It is my week for the Moda Blockheads quilt block and I am feeling a little sentimental that this is all wrapping up soon. I have had such a good time! Last year I sewed the sampler but was not one of the block designers. This year, the excitement of sharing blocks I've envisioned has been a highlight to my months.  The connection through online communities and sewing has been more important than ever with the changes we have all been going thorough with quarantines and working from home. In weeks that have blurred into other weeks, one thing has been steady...the fun and creativity of Wednesday block releases for Moda Blockheads.

Thank you all for being a part of this quilt journey and community! I hope you are excited with your evolving quilts. And for this week's addition, block 53 is "Bear Cubs Round the Campfire." I've been enjoying some projects with Bear Paw blocks and liked the idea of a simpler corner with a small paw. With all four corners surrounding a center block, it felt like smaller bears, or little bear cubs, sitting around the fire pit or campfire. I have actually been camping when a big, tall bear came into our campsite. He/she smelled the food cooking and we banged the pots and pans to scare the bear away. For this quilt block, I envision these bears to be smaller and so much more friendly!

I took the opportunity to put my little farmhouse from Solana into the center square on my print version. Greens with a little pop of blue is my theme and the farmhouse is warmed up with some happy sunflowers. For my all-Thatched version, I've got greens from Painted Meadow, Solana and Abby Rose, along with the original basics Pine and Chartreuse. I used the flip side of the Solana light green to get the lightest outer shades.

Speaking of Thatched...I recently announced that Moda is releasing another 25 colors into the basics line! It will be shipping either this month or February. I am thrilled to have more colors to play with and can't wait to experiment with more color combinations. Check back to my blog in the next few days because I will be releasing a NEW FREE mini quilt pattern that uses a Mini Charm. I'll have it as a download on my blog. I've got it shown in the new Thatched colors and I am loving the spicy warm colors and new periwinkle/cornflower blues.

But lets get on to the COLOR STUDIES! And of course the pattern and then, please enter to win a layer cake of SOLANA (enter on the Facebook Moda Blockheads page on my announcement post with the picture of my sewn blocks). The pattern is here - just click the gray bar right below this paragraph. But to see mockups and learn more about the GIVEAWAY, keep reading...

When first planning this block, I had a red center square for the "fire" but as I played with it and realized it was going to live in my green row of the quilt, I switched out center colors and added more subtle bands of color in the middle of the sides. I also liked looking at this with warm colors on a dark background, and again tried those bands in a different value of the lighter brown.

Next I tried emphasizing the squares in the middle, either through light and dark or a highlighted color. On the last one I dropped out the corners on the inner box so it reads like a big chunky plus sign.

The facets of cut glass? 70's supergraphics? More continuation of color from piece to piece and the illusions of lines turning corners. It is exciting that this doesn't resemble a bear paw any more.

And finally, a little rainbow love with a color wheel of color showing up in those corners. I like these as a pair with the light and the dark background. 

So of course I had to stay up late and make these! I didn't have good enough light to photograph last night so I added these to the post later. I did these as 12" blocks (my green ones are 8") and I think that adding some extra borders would increase the size to nice pillow covers.

I've used some of the new Thatched colors in these. The background below is so fun to try out! It is called Chalkboard Scribbles and is basically the reverse of Heather from the first group (grey lines on white). There is a crisper white on white called Blizzard and deep and dramatic tonal Soft Black.

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the color studies over the weeks! I have greatly enjoyed doing them and sharing the mockups.

GIVEAWAY INFO:
I'll be drawing a person to win a Layer Cake of SOLANA fabric. Please enter by commenting on my post in the Moda Blockheads FACEBOOK group (my post with the photo of these green blocks, not the color study one) and tell me what flowers you would like to see me do on a future fabric collection. I'll be picking a winner next Tuesday the 19th.

Thank you all for sewing along and may 2021 bring health and happiness to everyone!

I usually start the Moda Blockheads posts with my color studies. But today I want to share a time-sensitive thing first...a giveaway! Yes, in honor of 2021 starting in a couple of days, I am doing a calendar giveaway on instagram @robinpickens. Just comment in the giveaway post and I'll be selecting 2 winners on January 2nd (just in case some of you are already celebrating and haven't seen the post yet!)

Vanessa's SPARK PLUG block this week is a fun one and I wanted cheery energy with some yellows. They are yellow fabrics from my SOLANA collection that is in shops now. I used the white on white tonal sunflower seeds as my background fabric in the print block and I love the subtleness of the hinted texture. I really enjoy the "varietals" coordinate in this collection and used that for the center rectangles. 

