January winners
Delighted to see my name among the winners – I do still have a set of lotto blocks (the birds) which are waiting to be made into a quilt, but they are a bit harder to decide how to set (do I add branches? a wire? Do I use them straight? Still making up my mind on those) – otherwise, I (for once) don’t have a backlog of blocks waiting to be converted to quilts. These chevrons will be fun to work with, and fairly easy to set – though whether I turn them into one or two quilts remains to be seen! Anyway, thanks for drawing my name and I’ll update here as I receive everyone’s blocks…
Setting idea for Duds and Orphans?
I didn’t win the Duds and Orphans drawing (sniff), but I thought of the orphans last night when I saw this pattern/book, Gypsy Wife, by Jen Kingwell, at the quilt store. It seems like this could be a interesting setting for an assortment of random blocks if you could pick up colors from the orphans for the striped part. I have some BLotto related orphans that might work with this. I had not seen her work before, but her patterns are right up my alley–scrappy and bright!
Let’s Blog about Color
I noticed this quilt on the blog, Fist Full of Fabric, and thought the combination of greens, pinks and purples was interesting. Look closely and you’ll see a range of light to medium greens, medium and dark pinks and dark purples. I think it has potential for a future lotto block … what do you think?
When we talk about color palettes, sometimes a photo really is worth more than a simple text description.
Last month, as part of the fabric giveaway, I asked for suggestions for color combinations for future lotto blocks and you answered.
Only a couple of you offered a link or posted about your color ideas. Because color names can be (and regularly ARE) interpreted by each of us, I thought it would be interesting to talk about color with examples.
This month, let’s blog about color. Topics to consider:
- Colors you love
- Colors you hate and cannot make yourself use (Pink used to be in that category for me)
- Favorite color combinations
- New-to-you color combinations you’d like to try
- Types of combinations you prefer or would like to try (i.e., compliments, split compliments, analogous, etc.)
- Changes you’ve seen in your color preferences over time
- How you pull together a color palette (for a quilt, for decorating, for what you wear …)
- Colors you’d like to see used for a future Block Lotto
This might be a good month to play with a color palette generator. Julie commented on a sunrise photo on my blog, suggesting it as a color idea and I wondered what would happen if I ran it through a color palette generator.
Use this link to read a review of Five Amazing Color Palette Generators. I used Color Hunter on my sunrise photo. I wish it had included the yellow I see in the photo, but it’s still interesting, I think.
If you’d like some color combinations to consider, or a jumping off point, here are your suggestions to me in the comments last week. Do you think everyone who suggested “blue and yellow” were seeing the same thing in their mind’s eye.
| Anything with black | batik and cream/tan prints | batiks |
| black and gold | black and white + any color | black white and bright |
| black white red | blue and cream | blue and gold |
| blue and gold | blue and orange | blue and white |
| blue and white | blue and white | blue and yellow |
| blue and yellow | blue and yellow | Blue and yellow |
| blue, purple, red and yellow | brights with black | brights with gray |
| brights with white | Christmas combos | Cool colors from September |
| dark purple, lime green, a little pink | eggplant purple | Gray and orange |
| gray orange purple | green – lime and raspberry | green – lime, turquoise, orange and sky blue with black |
| green brown red | Green Orange | green Purple |
| green purple | green red | green with white or cream |
| green-lime with purple | jewel tones on black | jewel tones on black |
| monochromatic | monochromatic (blue as an example) | monochromatic (liked the previous suggestion) |
| natural neutrals like browns | novelty fabrics | orange pink gray cream (from Feb 2012) |
| Pink and orange | Pink and Brown | pink and green |
| pink and yellow | Pinky red, light lime green and a medium blue | rainbow colors on white |
| red and brown | red and white | red and white |
| Red Tan Blue | Teal and Black | turquoise and hot pink |
| Turquoise and Purple | yellow orange maroon white and black | yellow pink and white |
These suggestions definitely will have an impact on future lotto blocks, I already have some ideas, but because I know what I “see” when I read them may not be what you intended, I’d love to see what you see and collect images that can be used as color inspiration in future months.
Remember, you don’t have to have your own blog to join the party. You can create a blog post here (use the category block lotto community) and link it or link to your image on Flickr or another photo sharing site. If you link to a photo, be sure to include a description to make your suggestion perfectly clear.
Stripes Blocks
Boy oh boy its been like Christmas all month long! I have so many beautiful stripe blocks to work with now! Thank you to everyone!
3 Chevrons Ready
Hello! I am just rejoining block lotto and Sophie suggested I introduce myself. I am Marie Joerger and you can catch my blog @ Marie’s Creative Space to see what I have going on.
