I was a little bit behind with My Splendid Sampler 2 quilt-a-long so I decided to do a bit of catch up. This is the quilt-a-long organised by Pat Sloan and Jane Davison, there’s a new 6″ block released each week until mid November, by which time I should have around twenty blocks. The other eighty blocks are in their book which I have taken the plunge and ordered! I’m aiming to make two throws rather than one big quilt, so I’ll need 49 blocks in each, though I may stitch until my fabric runs out and see how big the quilts will be.
There’s been quite a lot of hand sewing in the last few blocks which is one reason why I got a bit behind. 
This block is designed by Irene Blanck, it’s called Free as a Bird. It’s all needle turn applique, some bits have worked out better than others, the bird is better than the leaves but the overall effect is OK I think. I quilted it with a random leaf design and then I just went round the edge of the bird. I’ve just realised I haven’t embroidered his legs of his eye in and the leaves could do with a stalk or two as well…oops!
Flower Child is the name of the next block, this one is designed by Carolee McMullen, I think it’s a very elegant design. I couldn’t face doing this one with needleturn, so I used bondaweb and blanket stitched round each piece by hand. The quilting hasn’t worked out quite as well as I hoped, the shapes proved fiddley to stitch round neatly. The leaves came out well, that’s the effect I hoped for with the flower!
I’ve wanted to do a cathedral window block for a while but the traditional way of hand stitching them seems quite fiddly, so I was delighted to see this machine stitched quick method by Jenny Doan. It’s quite a nifty way of stitching them, but it does make for a very bulky centre, four cream squares are cut and folded in half diagonally, placed over the outer squares. The squares are then stitched together into a four patch with the cream half triangles towards the centre, The centre block is then placed over the cream triangles, which are then folded over the edge and stitched down. It makes a lovely block very quickly, but in the centre the is three layers of fabric in each square, so in the centre join that makes 12 plus the one over the top!! I decided to trim the back right back to 1/4″ from the window seam and I think it looks much neater. I love the simplicity of this block, I find when I like a block I’m a lot more hesitant over the quilting as I don’t want to spoil a good block with poor quilting! I ummed and arred for a while on this one! In the end I edge-stitched round the window, I was tempted to leave it at that but I felt it really needed a bit more, so I plucked up the courage to do some free motion quilting of petals in the corner and it’s actually worked really well!
The last block is very cute, it’s called Cat Napping by Nicole Vos van Avezathe. It’s a picture of a cat asleep on a patchwork quilt, there’s a lot of hand embroidery on this one and a little bit of applique using bondaweb. I always find it difficult choosing the quilting for an embroidered block, as my instinct is not to quilt over embroidery. I decided on this one however to stitch a meander on the patchwork quilt, leaving the cat unquilted, hoping it would look like the quilting on the quilt, if you follow me! I’m please with how this one has turned out.
So that’s four more added to my pile. I’ve a couple more to catch up though I have decided on one block I’m leaving out, it’s just not my cup of tea and it’s a lot of work too. I need up to 49 blocks per quilt so I’ve leeway to miss out two blocks anyway, so this will be one of them! I’ve made sixteen blocks so far, all pieced and quilted, they look pretty good together.
I think the little elephant is still my favourite!
I’ll be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts tomorrow for Slow Stitching Sunday, a celebration of all types of hand-sewing, so why not follow the link and see what everyone else has been stitching.
thecraftycreek 
It’s becoming a very pretty collection. I think it’s amazing you’ve only decided to leave one out; with things like this there are always several I’d choose to exclude.
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Thanks Kate, only one so far, though I’ve not seen the other 80+ designs yet 🙂
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A very nice collection of squares. I think the levitating elephant is cute. My favorite would be the bird if it had its legs. I think it a fine idea to use up your material and hopefully make the lap quilts a bit larger. Larger is always better to me.
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Thanks Lisa, the bird will have legs shortly! The quilts will be about 56 inches square, they’re to drape over two armchairs, I can always add a border if I need a few extra inches.
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The elephant is adorable but the kitty melts my heart. Quilt blocks are all fantastic!
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Thank you, the kitty is very sweet too 🙂
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The adorable sleeping kitty is definitely my favorite block! 🙂
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It is very cute 🙂
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These are delightful! I am really loving the color combinations too!
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Thanks Kathy
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So, you’ve decided to buy the book then. I don’t blame you – these blocks will make a pair of beautiful throws – or a big quilt if you plump for that instead.
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I did, at least I can stitch my favourite blocks first and see how the material lasts out 🙂
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I really like these four a lot, and I really like the muted palate of colours. I agree the elephant is super sweet.
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Thanks Cathy, the colours are working pretty well.
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What beautiful quilts these are going to be. LOVE all those pretty blue, white and grey fabrics. Such a gorgeous collection of different designs. Each block is playing wonderfully together, aren’t they.
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Thanks Kim, the colours are working out well
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My favourite is the little bird! So nice to see all of your completed blocks together
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Thanks Gail, the bird is pretty cute 🙂
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each block is gorgeous, but I think the cat is going to be my favourite!
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Thanks Claire, he is a pretty cute cat 🙂
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Lovely bunch of blocks but the cat napping is my favorite, hands down!
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Thanks Kerry, he does seem to be a very popular cat 🙂
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What a great collection of blocks!
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I love your blocks, especially the bird lol. I like the colours you’ve chosen and they look great together. Getting the book is what I would do too. Regards Mandy xx
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I love the blocks and blue is my favorite color right now…. I can’t get enough blue! I love the cat block, too!
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