It seems my choice for a February topic fell a little flat and was especially frustrating at my house since my machine of choice has now died for the second time in a couple weeks and I was unable to complete the quilty thing I’ve been planning to try–using the backing fabric as a quilt design and quilting from the back. So I’m asking for suggestions for a topic that anyone could use as the basis of a blog post to share as...

I finished a quilt top using Karen Griska’s pattern Raw Edge Tiles and it is featured on her blog: http://selvageblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/gail-griffins-new-raw-edge-tile-quilt.html It was so much fun to make. Most of the blocks have a theme.

Do you have Instagram on your smart phone?  If you do, you can quickly take a photo of your blocks in progress and see if any of your strings are not low volume. Just take the photo, and change it to black and white (Instagram calls it “willow”). In the blocks above, I discovered that there was one color (light purple) that shows up as really dark – so those strings have to come...

I found the large triangles of string fabric that are trimmed away as part of making the block to be too large and interesting to toss. The original directions for the block (on my blog, here), included the directions for making a second, smaller heart block. Of course, you don’t have to make heart blocks from those triangles.  They could become butterfly wings or, you they could become fabric for making another block, like the...

An Update for the December winners I (finally) mailed my December star-crossed blocks to Margaret and Nann today.  Julie’s went out with my starter package for the Cotton Robin last week. I have no good excuse for being so late and I’m sorry.  I’ve been in a bit of a funk since my beloved Bernina died last week–I have an appoint at the end of the week at the nearest dealer (a little over an hour away). I hope mine are the last...

The shoo fly blocks in this quilt are the traditional square ones, but I thought it was such a great setting idea … and one that would also work with our tall blocks.   Found on Flickr.   (Click the photo to go to the original on Flickr) I believe that she created these using a disappearing 9-patch technique using pieced blocks similar to that I described here. I like the idea of adding fabric to two sides of the blocks (however you...

I don’t know how many of you are making (or maybe even finished) your own sampler quilt from lotto blocks … or if you considering making a sample from this year’s rectangular blocks. I thought it might be nice to have a place to talk about our sampler ideas and support one another and so I have created the new category My Sampler. Or maybe *I* just need some support to finish a couple Block Lotto samplers in progress and help...

I kept thinking that last April’s Hot-crossed 9-Patch block would combine well with December’s Star-crossed.   Before jumping into a larger quilt, I decided to make a table topper from 9 blocks. I’m still thinking about borders (your suggestions are welcome), but I liked the combination so much I had to share this in-progress photo.   I modified the Hot-Crossed 9-Patch block to make the crosses wider (cut at 1 1/2-inch)...

I hope to get one star posted later today, but I want to wish Happy Holidays, belated Happy Hannuka, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my BlockLotto friends.  And a special thank you to Sophie for inspiring us, coordinating us, prodding us, nagging us, and otherwise making this a great on-line community!  Thanks for all you do, and especially when you are having tough times, which I know happened in 2012.  Here’s a happy toast to...

The last few times I’ve put together directions for making a quilt block that has half-square triangles (HST), aka Triangle Squares, as one of it’s components, I’ve left the specifics of how you cut and sew those units up to the quilter. Today, it occurred to me that it could seem a little bit like a cop out, you know, like quilt as desired.  So  while I was making some new blocks that had triangle squares as a component...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!  Whatcha working on (besides the turkey ;o) )

I’m looking for someone who enjoys using scraps in his or her quilting and would be willing to take a bag of them off my hands.  I hate to waste these scraps but I’ll never use them, and we can’t keep stuff in the RV that won’t be used. These are pieces from the latest round of Christmas quilts, so they include a goodly amount of Christmas fabrics and red, green and gold fabrics.  The bag weighs a little over a pound.  I don’t think there are...