It's a Little Bit Ironic ...

A funny thing happened after I decided to align the Block Lotto blocks and their fabric guidelines with the Rainbow Scraps Challenge ... I stopped regularly checking in and linking with the Scraphapppy Saturday posts. It has nothing to do with one or the other ... just me and my life struggles.

I'm trying to get back in the habit, so I thought to share my progress with my scrappy rainbow sampler, which will be made from this year's Block Lotto block patterns with a setting of lots of scrappy rectangles.

This is June's Improv Bullseye block, surrounded by some of the green and aqua/turquoise/teal rectangles that will surround it in the quilt.

Each of the blank squares in the drawing is filled with 4 of the monthly block. I have made all the blocks so far this year ... but need to play catch-up on cutting the setting rectangles.


I am itching to pull out all the cut rectangles and blocks and throw them on my design wall to get a better idea of how this quilt will look ... but at the moment, the Lemoyne star blocks I blogged about earlier this week are parked there, in their very specific order and this dyslexic quilter is a little afraid to take them down until they are firmly sewn together ...

I know a few quilters are also quilting along and making this sampler. You can find the basics for this quilt and the Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler (#OMMS) here:

2016 QAL

More Violets

I don't know where or why I got it in my head that violets are not spring flowers.

A few people left comments on my post yesterday suggesting proof to the contrary.

And then I walked outside and thought Mother Nature was telling me, too ... until a few commenters pointed out that this is a variety of vinca, also known as periwinkle and I recognized it then, too. 

There aren't just a few of them ... they are everywhere.

In case you're wondering, although it looks and feels like spring NOW ... I am waiting to be sure before the massive garden cleanup this place needs ...

That lesson learned, I spent yesterday afternoon and evening finishing the scrappy batik blocks that are needed for the Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler.




The snails trails and violet blocks are more spread out than this in the quilt, but I wanted to put them together to get an idea of how well they will work together.   I realized yesterday that this may be the first quilt I make exclusively from batiks.  I was kind of amazed at how many different purple batiks I found in my scraps or stash.  Can a strictly batik quilt be considered a scrap quilt? The process from my perspective is the same except that I am excluding batiks from the other sampler I am making from this year's patterns for the Block Lotto and using them exclusively in this one.

If you missed it, you can see the rest of my violet blocks and a link to the free block pattern in yesterday's post here - It's Sampler Saturday at Sophie Junction.

You can find out more about the two sampler designs on the Block Lotto's 2016 QAL page.

You can find more great scrappy projects at the party for Oh Scrap! on Cynthia's blog, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

It's Sampler Saturday at Sophie Junction

It feels a little bit like a Violet factory here.

I know that violets aren't a spring flower, now realize that violets are very much a spring flower in much of the world, but and this block is such a great fit for the designated colors for this month's Rainbow Scraps Challenge, I couldn't resist.

For the Block Lotto this month, I extended the color of our violets a bit beyond purple on either side of the color wheel to include pinks and blues.  So far all the blocks made and posted have been delightful and feel like spring, even if they aren't spring flowers.

We made a larger version of this block in 2011. You can download the free, updated block pattern (with measurements for making the block in eight sizes) here:

Violet Block Pattern

After making these blocks, I kept going and made some progress on the two (different) samplers I am making from this year's lotto blocks.



For the scrappy, rainbow-colored graduated sampler, I made these four blocks and cut the rest of the purple and blue setting rectangles I need.

Put together with January's Birds in the Air blocks, the bottom of this sampler quilt will look something like this–the pieced in the right third were overlapped and squished together to fit on my small design wall.

I know I will arrange and re-arrange the fabrics that make up the setting around the blocks and probably replace some of them when it comes time to put it all together, but so far, it's working for me.



For my Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler, I have cut all the fabrics, but only just started putting together the blocks.  You can see where the 11 violet blocks fit on the 2016 QAL page on the Block Lotto.

The violet blocks  are concentrated near the bottom of the quilt and mixed in with last month's Snail's Trail blocks.

I used some of the same pale tans and greens as the background for my purple violets.

As soon as I had made a couple of the violet blocks, I had to put them on the wall with my desert-colored Snail's trails to see how they looked together.  My plan for the weekend is to finish the remaining 9 violet blocks needed for this sampler.

