Saturday Sampler 2014

By the end of the year, I will have finished two quilts (though neither are entirely pieced yet), so I'm already looking on the lookout for new projects and patterns. Since I'm so busy taking care of E (who's now almost eleven months old!) and working, having two big projects dominate my design wall, sewing table, desk, and all other surfaces in our study is making me a bit crazed. Plus, it seems like I'm rescuing cut fabric from E's drool-drenched hands every time I hop off my treadmill desk!

To solve the fabric-clutter issue, I'm thinking about making one of our Saturday Sampler 2014 quilts. Since I only receive the fabric for one block every month, small, colorful piles of neatly folded fabric (read: baby magnet) will be kept to a minimum or at least have a spot somewhere out of reach. Now I just have to decide which one to make! Which one is your favorite?

If you haven't participated before, here's how it works: our Saturday Sampler (SS) is a unique twist on a Block of the Month program. First, you choose one of four quilts (each in a different colorway or theme), purchase the pattern, and pay $5 for your first block. If you bring both your SS punch card and the previous month's finished block to us on one of three designated days (the second Saturday of the month and the following Monday and Tuesday), you get your next block for FREE. On the occasion that life gets in the way and your block isn't finished in time or you can't drop in on one of the SS days, that month's block is $5. More often than not, QPers make an entire quilt for just $5 or $10 plus the optional finishing kits!

Only one block per quilter can be free each month, so those who choose to do two, three, or all four quilts pay $5 per month for those quilts' blocks (regardless if their sewn or not). It's an extremely economical way to make a quilt and it's tough to resist the four very different colorways and patterns Kathy and Mary handpicked. Learn more about each design in the Facebook album I'll be adding each month's blocks to all year or scroll down for a preview.

Ella Mae's Sampler  (78''-x-78'') 

Style: Brights | First Block: $5 | Pattern: $7.99

Abigail's Sampler  (50''-x-60'')

Style: Country | First Block: $5 | Pattern: $11.99

Autumn Jewels  (84''-x-84'')

Style: Christmas | First Block: $5 | Pattern: $19.99 

Paris in the Fall  (66''-x-86'')

Style: Black, White & Red | First Block: $5 | Pattern: $22.99

Sign up starts today, Wednesday, November 20th, but not all of the patterns will be in-stock until tomorrow, Thursday, November 21st. Call the shop at (517) 423-0053 or drop in to sign up. 

Busy Blocks: Fabric Regret

After throwing most of my Busy Blocks quilt onto my oh-so-handy design wall and photographing it for this very post, I decided I hated the red-and-white stripe. ):

Okay, I don't hate it, but it doesn't work with the other small-scale and tone-on-tone prints. I still really like the print, but it's not at all jiving with its Busy Blocks companions.

Luckily, it just so happens I know exactly where to get a replacement red!

After much hemming and hawing, I found my perfect print in a basket of remnants. It's still a stripe, but it's much "skinnier" and the tone is a better match.

Do you think I made a good swap? The only issue I have now is how much the orange hexagon's middle stands out now that the chunky stripe is gone. *Sigh* Does the second guessing go away when I have ten or a hundred quilts under my belt?