Penny sampler: 3 weeks later....

Man, 2 kids is rough. Awesome, sometimes fun, beautiful, but also exhausting, stressful and did I mention exhausting?? So here I sit, baby sleeping on my chest, trying to type while keeping her from rolling off. It is both sweet and comical :) I am just going to go ahead and say that until that changes, updates will continue to be sporadic, although it seems like I get myself together enough to manage one post a week and I am pretty happy with that, seeing as I am only making about enough to fill that anyway, even though it does take me all week.

So here we are, beginning the 4th week of the penny sampler class and friends, it is time to show off some blocks. I've shown you my fabric picks, but let me also explain again that the idea is to have a largely black/white/gray/cream quilt with pops of the bright blue/pink/yellow. This is hard for me since I love color and want to use lots of it...in every block. Also, I tend to favor prints over solids, so I am making myself pay attention and use more solids too. I am definitely toning myself down and so far I don't think I am doing too bad. I don't know, you tell me.

Week 1 was the easy one with two heart blocks, a big quartet and a small single heart. I had so.much.fun picking out fabrics, and I continue to. I maybe shouldn't have used that bold print for the larger one since it does show through the hearts a bit in the right light, but I don't really care because it totally makes the block. And come on, gray with polka dots and a little pink heart, that's just cute.

Week 2 was two more little blocks and one large block. The little ones are so cute and so much fun. That big one there, that was a beast. There are something like 79 pieces in that thing! We are not even going to talk about how small some of those little windows are, or how they are a bit wonky. I do love the result though. I feel like appliqueing the roofs makes them seem a little funny and disconnected, but the more I look at it the more I like it and when I put them all together, all seems right in the world.

Week 3 brought three more little blocks and another big one, this one without any applique. The little ones, once again, fantastic. I did hate making those stinking little leaves though. And in the larger block, I managed to contain myself and do gray trees with an ivory background and I love it. I am hoping it will be a peaceful spot in the quilt and I just have to hope that it doesn't seem out of place in the end.

Here they are together. Even though I am pretty sure none of these blocks will be near each other in the finished quilt.

Obviously there is still a long way to go on this beautiful quilt. This week is our last applique week and next week we start precise piecing, which is definitely a lesson I need ha! Also, we got the extra project preview for this section and let me warn you, there is another baby quilt in my near future. I will say that all this sketch applique has been perfect for someone who is bad at applique. It is so forgiving and yet totally secure so I don't have to worry about the pieces falling off in the future due to my bad hand stitching (which may or may not be happening on one of my skill builder blocks...). I am looking forward to these last few blocks and I'll be honest, I'm a bit sad that there aren't any more of these sweet little sketch stitch blocks. Let's hope I can continue keeping up with this wonderful class!