Do you have a feeling of ZEST or a ZESTFUL approach to life? What is zest? I found this in Wikipedia, with Zest described in positive psychology: "Zest is a positive trait reflecting a person's approach to life with anticipation, energy, enthusiasm and excitement." (Peterson, C.; Park, N.; Hall, N.; Seligman, M. E. P. (2009). "Zest and work". Journal of Organizational Behavior. 30 (2): 161–172). That sounds pretty great to me!

How perfect to have a heart to describe this feeling of excitement, energy and positive attitude! I liked the simplicity of this block and thought it would be perfect to add a little patchwork mix of colors into the shape. With Thatched basics I used crimson, fuschia, tangerine, rose and one of the pinks from Abby Rose in 2 1/2" squares (2" finished size). I made the patchwork sides, then added the stitch and flip corners, then joined them together.

The scrappy version has the same Thatched crimson, fuschia, and rose fabrics plus cranberry. I wanted one of the darker shades to offset the dark red in the houndstooth check. And I loved putting in some of this Bonnie and Camille measuring tape fabric. What a fun way to "measure my love" of sewing! The curving lines in the background corner pieces is one of the coordinates of Abby Rose. 

Between Brigitte's (zen chic) LOVE block and this ZEST heart, I'm really feeling the the warmth of good feelings lately!

You can get the pattern from Lissa Alexander at  http://modalissa.com/2020/02/blockheads-zest.html/ . She also has some sweet pictures of little combinations of the block plus plans for a heart within a heart block. Its precious! Oh, yes, also Lissa is doing a giveaway on her blog so check it out!
​
Visit other Moda Blockheads designers for their take on this week's block!
1.15 - Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/
1.22 - Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
1.29 - Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/
2.5 - Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/
2.12 - Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog
2.19 - Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/
2.26 - Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/
3.4 - Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
3.11 - Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/
3.18 - Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/
3.25 - Robin Pickens - https://www.robinpickens.com/
4.1 - Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/
4.8 - Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog
4.15 - Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/
​

I expect small pieces from Lisa Bongean and a learning opportunity! A few things about this block...triangle paper -yes. 7/8th ruler - yes. Lisa’s wisdom - yes.

I have this ruler that Lisa Bongean designed for Creative Grids. It has 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 markings in white and the 8th markings in black. I used the angle to line up and cut my squares into triangles as well. It is easier to keep track of those 3/8ths, 7/8ths, etc with this ruler.

Pay attention to those diagrams and instructions. Lisa recommends you starch your fabrics before cutting. I didn’t do that my first time through making these blocks and I should have. I say “first time” when it was really the second time since I made a mistake on joining my centers the first time and started over. Yes, I’ve made these more than once. My third go-round was doing the Thatched and prints mixed block (vs all Thatched). Then Lisa Bongean saw my blocks at Road to California and gave me some constructive criticism. 1. I should have starched my fabrics. 2. I should have shortened my stitch length and 3. I used the wrong thread color and it showed (cream thread with dark burgundy fabric= no, no). I appreciate honest feedback and I believe it when she says “I just want you to be the best you can be and improve.” I want that too. SO I made my block...again.

This image below shows old seams vs new, starched and dark thread seams. You can see the little light threads in the old one. I still probably needed to shorten the stitch length even more but I’ll save that change for my next Moda Blockhead Lisa Bongean pattern.

I also made the coral pink inside the block middle a little lighter. Tweaks. I keep learning.... Thanks Lisa for your wisdom and for sharing that knowledge! I appreciate it.

Follow along with the other Blockhead designers:
1.15 - Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/
1.22 - Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
1.29 - Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/
2.5 - Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/
2.12 - Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog
2.19 - Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/
2.26 - Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/
3.4 - Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
3.11 - Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/
3.18 - Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/
3.25 - Robin Pickens - https://www.robinpickens.com/
4.1 - Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/
4.8 - Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog
4.15 - Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/
​

Jenelle Kent has a charming new book out with Martingale, Farmhouse Fresh. The projects are absolutely lovely! They use 16" wide toweling, which Jenelle has with Moda Fabrics.

This Rock Pool Toweling in the seafoam color is such a fun combination with Abby Rose! The modern farmhouse look of the toweling works so well with the cabbage roses and pink, green, orange and seafoam colors in Abby Rose.

The ends are made with patchwork squares that add such a nice mixture of colors. My friend Susan, the Felted Pear (@thefeltedpear on IG), had the lovely idea to add some applique and a label and I think it is such a nice touch! Jenelle has numerous applique projects in the book and her needle-turn work looks so good on the toweling. I usually do fusible raw edge applique and I think that works well on this fabric as well.

