Sampler Block #7 - Arkansas Traveler

I am a little early with this block post, but here is #7 in my sampler adventure.  I have actually decided to only do 8 of the 12, so there will only be one more post on the sampler series for the summer.  I do intend to do another set for myself with a completely different color pallet, though.

I wrote my mother a poem for mother's day back in 1999 that was about a quilt.  She has had it framed and hanging in her living room for the last 14 years.  We have often talked of making a quilt with it by screen printing the poem onto blocks, etc.

Well, my mother finally decided it was time and had the poem embroidered onto 4 white quilt blocks.  I have decided to give these sampler blocks to her to go with her poem blocks.  It is so fitting that the poem is about brightly colored quilt blocks that were pieced together with love and patience.  I am so anxious to see the samplers with the poem blocks finished.

At any rate, back to the block this week.  This one was not too difficult once I figured out exactly how to cut the angles I needed!  This whole project has been an awesome skill builder for me and I am so happy that I have done it.

The tutorial for this block was very nicely done and can be found here at Freshly Pieced.

Here is a shot of mine:

It pains me that I cannot do a shot of all 7 blocks together on this post, but I already mailed what I had done to my mother so that she could get started.

Happy sewing :)

Sampler Block #6 - Minnesota

This block was a lot of fun to do and went a lot quicker than I thought.  These sampler blocks are so tricky!  The ones I thought would be easy were most challenging and the ones I thought would be a breeze were a little more challenging.

They have all been fun, though.

This block was not really one of my favorites in the series.  It was also the first block that I did that I had doubts mid way through about my color choices, etc.  However, when it was done, I was madly in love with it.  :).  I think it goes nicely with the other blocks.  It looks like strawberry lemonade to me.

The instructions were easy to follow and you can find them here at Freshly Pieced.

Here is a shot of mine:

And a shot of all of the blocks so far:

Left to right top to bottom:

Lucky Pieces, Kansas Dust Storm, Minnesota, Mosaic, Star, Greek Cross

Sampler Block #4 - Kansas Dust Storm

Well, all I can say after finishing this block is...."Whew".  This was one of my favorite blocks in the sampler and, by far, the most difficult block I have ever done.

I got mixed up and turned around on a lot of the templates on this one.  My advice is 1) Measure the one inch guide on each template after you print it & 2)  Label all of your template pieces.  I learned both of these the hard way!

After all the work and frustration, though, I was very pleased with how mine came out.  I used a very different color choice than the block in the tutorial at freshlypieced.com.  You can find the tutorial here.

Kansas Dust Storm

Mosiac, Kansas Dust Storm, Star, Greek Cross (left to right....and ignore my Carpentar's Star!)

 The instructions for this one were not written so much for the beginner as the ones for the Star block were.  So, if you are new to paper piecing like I was, I would recommend doing the Star block first before trying the Kansas Dust Storm block!

Happy Quilting :)

Sampler Block #3 - Star

Every now and then something happens that reinforces something that you already know, and this block was one of them for me.

I had been putting off my first paper pieced block just dreading it!  I had this picture of it being so hard and wondered if I had the skills to pull it off.

I bit the bullet this week with the Star block.  Now that it's finished, I feel silly for dreading it so badly.  I was much easier than I thought....looking back to how afraid I was of it, it seems so silly now.

I will say, though, for any of you who have not paper pieced before KEEP YOUR INSTRUCTIONS HANDY!  While the process was simple, I found it a little confusing which fabric faces toward you, which faces away, etc.  I did hit a couple bumps in the road and did some seam ripping on this one.

Thankfully, the instructions on freshlemonquilts.com was very well done with great photos.  I would recommend following her advice and writing your colors on your paper templates before you start stitching!  Click here for the tutorial and templates for this block.

Here is a shot of my first paper pieced block ever!  I know it won't be my last!

Star Block

Here is a shot of all the sampler blocks so far....

Mosiac, Star, Greek Cross (from left to right)