It was perfect timing to have the cover of this next year's Seize the Day wall calendar be the same cheery sunflowers that I used in the SOLANA main prints! I really hope this year brings more sunshine and happy days in a spirit of optimism and progress. 

And, just in case you are wondering, the Seize the Day calendars come in wall, daily and checkbook sized formats. I just saw some recently at my neighborhood Barnes and Noble.

But back to quilt blocks...for the Thatched version I used the Maize color and got that lovely soft light yellow in the corners by flipping and using the back side. Stay tuned for some news very very soon about Thatched (hint, hint, I hope 2021 will be more colorful)

And now...COLOR STUDIES! I stayed pretty true to Vanessa's layout when making my blocks. But when playing on the computer, I had a little fun playing with a variety of shades of color. I find it especially interesting how the shape looks almost flower like on that middle left one. Or I notice the surrounding box shape on the one to the right of it. And I like all the color gradations on the last one and having some different color families in the corners. 

Hop on over to Vanessa's blog for the SPARK PLUG pattern and enter her layer cake giveaway on facebook in the Moda Blockheads group.

And a Happy New Year to you all and may 2021 be filled with fun sewing projects!

Within the structure of "Night and Day" the inside grid can be a simple checkerboard or gradation of colors. I like how the little squares can form a new perimeter around the center or can work with the middle triangles to make arrows. The outer triangles can frame the diamond or play with colors dancing around the shape.

For my blocks I used Thatched in grays, using the backsides as well to get those lighter shades and subtle gradations. I wanted the effect of the checkerboard squares in the center to be very whispery and to highlight the structure of the box surrounding it more.

Dandi Annie became my fabric choice for prints. I forgot how much I love working with these big puff balls of dandelion seeds! I kept the structure of the center box outline and the darker corners on two opposite sides. I'm still debating if I need to rip out and line up those medium gray squares better, but honestly, it is the week of Christmas and I think I'd rather be baking cookies over ripping out seams. So it is staying I think. Sometimes we need to say "it is good enough" and allow ourselves to love the imperfections.

Hop on over to Laurie Simpson's blog for the pattern! And she is doing a layer cake giveaway on instagram!

Happy sewing and happy Moda Blockheads day!

X Marks the spot by Lissa Alexander! I wondered what it would look like with a different color on the bar ends? Like little white cat's paws?

How fun to play with switching corner colors and making the background "disappear" by using the same color for some corners as the big background. I think the one on the lower left looks like it is twisting. And the very last one makes the corner squares almost float. Can you see the white arrow in that one?

Looking for the pattern? Hop over to Lissa's blog and see what she has as a giveaway too!

There is something so satisfying about finishing a quilt. But there is something REALLY REALLY satisfying about finishing the largest quilt you've made to date, in my case a king size quilt!

I am a designer for Moda but I didn't know about Moda Blockheads from the first round. I was a little newer to sewalongs and I had not participated in any on facebook, rather only on instagram. So when one of the sales folks invited me to join the facebook group and play along, I happily joined in.

I wanted to use my first lines of Poppy Mae, Blushing Peonies and Dear Mum for my fabrics, along with some solids mixed in. My colors focused on pinks, reds, greens and teal/turquoise colors. I find as I make my blocks each week, a few stand out as my favorites. I really love this pretty block with the peony in the center and then the one with the crowns and the little pineapple!

One of the big benefits of doing a sewalong like this is it really helps to build your skills. I did not know about triangle paper until I read Corey Yoder's blog post about it. And I learned a variety of other tips and tricks. But most importantly, the practice of making new blocks, week after week, makes you better at what you are doing.

Since I wanted to make my quilt for my kind sized bed, I made additonal borders on the right and left sides of the quilt. The half square triangles are 3 x 6" finished size and the square blocks were made with leftover pieces from my other blocks in the quilt top. The small HST in those are 1 1/2" finished with a 3" square center piece. Making two rows of repeating elements of these made the quilt wide enough for me mattress.

I saw another person post about their layout with blocks arranged into larger squares with sashing between those and I loved that! So I combined the smaller blocks into units and some of the sections were one of the largest blocks. I liked the structure of this and the balance. 

I longarm quilted this using the Whirlwind pantograph by Karen Farnsworth at Wildflower Quilting. And now, I am happily sleeping under my Moda Blockheads2 quilt!

Lisa Bongean blocks usually have lots of options for what to do with those half square triangles. This week did not disappoint! I love to see how the larger half square triangles on the inner corners make an octagon shape or a chunky plus sign on point. You can treat the outer HST as a fringe or a bears paw entire unit. Play with the corners in different contrast of light and dark? And what a fun V shape in the centers of the perimeter on the last one! 