While digging through my blue and purple scraps and looking through my stash for additional fabrics, I realized that I still have A LOT of blue fabrics–probably I should think about making a scrappy blue quilt ... as soon as I make some progress on the UFOs around here.

I'm joining the party for Scrap Happy Saturday.

How Now Brown ... Snail

I've been making the snail's trail blocks for my lotto block samplers and thinking about the color brown.

These are the four blocks I made for the scrap-happy graduated sampler.


I used warmer shades of brown because I plan to place these four blocks in the upper right corner of the layout.

Once the blocks were surrounded with some red and orange rectangles cut from my scraps to give me an idea of how it might look, they seem to warm up a little bit more.

I've seen a few comments from quilters who don't care for brown or don't have much in their stash. In my scrap quilts, brown often masquerades as yellow, orange or red when I need a "dark" in those colors to make a scrappy block pattern work.  If you look at my scrappy Broken Dishes quilt (still unquilted), you might not see brown ... but it is there–in those red, orange and yellow blocks. 

For the Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler, the color cue for the Snail's Trail blocks is "ground cover."

I decided to aim for palette that suggests a southwest landscape–restricted by what I can find in my stash–and made these sandy-sager colored blocks.

These blocks will be spread across the bottom of the quilt.

Information about both samplers can be found on the Block Lotto site on this page:

2016 Quilt-Along

I am joining the linky party for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge Scrap Happy Saturday.

Quilt Along with Me

A few quilters have expressed interest in quilting along with me as I put together two very different sampler quilts from the monthly 2016 block patterns for the Block Lotto. This makes me happy because I love designing sampler quilts.

This post contains more complete information for those who are committed or may be sitting on the fence and provides an introduction to the quilts and a little bit of information about me to those visiting for the first time from Quilting is More Fun than Housework.

Thank you Cynthia for featuring my scrappy project this week for Oh Scrap!

If the Block Lotto met the Rainbow Scraps Challenge, fell in love, married and had a couple of kids, they might look like the two very different sampler quilts I have designed using the twelve block patterns we will be making for the Block Lotto in 2016. But you don't have to make lotto blocks to enter into the monthly drawing–everyone is invited to choose one of these babies quilt designs and quilt along with me. 

Graduated Scrappy Sampler Quilt

In this quilt, the only uncertainty is the blocks we'll make.  You'll need to make four of each of the 6 inch blocks each month and sew them together into a 12 inch (finished size) four-patch. Each set of four fits into one of the spaces in the setting. This quilt will measure 60 by 78 inches. 

I plan to make the rainbow-colored quilt on the left as one of my Rainbow Scraps Challenge projects this year. Each month I will make the blocks and cut fabrics for the graduated setting for the band that matches the color of the month.

I think this design would also really work well using a light-to-dark set of graduated fabrics in one color as shown on the right or choosing just two colors for the setting and alternating them from top to bottom.   Blocks could be made in colors that match or contrast with the bands in the setting.

I designed the bands in the setting to be made from a scrappy bunch of large and small rectangles. 

• Large rectangles are cut 4 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches
• Small Rectangles are cut 3 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches

For the top and bottom bands, you'll need:

• 21 large rectangles  (approximately 1/2 yard total fabric)

For EACH of the six bands in between, you'll need: 

• 6 large rectangles
• 15 small rectangles (approximately 3/8 yard total fabric)

My plan for making the setting is to cut those rectangles as I am going through my scraps each month for RSC and saving the arranging assembly step until the end or as all three blocks in a row are finished.

I might not find all all the scraps I need in a given color in the designated month, so I'll keep track and as I pull more fabrics from my stash or acquire new fabrics, I will cut a few more squares in the colors I need.

I'll be using the same system I adopted when I was cutting hundreds (and hundreds) of squares for the Tokyo Subway Map Quilt Along last fall and use a small zip lock bag for each band, with an index card on which I will write what I need, for that band/color and note my running total of what I've already cut.

Here's what my progress looks like so far with my January blocks made and some of the blue and purple rectangles cut. This will become the bottom, left corner of my quilt.

 

Note: If you aren't a fan of the scrappy idea for the setting or wanted to use something like scrappy crumbs, made into your own pieced fabric for the setting, you could also use a combination of rectangles and larger rectangles and pieced long strips of fabric.