This cover ends up being a perfect size for my Juki TL2200 sewing machine! Its my main piecing machine so its always out and definitely deserves a pretty cover.

I also like the way this side patchwork looks from the end of my work space.

If you are interested in winning a digital copy of Farmhouse Fresh by Jenelle Kent, head over to my instagram feed and enter! I'll be drawing a winner from people who follow me @robinpickens, Jenelle @piecestotreasure and Martingale @martingaletpp on Instagram and enter on my IG sweepstakes post in my feed. Jenelle will notify winners on February 25th of the IG book tour!

Other IG posting peeps to check out for the IG book tour:
@piecestotreasure
@martingaletpp
@modalissa
@gailpandesigns
@robinpickens
@quiltedmoose
@karenatsomerset
@janeteclare
@helen_stubbings
@debbie_maddy
@justcarrieintexas
@corianderquilts  

​Happy sewing!!

Are you ready to celebrate Valentines Day and LOVE? Well, Brigitte Heitland's LOVE block is a perfect fun way to spread some cheery feeling.

​Here is the Thatched and Abby Rose version. Abby Rose will be shipping to shops at the beginning of March! Those roses are perfect for a love theme.

I am fortunate to have my mother visiting this week. Talk about LOVE. She has been my biggest cheerleader and is a wonderful example of love. Not only that, but she made this weeks blocks for me!! Yes, when Mom visits, she gets right into the mix of fabric fun and sews along. She is also sewing along in Blockheads this time to make a quilt.

Foundation paper piecing is a newer thing for me. I've done a few blocks with it and I know the tip to shorten the stitch length is very important. I know because I've forgotten to do that in the past and it is a lot harder to rip the paper out and not tear seams. With a shorter stitch length its SO much easier! I also like that I can mark the colors of the fabrics on the back paper so I can follow my plan as adding the pieces.

Just a thought...these L O V E pieces would look good added side by side into a rectangle as well as in the stacked square.

Cotton Cuts is starting a new Puzzle Mystery Quilt and I'm joining 8 other quilters - Crystal Manning, Kate Spain, Karen Lewis, Heather Black, Elea Lutz, Jen Allyson, Hilary Jordan, Sheila Christensen Quilts and Kim Moos with providing fun clues in the mystery pieces for one of the months! My month will be APRIL so be sure to check back then if you are playing along!

What is  a Puzzle Mystery Quilt? You can find more information here: www.cottoncuts.com/about-pmq and www.mysteryquilter.com 
This is a program that runs for 10 months where each month you get PRE-CUT pieces of fabric and instructions to turn those pieces into puzzle pieces. By the tenth month you'll receive the key to putting the puzzle together into a beautiful quilt top. There are numerous fabrics and colorways for you to choose from for your mystery quilt (shown above). For the designers participating in this blog hop, we will each be doing a block one month that goes into a quilt that solves that same mystery. There is a raffle for the quilt made from our blocks. The money raised from the raffle goes to Valley Industries which is a sheltered workshop for disabled individuals. Quilt making, solving puzzles AND helping a great charity- talk about a win-win!

Want to know more about the quilt the quilters in the blog hop are participating in? Well, I'll give you this preview...we are using the Home Run colorway  using Bramble by Gingiber so if you want a chance to win this colorway quilt, make sure you enter the raffle. Visit the RAFFLE LINK HERE! 

Be sure to check out the progress each month from:
February- Crystal Manning - https://crystalmanningart.com/blogs/blog  https://www.instagram.com/cmanningsews/
March – Kate Spain - https://www.instagram.com/katespain/
April (ME!)– Robin Pickens https://robinpickens.com and https://www.instagram.com/robinpickens/
May – Karen Lewis - karenlewistextiles.com and https://www.instagram.com/karenlewistextiles/
June – Heather Black - quiltachusetts.com and https://www.instagram.com/quiltachusetts/
July – Elea Lutz - https://www.instagram.com/elealutz
August – Jen Allyson - https://www.instagram.com/jen.allyson/
September – Hilary Jordan - http://byhilaryjordan.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/byhilaryjordan/
OctoberSheila Christensen Quilts and Kim Moos – Cotton Cuts - https://www.instagram.com/cotton_cuts/ and https://www.cottoncuts.com/blog

Jan Patek's BIRDHOUSE block this week for Moda Blockheads 3 is an appliqué design. Last year I did the pieced blocks instead of any appliqué but this year I thought I'd jump into the appliqué spirit! I'm really a patchwork piecing kind of person but it's good to stretch yourself.

