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I'm excited to be today's stop on the I Spy Blog Hop! A couple months ago I was enjoying seeing the new blocks that Kimie and Missy were sharing. When they asked for volunteers to help promote their book, I was excited to make a couple blocks to participate. They provided the book to me and I eventually chose the hamburger and the watermelon to make.

The book has one hundred 4" finished foundation paper pieced blocks, in a variety of themes. The cover quilt (shown below at 51" x 51") shows a lovely option for putting them all together into an I Spy quilt, but I can see using these for a variety of items. They would be a great addition to a zipper pouch or drawstring bag, a handful would make a great mini quilt or table runner, and individual blocks could be used for coasters, mug rugs... or the special mini quilts I have in mind for my blocks. Stay tuned for more details on my finishes later this month.

The patterns in the book are ranked 1-3 for difficulty, with instructions suitable for someone new to foundation paper piecing. I happened to pick two blocks that are each one whole pattern (vs. a more difficult block that might have multiple sections to paper piece before piecing the sections together). I still managed to have to seam rip three times on my watermelon block. I was eventually victorious, but as with any foundation paper piecing, check twice that you have your initial fabric layers in the correct order, and make sure that your bottom fabric doesn't get folded over before you start sewing. ;-)

I'm super enamored with the adorable little blocks. I added wide borders of solid white to the blocks, partly to give myself more to hold on to while I quilt since they will each be their own mini quilt. I'll trim down after quilting.

 

The I Spy book is available on Etsy from On Williams Street. Through December 16 you can use the 10% off code: ISPYBLOGHOP.

"I Spy is our own modern take on an I Spy quilt. We have included ideas from lots of different categories to provide a fun and varied quilt that appeals to all! Whether you are using the blocks all together in one quilt, or mixing and matching for all sorts of project opportunities, we are sure you’ll find something for the loved ones on your quilting list!"

Here’s a list of other blog hop participants. Hop over to see what others have made. :-)

November 30: Kimie and Missy of On WIlliams Street
December 1: Audrey Mann of The Cloth Parcel
December 2: Jen Frost of Faith and Fabric
December 3: Bea Lee of Bea a Quilter
December 4: Sarah Goer of Sarah Goer Quilts
December 5: Joanne Harris of Quilts by Joan
December 6: Susan Smith of Stitched by Susan
December 7: Simone Fisher of Simone Quilts
December 8: Lissa LaGreca of Lovingly Lissa
December 9: Catalina Barcelo of Amarar Creacions
December 10: Laura Strickland of Orange Blossom Quilts
December 11: Laura Piland of Slice of Pi Quilts
December 12: Carolina Moore of Always Expect Moore
December 13: Tammy Silvers of Tamarinis
December 14: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim

These just have a summer picnic vibe for me!

Thank you for visiting. If you're new here, you can keep up with me by subscribing to my newsletter which goes out once or twice a month with color and design inspiration as well as what I'm up to and where I'll be teaching.

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I'm still playing catch up on showing you my finished improv log cabin mini quilts from my last 100 day project. You can see my green and yellow quilts in previous posts. Today, I'm sharing my red version! My main rules were to use black, white, and one color, and that my finished quilt would be 16 1/2" square, bound in black Kona.

In my red quilt, I chose to start with a traditional quilt block in the center of the log cabin. The sawtooth start block is one of my favorites, so I started with that. Since my mini quilts finish at 16 1/2" square I made a 6" star block for my center.

Initially I thought my logs would be wonky to surround the block (another variation to try later!), but I think the busyness of the print fabrics steered me away from that idea. In the end I have uniform 1" finished, rectangular logs. My log placement worked counterclockwise around the block.

I had fun with the quilting. I started with three colors of thread in three weights, Aurifil Red (#2250), Black (#2692), and White (#2024) in 50wt, 40wt, and 28wt. (Thanks Mel for the loan of a few spools I was missing!) I didn't have an overall plan. I just knew that I wanted to use a variety of color and thread weight. I started with a favorite filler, a zig zag meander, in the center of my star. Then I echoed the outer edge of the star. I switched threads and weights for each step. It adds a lot of time to the process, but I think the effect is worth it.

Here's an early view of the back of the quilt. This bowling pin print has been hanging out with my black and white prints, but it isn't quilt a black and white print, so it has been passed over many times. But it was perfect to back this quilt!

I filled in between my straight lines (which were free motion quilted, too) with wavy and zigzag lines of quilting. For the zigzag quilting I used washy tape to mark the lines where I needed to switch directions to help achieve a mirror image at the bends in my path.

After more echo lines of quilting, I filled in the corners and edges with zig zag meander in white. I used my usual machine binding technique with solid black Kona, but I opened to do the top stitching with 28wt red thread. I love this added detail.

My finished quilt is 16 1/2" x 16 1/2". I really enjoy how the different colors of quilting show up more or less on different portions of the quilt. For instance, the white thread really pops on the black solid, but fades into most of the print fabrics.

Thanks for visiting!

You can read all about the other quilts in the series here:

 

I've linked up to Brag About Your Beauties!

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We are three weeks into Quilting the Countdown 100 day project. There are 78 days left until QuiltCon. I'm spending at least 15 minutes a day working on my Patchwork City blocks.

I finished 2 blocks this week, bringing me to 34 out of 75 blocks complete. The blocks shown feature Kona Clover and Punch (I think).

I started the week with cutting out the majority of the six blocks in these two colors. These two sections will actually stack vertically in the finished block.

When I'm piecing I like to chain piece... I don't break thread between sewing units. I just take a couple stitches and then start the next seam. It saves time and thread. I also work on multiple blocks at a time, so I sew a bunch of seams, then I go to the ironing board to press them and get ready for the next round.

I finished two 8" blocks this week.

I ended the week with more components stitched together for the coming blocks. My next update should have four more finished blocks. ;-) Then I get to pick some new colors to work on!

 

Hop over to see what I did in week 1 and week 2.

Cassandra is the organizer of Quilting the Countdown (#quiltingthecountdown on Instagram).

Let me know if you're participating. I'd love to see what you're making.