For the top and bottom bands:

• 1strip 6 1/2 by 60 1/2  
• 2 large rectangles 
• 2 larger rectangles cut 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches 

For the middle bands:

• 1 strip 4 1/2 by 60 1/2 inches 
• 2 small rectangles 
• 2 larger rectangles cut 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches

Old MacDonald Mystery Sampler

There is a whole lot less to say about this sampler quilt design–if you have read this far, you're probably glad about that.  Old MacDonald popped into my head as I was designing it and may give you some insight into my vision for this quilt. 

This quilt has no sashing or borders and is made from 99 lotto blocks in a 9 by 11 grid to create a 54 by 66 inch quilt.

You might decide to add borders (or extend the quilt with more blocks) if you want a larger quilt  or feel it needs borders.

The number of each of the lotto blocks you’ll need to make this quilt varies from 2 to 15.

The quilt is a little bit pictorial (a sort of abstracted landscape), a little bit folky and has a lot of leeway in the choice of colors.

If you decide to suspend disbelief and play along, I’ll give you color clues each month to help you choose colors that will work in the quilt and still be “you.”  You may decide to deviate from the Rainbow Scraps/Block Lotto colors for the month in this quilt ... but it will also work if you stick with the RSC/Block lotto colors of the month.

For January, you will need 6 Birds in the Air blocks in colors that suggest a summer sky. I used shades of blue, tinged with purple and aqua, and cream for my blocks. You might choose colors that suggest a sunrise, sun set or even a summer 's night sky. Note that the colors you choose here will influence your choices in future blocks.

I noticed that I had quite a few batiks in my scraps, so decided to make this sampler from batiks only and use only prints in the Rainbow Graduated Scrappy Sampler–it will be interesting to see if my scrap bins will be able to sustain my self-imposed rule . . .

Here are my "sky" blocks.

Blog Badge 

I have created a blog badge for the Old MacDonald Mystery Sampler. It links to a page on Blocklotto.com that contains all the basic info and will be updated each month as the new block is announced.

<div align="center">
<a href="http://www.blocklotto.com/2016-qal/" rel="nofollow" title="OMMS-QAL Blog Button"><img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1472/24317123231_5fbb3510f5_q.jpg" alt="Join the Old Macdonald Mystery Sampler QAL" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If anyone decided to make the graduated sampler with me and wants a blog button, I can make that happen.

The January Block Pattern - Birds in the Air

Birds in the Air is the January block. For the Block Lotto and these samplers, it is made as a 6-inch finished size block.

The pattern includes two methods for making the block to choose from–your choice may be based on your comfort with working with bias edges–and cutting measurements for making the block in 7 sizes from 3 to 12 inches.

All the block patterns for the Block Lotto (and these samplers) will be free for the first 10 days the month–look for the code you'll need on the first-of-the-month posts on Blocklotto.com

Birds in the Air Quilt Block Pattern

This Birds-in-the-Air blocks in the snow photo was inspired by Angela's color inspiration for the RSC this month, snowflake.

About Me and Why Samplers?

As a person who has worked in and around technology throughout my career, when I began quilting in 2000, I immediately went online looking for other quilters.  I joined many, many online fabric swaps and block exchanges and led more than a few myself.  Like my profile says, quilting is one of the "high touch" things I do to balance my "high tech" work life.

I started the Block Lotto on a quilting forum in 2002 as both a way to try a new block or technique or color/fabric combination without having to make enough blocks for a quilt on your own and an activity to help new quilters who wanted to join block exchanges to practice following rules to make blocks.

When it comes to quilting styles, I am an omnivore and love learning and trying them all.   If you click around my blog, you will find traditional, modern, and art quilting . . . and everything in between.

So, when I choose or design blocks for the Block Lotto, each year is a collection of styles and techniques, but I also think about how well the blocks will play together in a sampler quilt. If only in my head, each year has an overall theme.

This year, all the blocks will be 6 inches square (finished size). They represent a mix of traditional, improvisational and original pieced designs. Some are more abstract/geometric, some are pictorial and one is a Block Lotto favorite that we’ll revisit in a new color way. All the blocks can stand on their own in quilt settings, but many also do interesting things when 4 blocks are sewn together.