I've tried to do needle turn appliqué but I'm not very good at it (I know, I know...I'd get better with practice). But fusible raw edge appliqué is a little more my speed. I'm still a bit rough at it but it IS fun to do something completely different and out of my norm. One thing I enjoy while doing this is getting out one of my other sewing machines. My daily machine is a straight stitch Juki so anytime I need to do decorative stitches, overlock, blanket stitch, zig zag, etc, I bring out my little Bernina or my Juki HZL computerized machine. 

For the first block, I did my ALL Thatched. But this birdie wanted a fancier house, something with birdhouse wallpaper and and a polka dot roof.

I like how Thatched still plays well as a background when other prints are showing off. Leaves, leaves and more leaves in this one. I guess I can call the birdhouse a GREENHOUSE BIRDHOUSE.

As for fusible appliqué tips, I've got two suggestions. One is to let that iron get really hot and really press your fusible or it sometimes peels unevenly. I often don't press it enough to get that good bond. The other tip is one I learned from Anna Maria Horner in a class I took from her. Take a pin and run it over the paper backing to score a little cut line in the paper before you tear it off. You can separate it more easily and peel from that cut line to remove the paper. I had been struggling with the edges of fusible on fabric to separate them and the pin line works much better than my fingernails to start it!

The other thing that always surprises me about appliqué...the mess on my desk! They are happy little cuttings and pieces though. 

Betsy Chutchian's block this week, Crown and Star, reminds me of arms reaching out with spread hands, bursting with joy. You can get it on her blog at http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/. I've decided to make my center with a dark pine square, surrounded by white star points on peacock for more contrast. The outer perimeter uses the chartreuse and sprig colors, similar to last week's block HSTs. 

This is another one for the green row in my quilt top layout plan. This block falls on the darker range and uses more color and less white/cream. From the instructions, I deviated a tiny bit and made my flying geese units using a stitch and flip method, trimming off the corner after sewing, instead of cutting the side squares into triangles first. There is more waste with the fabric this way but the pieces are not that large so I don't feel bad throwing those cut pieces away. I'm making the 8" blocks, so my flying geese are made with 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangles for the base and 1 1/2" squares for the geese triangle sides. 

My print/scrappier version of the block keeps the Sprig color as my background fabric but I'm using the Stem Plaid from Dandi Annie in green for the outer crowns. The teal color is from Dear Mum and the center is a mistletoe branch from Splendid. I like a little pop of red to tie in with some of the red blocks. 

In my overall scheme, I have three blocks made that make up two greens and one red in my rainbow grid. I'm looking forward to getting more filled in and working out the progression to more white or cream as the blocks progress to the right.

Happy sewing and share your progress on the facebook Moda Blockheads 3 page or tag your blocks on Instagram. Thanks Betsy for a wonderful block! Check out the other designers and their progress too:
​Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/
Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/
Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/
Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog
Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/
Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/
Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/
Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/
Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/
Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog
Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/

Week 2 with Moda Blockheads 3 and its a fun block from Sherri McConnell! This is SUNSHINE STAR and I'm continuing my all-Thatched and Thatched-scrappy prints blocks. Sherri will have the quilt block instructions at her blog: A Quilting Life - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/

This week I'm working with greens and teals. My Thatched colors are peacock, sprig, chartreuse and seafoam (seafoam is in Abby Rose). The pattern specifies cutting triangles and then joining them (one at a time HST method) but since I was making two blocks and keeping my colors the same through numerous pieces, I decided to use a 4-at-a-time method. I used 3 HST in a color in a quarter of the block then used the extra fourth HST in the second block, making my center a copy of the Thatched grouping from the other block.

For my block mixed with prints I've got a few from Abby Rose which ships to shops in March. The flowing lines in the background fabric, the little leaves on green and seafoam and the line drawings from the cabbage roses are all from this new collection. The teal graphic leaves are from Dear Mum and I like how the teal/aqua shades from that group work with Abby Rose.

Thanks to Sherri for such a cheery star block! I love star blocks. Next week we will have a block from Betsy Chutchian.

Thanks for stopping by! Check in with the other Moda Blockheads designers to see their versions of Sunshine Star:
​Corey Yoder - https://corianderquilts.com/
Sherri McConnell - https://www.aquiltinglife.com/
Betsy Chutchian - http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/
Jan Patek - http://janpatek.blogspot.com/
Brigitte Heitland - https://www.brigitteheitland.de/blog
Lisa Bongean - https://lisabongean.com/
Lissa Alexander - http://modalissa.com/
Laurie Simpson - http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Goertzen - https://lellaboutique.blogspot.com/
Stacy Iest Hsu - https://www.stacyiesthsu.com/blog/
Janet Clare - http://janetclare.co.uk/blog/
Jen Kingwell - www.jenkingwelldesigns.com/blog
Joanna Figueroa - https://blog.figtreeandcompany.com/

Lets get started with Moda Blockheads 3! Our first block is designed by Corey Yoder and is called "Star Chain." I mentioned in my posts before that I was going to use Thatched basics for making my blocks. This first block is using Crimson 43 for the background red. Outer center triangles are Rose 13. Dark pieces are Cranberry 118 and the light pink is the Thatched print that went with Dandi Annie. 

