Lots of Quilt Blocks This Week

Hello Everyone and welcome to the weekly quilting update. I’ve had some great sewing time this week and have caught up on all the Block of the Months (BOMs) I’m doing. We also went on a nice hike on a warm Wednesday afternoon. Even though we were in the Shenandoah NP, I didn’t take any pictures because it was a true walk in the woods. We parked just outside the park at a nearby gap, then hiked straight up for about half a mile, then got on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked until we were about a mile from the Skyline Drive, then turned back. We were hiking along a ridgeline, but were far enough from the edge so that there were no views. It was a good hike of 6.7 miles for a warm February day.

This week I have been catching up with the Fig Tree Cinnamon Splendor Mystery and The Stars My Way BOMs.

These are the blocks from Month 2 and 3 of Cinnamon Splendor. I already shared the smaller “Twirl” blocks, but I still had two more of those to do and then six other blocks. Joanna’s piecing instructions are always good, but she does have you cut triangles sometimes instead of using the sew and flip method. That means that you have to be very careful with the bias edges. Also, I usually will make my flying geese slightly larger, then trim them to size. I couldn’t do that for the top left block because I wasn’t sure how much extra fabric I could use. You get fabric with each month, but you need to save your cuts for future blocks. Let’s just say there was some fudging going on as I was piecing the flying geese units together.

I got a message earlier this week that Month 4 would arrive on Friday which was one of the reasons to get these made. I actually got the package on Thursday, but didn’t open it until I had the blocks finished on Friday. It feels so good to be caught up!

I also made the February blocks for the Stars My Way quilts I’m doing with my local quilt group. You saw the top left block and the tree center earlier. This week, I made the top right block for the Blue and Tan Stars quilt and the Twinkle Lights block for the Christmas Stars. I’m using blocks from Lori Holt’s Vintage Christmas book for the centers on this quilt.

Last week, I had decided to use Moda Grunge for the star points for the Christmas Star blocks, but hadn’t decided what to use in the background. This week a lightbulb went off and I thought about the different dot fabrics that I have. I’ll be using these and added in a black Grunge too. That’s what’s on the tree. I have just enough to use in three blocks. The other color of Grunge will be the dark green with the lights, a pretty aqua and a red dot grunge. Time will tell if I made the right decision in using the black, but some of the center pieces will have black in them.

This week I plan on cutting out the fabric for the X’s and O’s Baby Quilt and if I get to it, the new blocks for the Cinnamon Splendor quilt. I also have a few quilts to quilt, so I may get started on those.

I hope you have a good productive week and if you have President’s Day off, I hope you enjoy that extra weekend day. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Brenda