Most years, I have designed a sampler for the blocks, began a sampler of my own from the blocks and ... some years I even finish my sampler quilt.

This is my scrappy black & white sampler made from the 12 inch blocks from the first year of the Block Lotto ... I am still using it.





And here is my queen-sized Mod, Mod Sampler quilt from 2014.




You can find other examples of the Mod Mod quilt (along with other eye candy) in the Block Lotto Gallery. 

In terms of construction, the Graduated Scrappy sampler is more like my first sampler and Old MacDonald's mystery is similar to the second.

You can read more about the Block Lotto here:

About the Block Lotto

And, if you like the Birds in the Air block and want to join us, the details for January are here:

New Year, New Block and Birds in the Air

I am joining the link list parties for:

Scraptastic Tuesday (January edition)
Rainbow Scraps Challenge

Scrappy Synchronicity

I love scrappy quilts and have always looked upon both the Block Lotto and the Rainbow Scraps Challenge as wonderful motivators to use my scraps and make scrappy quilts.

This year, they are even more tied together–if only in my mind–for a couple of reasons:

1. The fabric guidelines for the Block Lotto have been chosen based on the color of the month for the Rainbow Scraps Challenge. 
2. I have designed 2 mystery sampler quilts–one more of a mystery than the other–that are suitable RSC projects. 

This month's lotto block is a 6-inch traditional Birds in the Air block made in blue or purple with white.

As I was making my blocks, I started thinking about Angela's theme–snowflake.  She provided this beautiful snowflake inspiration. 

I was thinking that how those who live in snow and cold weather often have a different feeling about snow and snowflakes (and the freezing temperatures that are part of the equation) than those that do not. I confess that I don't think pretty blue/purple images when I think snow.

But, the idea of snowflakes as a theme, inspired me to bundle up, take my blocks outside and photograph them on my snow-frosted deck. I have new admiration for those that photograph quilts in snow without disturbing the snow ...

You can find more information about this month's Block Lotto here:

New Year, New Block and Birds in the Air

And, you can download my Birds in the Air quilt block pattern here. Using the Payhip service is something new for me, so I would appreciate hearing about your experiences.

The pattern includes traditional and alternative methods for constructing the block and cutting measurements for making the block in 7 sizes.  Check out the Block Lotto to find out how to get the block pattern for free for the first 10 days of the month.

Both sampler quilts I have designed for this year's lotto blocks could be made scrappy or not ... but in my mind, they are definitely scrappy.

Old MacDonald's Mystery Sampler is the most mysterious of these two designs. The name popped into my head and stuck, so that may give you some idea of the theme.

It measures 54 by 66 inches, without borders or sashing, just 99 six inch blocks in a 9 by 11 grid.  The number of each of the 12 blocks you'll need for this quilt varies between 2 and 15.

For this month, make 6 Birds in the Air blocks in colors that suggest sky (I'll be using pale blues and purples combined with medium blues).

The other sampler quilt design is less mysterious because I can tell you that you need to make 4 of each of the monthly blocks and I can share the setting with you.  It measures 60 by 82 inches.  Although this once can certainly be made NOT scrappy, I have come to think of this design as RSC Meets the Block Lotto.

Here is the setting in three color ways.  Each of the open squares represents 4 lotto blocks, sewn together as a 12 inch 4-patch.


Thinking scrappy, the sashing and borders are constructed of small squares.  I envisioned using black and white prints in the gradated setting on the left. The blocks could be also be black and white, maybe with pops of color (or a single bright color used as the background fabric in the blocks). The middle quilt is a simplified 2-color setting–I was thinking QOV quilt when I played with the idea of red and white setting fabrics and predominately blue blocks.

I plan to make the rainbow version on the right. I'll be going through my scraps and constructing the setting units as I make my blocks.  I suspect that my quilt colors will have an over-all softer look than this quickly constructed graphic.  My four Birds in the Air blocks will fill the spot on the left in the bottom row.

I will be sharing more information–beginning with fabric requirements for those that need them–if anyone is interested in quilting along with me.

I am joining the parties for Scrap Happy Saturday and Oh Scrap!  Please let me know if you're interested in joining a quilt-along for one of these block lotto samplers.