One block at a time is how I plan to complete my next king sized bed quilt. Oh wait, isn’t that how we ALL make our quilts, one block at a time. But surely it doesn’t take the average quilter quite this long!
Several years ago I started this quilt, back when a local quilt shop was having a block of the month. On the second Saturday of each month you would go to the shop, bring your completed block from the last month and get the next month’s block free of charge. If you missed a month, you had to pay the “registration fee” over again, I think it was $3 or $5 back then. At the end of the year, you had 12 blocks completed for your quilt.
The only problem was I have a Cali King bed and twelve 12″ blocks is not going to make a quilt for it. So at the end of the year I purchased 1-3 yards extra of each of the main fabrics that were used in the blocks and said “I’ll make more”.
And there it rested, for long enough I can’t remember which year I did this!
Fast forward to 2014 and our guild is once again having a “Block in the Box” group. Where I load my fabrics into a box and every month a different member makes their chosen block out of my fabrics. At the end of the year all blocks made in my fabric (and my excess fabric) come back to me. We have twelve members this year, so that means at the end of the year I’ll have 12 more blocks for my Cali King quilt.
But wait, according to EQ, to get the size and layout I need, I’ll require 36 blocks! And I don’t want to wait another year, so I made a commitment to myself that I would piece one block a month for my quilt. That way, when the Block in the Box is done, I’ll have my additional 12 blocks and can maybe, possibly, FINALLY make this quilt.
Note to guild members, the blocks posted here are NOT the block I am making for the Block in the Box. 😉
For January, I decided to make a paper pieced block, designed by Carol Doak (in her “50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars” book) called the Alaska Star. I really like this block!
So two nights ago I started working on it. Yes, I know I waited until the END of January to make my block, but it’s still January! First night was spent cutting pieces, printing the pattern sheets, and starting to stitch. Tonight, I finished all Part B sections of the block. (No, I have no idea why I started with Part B instead of Part A, I just did).
Part A of the block is still in pieces:
And shouldn’t take “that” long to piece. Surely I can finish this by midnight tomorrow night! Afer all, my work area is completely organized for quick sewing.
Okay, maybe I won’t get it finished by tomorrow night, it just depends on how sewing goes tonight. But even if I don’t, it will still be my “January” block. As long as I don’t get distracted looking for a pattern for my “February” block!