Here are my first 3 Chevrons
I have 3 more sewn into HST and hope to have those together and up in time!!
I am also looking forward to the Mod-Mod-Quilt-Along! What a great idea!
Marie
Jumping on the Mod Mod train
I’m so glad Sophie is offering a year of blocks that will combine to make a great quilt. Heaven knows I’ve got enough fabric around to use. Here are my January chevron blocks, in the scrappy style that I’ll use. My plan is to make a throw-sized quilt.
mod mod QAL
this is my tentative fabric selection for the mod mod qal. I’m thinking of the throw size. My son and DIL like neutrals, so I hope this will work. I may need an accent color; perhaps a dull mustard gold.
And the Winner of the Hand-dyed Fabrics Is …
Rafflecopter generated our winner and it is:
ANDREW!
Andrew, please check your email and get back to me ASAP. Since you haven’t made blocks in a while, I’ll need your address so I can send you Elizabeth’s beautiful hand-dyed fabrics. They are all packed and ready to make the trip over the border to Texas … assuming you are still in Texas.
Grow Your Blog Party
Earlier this month, on impulse, I added the Block Lotto to the Grow Your Blog party. If you have come here as a result, welcome to the Block Lotto. If you are a regular here or have recently joined, I’ve updated some of the general information and you may find something of interest here, too.
A simple description of the Block Lotto is that of a home for a monthly online activity for quilters. We make blocks from a specific pattern following the monthly guidelines and post photos of them for a chance to win a set of fabrics. This month we are making these 7 by 14 inch double chevron blocks in combinations of purple, brown and light to medium gray with white.
You can read more about how the Block Lotto works and how to play with us by following these links:
Blocks we’ve Made, month by month, year by year (includes links to block patterns)
Call it ego, but I think of the block lotto as more than just a blog and more than making and entering blocks. Here are some other ways to participate in this community of quilters.
This year, I have designed a quilt using all the block patterns we will make this year and invited everyone to quilt along with me. I called it the Mod-Mod Quilt-Along: Mod for the Modern feel this year’s geometric blocks have and Mod for the Modular approach to designing and making the quilt. The 21-in square modules can be combined to make a quilt in one of six sizes–so you can commit in a very small or very big way … or something in between. The introduction and January installment of the Mod-Mod-QAL is here:
Each month we also have a month-long linky party with a specific topic to prompt bloggers to share their point of view. In January, I asked everyone to Blog their quilting goals for 2014.
Let’s Blog About Quilting Goals
Some quilters don’t care to participate in the monthly drawing, but make their own blocks for their own quilts and projects and share them with us. Our Gallery has page after page of quilters eye candy of projects made from lotto blocks won or lotto block patterns which quilters made for themselves in quilts and projects of their own design.
Although I haven’t mentioned it in a while–but keep meaning to do so–there is also a Flickr group for projects made from the Lotto Block patterns.
Lotto Block Quilts Flickr Group
If you are a quilter and any of this appeals to you, please stick around.
I’m sorry I don’t have a giveaway to offer to new visitors. As fate would have it, our hand-dyed fabric giveaway ended just hours ago (I plan to post the winner later today). However, in the way that sometimes one generous act leads to another, we will have another quilter’s giveaway next month, so please come back in a week and check it out.
If you are more likely to check into Facebook than your blog feed reader, you can follow the Block Lotto there on it’s new page:
And if you’d like to follow the block lotto, scroll down to the bottom of the page for options to subscribe by email or follow with Feedly or Bloglovin.
Discover new blogs in the list at the Grow Your Blog 2014 Party.
Upcoming Deadlines
Here’s a quick reminder (and a little fabric eye candy) about deadlines coming up this month:
Friday, January 24 at NOON (on the US east coast) is the deadline for posting your Double Chevron blocks in time for receiving the sneak peek at the February block.
Saturday, January 25 at 8AM (on the US east coast) is the deadline for entering the giveaway for Elizabeth’s beautiful hand-dyed fabrics. I picked up the actual fabrics the winner will receive at the post office yesterday–here’s a photo of them.
I am using rafflecopter for this giveaway–you can sign in using your Facebook account or–if you don’t have one or don’t want Facebook collecting your data–sign in using your email address. You can enter for up to 6 chances in the drawing by doing various things (including making lotto blocks, suggesting color combinations for future months, following the Block Lotto and, liking the new Block Lotto page on Facebook). Go back to the original giveaway post for details and to enter:
Like the Block Lotto and Win Hand-Dyed Fabrics
Friday, January 31 at NOON (on the US east coast) is the deadline for posting your Double Chevron blocks in time to be included in the Block Lotto Drawing. So far, 195 blocks have been entered–enough for 5 sets of 36 blocks with a good start on a 6th set.