Thursday, February 5, 2015

2 New Quilt Alongs

Despite my goal of resisting new projects, I have succumbed to 2 new quilt alongs. The first is the Bitty Blocks Quilt Along from Quiltmaker. This is a great way to use up little scraps as the blocks are either 3 or 4 inches and as I had several small scraps left from my French General Scrappy Trips quilt as well as my Stonefields quilt I figured it would be a great use of those scraps this year. The final product will be a row quilt but that is all the info that has been released so far. January's blocks were these cute little 3" bow ties and I got the 16 blocks made in an hour or so.

February's blocks are tiny little baskets. The instructions were to make 14-18 of the blocks so I hope 16 will be enough. These 4" blocks were much more time consuming but once I got into the groove were pretty fun.

The second project is The New Hexagon Millefiori Quilt Along by Katja Marek. The blocks are based on her book The New Hexagon and after lurking on the Facebook Group for a month I decided to give it a go. In order to participate you do need the book. The necessary papers are available from Paper Pieces but I amd just making copies of the blocks onto card stock and cutting my own papers. It would be much easier to have the precut papers but since I already had the card stock I figured I could save a bit of money by cutting my own. It really isn't that bad so I think I will just continue in this way. The challenge of this quilt is really in the selection of the fabrics for each round. I am not sure that I have enough contrast in my fabrics but hopefully it will improve with the next round.

I love the opportunity for fussy cutting and am pleased with my center. I started with the fabric with the peacocks for my color scheme but really have no idea where I am going with this. The pieces are much bigger than any EPP I have tackled before so I am using way more fabric than I expected. Looks like this will be another great stash buster!

 

 

14 comments:

Cathy said...

I love what you are doing with those hexagons, especially the fussy cut peacocks. I think there's plenty of contrast there.

Dolores said...

Looks like you will be keeping busy for quite a while.

Janet said...

New projects are so much fun :0) I love the baskets!!

Karen said...

There are so many things to lead us astray LOL! Have fun.

audrey said...

Love those little baskets especially! I have been trying to keep to my own projects, but there is always temptation.:)

Rachaeldaisy said...

I can see how both of those quiltalongs would be hard to resist! Those bitty blocks are so perfectly cute!! And the Millefiori hexies are simply gorgeous. You'll have lots of fun fussy cutting with that project.

Barb said...

what great sew alongs. The bow ties are lovely and those tiny 4" baskets are sooo cute!!
Good for you to jump in with the EPP - nice!

Karen H said...

Those bitty blocks are sooooo cute and I am really tempted to start but I've got to get going on Block 2 of Millefiori!

Cathy said...

Love your bitty blocks. I am doing them too. Love your hexies. Hugs

Karen said...

The basket blocks are what tempt me. Nice.

Beth said...

I am so tempted! I may have to participate. I love the millefiore. Your colors are striking.

Lori said...

Two fun blocks! I just made/finished some bow ties into a little quilt. Your baskets are so little for so many pieces. Too cute!

Anonymous said...

The Itty Bitty looks like fun. I am going to do that one. BUT to purchase the Master templates from PP, the cost is $99.00.... I admire you for doing your own templates. Does the book provide any printed templates to copy when making each block or the only way is to go through PP. I think I will pass on this one, but you are going full guns and love your blocks on both quilt alongs. Are we nuts, or just enjoy quilting - LOL.

Carole~Quilter on the hill said...

I've also been eyeing off Katja's Millefiore quilt, yours looks great. I can well imagine that fabric choice is the biggest challenge in this quilt. If I attempt it I am going to use the Inklingo method.