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First, a big thank you to Fat Quarter Shop for putting on another Sewcialites Sew Along, and to all of the talented designers who shared their creativity to bring us these beautiful blocks. It has been such a pleasure to see how each designer’s style comes through while still creating a collection that works beautifully as a whole.  After twenty-five weeks of stitching, we’ve reached the assembly stage of the Sewcialites 3 Sew Along. We’ve spent the past several weeks exploring color placement and considering how each block works within the overall design. Now all of those decisions come together. I’m making a 27 ½" × 27 ½" wall hanging. The twenty-five blocks are arranged in the center, moving from light to dark, creating a gentle progression of color across the design.  The top and bottom borders frame the blocks beautifully. The top border is Buttermilk and the bottom border is Burgundy, and each measures 27 ½" × 6 ½". The side borders are made up of smaller solid blocks measuring 6 ½" x 3 ½". Left Side - From top to bottom:
 There’s something special about reaching assembly week. Each block has been stitched separately, but once they’re placed together, the color relationships really start to shine. And yes, I did turn one of the stars the wrong way in the first picture—now all fixed! The light-to-dark arrangement gives the center a beautiful flow, while the borders provide a strong framework for the finished piece.
Here’s the finished quilted project—a little snapshot of twenty-five weeks of Sewcialites 3. Thank you for stitching along with me. It’s been a wonderful project to share, and I hope you’ve enjoyed watching it come together as much as I have. -Robin
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Block 25, Sparks, designed by Jessica Dayon, brings a wonderful personality to the Sewcialites 3 sampler. This block is a beautiful example of how thoughtful piecing and a small unexpected detail can transform a more traditional design into something memorable.  The construction of Sparks draws attention to the relationship between symmetry and balance. While the overall composition has a calm and harmonious feel, one intentionally rotated corner unit creates a subtle shift that adds interest and keeps the eye engaged. This small design choice introduces a sense of playfulness, showing how a slight departure from expectation can bring a fresh perspective to a classic quilt block.  For my version, I selected Masala Spice, Caramel, Buttermilk, Sugar Rose, and Pink Grapefruit all from Thatched Basics. This palette creates a soft, inviting composition with warm neutrals and gentle rosy tones. The overall feeling is calm and balanced, while the variation between the colors provides enough contrast to define and highlight the individual elements within the block. In a design like Sparks, fabric placement plays an important role in emphasizing the structure of the block. Each color contributes to the way the shapes interact, allowing the details of the construction to remain visible while maintaining a cohesive overall look. The combination of subtle contrast and thoughtful placement gives the block depth without overpowering its delicate design.  With all 25 blocks now complete, it has been exciting to see how each individual design contributes to the personality of the finished sampler. Each block brought its own unique approach to construction, color, and composition. Next week, I’ll be sharing the completed quilt and how these distinct designs come together as one cohesive piece.
Happy Sewing! -Robin Block 24 brings us a beautifully intricate design by Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings. Star Light is a block filled with detail, where the relationship between color, value, and placement plays an essential role in the overall composition. With so many elements working together, thoughtful fabric choices help define the structure of the block, allowing each shape to emerge while creating balance and movement throughout the design.  The complexity of this block makes the interaction between fabrics especially important. The contrast and harmony between the colors determine how the eye travels across the block, how the individual pieces are distinguished, and how the smaller elements come together as a unified whole.  For my version, I selected Buttermilk, Caramel, Pink Grapefruit, Smoked Paprika, Burgundy, and Primrose from Thatched Basics. This palette brings together soft neutrals, warm mid-tones, and deeper accents to create contrast while maintaining balance. Each fabric has a specific role, helping to define the individual components and allowing the intricate piecing to remain clear and cohesive.  Star Light is a wonderful example of how thoughtful construction and intentional fabric choices can work together to create a design full of detail and character. Each seam, shape, and color choice contributes to the final composition, making the process of building the block just as rewarding as the finished result.
Happy Sewing! -Robin This week, Sewcialites 3 brings us Block 23, With Love, designed by Jackie MacDonald of Sweetfire Road. As I continue building my sampler quilt in the 3-inch finished block size, I’m continually amazed by how much detail and design can be contained within these small compositions.  With Love is a beautiful example of a block where every piece plays an important role. With numerous small units coming together, the construction requires careful attention to precision and placement. Working at this scale means those already-small pieces become even smaller, but the result is a finished block filled with intricate detail, balance, and visual interest.  For my version, I focused on how the fabrics interact within the smaller scale of the block. The relationship between color and value helps define each piece, creating clarity within the intricate piecing while adding depth and dimension to the overall design. Sugar Rose, Pink Grapefruit, Burgundy, Cranberry, Fuchsia, Primrose, and Early Dawn each play an important role, balancing contrast and harmony throughout the block.  With Love beautifully demonstrates that scale does not limit creativity—a small block can hold just as much artistry, personality, and thoughtful design as a larger one.