I'm trying to do my blocks in both Thatched-only and in Thatched mixed with prints from some of my collections. The first block I made was the purely Thatched one and I had a few stumbles along the way. For the second block with the prints I READ THE DIRECTIONS and was able to make a more accurate block.

I found it hard to know where to line up my triangles for the center point when adding them onto the diamond square. I have to admit I often like to take the short route and I don't pin much. My "guesses" on mid point when adding the second triangle sometimes left me with uneven pieces and sides for sewing seams.

Perhaps I could have found some tips by googling it or something, but I resolved my issue by finger pressing two sides of the square in half, and the long end of the triangle in half, before joining either. That way, once the first triangle was added, I already knew where the triangle and square center point was to line up the next piece accurately. AND since I ended up ironing out the finger presssed crease after attaching the first triangle, I decided making a pencil mark was a better way to mark the square.
This gave me a MUCH better result with even edges. 

With the second block I also followed Corey's arrows to show which direction to press the block pieces. The entire block lined up well when I finally followed those instructions! However, I still added one whole row to the top upside down and had to rip that out and flip it to the correct side. I figure I'll make all my errors on the first blocks, right? Somehow I have a feeling I will be friends with my seam ripper numerous times as I embark on this journey. But that also means I am learning and stretching my skill set to new  levels. I think it a universal understanding of quilters that mistakes, um, I mean "opportunities" help to make us better quilters. 

Check back next Wednesday for my Thatched and Thatched/scrappy blocks for week 2. If you want more info on my colors and my overall plan, check out yesterday's post My Plan for Moda Blockheads 3. And visit the other Blockheads 3 designers to see their blocks and progress too!

Moda Blockheads 3 has a variety of options for you. Options on the size of blocks you are making. Options on layouts for overall quilt. Of course, options of whatever fabric you decide to use for it. Sometimes I find giving myself boundaries and a plan will make it easier for me to move ahead on a project. With that in mind, I decided to make a plan for how I was going to approach the mystery blocks ahead. 

Since I am using THATCHED basics for my fabrics, I have a color palette mapped out. I could limit my choices down to a specific color family or a small group of colors, like blues and greens. But I want to have some fun color exploration with this whole rainbow of colors that Thatched provides. 

I am using 28 colors for my color map and I'll be including some of the colors that are in other collections, like Abby Rose with the seafoam blue and warmer light pink that are in the Thatched texture. I am hoping a few of those make it into the basics group that gets reprinted.

If we are doing 56 blocks, that divides nicely into rows of 8 blocks. Seven rows of 8 blocks each. I am making my rows by color families- purples, warm gold and orange, reds, grays, etc. I am planning on separating the rows horizontally with a white sashing strip so it really reads as a row of color. The image below shows a lot of white lines to the right. No, I'm not piecing a bunch of white strips in. But I am showing this to try to illustrate the idea I have in my head. I'd like to make the blocks go from dark to light by using dark to light colors in the block pieces. Once the blocks get halfway over, I plan on incorporating more white/cream background into the blocks to lighten them even more as they progress towards the right end of the row.  So the lines below represent blocks that have more white pieces with less color pieces.

I don't know if it will work the way I envision it in my mind, but that is the fun of blocks. You can always rearrange it later, as long as you haven't joined them together, block to block, yet. 

I will be making 8" blocks. I thought it was easiest for me to pick a size and work in just that size. I loved the look of the varied sizes last year, but since my plan is so based on rainbow lines, I thought a consistent size would be easier to organize. If I were to make the 12" blocks I'd have a nice bed sized quilt. With the 8" blocks I'll have a nice wall or lap quilt, approximately 64" wide and 62" tall (depending on how big those sashings are and if I add an outer border). I'm thinking this would be nice on my foyer wall and this seems like a good size.

One other thing in my plan...I am going to try to make two quilts as an exercise in the color study of Thatched. One will be completely Thatched. The other will follow the same color scheme but mix the Thatched as background fabric with some of the prints from my collections. That way I can have a better idea of how Thatched plays as a support for prints vs as a "solids" quilt.

That's it for the parameters I have given myself and what my method is. I hope this helps you to plan your own course of attack.

Its starting tomorrow! Are you ready to play with fabric in Moda Blockheads 3?!