We are seven weeks into the Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 50 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks.
I finished two blocks this week. This brought me to 52 out of 75 blocks complete. (I think I'm on track to finish all the blocks by the end of the 100 Day Project.) The finished blocks shown feature Kona Tomato.
This is the only black and white print that I'm using that includes another color. I'm afraid I'll regret it, but I'm going for it.
I started by cutting out all my pieces for there three Tomato blocks, one on each fast food tray.
My first finished block this week, and bits of another block. I often work on multiple blocks (or multiple projects) at the same time. More chain piecing and fewer trips to the ironing board.
Second finished Tomato block.
Cutting the fussy template pieces (including making the butcher paper templates) takes some time.
And some nights I don't feel like sewing, so I start choosing fabrics for the next sets of blocks. Kona Papaya and Kona Wasabi are in the queue.
Last night I realized that I wasn't pleased with the blender fabrics from my block of the month for the Wasabi blocks (first photo above). I was surprised to find multiple viable options in my stash. I think I'll use the bottom three in the second photo since the top fabric I pulled is a little too dark.
So I may be working on three different colors this week, to finish the last Tomato block and dive into some of the Papaya and Wasabi blocks. And then I have that one block I've had cut out for seven weeks that I've been avoiding. Maybe I'll work on that one too.
I'm participating in Cheryl's 31-Day Blog Writing Challenge.
Thanks for visiting!
Jennifer Bloxham
I've decided to make Patchwork City my 2021 week by week 20 min of sewing goal. I'm a little overwhelmed in the fabric selection and picking out how the blocks should look together. Any tips or just cut and go?
sarah
Post authorMy fabric all originally came from a quilt shop block of the month. But it's super scrap friendly, so I'd say just dive in. Pick fabrics you have a lot of if you want something cohesive across the whole quilt. I am always drawn to black and white prints (probably why I like this version so much!) and so there are lots of those in my stash in addition to the BOM fabrics I received. I generally cut all three blocks of the same color at the same time, or maybe six blocks for two colors. I pull out a LOT of fabrics to choose from, so this way I work in batches so I am not constantly cleaning up the fabric. Mine is the Metro quilt from the book, so it pretty much follows fabric placement... one solid, three blenders that match that solid, and a bunch of b/w prints. If you're doing something different than that, just be sure to have value contrast across the fabrics you use. It's a lot of piecing so you want those seams to stand out when you're done! In short, just cut and go! ;-) Thanks for visiting, Jennifer. I'd love to see your blocks as they come together. Are you sharing them online anywhere?
Melanie
Hey Sarah, sorry - this might be a stupid question. I just started following you and I looked back through a few of these 100 Day Project posts - but I can't find the information. How do you decide the next color? Is is because of the pattern or because it is in your stash? Curious... I love the b/w prints in there - I also have quite a lot of them - and the solid seems to town it down a bit... the blocks all look awesome! xo Melanie
sarah
Post authorNot a stupid question at all. Thank you for asking, Melanie. I probably haven't gotten into that in these posts. This is the Metro version of the Patchwork City blocks from the book... it's pretty identical to the book version. The majority of the fabrics I'm using were from a quilt shop block of the month in 2015. Black and white prints are awesome with ANY single color. I love that this quilt is allowing me to play with so many different colors. When I started this, I opted in to the block of the month because I didn't have any solids in my stash. It was also probably around the time that I had realized I was in love with blender fabrics, which are now the majority of my stash but at the time I didn't have nearly the supporting fabrics I would have needed to pull this quilt off.