Happy Sewing! -Robin This week, Sewcialites 3 brings us Block 22, Down To Earth, designed by Wendy Sheppard of Ivory Spring. At its heart, Down To Earth is a square-in-a-square-in-a-square block, but Wendy's innovative piecing method creates the illusion of two additional outer squares. This fresh interpretation of a classic design introduces a clean, balanced composition. Each successive frame naturally guides the eye toward the center, making the block an elegant study in geometry, value, and proportion.  Its versatility is a qualities I appreciate. The design readily adapts to a wide range of fabric choices—bold contrasts emphasize the nested shapes, tonal palettes create a quiet sense of depth, and scrappy combinations bring an entirely different energy. The block responds beautifully to each approach, revealing a new personality with every color palette.  For my version, I selected Early Dawn, Sugar Rose, Fuchsia, and Cranberry. Rather than relying on dramatic contrast alone, I focused on the relationship between color and value to distinguish each nested square. The interplay of these fabrics gives every layer its own identity while establishing a gentle visual rhythm that draws the eye inward and highlights the elegance of the block's geometric structure.  One of the joys of a block like Down To Earth is discovering how much influence fabric selection has on the final result. A subtle shift in color or value can completely transform its character, making it a wonderful reminder that quilting is as much about composition as it is about piecing.
Happy Sewing! -Robin This week's Sewcialites 3 block is Gazebo, designed by Doug Leko of Antler Quilt Design. I'm not sure Doug envisioned this block dressed entirely in shades of pink, but I have to say—it is absolutely delicious! This palette gives the design a fresh, unexpected look while allowing the striking geometry of the block to take center stage.  The Gazebo block is perfect for playing with color. With just a few different shades of pink, it takes on an entirely different personality—from bold and dramatic to soft and understated. Whether you choose a soft palette, high contrast, or a rainbow of prints, the design offers endless possibilities for creative expression.  The Thatched fabrics used this week are Early Dawn, Sugar Rose, Fuchsia, and Primrose. By working within a single color family, the focus shifts from color to value, allowing the varying shades to define the design. From the soft, delicate Early Dawn presented as the background fabric to the bold Fuchsia at the center of the block, each fabric plays an important role. Sugar Rose provides a medium value that gently frames the center, while Primrose creates a soft outer border, bringing the entire composition together. This block is a wonderful example of how subtle shifts in value can create depth, and visual interest without relying on contrasting colors.  One of the fun parts of making a sampler quilt is watching the larger composition unfold. Each completed block contributes its own character, while the collection gradually comes together as a unified design. There are still a few weeks ahead, and I'm looking forward to seeing the final composition take shape.
Happy Sewing! -Robin Week 19 of Sewcialites 3 is here, and this week we're sewing Pinwheel Dash, designed by Bev McCullough of Flamingo Toes. As the name suggests, Pinwheel Dash is a delightful combination of two classic quilt blocks—a pinwheel and a churn dash. It's always fun to see familiar elements reimagined into something fresh, and Bev's design does just that.  For my version, I used Thatched in Fuchsia, Burgundy, Masala Spice, and Caramel. The construction is a bit more involved than it first appears, requiring careful piecing and accurate seam allowances. Bev's design is a wonderful example of how color placement can completely change the character of a quilt block.  The pops of Fuchsia naturally draw your eye to the pinwheel, making it the focal point of the block. I chose to use more Burgundy than the pattern suggests, rather than introducing additional colors, and it completely changed the overall look. The larger areas of Burgundy give the block a more unified appearance while allowing the pinwheel to shine without overwhelming the design. By simply moving color around you can transform a quilt block without changing a single seam. A different color choice or value placement can give the very same block an entirely different personality.  It's fun when a block surprises me, and Pinwheel Dash did just that. It's a wonderful example of how experimenting with color placement can create an unexpected and beautiful result.
