Over the weekend I finally finished all the blocks for my Splendid Sampler 2 quilt. Last week when I showed you my progress I wasn’t sure if I would just make another four blocks, to make a rectangular quilt, or if I would buckle down and make another eleven blocks so it would be 7×7 blocks, a nice square quilt. Well I’m pleased to say I’ve pieced, sandwiched and quilted all these blocks…

Yes, I cracked on and made eleven, so I’m feeling satisfied! The first one on the photo below is called Coastline Sponge Cake, by Katarina Roccella, she explains how putting together the layers of a quilt is a bit like the layers of a sponge cake, it’s also meant to be a coastline. It reminded me of the Lake District, with it’s mountains reflected in the lakes.

Starlight Starbright is by Pat Sloan, the organiser of this quilt, it was a nice simple star block to make. I also decided to use a bit more of the whiter fabrics to help balance out the one that stood out before with the light sashing. I’ll see if it worked when I put all the blocks out together.

The final one in this photo is called Balancing Reflection by Yvonne Fuchs. I’ve accidentally made this a bit more personal to me. This week is National Balance Week (I might be doing a post on it later) I have no balance from my ears so I do occasionally have a ‘wobble’. One of the triangles missed its line a bit (top right, though I’ll probably turn it the other way up in the quilt) and rather than trying to fudge it, I’ve quilted round the wobble, making it part of the design, I’m calling it my unbalanced block!

Happy Willow is by Jenifer Gaston, I was originally going to make it just because it’s a tree, but when I read the story behind it I had to smile, when travelling as a child her dad told them to count something to keep them from bickering, she used to count willow trees. I remember when I was little counting lamp-posts all the way from Leeds to Wales!!!

With a title like Piece in Chaos by Betsy Chutchian, the pinwheel block had to be made, my sewing room could rarely be said to be tidy and usually verges on the chaotic!

American Spool by Tammy Vonderschmitt came with two versions, one with an American flag and one just a plain spool with a needle and thread embroidered on. I was just about to quilt over the spool when I realised it would make a perfect label block, so I popped my initials and the date on instead.

I must confess the Mod Bowtie block was the last one I made and I chose it because it looked quick and easy and by then I’d had enough! It was very simple, two quarter circles are bondawebbed on and then bias binding applied. It’s a simple one but I do like it, and I like going to black tie events occasionally too.

Pack Your Bags is by Jodie Carleton and represents the adventures you can have in the world of quilting. It’s meant to say quilt in the middle of the luggage tag, I decided to change it to Otley, my home town.

Button Up is by Cecile McPeak and Rachel Martin, they make buttons to embellish quilts with. I rather like this one, it was made with a strip of three fabrics which was then cut into squares on the bias, stitched together and then the circle was cut from that. The fiddliest bit was cutting the four little holes!

The one with lots of narrow strips is called Antique Memories by Pat Sloan, it’s a traditional block called courthouse steps. The last one is Lauren’s Flower Basket by Annette Plog, I’m really pleased with how this one has come out, the piecing came out well and to quilt it I decided after my success with a daisy shape last week I would quilt a daisy in each square, I like it.

My next job is to arrange all the blocks in a possible order before I start stitching them all together. I’m on the homeward straight now!