Look for Volume 3

The Star of Glory
A beautiful block, very attractive with lots of motion.

Soon quilters will be able to pick up a copy of the new Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Vol. 3. at their favorite quilt shop or magazine stand.  I had a grand time working with the editor during the first few weeks of the year.  My job was to test the instructions for making some of the blocks found in the book.  It will be exciting to see the magazine so I can pick out the ones that I worked on.

The Rubberband Ball
Great use of scraps

I've already spotted two of them on the cover.  The first one I spotted was the dreaded paper piecing method.  The method that is my least favorite, the one that taxes my brain.  Perhaps my personal need to use scraps efficiently is my downfall.  For some reason I always just miss the target mark I'm supposed to cover.  That causes me to redo and redo that step until I'm ready to give up.  I was hoping that my testing duties would teach me how to cope with this method.  I made this block two times before I was happy with it.  There will never be an entire quilt made by me using this pattern; so don't even ask.

Another paper pieced block was less daunting for me and makes use of lots of smaller scraps.  This one I found less stressful because I really didn't have to stick specifically to the paper.  There are two parts of the pattern sewn at right angles to each other.  All I needed to do was make the two parts, sew them together and then cut the shape using a pattern template. Four blocks sewn together create a ball.  It simply an enlarged Drunkard's Path pattern with a twist.  I was so into this block that I was half finished when I noticed that I was making it in reverse.  That of course could be another option.  While my block looked good in person, now that I see it in a photo I realize my background choice doesn't work well with a check design.  It's a great opportunity to use up lots of little scraps.