Happy sewing! - Robin It's Friday and that means it's time for another Sewcialites 3 reveal! This week we're making Block 16, Florabelle, designed by Heather Briggs of My Sew Quilty Life. Florabelle is as pretty as it is intricate. Rated at an intermediate skill level, this block is constructed almost entirely with stitch-and-flip units. While stitch-and-flip is a straightforward technique, working at a finished size of just 3" means there are a lot of very small pieces to manage.  This is one of those blocks where accuracy really matters. Trimming, pressing, and maintaining a consistent seam allowance all help keep the units the correct size as they come together. With so many stitch-and-flip corners packed into such a small space, even a slight variation can add up by the time the block is assembled.  For color, I used Burgundy, Fuchsia, Pink Grapefruit, Sugar Rose, Primrose, Early Dawn, and Caramel. That's the majority of my color palette represented in a single block! Because Florabelle contains so many small pieces, it provided a great opportunity to incorporate a wide range of fabrics without any one color overwhelming the design. The combination of warm pinks, rich burgundy, and soft neutrals really helped bring the design to life. Despite its small size, Florabelle makes a big impact with both color and detail.  One of the things I'm enjoying most about Sewcialites 3 is how each block presents a different challenge. Some weeks focus on color placement, while others test accuracy and construction. Florabelle definitely falls into the latter category, making it a satisfying finish once all those tiny pieces come together.
Happy Sewing - Robin It’s Friday block release day for Sewcialites 3 and this week’s Block 15 is the beautiful Split Star Block designed by Lissa Alexander of ModaLissa. This design is delivering the look of two blocks in one, as the background becomes a design element itself in addition to the main sawtooth star motif. The layered illusion is the diagonal half-square triangle divide that creates a two-tone background, allowing your eye to move between foreground and background depending on fabric placement. One moment the star shines forward, and the next the background creates a striking secondary pattern.  Color placement becomes especially important in creating contrast and depth within this block. Strong value differences between medium, and dark fabrics, chosen here, help separate the look of “overlapping” shapes and emphasize the layered effect. When the background has good contrasts with the star, the sawtooth star feels bold and dimensional. But when similar tones are placed beside each other, the secondary patterns begin to emerge more subtly, creating a softer and more intricate visual texture. It’s a block that completely changes personality depending on how colors are arranged.  The colors I used this week, from top to bottom, are Sugar Rose, Cranberry, Burgundy, Smoked Paprika, and Pink Grapefruit. Together, this combination paired with the Split Star Block feels like the epitome of warmth and depth. The darker Smoked Paprika, Cranberry, and Burgundy tones pull the design forward, while the softer Sugar Rose and Pink Grapefruit create an almost glowing background that lifts the block. It’s tempting to make an entire quilt using this palette — perhaps with the background split diagonally throughout the whole design to frame the star blocks!? So many ideas, so little time!  Every week of sewing along has been inspiring and fun, and I always love seeing how different fabric and color choices completely transform each block. This one especially feels like it could go in so many directions depending on the fabrics you choose. It is becoming a fast favorite, like so many of the others!
Happy Sewing! -Robin Sewcialites 3 Week 14 is here, and this week’s block is the lovely Criss-Cross Star Block designed by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet Co. One of my favorite details about the Criss-Cross Star block is the floating point construction, which helps those star points come out perfectly every time — and we all love perfect points! This block has a unique classic star design very in tune with Lori Holt’s charming signature style, and it comes together in a way that feels both fun and satisfying to sew.  From a quilt construction standpoint, this method is such a smart design choice. Instead of forcing bulky seams right at the tip of the star, the floating point technique lets the points “breathe” slightly within the seam allowance, which reduces bulk and gives you much cleaner, sharper results when the block is pressed and set into the quilt. It also makes alignment a bit more forgiving during piecing, while still delivering that crisp, polished star shape we all aim for. It’s one of those thoughtful construction details that really shows why this block works so beautifully in a sampler setting.  The colors I used this week are Buttermilk, Caramel, Smoked Paprika, Pink Grapefruit, and Primrose, which gives this block such a warm and cozy feel. This palette would make a beautiful fall-inspired combination too — just add a touch of green!  The Criss- Cross Star points are made with Buttermilk and Primrose, which keeps them light and airy so they really pop against the Pink Grapefruit, this makes the whole star feel soft and glowing.
The corners in Smoked Paprika add a deeper, spiced contrast that frames the block and gives it a grounded, slightly dramatic edge, while the Caramel center pulls everything together with a warm, honeyed focal point. Week by week, Sewcialites 3 continues to bring together gorgeous blocks, creative techniques, and so much quilting inspiration. Happy Sewing Robin |
About ROBINDesigner of colorful florals and Thatched basics for Moda Fabrics . Modern to transitional quilt designer, cross stitch designer, sewist, crafter. I am proud to be a designer for Moda Fabrics!
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