 12 – but those little white pieces in the middle? They start out as 1″ squares. I know…
Block #63 – The Icing on the Cake
I did officially get all 25 blocks completed and the border sewn on. Overall I did get better at piecing it as I went along although I confess that one of the iffiest blocks was block # 24. For each row, I picked out the one that I thought looked the best and put it…
Block #60 – Hearts and Flowers
I actually – finally – finished this 2 days ago but wasn’t online long enough to write about it. I started to put French knots in the center of the small flowers but decided I liked the satin stitch better for that small area so I switched for the remainder. I counted the number of…
Block 62 – Hen and Chicks
Ay yi yi! That seemingly innocent 1″ strip in this 6″ block really threw me for a loop today. I am embarrassed to think how much time this block took me when it didn’t need to. Have you ever had to re-work something 2, 3, or more times because you were either trying to take…
Block 61 – The Traveler
I love it when I see that Pat Sloan has a block coming up in the Splendid Sampler. They are always visually appealing, several are patchwork or doable applique, don’t take days to complete and yet interesting. I wanted to go for a darker overall block; I do wish I had used a slightly lighter…
Professional grade snipper
I wanted to catch up on Splendid Sampler blocks since we were coming up on block # 60. And then I saw that particular one was embroidery. I knew it was a losing battle to get that done before Sunday’s block came out. I’m making headway on it but it will be another day or…