​Visit Lisa's blog for this week's pattern:

Each week I take stock of where I have spaces left in my overall layout and look at balancing the more intricate blocks with the simpler blocks. This block will end close to middle/ middle dark on my gray row.

My print pattern block is using Sweet Pea & Lily grays. The Heather in Thatched is a cooler gray is works nicely with the stronger prints here. On the all-Thatched block, I am using slightly warmer grays. In both my blocks I have used triangle paper to make the half square triangles more efficient and reduce trimming time. 

Enjoy this lovely block and happy sewing this week!

In Moda Blockheads I am doing two versions, one scrappy and one all-Thatched. This is the progress on my scrappy version! I've used mostly fabrics from my collections with some additional fabrics from V&Co Ombre Confetti and a Little Red Riding Hood from Stacy Iest Hsu. I've mixed Thatched into these blocks to be a blender and make a link to the other version. For the rainbow bands I am debating adding some strips of color in between the blocks and I plan on having white sashing between the horizontal rows of color. 
I'll be posting my blocks for this week on Friday so stay tuned!

Half square triangles in rows can be straight lines of direction or create more square formats within the space. Here are a few experiments in playing with different lights and darks on the half square triangle colors. When I squint my eyes, I can see things more as overall shape and not be influenced by the smaller pieces. Xs, bowties, circles...do you see them?

My blocks are for my brown row. I have Thatched browns but not many prints so Ombre Confetti is my go-to for brown blocks. I just love those metallic gold polka dots!

Visit Betsy Chutchian's blog for the pattern at athttp://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/

Did you know there are giveaways going this last round of patterns?? Yes! See Betsy for more details on this week's giveaway! Happy sewing!

What a fun block this week from Corey Yoder! I love the possibilities in this with the diamond shapes and squares. I didn't even realize it was Wednesday till I started to see blocks being posted so I didn't get a color study done this week. I'll be back to playing with colors on the computer for next week's block though.

On my all-Thatched version I wanted the lighter end of the spectrum for my layout. My quilt will be in rainbow bands of color and going from dark on the left to lighter on the right. One of the ways I get those lighter shades is by using Thatched on the back side. I love the soft look it has when I use it that way!

My print version uses Thatched with Sweet Pea & Lily for lacy branches and a graphic floral center. For both blocks I made my diamond stitch and flip blocks with half dark purple corners and half cream corners. I wanted to emphasize the star in the middle but I think it made more of a petal shape on this print version and I like it. The all -Thatched with the dark purple emphasizes a bigger diamond square in the center.

Visit Corey's blog for this week's Moda Blockheads pattern. Can you believe this is our fourth and final cycle of designer blocks in this sampler project? Woooo hooooo! Keep sewing!

Hi Everyone!! I'm so excited that this is my block week for Sewcialites! This is the first sewalong I've done with the Fat Quarter Shop and I am so impressed by how creative AND organized they are! 

My block is DEVOTED and isn't that a good thing to reflect on? What do you feel devoted to? I am devoted to my family. My husband is a loyal and constant support and I couldn't ask for a better partner. And my kids are awesome! I often wonder what I did right to get them in my life. My family is a priority that I am devoted to and feel grateful for them every day.

I decided last week to make this block in my new SOLANA fabric since it is shipping to shops now! I'm so happy to see these sunflowers popping up on social media with those happy big blooms. The fabric has a tonal white on white of sunflower seeds and that is what I used for my background. I'm happy a little ladybug made it into one of my big half square triangles! I think this block would also look really nice set on point. The smaller HST give a balanced feel to the right and left sides. 

I also decided to try the 6" block in the reverse with color and print to the inside. This block reminds me of puzzle pieces with arms to interlock into the right fit. 

You can get your pattern from Fat Quarter Shop for DEVOTED by following this link:

My original plan for Sewcialites was to make the 3" blocks for a wall quilt. I am doing some of the larger ones for fun in other prints and might do a smaller project like a table runner. For my small wall quilt that will include all the blocks, I'm using a subtle gray Heather, Pebble and Cream color palette with Thatched fabrics. I plan on making three of the blocks in little pops of color and I couldn't resist emphasizing sewing, love and flowers.

I'm debating using some low volume fabrics in the setting blocks to add a little print and additional texture.

If you want to check out more Thatched, check out this blog post. Plus I keep a color chart on the side panel of this blog and if you click it you will go to the larger image of the color chart. One thing I like to do with Thatched is also use it on the backside. It has a softer chambray look and gives me lighter shades. 

I hope you will also check out Solana. Fat Quarter Shop carries both Solana and Thatched. 
Happy sewing and have a wonderful sewing week!

- Robin